Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 184

#183. First, You Need to Try

While it might not apply to everyone, most amateur baseball players have role models.

Role models in the truest sense—players they genuinely respect and want to emulate.

It’s only natural that the majority of the hundred-plus rookies who joined professional baseball through this year’s draft cited Han Su-hyeok as their role model.

He is the greatest hitter of all time, boasting a batting average of over .400, 61 home runs, and 160 RBIs. He’s also a flawless pitcher who recorded 50 scoreless innings in the regular season and 19 in the postseason.

It’s no wonder Han Su-hyeok is so admired.

The problem is that it doesn’t stop at simple admiration or respect.

Until high school, many players play as both pitcher and hitter.

At least, for players good enough to be drafted by a professional baseball team, it’s not unusual for them to be the ace pitcher and cleanup hitter for their schools.

“Hmm…”

Among the 11 rookies who joined the Warriors this year, three expressed a strong desire to play as both pitcher and hitter.

Park Jae-cheol is conducting one-on-one interviews with the rookies.

He felt his energy draining away while talking to them, something he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

It was because he was trying to dissuade the rookies who wanted to be two-way players without fully considering the implications.

He can understand their feelings.

The sight of Han Su-hyeok completely dominating the game as both a hitter and a pitcher is undeniably captivating.

Even he, a former major leaguer, finds it impressive, so how amazing must it seem to naive high school students?

But,

that doesn’t mean everyone can become Han Su-hyeok.

This is a one-on-one interview with the general manager, essentially the first team event after signing the contract.

And the first thing they say in such an important setting is that they want to be the next Han Su-hyeok.

At first, he tried to reason with them.

‘Well, yes, I understand what you mean. Of course, everyone in professional baseball dreams of becoming Han Su-hyeok. But have you ever thought about this? To be a two-way player, you need not only natural talent but also tremendous self-discipline throughout the season. In my opinion… well, I think Han Su-hyeok is called a monster not just because of his skills but because of his self-discipline… Speaking of self-discipline, I remember a trainer I met in the major leagues. A very kind man who told me to call him Bob…’

Usually, when Park Jae-cheol talks like this, most people back down.

But this time, it didn’t work at all.

‘I don’t care!’

‘Huh?’

‘I really want to do it! Please let me!’

‘……’

It was the same with all of them.

Park Jae-cheol, who had never been outmaneuvered in a conversation in his life, was repeatedly defeated in arguments with nineteen-year-old high school students fueled by ambition.

It’s a difficult situation.

How can he redirect these immature Han Su-hyeok fanboys back to their designated positions without hurting their feelings?

Park Jae-cheol had one more task to complete before spring training started.

* * *

Of course, not all the rookies who joined the Warriors wanted to be like Han Su-hyeok.

Some felt that even imitating Han Su-hyeok was blasphemous, honored just to be playing on the same team as him.

Thud

“…I heard he went straight to volunteer work instead of coming to the team after returning home?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Where? Where did he go?”

“I asked the coach, and it seems like he went to the Chungcheong Province area.”

“Should we go with him?”

“What are you talking about… Hey, we need to train hard from now on. That’s how we can show our faces in the first team next year. That’s how we can play with Su-hyeok *hyung* [older brother or respected senior].”

“…Yeah, that’s true… Oh my god, are we really not going to see Su-hyeok *hyung* this year?”

Two particularly enthusiastic rookies, who arbitrarily call a senior they’ve never even greeted ‘*hyung*’ and have set their baseball career goal to win a championship with Han Su-hyeok.

While first-rounder Choi Ma-ru and third-rounder Park Dong-seok are frustrated by Han Su-hyeok’s absence,

He is diligently fulfilling the community service hours assigned during the season with Jang Deok-su.

* * *

“You can just eat the leftover bread.”

“Hey, Han Su-hyeok. Even if that’s the case, you should at least try the buckwheat noodles since you came all the way here. It’s as famous as Gangwon-do, you know? The president told me to make sure you eat well, no matter what. And look at Jang Deok-su here. Do you think he can be satisfied with bread?”

“Um… *Hyung*, are you very hungry?”

“No, I’m okay. I think I can fill my stomach if I eat about a box of bread.”

“…Okay. Let’s go then.”

Han Su-hyeok and Jang Deok-su, both ordered to do community service due to a bench-clearing incident during the season, arrived at Seongjin School with an operations team employee.

A school for children with hearing impairments, and the only school in the country that fields a baseball team composed of students with hearing impairments.

They hadn’t been able to participate in official competitions for a while due to a lack of budget and insufficient players, but they returned to the high school baseball league just two years ago.

They receive old equipment and baseballs donated by some professional teams and barely cover their operating expenses with money scraped together from various sources.

The budget is woefully inadequate, and the number of players is even more so.

Nevertheless, the children and teachers haven’t given up.

They are working hard today, determined to do their best despite the difficult circumstances and to become professional baseball players no matter what.

Han Su-hyeok’s volunteer work at Seongjin School was a stroke of good fortune for them.

“Deputy Seo, please take care of what I told you as soon as you get back to Seoul.”

