Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 388

#387. What on Earth Is This?

With 60 games into the season, the Seoul Warriors were dominating the league with an overwhelming record of 41 wins, 2 draws, and 17 losses, boasting a winning percentage of 0.707.

Jo Sung-oh, writing a new chapter in the team’s history in his first year as manager, headed to work.

The son who once cried because he was ashamed to go to kindergarten due to his ‘baseball-incompetent’ father was now a college student designing his own life, and his wife, who had silently supported his baseball career for a long time, was beginning to show deep wrinkles.

“Honey, make sure to take this medicine, and try to get some sleep on the bus, even if it’s just a nap. You didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Okay. Thanks, I’ll make sure to take it. Have a good time visiting your parents today. Say hello to your mother and father-in-law for me.”

After his wife saw him off, Jo Sung-oh walked to his car parked in the corner of the parking lot.

The latest self-driving car, provided to all first and second team coaches and front office staff above the team leader level, greeted him with a beep.

Wee-ing.

On the way to the stadium to board the bus for the away game, Jo Sung-oh thought to himself inside the self-driving car as it navigated the heavily congested road.

*I didn’t realize it would be this stressful.*

He had been wearing this team’s uniform since his professional debut, and after retiring as a player, he naturally became a coach and eventually received an offer to become the manager.

Lee Dae-jun, the former manager who built the powerful Warriors dynasty while leading the team for over 10 years.

When he heard that Lee Dae-jun, who had to step down due to personal reasons, had nominated him as his successor, he simply thought that it was his turn.

However,

once he took the position of professional baseball manager—one of only 10 in Korea, who directly and indirectly influences the fate of nearly 100 players and front office staff—he couldn’t sleep well.

On days when the team won, he had to worry about maintaining the momentum, and on days when the team lost, he had to keep agonizing over how to avoid a losing streak.

As a result, he was constantly stressed whether the team won or lost, and he ended up taking all sorts of health tonics that he never even touched during his playing days.

The faces of the other 9 team managers flashed through Jo Sung-oh’s mind.

Even he, who was leading the league, was under this much stress, so he even felt sympathy for what those guys must be going through.

Screech.

Jo Sung-oh’s car stopped where the team bus, ready for the away game, was already waiting for him.

After stopping by his office to grab a few documents, Jo Sung-oh boarded the bus.

“You’re here, Manager.”

“Yeah, Chi-wook, your face looks swollen. Did you eat ramen again last night?”

“No! I’m on a diet these days, Manager.”

“Hmm, a guy who’s on a diet has a belly like that… Oh my, anyone would think you’re pregnant.”

“Ugh, please stop with the personal attacks in front of the juniors…”

He tried to lighten the mood by playfully grabbing Ahn Chi-wook’s belly, but the heavy feeling weighing him down wasn’t easily relieved.

Jo Sung-oh knew. He knew that this feeling was something he couldn’t get rid of, something like karma that he would have to live with as long as he worked as a professional baseball manager.

Jo Sung-oh, who let out a short sigh, was about to sit in his seat when,

“I’m late. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, Han Su-hyeok. Can’t you hurry up? You overslept, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about? I told you I went to the bathroom.”

“That’s right, sir. Han Su-hyeok was the first one out here today.”

“Really? Hmm, I misunderstood. Okay, as a sign of reconciliation, how about a Choco Pie [a popular Korean snack cake]?”

“Stuffing yourself with sugar from the morning, you guys are having fun. That won’t do. Ahn Chi-wook, you’re getting off and bracing yourself. Death fungo [a punishing fielding drill].”

“This guy, every time I say something…”

The moment he saw someone boarding the bus last,

The moment he saw him smiling brightly while joking with his teammates,

All the miscellaneous thoughts and worries that filled Jo Sung-oh’s head disappeared for a moment.

The mind, which had felt hazy as if covered in smog, cleared up like a clear autumn sky.

The pillar of this team and the mental support of the players, with a batting average of 0.468, 39 home runs, 71 RBIs, an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] of 0.31, and a record of 10 wins and no losses.

The idol and superstar of all baseball players around the world, who he couldn’t understand why he was playing baseball in Korea, Han Su-hyeok.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend]… I mean, Manager. Why are you staring at my face like that…”

“Huh? Oh, no, Su-hyeok. Try eating this. My wife packed it for me, and it’s good for restoring energy… Ah, right. Health tonics are dangerous because of doping tests. Haa, what should I do? I need to do something for you.”

“Pardon?”

“No, just thank you for existing.”

“Umm?”

At this moment, Jo Sung-oh felt like he could do anything for Han Su-hyeok.

Han Su-hyeok was like the only rain in his life, which was withering day by day due to the stress of being a manager.

* * *

“The way I see it, we must have committed some great sin against that guy in our past lives.”

“Hyung, you think so too?”

“There’s no other way to explain it. Why did he have to come back to Korea at this time?”

“Well, I heard that Min Ye-rin barely managed to stop him from retiring and convinced him to come back to Korea…”

“Then he should have just retired… Hmm, what am I even saying?”

“Hyung, that statement was really dangerous. If baseball fans had heard that, they might have cut your head off first.”

“Hmm, what did I say? I don’t understand at all.”

There were more than a few players who had to bear the title of second-best because of Han Su-hyeok’s existence, but these were the players whose names most baseball fans thought suited the title best.

