Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 140

140. The Theory of Relativity

Inside fastball, outside slider, bouncing splitter. The pitches I threw yesterday to strike out Kang Dae-hyun with three pitches.

It’s not like I calculated, ‘I should throw this pitch now, then this one next.’

Just as my heart desires. Just as I want to throw.

Even if I throw it roughly like that,

“Ugh!”

Bang!

“Strike!”

I was sure the batter, caught in the flow, wouldn’t be able to use his strength properly and would sink.

That thought was extended a bit after seeing Kang Dae-hyun blankly watching the curveball that fell in the middle on the first pitch.

That’s what a nemesis is like in the first place. An opponent you want to break through, want to escape from, but can’t control.

Whether that player is an incredibly great player or just an ordinary random guy,

“Hic!”

Whoosh-!

“Swing!”

A food chain, once created, is not easily broken.

Right now, Kang Dae-hyun will strike out with a ridiculous swing even if I throw a truly absurd ball.

“Kkeueuk!”

Tudak―

“Swing, out!”

Kang Dae-hyun, who produced the same result with the same finishing pitch as yesterday, shook his head a few times and returned to the dugout.

And here comes…….

Number 3 hitter, Lee!! Yong!! Ho!!

A son of a bitch.

Lee Yong-ho appeared at the plate after receiving a buff [an advantage or enhancement] from the stadium announcer, swinging his bat around.

He seems to think he looks cool doing that,

Pfft―

To me, it just looks like he’s struggling not to get eaten, so I just chuckled.

To eat, or to be eaten.

From some point on, Lee Yong-ho felt like he had established himself as a hard counter to Gyujin hyung [older brother or close male friend]. It’s partly because his overall hitting skills have improved, but it just feels like he sees Gyujin hyung’s pitches well.

But you know what, Lee Yong-ho?

Bang-!

“Swing-!”

Your hard counter is me.

A swing and a miss on a slider that runs away to the outside from the first pitch. What is the meaning of that confident swing and a miss?

Confidence that you see all my pitches?

Excitement to become a hero by hitting one here?

A calculation to adjust the timing by using one count as an opportunity cost?

None of that,

“Trying so hard, trying so hard.”

It just looks like a desperate struggle not to be eaten by the likes of you. It’s the same context as when you were acting up when you appeared.

After getting the first count with a slider, I moved to signal for the second pitch.

A fastball, and I announced that I would throw it very high,

“Kkeueuk!”

Peong-!

The fastball arrived right next to Lee Yong-ho, almost like a brushback pitch [a pitch thrown deliberately close to the batter to make them move away from the plate].

The place Gyuhak caught it was obviously a ball, and Lee Yong-ho didn’t even swing because he was backing away.

In a way, it’s like throwing away a ball, but I didn’t regret it at all.

I can just give one ball to Lee Yong-ho. It’s even better if he happens to get hit.

Lee Yong-ho, who quickly noticed the essence of this ball, made a very nice expression.

“Oh, you must be pissed.”

Am I pissed? You’re the one who’s pissed.

I pretended to look at Gyuhak’s signal, covered my face with my glove, and muttered.

Afterwards, I moved my thumb, index finger, and middle finger back and forth to send out the signal once again. The place where Gyuhak, who received the signal, was located was on the outside.

As I went into the windup, the grip was changed back and forth inside the glove. With only the index finger straightened, I pointed exactly where I was going to throw.

There!

Whoosh―

“Swing, swing-!”

It’s on the outside, but in terms of height, it’s about two balls low.

Lee Yong-ho showed a very splendid gala show [an elaborate display or celebration] on the 112km curve [approximately 69 mph] that fell to that spot.

Even after doing that, there are traces of him not being able to stand his own anger everywhere.

The movement of his left foot, which was keeping time, became intense.

The swaying of the bat next to his ear became fiery.

His face was now completely red, probably because he was so pissed off.

