"You're saying we should sign Iniesta?"
"Yes."
"It's not as if I never thought about it. From the moment I decided to come to City, I had already considered signing him. With Prince Mansour as the owner, it even seemed possible."
If Guardiola were asked to name the one person he had been closest to at Barcelona, it would be very difficult for him to choose.
But if he had to name the player he was closest to mentally, he could answer without hesitation.
Iniesta.
"Even if he had not become a footballer, he still would have made it big. He's the sort of person you can learn a lot from as a human being."
Out of nowhere, Guardiola began praising Iniesta at length.
"He was the biggest reason I could keep insisting on the football I wanted to play without bending."
One of the driving forces behind the birth of Guardiola-style tiki-taka had been Iniesta.
"Usually he hardly spoke, but when I was struggling, he came to my office and gave me strength. And from that point on, we shared a mental connection. Of course, he probably wouldn't even look twice at me now. I'm a manager who couldn't win the league even once at Barcelona."
At that moment, Ho-young felt it.
There was a trace of sorrow in Guardiola's voice.
He was blaming himself.
But Guardiola soon returned to the main point.
"Yes, I want Iniesta too. But what matters is his decision. No matter how wealthy our owner is, if he has no desire to come to us, there is nothing we can do. And Iniesta will never leave Barcelona."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know him better than anyone. No, even before we get to negotiations with him, chairman Rosell will never allow it."
That was the normal way of thinking.
If Barcelona lost Iniesta, it would cause uproar.
They were only just beginning to rise again, so there was no way they would sell him.
But Ho-young had thought that far already.
"We've made our own preparations before you even arrived, manager. So I think we can definitely shake chairman Rosell. As you said, the real key is Iniesta's choice."
"It will be difficult."
"I trust you, manager."
Iniesta had occasionally made it clear that he would never leave Barcelona.
In the end, the only one who could truly move him was Guardiola.
If people were asked to name the greatest central midfielder in modern football, many would answer with one voice.
Andrés Iniesta.
The player who had led the golden age of Spain's invincible armada and made Barcelona's league title this season possible.
A player capable of playing as a winger, attacking midfielder, or central midfielder, and regarded as someone who possessed every talent and quality a midfielder needed.
So many clubs had admired him up to that point that they could have filled a truck.
Especially last season, when Barcelona had fallen into a slump, many clubs that had always coveted him sent him offers.
But every time, Barcelona's chairman had rejected them all by mentioning astronomical fees.
For example, he had once shut down all approaches by saying, "Anything under 100 million is not worth discussing."
Iniesta was already 27, yet that only showed how firmly everyone believed he was still in his prime.
In fact, last season he had been one of the final five Ballon d'Or nominees and had delivered dazzling performances.
Thanks to that, Spain had reached the World Cup final.
This season was the same.
Even as the team was falling apart, he and Xavi had stood firm in midfield, and under Tito Vilanova they had produced a dramatic comeback over Real Madrid.
He was truly at the peak of his powers.
Yet for certain reasons, he had ended up missing out on countless major trophies over the past three years.
Ho-young.
If not for him, they might have completed a sextuple, and they might have reached the World Cup final more comfortably and even won it.
One football columnist evaluated Iniesta like this.
[Iniesta, the unfortunate player. After Guardiola arrived in 2008, he adapted perfectly to tiki-taka and shocked the world. But everything became twisted once he met Ho-young. The irony is that even as his ability steadily improved, the number of trophies he won remained disappointing. And what is even more unfortunate is that, despite playing alongside Lionel Messi, the finest player in South America, he still failed to achieve results worthy of satisfaction.
If Iniesta had been at Real Madrid rather than Barcelona, in other words, if he had played alongside Ho-young, they might have produced the greatest results football history would never see again.]
The coexistence of Iniesta and Ho-young.
It was one of the things many football fans imagined.
There had even been jokes that in football video games, putting Ho-young up front and Iniesta behind him produced record-breaking results so absurd they felt like a bug.
Then, not long ago, one article hit the football world and sparked huge interest among football fans.
[Royal Spanish Football Federation, "Ho-young's switch to Spain is only one step away."]
Korean football fans were ready to riot at the news, but other football fans welcomed it enthusiastically.
They were delighted at the thought that they might finally see Ho-young win the World Cup.
South Korea and Spain wore the same colour shirts, but in terms of strength there was a gap like heaven and earth.
And they were thrilled at the prospect of finally seeing Ho-young and Iniesta play on the same team.
Even Real Madrid and Barcelona fans were secretly hoping for it.
But today, an even more shocking piece of breaking news came out.
[Manchester City officially make an approach for Andrés Iniesta]
[Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, "If Iniesta comes, Manchester City's Champions League title is as good as won."]
Perhaps sooner than expected, the day when Ho-young and Iniesta would play together might really come.
