Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 144

After finishing the Hanseong Winners series in Gwangju with 2 wins and 1 loss, we went up to Daejeon and had another 2 wins and 1 loss against the Seongun Hawks.

During the same period, the Sangsu Tigers had a record of 5 wins and 1 loss in a week, narrowing the game difference to three games again.

Well, still, this isn’t bad.

And then came Monday.

“Shall we go to an escape room later?”

Usually, we’d go eat whatever I wanted, but today, Min-young, who really wanted pork cutlet, was diligently cutting it.

“Escape room? Sounds…”

Ah.

“…good. But, can we avoid scary places like last time?”

“Hey, that’s what makes it fun!”

Please.

I went to an escape room with Min-young for the first time a while ago.

It was fun. It was amazing. It was thrilling.

“…….”

Waaaaah!!

Ughhh!

Mi, Min-young!!!

If it wasn’t scary.

The giant, 188cm tall and weighing 110kg, clung to the woman who was a head shorter than him like a cicada in the dark room whenever he saw anything strange.

No, what can I do if it’s really scary? It’s not just that it’s scary, but what can I do if it keeps startling me?

But every time I clung to Min-young like that, Min-young laughed and enjoyed it. Once, she even stroked my hair, saying I was cute.

…Although it was a prop, Min-young, holding a dangling human wrist and smiling brightly, looked quite…impressive.

“I’ve been looking at this place.”

“…Escape room?”

“Yes! Take a look.”

“…….”

With distrust, suspicion, and anxiety written all over my eyes, I looked at Min-young’s phone screen.

[Escape from the Zombie Factory!]

You wake up in a factory that produces zombies. The time you have is…….

“…….”

I felt dizzy and closed my eyes tightly while reading.

“How is it? How is it? Sounds fun, right?”

“Sca, scary…”

“Hey, it’s not like there are ghosts. I specially chose it for Han-wool…”

Hmm. Still,

“…Can’t we skip it?”

“…….”

Don’t you think it’s a bit unfair to look at me with those eyes, Min-young?

“Le…let’s go.”

“Yay!”

Min-young smiled brightly and got up from her seat. And…….

Waaaaah-!!

That sound, that shout, that I heard every time I performed well at the baseball field, poured out of my mouth non-stop for an hour.

* * *

After an hour that felt like hell, I was finally able to escape from the hellish room.

Min-young is evil, too. We could have clearly gotten out in 40 minutes, but she definitely did it slowly to watch me scream. I saw it, I really saw it.

“Hoo…”

I sipped the escape 기념 [commemorative] drink with my still trembling arms, waiting for Min-young, who said, ‘I’ll go to the bathroom!’ and left her seat for a while.

While replenishing my energy with the plum-flavored drink, the part-time worker at the escape room hesitantly approached me.

“Um…excuse me…”

“Yes?”

“Are you…by any chance…Kim Han-wool…the player?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Could I possibly ask for an autograph!”

“Yes, yes.”

As I scribbled my signature on the A4 paper, I felt relieved. I felt like I had returned from the screaming 아저씨 [ajusshi – middle-aged man] in the escape room to professional player Kim Han-wool.

“Thank you! Can I possibly hang it up?”

“Yes, of course. Are you going to hang it up for promotional purposes here?”

“Yes!”

“I can do another one if you need one for personal use.”

“Ah, thank you!”

Then the boss quickly brought the Wonha Challengers hat and a marker from behind.

As I signed again, the boss thanked me and gave me another drink.

As I was receiving the new can of drink,

“…Where did she go?”

Suddenly, Min-young wasn’t coming back.

It’s not like I chugged a can of drink in one shot, but quite a long time has passed since I was sipping it, and she still hasn’t come back.

It’s already past the time for fixing makeup. I tried calling her, wondering if she would answer, but,

Your love is a wildcard, Folding is the hard…….

Only the same ringtone as mine was coming from Min-young’s pouch on the table.

“Excuse me, if the person who came with me comes back, please tell her that I’m waiting on the first floor.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

“Yes, come again!”

Just in case, I asked the boss and left the escape room.

