[Footballer Ho-young sets a new world record in the 100 metres, wins Spain's first-ever Olympic gold medal in the event, something that may never happen again in history]
[Experts revise the predicted human limit for the 100m from 9.44 seconds to 8.79 seconds]
The experts who had claimed that 9.44 seconds was the fastest a human could possibly run in the 100 metres changed their minds after this race.
In particular, an ESPN producer stated, "A new model of athlete named Ho-young has appeared, so all previous research is now invalid."
[Ho-young: "After I retire from being an athlete, I want to experience even more diverse things than this."]
[Usain Bolt: "If I hadn't eaten only chicken nuggets for lunch, I would've won," he said, making an excuse that was not quite an excuse]
After that, many changes came into Ho-young's life.
Interviews pouring in from media outlets all over the world became the norm, and the way other athletes looked at Ho-young also changed.
There were good parts to it, but it was even more troublesome than pleasant.
Still, his schedule afterward was very simple.
Since he was planning to get plenty of rest until the quarter-finals, it was practically free time.
However, excessive drinking and going out were prohibited.
So starting the next day, Ho-young spent his time at Wembley Arena.
He was there to watch the rhythmic gymnastics competition.
[Yes, Brazil's Monica Stoki is competing. She is one of the sports stars drawing a lot of attention at this Olympics.]
'She's beautiful after all.'
Especially when she wore her rhythmic gymnastics outfit and tossed and caught the clubs, she looked like a fairy.
But to the other judges, it seemed she still had many shortcomings.
'8th place...'
The place Monica earned in the clubs event was 8th.
For an athlete from Brazil, which was not a strong nation in rhythmic gymnastics, it was certainly not a bad result.
That was especially true considering Monica's short career.
But it was clear that there was a limit if she wanted to challenge for the gold medal, which was her goal.
The problem was, above all else,
'Talent.'
Just like football, rhythmic gymnastics also had limits that could not be overcome through effort alone.
Maybe that was why this thought suddenly crossed his mind.
'I wish Tam's ability could make someone else's talent grow too.'
It might have been meddling, but in other words, it was definitely love.
And maybe,
'It might be possible someday.'
If that became possible, a second life would open up for him.
[2012 London Olympics, Monica Stoki finishes 8th in the rhythmic gymnastics clubs event, followed by praise saying she performed better than expected]
Brazil was by no means a powerhouse in rhythmic gymnastics.
Therefore, it was normal for Brazilian athletes not to receive the spotlight unless they performed exceptionally well.
And yet, Monica, who was still a newcomer, became the subject of countless articles and remained a hot topic day after day.
The reason was simple.
[Spain football and athletics national team representative Ho-young spotted at Wembley Arena cheering for his girlfriend Monica]
First, it was because she was Ho-young's girlfriend, and the ripple effect was greater than anyone had imagined.
Moreover, there was a second reason as well.
[Official Olympic golden couple Ho-young and Monica take 1st place in votes for most handsome man and most beautiful woman, proving themselves to be the most beautiful pair in sports history]
There was no need to say anything more about Ho-young, who was already receiving calls from Hollywood.
Whenever there was a poll for "the most handsome man in the world," his looks were always recognized enough for him to rank in the top five.
He had even already earned the glory of becoming the sports star with the highest advertising income in the world.
With a value of 44 million dollars, Ho-young pushed Tiger Woods, who had held the highest brand value until last year, down to second place.
It was thanks to Manchester City's clean sweep of trophies, Spain's Euro triumph, and the added boost of competing in multiple Olympic events.
In contrast, Monica did not have much to boast about as an athlete, but anyone could see her pretty features, and her mature figure, which contrasted with her young age, turned her into a sports star.
Because of that, the Olympic Village was crawling with people after the two of them.
The two were now publicly known as a couple.
Anyone who meddled with them risked being branded trash, but there were still people who approached them under the pretext of wanting to be "friends."
This happened especially often to Ho-young.
No matter where he went among the facilities inside the Village, the stream of greetings never stopped, and there were enough people asking for his number, regardless of gender, to fill a truck.
There were even times when he opened the door to his accommodation and found other room key pouches hanging in front of it.
Whenever that happened, he would gather up all the keys and take them to the lost and found, and the funny part was that even the volunteers working there asked for his number.
But strangely enough, at some point all of that vanished without a trace.
Even when he stepped out of his room, the keys were no longer there.
'They've given up.'
Up until then, Ho-young had thought it was because he had put up such a strong wall that women no longer approached him.
But today, by chance, the truth came out.
There was special training ahead of the quarter-final, so he left his accommodation earlier than usual today, and he saw a woman wearing a cap pulled low over her face secretly taking away a bunch of keys.
'A key thief?'
That culprit was none other than...
"Monica?"
As it turned out, this was what had happened.
Worried that her boyfriend might stray, Monica had come to Ho-young's room every morning and removed all the room keys left there.
In other words, it was a cute little incident born out of affection.
"No, I just didn't want you to feel bothered because of me... The quarter-final is coming up..."
"Hahaha! Thanks for worrying about me."
Monica hid her flushed cheeks and tucked the pouch of keys behind her back.
Usually she carried herself with confidence, but in front of her boyfriend she became endlessly feminine.
At the sight of that, Ho-young smiled so wide his lips curled up to his ears, then puckered his lips.
"Monica."
"Yeah?"
"When the Olympics are over, let's go on a short trip somewhere."
"Why?"
"Who knows. You'll find out when we get there."
"Huh?"
They had known each other for as long as ten years, but they had not actually spent that much time together alone.
That was why Ho-young suggested the trip.
