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Translator: uly
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: I Became the Club Owner (1)
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A Hanwoo specialty restaurant in Jinju.
Sizzle!
Prime Hanwoo beef was grilling deliciously on the hot plate.
Just looking at the marbling, beautiful like a flower, had Jeong-woo drooling.
They say pork belly and beef belly are worlds apart.
He reached out with his chopsticks without hesitation.
"That one's not fully cooked yet...?"
The man grilling beef across from him spoke up, looking a bit flustered.
Jeong-woo shook his head while chewing the meat noisily.
"Rare, rare."
"Ahh..."
It was raw even for rare, but the man didn't stop him anymore.
Jeong-woo had shoveled a big spoonful of rice into his mouth along with the meat, like someone who'd starved for days.
Even so, Jeong-woo rolled his eyes busily and asked.
"Mmph, mmph, mmmph?"
"Yes?"
"Mmph? Mmph? Mmmph... right?"
"What are you saying...?"
Gulp. Jeong-woo swallowed the mouthful of food, chugged some water, and spoke again.
"So, I'm the heir, right? To that grandfather of mine who lived in England... uh, the one who passed away?"
He was dead certain the people across from him were loan sharks.
But they weren't.
The men in front of him had introduced themselves as estate execution representatives.
Of course, Jeong-woo didn't buy it right away.
'Scammers?'
Maybe some new face-to-face phishing scam.
That was why he hadn't been surprised or excited by the talk of inheritance.
'And feeding me prime beef from the start... suspicious as hell.'
They say to beware of anyone who buys you beef.
Prime beef, no less...!
Jeong-woo glanced sideways at the man to his left.
'That mug looks like he could backstab anyone.'
The man on the left was from Korea, and the greasy-looking one on the right was a lawyer dispatched from England.
Just then, the man on the left handed over his business card.
"I forgot to give you my card. Let me introduce myself again. I'm Park Sang-ho, representing Global Law Firm."
Jeong-woo took the card with a still-suspicious gaze.
Unlike his rough-looking face, Park Sang-ho smiled warmly.
"Mr. Great Ma—or in Korean, the estate executor for the late Chairman Ko Mau-seok."
A familiar name.
His grandmother had said in life that his grandfather was alive, far across the sea.
As a high schooler, he'd learned the uglier truth.
That his grandfather had an affair with some English woman and fled to England like a runaway.
'Grandma was so pissed she never stamped the divorce papers.'
And passed away like that.
Thinking of her suddenly moistened his eyes.
And now, inheritance. Grandma must've had big plans.
'Let's soothe the heartache with beef.'
He reached out again, scooping two pieces of meat along with rice and kimchi into his mouth.
Happiness spread instantly from his mouth throughout his body.
Anyway, Jeong-woo had treated his grandfather like a dead man, someone he'd never met.
Even with his mouth full of meat, he jabbed his chopsticks out and asked.
"Mmph, mmph?"
"Yes...?"
Gulp!
"Yeah, Lawyer Park. Anyway, is this for real?"
"What do you mean?"
"That I'm inheriting the estate."
"Of course."
The grandfather's name matched, at least.
Grandma had cursed him nonstop in life, 'That bastard Mau-seok!' with every breath.
Still, he needed to be cautious.
"What's my name?"
"Isn't it Ma Jeong-woo?"
"Which Ma clan?"
"According to the documents... the Jangheung Ma clan. Want the hanja for your name?"
Jeong-woo nodded seriously at the executor's half-joking question.
"Yes, tell me."
"Yes?"
"Tell me."
"Uh... here, just take the documents. You'll need to review them anyway."
Looking troubled, Park Sang-ho handed Jeong-woo a black binder.
Jeong-woo kept shoveling beef into his mouth with one hand while flipping through the pages with the other.
"Hmm."
It didn't take long before he let out a short groan.
There were more than a few clauses that required deep thought to understand.
Minus his soccer knowledge, he was just an average guy, nothing more or less.
His name, address, and even hanja matched, at least.
Still not reassured, Jeong-woo pulled out his phone.
'Let's see. Global Law Firm... Park Sang-ho.'
He glanced at the man while searching for info on him.
In seconds, his eyes went wide.
Just the name search brought up a famous lawyer who'd even been on TV.
"Ahem!"
As if knowing about the search, the lawyer across from him puffed up, straightening his collar.
At the same moment, shock, astonishment, and overwhelming emotions crashed over Jeong-woo like a wave.
The hairs on his back stood up.
'No way? Dream or reality?'
Slap!
"Uh, Mr. Jeong-woo?"
The greasy-looking lawyer flinched as Jeong-woo suddenly slapped his own cheek.
Laughing awkwardly, Jeong-woo rubbed his stinging cheek.
"Mosquito was buzzing around."
"It's winter now..."
"Mosquitos are tough these days."
"Ah..."
He thought to himself.
