Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 12

“Hey, go fetch that.”

“Hey, what’s for lunch today?”

“Hey, keep a good lookout.”

“Hey, throw me some balls.”

“Hey, you call that throwing!”

Hmm….

Lee Yong-ho.

He was a senior two years ahead of me in high school. I was the team’s starting pitcher, and Lee Yong-ho was the starting shortstop and cleanup hitter. We were a pretty good pitcher-fielder combo in terms of in-game performance.

As you can tell from the fact that he was the fixed cleanup hitter, he was a nationally recognized high school-level hitter, just like I was called a high school-level pitcher.

But there was a crucial difference between this guy and me.

Character.

He was the epitome of double standards, shirking responsibilities, verbal abuse, swearing, and even occasional violence. A textbook example of being tough on the weak and weak on the strong.

Ugh. So annoying.

He was quite famous in a bad way. Even among the surrounding schools.

Whether it was the baseball team’s leadership or the parents of the victimized students, there should have been action to stop his behavior, but they remained silent for the sole reason that he was good at baseball.

Even if a voice of criticism tried to cautiously raise its head, the opposing side would push it back down.

Hey, what’s going to happen to the team if the cleanup hitter and shortstop are gone?

Because of such ridiculous logic.

Looking back now, his influence was less severe on me. At least.

If he messed with me, the team would lose its ace, which would ruin the team’s performance, which would reduce his chances to show off his own performance.

But since human nature cannot be hidden, I was still subjected to trivial errands and swearing as a basic.

Oh, it’s not like there was no violence at all.

Anyway… he entered the pros two years earlier than me. As a highly touted shortstop.

But like me, he didn’t grow. His hitting, which was said to be high school-level, was just at the level of a high school graduate, and his fielding, which was rated even better, was actually getting worse.

Shortstop to third baseman, third baseman to second baseman, second baseman to left fielder.

In today’s baseball era, where you can stay in the first team if you have just one perfect tool out of the five: power, contact, running, fielding, and throwing.

Even in modern baseball, which has become more lenient towards weaknesses, he remains at the 2.5-team level, or even at the high school level, barely extending his career year after year.

Of course, he has been going back and forth between the second team for quite a while, so he still has a considerable control period left… so they seem to be keeping him around with the feeling of… let’s watch him a little longer.

After entering the pros, he and I had something in common. High school-level prospect, from exclamation mark to question mark, and then a player for the bottom of the roster.

But there were two crucial differences.

One, our team was a lower-ranked team that needed ‘even me,’ and he was a guy who was ambiguous even in a team that was always at the bottom of the standings.

Two, his situation doesn’t seem to be much different from last year. He occasionally shows up in the first team, but every time he does, he screws up.

The team’s fans, coaches, and front office are holding on to the hope that he will eventually break out, holding on to a meaningless bond certificate.

But I have been completely reborn. Completely changed. Before I knew it, I had become the central axis of the team’s bullpen, and had suddenly emerged as the league’s leading bullpen ace.

This is the difference between you and me.

Even after seeing him strike out on a 136km junk ball thrown without any effort and spewing out a lot of curses, I didn’t feel particularly good or relieved.

Well, it’s more like, yeah, you’re that kind of guy.

* * *

Ah, it’s fun.

I wasn’t just envious of achieving work-life balance. Having a job that you like and making a living from it may be a blessing, but the moment that livelihood is disrupted, you start to hate what you like. I simply liked throwing the ball, and it became a hobby, and then a job.

But if the framework of the job collapses, you have to worry about what to eat from today or tomorrow, and the stress of making a living that follows back-to-back makes you say, “Screw the hobby,” and what to eat becomes the priority.

“What, did you take some kind of medicine?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve been flying around on your own lately. Did you get some kind of lucky break like in a martial arts novel?”

“Hehe… Hyung [older brother or senior male]. Aren’t you pushing me too hard as a fluke?”

“Bullshit.”

Senior, Kyu-jin hyung, sat down next to me with a thud and put the water cup he was drinking down as if throwing it.

“No, what have you been doing to throw 142km? You used to barely throw 130km.”

That’s right, awakening. I awakened.

