A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 179

Chapter 47: In Search of a Renowned Doctor (2)

Iwata Medical Center.

Ji-seop had heard that name several times.

Located in Yokohama, Japan, it was locally known as ‘Iwata Bone Setting Clinic.’

The clinic’s director, Mr. Iwata, was considered the best doctor among Korean professional baseball players.

‘…Is it that great of a place?’

Having started to gain recognition in the early 2000s, most players from all ten teams now visited this clinic.

Not only baseball players but also athletes from sports like soccer, volleyball, and basketball sought out Mr. Iwata.

Some teams would even check if there was an opening at Iwata Medical Center first whenever a player got injured.

In fact, Ji-seop was a bit skeptical until-

“Oh, Jae-yoon is going to Iwata?”

The next day, in the afternoon.

While talking with the players who were warming up before the game about Kang Jae-yoon’s injury.

Ji-seop could vaguely grasp how much trust the Cannons players had in Iwata Medical Center.

“Oh, that’s good news.”

That was the reaction of Chun Jin-woo, the captain of the KH Cannons.

“If it’s Iwata Medical Center, you can trust them. They’ll probably be able to significantly shorten his return time.”

Chun Jin-woo stated definitively.

Ji-seop asked him.

“Have you ever been there, senior? To that Iwata Medical Center, I mean.”

“I’ve been there. It was back when I was with the Yoosung Warriors… About three years ago?”

Chun Jin-woo continued, stretching his shoulders.

“I had a fracture. A pitcher’s ball hit the back of my left hand… A metacarpal fracture [a break in one of the bones in the hand between the wrist and fingers].”

“Ugh.”

Ji-seop grimaced without realizing it.

The chilling sound of a ball traveling over 140 km/h [approximately 87 mph] hitting a person’s bone flashed through his mind.

“A metacarpal fracture… Isn’t that pretty serious? I heard it takes quite a while to recover.”

“It did. The hospital in Korea said about two months. For the bone to heal, rehab training, and then getting back into the game, roughly two months.”

Chun Jin-woo continued.

“But after receiving treatment at Iwata Medical Center, I was able to play again in just one month and ten days.”

“That fast?!”

That meant he was able to return more than 20 days earlier than initially expected.

Considering rest days, it meant he could play in about 17 to 18 more games.

For players whose number of games played significantly affected their salary, a 20-day early return would be a huge advantage.

“What’s the secret?”

Ji-seop couldn’t help but ask.

“Does Iwata Medical Center have some special technique? A machine that’s not used in Korean hospitals, or something?”

“Well, I’m not sure if there was a big difference from what I saw in Korea…”

Chun Jin-woo tilted his head, but Ahn Young-chan, who was stretching next to him, seemed to know something.

“Iwata doesn’t really use casts, you know? I think that has some effect.”

“Casts?”

“Yeah, when you put on a cast, the muscles around the injured area weaken, right? But Iwata doesn’t use casts at all, so…”

The idea was that preventing muscle loss helped with a faster recovery of athletic performance.

The speculation about Iwata Medical Center’s treatment methods didn’t stop with Ahn Young-chan.

“Was it Director Iwata? That old man’s skills seem amazing. He just runs an ultrasound machine over it, and the pain disappears quickly.”

“It might also be that it’s so famous that it makes you feel better.”

“That’s right. When you go there, there are autographs of famous players plastered all over the entrance. Seeing that made me think, ‘Oh, this place is good! I can trust them!'”

What was the secret to Iwata Medical Center’s rise as a mecca for injury recovery?

The players’ speculations on this were so varied that they weren’t very helpful.

However, Ji-seop seemed to have been able to grasp a few things about Iwata Medical Center at this point.

That there were many players who had achieved good results at Iwata Medical Center.

That, as a result of such experiences, Iwata Medical Center was highly trusted among players.

That if they were to get injured, players would naturally want to go to Iwata Medical Center.

‘Hmm, with this level of trust… Should I consider Iwata Medical Center to have already become irreplaceable in Korean professional baseball?’

Of course, there were exceptions.

Among the Cannons players, there was one who showed an indifferent reaction to Iwata Medical Center.

“I… didn’t really like it.”

That was what this person said, smacking his lips.

That person was Ryu Jang-ho.

“No, why?”

Ji-seop’s eyes widened, wondering if there was a special reason, but he soon let out a hollow laugh.

