Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 11

#10. Even Such Insignificant Guys…

Let’s throw an egg at a rock.

The egg will break.

Let’s throw another egg.

Again, it’s the egg that breaks, not the rock.

Okay, now let’s throw several eggs in a row, without stopping.

It’s still the egg that gets crushed.

It’s nothing special. It’s just that Senior Hong Young-shik is the egg, and I’m the rock, or something like that…

Thwack!

Thwack!

Thwack!

“Stop, stop. Champion, that’s enough for today.”

“Yes, Coach.”

Hong Young-shik, standing on the mound, stared blankly at Han Su-hyeok.

Spring camp had just started, but he hadn’t been idle during the winter and had worked hard to get his body in shape.

He was confident that his 145 km/h fastball would be quite effective since his form had come back quickly.

But it wasn’t.

The guy who received a 1 billion won signing bonus, who said his dream was to join the Warriors and even gave up on the Major League, sent more than half of Hong Young-shik’s pitches over the fence.

Some of them even went completely out of the stadium.

He was a madman.

As his profile of 192cm and 95kg suggested, he had tremendous power—no, to be precise, he had both power and accuracy.

He felt it when [Han Su-hyeok] perfectly hit the changeups that were thrown without warning, simply by slightly reducing his bat speed.

Ah, this guy was born to play baseball, a different breed from me.

Hong Young-shik, who had come to impress the new manager and coaches but instead got completely shut down, walked off the mound with a dejected expression.

“Good work.”

“……”

As he stepped away from the plate, he gave a slight greeting to Hwang Sung-min, but his eyes were completely unfocused.

What did he believe in to come at me like that, only to shut his mouth after just this much?

Just as I was about to head towards the dugout to cool down my body, which had been heated up by practice batting, a large, dark shadow suddenly loomed before me.

“Um, Han Su-hyeok.”

“Ah, you scared me!”

“Long time no see. You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”

Who is this guy?

Sometimes, unintended memories linger in the brain.

Having lived for over 35 years, including my previous life, I still have vivid memories of useless things like the bus route number I used to take in middle school or the seating arrangement of the PC room [internet cafe] I occasionally visited.

Nevertheless…

Um, I don’t remember this guy at all.

I almost blurted out that I can’t remember every insignificant guy like him.

Who is this guy…?

“It’s me. Ahn Chi-wook. We met at the Spring Tournament.”

Hmm.

For him, seeing me was only a few months ago, but for me, it was a whopping 15 years ago.

It’s no wonder I don’t remember.

“Were we friends?”

Ahn Chi-wook didn’t answer.

Instead, as if he had other business, he started swinging in front of me with a serious expression.

After a few swings in the air, Ahn Chi-wook asked me.

“Similar, right?”

“What?”

I don’t understand at all. What is this guy talking about?

Why is he showing me such a stiff swing that doesn’t seem to fit his body?

Wait…

“Don’t tell me, you’re copying my swing?”

“Um.”

Ahn Chi-wook didn’t answer. He just made a humming sound and stepped into the batter’s box.

I noticed Hwang Sung-min muttering something to Ahn Chi-wook again, as if he had regained his senses.

It seems that shutting his mouth only applies to me.

Ah, Hwang Sung-min is such a stubborn jerk.

Thwack

Thwack

Thwack

Ahn Chi-wook continued his practice batting.

Ahn Chi-wook, who seemed like he was going to show something amazing, began to hit weak ground balls against the changed pitcher’s pitches.

He was stubbornly sticking to an awkward uppercut swing that was clearly imitating mine.

The hitting coach seemed to be ordering something through an interpreter, but he pretended not to understand and continued the swing.

What is this guy doing?

Thwack!

By sheer luck, the awkward swing finally produced something.

Ahn Chi-wook, who had hit the ball almost to the same spot as my hit, turned to look at me with a flushed expression.

Then, he was scolded by Hwang Sung-min again and quickly became gloomy, starting to hit ground balls again.

‘Ah…’

I finally remembered. I don’t remember exactly what grade he was in, but he was the guy I met at the tournament.

