Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 227

227. A Star on Her Finger

What would fans do if their team won the league title after 64 years?

They would probably have a wild celebration.

But what if that team not only won the league title but also reached the Champions League final?

Wouldn’t they continue the wild celebration regardless of the outcome of the Champions League final?

The two weeks between Burnley securing the Premier League title and the Champions League final were a blur.

That was exactly the situation in Burnley, where, as they say, the only people left who weren’t fans were corpses.

The request to hold a championship parade was politely declined by Burnley Football Club, who wanted to postpone it until after the Champions League final, but every store in the town of Burnley hung a banner celebrating the victory in front of their doors.

And every pub in Burnley welcomed joyfully drunk people every night with heavily discounted prices.

“Drink up!!”

“Woo-hoo!!!”

“We are~!!”

“The champions~!!!”

The historic ‘The Lively Volunteer Inn’ was no exception.

The pub, which served as the unofficial headquarters for Burnley’s official supporters, was packed every night with crowds celebrating their joy with enthusiastic chants and cold beer.

“Come on, empty your glasses again!!”

“Woo-hoo!!!”

Everyone shouting and responding was paying for their own drinks, but they were happy nonetheless.

The Premier League trophy had returned to Burnley after 64 years.

No, it wasn’t even called the Premier League back then.

Henry Smythe, Mitch Tyler, and Henry Tyler, celebrating their joy, raised their glasses high and clinked them together vigorously.

Respectively, the president, vice president, and vice president *cum* secretary *cum* treasurer *cum* standard-bearer *cum* master of Burnley’s official supporters.

That is, the giant young man who beat the drum, played the *janggu* [Korean double-headed drum], and waved the flag all by himself stopped the president from emptying his glass.

“Godfather, you have to stop drinking now, or Aunt Theresa will scold you!”

“Ah, I don’t care!!”

Henry Smythe shouted, shaking off Henry Tyler’s restraint.

“How can I not drink on a day like this! Isn’t that right, everyone?!!”

“Woo-hoo!!!”

In fact, no one could hear what the president was shouting in the crowded pub, and even if they could, they wouldn’t understand what he was saying because they were drunk, but the crowd gathered at ‘The Lively Volunteer Inn’ all raised their glasses and responded in unison.

“Hmm…”

Watching his godfather’s glass being emptied again, and then watching his father’s glass being emptied next to him, Henry Tyler looked down at the beer glass in his own massive hand.

*I’m fine, but the two of them are going to get kicked out of their respective homes, aren’t they?*

*Should I just have them sleep here?*

Unaware of Henry Tyler’s gaze as he looked around for a suitable bench or corner, the two middle-aged men vigorously clinked their newly filled glasses together again.

“Let’s go, to Wembley [stadium in London]!!”

“Wembley!!!”

“To win the Champions League!!”

“Victory!!!”

***

Unlike the noisy town of Burnley, which had been boisterous for days, a sense of relative calm prevailed in the Burnley General Hospital room.

“…So I said, in that situation, bringing in Lorenzo Luca would be… Hey, Hyungmin, are you listening?”

“Yes, Arthur. I’m listening carefully.”

*I’ve been to this room before.*

*Probably the room they gave me when Arthur first collapsed.*

*Or maybe it just feels that way because the structure and interior of the rooms are all the same.*

In a situation almost identical to two years ago, Hyungmin, sitting in a chair in the hospital room, smiled at the old man who was talking triumphantly with an IV drip in his arm.

“Arthur, how much did you drink?! You ended up in the hospital again! Clarissa was so surprised!”

At Helena’s nagging, sitting next to Hyungmin, Clarissa Brimlow, sitting across the hospital bed, nodded with a serious expression, then looked up at the ceiling and pretended to make the sign of the cross.

“No, I really didn’t have that many drinks! I was just, you know… happy, so my body was a little surprised.”

Arthur made excuses, flinching at Helena’s fierce gaze.

If there was anyone at Burnley Football Club that Arthur Brimlow was afraid of, it was Helena Cartwright, Burnley’s young and beautiful CEO.

Clarissa Brimlow, who had been nodding in agreement with the CEO’s words, finally opened her mouth and began to formally accuse her husband.

“I’m telling you, I found so many bottles of alcohol that this man had hidden…!”

At Clarissa Brimlow’s words, Hyungmin and Helena frowned at the same time.

“Bottles of alcohol…?!!”

This is Hyungmin.

“…Hides them?!!”

This is Helena.

Arthur Brimlow, the former head coach of Burnley Football Club, who felt like the word ‘dare’ was being added after that statement, began to sweat coldly.

“No, that’s really for medicinal purposes… no, for gifts!”

“Arthur gives alcohol to other people?”

*Instead of taking alcohol from other people?*

At Helena Cartwright’s cold expression, which showed that she thought his excuse was pathetic, Arthur swallowed hard as his throat rapidly dried up.

“Well, that’s…”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do.”

Arthur wanted to sigh in relief that the CEO had turned off her cold ray of light so quickly, as he had expected her to glare at him for much longer.

No, he really would have sighed in relief if it hadn’t been for the words that followed…

“…Since you’re hospitalized, you probably don’t need the Champions League final tickets anymore, do you? I specially got them for the executive box.”

“…?!!”

A few seconds later.

The hospital staff rushed in at the sound of the old man’s screams and pleas that pierced through Burnley General Hospital.

