Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 148

※ 148. 2km

Direct fastball stat of 100. And top-tier power.

How far does this synergy go? Or rather, where does it begin?

Bang!

“Ouch….”

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Bang!

“Ouch, go easy on me.”

“I am going easy.”

“How is this going easy? The mitt’s about to explode.”

“I’m throwing softly because it is soft. Change your mitt; isn’t it time?”

I responded to Gun-yeong’s nonsense with nonsense of my own and continued to get a feel for catching.

Thud, thud.

I’m throwing lightly in my own way, but

Bang! Thwack!

Gun-yeong’s mitt continued to make terrible noises.

“Last one!”

“Aww!”

Thwack!

Before the game, I thought it was a good idea to drag Gun-yeong out for a catch to experience the top-tier power even a little bit sooner.

“…Nice?”

With a little exaggeration, it really feels like the ball is floating!

“What did you throw just now?”

“What else? I threw the fastball I always throw.”

“Wow, what’s with your fastball?”

“How was it?”

“It was brutal.”

I think Gun-yeong, who was receiving, felt it the most, rather than me, who was throwing.

After finishing the catch, Gun-yeong approached me, tilting his head, wondering what this was, praising my power.

“I promised Gyu-hak something. Even if I can’t throw 160km, I’ll throw a fastball that feels like 170km.”

“No, seriously, if you get into the late 150s with this kind of power, it’ll feel like 170, right?”

If you were to name the pitcher who throws the fastest ball in the current KBO League [Korean Baseball Organization]!

There are a few pitchers that come to mind.

One of them is,

“How does it compare to Hyeok-jun?”

It’s Hyeok-jun from our team.

He’s a starting pitcher, and even though he’s a left-hander, he’s recorded a top speed of 159km officially.

Gun-yeong receives those kinds of balls all the time, so I thought he could make a somewhat objective comparison.

“Um…Hyeok-jun hyung [older brother/male friend] is fast, but it doesn’t really feel like the ball is pushing in, so it gets a little tangled. It’s a completely different fastball from Han-ul hyung’s, so it’s hard to compare.”

Too objective.

“And I’ve never received a 170, so I don’t know, but if I put my full power into it with this feeling, wouldn’t it really feel like 170?”

Moderately objective.

‘Velocity’ and ‘power’ are separate concepts. Or rather, it’s more accurate to say that ‘velocity’ is a sub-concept of ‘power.’

That’s how it is in reality, but since I have to make a living with stats in the game, power and velocity are clearly divided.

In fact, even when my power increased little by little, my velocity hardly increased. The spin rate and heaviness changed, things like that.

Perhaps this part is very likely to be the same this time as well.

“Ah…2km is a shame.”

On average, about 154km to 156km. If I really grit my teeth and throw, about 157km to 158km.

If I could pull up just 2km from somewhere, I could force it and hit 160km once.

The disappointment felt very great, but I had no idea where I could fill this void right away.

Stats? I’ve already maxed out the fastball stat, which is directly related to velocity, so there’s nothing more to raise.

Physical? I’m still working out and tubing from time to time, but there doesn’t seem to be any harvest.

Pitching form? Rather, this part is too scary to even touch, as it could be ruined if I mess with it.

Where on earth can I get this 2km from?

Once a thought is firmly planted, it doesn’t disappear.

Even after the game started, even when the team was going back and forth, and even when they finally secured the victory.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

You know how it is. That frustration you feel when you think you’re about to remember something but can’t.

Feeling the increasingly clear frustration, I returned home and turned on the computer without even changing my clothes.

Surely, if it’s Full Count, which is the direct source of this system, there might be a hint somewhere.

* * *

“Haaaam….”

I went to bed late last night, so I yawned as soon as I arrived at Gocheok Dome [baseball stadium in Seoul].

Why did I go to bed late?

What else? I stayed up late analyzing the game.

“What did you do last night to look so dead?”

“I was analyzing something.”

I’ll say it again, I didn’t play the game. I analyzed it.

“Why the sudden analysis? It’s not like you.”

“What’s my image like for you to say that?”

“Just a guy who happens to be a pitcher while being a baseball player.”

“……”

What kind of person does Gyu-jin hyung think I am?

“Haaaam, whatever. Just prepare well for the game.”

I wiped the tear marks from my eyes with my fingers that brushed away the nonsense. I looked tired at first glance, but my mind was clearer than I thought.

“Ugh…quest.”

Ting-!

[Spirit of Competition]

– Pitch a scoreless inning. (0/1)

– Reward – Acquire the trait ‘Competition’

The analysis results from yesterday were very good.

I stayed up late comparing my stats in reality with my stats in the game, wondering how I could fill the missing 2km.

First of all, there are three main ways to increase the fastball stat, which is the stat that actually represents velocity.

Training, items, traits.

Increase it quickly by using the stat a lot, equip an item with a buff for the stat, or get help from a trait that activates in certain situations.

But the stat is already maxed out at 100, and the experiment related to equipping items has already failed.

So, what I dug into this time was the last remaining hope: traits.

When there’s a runner in scoring position, the batter’s power goes up, or when you strike out a batter, your velocity goes up when facing the next batter.

If the traits in the game, which are well explained intuitively, can clearly increase the stats I want, right?

At first, it was a simple start to add a trait, but as time went on, my head became more and more complicated.

Which trait to add, where to get good traits, and whether it will be applied to my stats in reality even if I apply it to my character.

I listed all the traits that exist through the free bulletin board on the Full Count website and internet searches.

And I kept drawing trait boxes from the in-game store until the trait I wanted came out.

The amount of money I invested to get the trait ‘Competition’ that I wanted the most was about 1 million won [approximately $750 USD].

