Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 117

※ 117. Thumbs Up

The pitcher’s mound is where Kyuhyuk and I stand.

We’re a battery [a pitcher and catcher who work well together] that has been working together for years in the Wonha Challengers, even reaching the national team.

Bang-!

“Hike!” [A signal from the catcher to the pitcher to start the pitch.]

I can make the batter tilt his head in confusion once again.

Even though he clearly has information about me, and even though he has faced me before, the batter isn’t any more confident than before.

I smiled faintly and waited for Kyuhyuk’s next sign. Kyuhyuk was calling for a curveball that felt like it was just outside the strike zone.

A curve is good.

“Eup!” [Sound effect for exertion.]

The only index finger extended among the bent fingers pointed accurately, signaling the pitch.

Bang-!

“Hike!”

Did he not hit it, or *could* he not hit it?

The batter, who saw the curveball barely dipping low, stepped out of the batter’s box and swung his bat around.

He was trying to hide it, but there was clearly some discomfort he couldn’t conceal.

*I’ll watch what kind of pitcher you are first,* I thought, *watch and deliver that report to the next batter and our dugout.*

That intention isn’t bad. No, it’s rather smart.

But what about the disadvantage of being driven into the worst count of 0-2 in the process? [Zero balls and two strikes.]

Or maybe…

Bang-!

“Ball!”

After getting a good count, I tried to jam him inside to get ahead in the at-bat, but it was judged to be a little too far inside.

Kyuhyuk didn’t seem to have any regrets either, so it must have been a ball.

Still,

“Eup!”

Thanks to the batter’s reaction after crowding the plate, I could easily decide on the next ball.

Tak―

The fact that he still can’t time my pitches… This can be seen in the sinker on the outside that he fouled off, sending it rolling towards third base.

“Quickly, just a little faster!”

“First, first!” [Calling for the first out.]

Third baseman Ha Haejin, who caught the batted ball rolling at a moderate speed, moved quickly, considering the opposing batter’s running speed.

The throw was almost released as soon as he caught it, and the quick throw, no matter how fast the batter-runner is,

Bang!

“Out!”

Clap clap clap!

He didn’t hide his good mood, clapping his hands hard with the back of his glove.

The infielders’ celebratory gestures ended with Ha Haejin, who had secured the out. After confirming each other’s fighting spirit with their eyes, they stepped back onto the infield.

“Hoo….”

And the 3rd batter, Imanaka Shingo, appears.

Among the Japanese players, who don’t always have the best reputation, he was a player who had a pretty good image in my mind.

Because of that, the smile on my face that greeted him expressed genuine pleasure.

*This will be fun.*

I don’t know what meaning the batter took from my smile, but I wonder if he interpreted that subtle smile as something like:

*You’re so dead today.*

What kind of lead will Kyuhyuk devise against a batter who has almost no weaknesses in zone, location, and speed, and is also very fast?

The first pitch is a sinker, thrown without hesitation, towards the outside corner, running away from the batter.

I nodded, agreeing with the cautious approach. For a pitch thrown exactly as desired, I put in just as much concentration as needed.

A pitch as desired is,

“Eup!”

Incredibly accurate. Therefore, the concentration applied is also,

Bang-!

Incredibly high.

“…Ball!”

I was wondering if he would catch it on the outside edge, but the umpire judged it as a ball after a long deliberation.

Imanaka Shingo, who struggled to control the bat that had come out almost to the end of home plate, said a few words to Kyuhyuk.

Looking at the shape of his mouth, is he saying “Shu-to”? [A type of fastball that breaks sharply.] I think he’s asking if it’s a shoot [another term for a shu-to].

Kyuhyuk seems a little embarrassed because a foreigner suddenly spoke to him in a place he wasn’t even expecting it.

And traces of that flusteredness were seen in the lead right after. It’s not like the opposing batter was aiming for that,

A splitter [a type of fastball with a downward break] in the middle, this time as close as possible.

Feeling sorry for the catcher who couldn’t decide on a sign, I ended up sending a sign from my side.

The catcher, who checked the movement of the white index and middle fingers, quickly exchanged it for a sign and sent it back.

After changing the grip so that the movement of the glove was as inconspicuous as possible, I put both hands behind my head.

And,

“Ugh!”

The ball escaped from a place that was neither too sticky nor too loose thanks to the rosin [a sticky substance used to improve grip].

The splitter, disguised as a fastball heading to the center of the strike zone, seemed frightened when it saw the batter’s bat starting to swing.

To hide from the bat, the ball fell steeply downwards.

Whoosh-!

“Swing-.”

Perhaps, if the ball were a light substance, wouldn’t its trajectory have been changed by the wind pressure of that bat? It was such a violent swing.

The batter, who couldn’t control his swing and put his helmet back on, continued to focus on me while twirling his bat again.

