Finishing Move

He had arrived in obscurity, but he left with his head held high and his chest thrust out.

Su Dong loved the envious, even jealous, looks everyone around him gave him. They fascinated him.

Once upon a time, he had looked at this group of teammates with the same expression.

After spending so long in Portugal, he had never received as much recognition and praise as he had today. It came from the fans, the coaches and teammates, and even from Head Coach Gorba's promise.

All of it made him want to let out an excited roar.

He wanted to find someone to share this joy and sense of accomplishment with.

The first person he thought of was Rony.

So, as soon as the assessment ended, he ran toward Edward VII Park, two kilometers away.

What surprised him even more was that, in what he had expected to be an empty park, a familiar figure had appeared on the indoor football pitch he knew so well—the familiar person who had been gone for a week.

"Rony? When did you get back?" Su Dong asked excitedly as he sprinted over.

Rony, who had been waiting boredly for Su Dong on the pitch, turned around at the shout. He was delighted to see Su Dong as well.

"I only got back in the middle of last night. I got up a little late this morning."

The moment they met, the two embraced warmly.

Although they had only been apart for a week, it felt as though an incredibly long time had passed.

"Have you been slacking off lately? Why did you arrive so late?" Rony asked with concern.

It was almost noon already, and Su Dong had only just arrived. Rony was a little disappointed.

"I got here at five," Su Dong said with a laugh. "Our team had its assessment today."

Rony suddenly understood. He had known it—Su Dong didn't look like the type to slack off.

"How did you do in the assessment?" Rony asked with concern.

"Not bad."

"Not bad?" Rony was somewhat dissatisfied. "You've been training with me for so long. And all you got was 'not bad'?"

Although Rony had never told Su Dong which team he played for, Su Dong had told Rony that he was a Youth Team player for Sporting Portugal.

In Rony's impression, this Third Division team was nothing special.

The First Team wasn't much good, and the Youth Team was even worse.

Su Dong laughed. "Actually, I did pretty well. As soon as the assessment ended, the club wanted to sign me."

"That's great. You'll be able to stay here from now on." Rony was delighted as well.

Su Dong nodded heavily, his eyes filled with gratitude as he looked at Rony.

Although his rapid progress was because of the Path to the King of Football, Rony had also helped him tremendously.

Without Rony, he could never have improved so quickly.

Perhaps sensing Su Dong's gaze and knowing what he wanted to say next, Rony spoke first. "Now that you can stay, don't say anything else. Let me see whether you've really improved over the past week."

As he spoke, Rony kicked the ball at his feet over to Su Dong.

Once again, the sounds of the two battling rang out from the football pitch in Edward VII Park.

After the Ball Trunk had risen to Level Three, every match between Su Dong and Rony earned Su Dong 300 King of Football Points.

This surprised Su Dong, because it proved that Rony was stronger than he had imagined.

Just how strong was he?

Su Dong was filled with questions, but also with admiration.

What he didn't know was that Rony was equally surprised by Su Dong's progress.

Previously, he had spent every day with Su Dong. Familiarity had dulled his perception, so he hadn't noticed Su Dong's progress that much.

But after being apart for a week, when he saw Su Dong again, he could clearly sense that Su Dong had improved.

Especially during one duel, when Su Dong suddenly pushed the ball forward a short distance and unleashed a powerful shot that rocketed into the bottom of the net, Rony was extremely surprised.

"Batty Goal!" Rony praised.

Su Dong nodded happily. "This is the finishing move I've been secretly practicing recently."

But soon, Rony returned a Batty Goal of his own, then shook a finger at Su Dong provocatively, as if saying: What's so special about a Batty Goal? I can do it too.

Su Dong was speechless. That arrogant boy refused to lose at anything.

In the duels that followed, Su Dong shot whenever he got the chance and even scored several goals. That would have been unimaginable before.

This alone showed how much he had improved recently.

Of course, he was still far behind Rony.

"Here, have a drink."

At noon, the two were exhausted. They rested by the sideline, panting heavily, while Su Dong tossed Rony a bottle of Bull.

"Hmm, where did you buy this drink? It's pretty good."

After taking a sip, Rony gulped down the entire bottle of Bull in one go.

"If you like it, I'll supply you for free." Su Dong spoke grandly.

Rony didn't stand on ceremony. Instead, he shifted the topic back to their earlier duel.

"Your Batty Goal still lacks power. Your shooting accuracy is lacking, and you don't have enough strength either. You still need to work on it."

Su Dong nodded. He deeply agreed. "Our club doesn't have a gym, only some simple equipment. I don't dare train randomly. You know how it is—getting injured by accident would be a huge problem."