Although it was a bit one-sided, Ryu Han-gyeol, Korea’s best left-handed pitcher who competed with Han Su-hyeok for the top pitcher spot in Korea during his early debut days, and continued their competition in the United States.

And Lee Chan-ho of the Seoul Fighters, who would have been recorded as the best hitter in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] if it weren’t for Han Su-hyeok.

The two unlucky icons who played for the LA Angels, which belonged to the same division as the Seattle Mariners, and never beat Han Su-hyeok once, are standing in the Daejeon stadium wearing the Falcons uniform.

This team, which once dominated the bottom of the league and became the laughingstock of everyone, has risen to a level where they can aim for the fall baseball [playoffs] after 10 years of bone-crushing effort, and they expressed their will to nurture new players by simultaneously recruiting Ryu Han-gyeol, a legend of the team, and Lee Chan-ho, who completed his coaching training at the LA Angels, as coaches.

Ryu Han-gyeol, the pitching coach of the Daejeon Falcons, and Lee Chan-ho, the hitting coach.

The only concern of these two people right now was Han Su-hyeok, the core hitter of the Warriors, whom they would be facing today.

“No matter how much I think about it, what I don’t understand is that his bat speed isn’t dropping at all. Chan-ho, do you understand it?”

“It doesn’t make sense. He’s already 32 years old. If you count it in the old way [Korean age, where you are considered one year old at birth and age up on New Year’s Day], he’s 34 years old. He should be starting to decline physically… Didn’t he break his highest speed record recently again?”

“Yeah, he finally hit 177km/h [kilometers per hour]. Haha… You know that the speed gun in that stadium is very conservative, right? If it were in the United States, it would definitely be over 110 miles [per hour].”

“Even if there’s a difference in the official ball… He’s a monster.”

“He’s a pain in the neck. When I think about how much I suffered in the United States because of him…”

During the past 10 years when the Seattle dynasty dominated the American League West Division and the entire Major League, the LA Angels were one of the few teams that could challenge Seattle’s reign.

The billionaire owner invested a huge budget, and the talents of the rookies raised from the farm [minor league system] bloomed at the same time, enjoying the best heyday in the club’s history.

But they were unlucky.

It was because the Seattle Mariners, who deserved to be called the strongest team in history, existed in the same league and the same division.

The record of 2nd place in the American League West Division for 5 consecutive years from 2034 to 2039 says it all. If it weren’t for Seattle, the Angels could have lifted more than one World Series trophy during that period.

Ryu Han-gyeol and Lee Chan-ho, who played as ace and core hitters in such a team.

In the end, the two, who finished their active careers without wearing a single World Series ring, respected Han Su-hyeok but also harbored resentment towards him.

“Anyway, that’s that, and the game is the game, right?”

“Of course, Hyung.”

“Okay, then, what I think is his weakness is…”

“Weakness?”

“…Doesn’t exist. Damn it, if he had one, he wouldn’t have been able to do this for so long.”

“I thought you had found something. Forget it, let’s stick to the basics. No matter what, it’s a game between our ace and their 5th starter, so we have to win today.”

“Tsk, even though he’s getting old, it doesn’t make sense that Jun-yeong hyung is the 5th starter. It’s a scam, that’s what it is.”

“Maybe it’s better to face Jun-yeong hyung. The guys who are taking starting lessons in the Warriors’ 2nd team right now are really fierce. Their speed is great, and they’re starting to get their control down? They might be called up to the 1st team in the second half of the season.”

“Tsk, if it weren’t for that Su-hyeok guy, we could have crushed those young sprouts before they grew up.”

“Well, what can we do? It’s all their luck. Anyway, let’s go out now. We have to prepare for the game.”

Like Ryu Han-gyeol’s grumbling, if Han Su-hyeok had not returned to the KBO, the Warriors’ rookie pitchers, who had not yet fully completed their growth, would have had to be rushed to the 1st team stage, and they would have tasted the bitterness of the professional world without any protection.

But it’s all just imagination.

All of them were steadily gaining experience in the 2nd team stage under Han Su-hyeok’s protection, preparing to continue the next generation.

A bad feeling came to Ryu Han-gyeol’s mind.

A bad feeling that his hometown team, the Daejeon Falcons, which was preparing to jump from the mid-rank to the upper rank in the 2040s, would be pushed back by Han Su-hyeok’s power and remain the eternal runner-up, a very bad feeling that other teams might never have a chance as long as he remained a Warriors player.

“Damn it, why is the sky so uselessly clear…”

As Ryu Han-gyeol walked along the hallway, the dazzling sunlight poured into his eyes.

The sky of the Daejeon stadium, which had entered early summer, was clear without a single cloud.

Looking at the junior players who were diligently preparing for the game under the blue sky, Ryu Han-gyeol sighed.

“Kids… what should we do? How can we catch that monster?”

As always, no answer was heard from anywhere.

All Ryu Han-gyeol could expect now was that Han Su-hyeok’s condition might not be good. That he might have an upset stomach from eating something wrong and miss the game.

But,

Crack!

That small expectation was shattered by Han Su-hyeok’s two-run home run that exploded right after the game started.

The 40th home run in 61 games of the season.

“What on earth is this… Is he really thinking of hitting 100 home runs?”

Ryu Han-gyeol’s muttering scattered somewhere on the ground with the wind.

Along with the hope that he had had, just in case.