“Sinker…Splitter….”

How did I get this batter out yesterday?

Outside fastball looking, high fastball ball, outside changeup swing, well-hit ground ball to 1st base on an inside slider.

After reviewing yesterday’s content, I grabbed the fastball grip. The place to throw is,

“Eup!”

The same place as yesterday’s first pitch.

Tak-!

“Foul-!”

I threw a fastball accurately into the ambiguous zone on the outside. The zone that raised the vigilance against me by one level after letting it go as the first pitch yesterday.

The timing for the fastball series seems to be roughly right, but if I throw a curve, it feels like I’ll get hit.

“…Changeup인가.” [Is it a changeup?]

I recalled the wild swing that responded to the changeup yesterday. Hmm, after thinking about it a bit, I thought it would be good to proceed carefully with one at the current count.

The middle finger, ring finger, and little finger tapped the hat and then swept down the left arm. Kyuhyuk, who checked the sign, answered with his thumb and index finger.

Personally, I wonder if this will work, but since I’ve already made up my mind, I have to throw it,

“Keuk!”

…It!

The ball, which was slightly stuck between the third and fourth fingers, headed towards the outside zone with almost the same rotation as a fastball.

Perhaps if I left it as it is, it would have gone out even further and become a ball,

Whoosh-!!

The batter swung and put his helmet back on, which had slipped down like a trademark. And then,

“Swing, out!”

I guess I have to go home.

The way he tilted his head as he returned to the dugout looked like he was pondering what went wrong.

And the 4th batter, Enokida Hideki, said something to Imanaka Shingo as he passed by.

What? The level of Korean pitchers is low?

As soon as the batter who uttered such nonsense appeared, my inner voice flowed out without me knowing.

“Ah, I really want to break his head!”

Since no one will hear it anyway, and even if they do, they won’t know what it means, and even if it’s not caught on the relay camera, I felt relieved after shouting it out once.

As I was looking at Kyuhyuk with a lighter heart, Enokida Hideki, who was glaring at me, caught a glimpse of my sight.

It’s good to focus on the pitcher if you’re in the batter’s box, but it’s not very good to over-immerse yourself to the point where your cheek fat is trembling like that.

Kyuhyuk seems to have properly read the excitement that the current batter has.

Bang―

“Hike!”

After throwing a curveball, I checked the scoreboard and it was 112km [kilometers per hour]. I thought it was a pretty good provocation, so I turned my head back to the batter,

“Oh my, how scary.”

The performance is quite convincing.

The fear of being intimidated by the batter’s momentum was overlaid with emotions of laughter or a smile and expressed outwards.

*Yeah, it’s irony, you son of a bitch.*

As much as he publicly announced that he would give me a chance, there is a high possibility that he also gave me a chance with the first pitch curve. Therefore, wouldn’t he give me another chance with the next ball?

With that in mind, or with that request, I threw a sinker towards the body. The same zone as the first pitch I threw to the previous batter, Imanaka Shingo.

Tak, Pak!

It’s a zone that could be judged as a ball, but Enokida dared to touch it. And he ended up hitting his foot with that batted ball.

Since he didn’t wear a protective guard, the impact of the batted ball probably went directly to his foot.

Oh, how great.

Because of that, I turned my eyes to our dugout during the brief interruption. Among the only people cheering in the Tokyo Dome,

Thumbs up.

Hyunjin weakly showed his thumb and sent a pathetic cheer.

So, what if you’re facing a batter who can’t properly use his front foot due to the impact of the batted ball? A quick fastball.

Because it’s difficult to hit a ball that requires the fastest reaction with a front foot that can’t properly support you.

But my heart was shouting for a different pitch, not a fastball.

Little finger, one.

Perhaps if the catcher sitting behind home plate was Heoncheol, he would have widened his eyes, but Kyuhyuk, who already knows what kind of guy I am, accepted my sign as if it were natural.

I tried to smile inwardly, but I don’t know if this smile was visible on the outside or not. Just,

“Euk!”

I think that at least one straight index finger would not have been visible to the batter.

Whoosh―

The batter was very happy to die when I threw the ball with the most opposite characteristics in terms of ball type and quality, speed, and everything else in the current situation.

“Swing, out-!”

The curveball that falls low on the outside.

The very slow ball, which is the opposite of a fastball, requires waiting just as much, so it seems that the impact from before came up again while waiting.

The swing was a swing, but it was just an ugly swing that fell down on the spot.

Ting-!

[Thumbs up!]

– 1 inning scoreless (1/1)

– Reward – All pitches +1

Control – Top

Power – High

Stamina – Medium

Four-seam – 86+1=87

Curve – 82+1=83

Slider – 81+1=82

Splitter – 80+1=81

Changeup – 82+1=83

Sinker – 81+1=82

Characteristic

Detachment – I’m okay with any batted ball or situation.

