"I will make Chungnam Asan with a quick change of offense and defense."
Kim took the helm of Asan in South Chungcheong Province after Park Dong-hyuk, who left for Gyeongnam FC. He has been watching the team closely while serving as the secretary-general for the past two years, and has been excellent in fostering Seol Young-woo (Ulsan) and Choi Ji-mook (Busan I-Park) as the coach of Ulsan University.
The South Chungcheong Province Asan was called up a month after the end of the season in November and was sweating profusely with new coach Kim Hyun-seok. Kim Hyun-seok, who became the first K-League coach since his transformation as a leader, was also highly motivated.
"In the K-League, I coached players as coaches. This is my first time as a coach in the K-League. I am agonizing over which direction to coach myself," he said. "I am thrilled. The ground suits me. I was unfamiliar with the mission at the secretariat, but I fulfilled my responsibilities. I stayed true to my duty, but my heart was on the ground. This is an opportunity to show off my capabilities," he said.
It was awkward as Kim returned to the field after two years and the first K-League coach, but he understood the situation well because he watched his team closely. It is a gain that it does not take long to figure out players' strengths and weaknesses.
"I observed each individual and made my own judgment. I'm not aiming at Coach Park Dong-hyuk, but the players were full of inertia. You have to play selfless to play winning football. Attack is the best defense. We are a team that is less likely to lose points, so we try to change it into an attack-oriented team based on this," he said in an attempt to find a new answer through offensive soccer.
Coach Kim Hyun-suk has the core of his dream to play attacking football. "Attacking is also an attack, but I will emphasize fast transition of offense and defense in off-season. My honor depends on it. I want to make a team that can score more points than other teams," he said, citing fast transition of offense and defense as the core.
Asan has never made it to the playoffs since its foundation. Manager Kim Hyun-seok's goal is also in line with that. "I have to go to the playoffs. In my mind, the Maginot Line is the playoffs. I try not to burden my players, but I have to be nervous to a certain extent," he stressed.
"The number of wins is not that big of a difference. We had 14 wins last year and 12 wins this year, but we had many losses. The biggest offense is the defense. If a team loses a goal, it will score two goals. We will show better performance than this year," he said expressing confidence in advancing to the playoffs.
This is not the only goal he has. He is also waiting for a reunion with his former team Ulsan. If South Chungcheong Province Asan wants to meet Ulsan, it will be promoted to the K League 1 or the FA Cup. In particular, it is more likely to meet Ulsan only when it advances to the fourth round along with the luck of the FA Cup draw.
Coach Kim Hyun-seok also said, "I hope to meet Ulsan at the FA Cup, and I want to catch him. Seol Young-woo is my student who taught me at Ulsan University, and I should scold him (laughs). Young-woo and other students from Ulsan University contacted me to congratulate me after the news of my appointment as a coach."
He is ready to pour out a lot of sweat this winter for his new goal. "I understand the importance of the off-season very well. If things don't go well, we can ruin the season because we keep up with our color. I can't expose all strategies, but I plan to train to the point where they are close to perfect, if not perfect," he said, promising thorough preparations for the off-season.