At 7:00 PM that evening, Zachary arrived at Torino Incontra, the Golden Boy award ceremony venue. He was dressed to kill in his new tuxedo that matched well with his polished black Aubercy Diamond-Studded Shoes. His new hairstyle gave him a rogue feel, and a Patek Philippe moonphase silver watch adorning his wrist highlighted his elegance.
Smiling slightly, he marched forward and stepped on the red carpet leading to the venue. He walked confidently as the cameras flashed to capture his majestic visage.
"Zachary! An autograph..."
"Zachary! We love you. You will win for sure..."
"Zachary..."
The fans lining along the sides of the entrance went wild with frenzy and started yelling out his name. Zachary was surprised as he hadn't foreseen such a scenario where the Juventus fans would flood the venue to support him before his first award ceremony. However, as he had already been long used to the ever-present attention from the fans, he didn't lose himself. He waved to them before continuing his short march on the red carpet.
Heart beating wildly with excitement, Zachary finally entered the ceremony venue after a short while. He swept his gaze around the place and noticed that many guests, including retired footballers and journalists alike, had already taken their seats. Most were in the middle of hushed conversations while occasionally glancing ahead to catch the performances on the main stage.
As he continued looking around, Zachary also saw many cameras and their respective crews around the venue. They were probably put in place by famous Italian Television stations, like Sky Italia, Juventus TV, and Sportitalia, to capture live moments of the occasion. By the look of things, the stage had been set, and the award ceremony was about to commence.
"Zachary!" A middle-aged man with an usher's badge on his breast pocket called out while approaching from the side. "It's an honor to have you here. Welcome!" He spoke perfect English tainted by a little bit of an exotic accent, typical to Italians.
"Thank you," Zachary replied, nodding to the man.
The man smiled and said, "I go by the name - Mario Alberto. I'm one of the ushers for the ceremony. Let me guide you to your seat."
"Thanks," Zachary replied. "Please lead the way."
After hearing that, the man's smile brightened, and he eagerly turned around to lead the way. Zachary followed after him and passed by row after row of guests until he made it all the way to the front seats in the venue. And there, he finally saw the other top nominees for that year's Golden Boy award.
Raheem Sterling, the English player with the second highest probability of winning the award, was at the end of the row, enjoying the performances on the stage.
Then, Zachary also saw the other nominees in the same front row. They included Kurt Zouma, Divock Origi, Luke Shaw, Mateo Kovacic, and a few more faces Zachary couldn't recognize. They had all donned stylish suits, probably thinking that they had a chance to win the award. And maybe since they were proud footballers topping their generation, they didn't bother to initiate a conversation with Zachary when he arrived. They only nodded at him in greeting and returned their focus to the stage.
Zachary, on his part, smiled at those who nodded at him and then settled down on a seat assigned to him by the usher. On the surface, he seemed composed without any change of expression. However, on the inside, his feelings were a tad bit complicated.
During his previous life, he could only get glimpses of the faces of all the young football stars seated beside him only on the TV screen. In that lifetime, he could only admire them from afar without daring to dream about ever competing with them. How could he when he was even failing to make it in the low-tiered Congolese League back then?
But in Zachary's new life, everything changed for the better. He had obtained the GOAT system, and with its support coupled with his hard work, he quickly rose to prominence on the international football stage. He was only a few days past his 20th birthday, but he was already playing for Juventus, one of the mightiest football clubs in the world. But that was not all. He was also a distinguished player in the club, able to score goals, match in, match out, and as a result, he had been nominated for the Golden Boy award. It was a fact that he was flying, and he'd already achieved much more than he could have ever dreamt about during his previous life.
Thinking about all his achievements so far, Zachary felt satisfied, happy, and overwhelmed at the same time. Fame, money, and trophies — he already had it all at a young age, and nothing was stopping him from soaring even higher into the skies.