Perhaps because it was a newly built building, the clean inner walls without any cracks were visible first.

Going out, there was an elevator on the left and stairs going up and down on the right. And from over there, I could hear,

“No, it’s okay.”

“Hey, don’t be like that.”

“How many times do I have to say it’s okay?”

Min-young’s voice.

“…What is it?”

It sounded like she was talking to someone, but I didn’t sense any pleasant feelings in Min-young’s voice.

Rather, it was full of extreme aversion.

Thinking something must have happened, I quickly headed to where the voice was coming from.

“Just give me your number?”

“I keep telling you I have a boyfriend, why are you doing this?”

“Just the number. I really like you.”

…The world is going well. [Sarcastic remark implying the situation is not going well at all.]

The situation was quickly understood with a few simple words.

“Min-young, what’s wrong?”

“Han-wool! Ah, let go!”

Min-young forcefully shook off the man’s hand that was holding her arm and ran to me, linking arms with me.

Looking at her face, it seemed like she was quite angry…….

“Here, this is my boyfriend. Please stop it, really!”

Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen Min-young this pissed off.

At times like this, wouldn’t it be more effective to stare at the other person’s eyes rather than saying unnecessary words?

“Tch…”

As expected, the other person hesitated, mumbled something to himself, and quickly passed by us.

“…What exactly happened?”

“He keeps saying he likes me and asking for my number! I’m angry because he doesn’t listen even after I tell him I have a boyfriend!”

Sigh sigh―

As if her anger hadn’t subsided, Min-young spat out the remaining anger while looking at the place where the man had left.

Swish swish―

“Ugh…really…”

As a way to calm her down, I lightly stroked her hair, and she purred like a cat who likes her 집사 [jipsa – butler/caretaker], rubbing her face against my arm.

Then,

“Did you see?”

“Yes?”

She lifted her face and smiled brightly again.

“Did you see, did you see? This is how popular I am!”

“Ah…”

Let’s interpret the woman’s language. What is the correct answer here?

“…Ah! That’s because Min-young is really too pretty. Ugh, I’m so anxious when Min-young goes around comfortably!”

“Right!”

That was it.

I think I chose the right answer in front of this multiple-choice question where hell is if you’re wrong and heaven is if you’re right. After letting out a sigh of relief without being seen, I left the building with Min-young.

Laughing and chatting, we ate street food, drank coffee, stopped by the arcade for a while, and even went to the karaoke for a while.

As we had fun, the time to go home was approaching.

In some ways, the saddest time of the week.

But because there is a next time, because we know we can meet again next time, we leave without regret…….

“Ah, I don’t want to go to work…”

Wi, without regret…….

“Should I just use another day of 연차 [yeoncha – paid time off] tomorrow?”

“…….”

…We were able to get in the car with more regrets than I thought.

“It’s because you’re sad. I waited a week with difficulty to meet Han-wool…”

“I’m sad too.”

“Do you know what? Other office workers say they’re scared of Sundays, that it’s a bit like that. But I’m the opposite. I’m really looking forward to it!”

“Why?”

The reason is obvious,

“Because the next day is the day I meet Han-wool!”

I wanted to hear it anyway.

“I’ve been working really hard these days.”

“Are you trying to get promoted quickly?”

“No? No, I didn’t aim for that, but…I think that just comes along when you work hard.”

“Then?”

“If I finish even a little earlier that day, the probability of seeing Han-wool that day increases.”

Such a cute person.

“If Han-wool’s game ends early, it’s 10 o’clock, and if I finish and leave work, it’s 11 o’clock. I don’t work until then, but if I pull that day forward, we can have an easier day the next day even if we leave late and go to bed late.”

She was pouring out the feelings she was feeling, but heavy emotions were felt in each word.

“…Because I miss Han-wool so much.”

Ah, this person really likes me a lot, that feeling.

I didn’t give any other answer and just smiled contentedly while driving. Min-young’s chattering voice was so nice to listen to.

Stories about life these days, what I’m going to do tomorrow, the 진상 [jinsang – difficult/annoying person] that happened a few days ago, what happened today.