“Yes, Han Su-hyeok. That’s my job. I’ll take immediate action to ensure you don’t miss the competition due to a lack of operating funds. But… this is going to cost more money than I thought. Is it okay to handle it with your own money?”

“It’s okay. I have a lot of money.”

“Hahaha, well, you’ve had such a great season this year, so your salary will go up a lot, sigh, I’m jealous. Anyway, I understand. I’ll discuss it with the school and make sure it’s handled without any problems.”

“Yes, and please find out if there are any retired seniors who might want to coach this school.”

“Oh, there are a few people who aren’t doing anything… I understand. I’ll take care of that right away. Okay, let’s go this way.”

Han Su-hyeok, meeting the children for the first time, decided on the spot to support the operating expenses of the Seongjin School baseball team.

It wasn’t because he was full of philanthropy or couldn’t handle his suddenly increased wealth.

It was because he saw his past self in the children who couldn’t even try to do what they wanted to do due to various restrictions.

Although he didn’t understand everything, according to Min Tae-hyun’s explanation, he could fund a baseball team for the rest of his life just by living off dividends.

That settles it then.

Now Han Su-hyeok has become someone freer than anyone else when it comes to money.

He will continue to live like this in the future.

A life where he doesn’t *have* to do something,

A life where he only does what he *wants* to do.

“It’s just around the corner. I’ve only eaten there once before… but their buckwheat noodles and boiled pork slices are…”

“Boiled pork slices!”

“I’m so glad that even Jang Deok-su is reacting. Let’s go. Over there… um?”

Deputy Seo from the operations team, who was guiding the two while sharing trivial stories, frowned and looked in a particular direction.

Naturally, Han Su-hyeok and Jang Deok-su’s eyes followed.

“Hey, look at that bastard’s eyes? He looks like he’s going to kill someone. Don’t you think? Hehe.”

“But he looks a little strange?”

“Forget it, hey, you bastard. You spilled water on my clothes, so compensate me! Compensate me!”

Several drunken men were surrounding and threatening someone.

Bystanders, watching the scene in fear, seemed to have reported it to the police, but the drunken men didn’t even notice.

Sirens went off in Deputy Seo’s head.

No matter what happened, he couldn’t let Han Su-hyeok and Jang Deok-su get involved here.

The moment players doing community service because of a bench-clearing incident are even slightly connected to such violence, reporters will swarm like bees.

“Let’s go around that way. No matter what it is, the police will come and solve it soon. We should never get involved in such things… Han, Han Su-hyeok? Over there… Han Su-hyeok? Hey! Han Su-hyeok!”

But it was already too late.

Han Su-hyeok saw that the student surrounded by the men and trembling alone was wearing a Seongjin School uniform.

Step by step.

Han Su-hyeok stepped into the middle of the scene of violence where no one dared to intervene.

And Jang Deok-su, noticing Han Su-hyeok’s unusual demeanor, immediately followed.

“Stop.”

The men flinched for a moment at Han Su-hyeok’s icy voice.

The faces of the men were illuminated under the streetlights.

They were only about twenty years old, still with some boyishness left.

“What? Do you know this bastard?”

“Oh, I think I’ve seen him somewhere?”

“Who is he? Is he from this neighborhood?”

No one recognized Han Su-hyeok’s appearance in plain clothes, dimly lit under the streetlight.

Deputy Seo didn’t know whether it was a misfortune or a blessing that he had to protect the two.

Would it have been better if they had recognized him? Wouldn’t they have just backed down if they knew a celebrity was involved?

But there wasn’t even time to think about it.

The moment the drunken men were about to shift their focus to Han Su-hyeok,

Thud.

“What was that.”

When you watch movies or dramas, the main character often appears to defeat dozens of opponents single-handedly.

To be honest, I don’t think it makes sense.

No matter how strong a human is, it doesn’t make sense to face dozens of people with bare hands.

Even if you stumble for a moment, the game is over immediately.

But,

“What was that.”

That’s only when dozens of people can attack at the same time.

If the situation is such that you can’t even dare to attack in the first place, then the game is over as it is.

The silhouette of a monster revealed in the dark alleyway, under the dim light.

The men froze all at once at the sight of Jang Deok-su, who had surpassed 2 meters in height and 125 kg in weight, perhaps because he had gained some weight after the season ended.

“Try it.”

“Yes?”

“Try what you were going to do, you bastards.”

“Hic!”

More than ten men couldn’t even think of resisting Jang Deok-su’s threat and ran away.

“Jang Deok-su! Han Su-hyeok! If you do this here… Hey, don’t film that! I said don’t film! Ah, I can’t help it. Let’s go over there first, and let’s get this person up too. Oh? A Seongjin School student?”

Deputy Seo, arriving late, tried to clean up the scene, but it was already too late.

The police, dispatched after receiving the report, arrived, and in the end, the group had to give up dinner and head to the police station.

Of course, thanks to someone who recognized Han Su-hyeok and recorded the scene, no major problems occurred.

“I think I know who those guys are, so don’t worry. I’ll contact the school again after I catch them. More than that, Han Su-hyeok.”

“Yes?”

“I’m honored to meet the hero of the WBC [World Baseball Classic] in person. If you’re not busy, can you give me an autograph to hang in this police station…?”