Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 165

Swish, swish, swish.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, please go in.”

I stand up from my seat and bow politely.

“Next person, please.”

“Ah, hello!”

“Yes, hello. What’s your name?”

“Kim Ji-yeon!”

“Kim Ji-yeon.”

Swish, swish, swish.

“I’m rooting for you! Thank you!”

“Yes, yes, thank you. Please go in.”

I stand up once more and bow politely.

Due to a series of events, or rather, accidents, I was slightly late for the autograph session, but not terribly so.

From the perspective of those waiting, it was an excusable delay, making them think something must have happened.

“What’s your name?”

“Jang Hyeong-min!”

“Jang Hyeong-min….”

And again, swish, swish, swish.

After signing for the newly arrived fan, I glanced at Jin-hyeong, who was sitting next to me, during the brief moment before the next person came in.

He seemed reluctant and hesitant.

But even seeing that, I didn’t feel like I needed to scold him later.

“Um…n-name….”

“Lee Seok-mu.”

“Just a moment….”

Jin-hyeong, who was scribbling the name of the fan in front of him, stood up awkwardly and bowed deeply to the fan.

“Wow, I’m a huge fan of Park Jin-hyeong!”

And seeing the face of the fan who appeared again, his face hardened in the same way.

Rather than thinking, ‘Ah, why do I have to do this!’

“T-thank you….”

He’s naturally shy and a bit passive. I don’t know about people he’s close to or very familiar with, but meeting strangers seems difficult for him.

It’s amazing how he transforms into a wild beast when he steps up to the plate, unleashing such savage swings.

There’s a limit to how much a person’s personality can change.

When I see players like Jin-hyeong, I sometimes wonder if we should really make them do things like this when they just love baseball, are good at it, and want to make money from it.

Can’t we just let them play baseball?

“Jin-hyeong, relax. There’s not much left.”

“Ah, yes!”

Yeah, can’t do that.

“Name?”

“Choi Ji-na!”

“Choi Ji-na…yes, here you go.”

“Thank you! I’m rooting for you to have a 0 ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance].”

“Oh my, thank you.”

If he loves baseball so much and just wants to play, he can just start his own baseball team. If he wants to make money, he can do something else that doesn’t involve dealing with people.

Because he’s a professional. Because he’s a professional baseball player. Professional baseball players can only exist with fans.

In that sense, Jin-hyeong is decent. At least he feels a sense of duty and acts on it. And it’s not like he rejects fans who approach him on the street.

Like the words that loosened Jin-hyeong up a moment ago, out of the 200 fans who were lined up, only about 10 remained.

Just as I was gently rotating my neck, which was starting to stiffen,

“What’s your name?”

“Lee Yu-hyeon.”

“Just a moment….”

“Um, would it be possible to get a handshake too?”

“Of course.”

Another fan blocks my path.

To be honest, when I first received the proposal for this mini autograph session, I was initially negative.

It’s not like I don’t sign autographs often, so why do we have to go this far to hold an autograph session?

But,

Swish, swish, swish—

“Here you go.”

“Wow, thank you. I’ll only wear this when I come to games from now on!”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Thank you!”

Seeing the new uniform with my number marked on it, I could understand the fans’ and the front office’s perspectives.

We’ll set up an autograph session with your favorite player! And the item to get signed is that player’s uniform, which we’ll even provide! So buy something and enter with the receipt!

The autograph session held according to such adult circumstances,

“Thank you, thank you so much! Oh my gosh….”

“What do you mean, ‘Oh my gosh’? You have to go watch baseball now.”

“Oh, thank you! Um, could I possibly get a photo too….”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

Click-!

“Thank you!”

“Yes, please go in.”

…concluded successfully.

As the lucky winner who received the last autograph disappeared, all that remained in this area were me, Jin-hyeong, some partner company people, Young-jin, and Eun-seo.

“Ugh, it’s over…Jin-hyeong, you worked hard too.”

“You worked hard too, hyung [older brother or male friend].…”

“Was it manageable?”

“No….”

“You have to get used to it. How can a guy with a bright future find it so difficult already?”

“What can I do? I’ve only ever played baseball, so this is just my personality.”

