Last June.
Since transcendence had begun, Ho-young had gone through many trials and errors.
Whenever he used abilities beyond human limits, greed would crawl up on him at any time, which had put him in danger more than once or twice.
At times like that, the only thing he could do was hide his strength.
There was a clear limit to adapting to it and controlling it.
It was like having contents that overflowed while the container was too small.
So until now, he had kept himself under control and kept running so that those contents would not spill over.
But now.
The moment the long-awaited transcendence of the body began, everything changed.
Around the 18th minute of the first half.
"Siuu!!"
It was the moment he celebrated right after scoring the opening goal.
"...Huh?!"
"What was that?"
When Ho-young leapt up with all his strength and planted both feet into the ground, the spectators watching the scene all widened their eyes at once.
"Wow!"
"Did you just see that?"
"I did, I did!"
"It wasn't just me who saw it, right?"
"That's insane."
Right after the transcendence of the body began, Ho-young felt his chest burn hot, and it felt as though his body might burst.
And the way he expressed that bursting emotion with his whole body was the celebration just now.
It was at such an abnormal level that anyone could tell at a glance.
"That's not human."
"How did he do that just now?"
"I think he jumped way higher than usual."
Those reactions were only natural.
Because Ho-young's jumping ability when he leapt into the air had been about 20% higher than usual.
Cristiano Ronaldo's standing jump, powered by those enormous thighs, was already above the average jump of NBA players, but this was on a level that could not even be compared with that.
It was so incredible that Gareth Bale, who had been running right behind him, could not close his mouth.
It became yet another reason for Bale, who had already genuinely respected Ho-young, to feel even deeper admiration for him.
And it was not just him.
That surprise soon turned into admiration, and tremendous cheers poured out from the stands.
They were more ecstatic over the Hoo celebration than over the goal, where he had brushed John Terry aside with ease before scoring.
But Ho-young himself remained calm.
'It's still too early to be surprised.'
The person who knew best how incredible a talent he had gained, and what he would now be able to do, was himself.
Plays he had been unable to show until now because he had to keep suppressing himself.
He wanted to unleash them one by one as soon as possible.
But it was not the time yet.
It had only been one day since transcendence began.
He still needed another 29 days to fully accept that power.
Until then, he had to handle his body carefully so as not to overdo it.
'Right now, I'm still learning this body.'
And if it were fully transcended, he did not even know how much more incredible he would become.
A great many incredible things had happened until now, but this was the moment he was looking forward to more than any other.
And.
["Manchester City lead 1-0. Can they defeat Chelsea like this and officially seal the Premier League title?!"]
There were still around 80 minutes left.
Ho-young decided to focus on the match first.
No matter how strong Manchester City were, Chelsea were also a strong side that could not be ignored.
In particular, the double pivot formed by Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel was quite troublesome even for Ho-young.
For the past 18 minutes, they had been tightly marking Ho-young with that distinctive elasticity and flexibility of black players, and shaking them off had been an unbelievable nuisance.
No matter how many times he beat them with all kinds of techniques, they kept sticking to him like leeches and disrupting his play.
On top of that, the back five were waiting behind them, so he could not play completely freely with peace of mind.
In that sense, Chelsea's prepared strategy was definitely working.
If it had not been, City would already have scored at least two more.
["Chelsea's defensive strategy is to cut off Manchester City's attacking routes at the source. They have conceded, but in terms of the match itself, it is clear they are getting results from it."]
["That's right. Since it's the end of the season, Manchester City's tactics have been exposed a lot. It looks like Chelsea manager Villas-Boas targeted that point very well."]
Ever since the season began, Manchester City's tactics had become the object of interest for every football expert in the world, studied so deeply that they were practically dissected.
Through that, various methods to break them had been proposed and tried by many teams.
It was just that each time, they had been blocked by the wall called Ho-young.
But this time, it seemed to be working a little.
["That goal just now was not because Chelsea defended badly, but because Ho-young was simply far better than anyone could have imagined. If they tighten up that aspect and Mikel and Essien do just a little more, I think Chelsea can definitely make a game of this."]
["As expected, the key is Ho-young. In the end, it depends on what kind of play he produces. He is such a multifaceted player."]
That was true.
No matter what Essien and Mikel did, everything ultimately depended on Ho-young's condition and form.
But.
"John, we can do this. It's only one goal conceded. And trust your teammates. We can't give up until the end."
"Of course. Do you think I'd lose my nerve over something this small? Compared to what we've suffered until now, this is nothing. We're doing well enough."
Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel encouraged each other and built up their confidence.
They hardened their winning mentality and faced Ho-young with fantastic teamwork.
["26 minutes of the first half, Manchester City reset their shape and go forward once again. Iniesta and David Silva exchange short passes at the back. Fellaini crosses midfield too."]
["Once again, Ho-young drops slightly deeper. At the same time, Hazard and Bale are stretching the shape wide."]
While Manchester City's midfield built up from the back, the front line widened the spacing left and right to open attacking lanes.
It was City's usual attacking pattern.
["Michael Essien presses hard from the left!"]
["In the meantime, John Obi Mikel takes up position on the right diagonal."]
["The intent is clear, they want to stop him no matter what by taking turns. Like zombies."]
The mindset that they could do anything.
That was the best they could do.
But they were not the only two doing their best.
In the meantime, Ho-young raised his physical condition.
He did not just stop at the mindset of 'I can do it,' he actually had the ability to do anything.