When you share these stories, 30 minutes feels too short. Even including the extra time created by reducing the speed limit by 10km, it’s short.

That means it’s that much fun.

I glanced at Min-young’s face in the gap of the traffic light. She seems to be humming along to the song playing in the car because she ran out of things to talk about, and her appearance is quite cute.

“…Min-young.”

“Yes?”

I was originally going to talk about it around July.

“Um…the things we were talking about when we left earlier.”

“When we left…ah, the 연차 [yeoncha – paid time off] thing?”

“Including that story.”

Including it?

She mumbled to herself and made a face that had a time lag as she brought up the previous conversation.

“Ah, yes.”

And then she found the script well.

“There is one way to solve that.”

“How?”

How should I say it?

I haven’t made a perfect plan yet, but I’ve finished the composition to some extent.

Roughly, let’s borrow a certain place, do something, give something, and tell a story.

My head ordered me to wait patiently until then, but my heart was strongly resisting, saying that it had to be now.

“…Han-wool?”

While I was thinking about how to tell her, I arrived at the place where I always dropped Min-young off, cutting off my words for a moment.

Thanks to that, I was safely able to look at Min-young’s face and talk.

“If we live together…if we live together, we see each other every day, look forward to it every day, and are together every day. We eat the same food every day and eat together.”

“Ah…that…”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was originally going to talk about it properly around July. I’m really sorry because it seems like a very uncool proposal. But that…”

Looking at Min-young’s blank face, I was convinced.

It’s not that it’s best to talk now, it’s not that it will produce the best results to talk now, but.

“I’m sorry, I want to talk now.”

I have to talk now. It has to be now.

“That…”

Was she disappointed in the confession that lost both order and coolness? No, she would have been disappointed.

Min-young didn’t say anything and shook her eyes while making a small noise.

“It’s a bit…sudden.”

“Right. I’m really scared now that I’ve blurted it out. I’m worried about what to do if Min-young doesn’t accept it, what to do if…something goes wrong because of this.”

“You just blurted it out without thinking.”

“That’s how it is.”

Haha, I laughed awkwardly.

“It’s been almost 3 years, since we met.”

“The period we’ve been dating is a little less than a year…but if you can express what we met before as 썸 [sseom – a Korean term for the ambiguous stage between friends and dating], then yes. It’s a little less than 3 years.”

“Do you think you’ve gotten to know me well during that time?”

“No.”

I answered firmly.

I can confidently say that I know a lot about Min-young after meeting her for 3 years, which is by no means a short period.

What she likes, what she dislikes, what kind of person she likes, and what kind of person she dislikes.

But I can’t confidently say that I ‘know well’ a person within 3 years, which is by no means a long time.

That’s why,

“I want to get to know you more. Because there are still many parts about Min-young that I want to know more about.”

“Then…can’t we get to know each other more if we just keep dating instead of getting married?”

“We can get to know each other. We can. We can…”

What kind of expression did Min-young have when the story that I like Min-young too came out? At least it wasn’t emotionless and expressionless like now.

“Rather, I want to show you more about me.”

“You?”

“As Min-young said, even if we just keep meeting like now, Min-young will get to know more about me. But, eating together, sleeping together, living together, cleaning together. Being…stuck together. I think I can show you a lot about me.”

“…….”

“How I sleep, how I live at home, what I do at home, what I think while living. All of that.”

Whoa.

As a price for finishing the uncool proposal, I didn’t have the confidence to look straight at Min-young’s face. I just looked at the front window of the car.

I waited quietly, using the excuse that the action was to give Min-young time to think.

“Han-wool.”

“Yes.”

I answered with difficulty to Min-young’s voice, which I almost missed because of the pounding sound.

“I don’t know when it will be.”

“…Yes.”

“After we get married. I’ll probably keep nagging about today’s events.”

“Yes?”

I turned my head to the right without knowing it at the choice of the word marriage.

“I’m going to brag to my friends that I got a proposal and that I’m getting married soon, but they’ll definitely ask how I got it.”

“Ah…”

After looking at Min-young for a moment at the expression that came out indirectly after circling around a few times instead of a definite answer,