Back in January, City had already made an approach, so the article itself was not entirely unexpected, but now that it was becoming reality, it was still shocking.
[What kind of team are they trying to build if they're even trying to take Iniesta? Isn't Ho-young enough already? This is ridiculous. Are these lunatics off to defend the Earth or something?]
└This guy's clearly a United fan. Everyone else is loving it and he's the only one throwing a fit.
└Manchester belongs to City now.
└You're all money and no tradition, so don't get carried away. See you in the Community Shield. United are different this season.
└Is Ferguson really not retiring? If he doesn't retire now, he'll collapse from high blood pressure by the end of the season.
Aside from some fans, most people were eager to see the two of them together.
But contrary to those expectations, the transfer did not look as though it would be easy.
Barcelona were taking a very firm stance.
[Barcelona acting manager Vilanova, "Iniesta is a player who belongs at Barcelona. He will not go anywhere."]
[Barcelona chairman Sandro Rosell, "I would not give up Iniesta even if you gave me the world."]
But their firm stance did not last very long.
[Mansour speaks personally, "I will bring Iniesta here by any means necessary. I will show them how money is meant to be used."]
[Sandro Rosell, "Iniesta's value goes beyond imagination. It cannot be measured in money."]
[Manchester City chairman Al Mubarak preparing £45 million for Iniesta...]
[Barcelona chairman Sandro Rosell, "Offering £45 million for Iniesta is shameless. Iniesta will never leave Camp Nou."]
[Manchester City prepared to offer £60 million for Iniesta]
[Sandro Rosell, "Manchester City finally seem willing to negotiate."]
[Manchester City offer £65 million for Iniesta, payment to be made in full cash up front]
[Barcelona, "Whether Iniesta leaves Camp Nou is ultimately a personal matter. We will leave a minimal path open for negotiation out of respect for his wishes. But he will never leave."]
As expected, capital was hard to resist.
The Sandro Rosell who had said he would not give him up for the world had disappeared without a trace.
In the end, Barcelona began showing signs that they would accept the transfer request, and that soon led to smooth negotiations between Manchester City and Iniesta.
High wages and bonuses.
Various benefits Barcelona could never offer him.
Even so, Iniesta could not bring himself to make the decision.
'This is difficult.'
He had a lot to think about.
If he left for Manchester City, there was a great deal he could gain.
And City were going to play in the Champions League this season, which made the move even more tempting.
But that did not mean he could go there with a calm heart.
Manchester City had already become notorious last season for problems with disharmony in the squad.
Of course, David Silva and Yaya Touré, with whom he already had good relationships, were there, but that alone was not enough to move his heart.
Leaving Camp Nou, a place he had grown attached to for so long, did not sit easily with him.
That was the kind of player Iniesta was.
He was not good with words and was timid by nature.
Even on the training ground he was so quiet and passive that teammates found it hard to approach him or even joke around with him.
For someone like that, adapting to Manchester City would clearly be very difficult.
So.
'No, it won't work. Right, it won't.'
In his heart, he wanted to go to City and take on a new challenge, but in the end he had intended to reject Manchester City's offer.
Because he could not betray his teammates.
And above all, he lacked the courage.
But then.
[Ronaldinho, "I can't sleep thinking about playing with Iniesta again. We would definitely create the best football together."]
[David Silva, "Iniesta is the best midfielder in the world. I'm already excited at the thought of him coming."]
[Ho-young, "I can say it now. I've wanted to play with Iniesta for a long time. Playing with him would be the greatest happiness for a striker."]
The media campaign by several players shook Iniesta's heart.
And most of all.
-It's been a while.
One phone call from Guardiola.
-Would you come with me one more time?
Guardiola's football.
The call violently shook the heart of Iniesta, who had already been feeling nostalgic for it.
For him, Guardiola had always been, without question, the greatest manager he had ever had.
The related article came out exactly a week later.
[Andrés Iniesta agrees to transfer to Manchester City]
And Iniesta arrived at the Etihad Stadium two days after that.
Flash!
As camera flashes poured down on him, Iniesta, who had finally joined Manchester City after many twists and turns, spoke with a flushed face.
"I will achieve here what I could not achieve elsewhere."
It was an unusually spirited answer for someone normally as reserved as Iniesta.
But something even more surprising happened the very next day.
Unable to contain himself, Iniesta joined team training immediately, and then found himself speechless.
A 7-on-7 mini-game was being played, and for Iniesta, who had ended up on the same side as Ho-young, it was nothing short of a shock.
'Those bastards at Real Madrid...'
Only then did Iniesta realise it.
'They were complete frauds.'
The reason Real Madrid had been able to achieve such absurd results.
The reason they had no choice but to do so was standing right here.
'Ho-young.'
With him, it felt as though he really could create miracles.
(To be continued.)