[Golden star Ho-young shakes the world.]
[The hero's return, what enormous reward will Ho-young receive?]
August 2012.
Madrid, Spain was swept up in tremendous excitement.
To celebrate a special event that might never happen again, citizens poured out into the streets.
Meanwhile, at the Royal Palace of Madrid, where today's event was to take place, distinguished guests invited by the Spanish royal family were seated.
And in the middle of them, a man dressed in a black suit stepped forward and knelt before the prepared chair.
It was today's main figure, Ho-young.
Then, right after that, to the sound of solemn brass music, a man dressed in the robes of the royal family stepped forward and placed a sword on Ho-young's shoulder.
He was Crown Prince Felipe, Duke of Madrid and the son of King Carlos.
The reason he was doing this was to bestow a special reward upon Ho-young.
No, the name called today would be Joshua Woo.
That was Ho-young's Spanish name.
The reason he had chosen Joshua as his Spanish name, meaning salvation, was simply because it contained the syllable "Ho."
Of course, that was not what mattered.
What mattered was the special reward he was about to receive.
"August 17, 2012. We commend the merits of Joshua Woo."
Great merit achieved through football.
In accordance with that, Ho-young was invested by Crown Prince Felipe.
Along with it came a golden medal.
And then.
"Joshua Woo, in recognition of the great service you have rendered, I bestow upon you the title of Marquess."
The title of Marquess.
Back in 2010, had Spain won the World Cup, that was the title manager del Bosque could have received.
It was also the special reward the Spanish royal family had promised Ho-young before the Olympics.
"Marquess Joshua Woo. I hope you will continue to serve the nation well in the future."
"Of course."
After the investiture ceremony was over, interviews with the press followed.
Marca was one of them.
"Marquess Joshua Woo, as of today you stand alongside figures such as Marquess Salvador Dalí, the surrealist painter, and Marquess Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This must feel more special than ever."
"It would be a lie if I said otherwise. One thing is certain, this is one of the most meaningful moments of my life."
"Then what are your plans going forward? You recently signed a new contract with Manchester City, so do you have no plans at all to return to Spain?"
"For now, I plan to stay in England a little longer. There are still things I want to achieve. If I do return to Spain, I think it would be at least two years from now."
"I see. Then I hope you achieve all the goals you want. If it's you, I believe you can definitely do it, just as you always have."
"I think so too. I still have plenty of time."
Just as Ho-young said, time was overflowing.
There was no longer any need to chase his goals desperately like before.
He simply had to use that time wisely.
And so Ho-young's time passed at an easy pace.
The next day.
After finishing everything and returning, Ho-young marked his dazzling comeback in the EPL season opener.
He started as the central striker, completed a hat-trick, and then went to the bench early to rest.
He had set a goal for this season, so if he wanted to maintain consistency all the way through, he needed to manage his stamina from the very beginning.
[Young said beforehand that his target was 100 goals in a single season.]
[Haha. To be honest, it does not feel like a realistic number, but with him, it might actually be possible. As long as he manages the fatigue from the Euros and the Olympics well.]
100 goals in one season.
In truth, it was a target he had set with room to spare.
Ho-young was confident he could do it no matter what.
If he truly set his mind to it, he could achieve even more, but he chose not to push too hard.
Step by step, he wanted to achieve everything he desired.
And time continued to pass.
January 2013.
A new expression was coined in reference to the EPL.
City and the Big Four.
It was an expanded version of the old term Big Four, a phrase that reflected Manchester City's overwhelming dominance.
Manchester City's record this season stood at 19 wins and 1 draw.
Not only that, they had also won every competition they entered that year, including the UEFA Super Cup, the Community Shield, and the FIFA Club World Cup, achieving the grand feat of winning seven trophies in a single year.
Ho-young, who had signed a historic contract with Manchester City, was proving he was worth every bit of it.
The same went for his personal record.
Ho-young had already passed 65 goals in all competitions, turning the target of 100 goals into a real possibility.
Naturally, his performances continued after that as well.
[Manchester City continue to break EPL records one by one]
['Manchester City' continue their unbeaten run, can they even surpass last season's record?]
Last year, Manchester City had finished with a record of 34 wins, 4 draws, 135 goals scored, and 17 conceded in 38 matches.
At the time, the dominant opinion had been that it was an achievement no one could ever break.
But every one of those words was shattered beautifully.
May 2013.
Manchester City set a new record with 35 wins, 3 draws, and 138 goals.
At the center of it all was Ho-young's immense performance.
['Ho-young' plays all 38 out of 38 league matches]
[Ho-young writes a new chapter in football history with 63 goals in 38 EPL matches.]
63 league goals.
Through that, Ho-young also achieved the great feat of sweeping every Player of the Month award from August 2012 to May 2013.
And it did not end there.
UEFA Super Cup, Community Shield, League Cup, FA Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Champions League.
He held a goal festival in every competition he entered this season and achieved his goal at last.
[Ho-young reaches 105 goals in a single season]
Ho-young shocked the world by comfortably surpassing the 100-goal target he had boldly declared.
