Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 342

#341. That Wish Will Come True

It was just,

an ordinary afternoon, no different from any other.

Our game against the LA Angels, who were battling the Toronto Blue Jays for the last wild card spot until the very end of the season, was a fierce pitching duel from start to finish.

Mike Warren, who had truly blossomed as a knuckleballer, now pitching at the level of a solid third starter for any team, held the Angels’ lineup to two runs over six innings. We scored two runs with Tony’s RBI hit and Chuck Clark’s sacrifice fly.

Today, I reached base on balls in all three of my at-bats.

I made eye contact with Ryu Han-gyul, who was scheduled to start tomorrow’s game, several times.

The bitter expression in his eyes perfectly explained the Angels’ approach to me today.

“Play!”

With the score tied 2-2, and two outs with no runners on in the top of the seventh, my fourth at-bat arrived.

And, as naturally as could be, an intentional walk was issued.

“Batter to first.”

“Booooooo! This is too pathetic to watch!”

“Hey, you LA snobs! Is this baseball? Huh? Is it baseball?”

“Fucking Angels bastards, go eat shit!”

The various baseball fans who had gathered, perhaps hoping to snag a home run ball, stood up and booed.

But the Angels’ battery [pitcher and catcher], with their minds set, continued the game without a change in expression.

Since they were neck and neck with the Toronto Blue Jays, trailing by only a fraction of a winning percentage, they seemed determined to simply endure the fans’ criticism and jeers.

“Look, Han, I’ll be honest, I have no personal feelings about you. We just want to win this game.”

“I know, so shut up and let’s play baseball.”

“Yeah, it would have been a more fun game if we had met in a different situation.”

When I arrived at first base, Raymond Perkins, the Angels’ veteran first baseman, spoke to me with a stiff face.

I know. Even if I were a pitcher, I wouldn’t want to face a batter who has hit over 70 home runs with two outs and no runners on.

In all honesty, I felt like it wouldn’t be so bad if the regular season ended like this.

I felt a bit worn out from being checked so much.

Thwack!

“Safe!”

In the meantime, several pickoff throws came toward first base, as if they were concerned about my speed.

While repeatedly starting and returning to the base to avoid the pickoff attempts,

I made eye contact with Yerin.

As always, she was sitting in the infield seats near first base.

I had told her several times to sit somewhere else, as that area is crowded with zealous home fans, but strangely, whenever we play at Angel Stadium, Yerin always sits in that spot.

It gives me a strange feeling.

Come to think of it, she used to do that too. As if someone had told her to, she always sat near first base.

Thwack!

“Strike!”

The first pitch to finish the seventh inning came, and I looked back toward Yerin as I returned to first base.

We made eye contact again.

Suddenly,

“Ugh…!”

A strange feeling I had never felt before – a nausea that made me feel like I was going to throw up everything inside, and a splitting headache – all came at once.

Overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sensation, I sank to the ground.

“Hey? Han? What’s wrong? Are you okay? Goddammit, time! Time!”

The base running coach, noticing my condition, quickly called time and shouted loudly toward the dugout.

“Trainer! Over here! Quick! Something’s wrong with Han!”

His voice echoed so loudly that I couldn’t help but frown.

But strangely, no sound came from my throat.

I wanted to tell him to stop shouting, but no voice came out.

“Damn it, Han! Look at me. Look over here. Yeah, are you okay?”

“Are you okay? Huh? You’re okay, right?”

“Just a moment, Han! Hey!”

The voices of many people echoed as if I were in a cave.

But right now, I couldn’t hear the words they were shouting at all.

I turned my gaze to Yerin while sitting on the ground.

I don’t know why I did it. I just felt like I had to.

“…O…ppa…okay……”

The girl, clinging to the safety net as if she was about to burst into tears, was shouting something at me.

I wanted to tell her I was okay, but even that voice wouldn’t come out.

I could only sit helplessly and stare at her.

“This won’t do. I think we should signal for a substitution?”

“Really? Is it that bad?”

No,

There’s no need to substitute,

I wanted to say, but again, no words came out.

I couldn’t do anything, as if I were subordinate to Yerin, my gaze fixed on her.

At that moment,

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A nasty resonance and tinnitus, as if all hearing was blocked, enveloped me.

And then I heard someone’s voice.

‘Han, you poor thing, I wish you would be a little more honest.’

She, who treated me like a human being in my life before regression,

Her voice, which I couldn’t find no matter how hard I looked, and therefore decided to just forget, was heard.

Zzzzzzz

The voice disappeared somewhere with another bout of tinnitus.

And then it happened.

Her face, which still remains vivid in my memory, appeared one by one, like pieces of a puzzle.

The pieces that emerged in that way were combined and overlapped with the face of Yerin, who was looking at me and shouting something.

“……!”

Instantly,

I realized.

I don’t know the reason. I don’t know the principle. I can’t even explain it to anyone.

I just knew.

She whom I was looking for, and Min Yerin.

That the two are connected in some way,

No, maybe the two are one being.

It’s absurd.

Race, appearance, nothing matches.

The only thing I can assume is just one thing.

What if she regressed like me?

But I know very well that that’s not the case.

Considering Yerin’s personality, which is so honest that you can see right through her, if that had happened to her, I would have known already.

Then what is it?

“Han? Han? I think we should call a pinch runner. Let’s get you up.”

“…I’m okay.”

“Huh? Really? Are you really okay?”

“I was just a little dizzy for a moment. I’m fine.”