“They… didn’t have Korean baseball there. I was so bored the whole time I was getting treatment.”

Ji-seop thought to himself, ‘Ah, that baseball fanatic,’ but Ryu Jang-ho’s expression was quite serious.

“It’s such a remote rural town that the internet doesn’t work well… I couldn’t get any news about the Cannons, so I was really frustrated.”

“Hey, wasn’t it that you couldn’t contact your sister-in-law that made you frustrated?”

“…Seon-woo, you haven’t been hit by me in a few days, have you?”

‘The Lonely Lion’ Ryu Jang-ho and ‘The Fearless Hyena’ Kyung Seon-woo.

Just as these two were about to start another squabble.

Brrr-

Ji-seop’s phone, which he had put in his pocket, received a message.

‘Hmm?’

The sender was,

Seo Chang-gi, the general manager.

“Mr. Kim, I need you to go on a business trip.”

Ji-seop, who had returned to the general manager’s office, was receiving a business trip order from General Manager Seo Chang-gi.

The destination was Yokohama, Japan, specifically Iwata Medical Center.

“It’s about taking Kang Jae-yoon to Iwata Medical Center. Park Myung-hoon from the development team will be accompanying you, so you can ask him for the detailed schedule and such.”

If it was simply a matter of taking an injured player, Park from the development team could have handled it to some extent.

Sending Ji-seop, the general manager’s special assistant, to Japan at this time meant that there was more to it than that.

“Cha Yoon-jin just informed me. Iwata Medical Center… The director was replaced three months ago. The hospital building itself has also moved to another location nearby.”

That was what General Manager Seo Chang-gi said.

“The original director was old and retired, and his grandson, who had been working under him, took over his business?”

“Ah.”

Ji-seop could roughly grasp the goal of this business trip.

“Then I guess I need to meet that grandson and say hello.”

Of course, that wasn’t all.

“I’ll also need to look around the facilities of the newly moved hospital… Anyway, I should check if Iwata Medical Center can still be trusted in the future, right?”

“Kuh, that’s why you’re Mr. Kim! You just get it right away, don’t you?”

General Manager Seo Chang-gi nodded with a satisfied expression.

“The new director of Iwata Medical Center seems to be flawless in terms of skill. He’s been rigorously trained under his grandfather for over 10 years.”

He added that his interest in Korean baseball was even greater than his grandfather’s.

‘The future of Iwata Bone Setting Clinic is in Korea.’ The new director was said to be saying this whenever he had the chance.

“However, according to information that Cha Yoon-jin obtained from people in Japan… There’s a slightly chaotic atmosphere being detected inside and outside the hospital.”

“A chaotic atmosphere?”

Ji-seop tilted his head to one side.

“Specifically, what kind of atmosphere…”

“That’s your role to figure out.”

Director Seo gave a faint smile.

“There may have been changes in the personnel composition as the owner changed, or the location of the newly moved hospital may not be very good.”

“Or, there may be no problem at all, and the Japanese informants may be nitpicking for no reason? Among the Japanese, there may be people who don’t like the new director who sings ‘Korea, Korea’.”

So, the story was that someone with good intuition needed to go and check the atmosphere.

And when it came to that ‘intuition,’ General Manager Seo Chang-gi seemed to have almost absolute trust in Ji-seop.

“Depending on the local situation, we may have to completely re-examine our Cannons’ player management system. So please check more carefully than usual.”

“I understand, General Manager.”

General Manager Seo Chang-gi, who firmly believed in his abilities.

Ji-seop felt a slight burden but nodded with a calm expression.

“Then I’ll be off.”

It was the afternoon of the next day when Ji-seop arrived in Yokohama, Japan.

Park Myung-hoon from the development team, and pitcher Kang Jae-yoon, who was injured just before being promoted to the first team.

On the way to Iwata Medical Center by taxi with these two.

Park Myung-hoon, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and asked.

“I heard from our team leader… Mr. Kim, you played in Japan during your active career, right?”

“Yes? Ah, that’s right.”

Ji-seop, who was blankly thinking about what to buy for his family on the way back, quickly nodded.

“It was an independent league, but I did play for a few years.”

“Then you won’t have to worry much about the language… Have you ever been to this area of Yokohama?”

“No. I’ve been to Tokyo a few times for sightseeing, but this is my first time in Yokohama.”