He was the guy who used to hit bullet-like shots between first and second base with a smooth level swing that didn’t match his size.

To be honest, even I was slightly jealous of his hitting sense back then.

I remember telling him that he wasn’t living up to his size and only hitting ground balls, and he challenged me to a bet on who could hit more home runs.

Wait, so he’s been doing that kind of swing ever since?

Instead of his specialty, an accurate swing, he’s been awkwardly imitating my uppercut swing?

That’s something else.

What a novel weirdo.

* * *

After batting, fielding practice began.

The fielding coach, who had survived this cold snap and was now one of the few Koreans left on the team, began to hit fungoes [practice fly balls] with an effort to maintain a calm expression.

Thwack

Chuck

Thwack

Chuck

Thwack

Chuck

“Wow…!”

“Unbelievable!”

I started at shortstop, then moved to second base, third base, and finally first base, catching fungoes. I brushed the dirt off my uniform and walked off the field.

The foreign coaches, who were gathered in one place, were whispering so loudly that I could hear them all the way over here.

“Hey, is that really a rookie? Isn’t he a veteran who’s been grinding in the Major League for about 10 years?”

“Amazing. He could be a starter in the big leagues right away.”

“How can that big guy have such flexible footwork and glove work?”

“It’s completely different from what I saw in the video last time? Did he do some personal training or something?”

When I was doing both pitching and hitting in the early days of the Major League, I was quite a daring fielder.

I enjoyed taking risks rather than playing it safe, and I chose to challenge rather than fear mistakes.

But after I quit pitching and switched to being a full-time hitter, such fielding became impossible due to injuries.

From then on, what I focused on was predicting the trajectory of the ball and reading the flow of the game.

Just by predicting the situation before the ball was hit and moving one step in advance, I could become a pretty decent fielder.

Of course, that’s based on Major League standards.

A pretty decent fielder there means an MVP-level fielder here. And I’ve regained my twenty-year-old body.

It’s a bit of a sorry story, but to me, who is used to the batted ball speed of the Major League monsters, the batted ball speed of the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] hitters seems slow enough for a fly to land on.

After receiving fungoes while changing positions like that, the infielders gathered to practice defensive formations.

Song Ki-tae, who naturally moved to third base as I took the shortstop position, glared at me as if he was about to breathe fire, but well, it was none of my business.

By the way, Song Ki-tae is really bad at fielding.

If a shortstop with a batting average of only .200 can’t catch even that kind of ball, how did he get a 3 billion won FA [Free Agent] contract?

I sighed briefly and brushed the dirt off my uniform when Ahn Chi-wook came slithering up to me again and started saying strange things.

“Han Su-hyeok.”

“What?”

“……”

“Say something.”

“I’m just going.”

“Your throw to third base was good.”

“Thanks. Then goodbye.”

“If I’m at third base and you’re at shortstop, it’ll be a nightmare for right-handed hitters.”

“……”

Ahn Chi-wook, this guy is really weird.

In a situation where no one has told me whether I’ll be the shortstop or he’ll be the third baseman, a rookie is spouting such nonsense on his own.

Looking at Song Ki-tae’s expression as he just passed by, it seems he heard what he said…

Oh well, whatever. Surely they won’t drag me out at night and beat me up.

Having escaped from the strange guy who kept trying to imitate me, I stood at first base for base-running practice.

It was a simple test. Mimicking the pitching coach’s motion on the mound and starting.

Pop

Dash dash dash

Pop

As I brushed the dirt off my uniform, I could hear the whispers of the foreign coaches gathered far away.

“Fast.”

“And the timing is amazing.”

“If he puts his mind to it, he could easily steal thirty bases.”

“How can that big guy have such a start?”

“Should we suggest to the boss that we give him the green light [permission to steal bases]?”

“Let’s watch until the practice game.”

“Anyway, amazing. There’s a reason why Seattle offered him $3.5 million.”

“The Seattle guys will be regretting it soon. I would have offered him $10 million right away.”

I was thirty years old when I completely gave up pitching due to a shoulder injury.

At that age, when I was entering the complete prime of my career as a player, I had to switch to being a hitter.