After putting those fragments together, the thought that came to my mind was, ah, I want to make him even more screwed up.

Outside slider swing and a miss, inside high fastball ball, outside low curve swing and a miss.

If I throw a front door slider [a slider that appears to be heading for the batter but curves into the strike zone] next, wouldn’t he just die of joy?

“Eut!”

I flinched and backed away without realizing it at the ball flying as if it would hit my body,

Bang-!

“Strike, out!”

Looking strikeout on a slider that curves greatly horizontally and enters through the front door.

“Keu, that’s it.”

Lee Yong-ho didn’t go straight back to the dugout, but stepped away from the plate for a moment, looked at the home plate, and then glared at me before returning to the dugout.

The next batter who passed by such Lee Yong-ho,

Number 4 hitter, Park!! Hae!! Jin!!

“Long time no see, really.”

How long has it been? It seems like it’s the first time I’ve met him since the Korean Series last year, so it’s been about 7 months.

My intention in looking at Park Hae-jin was not much different from Kang Dae-hyun and Lee Yong-ho, whom I had faced earlier.

A nemesis. But a nemesis in a relationship where I’m on top.

I always got home runs, but that was downgraded to a double, and after that, it was just outs.

Then I got a hit during the Korean Series, but it didn’t lead to a score anyway. I won.

My optimistic personality led me to think that way.

“Eueuk!”

It’ll be the same this time, I’ll get him out this time, I’ll win this time.

Ttaak-!

High balls are easy to hit for home runs, that’s right. Only half.

Conversely, high balls don’t necessarily become home runs.

“Foul-!”

Rather, it becomes a picture that stabs the weakness by taking the most unreasonable move.

I happily accepted the ball that Gyuhak returned and went back to the mound. Seobeok seobeok [onomatopoeia for soft footsteps], the feeling of stepping on Masato was quite refreshing.

I want you to feel this refreshing feeling too.

I muttered the line that would only come out in a CF [commercial film or advertisement] in my mind and cleared Gyuhak’s fingers.

After clearing, clearing, and clearing again, the sign I received was an outside curve.

If I throw the section that requires the fastest reaction and the section that requires waiting the longest to hit in succession, I will definitely get good results.

Even if the opponent is Park Hae-jin.

“Eup!”

Bang!

Outside, wouldn’t you call it a strike at this point? I thought.

“…Ball!”

Fuck.

However, after careful consideration, the umpire judged the pitch to be low. Gyuhak caught the ball and maintained his stance for a few seconds to appeal, but the call was not overturned.

I flicked my glove to signal that it was okay and to just throw the next one, and Gyuhak returned the ball, understanding my intent.

Gyuhak was definitely feeling it too. I don’t know about other pitchers, but the calls were particularly strict for me.

Therefore, we needed to find a pitch that wouldn’t be too full in the zone, yet wouldn’t allow the batter to easily swing, and if they did swing, it would result in a routine ground ball.

Like a historian searching for the mythical creature Kirin [a Chinese unicorn-like creature] in the history section of a library, Gyuhak was scrolling through past records.

But this library has a strict time limit. You have to swipe your library card at certain intervals.

Let’s throw a ball to buy some time and gauge his reaction. It would be great if we got a good result here, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a ball.

A changeup disguised as a fastball inside.

Compared to the two pitches I threw right before, I nodded, thinking it wasn’t a bad timeline.

“Hoo….”

I removed all grand modifiers, such as it needs to break as late as possible, or make the angle even bigger.

Just,

“Keuk!”

Like a changeup. So that it can fulfill the role of a changeup.

If I do that,

Bang-!

Because such a good result comes out.

“Foul-!”

High fastball inside, low curve outside. Park Hae-jin seemed to think I was going back inside after the off-speed pitch, so he swung quickly, but it went foul down the third base line.

Since he was way out in front on the inside changeup, should I go inside again, but in reverse?

“…Okay.”

I quickly finished my thought and tapped my glove with my thumb and index finger.

