Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 168

Burnley Football Club chartered a private plane for their summer pre-season training and friendly matches in Korea.

The decision to use a private plane was made for convenience. It was necessary to transport not only the squad and coaching staff but also employees supporting marketing and other on-site activities, along with a variety of training equipment.

Thanks to this, Hyungmin arrived comfortably at Incheon Airport. He breezed through passport control, ducked behind the taller players to avoid the flashing cameras of the reporters, and was about to board the bus with the players when Helena stopped him.

“Hyungmin! What are you doing here!”

“Ah, what’s wrong?!”

As the coaching staff, players, and employees looked on with interest, Helena wore a dumbfounded expression. The manager answered awkwardly, and the club’s CEO grabbed Hyungmin and pulled him away.

“You have to do a press conference before you go!”

“Press conference?! Why a press conference?!”

“Are you kidding me? We’re here for a tour in Korea, so we need to properly engage with the media and promote ourselves!”

Hyungmin’s face paled at Helena’s words. He had been hoping for a quiet summer, avoiding the press like last year.

“Ah… No! I don’t want to!”

“Shut up and come with me!”

Helena grabbed Hyungmin’s arm to prevent him from escaping and began dragging him away.

“No! I don’t want to! Karolina! Taejin! Paulo!”

Hyungmin cried out pitifully, but his coaching staff nonchalantly ignored his pleas.

Watching Hyungmin being dragged to the press conference by Helena, team doctor Simon Morris clicked his tongue.

“When will that guy ever realize his position?”

“He might never realize it.”

Taejin, standing next to Simon Morris and watching his friend being dragged away, answered with a smirk.

“Well, that’s part of his charm.”

***

Karolina chuckled as she brought in a sports newspaper with a headline article.

The large photo, taking up more than half of the front page, showed Helena walking arm in arm with Hyungmin at the airport.

To someone who didn’t know them, it would look like they were affectionately walking arm in arm.

But anyone in the Burnley club would know that it was the club’s CEO dragging the manager somewhere.

“So what if she is?”

“I brought it because I thought you might want a copy.”

“Hmph.”

She put on a nonchalant expression, but Helena still took the newspaper and kept it, seemingly not disliking the article.

Karolina figured she would probably scrapbook the photo later.

“Anyway, I have something I’m curious about.”

Helena asked Karolina.

“Are there any special rules to follow when meeting a boyfriend’s parents in Korea?”

“Why are you asking me that?!”

Helena shrugged at Karolina’s dumbfounded question.

“You’ve known Hyungmin longer than I have, haven’t you?”

“How would I know?! Ask someone who would know!”

***

Pfft!

Taejin barely managed to spit the water he was about to drink onto the grass instead of the face of the club’s CEO, who was sitting across from him.

“Cough… What, what did you say?”

“I’m asking if there’s anything special to keep in mind when meeting a boyfriend’s parents in Korea.”

Taejin gave Helena a dumbfounded look as she stared at him with an expression that said, ‘Why can’t you understand such a simple question?’

“Wait. I’m asking this because I might have missed something. So, have you two officially decided to date?”

“Um… Does ‘official’ mean the same as ‘public’?”

Taejin looked confused for a moment at Helena’s question.

“Well… It’s the same as asking if it’s a public relationship from a Korean perspective, so yes.”

“Then it’s not public.”

She was already going through all sorts of trouble to avoid paparazzi and keep things under wraps in England, and she had no desire for it to be confirmed in Korea.

She didn’t even want to think about how much her father across the Atlantic knew.

“Um, don’t you think this is a bit premature?”

“Not at all? I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity when it comes.”

She didn’t know when she would come to Korea again, and even if she did, it would be difficult to create a reason to meet Hyungmin’s parents.

So, she was going to take the opportunity to make a good impression on his parents while she had the chance.

At this point, Taejin was wondering whether he should protect his friend or push him along, and he asked Helena.

“But shouldn’t the person involved make the arrangements and introduce you?”

“How can he when he’s like that every day?”

Taejin followed Helena’s pointing finger and couldn’t help but agree.

Seemingly unaware of what was being discussed on the sidelines, Burnley’s young manager was sweating as he directed the players’ tactical training.

“Anyway, I’m just using whatever means and methods I think are necessary.”

“So, it’s an extremely rational decision?”

Taejin, who was married with children, smirked as he asked.

Helena tried to suppress the blush on her face at the expression of the married man who was ahead of her in life.

“Well, you could say that.”

“Hmm…”

***

I’ve been feeling a strange prickling sensation on the back of my head lately.

Hyungmin looked around and scratched the back of his head.

