Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 35

#34. Big League, Huh…

Whoosh.

Thwack!

“Uwaaack!”

“Don’t be dramatic and get up.”

“You, you were trying to kill me!”

A 162 km/h fastball, right on the body, turned Ahn Chi-wook’s face blue.

He had practiced with batting machines set to faster speeds, but that ball was on a different level from anything a machine could throw.

The ball seemed to be heading for his ribs, then twisted and dove inside, making his skin crawl just watching it.

He couldn’t even think about hitting it; just standing in the batter’s box was a struggle.

‘That monster…’

He didn’t know what to think.

Why would he put him, struggling with a slump, in the batter’s box and throw a 162 km/h fastball out of nowhere? Why?

Just as Ahn Chi-wook was about to explode in anger.

Whoosh.

Thwaack!

“Ugh!”

This time, he almost got hit. The ball flew towards the middle, then suddenly broke sharply inside, sucked towards his body.

What kind of pitch was that? Slider? Cut fastball? No, that wasn’t the point right now.

“What!”

The resentment he had been holding back suddenly burst out. He was so angry he wanted to run to the mound.

He knew. He knew that guy threw incredible pitches, and that his own recent performance had been terrible.

But did that mean he had to be treated like an idiot?

Just as Ahn Chi-wook threw down his bat and was about to leave the plate.

“Ten pitches.”

“What?”

“I’m going to throw ten pitches with everything I’ve got. If you get even one hit, I’ll grant you any wish. Anything I can do.”

“Anything?”

“Yeah, anything that’s not nonsense.”

Ahn Chi-wook paused, considering Han Su-hyeok’s words. The anger that had been building up slowly subsided.

He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he wanted to settle things with that guy.

He had faced him in the final high school tournament and went 0-for-3.

Yeah, he seemed to have become an even better pitcher since then, but he hadn’t been just sitting around either.

Besides, he would grant him anything?

Ahn Chi-wook planned to win this challenge and tell him to stop bothering him.

Relax your shoulders, don’t get distracted when fielding, do this, don’t do that.

He knew it was for his own good, but constantly hearing what coaches or managers should be saying from a teammate was subtly eroding his self-esteem.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

“Good choice. Just ten pitches.”

Han Su-hyeok nodded expressionlessly and slowly began his windup.

The condition for the bet was a hit.

No matter how monstrous his pitches were, if he could just make solid contact, he could create a good hit.

Whoosh.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

But Ahn Chi-wook’s hopes were shattered by Han Su-hyeok’s first pitch.

The fastball, coming in at knee-height, seemed to writhe as if rising up, then slammed into the center of the strike zone.

“One.”

“……”

Whoosh.

Same course again. Ahn Chi-wook tensed his shoulders and swung with all his might.

Thwack!

“Two.”

But it was no use.

This time it wasn’t a fastball, but a two-seamer [a type of fastball with a slight horizontal movement]. The pitch, with almost the same velocity as the fastball, evaded his bat and ran away to the outside.

“……”

He wasn’t even angry.

It was similar to the pitch he had seen during spring camp, but somehow different.

Was this guy just throwing casually back then?

He had a feeling that if the manager or pitching coach had seen that pitch, they would have been horrified.

The guy didn’t even give him a chance to breathe.

This time it was right down the middle. Han Su-hyeok’s pitch flew towards the center of the zone.

He had to hit it this time.

Ahn Chi-wook gritted his teeth and swung with all his might at the ball coming into the middle.

Whoosh!

“Three.”

“……”

Unbelievable. The ball, which he thought was a fastball down the middle, suddenly stopped in mid-air and dropped as if it would slam into the ground.

“Changeup? This is a changeup?”

A changeup [a slow pitch thrown with the same arm action as a fastball to deceive the batter] with the velocity of most pitchers’ fastballs.

He couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

But Han Su-hyeok didn’t wait for him.

Thwack!

“Four.”

Whoosh!

“Five.”

Whoooosh!

“Six.”

Thwack!

“Seven. Three left.”

“……Damn it.”

He was being completely toyed with.

When he thought it was coming in the middle and swung, it dodged his bat as if it had eyes, and when he watched it thinking it was going to miss, it spun in reverse and dove into the zone.

He was a madman.

He realized it now. This guy was a real madman.

With that kind of skill, not going to the major leagues and staying in Korea, and saying he would only be a hitter, too.

He wasn’t in his right mind.

His team’s manager, no, the entire baseball world didn’t even know half of what this monster was capable of.

