A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 225

57. Gotta Avoid Greasy Food (5)

Next day, evening.

At [Jeonju House], a renowned restaurant near the KH Cannons Field, the final preparations for the championship celebration were in full swing.

“Jeong-sun, could you taste this for me?”

“Yes, Unni [older sister or female friend].”

Kang Jeong-sun, the owner of Jeonju House, hurried over to the simmering pot of soup.

She ladled some broth into a small dish, savored it, and then offered her opinion with a smack of her lips.

“Doesn’t it taste a little bland?”

“Does it?”

“Yes, I think it would be perfect with just a bit more seasoning. Let me see, where did I put the soy sauce for soup… Hmm?”

As Madam Kang looked around for the soy sauce container, she noticed her youngest son staring blankly at the TV.

“Hey, Dong-jun!”

She called out to her youngest son.

“What are you doing there? If you don’t have anything else to do, go to the storage and bring me a bottle of soy sauce for soup.”

“Just a minute, Mom. Just a minute.”

Madam Kang’s youngest son said, his eyes fixed on the TV.

“This is a really important scene right now.”

“Important scene?”

“Yes, bases loaded with two outs in a situation where we’re down by 3 points! What could be more crucial than this?”

The youngest son continued.

“Whether we’re having a championship celebration here today, or just a simple company dinner… we’re at a crossroads right now, you know?”

Kang Jeong-sun reacted to the word ‘crossroads’.

The owner of Jeonju House craned her neck over the counter to look at the TV screen hanging on the wall.

But only for a moment, as she soon returned to her original spot.

“It’s Chun Jin-woo at bat, isn’t it?”

Madam Kang said with an indifferent expression.

“Then what’s there to worry about? Jin-woo will take care of it. Do you think the Cannons’ captain got his position by playing Go-Stop [a Korean card game]?”

“Come on, Mom! That’s not it! Don’t you know that the Mariners suddenly play well when they’re out of the running for the fall baseball season? They’re really going for it today… Oh?!”

Before her youngest son could finish his complaint, a resounding crack! of a bat hitting the ball echoed from the TV speakers.

The hit by the Cannons’ captain went straight into the outfield fence, and the Mariners’ fielders scrambled to chase after the ball.

As the Cannons’ runners on base entered home one after another, one of the women preparing the food spoke up.

“Aigo [expression of surprise or frustration], Dong-jun! Your mom has a better eye for baseball than you do.”

The woman chuckled.

“If a dog stays in a school for three years, it can recite poetry… After working in front of the baseball stadium for about 30 years, I can tell just by looking.”

“Come on, Auntie! That’s not it.”

The youngest son puffed out his cheeks.

“My mom always says that, you know? He’ll do well, it’ll be fine, of course, there will be good results…….”

‘She just got lucky this time.’

The youngest son grumbled as he headed to the storage room to find the soy sauce for soup.

Madam Kang of Jeonju House smiled faintly and turned down the heat on the pot.

* * *

What her youngest son said was true.

Kang Jeong-sun had a verbal tic.

He’ll do well.

It’ll be fine.

Of course, there will be good results.

Having lived with her since childhood, her youngest son naturally knew about his mother’s verbal tic.

But there was one thing that even her youngest son didn’t know.

Madam Kang’s verbal tic was originally a kind of ‘business strategy’.

-Aigo, you’ve arrived?

-Yes, just two bowls of Gukbap [rice soup]!

Back when [Jeonju House] first opened, the atmosphere of the restaurants around here was very different from what it is now.

There were few stores that treated customers politely like they do now, and few stores that protected customers’ privacy.

Would it have been much different just because the customer who came was a professional baseball player?

-Hey, Mr. Kim! What was that game yesterday? No, how can you eat when you swing like that?

-Aigoo, Madam! Why are you doing this again? Do you think I wanted to strike out? I’m burning up inside, burning up!

It was affection.

It was also interest.

The professional baseball players of 30 years ago must have been quite hurt by the words that the store owners threw out casually.

Madam Kang, who was only in her early 30s at the time, targeted this point.

-Just one person… is that okay?

-Of course, it’s okay! Come on in.

She lacked experience, she lacked skills, and even her food tasted a little ambiguous back then.

In that situation, Madam Kang’s choice was not to say anything unnecessary to the players who came to her store.

If they asked for rice, she brought them rice, and if they asked for water, she brought them water.

She just watched quietly, and when they were about to finish their meal, she brought them a Yakult [a popular probiotic drink] and said one thing.

-……It’ll be fine.

-Yes?

-You came here after training until this late hour, didn’t you? Then it’ll be fine. It can’t help but be fine.

-Ah, yes, well……. Thank you.

Whether it was the Cannons’ cleanup hitter who came, or a player who was about to retire, or a rookie who had just been drafted.

She always gave them a bottle of Yakult and said one thing. It’ll be fine, you’ll do well, of course, the results will be good.

At first, there didn’t seem to be much of a reaction, but gradually, more and more players were drawn to Jeonju House by that one word.

After about 10 years, Jeonju House had become a regular haunt for the Cannons players.

-Nuna [older sister or female friend]! We have a new member in our front office today. Over there, Deputy Seo! Say hello. She’s the big Nuna of our Cannons front office.

-Ah, hello. My name is Seo Chang-gi, and I’m a Deputy who recently moved from the Warriors.

-Aigoo, nice to meet you! Come often in the future. Oh my, your eyes are so clear… you’re going to do well in the future. Yes, I can feel it!

