A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 25

8. Until It Works (4)

“Explain it simply, please! Simply!”

Jiseop’s words.

“Easy enough for an elementary school student to understand.”

Upon receiving Jiseop’s request, Go Changdeok fidgeted, seemingly uncomfortable with the situation.

“Ea, simply… Uh, okay, I understand.”

Go Changdeok had felt something while talking with Jiseop the previous night.

Those who live by crunching data and the players who live by chasing baseballs have very different ways of thinking.

They know different things, use different terms, and have different understandings of data-driven baseball.

“So, yeah… ‘Exit velocity’ doesn’t have a direct translation in Korean yet, so it might be a bit difficult to understand…”

Remembering what he felt the night before, Go Changdeok began to try his best to explain as simply as possible.

But did Jiseop not appreciate Go Changdeok’s efforts?

No matter how carefully he explained, Jiseop would shake his head and retort like this.

“No, it’s still difficult.”

“Explain it in simpler terms.”

“Simply! More simply!”

The sight of Jiseop repeating ‘Again!’ several times over the single term ‘exit velocity’ was wearing on Go Changdeok.

As the situation reached this point, a thick vein began to stand out on Go Changdeok’s always smiling forehead.

‘This guy, I’m starting to think he sees me as a pushover…’

Still, Jiseop was a grateful younger brother who had covered up his ‘secret hobby’.

Barely suppressing the bubbling anger, Go Changdeok slowly explained again.

But before that explanation could even finish, Jiseop shouted ‘Again’ once more.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], didn’t I tell you? Explain it simply enough for an elementary school student to understand!”

Thud.

It was at this moment that something ‘thud’ snapped in the head of the usually kind and good-natured Go Changdeok.

“Hey, you! How much simpler do you want me to explain it? If I don’t use this level of technical terms, the concept itself could become distorted!”

It seemed there was a final ‘line’ that he couldn’t back down from as a professional.

However, Jiseop retorted without batting an eye.

“No, what does it matter if the concept is a little shaky? People like us can’t feel those subtle differences anyway. Just drop everything and explain it simply!”

“Ha, really? Okay, then will you understand if I say it like this? Focus on the exit velocity of the batted ball? That’s…”

In a moment of anger, Go Changdeok unknowingly rolled up his sleeves.

And brought out one word.

“Just hit it freaking hard!”

Go Changdeok said, seething.

“Swing the bat freaking hard, and let’s try to make the ball fly freaking fast!”

His finger pointed at Ryu Jangho.

“This bastard Ryu Jangho has a complicated head these days and can’t swing the bat properly, right? So, let’s just forget about everything else and focus on swinging it really hard!”

“…”

“If you hit it freaking hard, the ball will fly freaking fast, right? Then neither the infielders nor the outfielders will dare to touch it!”

“Got it? Got it?!”

Go Changdeok sent Jiseop a look as if he was about to die from resentment.

“Do you understand now? Do you understand now? What it means to focus on the exit velocity of the batted ball!”

“…Yes.”

It wasn’t Jiseop who answered.

“Huh?”

Feeling that something was a bit strange, Go Changdeok turned his head to the opposite side.

What came into his view was Ryu Jangho, who was making a face as if he had just watched a deeply moving movie.

“Ah, exit… Is that what it meant? You should have told me that from the beginning.”

Ryu Jangho, unable to stop admiring, ‘Oh, what a novel idea.’

Intrigued, he leaned forward and asked.

“Um… Hyung, what exactly should I do? How can I swing the bat freaking hard?”

“Hyu, Hyung?”

The guy who had been acting rudely, calling him ‘ajusshi’ [a respectful term for an older man, like ‘mister’] until just now, was now calling him ‘hyung, hyung’ with sparkling eyes.

Go Changdeok, who was flustered by the blatant change of attitude, turned his head ‘abruptly’ to look at Jiseop as if he had realized something,

[Jiseop-ah, did you deliberately do that so this guy could understand…?]

Jiseop, who saw through his inner thoughts, gave a relaxed smile and slowly nodded his head.

* * *

In fact, when Jiseop first encountered Ryu Jangho in the hotel bathroom, he had thought about stepping in and solving his problems…

Jiseop, who had stayed up all night listening to the explanations, roughly knew what Go Changdeok’s idea was.

But not long after, Jiseop realized that it was impossible for him to explain it to Ryu Jangho directly.

The reason was simple.

‘Because… I’m not as patient as Changdeok hyung.’

Go Changdeok explained, explained, and explained again until Jiseop understood, but Jiseop didn’t have the constitution to do such a thing.

He would probably try it once or twice and if it didn’t work, he would say, ‘Hey, just go out and swing the bat, you idiot.’

So, Jiseop’s conclusion was to entrust Go Changdeok with the ‘education’ of Ryu Jangho entirely.

Go Changdeok was a good person, had the steadfastness of an ox, and above all, he was burning with the enthusiasm to ‘help the players with data-driven baseball’.

‘I just have to sit still and check whether Ryu Jangho understood or not… Nice. This is it.’

That’s how the ‘Genius Hitter Ryu Jangho Improvement Plan’ was conceived.

Go Changdeok’s ‘baseball lecture’, which started in the hotel lobby on the first floor, continued past 2 a.m., moving the location to Ryu Jangho’s room.

Of course, the process was not smooth.

“Okay, Jangho? To hit the ball hard, according to the data in this chart you’re looking at…”

“Hyung, his eyes are glazing over.”

“Damn it! This guy loses his concentration like a ghost as soon as numbers come out?!”

People say ‘starting is half the battle’, but there seemed to be no such thing in the task of making a player who had been living apart from data his whole life understand.