“Don’t look so dazed; you have to finish. Eighth pitch.”

He realized that his teammate on the mound was a monster he couldn’t even dare to catch up to.

He was ashamed of himself for thinking of him as a rival.

The moment he realized that, all the unnecessary tension in Ahn Chi-wook’s body disappeared.

Ahn Chi-wook, with a half-resigned expression, looked ahead.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Han Su-hyeok’s pitch flew outside the outer zone.

Should he just let it go?

No, at that moment, Ahn Chi-wook could predict the trajectory of the ball without even realizing it.

He didn’t know why. He didn’t know the principle behind it. He just had a feeling that the ball would curl back into the zone.

Instead of a swing full of force from behind, he kept his elbow tight to his body and swung concisely, using the power of his lower body and waist, towards the ball.

Tick.

“…Eight.”

He hit it!

Although it was just a slight graze off the end of the bat, he had succeeded in touching that monster’s pitch for the first time today.

Han Su-hyeok also looked surprised, his eyes widening. A large white man who had appeared was watching him with interest.

A strange sense of elation filled him.

Ahn Chi-wook focused all his senses to not forget the feeling of that swing.

Keep the elbow as close to the navel as possible, have a short impact from the inside, push it out, and follow through concisely and naturally.

An inside-out swing starting from the inside and leading to the outside, Ahn Chi-wook had unknowingly succeeded in regaining what he was best at.

Ahn Chi-wook’s gaze turned to Han Su-hyeok.

The huge mountain that had been hard to reach until just now had somehow come down a little and was meeting his eyes.

Maybe it was a coincidence. He couldn’t guarantee that he would be able to hit that monstrous cut fastball again if it came in again.

But he didn’t want to give up. The helplessness that had dominated him until just now had completely disappeared somewhere.

At that moment, Han Su-hyeok’s ninth pitch flew towards Ahn Chi-wook’s head.

“Ugh!”

Ahn Chi-wook, startled, jumped back and landed on his butt. But Han Su-hyeok’s pitch twisted as if teasing him and was sucked into the zone.

It was a curve that looked to be over 150 km/h. No, could you even call that a curve in the first place?

“Nine.”

“…You bastard.”

A curse came out of his mouth without him even realizing it.

The thought that it was the last one made him feel stubborn.

He would hit it; he would definitely hit it.

Ahn Chi-wook readjusted his stance once again.

He lacked skill, but he would hit it no matter what, even if it was just with his stubbornness.

“Last one.”

The monster muttered in an indifferent voice, as if he knew his heart.

To Ahn Chi-wook’s ears, it sounded like a death sentence to him.

‘Come on!’

This was really the last one.

Ahn Chi-wook’s extreme sense of hitting, which even Han Su-hyeok had envied in high school, enveloped his entire body.

At that moment, Han Su-hyeok’s pitch flew towards him like a bullet.

He could see it.

He couldn’t explain why, but the trajectory of the ball coming inside was faintly visible to him.

Following that trajectory, Ahn Chi-wook’s concise swing shot out like a projectile.

The ball, flying like a bullet, spun in reverse as if trying to avoid the bat.

Ahn Chi-wook clenched his teeth and desperately adjusted the angle of the bat to follow the trajectory of the ball.

Clang!

“……”

“He, he hit it! He hit it! You monster! I won! I won!”

He hit it. It hit the bat.

Ahn Chi-wook brilliantly hit the two-seamer that was coming inside and dropping with reverse spin.

Ahn Chi-wook, who had created solid contact for the first time today, threw down his bat and jumped up and down in place, shouting.

“Uwaaa! I won! I caught that monster!”

“Line drive to third.”

“…What?”

“Looks like a line drive out to the third baseman.”

“What does that…”

“What does Jacob think?”

“Sounds like you’re taking the employer’s side, but that’s what it looks like to me too.”

“You bad…”

Ahn Chi-wook, his strength completely drained, dropped his bat to the ground and looked at Han Su-hyeok with a blank expression.

Han Su-hyeok, who had already come down from the mound, tapped Ahn Chi-wook on the back and pointed to a corner of the practice field.

“Sit down.”

“I…”

He didn’t know how to express this feeling right now.

The elation of having accomplished something instead of the helplessness that had been building up for the past eight games, but the feeling of defeat that he had lost the match as a result, made Ahn Chi-wook’s hands and feet tremble.

“Drink.”

He poured the ion drink that Han Su-hyeok handed him down his throat in one gulp.