Until last year, or was it last season, my average fastball speed was around 126km. It was terrible for an orthodox right-handed pitcher, not an underhand or a left-handed pitcher with a small sample size.

It’s not that I’m short, skinny, or have little muscle.

188cm and 107kg. Not big, just a huge physique. I remembered the first coach’s expectations, saying, “Wow, it’s not inferior even compared to a major leaguer!” being mercilessly crushed.

The first time I awakened to my current ‘state’ and briefly renewed my all-time highest speed was 136km. Considering that the speed I threw when my body was in the best condition in my life was 135km, it’s a huge jackpot for this worn-out body.

Control ― Top

Power ― Mid+???=Top

Stamina ― Low

Four-seam ― 46+17=63

Curve ― 39+9=48

Slider ― 26+16=42

Splitter ― 31+7=36

Changeup ― 36

Sinker ― 34+12=46

Specialty

Detachment ― I don’t care about any batted balls or situations.

Discomfort ― Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when looking at the pitcher at the plate.

Special (Temporary) ― All stats +2 when relieving in a winning situation / When relieving, fastball +3, breaking ball +1 up to 20 pitches

When calculating the ball’s quality as stats, the fastball is slightly below average, and the breaking ball is also slightly below average.

Anyone can see that I’m a useless pitcher, but if I combine a large number of pitches and nano-control that can cover everything beyond that, I can play the ace role to some extent, even if the power is garbage.

But what makes me a real ace, not just playing the ace role, is the +. I don’t know why they suddenly appeared.

But considering that this stat itself is influenced by the system, could it be a temporary buff for my MVP-level character that I got in the game a while ago? In fact, the stats of the character in the game are the same as my current stats.

Thanks to that, I became a real league ace, not just playing the ace role. From June 6th, when my character was updated, to yesterday, June 28th, my ERA was 1 point for a little over 3 weeks. Not the average ERA, but my ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance].

During this period, my record was 12 games, 14 innings, ERA 0.64, 1 win, 2 holds, 7 saves, 24 strikeouts, 3 walks, 0 hit by pitch, WHIP 0.42 [Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched, a measure of a pitcher’s propensity to allow baserunners].

Is it some novel-like overpowered character? Anyway, this record won’t last long. It’s a temporary buff I received thanks to the monthly MVP, and maybe… if another player on our team is selected as the monthly MVP in the July update, my buff will disappear.

No, I was briefly expecting a virtuous cycle of receiving the MVP buff, achieving MVP-level performance in reality, being selected as the monthly MVP again, receiving the buff again, and achieving performance again… but this is just wishful thinking.

As far as I know, this garbage game doesn’t select the same player as MVP for two consecutive months. To put it nicely, it’s diversity, and to put it bluntly, it’s a firm will to fleece our wallets with as many different players as possible.

Anyway. I’m very much looking forward to the situation right now. Today, June 28th, is the last series of this month. The opponent in this series, which is also the last series before the update on Tuesday, July 3rd, is….

“So you can look forward to it… this series against Sangsoo.”

The league’s top ruler. Sangsoo Tigers. More precisely, Park Hae-jin, the team’s cleanup hitter.

“We have to win. We were completely humiliated by them last year.”

“Ah, but. Shouldn’t we not be particularly ashamed of that?”

“Why?”

“Because it’s faster to find a team that wasn’t humiliated by Sangsoo.”

“Oh. For once, you’re saying something right.”

So there are quite a few people who say that the league is not fun in a different sense. Isn’t it too much of a monopoly? But it’s natural to win if you play well, and it’s natural to lose if you play poorly. Because it’s professional. They just produced their own results.

“Sunbae-nim [senior colleague]. Do you know what I want most right now?”

“What is it?”

“Exactly, the bottom of the 9th inning, 2 outs. 1 run difference, bases loaded. The batter is Park Hae-jin.”

“…Han-wool-ah.”

“Why?”

“Do you know what people say about such nonsense?”

“What is it?”

“Repeat after me. Yeom.”

“Yeom.”

“Byeong.”

“Byeong.”

“Together.”

“Yeombyeong [a Korean slang term expressing frustration or absurdity].”

“Yes, they call it Yeombyeong.”

Ah.

