A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 187

49. He’s Just Great at Everything (1)

A few days later.

In the home team locker room at KH Cannons Field, the official results of the All-Star Game voting were being announced.

“I’ll announce the top vote-getter first!”

Shalak-shalak.

The Cannons’ head coach licked his finger and turned the page.

“The player who received the most votes in this year’s All-Star Game is… in the outfield position, Ryu Jang-ho!”

Wahhhhh!!!

A heated reaction erupted among the players.

They cheered, banged on the locker room walls, and even threw flower petals that they had somehow obtained.

“…”

As Ryu Jang-ho slightly bowed his head and stepped forward, the head coach read out the official voting results.

“1,327,832 votes from the fans, and 278 votes from the players! He took first place in both categories!”

“Ooh, Ryu Jang-ho! That’s no joke?!”

They slapped him on the back, ruffled his hair roughly, and a couple of them even secretly patted his butt.

Amidst the uproar, Ryu Jang-ho quietly accepted the voting results.

The head coach’s announcement continued.

“Second place is catcher Cheon Jin-woo! 1,093,267 votes from the fans, and 176 votes from the players!”

“Cheon Jin-woo is still alive!!!”

“Third place is starting pitcher Jimmy Morris! 997,821 votes from the fans, and 144 votes from the players!”

“Ooh, Jimmy!!!”

The players came forward one by one in order of votes received to collect their results.

Standing a step behind, Ji-seop watched this scene with a contented smile.

[Let’s see, the number of votes is one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… Wow, is that over 800,000? So many people voted for me?]

The players selected for the All-Star Game looked at the numbers on their results with shining eyes.

[800,000 votes… Wow, that’s amazing. If I work hard, will I be able to get that many votes next year?]

The players who weren’t selected for the All-Star Game looked at their teammates’ results with envious eyes.

‘Hehe, our players are sensitive to visible numbers, after all?’

The All-Star Game was one of the few opportunities to confirm fans’ support with ‘numbers.’

Just as he was thinking that not missing that opportunity was the right answer,

The head coach’s official result announcement was coming to an end.

“And as you all know… there was a ‘Other’ category in the players’ vote.”

That was the difference between the fan vote and the players’ vote.

Fans could only vote for the designated candidates, but players could write in the All-Stars they had in mind in the ‘Other’ category.

“This year, there were players who received votes in the Other category as well. First, Ma Gang-sik, with 12 votes!”

“Ooh!!!”

“Next is Na Jun-ho, with 5 votes!”

“Yaaah!!!”

Although they didn’t have their names on the fan vote [candidate list], it was meaningful in that they were recognized by their peers.

The head coach, as if wanting to emphasize that meaning, called out the names of those players clearly.

But the very next moment, his thick eyebrows twitched once.

“Hey, who is this?!”

The head coach glared at the players as if he was angry.

“Didn’t I tell you not to joke around when voting? If you do this, the league office will say something! Ugh, you guys! You haven’t done this for a while, and now you’re doing it again?”

How disgusting!

The head coach shook his head and then sighed, turning to Ji-seop.

“Mr. Kim, congratulations.”

“Yes?”

“You got votes, Mr. Kim.”

“Yesss?!”

The head coach wore a wry smile and shouted loudly.

“All-Star Game players’ vote, relief pitcher category… KH Cannons’ Kim Ji-seop, 2 votes!”

Two votes that came out of nowhere.

For a moment, the Cannons players tilted their heads and looked at each other.

“Mr. Special Assistant…”

“Ji-seop hyung… [older brother/friend]”

“Received All-Star votes?!!”

Waaaaaah!!!

The loudest cheer of the entire ‘result announcement’ time erupted at this moment.

“Ooh, Mr. Ji-seop!!!”

“Congratulations, Special Assistant! Haha!”

“Wow, our Ji-seop hyung is no joke? He got All-Star votes without throwing a single ball?! Hahaha!!”

Congratulations.

That’s amazing.

What’s the secret?

The Cannons players surrounded Ji-seop and created another uproar.

As the big guys giggled and made a fuss, Ji-seop, who was a respectable 187cm tall, couldn’t come to his senses for a while.

“Congratulations! Special Assistant!!”

“Hyung, you have to treat us! Yes?!”

“Stop, stop! Stop it, you guys!!!”

But perhaps because he had gained quite a bit of experience now.

Even in that chaos, Ji-seop was able to figure it out accurately.

[Didn’t I do well to do as you said? When else can we make fun of Ji-seop hyung like this?]

The ‘Cannons’ baby pig’ Lee Soo-bin was sending a meaningful look to his junior.

[Hehe, should I put Mr. Kim’s name in next year too? All-Star voting is so much fun!]

The ‘Cannons’ hyena’ Gyeong Seon-woo was subtly giving a thumbs up to his senior.

And-

[Ah, why didn’t I think of that? It’s an anonymous vote anyway, I could have put Ji-seop hyung’s name in…]

Ryu Jang-ho was clicking his tongue as if he was a little disappointed.

‘Aigoo, those guys…’

Whatever the intention, it was not right for the name of someone who wasn’t an active player to appear in the All-Star vote.

While thinking that he should say a word to them later, Ji-seop felt something filling up in his heart.

‘Hehe, I couldn’t even get drafted when I was an active player… Now I’m getting All-Star votes after retirement.’

You never know what will happen in life.

Ji-seop was thinking that.

* * *

That evening.

The first game of the weekend series was held at KH Cannons Field.

Ji-seop didn’t know it, but the game was quite a hot topic among baseball fans.

KH Cannons, who swept all positions in the All-Star Game fan vote.

And UB Guardians, who were defeated by the Cannons in the fan vote but had the most players recommended by the manager on the All-Star list.

