On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 90

“I’ll just go sit down; they’ll take care of it. So, aren’t you coming?”

“I have to… What about you?”

“Call me when you get there. You’re not staying there the whole time, are you? Let’s eat together, either with Young-seok or just the two of us.”

“Okay, okay. Got it.”

* * *

Song Seok-hyun pulled his hat down low and followed the address Kim Young-seok had given him to find the place.

As befitting a university district, the street teemed with pedestrians, and bars occupied the buildings from the first to the third, even the seventh floors.

Song Seok-hyun searched through the signs until his eyes felt like they would pop out before finally locating the basement bar.

“Oh? He’s here, he’s here! It’s Song Seok-hyun!”

“Ooh! Song Seok-hyun! Song Seok-hyun! Song Seok-hyun!”

The moment Song Seok-hyun appeared in the bar, complete strangers shouted his name as soon as they saw him.

Flustered, Song Seok-hyun darted his eyes around, and Kim Young-seok rose from his seat with an awkward smile.

“Oh, you came?”

“Yeah, yeah, I did.”

Those who appeared to be Kim Young-seok’s upperclassmen [seniors in Korean universities] reached out their hands to Song Seok-hyun.

“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m also a Goth fan. To see Song Seok-hyun like this… Can I take a picture?”

“Yeah, sure….”

“I’m Young-seok’s senior. I’m the student body president.”

“Ah, is that so? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Haha, the pleasure is all ours. Come, sit down. Now that you’re here, you have to have a drink before you go.”

The student body president pulled Song Seok-hyun and sat him down next to him.

Song Seok-hyun couldn’t even properly greet Kim Young-seok and ended up sitting alone at a separate table.

Song Seok-hyun glanced around and saw that Kim Young-seok was sitting at the very end seat.

It was particularly noticeable that the few female students were only sitting at the student body president’s table.

“Here, have a drink. I felt so relieved when I saw our Seok-hyun’s home run! Can I speak informally? You’re Young-seok’s friend, right? Haha, you really hit a home run, didn’t you?”

The student body president held out a glass and picked up a bottle of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor].

Song Seok-hyun accepted the drink and then put the glass down.

“Thank you for your support.”

“One shot! One shot! One shot!”

As the student body president loudly started the chant, the female students and the surrounding male students also shouted, “One shot!”

Song Seok-hyun smiled and waved his hand.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t drink during the season.”

“Hey, why are you like this? Do you think we’re going to snitch on you for drinking? Don’t worry. We’re all from the same department here. How strong is our department’s loyalty? That will never happen. Don’t worry and drink. I know how much athletes can drink. I heard you guys can drink by the crate while sitting down?”

“Well… there may be some people like that, but anyway, I don’t drink… Yes, I’m sorry. I’d appreciate your understanding.”

The student body president sniffed.

“Hey, just take one shot; it’s my face on the line here. Young-seok has been bragging about his friend so much that I was really curious and told you to come. I’m a Goth fan. A true fan. My dad has been a fan since way back, so what are you worried about? Trust me and drink. It’s okay.”

“No, no. It’s not that I’m worried about rumors spreading about me drinking; it’s just my principle.”

“I know about principles, but can a person live by principles alone? Right, everyone?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Then let’s do this. Let’s just drink three shots. One shot is not enough, and two shots is too little. Just drink three shots and sign something for us, and it’ll be perfect. Right? You should drink at least this much. It’s Young-seok’s face and my face on the line.”

Instead of answering, Song Seok-hyun smiled as much as he could.

The student body president frowned for a moment and then relaxed his expression.

“You’re best friends with Young-seok, right? Since you came here with Young-seok’s face on the line, you should mingle and hang out with your friend. Don’t be so clueless. You’re still young, so you’re too by-the-book. You’re too scared, our Seok-hyun. An athlete should be bold; you can’t be like that. Come on, let’s take a shot. Hey, Hye-mi. Give me that over there. The snacks. We’ve prepared all the snacks, so let’s just do a clean one shot. One shot! One shot! One shot!”

The student body president waved his arms, and even the surrounding tables clapped and shouted, “One shot!”

“One shot! One shot! One shot!”