The time it took for a thought to turn into action was an instant.
"...!!"
At that moment, Michael Essien's eyes widened.
Essien had top-level dynamic vision and reaction speed, but by the time he realized Ho-young had moved, he was already gone.
It almost felt as though an afterimage remained, like a phantom.
The method looked very simple.
On the surface, Ho-young had merely moved quickly from right to left. It did not seem as though he had shown any particular move.
And this time was the same.
["Wow!!"]
["Ho-young skips past John Obi Mikel in an instant!"]
"What the...!!"
After Essien, Mikel's pupils widened too.
He allowed Ho-young to get past him without being able to do anything.
And by the time he turned his head, Ho-young was already gone.
It felt as though a gust of wind had slapped his cheek and passed by.
Rather than saying Ho-young had beaten him, it was more accurate to say he had simply passed him.
With nimble and clean body movement, he passed John Obi Mikel, who had been blocking the way ahead, in an instant.
To a third party, it was a very simple movement.
But in reality, it was not.
In that brief instant, Ho-young had shaken off Essien and Mikel in succession through extremely detailed and complex movement.
As an analogy, it was like this.
A car, a product of engineering, may look simple from the outside when it moves, but inside the vehicle a highly complex process is taking place.
Ho-young was no different.
In other words, they were extremely complex motions, but so fast and concise that no human could perceive them.
One example from that process was the condensation of the energy latent within his body and converting it into explosiveness and agility.
It was an experience even Ho-young had never felt before.
He could vividly feel just how much energy he had wasted without using it until now.
On top of that, his strict bodily control created synergy and made his movement even sharper.
And that was not all that had changed about Ho-young.
It was still early, but as his physical ability rose sharply, he was now able to attempt techniques one by one that he had not been able to use before.
["Ho-young drives straight forward!"]
After passing Essien and Mikel one after another, Ho-young pushed the ball forward and dribbled on.
A state of selflessness.
It was a situation where he could have combined with teammates by passing into space, but Ho-young did not relinquish possession of the ball.
To some, it might even have looked like greed.
But there were almost no people who thought that.
Most of those inside the stadium believed in him and expected more from him.
They could not help but wonder just how much more incredible the play he would produce here would be.
"Young! Young! Young!!"
As the spectators rose from their seats and raised their voices, the atmosphere in the stadium began to heat up.
It was at that very moment.
John Terry stepped in front of Ho-young.
'This time, I won't go down that easily.'
John Terry, who had been thoroughly beaten by Ho-young just minutes earlier, changed his approach.
He did not engage physically and simply stood him up.
It was clever defending, just like a player with the best defensive intelligence in the world.
Of course, only by human standards.
"...?!!"
In an instant, Ho-young twisted both legs in a bizarre manner and attempted stepovers.
Normally, stepovers are done by swinging the leg from the inside outward, but Ho-young's stepovers were on a level beyond imagination.
His right leg moved from outside to inside.
His left leg moved from inside to outside.
Using those in random patterns, he completely stunned John Terry.
Even then, Terry desperately tried to keep up with Ho-young's movements, but the real danger was only beginning now.
Whip!
"Ugh!"
As Ho-young performed the stepovers, he suddenly twisted his hips sharply to the right, and Terry, whose body had gone rigid, lost his balance and collapsed to the ground.
["Waaaah! Ho-young's body feint!"]
If even John Terry, with his outstanding football intelligence, had been fooled, then who would not be?
"For fuck's sake!"
It was the kind of situation where swearing was unavoidable.
And Ho-young stopped there.
If he showed anything more, it seemed it would put too much strain on him.
'This is enough for me to understand.'
After getting past even John Terry in an instant, Ho-young slipped the ball to Eden Hazard and drove forward.
Immediately afterward, the return pass came and landed at Ho-young's feet.
It was line-breaking that completely destroyed the offside trap set by the remaining back four.
And Ho-young quickly dribbled in using Arjen Robben's instincts and experience.
Combined with Eden Hazard's 'Quick Feet' talent in fantastic harmony, he found himself in front of goal before he knew it.
And then.
["Young, Young, Young! A left-footed shoooooot!!"]
Čech reacted fairly quickly, but the toe-poke struck in front of goal was more than two beats faster.
The result was obvious.
Whoosh!
["Goooooal! Ho-young scores his second! It's Ho-young yet again!"]
"Hoo!!"
Intense joy.
As Ho-young ran to the corner to celebrate his goal, welcome news appeared before his eyes.
[You covet El Niño (T). You partially acquire Fernando Torres's experience and instincts. It will take 8 days to fully absorb that experience and instinct.]
The instincts and experience of Fernando Torres, who had earned the nickname 'El Niño' at the age of 19 after producing outstanding performances.
It was the result of fulfilling the condition, 'succeed in line-breaking against Chelsea 10 times or more.'
And there was one more thing to be happy about.
"Waaaaaaaah!!"
"Young! Young! Young!"
The intense cries directed at Ho-young.
Endless admiration.
Unceasing gasps.
Cheers filling the entire stadium.
Most of the crowd, whether home fans or away fans, were giving him a standing ovation.
What more was there to say here?
No other modifier was needed.
The single word Young was enough.
But no one knew.
That this was still only a taste.
That by the end of the match, the score would be 5-1.
At exactly 95 minutes of the second half.
Tweet!
It was the moment Manchester City became Premier League champions, just as they had the year before.
(To be continued.)