⚽ Football Reborn: The Manager from the Future
Chapter 28 – The Judas Player: Betrayal in Motion
Ethan always feared the Syndicate would strike from the outside.
What he never expected… was the knife to come from within.
The day began with a corrupted match file.
Greg, eyes bloodshot from reviewing ChronoSystem diagnostics, slapped a datapad on Ethan's desk.
"Somebody's been feeding our training telemetry to an unregistered node in Qatar."
Ethan's stomach dropped. "You're sure it's not a glitch?"
"It's not a glitch." Greg tapped the screen. "Encrypted relay. Twice a day. All originating from inside our camp."
Ethan leaned in.
"Who?"
Greg hesitated. "That's the problem. Whoever it is, they're masking their ID tag with an AI spoof. But the signal routing still gives us… range."
He dragged a circle on the 3D camp map.
It highlighted Dorm 3B—the section housing Neymar, Bellingham… and two rotational players Ethan had barely integrated.
"Too wide," Ethan muttered. "I need names."
"You'll get them," Greg said. "But in the meantime, we've got another issue."
He brought up a second screen.
A slowed-down sequence from the last full scrimmage. Tactical overlay on. ChronoSystem diagnostics running in real-time.
At 44:17, Neymar breaks down the left. Haaland peels central. Bellingham surges forward.
All according to the playbook.
Then it happens.
🧠 SYSTEM ALERT: TACTICAL DIVERGENCE
Player: [REDACTED]
Event: Lateral delay / Possession stall (unprompted)
Consequence: Disrupted triangle → no goal
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Why's the player ID redacted?"
"That's just it," Greg said. "It wasn't redacted. It was wiped mid-simulation. Live. The system doesn't do that."
"Then someone's tampering."
"Or," Greg said slowly, "someone's got higher clearance than we know."
Ethan had a protocol for this.
He called it: Ghostlight.
He pulled the full player squad into isolated sim rooms. No contact. No signals. Just one-on-one cognitive map scans using ChronoSystem's deepest algorithm—one not even Greg had full access to.
The system didn't scan tactics. It scanned intent.
Bellingham? Pure. Competitive. Frustrated by Neymar's unpredictability, but loyal.
Messi? Mentally locked. Detached from most of the noise. Still focused on creation, not sabotage.
Mbappé? Spiky. Emotional. But no indicators of deceit. If he were defecting, he'd do it loudly.
Then came…
Player X.
No name. Not in the system. No scan data from the last three weeks.
Just a single blinking warning:
⚠️ ERROR: Data echo conflict. Memory loop detected.
ID mismatch. Synthetic signature present.
"Greg," Ethan called. "We've got our traitor."
He pulled the full team into the main room.
One by one, they arrived.
Neymar chewing gum, laughing with Haaland.
Pedri serious, silent.
Messi with his arms folded.
The AI activated lockdown.
"No one leaves until we find the Judas," Ethan said.
The room fell into silence.
"I have reason to believe one of you isn't who you claim to be."
He tapped the table. A full-body schematic lit up—a player silhouette. But the facial features were blurred. ID unconfirmed.
The squad shifted, unease spreading.
Then, a voice spoke.
"You're wasting time."
Everyone turned.
It was Neymar.
"Let's be honest," he said, taking a step forward. "If you wanted betrayal, you wouldn't start with the guys who are scoring goals. You'd look at the benchwarmers. The ones still fighting for minutes."
He looked to the far end of the room—toward Kaito, a young Japanese midfielder who had joined as a tactical apprentice. Quiet. Obedient.
Too quiet.
"Check his logs," Neymar said. "He's been watching the system more than playing in it."
Kaito's face didn't change.
Ethan turned.
"Kaito?"
The young man didn't blink.
Then, slowly, he smiled.
"You really think the Syndicate only uses legends?" he asked. "No. We build new ones. Ones born in the dark. Ones who don't want to be famous… just eternal."
And with that—
He pressed a node on his forearm.
A shockwave surged.
Every AI panel in the room blinked out.
Emergency red flooded the lights.
🧠 SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED
INTERNAL LOOP TRIGGERED
EXECUTING PROTOCOL: SHADOW ARCHIVE
"HE'S UPLOADING SCRIMMAGE STRATEGIES!" Greg shouted from the control booth.
Pedri was already moving.
With a blur, he yanked the node from Kaito's arm, slammed him to the floor, and crushed the device underfoot.
Ethan leapt over the console and slammed the override.
The system froze.
Then…
✅ Data leakage: Contained
Compromise window: 14 seconds
Tactical loss: Minimal
Kaito lay bleeding on the floor, laughing.
"You can't win," he whispered. "You're playing a fair game… in a rigged world."
Ethan crouched over him.
"Who's next?"
Kaito's eyes dimmed.
"You'll see them soon. They're already in motion. You're building a symphony…"
He coughed.
"…and we're composing your funeral march."