A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 26

## A Rookie in the Baseball Team is Too Good – Episode 26

Chapter 8: Until It Works (5)

Around 2 PM.

Having finished lunch, Ji-seop stepped onto the main field of the Kang Chang-hak Baseball Stadium.

“Oh, you’re here?”

It was 2nd team manager Kim Pan-soo who greeted Ji-seop and Go Chang-deok.

“I heard about it from Coach Park. You’re here to observe Ryu Jang-ho’s live batting today, right?”

Kim Pan-soo’s face showed an expression that seemed to say, ‘Well, there’s a first time for everything.’

For a mere training assistant to observe live batting with the coaching staff, it seemed like a situation he couldn’t readily understand.

“We’ll start as soon as the manager arrives… You can wait in the first base side stands. The coach or the analysis team might contact you separately, so keep your phone handy.”

“Understood, Manager.”

Ji-seop bowed to Manager Kim Pan-soo and began to walk towards the first base side stands.

It was at this moment that Go Chang-deok, who had been following Ji-seop closely, lowered his voice and spoke.

“The atmosphere doesn’t seem normal.”

“Is that so?” Ji-seop replied, opening the side gate to the stands with a creak. Go Chang-deok quickly approached him and continued,

“It’s just a live batting session, but it’s strange that they’ve set up all that data measurement equipment on the field… And isn’t that our team’s operations manager over there?”

Go Chang-deok pointed to a middle-aged man talking to reporters near the third base dugout.

“The operations manager, the reporters—people we don’t usually see showing up—are here, so it seems like…”

At Go Chang-deok’s words, Ji-seop slowly nodded.

“Yes, it seems to be because of the planning article that came out this morning.”

An exclusive article about national team outfielder Ryu Jang-ho being in a serious slump.

The article, published by the media outlet [Sports Hanseong, a fictional sports news company], had been the main article on the portal site’s sports channel for several hours.

Baseball-related internet communities were buzzing with the news, and it seemed like the club’s office was being flooded with complaints.

-Aren’t you managing the players properly?

-Ryu Jang-ho has been in a slump for months! Does that make any sense?

-You made a big fuss about winning in three years! What kind of championship is this?

In this day and age, when almost everything is done online, there were still people calling the club’s office to complain.

Honestly, Ji-seop found this part quite fascinating, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up.

“It’s noisy, but… Anyway, if Jang-ho shows a good performance in today’s live batting, everything will be resolved, right?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Go Chang-deok looked anxious.

Just as he was about to say a few words, the ground suddenly became noisy.

“Hello, Manager!”

“You’ve arrived!”

The appearance of the KH Cannons’ 2nd team manager.

And the person walking onto the ground behind him was—

Ryu Jang-ho.

* * *

Operations manager, development team manager, analysis team manager, and even the 2nd team manager.

Ryu Jang-ho’s live batting was being conducted with all the key personnel of the KH Cannons’ staff present.

Perhaps because of the importance of the matter, the Cannons’ 2nd team pitching coach was going to throw the balls himself.

“Can we start now?”

“Yes, please do!”

Ryu Jang-ho entered the batting cage and took his position.

Although he didn’t show it outwardly, Ji-seop could feel his heart pounding.

‘Damn it, I’m not even the one batting… Why am I so nervous?’

Like the old folks used to say, ‘feeling like putting a child on the stove’ [an idiom for feeling anxious and worried about someone else’s situation].

Ji-seop felt exactly like that.

‘It would have been nice to have a few more days…’

That part worried him.

He had managed to explain Go Chang-deok’s ‘slump overcoming plan’ to some extent, but they hadn’t been able to train based on it.

If they had just a few more days, they could have learned the content and produced more solid results.

‘And Jang-ho stayed up almost all night last night… I wonder if he can even see the ball properly.’

He was worried if he had even slept properly for a few hours.

If he had known that they would be doing live batting right away, he would have forced him to sleep for a few hours.

He was also concerned about how discouraged he would be if he didn’t show a good performance in this live batting.

Without realizing it, he was biting his lower lip when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Haha, this is driving me crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous even when I was an active player…’

In a way, it was funny.

A training assistant who earns slightly more than the minimum wage is worrying about a superstar with an annual salary of hundreds of millions.

The one who benefits from the results of this live batting is Ryu Jang-ho, and the one who suffers is also Ryu Jang-ho.

He knew that, but he couldn’t help but feel like his insides were burning up.

‘Ah, this is driving me crazy…’

Ji-seop, who was experiencing a tension he had never felt even when he was an active player, kept sighing.

While he was feeling the ‘heart of the watcher’ [experiencing empathy and concern for someone else] for the first time in his life, the KH Cannons’ 2nd team pitching coach slowly entered his pitching motion, and—

Swoosh—

The white ball that left the pitching coach’s fingertips seemed to fly straight towards home plate, and at that very moment,

Crack!

A batting sound that seemed to split the ball in two echoed throughout the Kang Chang-hak Baseball Stadium’s main ground.

* * *

In fact, Ryu Jang-ho’s first batting result that day was a ground ball in front of the shortstop.

A tremendous batting sound came out, but the ball went straight to the shortstop.

“Is his condition not good after all?”

“I guess so. It was almost right in the middle, but he hit it into a ground ball?”

The reporters who had gathered to find fault with Ryu Jang-ho were whispering among themselves.

However, a slight sense of relief appeared on the faces of Ji-seop and Go Chang-deok, who were sitting in the first base side stands.

“He’s hitting the ball hard, isn’t he?”

“He is.”

Go Chang-deok grinned.

“He’s f***ing crushing it.”

Although the batting result was not good, the KH Cannons’ fourth batter seemed to remember the ‘baseball lecture’ from the night before.

At this time, what caught Ji-seop’s attention was Ryu Jang-ho’s next action.