From the beginning, like when he was explaining ‘exit velocity’, ‘again, again, again’ and ‘simply, simply, more simply’ came out endlessly even when explaining one small thing.

Still, whether that effort was not in vain, Ryu Jangho, who couldn’t understand at all at first, began to understand Go Changdeok’s words little by little.

“Ah, so if I refer to this data when I’m doing batting practice… I can accurately figure out whether the ball I just hit was hit properly or not?”

“That’s right! That’s exactly it!!!”

Go Changdeok clapped his hands as if he was watching his daughter call him ‘Dad’ for the first time.

“Now you understand why the people from the power analysis team are following you around with tablets…”

“Yes, I understand now. That the data is definitely helpful.”

Ryu Jangho nodded.

“It’s also because Changdeok hyung explains it well… But even if I don’t say anything, Jiseop hyung here asks the right questions.”

“It’s amazing.”

Ryu Jangho, who was sitting on the floor, took a sip of a LeXBul drink [likely a fictional energy drink] and looked up at Jiseop.

“Jiseop hyung, how do you know so accurately whether I understood or not…? Did you learn mind reading somewhere?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

It was Go Changdeok who answered, stirring a paper cup with a mixed coffee wrapper.

“It’s because Jiseop is a guy who’s been living apart from studying like you. There’s an old saying that misery loves company, right?”

He seemed to find Ryu Jangho, who was starting to understand the explanations, cute, but he seemed to hate Jiseop, who kept shouting ‘again!’, quite a bit.

Go Changdeok, who was sending a resentful look towards Jiseop, suddenly turned his head to Ryu Jangho as if he had realized something.

“But Jangho, why do you call Jiseop ‘Jiseop hyung’ so affectionately, but you keep your distance from me, calling me ‘Changdeok hyungnim’?”

“Yes? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

Ryu Jangho blinked.

“Changdeok hyungnim is about five or six years older than Jiseop hyung, isn’t he? So, I thought calling him hyungnim was…”

“No, you idiot!”

Go Changdeok shouted.

“There’s only a year difference between him and me! What five or six years, you son of a b*tch!”

“Oh, was that so?”

‘Baseball lectures’ continued with such trivial sounds in between.

So, one hour, two hours, three hours… and how much time had passed?

“Jiseop-ah! Hey, Kim Jiseop!!!”

Jiseop opened his eyes to the sound of someone calling him.

“Ah, hyungnim?”

It was Go Changdeok who woke Jiseop up.

Jiseop, rubbing his eyes and bowing to Go Changdeok, looked around with a dazed expression.

“I guess I fell asleep in Jangho’s room.”

It wasn’t unreasonable.

The night before, Go Changdeok’s baseball lecture had continued until around six in the morning.

“Did Jangho already leave? Wow, that guy is really diligent…”

He was talking about how Ryu Jangho’s bat bag, which was placed in one corner of the room, was gone, but Go Changdeok shook Jiseop’s shoulder as if he was frustrated.

“You idiot, wake up! Now is not the time to be saying leisurely things like Jangho is diligent!”

“…Why?”

“It’s past eleven o’clock now. We’re completely late!”

“Yeesh?!”

Jiseop, who doesn’t bat an eye at most things, couldn’t help but feel his heart ‘drop’ at this moment.

The training assistant’s working hours are 9 a.m.

That’s something he could just get an earful from the second-team manager, but in Jiseop’s case, he had to go to the coach’s office by 10 a.m. to receive the ‘training chart’.

‘Damn it, was it a mistake to stay up for two consecutive nights…’

Go Changdeok, clicking his tongue, threw the jacket that was lying on the floor to Jiseop and said.

“Le, let’s go out quickly. We have to go out quickly to get less scolding.”

“Yes, we should.”

It was at that moment that Jiseop was hurriedly getting up and receiving the jacket.

Brrr- Brrr- Brrr-

Almost at the same timing, Jiseop and Go Changdeok’s cell phones, which were placed on the table, rang.

The name that appeared on Jiseop’s cell phone was ‘Second Team Hitting Coach’, and the name that appeared on Go Changdeok’s cell phone was ‘Power Analysis Team Asshole’.

“…”

Jiseop and Go Changdeok, who had been staring at each other blankly for a while, let out a sigh and picked up their respective cell phones.

“Hello.”

“This is Go Changdeok.”

* * *

Perhaps it was a natural thing, but as soon as Jiseop said ‘Hello’, what he heard was the second-team hitting coach’s roar.

-Hey, you crazy bastard! What time is it now! Do you know how many times I’ve called you?!!

It was because he was working hard for the club, but it wasn’t a situation to explain it in detail.

-I’m sorry, Coach.

Jiseop, speaking while bowing his head, although the other person couldn’t see him.

But at that moment, a strange story came out of the hitting coach’s mouth.

-Even though Ryu Jangho asked you so earnestly, who works all night? If something like that happened, you should have reported it to me or the second-team manager first!

The second-team hitting coach seemed to know about Ryu Jangho’s situation.

Jiseop sensed that the situation was not as bad as he thought.

-Take a break in the morning and come out to the main ground after lunch.

“After lunch?”

Jiseop tilted his head.

“Didn’t you say that batting practice would be in the morning? But why after lunch…”

-Jangho is scheduled to do live batting in front of the manager in the afternoon.

The second-team hitting coach continued.

-You and Go… what’s his name? That training assistant who works in the power analysis team!

“Are you talking about Go Changdeok training assistant?”

-Yes! That guy Jangho insisted that the two of you be sure to attend.

-Don’t be late.