Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 1

Peaceful Bullpen Life 1-190 (Complete) [4.Molina]

※ Episode 1. C-Grade, Mop-Up Crew, Best Case Scenario: Chasing Group

Thwack—

“It’s going, it’s going, it’s going! It’s over! Home run! Park Hae-jin, his 47th of the season! Two today! Back-to-back!”

“Powerful. All four of his at-bats today were well-hit balls. His first at-bat was right at a fielder, but…”

Hit again.

Now, just watching it is refreshing. Seeing the ball I threw soar and cross the fence so coolly, well, it’s even exhilarating now.

“Good job.”

“…Sorry.”

Tap tap.

Unusually, the manager, not the pitching coach, comes up and takes the ball. He even taps me on the back to encourage me. More than I deserve.

As I enter the dugout, all the seniors, juniors, and peers applaud, saying I did a good job. I smile awkwardly and head behind the dugout.

* * *

The 28-year-old season.

This season is the year I can sign a FA [Free Agent] contract after the season ends.

If I can get this far, can’t I be classified as a successful baseball player? How many players join and fade away without ever stepping on the first-team ground?

Nine years since joining the team.

I’ve endured. Somehow. Gritting my teeth. Whether it was luck, team support, or tenacity. I came. This far. No, I came. I came, but…

“Damn it.”

What good is it to come?

The problem was the FA contract, and what came after.

It would be nice if our team kept me… but well, wouldn’t I be abandoned with the thought, ‘Who do you think you are?’

Other teams? Would another team pick up a pitcher like me? Giving up a roster spot for me? No sane owner would do that.

Bbyorong— Bbyorong— Bbyorong—

The popular baseball game ‘Full Count’.

Using the scout function in the game, I brought in three players. I don’t know their names, teams, years, grades, or anything.

Among the three cards showing their backs to me, I can only flip one.

A hitter with powerful hitting, a pitcher with a good fastball, and a fielder with good defense.

As if possessed by something, I, a useless pitcher, clicked on the pitcher with a good fastball and flipped the card.

Ttaran—

“Hmm…”

My brow furrows as I look at the player that appears.

Are they kidding me?

I flipped it over because it said good fastball, and the name Kim Han-wool appears.

Good fastball, my ass. Didn’t you see that good fastball get hit over the fence a while ago?

Still, after playing this game for years, it’s the first time I’ve seen my name on my team in the game.

I couldn’t see it even in the 1 million won worth of card packs I bought with a big heart, and the scouts that I could send for free once a day couldn’t find my name either.

The message ‘Would you like to recruit?’ appears when I click the word recruit.

I will. I’m going to do it. Don’t stop me.

Bbyorong~ The lowest amount of player recruitment money, 139,000 points, disappears with the sound effect.

“Sigh…”

Still, I’ve been around for a while, so they’ve implemented a unique form. Hmm, it just looks cool.

My control on the actual game is terrible, and as a result, my stats are even worse, but my pitching form is said to be a really cool form that looks like it came out of a cartoon. So there are quite a few reviews saying that they recruited me just for that form.

And there are about as many reviews saying that they used me just for the form and then got their souls completely *털렸* [robbed/emptied] and then released me right away.

Still, it’s the first time I’ve *뽑아봤는데* [pulled/drafted] ‘me’, so I should take a look.

I go straight to the practice field and select my character.

“Fastball… 24…”

Stats from 1 to 100.

If I take the average to be around 50, then my fastball is less than half of the average.

No… it doesn’t sound wrong, but still, huh? Isn’t it a bit too much? I’ve seen S-class pitchers with basic fastballs in the 50s and 60s these days. It’s too harsh.

I take a deep breath and select the fastball to throw. The very center of the strike zone visible on the game screen. I throw it with the strongest intensity.

Shuwoong— Pop—

“…….”

Hmm.

Not Pow! Pang! Pang! Kwang! Kwaang!

Is that how they expressed the feeling of settling into the mitt? They’ve implemented it very well. Perfect.

Excluding the fastball, there were four more changeups. Curve, slider, changeup, splitter.

In reality, I also throw a two-seam sinker, but the maximum number of pitches a pitcher can have in this game is only five.

Still, this is pretty generous. What gaming company that goes out to eat for lunch would give a C-class pitcher five pitches?

Okay, let’s think that the fastball is only 24 due to that deflation because they had to give me five pitches. Let’s do that.

But as a *반대급부* [quid pro quo], or should I say,

Pop— Pop— Pop— Pop—

“…….”

It’s terrible. Seriously. It’s so *형편없다* [awful/pathetic] that you could just call it a slow fastball. The breaking, the drop, the speed.

Deflation was a story that applied not only to fastballs but also to changeups.

The only good thing is that they matched the control to the top at least.

It’s a shame it’s not the best, but I’m satisfied. 5 pitches, unique form, and top control. If you raise it well, it’s a usable pitcher, but is it really necessary to use a player like this… is the general opinion.

I scratch my head awkwardly and come out of the free practice field and enter the practice game. A short mode where you play a short 3-inning game with AI.

It’s just a practice game, but sometimes quests pop up, and the player who completes this quest gets a slight increase in stats as a quest reward.

There’s no need to do this, but I wanted to see myself pitching well even in the game.