His mind slowly returned as he drank the cold drink.

Han Su-hyeok’s voice dug into Ahn Chi-wook’s ear.

“Not bad. Much better than I thought.”

“Me? I did well?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you kidding me? It was an out anyway, right?”

“Hmph.”

Han Su-hyeok shook his head as if it were absurd.

“I guarantee you, there are almost no hitters in this country who can properly hit that two-seamer I threw at the end.”

“What?”

Even if he was a monster, this was too much self-confidence. But no matter what Ahn Chi-wook thought, Han Su-hyeok continued to speak.

“The fact that you properly hit my pitch means that you are a much better hitter than you think you are.”

“……”

Ahn Chi-wook’s mouth closed on its own at the unexpected words.

He was praised by this guy for the first time.

Even though he was just a rookie teammate, it felt like he was being praised by a veteran who had been worn out in this field.

“Shall I tell you a secret?”

“A secret? What?”

Ahn Chi-wook, who had already been completely caught up in Han Su-hyeok’s pace, looked at him with a blank expression.

“Actually, I think I can win the batting crown [the award given to the hitter with the highest batting average in a league] if I put my mind to it.”

“…You’re annoying. Is that a secret?”

“I’m confident I can do that for about 15 years, but there’s only one variable that bothers me.”

“What is it…?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, when I see you practicing, I sometimes think, what if that guy works hard and all the luck is concentrated on him and only misfortune continues to happen to me, I might lose one or two titles? Something like that.”

“That’s nonsense…”

Ahn Chi-wook’s face turned even redder at Han Su-hyeok’s words.

He couldn’t figure out if this was praise for him or self-praise.

To think there was a human being in the world so full of confidence in himself.

But one thing was certain, his teammate, who had the greatest talent among the baseball players he had seen, had acknowledged him for the first time.

“Hahaha…”

A hollow laugh came out of Ahn Chi-wook’s mouth without him even realizing it.

It felt like something stuffy in his stomach had been pulled out.

Ahn Chi-wook looked at Han Su-hyeok with a much lighter expression. And then he said in a voice that had thrown away all his troubles.

“I won, so I’ll tell you what I want.”

“What are you talking about? That was an out. A line drive out to third.”

“I can’t catch those kinds of hits.”

“What?”

“You said it was a line drive to third; I’m the third baseman. But I can’t catch those kinds of hits. So I won. Han Su-hyeok.”

“You crazy, hehe.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Ahn Chi-wook’s words.

“Okay, then tell me. I’ll grant you anything I can.”

“I want to practice here with you.”

“Hmm? You’re already doing extra training with the coach. Besides, you have to keep going to the stadium even on your days off. You’re going to collapse at this rate?”

“Hmph, it sounds like I’m bragging, but I’m really tough, so don’t worry.”

Yeah, that’s right. If you’re not going to work hard at that age, when are you going to work hard?

Jacob would be checking his condition in real time every day, so there was no need to worry about getting injured.

Okay, I’ll work you until you’re panting.

“If that’s the case, then go to Jacob over there and get a basic test first.”

“I’ll take care of whatever test it is in an instant.”

Ahn Chi-wook, who had completely blown away the dark energy that had been surrounding his entire body, walked towards Jacob.

In fact, the pitches I threw while facing Ahn Chi-wook were not to win the match, but to remove the unnecessary tension in his body, and to awaken his confidence.

It was a rotation of pitches to awaken his confidence.

It was to create a hitter who would protect my back. It was an effort to save my teammate.

It was a selfless act that I would never have done in the past.

But ironically, I gained something in the process of doing that.

‘Was this it? No, this?’

I thought that my growth as a baseball player was over. All that was left was to adapt to this newly acquired body, and I thought that the pure technique itself had already reached its end.

But at the moment I threw that last two-seamer to that guy, I felt a subtle sensation at the tip of my finger.

It was a sensation I had never felt before, a sensation that seemed to be the key to moving on to the next level as a pitcher.

I try to grab that two-seam grip again.

It was definitely the same grip and the same form, but the subtle sensation I felt earlier was no longer there.

Am I disappointed?

No, to be honest, it’s interesting.

That’s why baseball is fun.

Just when you think you’ve reached the end, something new pops out. The moment you think there’s nothing more to climb, a new goal arises.

Suddenly, I get that thought.

Maybe I can take another step forward from the realm I reached in my past life.

Hmm.

After winning a few more championships with the Warriors, should I go back to the big leagues?

Go there and blow it up there too?

* * *