Early May.
After securing their place in the UEFA Champions League final, Manchester City continued their relentless run.
The first of those matches was the FA Cup final on the 5th.
The venue was Wembley Stadium in London.
Their opponents in the final were Manchester United, and the match drew enormous attention.
But the common view among the fans was that the result was obvious.
[There is no team left in the Premier League that can beat Manchester City.]
└Maybe if you combine Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool...
└City are the strongest team in the universe
└And if they win today, the treble is confirmed
└There really is no team that can touch Man City. Maybe Barcelona would be different?
└Either way, City are winning this one.
An era of Manchester City that no one doubted.
But until kickoff, there were still people who thought United could win.
"We can do this."
Manchester United's dressing room at Wembley Stadium.
The United players were trying to harden their winning mentality.
Of course, they were in a very difficult place mentally as well.
They had already lost every match against Manchester City this season.
They knew very well how frightening it was to face them.
But that did not mean they could afford to look powerless before the match had even started.
Otherwise, they would end the season without a single trophy.
"Right, get your heads straight. If you let fear get to you first, you can't do anything."
Led by a fiercely determined Wayne Rooney, the other players also steeled themselves and prepared for the match.
By contrast, Alex Ferguson looked slightly different.
"Go out there, stay focused, and do your jobs."
He looked almost resigned.
The passionate, fiery voice was gone now.
He might even retire after this season.
Originally, he had planned to remain in charge until next year, but with Manchester City dominating the Premier League like this, what was there left for him to do?
Of course, at first there had been some thrill in the challenge.
Beating Ho-young.
But before long, he came to realize that it was an impossible challenge.
There was nothing to be gained from challenging Ho-young.
It would only leave a major stain on his managerial career.
"Hoo."
He was planning to write an autobiography around the time he retired, and he intended to include a separate chapter titled "Ho-young."
That was how deeply an impression Ho-young had left on Ferguson.
"I am already afraid of what he will do today."
Ferguson's instincts were right.
The moment the match began, Ho-young showed something.
[Manchester City kick off. The ball goes to Ho-young.]
[Ho-young receives it and stops on the spot. He lifts his head and looks forward.]
[What on earth is he about to show us today?]
As usual, Manchester City came out in a 4-3-3 and placed Ho-young at the center of the front line.
Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale took their places on the left and right wings to support him.
Manchester United had also set up in a 4-3-3, but the difference was that they had placed two defensive midfielders in the center.
Up front, Valencia, Chicharito, and Wayne Rooney formed a fast and aggressive front three.
They had also organized themselves well defensively and came fully prepared.
But from kickoff, everything began to unravel.
Ho-young stood still for six full seconds.
It was the moment every player's gaze turned toward him.
"Young! What are you doing!"
Hazard, on the left, shouted loudly.
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale on the right silently moved around in search of open space.
It was the kind of action born from absolute trust.
And, at the same time, expectation.
"So Young is about to do something again!"
Bale, who trusted Ho-young completely, bustled around and dragged Rafael downward.
In the meantime, Ho-young slowly began to carry the ball forward.
[It looks like he is waiting for an opening and then plans to send a killer pass forward in one go. It feels almost like watching Paul Scholes in his prime.]
Ho-young had already been on the ball for over 10 seconds.
But the more ridiculous thing was that United's players could not approach recklessly.
[Ho-young on the ball, facing off with the Manchester United players.]
[Whether they step up and press or drop their line, they still cannot truly stop Ho-young directly. It looks like they want to keep their distance, hold their shape, and read the situation first.]
Michael Carrick and Jonny Evans, who were responsible for the center, held the defensive line and focused intently on reading the situation.
It was not as if they had only been fooled by this sort of thing once or twice before, so they were doing everything they could not to be drawn in.
But as Ho-young edged forward little by little, Jonny Evans' feet began moving with him.
That made sense, because football unlike anything he had ever seen in his life was unfolding in the FA Cup final.
For an inexperienced player like Evans, it was hard to resist that temptation.
It looked as if an ultra-long-range shot could explode from Ho-young's foot at any moment.
And then.
"Hey, you bastard! Don't go! There's definitely something coming!"
A rough voice came from deeper in midfield.
It was Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, starting in central midfield alongside Michael Carrick and Jonny Evans.
Just as one would expect of a veteran, he was showing excellent judgment.
That was exactly why Ferguson had started him today.
"Don't take your eyes off that bastard for even a second. Follow him with your eyes to the end. You never know what he's going to do!"
The greatest central midfielder in Manchester United history.
At the same time, the hot-headed bad boy of the pitch.
The all-time holder of the most yellow cards in UEFA Champions League history.
That was the kind of title he carried, and his ability was every bit as formidable as his temper.
One of his specialties, the lofted through pass, was as accurate as Xabi Alonso's and even quicker through the air, and his trademark cannon shot was powerful enough to produce 20 goals in a season.