Ji-seop handed a candy to Kang Jae-yoon, who was sitting next to him, and continued.

“The league I was in was over in Osaka. So I hardly ever came here.”

“Ah, I see?”

The general manager’s special assistant who was visiting Yokohama for the first time.

Park seemed to feel a sense of duty to explain something to such a special assistant.

“Iwata Medical Center is near here.”

“Oh, I see it over there.”

Park pointed to an old building across the street with his finger.

“That’s the original Iwata Medical Center. We used to bring players there until last year.”

“It’s… really small, isn’t it?”

It was such a small building that the name ‘Medical Center’ felt grand.

It felt like a herbal medicine clinic or a local doctor’s office that you would find in a rural town.

Players who received hundreds of millions of won in annual salary were receiving treatment in such a small and shabby place.

When Ji-seop made an unbelievable expression, Park smiled as if he knew it would happen.

“Haha, I had the same reaction as you when I first came here. I was dumbfounded. That this famous Iwata was here.”

“If that’s the old building, where is the newly moved building?”

At Ji-seop’s question, Park turned his gaze to his phone, which had a map app turned on.

“Let’s see, the newly moved hospital seems to be in this area as well. If we just turn the corner up ahead… Oh!”

Park’s eyes widened the next moment.

A building that was incomparably larger than the small building he had seen a little while ago came into view.

“Wow…”

It was a newly built building.

It was five stories high in total. However, since there were hardly any tall buildings around, it felt much larger than its actual size.

A convenience store was located on the first floor, and the second floor seemed to be used as an office for a company.

And on the 3rd to 5th floors, the name [Iwata Bone Setting Clinic] was densely written on all the windows.

“Director Iwata must have made a lot of money? To build such a nice new building.”

On the way up to the ‘Iwata Medical Center’ after getting out of the taxi.

While riding the elevator to the 3rd floor, Park Myung-hoon repeatedly clicked his tongue.

“Or is it? Is this reflecting the intentions of the new director? You know, the person who is the grandson of the former director.”

“Well, we’ll have to see when we get there.”

Ding-

As the elevator doors opened, Park turned to Ji-seop and said.

“Please wait a moment. I’ll go and register quickly.”

“Are you okay? I thought you said you weren’t confident in your Japanese yet.”

“Don’t worry. There are quite a few staff members here who speak Korean.”

Giving a thumbs up, Park strode towards the reception desk.

Ji-seop began to look around Iwata Medical Center from one step behind.

‘The atmosphere is chaotic? I don’t really get that feeling…’

Overall, it was a clean and quiet atmosphere.

The staff who greeted Park seemed quite friendly as well.

Signboards written in Korean were noticeable in every corner, and Ji-seop was thinking that it wasn’t too bad when-

“Are you Mr. Kim Ji-seop, the special assistant from the Cannons?”

A voice came from behind.

Surprised, Ji-seop turned his head back, and a man in a suit came into view.

“I knew it! It was Mr. Kim! Do you perhaps remember me? I was involved in Chun Jin-woo’s trade back then…”

“Ah, Yoosung Warriors! You were Mr. Lee from the Yoosung Warriors’ operations team, right?”

It was someone who vaguely remained in Ji-seop’s memory.

Mr. Lee from the Yoosung Warriors’ operations team.

“How have you been? Oh my, I never dreamed I would meet you in a place like this.”

“Hey, what are you saying! This is Iwata Medical Center. When players get hurt, they all come here, so meeting people from other teams isn’t really a coincidence!”

The two lightly shook hands.

The Yoosung Warriors employee gave an awkward smile and opened his mouth again.

“I’d like to slowly catch up on the stories I’ve missed… I’m sorry. I have something urgent to do.”

The Warriors employee showed his phone.

Ji-seop nodded and stepped aside.

“Ah, yes! Go ahead and do it. We can have a beer after everything is finished, right?”

“Oh my, we should. Thank you. Then I…”

The Warriors employee opened the door of Iwata Medical Center and left.

A slight tension was already rising on Ji-seop’s face as he stared blankly at his back.

‘The player’s recovery period is taking longer than initially expected?’

The inner thoughts that Ji-seop had read from the Yoosung Warriors employee a little while ago.

Ji-seop was feeling the need to take a closer look at Iwata Medical Center.