***

Hyungmin and Helena, who had managed to stop Clarissa Brimlow from strangling her husband with her bare hands in a tearful confession of the location of the hidden bottles of alcohol, thanks to the ruthless CEO’s threats, with the heart of a negotiation expert facing a hostage-taker, were finally able to leave the hospital room after a long time.

As they stepped out of the small hospital, they saw the town of Burnley, where darkness was already beginning to settle, and the majestic sight of the Andyrills Moor beyond.

“Well… still, Arthur…”

“…You were going to say it’s good that he’s full of energy, right?”

Hyungmin chuckled at Helena’s words, which cut him off.

“That’s right. It’s good that he’s full of energy.”

Even after Arthur stepped down as head coach, they still visited him often, but it was still a much smaller amount of time compared to when they worked together every day.

Of course, everyone gets dizzy if they spend too much time with Arthur, but that’s the same for everyone.

“But is it okay in the executive box? Ian said he’s coming too, right?”

“I’m putting him in the executive box because my father is coming.”

Helena smiled.

“I’m so curious to see what Arthur will do with Ian Cartwright II on one side and Real Madrid’s President Florentino Perez on the other.”

Hyungmin made an absurd expression at Helena’s mischievous smile.

“Are you going to do that to me too?”

“Do what? What are you talking about?”

Hyungmin reached out and gently pinched her cheek at Helena’s feigned ignorance.

“This trickery behind the scenes!”

“Hmm… It depenush on whut yuu doo…”

The two giggled for a moment at the sound of the wind leaking from her mouth, then took each other’s hands and left the hospital.

Passersby greeted them kindly when they spotted them, and the two returned the greetings with smiles, but they didn’t stop walking.

An unspoken agreement in the town of Burnley.

Don’t bother Manager Hyungmin Kim when he’s on a date with CEO Helena Cartwright!

They didn’t stop children or fans from approaching to shake hands or say hello, but the crowds didn’t gather as much as they used to, blocking the road.

Of course, it also played a part that even the fans who greeted them would quickly wrap up their business when they felt someone’s cold, chilling gaze from the side if they talked for too long.

As they walked aimlessly, Hyungmin suddenly grabbed Helena’s hand and pulled her along.

“Shall we go over there?”

“Ah, over there? Okay.”

Passing through a side street that led out of the town of Burnley, a promenade appeared that climbed up a low hill behind Burnley.

The two smiled at each other and slowly began to climb the promenade.

A long time ago, almost a year ago.
The place where they looked down at the Andyrills Moor, which was still under construction.

Hyungmin sighed softly as they walked.

“It’s amazing.”

Helena tilted her head at Hyungmin’s words.

“What is?”

“Back then, I was so weighed down by the frustration and weight of the five consecutive losses. I thought I would never escape.”

“But now?”

Hyungmin took a deep breath.

The well-kept trees and trails, and the beautiful sight of the Andyrills Moor, which was gradually revealing itself.

“I don’t remember that time very well. No, I remember it clearly, but… the emotions of that time are as faint as if I dreamed them.”

Before Helena could answer, the sight of the town of Burnley and the Andyrills Moor that unfolded before their eyes as they reached the top of the hill caught their eyes.

The gentle curve of the exterior, as if engulfed in a huge wave, and the semi-open roof covering the stadium, which is lit up brightly on game days, but is now dark.

The pure white roof, symbolizing the textiles that symbolized Burnley along with the mining industry, seemed to sway in the breeze.

“It’s always nice to come up here.”

“I agree.”

Hyungmin nodded in agreement with Helena’s words.

“This is my favorite place in Burnley, what about you, Hyungmin?”

At Helena’s question, Hyungmin looked out at the Andyrills Moor in the distance.

“I’m sometimes afraid that this is a dream.”

At the unexpected words, Helena looked at the quiet man next to her.

Hyungmin, still looking at the Andyrills Moor, murmured.

“I think that when I wake up from this dream, I might still be in rehab at the university hospital. Or maybe I fell asleep in a small studio apartment in the English countryside while preparing for tomorrow’s class. Or maybe I’m in Salzburg, planning the growth of young players.”

So much has changed in the past three years.

Enough time for an unknown young Asian man to become a renowned manager who is making a name for himself in the football world.

Managers like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp praise him, the media chants his name like a spell, and critics say that Hyungmin Kim is impossible to predict, but he is still that shy, quiet, and gentle person.

“But if this is a dream, I think I should do everything I want to do.”

In a moment that she had hoped for but not expected, Helena pressed her trembling chest with one hand, and in front of her, the man slowly knelt on one knee and took out a small black box from his pocket and opened it.

“Everything that has happened since I came to Burnley has been wonderful and beautiful, but the most wonderful and beautiful thing was being able to meet you.”

Inside the box, a jewel that sparkled like the stars the two had seen in the night sky in this place a year ago was shining inside.

The temporary manager position offered in an interview with the new CEO, who she thought would fire her.
The journey of the two, which began with the condition of just one game, has reached a new turning point.

“Will you marry me?”

Helena, who had been listening to Hyungmin’s words with bated breath, smiled brightly with tears in her eyes, but couldn’t bring herself to speak and reached out her hand.

“Hoo…”

Hyungmin, who let out a short sigh of relief, slowly took the ring out of the box with trembling hands and put it on Helena’s finger.

Helena, confirming that the ring that was being put on her finger was the exact size, smiled brightly once again and hugged Hyungmin, who was standing up from his seat, tightly.

“Thank you. Everything… thank you. And I love you.”