He wanted to spend time with Monica during the short break they would get after the Olympics.
Just as Monica, slightly moved by that unexpected suggestion, puckered her lips, it happened.
"Damn, I'm going to throw up everything I ate at dawn."
Sergio Ramos, who shared the room with him, came out wearing a mischievous expression.
Then, pointing toward the room with his finger, he continued.
"If you two have something to say, go inside and talk. What, do you think one or two people being a few minutes late matters? I'll smooth things over with the coach, so don't worry."
"That's the cover ability you'd expect from the world's best defender."
Ho-young gave him a thumbs-up.
At that, Ramos glanced at Monica, then leaned toward Ho-young's ear and started whispering.
"You know the basics an attacker needs, right?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Physicality, flow, technique."
"It's not like that."
"No, I totally understand. When you've just become an adult, desire tends to overpower patience."
"We're just going in to talk."
"What? With your body?"
As always, Ramos was starting his day by teasing Ho-young.
"Hahaha. I'm joking. Five minutes is enough, right?"
"What do you take me for?"
"Heh heh. Don't forget to make good use of the Olympic souvenir. You know this Olympics' motto, right? 'Inspire a generation.' Anyway, good luck."
After Ramos left like that,
the two young adults, both already legal adults under current law, went into the room to continue the conversation they had not finished.
Soon, the sound of the door locking echoed down the hallway.
That same day, in the morning.
The bus carrying the Spain national football team arrived at base camp a little later than scheduled.
That was because a few people had been slightly late, and the latest of all was Ho-young.
"I'm sorry, Coach."
"No, it couldn't be helped. It's not as if you were late on purpose. It's a physiological phenomenon, after all."
The real reason Ho-young was late was because the conversation had lasted longer than expected, but coach Luis Milla thought the reason was constipation.
That was thanks to the excellent cover ability of the world's best full-back, Ramos.
"There's nothing to apologize for. Would I really not trust your word? Someone as known for being diligent as you would never be late on purpose."
"It won't happen again."
"You'd do better to say that to your digestive system. Tell it to do its job properly."
"Haha. Understood."
Coach Luis Milla did not scold Ho-young.
Wasn't Ho-young someone who already wielded enormous influence in Spain?
And it was not as though he acted as if he could ignore the coach, so Luis Milla was happy to let it slide.
Spain was not going to lose to Japan just because someone was ten minutes late for training.
On top of that, the atmosphere on the training ground was even better than expected.
"Hey, Constipation!"
"Hm? Ah, Ramos! So that was what you told the coach?"
"I couldn't exactly tell him you were squeezing something else out."
"Haha. Right."
Like Ramos said, it had been the best option.
But Ho-young had never imagined that he would tell the other players too.
"Hey, Young! Did you get it all out?"
"You score so many goals that your back end's all clogged up!"
"Uahahaha!"
Isco, Koke, De Gea, and other players who had grown closer to Ho-young through this Olympics played childish pranks on him.
"Even a god takes a dump. The greatest discovery in human history."
"Don't hold it in. If you need to go, go!"
"Exactly. Go to the toilet right away. If you hold it in and it hits you during the match, what are we supposed to do?"
The teasing did not stop.
But Ho-young did not just sit there either, and he fired back with some wit of his own.
"Don't worry. If something like that happens during the match, I'll make sure the win is secured before I go."
"Ooh... that's creepy."
"That's the kind of joke only Young can make."
"I'd actually feel better that way. Let's go all out from the start of the match. From today on, Young is banned from entering the toilet."
"Hahahahaha!"
The other players brushed it off as a joke and simply laughed, but the very next day, they realized it had not been a joke at all.
August 6, 8:00 p.m.
Old Trafford in Manchester.
Roaring cheers and stunned silence coexisted in the stadium.
Astonishingly, it was all caused by one man.
[Goooooal! Ho-young smashes the net once again! How many times has he done this already today!]
The scoreboard showed only 30 minutes played in the first half, yet Spain's score already stood at four.
Ho-young had opened the scoring with a long-range goal just 50 seconds after kickoff, then poured in two more goals in succession by the 30-minute mark.
By the time the match ended, the score was 7-1.
The Japan national team could not even lift their heads.
The difference in quality was so vast that some even joked the one goal Spain conceded had been allowed on purpose for the sake of the La Liga industry.
[Ho-young records another hat-trick to reach 12 goals in the tournament, a full 7 goals ahead of second-placed Neymar, there are no more rivals left]
And the next day, the semi-final bracket was completed.
[2012 London Olympics Semi-final Bracket]
South Korea had beaten Uruguay in a penalty shootout to get there.
It was a match bound to attract enormous attention.
[Will Ho-young achieve his "golden revenge" through the glory of victory?]
The clash between Ho-young, who had switched nationality to Spain because of an unfortunate incident, and South Korea was the match everyone was looking forward to.
On top of that, there was one more point of interest that deserved close attention.
[Yoon Jung-ho, South Korea's rising star discovered by Hong Myung-bo: "Ho-young, my elementary school classmate, is foreign to the core. I no longer think of him as one of the same people."]
The first opponent whose talent Ho-young had ever coveted.
Yoon Jung-ho, a football prodigy, had been living his youth career in Germany when he got lucky and earned a spot under Hong Myung-bo.
And regarding that, Ho-young gave a brief comment in an interview.
[Ho-young: "I know there is a funny word in Korea called 'military-service roid.' So you may look forward to it. To both the Korean and Spanish fans who support me, I will show you the best match you will never forget. I am looking forward to a great battle."]
Military-service roid Ho-young.
That was what Korean fans started calling him.
(To be continued.)