I decide the pace and distance of my life. Why not?
Mental Coach Jegal
Je Gal-gil causes an unprecedented scandal after he loses a match that he almost won due to the referee’s biased call and injures his leg. Even though permanently expelled from the national team as a player, he overcomes the trauma and comes back as a sports psychology counselor also called a mental healthcare coach. Together with the retired masters, Gal-gil works to help athletes who are going through a hard time as he did in the past.
Episodes
After getting permanently banned from the Taereung Training Center for doing the unacceptable, Jegal Gil has made a successful career for himself as a mental coach. One day, Moo Tae, his old friend, visits him and asks if he could help his little sister, Ga Eul, get back on track. Jegal Gil hesitates due to personal reasons.
Even with injuries, Ga Eul has no intention of dropping out of the upcoming race. Gil tries to tell her and make her understand that there is more than just one way to achieve something, but it’s difficult to change one’s long-practiced ways of dealing with hurdles. Eventually, Gil brings Ga Eul to the No Medal Club, where ex-national team athletes with one or more permanent injuries hang out. Ga Eul feels frustrated.
Jegal Gil does not agree with Ga Eul’s way of approaching the race. However, Ga Eul sticks to her plan and enters the race. Her plans were well prepared, but it was not good enough to outlast the pain from her injury and the hurdles from Coach Oh. Jegal Gil lets Ga Eul deal with her own defeat, and at the same time, he carries out a plan he’s been building out quietly.
Coach Oh’s assaults on the athletes have become the object of criticism after being exposed by one of the victimized athletes. However, seeing that those who should feel ashamed are not appreciating the gravity of the situation, Jegal Gil looks for a way to punish them and protect those who are most vulnerable.
Lee Moo Kyeol, who has achieved a Grand Slam, is at the center of a doping scandal. Tae Man tries to cover up the scandal with a little extra support from the union head, at the same time, Moo Kyeol claims that he’s clean. However, unlike what he claims, he runs away from the doping test. Meanwhile, Ga Eul no longer wants counselling from Jegal Gil due to a misunderstanding.
Everyone experiences a stage in life when they are vulnerable and weak, and that’s what Ga Eul and Moo Kyeol are going through. Jegal Gil’s job is to treat these athletes who are unfamiliar with the slump and to help them get out of it without forcing them into treatment. With national team selection just around the corner and the athletes denying the treatment, Jegal Gil must come up with a plan.
Ga Eul finally confronts Coach Oh’s physical violence. At the same time, Moo Kyeol also points out the unfairness prevalent in Swimming Union. Meanwhile, Jegal Gil invites the two to No Medal Club. A tip from Moo Tae opens up an opportunity for Jegal Gil to bring Coach Oh down, but he does not realize that everything comes at a cost.
Gil never even thought that Moo Tae was capable of standing on his opposite side, but it happened. What’s worse is the fact that Tae Man even took the evidence that is crucial to banning Coach Oh from coaching. With misfires piling up, Gil loses control of himself and decides that he should step down from the position as a mental coach. Right then, someone knocks on the doors of No Medal Club.
Jegal Gil returns as a mental coach with Seung Ha’s help. Along with Ga Eul and Moo Kyeol, Jegal Gil joins the archery team’s training camp. At the camp, what catches Jegal Gil’s eyes is Shin Ye Ji, the ace on the archery team who is suffering from the symptoms of target panic. Jegal Gil comes up with a special treatment to help her out, but he seems to be crossing the line a little too often.
Seung Ha lets Jegal Gil know that she’s worried about Ga Eul’s feelings toward him, but he laughs it off. Meanwhile, Coach Oh Dal Sung is reinstated as a coach with Tae Man’s help and goes right on to do his usual things to his athletes. Knowing that Coach Oh is back, Jegal Gil yet again gets himself involved in the situation as a secret helper. However, it seems like what Ga Eul needs is a chance to make choices on her own.
He may be one of the best mental coaches, but when it comes to love, Gil is nothing but a sore loser. When Ga Eul confesses her feelings for Gil, Gil assumes that her feelings are temporary and fake and suggests that she should see Seung Ha for further mental coaching. Meanwhile, Kang Han Na, the ace gymnast, reveals that she’s suffering from hallucinations. Gil tries to help her, hoping that he won’t be too late this time.
Yeo Woon has to choose between surgery and the Olympics, but the years of effort that she has put in make it hard for her to make the right choice. In order to get Gil out of the way, Tae Man uses Ga Eul to capitalize on Gil’s weakness. Meanwhile, during Taekwondo Regionals, Gil realizes that the referee has been bribed as well as the fact that it’s Tae Man’s doing.
Gil comes up with a plan to take action against corruption throughout the sport industry with Park Seung Tae at the center of it. Meanwhile, Moo Tae has to choose the side on which he hopes to stand when everything ends. At the same time, Ga Eul figures out what her brother is up to and wants to prevent Gil from getting himself into a sticky situation.
Now that Moo Tae knows what Ga Eul had to go through all alone, he and Gil set the stage for their next move to bring Tae Man and Assemblyman Park down. Ga Eul and Sun A, in the meantime, are on the run from Coach Oh’s inappropriateness. Getting his hands on Assemblyman Park’s ledger leads Gil to unexpected discoveries.
It’s pay back time for Tae Man who has just realized that he’s been exploited by Assemblyman Park. And this time, he teams up with Gil. Unfortunately, crucial pieces of evidence are all gone, and they find themselves stuck at a dead end. At that very moment, Seung Ha steps into the No Medal Club with a silver lining of hope.
Seung Ha watches Gil helplessly getting battered and does what she should’ve done a long time ago. With Seung Ha’s decision to hand over the evidence to the prosecution, Assemblyman Park finds himself with his back against the wall. Meanwhile, Ga Eul also makes sure that her confession gets Coach Oh the punishment he deserves. That makes Gil the only one who hasn’t made the choice yet.
