[Yes, thank you for waiting so long!]
Allianz Stadium in Munich.
With the stands packed full, the match between Bayern Munich and FC For Children began.
The atmosphere was warm.
Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, both Bayern Munich legends, stood on that side and took part in the kickoff, while Lothar Matthäus and Oliver Kahn, who originally belonged to FC For Children, were also Munich legends, so for today only, they switched teams and played for Bayern.
Meanwhile, Ruud Gullit captained FC For Children and led the side.
The match was played lightly.
Since they were players who had retired long ago, the game was looser than expected and clearly below the level of professional footballers, but there was still great enjoyment in watching the legends.
So naturally, Bayern Munich, with many active players in the squad, should have been the ones dominating FC For Children.
But the result was the complete opposite.
[FC For Children are dominating the match. It is not as if Bayern Munich's players are taking it easy either.]
Even though Bayern were missing many first-team players, Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller, and Toni Kroos, the core of the team, were all playing.
Even so, the reason FC For Children were controlling the match was, once again, because of him.
[Ho-young is controlling the match.]
[Unbelievable. The same form we saw in the Champions League final is being shown here as well. He is astonishing again today.]
Ho-young tore through the match on his own.
Working in tandem with the veteran legends, he drew out their old quality.
Even a tiger without teeth is still a beast.
Every one of them had ruled an era, so it was only natural.
On top of that, Michael Ballack, who had retired only a few days earlier, gave a huge performance in midfield and steered the match in a good direction.
The result came after only 10 minutes.
Thud!
[Goooooooal! Ho-young scores the opener! Luís Figo's cross was a thing of beauty!]
"Nice!"
"That is it!"
"With that lad in the team, even old men like us feel our strength coming back!"
Lothar Matthäus, who had organized the charity event, smiled with satisfaction.
The match had looked as though it might be rather dull, but it gradually heated up, and the crowd began pouring out fierce roars.
From then on, the match became intense.
If Bayern Munich had weak points, they were Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, who were only supposed to play the first 20 minutes of the first half.
But after they went off, Bayern began pouring on a real attack, trying to wrest back control of the game.
Yet that was not true only for them.
"Run harder! How long have you been retired, and that is all you have got!"
Even Alex Ferguson, his competitive fire lit in turn, raised his voice and focused on the match.
After finishing the year without a trophy, he wanted to win at least this one.
But tactically, there was not much for him to instruct.
Because Ho-young, the commander on the pitch, was taking care of everything himself.
"Guardiola is a truly blessed manager."
Ferguson was not the only one who felt that way.
From Oliver Kahn guarding the goal to Van Basten linking up with Ho-young up front, they were all thinking the same thing.
And Zinedine Zidane, who found himself in the same shirt again after a long time, felt it too.
"He has grown so much it cannot even be compared to back then. His level is impossible to measure."
Zinedine Zidane, who had once been called "the maestro on the pitch," felt that more than anyone.
He also knew well that Ho-young was beyond something he could even dare evaluate.
All he could do was surrender himself to the flow Ho-young was creating and play the match.
While Bayern fought tooth and nail, the FC For Children players were enjoying this game.
It was their first chance to play with Ho-young.
For them, there was no way they could let that chance go to waste.
And the match ended with a scoreline beyond anyone's expectations.
6-5.
Victory for FC For Children.
In the second half, the Maldini-Nesta-Stam-Cafu line conceded a lot because their legs had gone, but Ho-young became actively involved in defense and prevented them from conceding even more.
Ho-young, who played the full match, showed flawless chemistry with George Weah, who came on for Van Basten, and they went on a scoring spree.
As a result, Ho-young recorded 3 goals and 1 assist that day and was named Man of the Match.
And the players who took part, along with the media, did not hold back in their praise of him.
[Oliver Kahn: "If Ho-young had been a defender, I would not have broken a sweat today. I guarantee it."]
[Paolo Maldini: "I felt relieved that I did not play football in the same era as him."]
[Ruud Gullit: "There is only one way not to concede to him, do not play football."]
[Lothar Matthäus: "Thanks to Ho-young, I felt the passion of my playing days again after a long time. He is truly mad about football."]
[Franz Beckenbauer: "People call me the greatest defender in history, but not the greatest footballer in history. I can say with certainty, Ho-young is the greatest player of all time."]
[Gerd Müller: "Compared to him, I am not even a forward."]
[George Weah: "Do not call me the Black Panther anymore. Hearing that in front of the real beast is embarrassing."]
[Luís Figo: "I regret leaving Real Madrid back then. If I had not left, I could have spent my final years playing with Ho-young."]
[David Beckham: "Every aspect of him has improved since the friendly where we faced him before. He even looks more handsome now."]
[Michael Ballack: "I am grateful that he listened to my advice when he was young. Today in the dressing room, he told me he still plays with the whole field drawn in his head. I think it will be a memory I can never forget."]