“…Hmm.”

No way!

I got *탈탈 털렸다* [utterly destroyed]. As expected, a C-class pitcher. Or should I say, like me? It’s creepy.

I ended that game and pressed the release button next to my name….

“Haa…….”

Should I press it or not? After *고민하다* [agonizing/hesitating] for a few minutes, I decided to just leave it. It’s not like there’s going to be a problem if he’s there, and it’s a *기념* [memento/souvenir], so let’s just keep it, for now.

* * *

6th out of 8 teams. Ambiguous lower rank. Even if it doesn’t mean much now that we’re in the late season, it’s different for individual players.

The end of the season is the end of the year, and if you finish the end well, the next start will be good, right? You’re not just going to play baseball until this year.

“Han-wool, get ready.”

“Yes.”

Entering the bottom of the 7th. The score is 11 to 4. We’re losing.

Our starting pitcher, Jun-hyuk, pitched well with 6 innings and 1 run and went down, but the *계투진* [relief pitchers] who appeared in the 6th inning *시전한* [unleashed] a ‘*롸*끈하게불장난*’s [hot mess/wildfire] result.

And more importantly, it’s in progress. In other words, the probability of winning today’s game is also low.

There’s no need to put up a pitcher who does his part in such a game. Then who? Me.

I put on my hat, put on my glove, and head to the bullpen. The same dugout, the same bullpen for 9 years. Now I can roughly tell what’s where even if I close my eyes.

I open the door to the bullpen and see Hyuk-joon, who was the starter yesterday, sitting there.

“Hyung [older brother/term of respect for older male], are you going up again?”

“Looks like it.”

I start stretching, moving my shoulders here and there, behind Hyuk-joon’s eyes, which are slightly rounded.

Since my body warms up quickly, I roughly stretch and stand on the mound. Gun-young, the bullpen catcher who has been suffering in the bullpen for 3 years, is sitting without a mask.

“Aren’t you wearing a mask?”

“Eh.”

“*개쉑* [son of a bitch/jerk].”

The atmosphere in the bullpen rises in a good way with a *찰진* [crisp/succulent] curse word. Gun-young also laughs as if it’s funny and puts on his mask.

With the back of the hand wearing the glove facing the sky, I *까딱여* [flick/wave] give it a signal to the catcher once and put the hand holding the ball in the glove to grip it.

After slightly pulling the left leg back, raise both hands above the head to take a windup. After a slight waist movement that seems to be visible, the left leg is raised high, and the left butt faces the catcher and moves forward.

The thumb part of the left foot touches the end of the mound, and the pelvis, then the upper body, then the shoulder, and then the forearm start to turn after a long time.

The left knee is straightened, braking the body, and the *관성* [inertia] is transmitted to the fingertips through the whole body. At the moment when all the power is thought to be gathered at one point, hit the fingertips hard!

Pop—

“129km.”

Damn it.

This time, the palm of the glove hand faced the sky and *까딱였다* [flicked/waved] downward. And the start of the same motion.

Almost the same until the very end. The only difference is the difference in the grip of the ball.

With the feeling that somewhere between the side of the hand and the back of the hand is moving forward looking at the catcher, with the feeling of *빠진다는* [falling out] rather than *튕기는* [bouncing off] with the fingers.

The ball that flew like that drew a gentle parabola and went straight into the mitt that the catcher was wearing. I want to use the expression *꽂혔다* [pierced/stuck] if possible, but I can’t do that in good conscience.

How many pitches did I throw like that… I glanced at the catcher in the windup state with both hands behind my head.

“…Huh?”

Did I see it wrong?

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, no. I think something got in my eye.”

I took my feet off the mound, took off my glove, and gently rubbed my eyes with my left hand. Because my right hand is covered with rosin. And then I looked at Gun-young again.

…What is it.

Gun-young’s left, a space where a left-handed batter can enter in my line of sight.

[The First Step of Pitching, Control]

– Pitch where the catcher wants. (0/5)

– Reward ― Four-seam +1

Did I play too many games yesterday?

The interface of the baseball game I played yesterday is visible. Yes, like the quest in the practice mode I did yesterday, that interface, and that tone.

No, right? No, right? I moved my feet a few steps to the side with that thought. But it didn’t disappear, and the letters rather rotated and maintained a face-to-face position with me.

“Hyung!”

“Ah, no. Sorry.”

It’s weird.

Feeling strange, I stepped on the plate again.

I don’t usually look at the catcher during the windup. I look down at the end of the mound, or slightly in front of me, and then my head goes up with the lifting, the motion of raising my left leg, and I look at the catcher.

But feeling the strangeness that I keep feeling, I slightly raised my eyes and looked at the catcher again. To be exact, the quest that is still floating on the left side of the catcher.

After taking a breath again, I start the motion that I have been repeating almost every day for 20 years. And….

Pop—

“Wow, hyung, seriously. I don’t know about anything else, but the control is wow…”

Dding—!

[The First Step of Pitching, Control]

– Pitch where the catcher wants. (1/5)

– Reward ― Four-seam +1

The sinker went exactly to the lower part of the right-handed batter’s body, the outside of the left-handed batter, where Gun-young brought it. Along with the sound effect that is heard.

Hmm… Should I try it?