With all those feelings flooding his mind, he warned himself against growing complacent and losing it all. He didn't wish to have any regrets at the end of his career, so he pledged to work even harder and compete for more accolades. Achieving greatness was the basis of his conviction, and he would do his utmost to grow as a footballer and compete with the best in the world. He would either be successful or die trying.
Proceedings moved forward quickly, and soon enough, an electrifying opera performance ignited the atmosphere and set the stage for what was to come. Most of the lights dimmed, leaving a single one focusing on the master of ceremonies taking the stage. He smiled as he greeted the audience before introducing the background of the Golden Boy award.
The MC's speech was pretty brief. But he still managed to describe how the Golden Boy was an award given by sports journalists to the young male footballer playing in Europe, who was perceived to have been the most impressive during a calendar year. The MC also mentioned that the accolade was established by the Italian sports newspaper - Tuttosport in 2003 before going—on to introduce the representatives from the other top newspapers around Europe involved in the selection of the Golden Boy.
Among the dozen or so names mentioned were top media houses like De Telegraaf from the Netherlands, Mundo Deportivo from Spain, A Bola from Portugal, Bild from Germany, and The Times from the United Kingdom. They could all cast a single vote to select the most impressive young player of the year to win the Golden Boy award.
The MC went through everything pretty quickly. Eventually, he concluded his address with catchy words to excite the audience before inviting Pavel Nedvěd, a former Juventus player and legend, to present that year's Golden Boy award.
Pavel Nedvěd, on his part, was as swift as any professional footballer could be while walking onto the stage. He stepped before the podium with a smile and adjusted the microphone to match his height. Then, after greeting the audience and saying a few more perfunctory words in Italian, he finally got to the moment that mattered most.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "This year's Golden Boy award goes to one of the most promising players the world has ever seen. In just one year after stepping onto the professional football stage, he has been the best player in almost every competition he participated in. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Zachary Bemba, this year's Golden Boy award winner."
"Clap, clap, clap..."
The applause from the audience was like thunder as Zachary stood up and walked to the stage. He moved gracefully, taking advantage of his long strides to reach the podium quickly.
Finally, the long-awaited moment arrived when Zachary received the glittering Golden Ball from Pavel Nedvěd. His smile brightened as he thought about all the sweat and torment he had endured over the past three years while pushing forward to evolve as a footballer.
The countless hours and days he spent in the gym or on the turfs training all came back to him, flooding his mind and making his feelings a mess. He took a deep breath and thanked the audience and organizers in as few words as possible before expressing his gratitude to those who had expended great efforts to support him. Among those were his late grandma, his coaches, and his teammates. He spoke confidently in English, and in just a minute, he ended his speech and walked down the stage with his Golden Boy award in his hand.
It was also at that moment the applause from the audience resounded again to commemorate his winning the first award of his budding football career. He felt good as he took in the acknowledgment of those in the hall, but at the same time, he couldn't help but think about his late grandma once again.
"How good would it be if she was here to share all this with me?" He mused, sighing to himself. Then, taking a deep breath to calm himself, he settled back in his seat to wait for the award ceremony to end.
Later that night, after taking interviews from various journalists and after answering countless congratulatory calls from acquaintances and teammates alike, Zachary finally settled on his bed, feeling worn out to his very core.
He thought of calling Camilla to share his success with her. But after contemplating for a moment, he pushed the idea out of his mind. Camilla had been out of reach for the past two months. She would hardly ever receive or respond to his calls or messages, so he figured he was better off waiting for her to reach out.
Sighing to clear away the gloom of his failing relationship, he rolled into bed, hoping to sleep early, as he had to attend team training the following afternoon. But right then, before he could even enter in-between the sheets, a system notification reverberated in his mind.
"DING"
"Congratulations to the user for winning the first major award of his career and completing a hidden system mission," the system AI's apathetic voice sounded immediately after. "The user can check the mission completion details and rewards associated with the mission completion on the system interface."
Zachary's fatigue was immediately swept away, and his heartbeat quickened with excitement. A soft smile outlined his facial features, and he commanded the system to display the just-completed mission details.