[Zinedine Zidane: "I am proud of him."]
[Alex Ferguson: "I clearly realized why Manchester United had no choice but to finish second."]
Through this match, Ho-young drew in countless praises and a huge amount of revenue.
And that was not all.
[Ho-young donates all proceeds from charity match to UNICEF]
[Ho-young donates 6 million euros to the youth development football club run by his father... also invests 6 million euros in the new brand his mother launched recently]
After transcending his talents, Ho-young had gained more peace of mind and begun to show interest in fields beyond football.
In truth, he did not care much about investment or money, but anything his parents, who had raised him, were doing was always welcome, and no matter how large the amount, it never felt like a waste to him.
And because his stamina had increased greatly as well, he was able to push his football training even harder.
Ho-young's relentless run continued.
At the end of May, after the match against Bayern Munich, he went to the Netherlands and took part in a charity match against Ajax.
There, several Ajax legends appeared, including Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest legends in football history.
For Ho-young, it was an enormous opportunity.
Johan Cruyff was the creator of modern football, the man who had systematized Total Football and built Barcelona's youth system.
His evaluation stood even higher than Beckenbauer and Alfredo Di Stéfano.
If Ho-young could covet his L-grade talent, then crossing beyond the realm of superhuman ability would become much easier.
And so, Ho-young's world tour came to a smooth close.
He was not able to fulfill the conditions for every player taking part, but because he gave everything in every moment, he was able to covet quite a number of talents.
Beckham's looks were a bonus.
The various talents he had gained this time would shine at Euro 2012.
Late May.
The Spanish national team arrived in Gdańsk, Poland.
They had come to take part in Euro 2012, jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
Their first opponent was the Czech Republic.
They were the weakest team in the group on paper, but they had still come through the European qualifiers, which were said to be of a higher level than the World Cup.
"You must never become arrogant."
Training camp in Gdańsk.
Manager Del Bosque gathered the Spanish national team players and opened his mouth.
Of course, even he did not really think they would lose.
That was because after training the team over the past few days, he had confirmed that Ho-young's ability to adapt to the team was far beyond expectations.
On top of that, the teammates were surrendering themselves to the flow Ho-young was creating, and the team's structure was becoming more solid.
Invisible factions still remained in the squad, but they were no longer severe enough to affect performances like before.
Ho-young had taken control of the squad through skill alone.
Because of that, Del Bosque was able to build tactics centered on Ho-young without complaints from the players.
But that did not mean there were no worries at all.
The Czech Republic was one thing, but Portugal and Italy were by no means easy opponents.
That was why the first match was so important.
If they fastened the first button properly, they would be able to rest key players in the remaining games.
Spain's goal was currently the title, so managing fitness was essential.
"Our goal is to achieve maximum results with minimum physical expenditure."
Therefore, they planned to decide the match not through work rate and pressing, but through passing and speed.
And at the heart of that, unquestionably, would be Ho-young.
June 8.
The opening match of Euro 2012 kicked off at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland's capital.
It was the hosts Poland against Greece, winners of Euro 2004.
In that match, Lewandowski scored a remarkable four goals, announcing that the tournament would be a huge success.
Meanwhile, in Group B, Germany, one of the strongest title favorites, comfortably beat Denmark and took first place in the group.
Then, two days later, on June 10.
The area around PGE Arena in Gdańsk was packed with people.
They were spectators who had come to watch Spain's opening Group C match against the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, interviews were in full swing underground.
"A question for Ho-young. Today is finally your first official match in an international tournament. How do you feel right now?"
"I am very excited. I never even dreamed that I, who was once Korean, would one day take part in such a great tournament as the European Championship."
The European Championship, the second-biggest football tournament after the World Cup.
For Ho-young, whose international career was still much thinner than his club career, it was an enormous opportunity.
"That is why I prepared very hard for it. This pre-season, I focused only on football. You can look forward to it. I hope for a lot of support."
The moment those words fell, the atmosphere in the room suddenly turned severe.
A declaration.
With that alone, he had seized the initiative.
The reporters themselves would not be the ones playing football, but just thinking of the Czech players made something tighten in their chests for no reason.
"Then how do you see the match? Do you think you will win easily?"
At that question, Ho-young clasped his hands together and shook his head.
"The Czech Republic are definitely a strong team. You can tell that just from the fact they came through Euro qualifying, which is called hell. But the Spain team I have experienced is hell itself. We will show our full strength without holding anything back."
Tremendous confidence.
Ho-young revealed stronger confidence than ever before and continued speaking.
"I do not think I can lose."
"...!"
"...To the Czech Republic?"
"No."
"Then...?"
At the moment everyone's eyes gathered on him, Ho-young leaned his upper body forward.
"In this tournament."
Euro 2012.
Ho-young was aiming for the greatest performance in history.
(To be continued.)