Due to their outstanding performance in the previous match, the players of Mostar Zrinjski had earned a short vacation.
For these players, who had matches every week, any vacation was incredibly precious.
Especially for players like Kreso Pejic, who had a family—vacation basically meant reuniting with family and taking care of the kids.
But for Suk, vacation had to start with buying shoes.
"Are you ready? We should go!"
Suk swaggered into Stlker's dorm.
Based on yesterday's interaction, Suk had agreed to let Stlker join today's activity.
Of course, the theme of today's activity was buying shoes.
Suk's cleats were already torn, and the studs were worn down, with no grip at all.
He could have run faster, and the quicker stops and turns were slightly restrained because of the equipment.
So, as soon as Suk got his salary, he was going to buy himself a new pair of boots.
Modric was still following behind Suk, having become his little sidekick.
For this only friend in Mostar, Modric was quite inseparable, sticking to Suk almost every minute.
Stlker saw Suk and Modric, and he quickly put on his coat, saying, "Coming! Coming!"
His voice sounded incredibly light.
On the other hand, Boamer was silently packing his luggage with his head down.
Suk glanced at Boamer, who also saw Suk, but neither of them had any intention of interacting.
Stlker quickly finished packing.
Stlker was a black man of African descent, with a buzz cut, a lean figure, long limbs, and thin calves, wearing a brown cartoon short-sleeved shirt with black shorts.
Modric's attire was more aesthetically pleasing—black and white, a pure white short-sleeved shirt and black sweatpants. It lacked a sense of design but gave people a clean and tidy feeling.
As for Suk, he was just wearing training pants with a training short-sleeved shirt.
Suk glanced at Boamer again and turned his head, saying, "Let's go!"
With that, the three of them walked out of the dormitory, left the training base, and headed down the mountain along the winding path towards the town.
Along the way, the three were still talking about yesterday's match.
"Vukicevic's lob shot was too thrilling! If it had gone in, the final score would have been hard to say!"
Stlker said with emotion.
Modric also nodded. "If the score had been tied at that time, the opponent would have greatly restored their morale, and we would have been in a certain predicament."
After saying that, Modric added, "So, Suk's chase-back was very crucial!"
Suk stepped on the stone steps, listening to his teammates' praise, feeling a little elated. His steps were much lighter, jumping and skipping.
"The situation at the time was that I lost the ball in the frontcourt, and I had a responsibility to chase back."
Suk said it very easily, but Stlker and Modric sighed in their hearts.
That's what they said, but when it really came to that time, who could move their legs?
After all, the consumption of physical energy was already very large, and the body was in a state of fatigue.
Even if the center forward didn't chase back, no one would have thought it was Suk's responsibility.
But he still chased back.
This alone was enough to be admirable.
Unlike the two, Suk didn't think this was anything great.
After all, in the future football world, total attack and total defense had become a common tactic, and the center forward chasing back was also a very common thing.
It was just a bit abrupt under the current tactical concept.
Before long, the three had arrived in the town.
Along the Neretva River, they quickly arrived at the Zrinjski Stadium in the center of town.
The town's sporting goods stores were almost all concentrated in the back alleys near the stadium.
The front street was the Mostar Zrinjski team merchandise store, and the back alleys were various sports goods stores of all sizes.
When Suk and the others arrived at the back alley, there were almost seven or eight sports goods stores here.
Suk hadn't bought anything here before, and the remaining two were even less familiar with the town.
For this reason, the three decided to start shopping from the first merchandise store.
"Welcome!"
As soon as they walked in, a chubby young man came out to greet them.
When he saw Suk and the other two, he was surprised and said, "Suk, Modric, and..."
"Stlker!" Stlker said awkwardly.
"Hello, Stlker!"
The chubby young man was a fan of Mostar Zrinjski, or rather, most of the town were their fans.
However, except for important match days, not everyone came to watch their matches.
Suk pointed to the shoe display cabinet on the right and said, "I want to buy shoes!"
The chubby young man smiled and said, "You've come to the right place. The quality of the shoes here is the best, and the price is fair. By the way, you can call me Vikic."
"Hello, Vikic."
Suk said casually, then looked at the shoe display cabinet.
At first glance, Suk saw two classic shoes.
One was the Mizuno Morelia Wave Cup Legend.
Mizuno shoes were definitely the gospel for wide feet, and for any wide-footed person, the comfort of this shoe was the best.
And this shoe was the exclusive boot of Rivaldo of the Brazilian team in the last World Cup.
