"We are~."
"City!"
"We are~."
"City!!"
Wembley Stadium.
As the second half began, countless spectators shouted and waved their sky-blue flags.
Liverpool's red flags were no less fierce.
"You will never walk alone!"
It meant, "We will walk together."
It was the famous chant of Liverpool's supporters, the Kop, known all over the world.
They had no doubt that their team could turn the match around.
After all, this was Liverpool, the side that had pulled off the Miracle of Istanbul in the Champions League final 6 years earlier.
They had come back from 3-0 down against mighty AC Milan, so there was no reason they could not do it now.
"You will never walk alone!!"
The Kop roared themselves hoarse the moment play resumed.
The atmosphere was so intense that it even drowned out the voices of the Citizens and covered the entire stadium.
Their official anthem, YNWA, rang out from all sides, giving Liverpool's players enormous strength.
That was how passionate their desire to win was.
And before long, the effect started to show.
The players' movements became lighter and sharper.
[Lucas pushes the line up. Liverpool's build-up from the back is becoming more solid.]
[Meireles and Dirk Kuyt join in as well. Together with Lucas, they build from deep and carry the ball forward themselves.]
[James Milner charges over. A direct press!]
[Meireles, a pass to Gerrard. He keeps hold of it.]
Tap.
Steven Gerrard's eyes quickly moved from side to side.
With excellent vision, he scanned the space ahead and spotted a gap between Kompany and Gareth Barry.
At that very moment, he slipped a through ball toward Suárez, who was making a run from the second line into the front line.
The Gerrard-Suárez connection.
Even though they had only been playing together for 4 months, their chemistry was already excellent.
[Luis Suárez tries to break into the space behind the line!]
[He takes control of it. Luis Suárez keeps driving forward!]
Suárez's greatest strength was his unique line-breaking ability, which rendered the offside trap useless.
That was thanks to reflexes even sharper than those of most goalkeepers, and many even said he was better at it than Fernando Torres, whose trademark was line-breaking.
On top of that, Suárez was still only 24, which meant he still had room to grow.
[Kompany tries to stay with him, but it is not enough! Micah Richards joins him!]
[Luis Suárez pokes it through the defender's legs and keeps going!]
And it was not just line-breaking.
Pace, dribbling, flexibility, and more.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say he had every talent a striker needed.
When he drove forward with the ball, he looked like a lion crazed with thirst.
[Suárez races all the way to the front of goal!]
[Joe Hart rushes out quickly!!]
Goalkeeper Joe Hart used his speed to rush outside the penalty area and narrow the shooting angle.
But that did not reduce Suárez's finishing ability in the slightest.
Because scoring goals was one of the things he enjoyed and excelled at most.
In other words, he was a complete striker.
Thud!
[Goooooooooal!]
[Luis Suárez pulls one back with fantastic play! Liverpool make it 2-1!]
"Uooooooooh!"
Compared to what Ho-young had shown in the first half, the impact was not on the same level, but even so, this alone was enough to show everything a striker could offer.
"We're turning this around!"
"Let's go!"
"You will never walk alone!!"
The Kop's roar rose even higher.
The score was 2-1.
Liverpool's momentum showed no sign of stopping there.
And the match began to take on a thrilling shape.
Starting with Aurelio and Glen Johnson pushing up into the third line, Lucas moved intensely from the back and built dynamic attacks.
That greatly helped Gerrard's playmaking.
Every Liverpool attack started from there, and both Suárez's runs and Andy Carroll's aerial presence gradually came to life.
Among them, Suárez's movement stood out the most.
'As expected, he's sharp.'
It was a level Ho-young had to acknowledge as well.
There was something to learn from him too.
[Luis Suárez]
[Possessed Talents: El Pistolero (T), Line Breaking of El Pistolero (SU), Wondrous Reaction Speed (SS), Artistic Balance (S+2), (More...)]
(You may covet one talent if the conditions are met.)
(If you covet a T-grade Title, you may acquire part of its sense. However, you may only covet it after turning 18.)
(For S-grade or higher, you must fulfill the hidden conditions before coveting it.)
(Condition 1: Record at least 3 attacking points)
(Condition 2: Be caught offside no more than 3 times in this match)
(Condition 3: Succeed in at least 3 ball interceptions)
(Hidden Condition: Opens when you covet at least one talent)
El Pistolero.
It meant gunslinger, a nickname that came from comparing Suárez to a deadly sharpshooter.
Normally, he should have beaten South Korea in the 2010 World Cup and gone on to reach the semi-finals, but because the future had changed, he ended up losing to Argentina in the round of 16 instead.
Even so, he had been such a standout prospect at Ajax that he still moved to Liverpool, and as a result, he was able to build a huge worldwide reputation.
It also remained true that he was one of the greatest strikers in the history of Uruguayan football.
However, because of an ugly incident at Ajax the year before, he had gained a bad reputation, with nicknames like cannibal, bad boy of the pitch, and Luis Biteárez.
All of them came from his bizarre behavior.
Biting.
When he lost his reason, that habit occasionally surfaced, though it had not happened yet.
'Which means he still thinks he can handle this.'
2-1.
Liverpool had definitely come alive compared to the first half.
They had regained confidence and kept shouting encouragement to each other, fanning the flame of hope.
But the same was true for Ho-young.
'We're winning this.'
The thought of losing did not cross his mind even once.
Liverpool's momentum was certainly strong right now, but there were definite gaps within it.
Their tactic was simple.
Exchange passes from the back to pull the defensive line around, then have Gerrard exploit the opening with a killer pass into the space behind.
'Their back line is weak.'
All in.
In other words, Liverpool were throwing everything forward without looking back.