“Don’t talk Yeombyeong. If I were in that situation? I would rather walk him [intentionally walk the batter, giving him first base].”

“With the bases loaded? With a 1-run difference? Walking him would tie the game?”

“If he hits it, the game itself ends there?”

Hmm… very valid point….

“No. I’m still going to compete.”

“A guy like you does that and gets hit with a walk-off grand slam and dies.”

“Eh…….”

“What eh. I think you’re happy that you’ve achieved a legendary monthly record. But don’t you think your story hasn’t really come out?”

“Uh…….”

Come to think of it……?

Even if it’s not the first or best pace ever, it’s not like I’ve achieved this kind of record for a season… but with this kind of record, there should be some kind of hype from articles or fans.

Come to think of it, not really…….

Because the previous records were so good? But… the previous records aren’t bad. No, they’re good. Very. But it’s true that they’re slightly lower compared to this month.

“Do you know how many home runs Park Hae-jin hit this month?”

“No?”

“Confident bastard.”

Then he takes out his phone, touches it a few times, and shoves the screen in my face.

“He played 25 games in June and hit 18 home runs.”

“…….”

Crazy bastard. Is he human?

He hit all the home runs that a decent long-distance hitter would hit in one season in less than a month. Even his monthly batting average is close to 60%.

Is he really human?

“Think carefully. What will you do if that situation really comes?”

“Hehe…….”

* * *

Friday, June 28th.

The first game of the away series against the Sangsoo Tigers held in Jamsil was won 10 to 4. We managed to seize the victory early on by beating the opponent’s second starter from the beginning of the game.

The pitchers also easily subdued Sangsoo’s league-leading lineup, and the pitching prospects went up to the 7th inning, giving up only 3 points in the 8th inning and 1 point in the 9th inning, winning cleanly.

Saturday, June 29th, Game 2.

A crushing defeat of 13 to 1. As if they were determined to avenge the previous day’s defeat, the game went in the exact opposite direction from the previous day, scoring 8 points from the 1st inning and completely destroying our pitchers. The one point we scored was pure luck.

In the top of the 9th inning, we scored 1 point with a lucky infield hit, a lucky mis-hit hit, and a lucky ball hitting the base. And in the bases loaded situation with no outs, the game ended with a triple play.

And today, June 30th. Game 3…….

“Hmm…….”

Bottom of the 9th inning, Sangsoo Tigers’ attack. The score is 7 to 2. Fortunately, our team is ‘winning.’ But someone said that baseball is a game of momentum.

I completely agree.

Even though it’s a score difference that won’t lose even if we get hit with a grand slam with a 5-point difference and then get hit with a solo home run, something… is uneasy.

The evidence of that uneasiness is something that everyone on our team is feeling. All the points our team scored were scored by pure luck. But those guys didn’t have any luck at all.

The feast of well-hit balls to the front of the fielders, accompanied by two balls that went over the fence, seemed much heavier than the 7 points created by slightly adding the two letters of misjudgment between the series of mis-hit hits and lucky hits.

“Throw comfortably and come.”

“…Yes.”

I decided to go up to the mound to check my condition because I hadn’t pitched for the past few days. Bottom of the 9th inning. 5 point difference. The batting order is from the 8th batter. The opposing batting order is not bad either.

Does this mean they are giving up on this game as it is, or do they think that there is some possibility even with this 8th batter?

I glanced at the opponent’s dugout and stared at Gyu-hak’s right hand. Fastball inside on the first pitch.

“Strike!”

I threw it and glanced at the scoreboard, and it was 139km. Seeing that the speed comes out quite a bit even if I throw it without feeling too strong, it seems that the influence of the buff is definitely great.

Even while waiting for Gyu-hak’s sign, I start to worry about what will happen when this buff ends.

“Foul!”

A sinker that curls inward on the same course, a foul towards third base. The next sign is a fastball that goes in about one deep inside.

I thought it would be good to compete right away, but I wonder if Gyu-hak felt something. The feeling of the catcher sitting right next to the batter is more likely than the pitcher muttering alone on the mound.

Clang!

A ball thrown with a little force. But the batter’s bat awkwardly followed the perfectly cornered count, and the ambiguously hit ball passed next to third base…….

“Fair!”

Eh?!