Song Seok-hyun looked at the table where Kim Young-seok was.

Kim Young-seok was only glancing at the table where Song Seok-hyun was.

Song Seok-hyun gave a bitter smile and picked up the bottle of soju.

Clatter.

The sound of the chair scraping as Song Seok-hyun rose from his seat.

The eyes of everyone in the room were on Song Seok-hyun.

The student body president narrowed his brows and looked up at Song Seok-hyun.

Song Seok-hyun brought a bottle of soju straight to his mouth and gulped it down.

Only then did the student body president’s expression relax.

“Oooooh! Oooooh! Awesome! Awesome! As expected, baseball players are different! He can really drink!”

As the student body president clapped, the other students followed suit.

Song Seok-hyun emptied the bottle and placed it on the table.

“Hey, hey. Snacks. Give him snacks.”

A female student named Hye-mi held out a skewer to Song Seok-hyun’s mouth.

Song Seok-hyun shook his head and picked up a piece of pineapple with his hand and ate it.

“Then, can I go to the restroom for a moment?”

“Oh, oh. Sure, sure. Go ahead. You’re so cool. Just like Goth’s cleanup hitter! Okay, applause!”

Song Seok-hyun headed to the restroom with the sound of applause as background music.

Even though he was an athlete, a bottle of soju on an empty stomach was not easy.

Song Seok-hyun looked in the restroom mirror and took a breath.

His stomach was churning, and he kept swallowing his saliva.

How much time had passed?

His head was throbbing, but his stomach had calmed down a bit.

As Song Seok-hyun was about to leave the restroom, he heard a voice from somewhere.

It was from the stairs leading to the first floor.

Song Seok-hyun muffled his footsteps and approached, and he heard voices from the first floor.

“Hey, hey, hey. Just because your friend plays baseball well, does he think he can act like that?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Ah, damn it, really. Do I have to beg him to drink?”

“No, you don’t.”

“Anyone would think I’m some kind of weirdo. Did I tell him to come first? You called him, didn’t you? Right?”

“……Senior told me to call— Ah!”

“Look at this punk. You haven’t been disciplined, so you can’t come to your senses, huh? Ah, this is why it’s a problem. Chang-hwan! Lee Chang-hwan!”

“Yes! Yes, Senior!”

“Is this how you manage the freshmen? Our department’s discipline is completely gone?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re just full of excuses, aren’t you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I let you off the hook, and you can’t come to your senses, huh?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Ha, to think I have to call these guys my juniors… Ah, I almost got so embarrassed earlier. Song Seok-hyun drinking the soju straight from the bottle earlier, that was him being defiant, right?”

“……”

“Hey, damn it, no answer? Is it or isn’t it?”

“It is!”

“You’re really ruining my mood. Kim Young-seok.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want your department life to be screwed up from now on?”

“No, I don’t.”

“In my opinion, he’s not your friend. He sees you as his lackey. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to act like that. If you’re friends, you should save face for your friend. There are a ton of your friend’s seniors here, and he’s acting like that? He sees you as a nobody. Manage your friends, man. I’m saying this because I feel sorry for you, because I feel sorry for you.”

The student body president’s words continued.

Song Seok-hyun clenched his fist and took out his phone to send a text.

The student body president’s tone of voice rose as he seemed to get angry on his own while talking.

Song Seok-hyun didn’t go to the stairs and returned to the bar.

He returned to the bar and stood near the counter, watching TV.

The female students who were at the table next to the counter asked.

“Young-seok went out.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Sit here and wait.”

“No. My back hurts from sitting for too long today, so I’m just going to stand for a bit.”

Song Seok-hyun watched TV and took deep, deep breaths.

After a while, there was the sound of footsteps from outside the door.

Song Seok-hyun listened carefully.

There were the sounds of several people’s footsteps, and the student body president’s voice could be heard.

Song Seok-hyun grabbed the bar door and then pushed it with all his might.

Bang!

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

“Ah, damn it! What is it!”

The first person to be hit by the door was the student body president.

The student body president fell backward like a paper doll.

Behind the fallen student body president, the other students fell like dominoes.

