Finishing Move

He arrived in obscurity, but he left with his head held high.

Su Dong loved the looks of envy, and even jealousy, from those around him; he found them intoxicating.

Once upon a time, he had been the one casting those same looks at these very teammates.

Having been in Portugal for so long, he had never received as much recognition and praise as he did today—whether from the fans, his coaches and teammates, or the promises made by head coach Gorba.

All of this made him want to let out a roar of excitement.

He wanted to find someone to share this joy and achievement with.

The first person who came to mind was Rony.

And so, immediately after the assessment concluded, he sprinted two kilometers to Edward VII Park.

What surprised him even more was that in the indoor soccer field—which he expected to be empty—the familiar figure who had been gone for a week had actually reappeared.

"Rony? When did you get back?" Su Dong shouted, running over in excitement.

Rony, who had been waiting for Su Dong in the field, turned around at the sound of his voice, his face lighting up with joy at the sight of him.

"I arrived in the middle of the night yesterday, and I woke up a bit late this morning."

The two shared a warm embrace the moment they met.

Although it had only been a week, it felt as if a very long time had passed.

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

It was nearly noon, and Su Dong's late arrival had left Rony feeling a bit disappointed.

"I was here at five," Su Dong laughed. "We had our club assessment today."

Rony had a sudden realization; he knew Su Dong didn't seem like the type to slack off.

"So, how did the assessment go?" Rony asked, concerned.

"It was alright."

"Alright?" Rony seemed a bit dissatisfied. "You've been training with me for so long, and it's only 'alright'?"

Although Rony had never told Su Dong which club he played for, Su Dong had told Rony that he was a youth player for Sporting Portugal.

In Rony's impression, this third-tier club wasn't much to speak of.

If the first team wasn't great, the youth team was likely even worse.

Su Dong laughed heartily. "Actually, I performed quite well. As soon as the assessment ended, the club wanted to sign me immediately."

"That's great! Now you can stay here," Rony said, clearly pleased.

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

While his rapid progress was due to the Path to the King of Football, the help Rony provided was immense.

Without Rony, he could never have improved this quickly.

Perhaps sensing Su Dong's gaze and knowing what he was about to say, Rony spoke first: "Since you can stay, let's not talk about it anymore. Let me see if you've actually improved over this past week."

With that, Rony kicked the ball at his feet directly toward Su Dong.

Inside the soccer field at Edward VII Park, the sounds of their contest rang out once again.

After his Ball Trunk reached the third level, Su Dong could earn 300 King of Football Points from every match against Rony.

This caught Su Dong by surprise, as it proved that Rony's strength was far beyond his imagination.

Just how strong was he?

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

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

Previously, they had been together every day, and he had grown so accustomed to it that he hadn't really noticed Su Dong's improvement.

But after being separated for a week, seeing Su Dong again made his progress strikingly obvious.

Especially during one duel, when Su Dong suddenly pushed the ball forward with a small touch and unleashed a powerful, heavy shot that buried itself into the bottom corner of the net, Rony was genuinely astonished.

"Batty Goal!" Rony praised.

Su Dong nodded happily. "That's a finishing move I've been secretly practicing lately."

But soon after, Rony returned the favor with a Batty Goal of his own, provocatively wagging his finger at him as if to say: Is that all a Batty Goal is? I can do it too.

Su Dong was speechless; this prideful kid refused to lose at anything.

In the subsequent duels, whenever Su Dong had an opening, he would take a shot, and he even managed to score a few—something that would have been unimaginable before.

From this, it was clear that his progress over the recent period had indeed been significant.

Of course, there was still a large gap between him and Rony.

"Here, take this, have some water first."

By noon, both of them were exhausted, panting as they rested on the sidelines. Su Dong tossed him a bottle of Bull.

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

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

"If you like it, I have an unlimited supply here," Su Dong said generously.

Rony didn't stand on ceremony with him, instead shifting the topic back to their recent duel.

"Your Batty Goal still lacks power, and your shooting accuracy is lacking as well. You really need to strengthen that."

Su Dong nodded, feeling the same way. "Our club doesn't have a gym, only some simple equipment. I don't dare to train recklessly; you know, if I get injured by accident, it'll be a real headache."

