Bundesliga Season Opener!

First-team base.

Bayer Leverkusen's head coach, Schmidt, met Leo Kang.

After giving him a thorough once-over,

he smiled. "You're much more handsome than in the newspapers. No wonder. Come on, follow me to the training ground."

The two barely spoke the entire way.

Just as they were about to reach the training ground,

Schmidt remembered that Leo Kang had aphasia.

He did his best to speak in a gentle tone:

"Leo, you won't be one of my first-choice starters, but I'm not Hecking from Wolfsburg either."

"I hope to see you grow."

Leo Kang nodded.

He did not take those words to heart.

On the training ground,

Bayer Leverkusen's stars were warming up.

The first team's training camp began an hour later than the youth team's.

BellArabi sidled up to Kießling.

"That Chinese kid actually took Hakan's number 10 shirt."

"But he crushed Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern Munich's youth teams!"

"I watched the highlights. With the club promoting him so heavily, it was hard not to see them. Other than that one long-range shot, the kid was terrible at everything else. He definitely can't defend me!"

"I think his football IQ is pretty high—Shh! The boss is here!"

Kießling gestured for silence.

Beep!

The assistant coach blew the whistle to gather them.

Bayer Leverkusen's players stopped training.

They looked toward Schmidt and Leo Kang as they approached.

"Welcome our new member!"

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Sparse, half-hearted applause.

Most of the players wore indifferent expressions.

After sizing Leo Kang up a few times, they looked away.

Bayer Leverkusen might be China's lapdog.

They were not.

Schmidt sighed but said nothing.

Even among the powerhouse clubs of Europe's top five leagues, such situations were not uncommon.

The treatment of a "commercial mascot" was more or less the same everywhere.

Like in the Premier League, for example.

Still, the Chinese kid was not a starting player. There was no need for Schmidt to worry about whether he could fit into the team.

Leo Kang's expression remained calm, completely unaffected.

With all these stars standing before him, he could not even recognize every one of them by name.

"Leo, welcome!"

Son Heung-min was the first to step forward. Smiling, he squeezed Leo Kang's shoulder. "Wow! You're really strong!"

Leo Kang took a moment to react. He had not expected this guy to be so friendly toward him.

Didn't the news say Son Heung-min was shy?

Kießling also stepped forward and tapped his forehead. "I watched your match footage. Remember, in settled attacks, aim the ball at my head!"

Kramer scratched his head. "Do you play Pokémon?"

Even though the three of them tried hard to liven things up, they could not stir any enthusiasm from their teammates.

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

After giving the assistant coach a few instructions, Schmidt turned and left. He still had a meeting to attend.

Holding a tactics board, the assistant coach began reading out the teams for the practice match.

After he finished naming the players on Teams A and B,

he tossed Leo Kang a bib and said,

"Leo, you can train by yourself for now!"

Leo Kang nodded.

He put on the bib and began warming up along the track.

BellArabi smiled disdainfully. "Why are you guys being so friendly to a mascot?"

Son Heung-min ignored him.

Kießling spread his hands.

Kramer was about to argue back.

Captain Bender shouted, "Stop wasting time. Get training!"

Çalhanoğlu watched Leo Kang's retreating back, filled with resentment.

Bayer Leverkusen had stripped him of his number 10 shirt for a commercial reason.

Leo Kang ran along the sidelines.

From time to time, he looked toward the practice match on the field.

In God's Perspective,

an overhead view formed automatically.

Bayer Leverkusen's style was very clear: high pressing in the middle and attacking thirds, with a compact defensive shape at the back.

Kramer and Bender were the team's defensive pivots.

Çalhanoğlu was the attacking core.

The two fullbacks surged forward again and again.

This seemingly simple tactic,

after Schmidt refined its details,

had given even the major powerhouses plenty of trouble last season.

In the Champions League Round of 16, it had left Simeone's Atlético Madrid stunned.

In the Prince's Cup friendly, it had once forced Guardiola's full-strength Bayern Munich into defensive counterattacking football.

Training ended.

Son Heung-min walked over to Leo Kang and smiled.

"I'll take you to the first-team cafeteria!"

"Don't take it to heart. When I first joined Hamburg's first team, my teammates were cold toward me too. You know why."

"In my first season at Hamburg, I didn't get much playing time either."

"Keep it up!"

Leo Kang did not like Koreans.

Especially their sportsmanship.

He could not understand why Son Heung-min was being so friendly.

The days that followed for Leo Kang

were calm and dull.

Because he was not in Schmidt's tactical plans,

he had no chance to play in the practice matches.

He was not even required to attend first-team tactical meetings.

Leo Kang felt as though he had returned to his days at La Masia Academy.

He trained alone every day.

His physical condition was checked every Monday.

Twice a week, he attended Berenta's classes.

Völler checked on his physical condition every few days and had photographers take pictures of him juggling the ball.

Havertz would take him out for a stroll on rest days.

Son Heung-min occasionally taught him match experience and tricks for dribbling past opponents with changes of direction.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye,

it was the Bundesliga season opener.

BayArena.

Every seat was filled.

When the players from both sides emerged from the tunnel,

Bayer Leverkusen's fans erupted in deafening cheers!

"CCTV-5! CCTV-5! We're bringing you live coverage of the first round of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season!"

"Bayer Leverkusen host Hoffenheim!"

"Last season's fourth-place Bundesliga side against the eighth-place side!"

"I'm your commentator for this match, Duan Xuan!"

"And I'm He Wei!"

"We can see another Asian face on Bayer Leverkusen's bench this season!"

"A young Chinese player from La Masia Academy—Leo Kang!"

"We hope he gets a chance to come on in this match!"

China's CCTV-5 livestream.

The comments flew across the screen.

-

[Why are Duan Xuan and He Wei commentating on the Bundesliga?]

-

[Because La Liga hasn't started yet, they don't have Premier League broadcasting rights, and Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, and Borussia Mönchengladbach all play tomorrow!]

-

[CCTV-5 commentary is still the most comfortable to listen to. Those random little streamers only know how to say "holy shit," "awesome," and "666"! Holy shit! Leo Kang made the squad, awesome! Bayer Leverkusen have this match in the bag!]

-

[Who's Leo Kang? That Chinese waterboy? Bayer Leverkusen are still better than that guy at Wolfsburg. At least they brought him to the stadium, hahaha!]

-

[Brother Leo is awesome! Just wait and see!]

-

[Whether he makes the squad or not, it'll be hard for Bayer Leverkusen to lose anyway!]

-

[Awesome? Are you paid shills hired by the Germans? This is hilarious, the hype work has been pretty solid!]