Chapter 290 Qualifier finals VII
However while all this things took place, Park Seung-gyu who was playing the victim, kept on lying on the floor, pretending to be hurt until the end.
Even while dealing with his teammate and the referee, from time to time Hiro had been observing Park Seung-gyu, trying to find out the real deal.
However all this time, Park Seung-gyu never acted a least bit suspicious. Groaning in pain while lying on the floor, completely ignoring the incident taking place right beside him, it was like as if he was really hurt.
After seeing such realistic performance from Park Seung-gyu, even Hiro had started doubting his claims.
And just as the referee presented his verdict, opposing players started helping Park Seung-gyu to stand straight. Supporting him, they slowly lifted him from the ground.
'Is he really hurt?' Hiro thought while staring at the limping figure of Park Seung-gyu.
However soon his doubts totally vanished away in thin air as he stood face to face against the player who was going to take the freekick from the opposing team.
"So you were faking it afterall" Hiro muttered to himself in a muffled voice while standing alongside his teammates, acting as the wall.
Park Seung-gyu, the same person who was limping some seconds ago as if he had received a miraculous healing was standing behind the ball, preparing to take the freekick, looking completely fine.
There wasn't even a spec of pain reflected in his eyes. Neither was he smiling nor was he making painful expression, right now he was as cold as ice.
His eyes which were fixedly looking at their direction actually wasn't even looking at them. It was like as if they weren't even present there at the moment.
Those cold eyes of Park Seung-gyu right now was totally fixed at the post, ignoring any kind of obstruction present along the path.
Seeing the standing figure of Park Seung-gyu, a lot of people present at the stadium grumbled as they made unhappy expressions.
"He should have been booked for diving. Earlier that kid was obviously faking his injuries" one of the elderly spectators, wrapped in colors of Japan grumbled in a hoarse voice, expressing his dissatisfaction.
Although there were a lot of dissatisfied voices circulating around the stadium, there were also those voices which were defending him and cheering him.
Some were even impressed by his acting skills and cold demeanor.
Faking an injury is one thing while making others believe that you're actually injured that's a skill only few players in the world has managed to master.
And Park Seung-gyu was very well among those players.
Although a lot of normal people might find such kind of tactics cheap and unsightly, however football isn't a sport for the softies. No matter how much people advocate football as a fair spot, in actuality football isn't a fair sport by any means.
Politics, monopoly, preying on weak, mind games, greed, such things and many other negative things are actually much common in football. It's just hidden behind the mask of being fair and for the fans.
Thus right now although most of his friends were agitated by the deceptive method used by Park Seung-gyu, Hiro was actually smiling despite knowing that they had been deceived.
His gaze were flickering with admiration and competitiveness while his lips were curled up into a devilish smile.
He really wanted to compete against Park Seung-gyu and topple him. He wanted to win against this cunning forward.
While preparing for his freekick, Park Seung-gyu's upper body expanded as he inhaled a deep breath.
However the enlargement of his body didn't last long as it gradually started shrinking while exhaling the air he had inhaled.
Huffff!!
As he let out a mouth full of turbid air, all of a sudden his eyes flashed with a cold gleam. The gleam on his eyes didn't last long either.
Park Seung-gyu then launched towards the ball at rapid pace. Within blink of an eye, he appeared infront of the ball.
Bam!!
After getting close to the ball, he struck the ball with all his might, without restraining even a bit of his strength.
The ball as it left the ground flew towards the post like a spearheaded missile. Spinning continuously, it tore the wind apart as it travelled towards the goal-post of Japan at lightning speed.
At the same time, Hiro and his teammates who were standing in between, leapt from the ground as they tried to block the ball midway.
However non of them managed to succeed. The ball simply flew over the head of Honda by a hairs breath, barely touching Honda's hair.
Witnessing the scene of their players failing to prevent the ball, fans of Japan grew extremely anxious. Most of them tightly clenched their seat while some of them started to bite their nails out of anxiousness.
Trepidation and anxiousness was evident in their eyes.
At the same time, fans of South Korea, their heart flutter while their eyes glowed with warm light. Stimulation of joy struck them as they followed the path of the ball.
After travelling for a while the ball started to drop. However the spin on the ball still allowed it to retain most of it's speed.
Akutsu and few others who were positioned behind the wall of players, tried their absolute best to reach the ball. Opposing players who were positioned behind the wall, did the same as well; trying their best to reach the ball with the intention of leading the ball to the goalpost.
Shun who's vision was mostly obstructed by the battalion of players scattered infront of him mostly had to rely on his intuition to make this save.
Infact right now, all he knew was the fact that the walls erected infront of Park Seung-gyu had failed to stop the ball.
Guided by his intuition, Shun then leapt towards the direction where he predicted the ball would appear.
Based on the initial prediction of the trajectory of the ball, he intuitively stretched towards his right while stretching his body to his utmost limit.
The dot like figure of the ball became bigger with every passing seconds before it filled his vision to fullest.
As predicted by him, it did came towards the direction he had dived. However even with all those prediction and analysis, he still couldn't manage to save the goal.
Despite covering almost the entire post, his timing was a tad bit inaccurate. The ball barely slipped through his fingers and crashed against the net behind him while crossing the goal-
line.
"Gooooaaaaallllllll!!"
Thud!!
Even the sound of his collision was muffled by the sound of celebration.
At once as the ball ended up inside the post, deafening sound of cheers reverberated all over the stadium.
Sea of spectators stood from their seat as they shouted at top of their lungs, openly expressing their joy.
"There was simply no stopping to that shot. Marvellous!! Truly marvellous!!" Praises of commentator mixed with the celebration taking place in the stadium created an extremely festive atmosphere around the stadium.
If one looked from the above, one would find many small dots wiggling and moving frantically. Looking from above the scene would be like thousands of ants clustered inside a tiny glass jar.
Park Seung-gyu who was the protagonist responsible for creating this festive scene was getting showered with praises from all over the stadium.
And he himself was celebrating this moment with a triumphant celebration. Sprinting towards his teams substitution box with his arms stretched, he was basking onto the cheers, enjoying the moment.
Similar to a king enjoying the tribute of his subjects, Park Seung-gyu was enjoying the praises shot towards him. Instead of making a joyous expression, he was actually making a satiated expression, like he was having an orgasm.
"That cheap bastard, if not for his deceptive tactics, we wouldn't concede this goal" Ren Tanaka cried out with fury.
His eyes were bloodshot while his face was red with anger. Instead of being sad about the goal, he was actually fuming.
Thud!!
Shun who was lying on the ground, furiously slammed his fist against the ground as he buried his face in the grass.
Those celebratory chants circulating around the stadium was like a devilish screech to him. He simply couldn't bear hearing them.
With every passing seconds, he could feel his ears bleed.
While his teammates were either despairing, sad or fuming, Hiro however was rather calm this moment.
Some might mistake him for a weirdo because of such behaviour. However right now, he was more sane than any of his teammates.
Although that didn't mean that he wasn't upset about the goal. Just like most fans of Japan, he was also quite disappointed.
However right now more than dissatisfaction, he was seeing something else. He was looking at the bigger picture.
The Park Seung-gyu whom he competed against in the arcade was nowhere to be seen. He had completely transformed into a different person on the field at this moment.
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