"Being careful is the right thing to do," Rony nodded. "Later, I'll take you to a gym I frequent. The coaches there are all very professional."

"Sounds good." Su Dong, of course, had no objections.

Through their interactions, he had learned that Rony was a man with extremely high standards. Even for the slightest flaw in his training, Rony would nitpick and demand he redo it, to the point where Su Dong complained that an Aquarius man was even more of a perfectionist than a Virgo.

"By the way, did something happen when you went home this time?" Su Dong asked with concern.

A flash of worry crossed Rony's usually smiling face, but he quickly shook his head. "Just a small accident. It should be resolved already, no need to worry about me." After saying this, he gave Su Dong a grateful, faint smile.

"What about you? Now that you've passed the assessment, what are your thoughts?"

Su Dong was also in a bind; this was currently his biggest headache.

Gorba had just spoken with him. Sporting Portugal wanted to sign him to a youth contract, providing a monthly living allowance of 50 Euro, plus various bonuses for participating in matches.

Not only that, but Gorba promised to promote him to the first team to train and play with the squad.

Su Dong was well aware that he was currently at the Ball Trunk level, roughly equivalent to semi-professional, which was about the same level as the Sporting Portugal first team. This club wasn't exactly outstanding among third-tier teams; it was quite mid-table.

Unlike the previous scam company, Gorba didn't hide anything from Su Dong. He clearly told him that the club would provide as much help as possible to let him grow and improve quickly, while also giving him ample opportunities to play and gain experience. The goal was simple: once he performed well, they would sell him.

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

The way Sporting Portugal survived was by selling the players they discovered.

"The terms sound decent," Rony commented after hearing this. "The monthly salary and bonuses are standard rates. I also received a 50 Euro allowance when I was in the youth team, though I would work as a ball boy during home games for 5 Euro per match."

"The most attractive part is the first-team training and match opportunities. Only when you perform well will you have the chance to go to better, higher-level teams. Of course, you could choose to go for trials at other clubs now, but I think even if you passed, it would be hard to get match opportunities right away."

No matter what, Sporting Portugal was still a third-tier league team. For the sixteen-year-old Su Dong, matches at this level were still very valuable for his development.

"Yeah, that's why I've been thinking that staying might be better," Su Dong agreed.

"Don't worry too much. I've noticed you've made huge progress during this time. If you keep up this momentum, I believe Sporting Portugal won't be able to keep you for long. By then, not only will you realize your dream of becoming a professional player, but if there's a chance, I hope we can become teammates."

"Teammates?" Su Dong found it hard to believe.

"Yeah, our team has been building a new stadium over the past year or two and built a new training base in the suburbs, so we're broke as can be. Our attacking power was too weak last season, so this summer, in order to bring in a high-quality striker, we had to sell three key players just to scrape together the funds."

"So, we will definitely be promoting our youth players heavily, and our youth system is very strong—we only take the best young players in Portugal," Rony said with no small amount of pride.

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

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

Rony replied with a playful smile, "Guess."

The two of them started sparring in the indoor football court again.

At noon, Su Dong consumed some King of Football Points to redeem two portions of Western Food from the store. He then pretended he had ordered takeout and treated Rony to a meal, which the Portuguese man enjoyed thoroughly, praising it repeatedly.

The two spent the entire day in the park, only parting ways after nightfall.

Before leaving, Rony mentioned that he would consult with Pontes and another coach named Nare about Su Dong's training, and that he would continue to help Su Dong with special training.

However, with the arrival of the new season, they probably wouldn't be able to spend all day together like they had before.

That night, back at the dormitory, Su Dong received a call from the head coach, Gorba.

Gorba was clearly taking Su Dong's signing very seriously, repeatedly emphasizing the treatment Sporting Portugal would provide and promising that as soon as he signed, he could immediately join the first team for training and matches.

"We will arrange for you to play in every match to give you enough training opportunities."

Su Dong had already decided to sign, so he didn't overthink it and agreed immediately.

Since the agent he had entrusted when he first arrived at Sporting Portugal was that scammer, he explicitly told Gorba that he didn't have an agent and would go to sign the contract in person.

Gorba didn't mind; as long as the player was willing to sign, whether or not he had an agent wasn't an issue.

After signing, Su Dong also received a signing bonus of 100 Euro.

This was an unexpected windfall.

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