Then, in the Champions League final held at Wembley Stadium in London, he scored two more goals in succession and delivered the Big Ears to Manchester City.
Bayern Munich, their opponent in the final, had no choice but to accept defeat in the face of such one-sided football.
After the season ended.
The 2013 off-season was just as busy as the previous year.
That was because of the FIFA Confederations Cup, held in Brazil on June 15.
The result went exactly as everyone expected.
Spain, who had qualified as the champions of Euro 2012, crushed the other nations with Ho-young leading the way and rose to the top as champions.
Host nation Brazil were humiliated in the final, suffering a 4-0 defeat.
Spain's unstoppable run did not end there.
Ranked first in the FIFA rankings, Spain recorded 7 wins and 1 draw in the 2014 World Cup European qualifiers and secured first place in the group to book their ticket to the finals.
As a result, France, Serbia, Finland, and Georgia, who were in the same group, were left battered and forced to fight their own separate league.
And then the new season began.
Naturally, there was no one who could stop Manchester City's march.
The 2013-2014 season was also conquered by Manchester City, and once again they swept every competition, writing an unprecedented chapter in history by winning seven trophies for the second year in a row.
They dominated Europe by achieving feats no one could imitate, four straight EPL titles, four straight FA Cups, three straight League Cups, and three straight European Champions League titles.
Thanks to that, Pep Guardiola came to be listed as one of the greatest managers in history.
In the middle of it all, Ho-young scored more than 100 goals in a single season once again, proving that the previous season's record had been no fluke.
There were a few minor injuries during the season, but nothing that would become a long-term problem.
Rather, Ho-young kept growing and laid the groundwork for breaking through his limit.
That effort finally bore fruit in May 2014.
[Ho-young]
[Possessed Talents:
Transcendent Ball Sense (TS+3)
Transcendent Versatility (TS+3)
Transcendent Dribbling (TS+3)
Transcendent Shooting (TS+3)
Transcendent Physicality (TS+3)
Transcendent Mental Strength (TS+3)
Transcendent Passing (TS+3)
Transcendent Finishing (TS+2)
Transcendent Man-Marking (TS+2)
(More...)
Dead Ball Specialist (T)
Midfielder Without Flaws (T)
Magician of the Left Foot (T)
El Niño (T)
Emperor of Dribbling (T)
Angel of Death (T)
El Guaje (T)
Pass Master (T)
Eccentric Fantasista (T)
Bad Boy on the Ground (T)
The King (T)
Transcendent Crack (T)
Tarzan of Catalonia (T)
Saint Iker (T)
El Gitano (More...)]
Beckham, Iniesta, Giggs, Torres, Messi, Di María, Villa, Xavi, Cassano, De Rossi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Henry, Puyol, Casillas, Ramos, and more.
As a result of coveting everything in sight, he had now managed to grasp 30 titles in his hands.
Meanwhile, his existing talents had also achieved remarkable growth, and at last a new door opened before him.
It was the fruit of the past 12 years.
[The talent 'Transcendent Ball Sense (TS+3)' has reached its limit.]
[If the conditions are met, football-related talents can be integrated.]
[Condition 1: Possess at least 5 talents that have reached T+3 grade]
[Condition 2: Covet at least 30 football player titles]
[Condition 3: Covet the five great talents of legendary footballers (Pelé, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Alfredo Di Stéfano)]
Conditions 1 and 2 had already been met.
'Condition 3 won't take long either.'
He still did not know what would happen once he crossed that limit.
But one thing was certain, it would not be long before he saw the end.
June 2014.
At last, the time had come to crown everything.
[
The Brazil World Cup.
For Spain, who had been placed in Group I, there was nothing to fear.
No matter who the opponent was, they had the confidence to win.
Especially Ho-young, who had come out wearing the number 10 shirt after a request from Fàbregas, gave a short and powerful answer in his pre-tournament interview.
"I came to take the trophy."
Ho-young had become bolder than before.
But unlike other players who were all talk, he proved it with his ability and completely tore apart the teams in the same group.
He scored six goals in the group stage alone, even achieving the great record of breaking the all-time World Cup scoring record.
The knockout stage was no different.
He faced Italy in the round of 16 and Germany in the quarter-finals, but crushed them as if it made no difference, advancing proudly to the semi-finals.
Their semi-final opponent was Brazil.
Having reached the semi-finals through home advantage and the benefit of altitude, they faced Spain with the super crack Neymar leading the way.
But the result was exactly as everyone had expected.
[Spain crush Brazil 8-1 and advance to the final. For Brazil, this may well be the most horrific day in their history.]
It did not matter who the opponent was.
All he had to do was trample them through pure ability.
And with that, Ho-young, who had reached a World Cup final for the first time, was able to covet Johan Cruyff's talent, Revolutionary Tactical Understanding (L).
And then.
[<2014 Brazil World Cup> Spain and Argentina to clash in the final]
The final journey to fulfill his dream was about to begin.
(To be continued.)