The blonde boy, who looked about seventeen, stared at Naza for a long moment in confusion before hitting his hands off his shoulder.
"What the hell is wrong with this Naza kid? Did he hit his head somewhere?"
"Yeah, he usually never even has the guts to talk back to John, but now he's touching him?"
Naza blinked once and quickly took a step back. 'What the hell am I even doing?'
Except for soccer and gaming, another thing that Naza loved reading was webnovels—so much that it became part of his daily habit—so to him, what was happening now wasn't completely foreign.
He had read his fair share of transmigration novels and knew too well how this trope worked. Knowing that, he quickly composed himself.
From the words the John guy was saying, it was pretty obvious which world he was in now, but he still had to collect a lot of information, and acting strange would only make people suspicious of him.
Naza glanced left, then right before falling to the ground screaming. "My leg! Oh John, I'm so scared I could die!"
John shrieked back, utterly dumbfounded. "What's gotten into that idiot?"
He clicked his tongue and turned around. "Trash. Just use that pretty face of yours and be an idol instead of soiling the name of this sport." Without a word, the three other boys behind him also turned around and left.
Naza, who was curled on the floor, finally relaxed and let out a long breath. "Good thing I learned how to dive."
With a single leap, he jumped back onto his feet.
The air around him was cool against his back. He was sweating, and the smell of freshly cut grass still lingered in the air.
Standing on that empty pitch, Naza couldn't help but grimace. This smell, this feeling, had been what he had been running after his entire life, but now, even in another world, he was stuck in a mediocre body.
If this world was really that of the game he had played on Earth, then football here was more than just a sport—it was a religion.
The most watched thing on the planet, with the most famous influencers. Only being a footballer promised fame, wealth, and recognition more than any other career.
Because of this, the competition to become a pro was far greater than on Earth. And because of the existence of special abilities called egos, the difference between a pro and a youth player was like heaven and earth.
However, the reason why, even though football was praised and loved so much, it still wasn't an oversaturated field was because of the existence of egos. Since only those with egos could play the sport, it became as if those who played it were chosen by the gods.
Naza walked around the field for a while, contemplating what to do next. By the time he reached the center of the pitch, a sharp pain tore through his head as memories that weren't his flooded into his mind.
His knee buckled as he fell face-flat onto the ground, as if some invisible force had fouled him. Using his knee and elbow, he managed to prevent himself from getting hurt as the memories kept flooding in.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pain finally stopped, and tears ran down Naza's cheeks.
The owner of the body he currently inhabited was the son of a rogue Black American gang leader who died in a gang fight and a former South Korean idol he got pregnant after a one-night stand, which the man refused to acknowledge.
Naza and his sister were born soon after. Both of them were light-brown-skinned, with dark golden curly hair and amber eyes that seemed to draw the souls out of people.
Because of their beautiful faces and features, their mother, Kim Jinah, had a fairly easy life, since random people wanted to help them and shower them with love.
However, everything started changing when Naza decided he wanted to become a football player and his sister Ada wanted to become a shoemaker. Naza had zero talent in football since he couldn't unlock an ego, and no matter how much Ada struggled, she couldn't beat the trending companies or even get past the startup stage.
For this reason, the Kim family house had become a home of depression.
'Only the bad vibes from this body could kill the mood.'
Naza sat up, staring at the grass on the pitch. The sun was setting, casting beautiful golden light across the field.
He exhaled through his nose. For someone like him, who came from a poor family, he knew how it felt to have no talent for what you loved and later end up leaving it for your family's sake. But in this life, he wasn't planning on living that kind of life.
Naza's gaze was filled with hope for this new life.
Clenching his fist, he muttered, "No matter what happens in this life, I shall stand at the top of the world of football. I will become the king—no, the God of football!"
The moment those words left his lips, a loud ding echoed in his ears, causing him to place his hands over them.
Ding!
[You have been chosen by the God of Sports as a representative of football.]
[The host has successfully transmigrated into the body of Kim Naza, a struggling soccer player.]
[Please do your best to climb to the rank of God of Football, the only rank above the G.O.A.T.]
[For the success of your mission, the God of Sports has granted you a special system.]
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[The SSS Football Gacha System has been activated.]
[Each wonder, whether good or bad, that you perform with a soccer ball on or off the field shall earn you points.]
[These points can be used to either get temporary or permanent skills from the Gacha System.]
[Note: These skills aren't limited to just dribbling but also stats, shooting, IQ, passing, composure, penalty taking, etc.]
[PLEASE GIVE A GOOD SHOW TO THE GREAT ONE. ANYTHING BEYOND THAT WOULD LEAD TO NOT JUST YOUR DEATH BUT THE END OF YOUR EXISTENCE.]
Naza stared at the golden-and-black screen floating in front of him, jaw slack. "What the hell?"
Ding!
[Activating first free draws.]
[FIVE PERMANENT SKILLS HAVE BEEN PULLED. PLEASE SELECT ONE.]