“So, is my personality like this because I didn’t just play baseball?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Is he crazy?”

As soon as the people he had to talk to directly disappeared, Jin-hyeong returned to his original self and began to attack.

“Then I’ll head in first.”

“Good job.”

“Yes, yes. Come quickly.”

“No, I’m going to take my time.”

“What a thug, this hyung.”

“Jin-hyeong is out of his mind.”

First, Jin-hyeong left the scene,

“Eun-seo.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“I’ll talk with the people from the company here. You just finish up the equipment you need. You can just leave the rest.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I’ll head out first, Han-wool.”

“Yes, yes. Don’t forget the coffee when you come later.”

“I’ll buy you a 1L Americano [large-sized American coffee] with the corporate card.”

“What a thug, Young-jin.”

“Didn’t you know yet?”

“Hurry up, go quickly.”

With that, even Young-jin disappeared.

“…….”

“…….”

Eun-seo and I were left alone in the relatively large hall.

“…Haa.”

Eun-seo sighed deeply and began to pack up the camera she was holding, following Young-jin’s instructions.

“That was kind of cool.”

“What was.”

I casually threw out a word while watching her, and perhaps some of the earlier emotions remained, as she didn’t even look this way, fiddling with the camera and replying casually.

I really want to poke that crown of her head.

“Earlier.”

“Earlier what.”

“What did you say earlier, ‘I’ll play the villain, so Han-wool, you just focus on baseball’?”

“…….”

“You said this isn’t a drama, but the lines are better than most dramas….”

“…….”

“…though.”

Ahem.

“Haa…if I mess this up, it feels like there will be talk.”

“What kind of talk?”

“Do you think what happened earlier was just a small thing?”

“It was a pretty big deal.”

“Knowing that, you still act like that?”

How could someone who loves Wonha Challengers and works for them just stand by and watch the team’s players get dragged down because of it?

“But I also have my position. Wouldn’t it be stranger to just stand by and watch that happen? No, if I just stood by and watched, there would be even more talk behind my back, right?”

Similarly, how could I just stand by and watch a member of the team get treated badly?

I don’t particularly think of myself as a crusader for justice. I’m not the type to be unable to stand injustice either.

Just right in the middle.

Moderately just, moderately sly, sometimes very tolerant of injustice, and sometimes impulsively rushing in.

I’m probably not the only one like that. Aren’t most modern people living in society like this?

“In the first place, that person was the one who did wrong. If it were just me, Eun-seo, and that person in the space, it might be different, but it happened in front of almost hundreds of people. If anything, only good things will come out of it, so don’t worry too much.”

“Haa….”

Whether it’s because she gets annoyed just looking at my face, or because she has a headache.

Eun-seo sighed deeply again and turned her head away.

“Han-wool….”

“Huh?”

“…never mind.”

“What is it.”

“…….”

“…Eun-seo.”

“What.”

“Um…there are broadly two types of people who piss people off.”

“So?”

“One is when they start to say something and then stop.”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…Hey.”

“What you just did is that.”

“…….”

That damn ellipsis.

“Why, what is it? If you have something to say, say it. We have time until the game anyway, and it’s just the two of us.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t seem like it would be meaningful to talk to Han-wool right now.”

After shaking her head slightly, Eun-seo got up from her seat.

“Still, um….”

But she hesitated for a moment and glanced at me.

“…Thank you. Earlier.”

* * *

Why is it that sad premonitions are never wrong…but the situation I faced turned out to be quite satisfying.

The fan who had the trouble a few days ago apparently posted a stream of slander about me and Eun-seo on their personal SNS [Social Networking Service].

Kim Han-wool, that bastard, is all about pretense when it comes to caring for fans, and so on and so forth, he’s getting married but messing around with another woman, and so on and so forth, and that employee is rude, and so on and so forth.

Yellow papers [sensationalist media outlets] that like these kinds of gossip stories would naturally not miss this, so this story naturally became a topic of conversation.

I still remember, what? Kim Han-wool’s disgusting hypocrisy? You put that as the title of the article? I’ve remembered your name and the media company, reporter.

Anyway, if this story had just been something he blurted out and then faded away, I wouldn’t have known, but because it was even published as an article and became a topic of conversation, it backfired on him.