Only Kim Young-seok, who was walking separately at the very back, blinked, not knowing what was going on.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. Are you okay? Are you badly hurt?”

“Ugh……”

The student body president’s forehead was bleeding profusely.

It was because he had hit his forehead properly on the corner of the glass door.

“This is a big deal. He’s bleeding. Oh dear, is he going to die? I think I can see his bone marrow.”

“Aaaah.”

The student body president couldn’t speak due to the overwhelming pain, but he trembled at the word “bone marrow.”

“I have to call 119 [Korean emergency number]. This is a big deal. Is this person going to die? His head, no, his head is cracked. Please come quickly. Quickly.”

The people inside the bar were surprised and ran out at Song Seok-hyun’s fuss.

The most surprised was the student body president, whose vision was blurred by blood.

Blood and tears streamed down his cheeks.

“S, s, save me……”

It was the student body president’s feeble voice.

On the road to success as a catcher

The end of a long day

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, wee-ooh, wee-ooh.

With the loud sound of sirens, the student body president was taken away in an ambulance.

While being carried away by the paramedics, he cried, asking if his bone marrow was flowing out, and was scolded by the paramedics.

“It’s just a small cut on his forehead. If his bone marrow was flowing out, he wouldn’t be able to talk like this.”

Even though it was just a small cut on his forehead, blood was shed at the drinking party.

The drinking party became chaotic.

The male students in their third and fourth years gathered separately in a corner, glancing at Song Seok-hyun and whispering among themselves.

The female student who had asked Song Seok-hyun to sit down was also among the group.

They seemed to suspect that today’s accident was intentional.

“Hey……”

Kim Young-seok poked Song Seok-hyun in the side.

“What, man.”

Kim Young-seok couldn’t speak for fear of being overheard and only looked around.

Even though Song Seok-hyun was an athlete, he was alone, and there were dozens of male students in the bar.

If Song Seok-hyun was bigger than the others, it would be one thing, but he was only slightly more robust than the others.

There were many male students in the bar who were taller and bigger than Song Seok-hyun.

There was no evidence, but suspicion was strong, and they looked at each other.

“Hey, this isn’t right. We need to sort things out.”

“Let’s go. We need to make sure we do what we need to do. We have our department’s reputation to uphold.”

They had been drinking, and Song Seok-hyun was alone, and there were dozens of them.

The biggest male student puffed out his chest and walked toward Song Seok-hyun.

Song Seok-hyun was deliberately looking elsewhere, pretending not to notice.

“Hey, can we talk for a moment?”

“Huh? Talk?”

“Yeah, let’s go outside for a bit.”

Kim Young-seok didn’t know what to do and darted his eyes around.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Just as Song Seok-hyun was about to smile and lead the way, there was a thumping sound.

It was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Clang.

A man who was a head taller than the others poked his head out as the bar door opened.

“Why is it so hard to get in touch with you? Do I have to come here myself?”

The man who poked his head out was Jung Mi-nam.

Normally, he was just a big, dumb guy, but to others, he was a man who made them instinctively step back.

He was 190cm tall and weighed 120kg.

Fat covered the muscles he had gained through his athletic life, a so-called “muscle pig.”

His friends teased him, calling him a pig who only eats, but to others, he was an angry wild boar.

Not to mention Jung Mi-nam’s expressionless face…….

“Oh, you came? I was just about to leave.”

As Song Seok-hyun greeted him first, there was a clear look of embarrassment behind him.

Even if there were many of them, they would push each other and look around, wary of the overwhelming size.

Song Seok-hyun turned his body and met the eyes of the man who had told him to go outside.

The man looked back and forth between Song Seok-hyun and Jung Mi-nam and took half a step back.

“Here, this is for you.”

Song Seok-hyun took out an envelope from his pocket.

It was the envelope of money he had received from Jung Mi-nam’s father.

“Even though it was an accident, you were hurt because of me, and I’m so sorry. I couldn’t come to you earlier because I was flustered, but I will visit you tomorrow and apologize. And please give this to him for me. I’m asking you because I don’t think he’ll accept it if I give it to him directly.”

The man hesitated at the thick envelope of money.

Song Seok-hyun grabbed the man’s hand and handed him the envelope.