A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 157

The Baseball Team’s New Recruit Is Too Good – Episode 157

The Baseball Team’s New Recruit Is Too Good 157

41. The Day Baseball Returned (2)

Every few years, baseball stadiums see the emergence of so-called ‘named fans.’

They used to be often introduced as ‘stadium celebrities.’

People who catch the eyes of other spectators with their unique outfits or, shall we say, memorable behavior.

Like appearing in the stands wearing doll costumes, banging a wooden gong while wearing a Buddha mask, or suddenly showing up and throwing ice cream at people.

It was quite a while ago, but even the KH Cannons had such ‘named fans’.

Everyone called them by different names, but the most frequently mentioned name was this:

[The Nuclear Bombs and Missiles]

A group of five men who started appearing at KH Cannons Field about 10 years ago.

The name came from their outfits.

As if to show they were fans of the ‘Cannons,’ they each wore a large cannonball-shaped hat on their heads.

They would show up in the stands in those strange outfits, cheering, dancing, and shouting louder than anyone else.

And sometimes, when Cannons batters hit a home run, they would shout ‘Boom!’ and hand out puffed rice snacks [a common Korean snack] to the surrounding spectators.

At one point, people lined up to take pictures with them, but now they are just remembered as, ‘Oh yeah, there were those guys, weren’t there?’

Among those [Nuclear Bombs and Missiles], Kim Sang-hyuk, who played the role of ‘Nuclear Bomb,’ was now-

‘Ugh, something feels weird?’

In the subway heading to Seoul Generals Stadium, he kept tilting his head.

‘No, it doesn’t make sense. Even if I was drunk, did I really say that with my own mouth?’

Kim Sang-hyuk scratched the back of his head, trying to recall his hazy memories.

But unable to figure it out on his own, he turned to his college buddies who were sitting next to him.

“Hey, tell me honestly, really?”

Kim Sang-hyuk continued.

“Did I really say that? That I’d go with you guys to the Cannons’ opening game? Did I really say that?”

“Ugh, is this guy already getting dementia? How many times are you going to ask the same thing?”

One of his college buddies grumbled.

“Yes, you said it! You did, Kim Sang-hyuk! You said it yourself when we got together for drinks last month!”

“We were surprised too! The guy who used to hate the Cannons suddenly said he’d go to the opening game with us!”

“Think about it! If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have reserved five tickets!”

“Yeah, it was so hard to get those tickets! And now you’re complaining even though you didn’t do anything……”

Kim Sang-hyuk, who had opened his mouth wrong, was bombarded by his friends.

He clicked his tongue in embarrassment but didn’t stop trying to change the destination for the day.

“No, I know you guys went through a lot… I’m just saying it feels like it’ll be a wasted trip if we go.”

Kim Sang-hyuk pointed out the window.

“The weather is so gloomy, isn’t it? If it’s like this here, it might already be pouring rain at the stadium.”

It was a reasonable point.

There was a rain forecast for the entire Seoul area that day.

So there was talk about whether or not the opening game could even be held.

Just as he was about to suggest going somewhere else for drinks since the weather wasn’t good,

Kim Sang-hyuk’s college buddies replied with indifferent expressions.

“The game’s on. Don’t worry.”

“The game’s on? How do you know that? Oh, did they post something on the bulletin board or something? Ugh, how can you trust that……”

“Sigh, bulletin board, my foot.”

It was at this moment that one of his college buddies took out his phone and showed it to him.

“If the weather’s not good, the Cannons stream a live broadcast on YouTube. To show what the current weather is like at the stadium, and whether the game can proceed.”

“……What?”

The phone screen showed the current situation at Generals Stadium.

Sunlight was streaming through the thick clouds, and the players from both teams were out on the field, starting their warm-ups.

“No, the uptight Cannons……. They’re doing something like this?”

Seeing Kim Sang-hyuk just blinking in disbelief at the unexpected story, his college buddies chuckled and replied.

“Yeah, they are.”

And then, one more thing.

“Hey, it’s not the Cannons you used to know, okay?”

* * *

Kim Sang-hyuk was quick-witted.

The moment he heard his college buddy say, ‘It’s not the Cannons you used to know,’ he got a sense of things.

‘These guys… they’re up to something, aren’t they?’

He even thought that the promise he supposedly made at the drinking party last month might have been a lie.

He figured that the four of them were plotting something to drag him to the Cannons’ opening game.

Since they had been together almost every day in college, it wasn’t hard to figure out what their ‘scheme’ was.

‘Hmph, let’s get back together and go watch Cannons games like we used to… Something like that, right.’

Kim Sang-hyuk had completely cut off his interest in the Cannons after Chun Jin-woo’s FA [Free Agent] transfer a few years ago.

But the other four college buddies were different.

Even though they said, ‘We don’t support the Cannons anymore,’ they couldn’t quite let go of their attachment.

Whenever the team seemed to be doing well, they would get together and go to the stadium, and then come back with gloomy expressions.

‘I heard the Cannons made it to the playoffs last year… Is that why they’re back at it again?’

Hoping and then getting disappointed, and then having hope again and then hanging their heads.

Kim Sang-hyuk felt a little sorry for his friends who kept repeating the same pattern.

Why don’t they realize that there are some things that are absolutely impossible in this world?

World peace, your love lives, and the KH Cannons winning the Korean Series [championship series of the KBO League].

Since things had turned out this way, Kim Sang-hyuk thought he would just go along with them until today, and then not contact them for a while starting tomorrow-

“……Huh?”

When he arrived at Seoul Generals Stadium, where the opening game was being held, he could feel a different atmosphere than he had a few years ago.