He was now quite used to reporters following him and all sorts of people taking pictures of him from the moment he stepped out of the hotel, so it didn’t seem to be that…

Was it because they allowed families or girlfriends to accompany them on this pre-season training camp, unlike typical ones?

Hyungmin allowed families or girlfriends to join them, considering the long-term overseas pre-season training.

Working hard in training was a given, but it was also necessary to rest and spend time with family and friends after training.

In particular, he made sure to exclude them from training for a day or two when their family or girlfriend first arrived, so they could spend time together.

Thanks to this, the young prospects whose families didn’t come to Korea and who didn’t have girlfriends were sulking, but Hyungmin cheerfully ignored them.

But strangely, Helena and his mom had been sticking together lately.

Families were allowed to enter the hotel, but there was no particular need to travel around the area with them, so other than occasionally having meals together, there wasn’t much time to spend with his parents, and therefore they shouldn’t have been coming to the hotel often.

But why were Helena and his mom sticking together?

The two of them couldn’t even communicate with each other?

However, Hyungmin was not given the luxury of continuing such leisurely thoughts.

***

“Aaaaaaah!!”

A player screaming and falling on the field is never a good thing.

Especially when they’re clutching their left leg, which was just tackled by an opposing player, and screaming in pain, it’s a very, very bad sign.

A collision that made everyone watching the game, even the opposing player who made the tackle, turn pale.

Without even waiting for the referee’s whistle, team doctor Simon Morris and fitness coach Paulo Morais sprinted onto the field with their bags, followed by the emergency personnel waiting on standby with a stretcher.

Inside the field, Simon Morris, Paulo Morais, the player groaning in pain, and the referee exchanged quick gestures and words.

In the meantime, everyone held their breath as the team doctor took out scissors and cut off the player’s socks, protective gear, and even his soccer shoes. Then, he lightly touched the leg, causing Adam Hložek, who was breathing heavily, to be fitted with an oxygen mask while the doctor rummaged through his bag to administer painkillers.

“Ah… F*ck, this isn’t good…”

Hyungmin muttered anxiously as he watched the game.

As the player’s painful groans subsided with the oxygen mask and painkillers, the emergency personnel carefully moved the player onto the stretcher.

Team doctor Simon Morris followed the stretcher straight into the tunnel, while Paulo Morais approached Hyungmin.

“How is he?”

Paulo Morais shook his head at Hyungmin’s urgent question.

“We’ll have to take an X-ray to know for sure… but it’s definitely a broken bone.”

“But he’ll be able to make a full recovery, right?”

Only then did the middle-aged fitness coach realize that the young manager, who had to give up his playing career due to an injury, was asking not about the extent of the player’s injury but about the possibility of recovery, and he tried to brighten his expression.

“It was a clean collision. We need to check how the fracture progressed, but if we’re lucky, it won’t be a big deal. I’ll go with Simon to take an X-ray and let you know right away.”

“Please.”

As Paulo Morais quickly followed the player who was already being carried towards the ambulance, Karolina, who had already completed the substitution and returned, approached Hyungmin.

“I’ve put Keane in the empty spot for now.”

“Thanks.”

“How’s Adam?”

Hyungmin shook his head at Karolina’s question as she looked at the tunnel where the carried-out player had disappeared.

“It looks like his leg is broken.”

“Hmm…”

Karolina swallowed a sigh.

If the leg bone was broken, it would take about 3-4 months to recover no matter how you looked at it.

Considering the time it takes to complete rehabilitation, walk, run, and regain his skills as a player, it would be at least 5-6 months.

He wouldn’t be able to return this year, and he would only be back next year.

With the Czech national team’s rising ace, who had been ambitiously recruited to fill the position after ace Karim Adeyemi was transferred, out of action in one fell swoop, the faces of the manager and coaches were dark.

They were worried about the player’s injury and recovery, and they were also worried that one of their key players had left before the season even started in earnest.

The opposing team was also busy replacing their shocked and pale defender after unintentionally causing the injury, and Hyungmin ran his dry hand over his face.

“This is a mess…”

***

He didn’t know how he managed to finish the friendly match and return to the accommodation, but the atmosphere among the Burnley players was gloomy after their teammate suffered a serious injury.

While Taejin, the only remaining coach, was comforting the players along with the Burnley club staff, Hyungmin was holding an emergency meeting with Jonathan Landris, who had remained at the Barnfield Training Centre [Burnley’s training ground], along with Helena and Karolina.

“[…Even if he returns quickly, it will take 3-4 months. We can’t just wait.]”

Jonathan’s expression on the monitor looked grim.

They lost the young attacker from Sparta Prague, who they had ambitiously recruited in the first away game of the pre-season.

“What options do we have?”

Jonathan shrugged at Helena’s question.