It was a match between these two teams.

-Everyone will know for sure after today’s game. Who is the real All-Star!

Before the game, UB Guardians fans posted this kind of message.

-Are they the *pojjaengi* [derogatory term for someone who only cares about stats] bastards who dominated the fan vote in a dirty and despicable way, or are they the *kinghwanggat* [best of the best] Guardians who went up with fair play!

-This is *injeongiji* [agreement/acknowledgement]. This year’s All-Stars can’t even be called All-Stars, right?

-Why put Lee Soo-bin, a *gonggalpo* [power hitter with low batting average] who can’t even hit 30%, on the All-Star team?

-What about Gyeong Seon-woo? What kind of All-Star is someone who only walks around because he doesn’t want to run?

The Guardians fans were in high spirits for a reason.

The Guardians’ starting pitcher that day was ‘Ace’ Roy Fernandez.

He was the pitcher with the most wins in the league with his razor-sharp control.

On the other hand, the Cannons’ starting pitcher was Lee Yong-gi, a ‘fifth starter’ who had just been called up from the minor leagues.

-I can already see it. The *pojjaengi* getting *talteolteollyeo* [utterly destroyed] by our Roy!

-lol [laugh out loud]

-lol

But what do you know.

When the game started, it was the UB Guardians’ starting pitcher who was *talteolteollyeo* [getting utterly destroyed].

Roy Fernandez, whose strength was his control, had a style of deceiving hitters with pitches that barely caught the strike zone.

But that day, the Cannons hitters boldly swung their bats at anything that looked even remotely similar.

Ttaak! [sound of bat hitting ball]

Ttaaaaak! [sound of bat hitting ball]

It would have been a little better if the batted balls had gone straight to the infielders.

But the Guardians fans couldn’t help but groan as the balls they swung with their eyes closed went through the outfielders every time.

-Hey, you ignorant bastards! It’s a ball, a ball!

-It didn’t even come into the strike zone, why are you hitting it?!!

-Is that ball rolling all the way to the fence again? Aish, I’m going crazy!

Up until this point, the Guardians fans seemed to have barely maintained their composure.

They couldn’t deny the Cannons’ core lineup.

Terry Foster, Cheon Jin-woo, and Ryu Jang-ho, the self-proclaimed baseball genius.

They had to see it as inevitable that they would get hit by them.

If they could just block the bottom of the lineup properly, they could minimize the runs allowed.

But,

That expectation was also short lived.

Ttaaaaak! [sound of bat hitting ball]

Bottom of the 3rd, two outs, bases loaded.

The moment a huge hit rang out at KH Cannons Field, their composure was shattered.

-The ball soaring high into the sky! This ball doesn’t stop, it doesn’t fall! How far will it go, eventually over the fence!!! Grand slam, Gyeong Seon-woo!!!

Gyeong Seon-woo, the Cannons’ ninth hitter, hit his first career grand slam.

The UB Guardians fans could no longer leave any posts at the sight of him rounding the diamond with a dazed expression as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

Of course, that place was taken over by KH Cannons fans.

-Seon-woo lol [laugh out loud]

-Gyeong Seon-woo lol [laugh out loud]

-Wow, how did that anchovy-like guy get it over the fence?

-What do you mean anchovy? He’s been putting on some muscle lately, let’s call him a *kkanaari* [sand lance]!

-*Kkanaari* [sand lance]!

-*Kkanaaripo* [sand lance power hit] explosion lol [laugh out loud]

-??? : Gyeong Seon-woo is a defense one-tool. He shouldn’t be an All-Star.

-Hey, UB! Tell me, who is the real All-Star now?

-The big-eared guys can’t even open their mouths after one *kkanaaripo* [sand lance power hit] lol [laugh out loud]

* * *

At the very moment when the Cannons fans’ comments were overflowing on the Guardians fan bulletin board.

In the KH Cannons Field’s general manager’s office, general manager Seo Chang-gi was wearing a satisfied expression.

“Heo, our Seon-woo hit a grand slam?”

General manager Seo Chang-gi quietly watched the players rejoicing through the TV broadcast screen.

He put down the teacup he was holding and turned his gaze to the person sitting across from him.

“Oh my, I’m sorry about this. A home run suddenly came out…”

“No, General Manager.”

Team leader Lee Ja-young of the marketing team waved her hand with a smile.

“To be honest, I was secretly watching it too. With the bases loaded, how can I not watch the game.”

“Hehe, right? That’s how it is. Baseball team people…”

General manager Seo Chang-gi completely turned down the broadcast volume as if he wanted to focus on the story even for a moment.

He asked Team leader Lee.

“So… where were we?”

“We were talking about Kim Ji-seop, General Manager.”

Team leader Lee continued.

“The reason why the general manager appointed Kim Ji-seop as a special assistant was to have him learn about the baseball team’s overall operations, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But when I heard from Deputy Director Cha Yoon-jin, Kim Ji-seop’s work is biased towards baseball.”

“Aha…”

General Manager Seo scratched the back of his head.

“There’s no denying that. But there’s nothing I can do. The manager and the players… So many people are looking for Mr. Kim.”

“That’s why I’m saying this.”

Team leader Lee looked at General Manager Seo Chang-gi.

“Our Cannons… have been doing very well lately, right? There are games every day, but there won’t be any major issues with the operations team or the power analysis team until the All-Star break.”

“So?”

“Using this time… I was wondering if we could have Mr. Kim experience some of our marketing team’s work.”

Team leader Lee continued.

“I got a feeling after working with him this time. I think Kim Ji-seop is quite useful for marketing work as well.”

“Marketing team’s work…”

General Manager Seo stroked his chin quietly.

He raised one eyebrow and asked.

“Is there any particular task you want to entrust him with?”