'Not a dream.'
No loan sharks, no phishing scam—now convinced, his heart finally started pounding wildly.
'Inheritance...!'
No idea how much, but enough to clear his debts right away, maybe.
'Goddamn loan shark debt!'
Composing himself as best he could, Jeong-woo asked with slightly flushed cheeks.
"So, how much money am I getting?"
The key question.
Sweat beaded on his palms against his will.
Suddenly, an old memory surfaced—his father's words.
That his grandfather in England had abandoned his kids and grandkids to live it up.
'He'd rant like that every time he drank.'
Maybe that's why.
Excitement bubbled up like he'd matched all but one lottery number for the jackpot.
'At least 100 million...!'
Jeong-woo's gaze fixed on the lawyers' greasy lips.
Park Sang-ho answered without delay, meeting expectations.
"It's not just money."
"Yes?"
Not the answer he wanted, Jeong-woo's energy deflated as he shot back.
'What kinda nonsense is that?'
Jeong-woo furrowed his brow slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Park Sang-ho smiled warmly as he explained.
"The inheritance includes a soccer club in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England."
* * *
Back home, Ma Jeong-woo was dazed for a while.
Half a day passed before he could think straight.
"I'm the club owner?"
The lawyer had said he was first in line for inheritance.
His grandfather had over ten kids living in England.
But they were thoroughly excluded from inheritance.
Born from affairs with random women, no marriage registration.
They'd hired their own lawyers to claim rights, but it held no water.
Sitting in his one-room in a squat position, Jeong-woo muttered in disbelief.
"Ha, shit."
He still couldn't believe it.
Slap, slap!
He slapped his cheeks again to check.
It hurt.
From the documents the lawyer gave him, the club's value alone was a whopping 20 million pounds.
About 31.7 billion won in Korean currency.
For him, it was like hitting the lottery ten times over.
His heart, which had started racing at the beef place, was still thumping away.
Unexpected windfall had his fingertips trembling.
"I might actually pass out."
His lips kept twitching.
"Even Diego Maradona left 50 billion in inheritance, and 16 relatives fought over it."
In contrast, Jeong-woo got the whole estate from a grandfather he'd seen as a stranger, no contest.
"...Oh, damn!"
Suddenly, like electrocuted, Jeong-woo's body shook for seconds.
His heart nearly jumped out just now.
That night, Jeong-woo lay awake staring at the ceiling.
* * *
The next day.
Jeong-woo explained yesterday's events to Hee-won, who showed up in the morning, dark circles under his eyes.
Childhood friend—no, like blood brothers—no hesitation.
After ten minutes or so, Hee-won, who'd listened half-heartedly, nodded slightly and gave his take.
"This punk dreamed it."
"..."
"Time to wake up from reality."
"..."
"Chugging soju like water every day, tsk!"
"..."
But something was off.
Normally, Jeong-woo would've fired back immediately, but no counterattack came.
Hee-won narrowed his eyes.
"You... don't tell me you're crying?"
Looking closer, Jeong-woo's eyes across from him were turning red fast.
His face muscles twitched nonstop.
Soon, tears welled up.
"Sniff, snurf...!"
Hee-won was pretty shocked.
It'd been a full 19 years since Jeong-woo looked ready to bawl.
Hee-won, unable to believe his eyes, pointed a trembling index finger at him.
"You punk... I ain't seen that face since we were kids getting shaken down by the hyungs at the PC bang corner...!"
Lightning realization struck.
"You..."
Hee-won's eyes bulged like they might pop out.
"It's real?!"
"Waaah!"
Unable to hold back, Jeong-woo wailed like a child, nodding vigorously.
That was the start.
"Eek, you bastard...!"
Even Hee-won scrunched his face further, tears flowing.
Jeong-woo hugged the emotional Hee-won tight and yelled.
"Fuck! All my suffering had a reason! Waaah!"
Hee-won patted Jeong-woo's back roughly and shot back.
"Yeah! You're buying beef today! You gotta!"
And so the two hugged it out for a while.
* * *
Some time passed.
Having cried buckets, both Jeong-woo and Hee-won had swollen red eyelids.
Hee-won sniffed and asked.
"Anyway, which club in England? What league?"
Jeong-woo answered with a face still immersed in emotion.
"England League One."
"League One? Isn't that third division?"
Hee-won questioned, and Jeong-woo nodded emphatically.
"Yeah."
His gaze drifted to the half-basement room with bars on the window.
Always bugged him.
Drunks would piss on the utility pole out front every weekend.
But this shabby life was over now.
"Which team?"
At the question, Jeong-woo finally smiled like a victor.
"Bolton Wanderers."
Bolton Wanderers.
A club well-known even in Korea.
Once boasted a star-studded squad with Blue Dragon, Lee Chang-yong, Johann Elmander, Kevin Davies, and more— a club full of memories.