The next morning…
Brookhaven High School buzzed with excitement.
Students filled the hallways, talking loudly about one thing.
“The football trials!”
“I heard Coach Williams is picking three new players.”
“They say Ethan Hartman is coming too.”
“That guy’s a monster.”
McCall adjusted the strap of his backpack as he walked through the front gate.
His football hung loosely from one hand.
Unlike yesterday…
He wasn’t nervous.
He was focused.
Still…
Deep inside, fear lingered.
“What if I’m still not good enough?”
The System suddenly appeared before him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Host Emotional State Detected
Confidence: 61%
Fear: 39%
Recommendation:
Trust your training.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
McCall smiled.
“…Thanks.”
He dismissed the screen before anyone noticed.
Just then—
“McCall!”
Jake ran toward him carrying two sports drinks.
“You actually came.”
“I said I would.”
Jake grinned.
“Good.”
“Because almost the whole school is watching.”
McCall looked toward the football field.
His jaw slowly dropped.
Hundreds of students surrounded the pitch.
Teachers stood along the sidelines.
Even former players had returned to watch.
“It feels like a championship match…”
Jake laughed.
“That’s Brookhaven.”
“Football is basically our religion.”
…
Near midfield…
Coach Daniel Williams stood with his assistant coaches.
A whistle hung around his neck.
His sharp eyes scanned every student entering the field.
“We have sixty-three participants.”
The assistant nodded.
“Most of them won’t survive the warm-up.”
Coach Williams chuckled.
“Talent is easy to find.”
“I’m looking for character.”
He raised the whistle.
“Everyone onto the field!”
Immediately…
The crowd became quiet.
Players rushed toward the pitch.
McCall joined the back of the group.
A few students noticed him.
“Isn’t that the bench guy?”
“Why is he here?”
“He couldn’t even trap the ball last semester.”
“This’ll be funny.”
McCall heard every word.
His fists tightened.
Jake leaned closer.
“Ignore them.”
“They’ll shut up eventually.”
McCall nodded.
“I know.”
…
Then…
A black luxury car rolled onto campus.
Every conversation stopped.
The door opened.
Out stepped Ethan Hartman.
Perfect posture.
Perfect confidence.
Several girls immediately whispered.
“He’s here…”
“So handsome.”
“The captain is definitely keeping his spot.”
Ethan ignored everyone.
His eyes scanned the field once.
Then…
They landed on McCall.
Only for a second.
Then he looked away.
As if McCall wasn’t worth remembering.
Jake frowned.
“That guy annoys me.”
McCall remained silent.
Coach Williams blew the whistle.
“Listen carefully!”
The entire field became silent.
“Today’s trials will test three things.”
“Technique.”
“Decision-making.”
“And heart.”
“You don’t need to be the strongest.”
“You don’t need to be the fastest.”
“But if you quit…”
“You leave.”
A murmur spread through the players.
Coach Williams smiled.
“Let’s begin.”
…
First Test
Ball Control.
Every player had thirty seconds to dribble through a course of cones.
The first few students struggled.
Several knocked over cones.
Others lost possession completely.
Coach Williams wrote notes without saying a word.
“Next.”
Jake went.
His run was clean.
Not spectacular.
But solid.
“Good.”
Coach nodded.
“Next.”
“Ethan Hartman.”
The crowd erupted.
Ethan casually placed the ball at the starting line.
He didn’t even appear interested.
The whistle blew.
Whoosh!
He exploded forward.
The ball seemed glued to his feet.
Left.
Right.
Spin.
Acceleration.
He completed the course nearly five seconds faster than anyone else.
The crowd cheered loudly.
“Unbelievable!”
“As expected!”
Coach Williams simply nodded.
“Excellent.”
Ethan walked away without smiling.
To him…
It was ordinary.
…
Then…
“McCall Johnson.”
Silence.
A few students laughed.
“This should be interesting.”
McCall stepped forward.
He placed the ball down.
Took a deep breath.
The System appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Optional Assistance Available
Perfect First Touch
Passive Skill Active. Get faster updates on g.com.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The whistle sounded.
McCall moved.
His first touch…
Perfect.
The ball rolled exactly where he wanted.
His second touch…
Even better.
The cones flew past him.
His movements weren’t flashy.
They were efficient.
Smooth.
Controlled.
The students slowly stopped laughing.
“What…”
“Since when could he do that?”
Coach Williams narrowed his eyes.
Interesting…
McCall reached the final cone.
One last touch.
Finished.
The timer stopped.
Only one second slower than Ethan.
The crowd fell silent.
Even Ethan turned his head.
For the first time…
He truly looked at McCall.
Not as the boy from the bench.
But as someone worth noticing.
Coach Williams wrote something on his clipboard.
Then…
For the first time that morning…
He smiled.
“Very impressive.”
McCall’s heart skipped.
He had never heard those words from Coach before.
Jake sprinted over.
“Dude!”
“Where did that come from?”
McCall laughed nervously.
“I’ve been practicing.”
Jake shook his head.
“No.”
“You’ve been transforming.”
…
High above the field…
The silver-eyed man from the rooftop watched through binoculars.
“The Legacy is adapting faster than expected.”
A voice crackled through his earpiece.
“Should we report to Headquarters?”
He continued watching McCall.
“…Not yet.”
“I want to know…”
“…whether he can awaken under pressure.”
Back on the field, Coach Williams blew the whistle again.
“The next test…”
He paused deliberately.
“…is one-on-one duels.”
The players exchanged nervous glances.
Coach looked down at his list.
Then smiled.
“Our very first matchup…”
His eyes lifted toward the group.
“Ethan Hartman…”
A ripple of excitement swept through the spectators.
Then Coach looked at another name.
“…versus…”
McCall held his breath.
“…McCall Johnson.”
The entire field exploded with shock.
Jake’s eyes widened.
“No way…”
Even Ethan raised an eyebrow.
For the first time in years…
The forgotten boy from the bench…
Would stand face-to-face with Brookhaven High’s undisputed football king.
And everyone wanted to see what happened next.