“Forgiveness my ass.”

Baseball teams that pay attention to the trends in the baseball scene naturally came across this fact, and an investigation into the facts came to me and Eun-seo.

But there wasn’t really much of an investigation. As I had declared to Eun-seo, there were so many people who had witnessed the scene that there were far more rebuttals to his posts.

Thanks to that, our work was done by just finding and showing several of those rebuttals to the team’s management,

“You should have gotten a settlement.”

The team’s work was not over.

Naturally, the team filed a defamation lawsuit, and he was asking me for forgiveness or something,

“Settlement my ass. I can live well without that money.”

No way.

“No, take it and give it to me. I’m a victim too.”

“…….”

Eun-seo carefully put the camera with the red light off into her bag and grumbled.

“Why are you so clueless.”

“What do you mean I’m clueless.”

“If it were me, I would have gotten a reasonable settlement and acted like a generous person, and then given that settlement to me. ‘Eun-seo, you’ve worked hard,’ and then done that.”

“You’re not a generous person from the moment you receive the settlement.”

“I’m a generous person to you.”

“Because I gave you money?”

“Of course.”

You’re out of your mind.

“Anyway, it’s a relief that it was resolved well. Don’t do that again next time.”

“Don’t do what? It’s strange for someone not to do that in that situation.”

“You’re making everyone else seem strange just to save yourself. Seriously, Han-wool, your personality is terrible.”

Eun-seo had returned to her original fidgety self.

Teasing, poking my side for no reason, and smiling mischievously while scratching at my nerves.

I don’t know exactly when it started, but Eun-seo, who had been showing a serious side that didn’t fit her image recently, seemed like a completely different person.

“The settlement is fine. Just….”

“Just what.”

“…Just buy me a meal later.”

When I see her like this, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

“I’ll treat you and Young-jin together later.”

“No, why are you including the team leader there.”

“Young-jin must have worked hard too, so I have to include him.”

“I worked the hardest, so you should only treat me.”

“No way.”

“Why!”

“The picture gets weird.”

“What picture gets weird?”

“…….”

I just stared down at Eun-seo’s face.

“…Okay, then.”

I briefly considered bringing up Min-young’s story, but decided not to. I was worried that it would only make the atmosphere even stranger.

“Sang-soo is very scary these days. It’s going to be difficult today. He’s their ace, and we have a replacement starter, so….”

“What’s scary about him? I’m not scared of guys like that at all.”

Fortunately, Eun-seo seemed to have some sense, as she changed the subject first.

“Considering that, your legs seem to be shaking.”

“My knees are just cold.”

“It’s August now?”

“Does it have to be hot just because it’s August?”

“You’re sweating on your forehead?”

“These are tears for Sang-soo, who will be brutally beaten today.”

“Are you okay?”

Oh, geez.

“Do you remember what Park Hae-jin said?”

“Did he say something weird again?”

“No, why, back then. Back then, Park Hae-jin was interviewed during the All-Star Game.”

“Ah, that.”

The one where he said he would give me my first earned run this season, and so on.

“Why that?”

“I have a personal connection with the Sang-soo side’s MiTube PD [Production Director for MiTube, a fictional video platform similar to YouTube], and I vaguely heard something. Park Hae-jin was really grinding his teeth?”

“How much could he have been grinding his teeth?”

I let out a snort full of derision, completing the perfect sneer.

“You know that two games against Sang-soo is still dangerous, right?”

“I know, I know, I know it well.”

“Do a good job.”

“Can I do it alone?”

“Other players do well when Han-wool does well.”

Whether she’s cheering me on or giving me a jab.

Eun-seo, standing exactly in the middle of that, raised one corner of her mouth as usual and smiled slyly.

“So, Eun-seo, which one do you want?”

“What do you mean, which one?”

“Do you want me to have a shutout [preventing the opposing team from scoring], or do you want Park Hae-jin to get a RBI [Run Batted In, a statistic for runs scored as a result of a batter’s hit]?”

“Me? Me….”

Thwack-!

Eun-seo looked at Park Hae-jin, who was practicing batting on the ground, not me, and said.

“…I want Han-wool to have a shutout.”