Uncomfortable – Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when looking at the pitcher in the batter’s box.

Comfortable – Those who look at me feel comfortable.

Concentration – The number of objects that can be concentrated on increases.

“Hoo-!”

“Ah, I like Hanwool!”

“Thumbs up, Thumbs up-!”

I returned to our dugout with my teammates who had witnessed that ugly appearance together. I waited for each of my teammates who arrived at the dugout later than me and shared my feelings.

Among them,

Thumbs up.

Park Haejin nonchalantly presented one thumb like Hyunjin earlier and passed by me.

After finishing thinking that that guy is not normal either, I sat down in the dugout. I guess they’ll have another pitcher finish it.

Woosuk, who was running quickly from the far center field and quickly putting on his batting equipment and trying to go out to the ground, was seen.

“Woosuk, thumbs up!”

Since I couldn’t stay still, I immediately got up from my seat and raised both thumbs. This flow naturally dominated our dugout.

“Thumbs up, take a thumbs up!”

“Thumbs up, Woosuk hyung!” [Hyung is a Korean term used by males to address older male friends or brothers.]

Even the person who has to go to the plate cannot ignore this flow.

Just before leaving the dugout,

“Thumbs up!”

Woosuk lowered his thumb once as if telling us not to worry. In the virtuous cycle where thumbs up give birth to thumbs up, and thumbs up give birth to double thumbs up,

“Thumbs up-!!”

“Choi Thumbs Up, let’s go!”

Tak-!

“Waaaaa!!”

“Run, run!!”

Woosuk didn’t hold back from the first pitch and recorded a shallow double to the right-center field. Seeing him step on second base and weakly send a thumbs up to the dugout, I felt quite endeared.

Kang Seonghyun, our Korean gangster who inherited that thumbs up.

Tak-!

“The gangster released thumbs up in the Tokyo Dome!!”

“Released thumbs up!!”

Showmanship.

Seonghyun slowly watched the batted ball that went over the left fence and headed towards first base. Around the time he stepped on first base,

“Thumbs up-!!”

“Kang Seonghyun! Kang Seonghyun! Kang Seonghyun!”

As the Tokyo Dome became quiet, Seonghyun did not take his eyes off our dugout with a bright expression. No,

“Thumbs up!”

He didn’t release the thumbs up. Seonghyun, who didn’t take his eyes off the 3rd base dugout throughout the base, passed on the thumbs up to the next batter.

Thumbs up.

The wave of thumbs up showed no signs of stopping for the time being. Even when Kim Kiyoon hit a single and went out, and then Park Haejin, who stepped up next,

Tak-!!

“Park Haejin! Park Haejin! Park Haejin!”

“Haejinaaa!”

“Take a thumbs up!”

Even when he made the Tokyo Dome not just a library level, but almost a soundproof booth.

A whopping 7 runs in the top of the 9th inning alone.

The somewhat precarious lead of one point was suddenly inflated to an enormous figure of 8 points.

Perhaps because of that, there were somewhat relaxed expressions in various places in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Tak―

Not on our side, but on the side of the Japanese batters.

“My, maaa!” [Japanese exclamation]

“Left, the left is!”

“A little more in front!”

The 5th batter, who stepped up as the lead batter, awkwardly touched Lee Songin’s first pitch, who stepped up to finish, and sent it flying in front of the left fielder.

“Out-.”

We didn’t let our guard down until the end, and we promised each other that we wouldn’t let our guard down until the very end.

Tick-!

Such a promise was very well revealed in the attitude from facing the 6th batter.

Park Haejin, who checked the batted ball that hit the end of the bat and rolled at an ambiguous speed, shouted at the same time as taking his right foot off.

“Songin, go in!”

Without having to say it, Lee Songin had already started sprinting towards 1st base.

“1st base, throw it right away!”

Lee Songin stepped on 1st base at the same time as receiving the ball tossed by Park Haejin. It’s similar to the situation when I pitched yesterday, but,

“Out!”

This time, it was clear to anyone that it was an out.

2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. While both teams were nervous in different senses, our dugout was fully loaded with as many thumbs up as possible.

After catching the count with a slider, making a foul with a fastball, and then,

Bang-!

“Haaaaaack-!!”

Lee Songin, who struck out once again with a fastball, threw his glove off in place and cheered.

Kyuhyuk also threw off his mask and ran to the mound. Our dugout couldn’t stand it either, so we immediately equipped our thumbs on both hands and ran to the mound.

Thumbs up-!

“Yaaaak!”

“Hoooo-!!”

With the word joy replaced with the existence of screams, we went around the mound for a while and shared thumbs up.

“Thumbs up-!!”