“Coach, just a moment.”

Ryu Jang-ho stopped the pitching coach, who was about to throw the next ball, and approached the analysis team staff member standing next to him.

“Manager, can I check the batting data from a little while ago?”

“Huh? Data? Ah, yes, sure…”

The analysis team employee was taken aback by Ryu Jang-ho’s unexpected request.

Ryu Jang-ho stared intently at the tablet screen he was shown, then nodded.

“Okay. I’ll try again.”

As he said that, Ryu Jang-ho walked back to the plate.

In that brief moment, he didn’t forget to glance at Ji-seop and Go Chang-deok, who were sitting in the first base side stands.

“What’s with him? Is he trying to show us that he checked the data?”

“Hehe, looks like it.”

At that moment, Ji-seop seemed certain.

Ryu Jang-ho had completely absorbed their ‘baseball lecture’ from the night before.

The slump that had been tormenting him for so long was finally coming to an end.

“Please take care of me!” [A common phrase used to express enthusiasm and commitment.]

And the next moment,

What the people gathered at Gangchanghak Baseball Stadium’s main field witnessed was a parade of powerful hits soaring over the outfield fence.

Thwack!

Thwack!

Thwaaaack!

Inside or outside.

No matter where the ball was pitched, Ryu Jang-ho miraculously connected and sent it flying over the outfield fence.

“Hmph…”

“Th-this is…”

The reporters, who had been chattering about his slump just a few minutes ago, were speechless, their mouths agape.

The KH Cannons’ coaching staff, including the operations team leader, also stared wide-eyed as the balls flew.

Even the experienced minor league manager was looking at Ryu Jang-ho with an amazed expression, muttering to himself.

It was around the time the twentieth arc was drawn in the Gangchanghak Baseball Stadium’s main field.

“You can stop now, Jang-ho.”

The minor league pitching coach, who had been pitching batting practice that day, shook his head and said to Ryu Jang-ho.

“Hey, do you have no respect for your elders? How can you mercilessly smash the pitching coach’s pitches like that?”

He said it with a seemingly resentful expression, but the underlying meaning was obvious: he was impressed.

Hearing the pitching coach’s praise, Ryu Jang-ho took off his helmet with a calm expression and bowed.

“Thank you for your hard work, Coach.”

As Ryu Jang-ho took off his batting gloves and stepped away from the plate, the people watching him swarmed around him.

“Hey, that’s awesome, Jang-ho!”

“Your batting sense is back! Huh?!”

The front office staff patted Ryu Jang-ho on the shoulder, making a fuss.

“Ryu, Ryu Jang-ho! I’m from Sports Korea! Can I have a moment?”

“Your batting condition looks great today! Can you say a word about it?”

The reporters rushed over, trying to get a word from him.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The minor league manager also gave his disciple, who had been suffering for a long time, a warm word of encouragement, but-

“…….”

At this time, the ‘genius hitter’ Ryu Jang-ho’s gaze was directed towards the first base side stands.

As if saying, ‘Did you see that, guys?’ Ryu Jang-ho gave Ji-seop and Go Chang-deok a thumbs up.

Ji-seop and Go Chang-deok, who were watching Ryu Jang-ho, bumped their fists together without a word.

* * *

About three hours later.

Ryu Jang-ho was meeting with key figures from the KH Cannons’ front office in the Gangchanghak Baseball Stadium’s manager’s office.

“Ugh, I can’t believe this.”

The first to speak was the Cannons’ analysis team leader.

“Hey, Ryu Jang-ho! You were completely lost until yesterday afternoon… How did you regain your condition in just one day?”

“Heaven helped me. It was just luck.”

The Cannons’ development team leader nodded.

“It seems like luck is on our Cannons’ side this year. Normally, the team atmosphere would have plummeted as soon as a critical article was published…”

“Tell me about it! When I read the article this morning, I felt like the world was ending… Ugh!”

Shivering, sighing in relief, and joking with laughter.

The KH Cannons’ front office staff were rejoicing in Ryu Jang-ho’s recovery in their own ways.

After a while of exchanging congratulations, the minor league manager opened his mouth.

“So… Team Leader Park, can we send Jang-ho up to the first team now?”

“Yes, it looks like it.”

The one who answered was Park Sang-woo, the KH Cannons’ operations team leader.

“Manager Freeman hasn’t given his instructions yet… But I just heard that the manager was very satisfied with Ryu Jang-ho’s batting video.”

“That guy would be satisfied. How could he not be? He was hitting them so hard.”

The operations team leader nodded at the minor league manager’s words, then turned his gaze to Ryu Jang-ho.

“You’ll probably be flying to Okinawa on the morning flight the day after tomorrow. Be prepared for that.”

A key hitter on the team who had been in a slump for a long time.

Operations Team Leader Park Sang-woo did not forget to give him a special request.

“You have a big role to play this season, Jang-ho. It might be a burden… But I hope you’ll do your best.”

“Yes.”

“We front office people are here to support the players… So if you need anything, feel free to tell me anytime.”

“Anything I need… you say?”

Ryu Jang-ho’s eyes flickered at the operations team leader’s words.

After thinking deeply for a while, he opened his mouth again.

“Then, Team Leader, can I ask you for just one thing?”

“A request? Now? What is it?”

At the word ‘request,’ everyone in the manager’s office turned their attention to Ryu Jang-ho.

What could this ‘baseball idiot,’ who usually had no likes or dislikes and only lived for baseball, possibly need?

At that very moment, when everyone’s attention was focused on him, Ryu Jang-ho opened his mouth.

“There are training assistants I want to go to the first team with.”

“Training assistants?”

“Yes.”

Ryu Jang-ho nodded.

“They are two people I absolutely need in order to perform well this season.”