“Wow, there are so many people. I should go to the bathroom beforehand, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah, it feels like there are even more people than during last year’s postseason?”

He just ignored his friends chattering beside him.

It was perhaps natural for a lot of people to gather for the opening game.

What caught Kim Sang-hyuk’s attention was the scenery on both sides of the street, which was filled with people.

“…….”

The merchandise stalls, which used to have T-shirts that looked like they were meant to be used as rags, now had a decent selection of products.

Players who used to be indifferent even when attending official autograph sessions were now coming out and taking pictures with fans.

In fact, even at this point, Kim Sang-hyuk thought, ‘Okay, the Cannons are now imitating other teams,’ but what far exceeded his expectations happened a little later.

“Welcome! Thank you so much for coming such a long way!”

“The Cannons’ home opener is next Friday! We hope you’ll visit the home opener as well!”

“We’re distributing this season’s Cannons schedule! Please be sure to take one if you’re interested!”

People were standing in front of the entrance to the third base stands, greeting the incoming spectators.

One incredibly large old man, one middle-aged man with a somewhat timid impression, and one young man next to them with a look on his face that said, ‘What am I doing here?’

He could immediately tell that they weren’t hired by the club.

But the moment he heard about their identities from the friend who was following behind him, Kim Sang-hyuk couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘Huh.’

“That old man seems to be the club’s acting owner? I’ve seen his picture in internet articles a few times.”

“The person next to him is the Cannons’ general manager, right? The one who was next to him in the Jang Dae-woo acquisition commemorative photo.”

“Then what about the last one? Who’s that young guy standing next to the general manager?”

At Kim Sang-hyuk’s question, his college buddies tilted their heads in unison.

“I don’t know? He looks familiar……”

“Ugh, isn’t he just a part-timer? They probably put him in a suit because he has to be next to the acting owner.”

“Oh, a part-timer?”

* * *

To put it bluntly,

Among the things Kim Sang-hyuk saw and heard that day, there was only one thing that was exactly the same as it had been a few years ago.

That was the KH Cannons’ fight song, which had always been known for being cheesy.

Let’s all shout together! KH!

Let’s all want together! Hit!

It was a fight song that made him chuckle every time he heard it when he used to go to the stadium.

He even wondered who was the person who designated such a half-hearted song as the club’s official fight song.

But perhaps because everything else had changed, Kim Sang-hyuk was even feeling a bit of nostalgia.

“Let’s all shout together…….”

Kim Sang-hyuk muttered along to the fight song, looking out at the distant field.

It was when the Cannons’ attack in the top of the first inning was in full swing that his four college buddies ‘swooped’ in on him.

“How is it? The atmosphere is very different, right?”

One of his buddies asked.

With a very proud expression.

“Hey, this is just the tip of the iceberg? If you go to Yeongsan Stadium? You’ll be really surprised.”

“Yeah, we went during the exhibition games? It was no joke. The facilities have changed a lot. It’s different from last year.”

Kim Sang-hyuk’s friends were rattling on about things he hadn’t even asked about, sandwiching him between them.

At this point, Kim Sang-hyuk couldn’t help but bring up what he had been wondering about since earlier.

“Why are you guys doing this? Anyone would think you’re from the Cannons’ PR team.”

Kim Sang-hyuk chuckled.

“Weren’t you just trying to get me to watch Cannons baseball again? Why do you keep advertising that the Cannons have changed, that they’re different from before……?”

“Oh, well, it’s because you said so definitively that the Cannons would never change…….”

The next moment, the four college buddies exchanged meaningful glances with each other.

And one of them stepped forward and cautiously said.

“Actually, there’s something we’ve always wanted to do together before it gets too late, you know?”

“Something you want to do? What is it?”

At Kim Sang-hyuk’s question, his buddy opened his mouth with an even more cautious expression.

“The Nuclear Bombs and Missiles… What do you say we do that one more time?”

“What?!”

As Kim Sang-hyuk’s eyes widened, the other buddies quickly stepped in to provide support.

“Hey, come on! We made such a fuss about trying to throw the first pitch back then… And we ended up not being able to do it, right?”

“Even aside from the first pitch, wasn’t it really fun? People recognized us, and we were even in the newspapers!”

“The Cannons’ performance is going to be really good this year. So a lot of people will come to the stadium, right? Naturally, we’ll get more attention too!”

“Sang-hyuk, we can’t do this without you! The name is Nuclear Bombs and Missiles, right? You’re the Nuclear Bomb! We’re the Missiles!”

The four buddies were bombarding him just like they had on the subway.

But this time, Kim Sang-hyuk didn’t back down at all.

“No way? We’re over thirty now. I’m too embarrassed to do that.”

Kim Sang-hyuk clicked his tongue.

“And how many times do I have to say it? I’ve completely cut off my interest in the Cannons. I don’t care if they win the championship or come in last place…….”

Thwack!

What interrupted Kim Sang-hyuk’s words was the intense sound of a hit from the field.

“Huh?!”

Kim Sang-hyuk, without realizing it, jumped up from his seat and looked in the direction the ball was flying.

“Oh, what is it? It’s a foul?”

When he clicked his tongue in disappointment and sat back down, what came into his view was the subtle looks of his college buddies.

“Wh-what are you guys? Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?”

“Sang-hyuk, why are you disappointed?”

One of his buddies asked, raising the corners of his mouth.

“You said you don’t care if the Cannons come in last place or win the championship, right?”

“Then why are you disappointed that it was a foul?”

“Oh, no, that’s…….”