They pretended otherwise on the surface, but it would not have been an exaggeration to say their stamina was already close to gone.
All 11 players, from goalkeeper to striker, were overworking themselves and squeezing out every last drop of strength.
And.
'I can see it.'
There was no perfect tactic in the world.
And especially in attack-heavy tactics, there were always gaps, whether you wanted to see them or not.
Those gaps were starting to stand out clearly in Ho-young's eyes.
Ho-young understood the connection between Gerrard and Suárez and read Suárez's movement.
Then he slowly dropped all the way to the back.
It was around the 72nd minute of the second half.
Tak!
[At the halfway line, Gerrard calmly pushes it forward.]
[Gerrard's pass! Luis Suárez goes for it, w-wait?!]
Tap!
More than 38 kilometers per hour.
His top speed in the acceleration phase was 42 kilometers per hour.
Ho-young, who had been drifting diagonally at the side, suddenly exploded toward Gerrard's pass and cut it out in an instant.
"Nice, Young!"
Gareth Barry, who had missed Gerrard's pass, gave him a thumbs-up.
It had not been an especially sharp pass, but if Suárez had taken control of it, who knew what might have happened.
And Suárez.
"Ah!"
He shouted and pulled a fierce expression.
'You fucking bastard. Why the hell are you dropping this deep?'
But that was not the end of it.
4 minutes later.
[Meireles passes!]
[Ho-young cuts it out again! A fantastic interception!]
Twice, three times.
As the same pattern kept repeating, Suárez finally exploded in fury.
"That fucking bastard."
It was just as the last thread of his reason was beginning to snap.
[Manchester City take control once again. Possession has already risen into the 60% range.]
After spending the early part of the second half conserving his strength while reading the opponent's tendencies, Ho-young stepped forward again.
This time he made an even stronger impact and delivered a dominant performance.
He took control of the aerial duels with his outstanding leap and heading, turning Andy Carroll into a 65-billion-won log of wood, and made the entire opposing defense look like scarecrows.
And then.
[Ho-young, a long-range shoooooot!]
[Ah! Reina just gets fingertips to it! He saves it because he read the direction first. Manchester City win a corner.]
80th minute of the second half.
When Manchester City won the corner, every Liverpool player who had been upfield came rushing back to defend.
A tense atmosphere spread through the box.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on one man.
Ho-young.
They were watching his every movement as they prepared for the corner.
And it was just as David Silva's corner came in.
[The ball curls outward! Ho-young attacks it!]
It was the moment Ho-young leapt for the ball.
Grab!
At that very instant, Luis Suárez suddenly grabbed Ho-young's thigh with both hands.
Then he bared his sharp front teeth.
It was the bizarre act of a Suárez who had finally lost all reason, and his last resort to stop Ho-young.
And just as he was about to bite down hard on that powerful thigh.
Bang!
"Ghhk!!"
Something completely unexpected happened.
Ho-young's knee snapped upward with incredible reaction speed.
It was on a level that made even Suárez, who prided himself on his reactions, look second-rate.
It was a disaster.
And the worst part of all was that play continued.
[Gooooooooal! Ho-young forces it in with a header! Manchester City restore their 2-goal lead!]
A collision during the aerial duel, then a headed goal.
It all happened too fast for play to be stopped.
The goal had already been given, and only after that was Suárez treated for his injury.
"Kehh... my teeth are brokeh... mah jaw ish broken...!"
Blood poured from his nose and mouth.
To make matters worse, his teeth seemed to be broken too, and tears had started to spill from his eyes.
Perhaps, thanks to this match, he would finally break that terrible habit of his.
"Are you okay?"
Then Ho-young came over and asked with concern, but just seeing his face made Suárez shake with rage.
'Demon!'
It had definitely been intentional.
His expression seemed to say exactly that.
Never stick that mouth near me again.
A little later.
After receiving treatment, Suárez came back on, but was ultimately substituted off.
The rest of the Liverpool players, having lost their confidence, were unable to put together any kind of proper performance, while Manchester City kept playing well to the end and created another big chance around the 90th minute.
It was a long-range strike unleashed from Ho-young's left foot.
Thud!
4-1.
The match ended there.
[Yes! Manchester City lift a trophy for the first time in 35 years, since 1976!]
A historic moment.
The players shared their joy as one with the Citizens.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Shrrraaaaaak!
As golden confetti rained down to celebrate Manchester City's FA Cup triumph, the players came rushing toward the halfway line.
"Uuuuuuuuh!"
"City! City! City!"
Then, without exception, every one of them grabbed hold of Ho-young's arms and legs.
"Wooooooo!"
"Youuuuuung!"
The players tossed Ho-young into the air first, not the manager.
No one objected to that.
Because it was Ho-young who had brought the team this far.
For Ho-young as well, it was such an overwhelming moment that his whole body burned with emotion.
How many hardships had he gone through to lift this trophy?
He had heard countless times that he would never succeed if he went to the EPL.
But he had done it, plain for everyone to see.
And the talents he covet after being named Man of the Match were incredible as well.
[Your current vessel of talent is full. Peerless Dynamic Visual Acuity (2 days) and First Touch of the Non-Flying Dutchman (5 days) are on standby.]
[In 7 days, you will covet Line Breaking of El Pistolero (SU).]
[In 7 days, you will covet Long-Range Shooting of the Complete Midfielder (SU).]
[In 7 days, you will covet Heading of the Aerial Bomber (U).]
'It's almost here.'
Breaking through his limits, and turning 18.
It was all right in front of him now.
Then a little later, Lucci, who had been given permission to enter the dressing room, brought him unexpected news.
"They asked for a reply."
For what it was, the sender was surprisingly Chung Mong-joon, FIFA vice president.
(To be continued.)