"Being careful is the right choice." Rony nodded. "I'll take you to a gym I often go to. The coaches there are all professionals."

"Sure." Su Dong had no objections.

After spending time with him, Su Dong knew that Rony had extremely high standards. Even the slightest flaw in Su Dong's training would draw a critical demand from Rony that he do it again. Su Dong had even complained that this Aquarius man was more of a perfectionist than a Virgo.

"By the way, what happened when you went home this time?" Su Dong asked with concern.

A trace of worry flashed across Rony's smiling face, but he quickly shook his head. "There was a small accident. It should already be resolved, so don't worry about me." After saying that, he gave Su Dong a grateful smile.

"But what about you? Now that you've passed the assessment, what are you thinking?"

Su Dong was troubled. This was also what gave him the biggest headache right now.

Gorba had spoken with him earlier. Sporting Portugal wanted to sign him to a youth-development contract, paying him a monthly living allowance of 50 euros, along with various bonuses for participating in matches.

Not only that, Gorba had promised to promote him to the First Team, where he would train and play with the team.

Su Dong knew very well that he was currently at the Ball Trunk level, roughly equivalent to a semiprofessional standard. He was about on par with Sporting Portugal's First Team, and that team was only mid-table among Third Division clubs—not particularly outstanding.

Unlike that previous fraudulent company, Gorba had not hidden anything from Su Dong. He had clearly told Su Dong that the club would provide him with as much help as possible, allowing him to grow and improve quickly. It would also give him plenty of opportunities to gain match experience. The sole purpose was to sell him once he performed well.

That might not sound very pleasant, but this was professional football in reality.

Sporting Portugal's way of surviving was to sell the players it discovered and developed.

"Those terms sound pretty good." After hearing everything, Rony gave his assessment. "The monthly salary and bonuses are normal. I also received a 50-euro allowance when I was in the Youth Team, though I worked as a ball boy during home matches for five euros per game."

"The most attractive part is the chance to train and play with the First Team. If you perform well, you'll have a chance to move to a better team in a higher division. Of course, you can also go try out for other teams now, but I think that even if you pass, it'll probably be difficult to get playing time right away."

No matter how one put it, Sporting Portugal was still a Third Division team. For sixteen-year-old Su Dong, matches at this level were still extremely valuable for development.

"Exactly. So I've been thinking it over. I think it would be better to stay." Su Dong felt the same way.

"Don't worry so much. I've noticed that you've improved tremendously during this period. If you maintain this momentum, I believe Sporting Portugal won't be able to keep you for long. By then, not only will you fulfill your dream of becoming a professional footballer, but if we get the chance, I hope we can become teammates."

"Teammates?" Su Dong couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. Our team has been rebuilding its stadium over the past year or two, and we've also built a new training base in the suburbs. We're dirt-poor. Our attacking ability was too weak last season, so this summer, in order to bring in a strong striker, we had no choice but to sell three key players before we had enough money to make it happen."

"So next, we'll definitely focus on promoting players from our youth system. And our youth system is extremely strong—we only accept the best young players in Portugal." Rony spoke with undisguised pride.

Su Dong was surprised. He had guessed that Rony's team was powerful, but he hadn't expected it to be this powerful.

"Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, or Belenenses?" Su Dong asked curiously.

Rony replied with a teasing smile, "Guess."

The two began battling fiercely on the indoor football pitch again.

At noon, Su Dong spent some King of Football Points in the shop to exchange for two portions of Western food. He pretended he had ordered takeout himself and treated Rony to a meal. The Portuguese ate with great relish and praised it nonstop.

They stayed in the park all day and didn't part until night fell.

Before leaving, Rony also said that he wanted to consult Pontes and another coach named Nare about Su Dong's training. He would continue helping Su Dong with special training.

However, with the new season approaching, the two probably wouldn't be able to spend all day together like before.

That evening, after returning to the dormitory, Su Dong received a call from Head Coach Gorba.

Gorba clearly placed great importance on signing Su Dong. He repeatedly emphasized the treatment Sporting Portugal would offer him, while also promising that once the contract was signed, Su Dong could immediately train and play with the First Team.

"We'll arrange for you to play in every match and give you plenty of opportunities to develop."

Su Dong had already decided to sign, so he had even less reason to hesitate. He agreed immediately.

When Su Dong had first arrived at Sporting Portugal, the agent he had hired had been that fraud. So this time, he clearly told Gorba that he had no agent and would come sign the contract personally.

Gorba didn't mind. As long as the player was willing to sign, having an agent or not wasn't a problem.

After signing, Su Dong also received a 100-euro signing bonus.

That was an unexpected windfall.

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