Gyuhak checked. The runner fidgeting at third base checked. Park Hae-jin watching me from the plate checked.

“Kkeuaak!”

Rather than getting an unnecessary ball by vaguely clipping the inside corner, I wanted to throw a meaningful ‘ball’.

A ball way inside that would definitely be a ball.

Thump-!

“Ball-.”

The umpire who called this pitch straightened up decisively, and Gyuhak retrieved his mitt without any reaction.

But just one person.

“Is it difficult?”

Park Hae-jin struggled to unwind his tense posture and stepped out of the batter’s box.

Unlike him, he even took a few practice swings, whoosh- whoosh-, before stepping back into the batter’s box, but the element of certainty was still not visible on his face.

2-2.

Will the time ever come when I can strike you out?

“Hoo….”

I don’t know. Whether it comes or not. I don’t know about strikeouts, but just getting through this inning is the most important thing to me.

So please,

“Kkeueu!!”

Just die already!

Bang-!

“Catch!!”

“Back! Bbaeehk!!”

The high fastball inside hit the handle of Park Hae-jin’s bat and floated high into the air.

Everyone, including me and the infielders, felt with one mind that Gyuhak had to catch it.

Gyuhak himself would know best about this situation.

Without a word, Gyuhak threw off his mask and ran behind the umpire.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps. And jump.

“Heueu!”

Thwack!

The faint sound of the catch, which couldn’t possibly be heard from about 25m away, was definitely heard. In case anyone didn’t hear it, Gyuhak raised the mitt with the ball in it high above his head.

“Out!!”

The umpire, confirming the baseball held tightly in Gyuhak’s mitt, declared the out with a hearty call.

Dding-!

[Nemesis]

– Pitch 1 inning without allowing any inherited runners to score (1/1)

– Reward – +1 to all pitch types

Control – Top

Power – High

Stamina – Medium

Four-seam fastball – 92+1=93

Curveball – 85+1=86

Slider – 82+1=83

Splitter – 83+1=84

Changeup – 83+1=84

Sinker – 84+1=85

Traits

Detachment – Accepts any batted ball or situation as it comes.

Discomfort – Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when they see the pitcher on the mound.

Comfort – Those who watch him feel comfortable.

Focus – The number of targets you can focus on increases.

“Yesssaa!!”

Full bases with no outs, that’s nothing.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend], nice one!!”

“Nice pitching!!”

“Nice pitcher!!”

If I pitch.

But it’s definitely right to acknowledge the contributions to this inning.

“Hey, Gyuhak, Gyuhak!! Come here quickly!”

“Waaaaah! Picture, picture!”

The main character of this inning is undoubtedly me, but the scene stealer of this inning is undoubtedly Gyuhak.

Perhaps if Gyuhak hadn’t been there, this movie would have been a box office failure.

Gyuhak celebrated the box office success and enjoyed a selfie ceremony with the cast.

Click!

Five points. It’s even more difficult to close a gap that’s hard to overcome with two offensive opportunities with a single blow.

Sangsoo Tigers humbly entrusted the top of the 9th inning to a rookie pitcher, acknowledging a page of defeat.

Sangsoo Tigers humbly entrusted the bottom of the 9th inning to backup hitters, writing a volume of defeat.

Clap clap clap-!

“Let’s go out, let’s go out!”

“Yaaaaak!”

“Hyung, take me!”

“Get lost, you crazy bastard!”

Let’s go out, let’s fight, victorious Challengers! For Wonha’s victory!!

I bowed to the fans who lined up along the third base foul line to cheer us on, celebrating today’s victory.

Five games.

After widening the gap to the same number of games as today’s score difference, I couldn’t feel more at peace.

I hope that tomorrow we can win the game by a six-point difference and widen the game gap to six games.

“Good work!”

“Good work!”

“Good job-del!”

After watching the lights of Jamsil Stadium turn off with satisfaction, I left the dugout.