My pride, which had once been at the peak as a pitcher, drove me to the wall.

It told me to become the best as a hitter as well, to at least not hear that I was worse than before.

When I stood at the plate, I aimed for extra-base hits unconditionally, and when I got on base, I actively tried to steal.

Thanks to focusing all my efforts on personal stats, I succeeded in winning the American League MVP in my second year as a hitter, recording a .300 batting average, 30 stolen bases, and 40 home runs.

Looking back now, it was a stupid thing to do.

I ignored team play and focused only on improving my personal stats to satisfy my pride.

Thanks to my status within the team at the time, no one could say anything in front of me, but I can imagine how they evaluated me behind my back.

“Hey, Su-hyeok. What’s your goal for this season? 20-20 [20 home runs and 20 stolen bases]?”

“No. The team’s championship.”

“What about personal goals?”

“My personal goal is to contribute to the team winning the championship.”

“Hmm. I see.”

The head coach, hearing my answer, laughed heartily as if he was in a good mood and walked towards the manager.

It seemed that deep conversations were impossible due to the need for an interpreter, but seeing the friendly look in their eyes as they looked at me, I could roughly guess what they were talking about.

That’s how the first day of spring camp passed.

Ahn Chi-wook kept coming to me and bothering me whenever he had a chance, but I didn’t get angry and accepted it all.

He’s still just a big, lacking fool, but if I work him right, he could become a decent player.

I liked the room assignment.

I was worried that I might be assigned a room close to Ahn Chi-wook, but it was a room located at opposite ends of the hallway.

Thank goodness. I want to rest properly when I rest.

“You must be Su-hyeok. Nice to meet you. I’m Jang Deok-soo.”

“Hello, senior.”

“Yeah, you must be tired, right? Our bathroom has a weird shower. The public shower room has hot water, so go there and wash up quickly.”

I roughly brushed the dust off my body and went into my room, where my roommate assigned by the team was waiting for me.

Jang Deok-soo.

A catcher who has been playing as a backup for five years, pushed out by Hwang Sung-min.

His defense is decent, but he’s too big to be a catcher, so he’s been advised to switch to first base.

That’s all I know about this person. And now, one more thing will be added to that.

“Thank you, senior. Then I’ll go wash up.”

“Oh, yeah. By the way, I sleep quietly at night, so don’t worry.”

“Pardon?”

“No, everyone says I look like I snore a lot. But I actually sleep like a baby.”

He’s kind.

Aside from those puppy-dog eyes, his words are full of gentleness.

In fact, being kind is never a good compliment for a baseball player.

For a professional who has to continue to compete not only with other teams but also with teammates, appropriate selfishness, greed, and competitiveness are essential.

Nevertheless, meeting those puppy-dog eyes in this chaotic place makes my heart feel at ease.

Um, this senior needs to do his part to sell Hwang Sung-min [showcase Hwang Sung-min’s talent].

Well, there’s nothing I can do about it for now, so let’s not worry about it.

Creating and managing the team is the job of the general manager and the manager.

‘Swish’

The moment the warm and strong stream of water wets the back of my neck, I feel like all the stress that had accumulated during the day is gone.

Many people have asked me. And they will continue to ask.

What is the real reason I chose the Warriors instead of the Major League.

At first, I just thought it was because I wanted to play for the team that made me start playing baseball as a child.

I thought I wanted to make the team that my mother liked and supported win the championship.

But now that I think about it again, it seems that wasn’t the only reason.

In my past life, I had reached almost the end as a baseball player.

And in the process, I lost most of the important things in my life.

Looking back, it was wrong from the start.

The idea of giving up everything for success was wrong from the beginning.

I’ve already tasted failure once, and I’ve become stronger in the process.

I think I can do it now.

I’m confident that I can get what I want without letting go of the important things in my life.

Swish

As I enjoyed the leisurely feeling after a long time, the locker room door opened in the distance and someone entered.

And then someone’s voice broke my peace.

“Ahn Chi-wook, you bastard. Can’t you do it right?”

Sigh.

What is it now?