Of course, he was now at an age where his overall level had declined considerably, but his striking ability was still something that could not be ignored.
And just how dangerous was it?
[...?!]
[Is he, is he hitting it?!]
The fierce shooting of Scholes in his prime.
A strike worthy of comparison to that was about to fly from Ho-young's boot.
The distance was all of 45 meters, but Ho-young judged it to be well worth trying.
And for good reason, his physical ability had already surpassed human limits.
Ho-young had also reached an extraordinary level in the way he used the muscles and skeletal structure of his body, far beyond anything from before.
He twisted every muscle in his upper body as if wringing out a rag, and used his talent for body control to make sure none of the rotational force leaked away.
At the same time, he loaded all that rotational power gathered in the upper body into his lower half, balanced his body through his waist and hips, and struck hard with his right foot.
A distance of 45 meters.
The speed of the ball was so vicious and fast that it made the distance irrelevant.
That was the result of using more than half of the power latent in his body.
And with all the various talents related to kicking added on top, a shot unlike anything before it could be produced.
It was enough to make one question whether it was a shot or a long pass.
Normally, a long ball floated up high, but Ho-young's strike shot out like a comet.
Then, helped by the gentle breeze, the ball bent in a bizarre path and at one moment dropped like magic, sucking itself toward the goal.
That was the instant goalkeeper De Gea's eyes flashed.
Thump!
[David De Gea saves!!]
Thanks to his height of 192 centimeters, he barely got his fingertips to it.
He had only been able to stop it because he had stayed alert and kept his eyes on Ho-young.
But because the ball carried such violent rebound force, he could only parry it away instead of holding it.
And that was the problem.
[Ah, Gareth Bale is racing in!]
Gareth Bale, who had been lurking for a chance all along, burst forward at tremendous speed and reached the second ball in front of goal.
Then, moments later, the net rippled.
[Goooooooal! Gareth Bale calmly puts it away!]
[The chance always belongs to the one who is prepared. It was his constant movement from earlier that earned him that scoring opportunity.]
Ho-young may not have scored himself, but he gained something even better.
[You covet Cannon Shooter's Long-Range Shot (SU).]
[Cannon Shooter's Long-Range Shot (SU) has successfully fused with Ultimate Long-Range Shot (W+2).]
[Ultimate Long-Range Shot (W+3)↑]
That was because he had fulfilled the condition, "Register an assist from 40 meters or more in a match Paul Scholes plays in."
And that was not all.
[In 5 days, you will be able to combine all talents you possess that are deeply related to 'Ultimate Long-Range Shot' into one.]
[List of talents that can be integrated with Ultimate Long-Range Shot (W+3)]
-Available to check in 5 days
The transcendence of shooting talent, the very flower of a forward's game.
And it looked set to happen before long.
From there, the match was taken over by Manchester City, beginning with Ho-young's opening goal.
[It is not that Manchester United came in underprepared. It is simply that Manchester City are showing a perfect performance today.]
The final result was 3-1.
In the end, it was Manchester City who lifted the trophy.
And then, on the podium.
The moment captain Ho-young raised the trophy, gold and silver confetti burst across the stadium, and Manchester City's official anthem, Blue Moon, rang out grandly.
After that, individual player interviews were held at one corner of the pitch.
Ho-young had no choice but to be surrounded by reporters.
Flash!
Along with a barrage of camera flashes, the questions came pouring in.
"Congratulations on the treble! How do you feel right now!"
An obvious question.
So Ho-young ended the interview with a single sentence.
"There is only one step left now. The promise I made at the start of the season. I will definitely fulfill it."
His goal.
There was nothing else left for him to say.
With the season nearing its end, Ho-young wanted to set everything else aside and focus only on the remaining match.
And so, every goal was being achieved smoothly.
The first of those goals, 50 league goals, came just four days later.
It was in Premier League Round 38, played at Loftus Road, QPR's home ground.
Since the opposition was 17th-place QPR, there was not much pressure surrounding the match.
And as expected, Manchester City crushed them 7-0 that day and sent QPR down to 18th.
As a result, QPR could not avoid relegation, but Ho-young was able to achieve everything he wanted.
[Ho-young ends the league season with 52 goals. Truly incredible.]
Ho-young scored a hat-trick in today's match alone, breaking past the 50-goal mark.
At the same time, Manchester City became only the second team in Premier League history to win the title unbeaten, after Arsenal.
[An astonishing record. You could even say it is more impressive than Arsenal's unbeaten title from eight years ago.]
[Of course. Arsenal finished with 26 wins and 12 draws. Even if both are unbeaten titles, the gap in level is considerable.]
The record Manchester City set this season was at a level no one could come close to.
38 matches, 34 wins, 4 draws, 135 goals scored, 17 conceded.
They etched their names into Premier League history by breaking the records for most points, most wins, and most goals scored in a season.
Now only one thing remained.
The UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona.
It was the final glory Manchester City could achieve.
(To be continued.)