-Haha, our Nuna is bringing out her number 18 again [referring to her usual encouraging words]? You’ll do well, you’ll definitely do well!

Of course, Madam Kang’s business strategy didn’t always bring good results.

Around the time when the title for the owner changed from ‘Nuna’ to ‘Mother’, and around the time when the Cannons’ performance was declining every year.

Madam Kang’s warm words sometimes created unexpected situations.

-Madam, why do you have the Cannons players’ autographs hanging here? Those guys can’t even hit one hit and are just floundering around.

-Aigo, don’t be like that. The kids are all working hard. They’ll do well soon. Just you wait and see?

-Haha, Madam! If you’re on the happy circuit to that extent, it’s a disease? The Cannons kids are hopeless! They’re hopeless!

She was scolded by customers because of the autographs posted on the counter.

-Nuna, shouldn’t we be responding from the perspective of our merchants association now? What’s the point of having games if no one comes to watch and we’re just swatting flies all the time!

-Just wait a little longer. Deputy Seo came yesterday and said that the situation will be much better when the new foreign player comes.

-Hehe, Nuna, you’re okay because the baseball team people come to eat, right? You really shouldn’t be doing this! You have to say what’s not right clearly!

-…….

She could have just let it go, but the decisive moment was right then.

-Mother, that’s enough.

-Huh?

-I’ve heard enough stories about how things will be fine and how we can do well……. I’ve heard it enough.

-No, Jin-woo. What are you…….?

-Even I can see that the Cannons are hopeless. My teammates, the front office……. Damn it, I think the answer is for me to leave now.

When Chun Jin-woo said this before his FA [Free Agent] contract, Madam Kang felt her heart sink.

‘Aigo, did I do something wrong?’

Even though it wasn’t her fault, she felt guilty because of the years she had spent eating together with them.

‘Was I too lenient with the kids? Should I have nagged them sometimes?’

She wondered if it was a mistake to give the players soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] when they came late at night.

She was worried that she hadn’t sent the guys who were drunk and sighing back to their dorms in time.

She regretted not telling the truth when the coaches came and asked her the next day.

‘Yes, there’s an old saying that you should hit a precious child one more time…….’

I need to change a little now.

I need to be a little stricter now.

Madam Kang had made up her mind, but the extent of the change was not that great.

-It’s okay, Jang-ho. You can do well.

-How do I know? I can tell just by looking! Do you even know how many years I’ve been here?

-How can the results not be good when you’re working this hard? Right?

She treated the players as usual, and then she finally brought out one ‘nagging’ comment.

-Lee Soo-bin! I told you not to eat fried food!

-Your bodies are your assets. So you should stay away from things like fried food.

-Eat something else. There are boiled things and braised things, but why do you keep asking for fried things?

There were definitely times when she felt pathetic.

Why can’t people be so cold-hearted? Why can’t I say no to what’s not right?

I think I was very quick-witted when I was young, but have I gotten old now?

Madam Kang had smiled bitterly to herself like that–The ball soars high into the sky! But it doesn’t go far! The right fielder moves forward, forward, forward…… and catches it!!!

One autumn night, almost 30 years after opening the doors of [Jeonju House].

-Victory! It’s a victory! The KH Cannons win the pennant race for the first time since their founding! All the players are pouring out onto the ground!!!

At that very moment, when she could feel that the times that seemed like they would last forever were slowly disappearing.

The azaleas of Yeongsan Hill had bloomed, but there was no news from my departed lover~Madam Kang, who had been waiting with a table full of food, was finally able to be sure.

Bang-

“Mother, we’re here!!!”

That she was right.

That she was not wrong.

The 30 years she had spent cheering and encouraging those kids.

That those years were by no means in vain.

“Mother, did you see? The sight of me hitting a sweeping double!”

“Mother, honestly, the captain only did that one thing today, right? I’m the number one contributor to today’s victory!”

“Hey, Lee Soo-bin! What are you so proud of when you only had one RBI [Runs Batted In]?”

“You’re the one who only hit one hit, Senior!”

The Cannons’ general manager patted the shoulders of the squabbling players.

The sight of the noisy players becoming quiet at his gesture.
Madam Kang was inwardly surprised by the dramatic change, but then Captain Chun Jin-woo in the middle opened his mouth.

“Mother, as promised… we came back with the championship!”

The players handed the pennant race trophy to Madam Kang.

The trophy, which was easily the size of a small child, was shining brightly.

Handing over the dazzling trophy, Chun Jin-woo continued.

“Thank you, Mother!”

Chun Jin-woo smiled brightly.

“Thanks to you cheering us on so much since we were rookies… thanks to that, I think we’ve had this day.”

“Aigo, why are you going so far…….”

Madam Kang, who was dabbing at her eyes with her fingers, said something that she had wanted to say for a long time.

“You did well. You really did well.”

And then one more word.

“Everyone…… are you very hungry?”

Yes!!!

The players shouted as if the store would collapse.

Madam Kang said with a soft smile.

“Let’s eat quickly. It’s going to get cold.”

“Thank you, Mother!”

“We will enjoy the meal!!”

The players sat down and started eating without saying who would go first.

Amid the sound of eating, the sound of chatter, and the sound of loud laughter.

The night of the first championship since the founding was getting deeper.
without saying who would go first.

Amid the sound of eating, the sound of chatter, and the sound of loud laughter.

The night of the first championship since the founding was getting deeper.