But Suk just took a look. His feet were on the lean side, and wearing these shoes would easily cause his feet to wobble inside.
After that, Suk looked at another classic boot.
Adidas Predator.
Black and red color scheme, the red fold-over tongue formed the most popular design style at present.
It could be said that after the World Cup, this type of shoe was selling like crazy all over the world.
"I'll try this one."
Suk pointed to the Adidas Predator.
Vikic smiled and found a shoe that fit Suk from the warehouse.
Suk put it on and felt good.
However, he didn't really like the design of the fold-over tongue.
It looks like a unique design style at this time, but Suk always felt that this thing affected his control over the ball.
Immediately, Suk looked at other shoes and found that there were no good choices.
In the end, he chose this black-and-red Adidas Predator. As for the tongue problem, he could just cut it off when the time came.
Suk wanted two pairs of shoes—one with short studs and one with long studs, to adapt to different match weather.
For example, on rainy days, long studs were needed to increase grip and prevent slipping.
Two pairs of shoes cost Suk almost 100 marks.
After getting the shoes, under Vikic's enthusiastic farewell, Suk and the others left the back alley of the stadium.
Because they left late, it was already lunchtime.
Suk said, "I'll treat you today, let's go eat. I know a good place."
Modric and the other two had no objections.
The three immediately walked downstream along the Neretva River, and after walking for about ten minutes, they came to a tavern.
The sign still hung 'Bakic's Tavern'.
"Are we going to drink?" Stlker was a little eager to try.
Suk turned his head and said angrily, "What are you thinking? This is a restaurant."
Stlker looked left and right. This was clearly a tavern.
However, Suk had already pushed the door open and entered.
"Bakic, we have customers!"
Suk shouted as soon as he opened the door.
Soon, Bakic came out of the back kitchen wearing an apron.
But when he saw Suk, he couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You guy, you're here to freeload again?"
Suk patted his pocket. "I have money!"
Bakic couldn't help laughing.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Three servings of fried beef, three servings of seafood paella, and three glasses of milk."
"A total of 75 marks."
Suk took out the money from his pocket and handed it over.
Bakic smiled and slapped Suk on the head, turned around, and walked into the back kitchen.
"Consider it my treat!"
Suk also smiled and rubbed his head, and the three sat around the table.
Stlker asked curiously, "Are you a regular here?"
"I used to work here," Suk said casually. "The boss is my former teammate. Haven't you seen him? The goalkeeper of Mostar Wanderers."
Stlker suddenly realized. He said he looked familiar.
At this time, Bakic poked his head out of the back kitchen and shouted, "Suk, help me fix the TV. It hasn't had any sound since you left."
Suk: "Leave it to me."
Stlker was surprised. "You can fix TVs too?"
Suk confidently raised his chin and walked to the load-bearing column below the TV, climbing up like a nimble monkey, sitting on the crossbeam with his butt.
Suk first turned on the TV and found that there was no sound.
Pah!
Suk spat on his right hand and slapped the side of the TV.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!!
Huh?
Doesn't work?
It must not be strong enough.
Suk increased his strength.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
"The Nem Harbor fleet will set off tomorrow night, the fishing season is coming..."
Listening to the sound from the TV, Suk clapped his hands in satisfaction and said, "Done!"
Stlker below opened his mouth wide.
Can it be fixed like this?
At this time, the food was also ready.
"Here, this is beef, this is seafood paella, and three glasses of milk."
Bakic put the food on the table, then pulled a chair and sat next to them.
"Your performance in the last match was really surprising."
Bakic said with emotion. "At that time, we were all worried about whether you could perform, but we didn't expect your performance to exceed our expectations."
Suk smiled and said, "Did I scare Oripe?"
Bakic nodded. "Oripe was indeed frightened, but he felt more guilty. You clearly have the strength to play in the Super League, but you were dragged down by us."
"You can't say that. The situation at the time was that if you didn't want me, other teams wouldn't have wanted me either." Suk said. "Mutual help."
Bakic smiled and nodded. "Now you've gone to the Super League, and in the future, we are waiting to see you on a higher stage."
"Like the Champions League?"
Bakic laughed and scolded, "You're lucky if you can play in the top five leagues."
Suk also smiled and didn't speak.
"You guys eat first. I'm going to the back kitchen."
Suk nodded.
When Bakic came out again, Suk and the others had disappeared, leaving six empty plates.
Under the plates was a stack of marks, exactly 100 marks.
There was even a sentence written on the banknote.
"I can play in the Champions League! Definitely!"
Bakic grinned and shook his head. "What a stubborn donkey!"