Son of a B.

And I added a little cash to apply it to my character and turned off the computer, and I received a new quest.

Everything is good. Everything is good.

I decided which trait to draw, I drew the trait I wanted no matter how much it cost, I applied it to my character, and I received a related quest.

Good, good.

“Haa…but this is a little unsettling.”

Detachment, Discomfort, Comfort, Focus.

The traits I already had bothered me quite a bit.

Traits that only exist in the system I have and not in the game ‘Full Count’. Even the contents of those traits seem somewhat crazy.

Accepting any batted ball or situation, feeling uncomfortable, feeling comfortable, being able to concentrate well.

The original content of the trait ‘Competition’ that I drew yesterday is this: Fastball +5 when pitching in relief when winning.

“Han-ul, you’re going up in the 7th.”

“Ah, yes!”

With such anxiety, I focused on the game for a few hours, and the perfect opportunity to receive the trait came, and

Thwack-!

“Strike, out!”

Ting-!

[Spirit of Competition]

– Pitch a scoreless inning. (1/1)

– Reward – Acquire the trait ‘Competition’

I didn’t miss that opportunity.

Slowly, I finished the inning and returned to the dugout, waiting for the newly updated stat window.

Control – Top Tier

Power – Top Tier

Stamina – Medium

Fastball – 100

Curve – 88

Slider – 85

Splitter – 86

Changeup – 86

Sinker – 85

Traits

Detachment – Accepts any batted ball or situation.

Discomfort – Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when they look at the pitcher in the batter’s box.

Comfort – Those who look at you feel comfortable.

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

Competition – Fastball +5 when you want to win.

“……”

Excuse me?

* * *

“What did you do again today to be so tired?”

“No…I just had something to think about.”

“Well, you must have a lot to think about when you think about marriage.”

No…it’s not because of that.

“Did you have the meeting between the families [formal meeting between families before a marriage]?”

“Next Monday.”

“Just don’t say any nonsense trying to make the atmosphere friendly.”

What kind of guy do you think I am….

Gyu-jin hyung, who cleanly blocked the appearance with no runs in 6 innings yesterday, made my heart disturbed by spouting nonsense again today.

No…….

“Haa….”

He made my already disturbed heart even more disturbed.

The subject was, of course, the newly added trait ‘Competition’. Should I say that it doesn’t betray expectations, or should I say that it’s far from expectations?

The most bizarre trait in my life, which adds 5 to the fastball stat when I want to win, has been poking my head since I got off work yesterday.

“Han-ul, let’s go up in the 8th.”

“Yeeee….”

When I want to win? No, is there ever a time when I don’t want to win?

If you think about it simply, it’s like this. I’m a pitcher who receives the buff of Fastball +5 every moment because I always want to win.

But will this crazy stat window really execute that as it is? There must be a trap somewhere, but I can’t figure it out.

With an uneasy heart, I went up to the mound and slowly practiced pitching.

Throwing one ball and watching the scoreboard. Throwing one fastball and checking the velocity.

After adding a new routine to the pitching process, I faced the Hornets’ 6th, 7th, and 8th lower batting order.

Jo Sang-wook grounded out to shortstop with a fastball and a curveball.

Kim Hyeon-seol flied out to left field with a sinker, fastball, changeup, and fastball.

Jang Dong-woon struck out with a fastball, fastball, and fastball.

Of the pitches thrown today, only when I threw the fastball was the interval very long. The reason, of course, was to check the velocity.

“It’s not working, what is it?”

But it wasn’t. I really didn’t feel like the fastball stat had increased by 5 at all.

When I caught 1km of velocity per 3 stats, 5 stats are close to 2km.

2km?

Of course, you can say it’s only 2km, and you can ask if it’s within the margin of error.

But you know.

“What’s not working?”

“No…because of the velocity.”

“Why the velocity? It was good today, wasn’t it? You hit 158km today too.”

It’s very difficult to accurately hit 84 out of 1 to 100. But it’s very easy to hit a number as close to 100 as possible.

You just have to point to the top as hard as you can.

“…Well, do you remember a few days ago? The velocity this and that, the 2km this and that.”

“Ah, yes. I remember.”

“I thought I found a way to fill that a little bit.”

After blocking the inning well and returning to the bullpen, Gun-yeong approached me with the intention of soothing my mentality, so I started complaining, thinking it was a good thing.

“What was the method you thought of, hyung?”

“That’s….”

If I attach a Fastball +5 trait to my character in the game, it will follow me in reality.

“That…shouldn’t we work out the waist more?”

“Ah, core?”

“Yeah, core. Velocity originally comes from the core.”

“That’s right.”

I glossed over it appropriately. And I appropriately shared this and that topic and appealed that I was okay now.

“…Hey, Gun-yeong.”

“Yes!”

“What do you think it is, wanting to win?”

“Wanting to win? What is that?”

And when the topic subsided to some extent, I slowly brought out the original purpose.

“It’s a bit out of the blue.”

“I know, but it just came to mind.”

“Wanting to win, that’s obvious. It literally means wanting to win.”

“Wanting to win….”

Damn it.

Even after Gun-yeong, I applied for interviews by holding out microphones to various people.

Do you know what it means to want to win?!

Everyone hates reporters who suddenly hold out microphones.

How would I know?

Are you really saying that because you don’t know?

That’s not important right now….

Therefore, it is very difficult to obtain high-quality answers.

Thank you!

Thank you for your hard work!

See you tomorrow!

Until the game was over and one by one left the dugout.

“Wanting to win….”

I stayed in the dugout until the very end, looking around the empty stadium, trying to come up with the most appropriate answer.

I tried. I tried…….

“…Haa.”