“No, it doesn’t look like just a little bit to me.”

“I’m really okay. It’s because my stamina is low. I can’t leave when it’s still a tie.”

“Um… okay, then I’ll be watching you from now on. If anything seems strange, I’ll call for a substitution right away.”

“Go ahead. I’m not planning on pushing myself either. I’m saying it’s because I’m really okay.”

“Okay, umpire, I think we can resume the game.”

The trainer, who had been tilting his head, returned to the dugout when I stood up as if nothing had happened.

The game resumed, and Tony was out with a fly ball to center field, and this inning also ended without a score.

* * *

“Are you really okay?”

“There’s absolutely no problem. It was just a momentary thing, manager.”

“Okay, I respect your judgment. But let’s get you checked out as soon as the game is over.”

“I understand.”

Two innings had passed since I had briefly lost my mind on first base.

While playing defense on the field, I once again recalled that moment.

All sorts of thoughts came to mind, but the only conclusion I came to was this.

I don’t know for what reason the image of her from the past and Yerin’s image overlap,

But at this moment,

And in the future,

The most important person to me is Yerin.

It took me too long to realize this very simple and clear fact.

Clang!

Top of the ninth, Seattle’s last attack in regular innings.

Derek, who came out as the lead batter, hit a clean single that fell in front of the left fielder and reached first base.

I asked the umpire for permission and ran to a different spot instead of the batter’s box.

“Just a moment, sorry. Umpire, just for a moment.”

The place I ran to was in front of the first base safety net where Yerin was standing.

“Yerin!”

“Huh? Oppa? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you in the batter’s box?”

“Never mind, just tell me one wish. Quick, no time.”

“A wish? Um… suddenly?”

Yerin’s face turned red, whether she was embarrassed by the sudden question or burdened by the gazes of other spectators around her.

And after a while, her closed lips slowly opened.

“Um… no matter how much I think about it, my wish at this moment is… that Oppa quickly sets the home run record, gets rid of the burden, and if possible, Seattle wins the championship too, hehe, well, is that even a wish?”

“No, it’s enough. That wish will come true.”

I nodded to her and hurried back to the batter’s box.

The umpire, who was looking at his watch with an annoyed expression, said in a voice that showed he was exerting as much patience as possible.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but if you do that one more time, it’s a warning.”

“I’m sorry. I really had something important to do.”

“Hmm, well, I know you respect the umpire. So I’ll let it go this once.”

The umpire, who was in a better mood, ordered the game to resume, and the Angels’ closer, who had been nervously looking back and forth between me and Derek, entered his pitching motion with a cautious stance.

Today, I hadn’t been able to swing my bat properly even once in four at-bats.

But in the top of the ninth, with the score tied 2-2 and a runner on first with no outs, there would be no intentional walk.

A tempting pitch that is hard to hit, and even if you do hit it, you can induce a double play. With the mindset that it can’t be helped even if it becomes a walk if it doesn’t work out.

I had to put in a lot of effort to endure those pitches while suffering from the pitchers’ intensive checks.

This was due to concerns that constantly being led around by the bad pitches thrown by opposing pitchers could ruin my batting sense in the postseason.

But,

My mind has changed.

The most important person in my life that I have only now come to realize,

Min Yerin, that child said.

That she hopes I set the home run record as soon as possible,

And that Seattle wins the championship.

The first wish that came out of that child’s mouth is exactly that.

Then I will grant it.

By any means, no matter what it takes.

When considering the opposing pitcher’s pitching repertoire, the most likely pitch to throw to a right-handed batter with a runner on first and no outs is an outside low cutter [a type of fastball that breaks slightly to the side].

I get ready to hit that pitch, which is hard to hit according to their intentions, and even if I do hit it, it is likely to be a ground ball.

The key is wrist strength.

If my wrist strength can’t hold out at the moment when the ball going outside and the bat meet, it will obviously be a ground ball or a foul on the first base side.

I have to be careful.

If the opposing battery knows that I’m even trying to touch the ball that’s going out, they might throw the ball where the bat can’t reach at all.

So there’s only one chance,

Thud thud

It’s a more tense moment than any other at-bat I’ve ever faced in my life.

That child’s first request to me, I have the duty and responsibility to grant it.

I hit it, I hit it out.

Whoosh!

The white baseball, finally leaving the pitcher’s fingertips, flew toward me in a smooth trajectory.

And,

Clang!

My swing, which contained the will to break through all unreasonableness with only strength, met that ball at one point, with no softness to be found at all.

“Wooooooooooooooo!”

“It’s, it’s going, it’s going, it’s goinggggg!”

“Please come this way! This way, this way!”

Everyone on the ground stopped moving and fixed their eyes on the batted ball.

A big hit that is obviously difficult for the outfielder to catch; all that remains is whether that ball goes inside the foul line or not.

The ball, which had been flying in a straight line, passed over the right fielder’s head and slowly spun, showing a movement that flowed outward.

“No! Don’t go! Come here, come here!”

“Oh, God!”

The spectators sitting in the right outfield waved their butterfly nets and ran around, and all of our team’s players sitting in the dugout ran out and watched the batted ball.

The ball, which had been flying through the right outfield, finally,

Thud!

The moment it directly hit the top of the right pole,

“It’s doneeeeeeeee!”

“Hwaaaaaa!”

“Finally! God, oh my god! This can’t be a dream!”

Season 73,

1st place in most home runs in a single Major League season,

It was the moment when my name was added to that record, which had been stained with drugs and infamy.