Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 172

“Uh… okay. Nothing particularly wrong.”

Before heading out the door, I stood in front of the mirror for one last check to make sure my outfit was presentable.

Top, okay. Pants, okay. Shoes, also okay.

Satisfied with my appearance, I confidently swung the door open.

“Ugh, so hot.”

After a brief staring contest with the sunlight that immediately assaulted my eyes, I took the stairs down to the first floor of the villa.

Opening the car door parked in the designated spot for unit 201,

Thump—

“Ugh!”

I almost passed out from the heat.

“Seriously, what’s going on? It’s September already; when is this heatwave going to end…?”

I plopped down on the seat without thinking and immediately jumped back up, startled.

To cool down the car a bit, I grabbed the driver’s side door handle and waved it around a few times.

“Ouch, hot…”

It’s still pretty hot, but bearable. Still, if I stay still like this, I really might collapse from the heat, so I quickly started the car and cranked the AC up to level 4.

Maybe it’s because I turned on the AC as soon as I started the engine, but the air isn’t that cold yet. Still, it’s decent.

I set the destination in the built-in navigation system and started pressing the accelerator leisurely, with as much composure as possible.

“I’ll… arrive about 10 minutes early.”

I left right on time, but the estimated arrival time on the navigation was 1:51 PM.

The roads must not be congested today, I thought with a refreshing feeling, as I slowly drove down the midday streets.

Passing the school in front of my house, getting through the moderately congested interchange, passing the baseball equipment store I frequented during my elite days,

Hey!

Waaaaaah!!

Thwack-!

Boom-!

“…Having fun, I see.”

Today’s destination appears.

I drove into the school and parked in a reasonably empty space. As soon as I got out, I battled the hot sunlight once again.

“Wow… how did I ever do elite sports in this weather?”

In weather where sweat pours down just from standing still, I had to run, throw, run, and run again.

Even though I’m an athlete with a foundation in exercise, I’m still human. It’s not something to take lightly.

“Hey, I’m here, seniors.”

I glanced at the kids running around and headed straight for the bullpen in the school.

My old mound, where I spent all three years of my elite career throwing balls…

“If you’re just here to reminisce about the old days, just leave.”

“Hey, come on.”

…As soon as I arrived, I was greeted with those words and frowned.

“I came to donate my talent.”

“’Donate talent’? You mean ‘talent donation’.”

Ah.

“Go say hi to the coach.”

“Ah, okay.”

I was chased out of the bullpen after being nagged by Taek-hyung, my senior from my elite days… but I justified it by saying that I had to pass by the bullpen anyway to see the coach.

Knock knock—

“Yes, who is it?”

“Coach, it’s Hanwool.”

“Oh, come in.”

I stood in front of the coach’s office for a moment and knocked politely. As soon as I received the coach’s permission, I carefully opened the door.

“Coach…?”

I poked my head through the slightly opened door and called out to the coach in a small voice.

“What are you doing, come on in.”

“Ah, yes.”

He smiled kindly and gestured for me to come in. I quickly went inside and stood there awkwardly.

“Sit down. Why are you standing like that?”

“Yes.”

He smiled kindly and gestured for me to sit down. I quickly sat on the sofa and felt awkward again.

“Why do you look so uncomfortable? Want me to make you a coffee?”

“Ah, uh, yes.”

He smiled kindly and made me a cup of instant coffee.

“You’re here on your day off; are you sure it’s okay?”

“I can’t exactly come on a game day, can I?”

“That’s true, that’s true. You speak well.”

The coach chuckled and moved the empty coffee cup aside.

“I heard you’re getting married.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Is the preparation going well?”

“Preparation… yes. The necessary things, like the wedding hall and invitations, you know? Fortunately, I have acquaintances who work in those fields, so I asked them for help.”

“That’s a relief. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Uh…”

There is. It’s not the main purpose, but there’s something I wanted to ask since I came…

“Tell me. You look like you have something to say.”

“Well…”

Should I say it…

“Um… when I get married, could you possibly… um… would you mind officiating the wedding?”

“Officiate?”

“Yes.”

“Officiating isn’t difficult. It’s Hanwool, after all; of course, I’ll do that much for you.”

Oh, thank you…

“Thank you, Coach.”

“But why me?”

“Yes?”

“As far as I know… you’ve lived a pretty good life, Hanwool.”

“Uh…”

I blinked at the sudden compliment, trying to understand what he meant.

“You have a good personality. The kids follow you well. And you were good to the adults, Hanwool. You were good, you were good. That’s why so many people think highly of you.”

“Uh… thank… you.”

“If you asked anyone else to officiate, they would gladly accept. I’m just curious why you’d want an old man like me.”

An old man, you say.

“Well…”

I scratched my head for a moment, trying to organize my thoughts on what to say.

“I think I’ve lived a good life, as you said. In my own way. My intention wasn’t to be loved by everyone, but at least to avoid making too many enemies…”

“Hey, that’s difficult. Who lives in this world without any enemies?”

“True. I have quite a few enemies.”

Well… there’s Lee Yong-ho. And I’ve heard rumors that there’s a player on another team who hates me. And a certain baseball expert really dislikes me. And there are many people in the fandom who hate me.

“But as I lived, I realized it couldn’t be helped. I got a lot of stress because of it. I didn’t do anything wrong, but why was I getting hate?”

Even now, as a fairly successful baseball player, it’s like that. I wonder how it was during my scrub days.

“Frankly, I’m carrying the team, and really, the team wouldn’t function properly without me, so why are they hating on me?”

But it’s funny.

More than the early days of my professional career, when I was ashamed to even have the title of a professional, I was criticized even more harshly during my elite days.

The group that criticized me the most, the one who was leading the elite group with labels like national-level, beyond promising, super high school level, and ready for the pros,

“…The guys who wouldn’t have gone pro without me, the guys who would have disappeared in the first round without me.”

Were none other than my teammates from my elite days.

Why?

I had quite a few meetings with the coach about this issue. And every time, he would say,

“What did he say… he told me to leave the people who were talking behind my back alone. If I left them alone, they would float down the river in a few days, and I could watch their corpses.”

“You remember well.”

“I didn’t understand it back then. Or rather, I pretended to understand. Or maybe I just pretended because I thought I’d get scolded if I didn’t.”

“You don’t know well at that age. You just thought my words were instructions or orders and pretended to do as you were told. Because you were afraid of getting scolded.”

“I think it was something like that.”

How are these past events related to wanting to have Lee Seung-jae as my wedding officiant?

“But now I definitely feel it, or rather, I can relate to it. The things you said back then.”

“Do you understand now?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for your words… would I be where I am now, well, it’s funny to even say ‘where I am’ with my own mouth, but if it weren’t for you, Coach, would I be in this position?”

Because the source of my current mentality is this person.

“If it weren’t for your words, I would have just played around and not gone pro, and if I hadn’t gone pro, I wouldn’t be in this position, and if I weren’t in this position, I wouldn’t have met the person I’m about to marry.”

“You’re getting married soon, and you’re getting unnecessarily sentimental.”

Even though he said that, he seemed to be in a good mood, laughing heartily.

“I should write that in the wedding speech. In fact, I’m the one who made this marriage happen, Hanwool said so, and so on.”

“Hey, you don’t have to go that far…”

“What’s the date? Have you set it for sure?”

“Ah, yes. We’ve told both families that it’s December 12th.”

“December 12th… wait a moment.”

The coach took out his cell phone from his pocket.

“Here, write it down.”

“……”

He handed it to me.

I tapped and set the schedule for December 12th, and just in case, I set alarms to go off a week before and two weeks before.

“Here… I’ve marked the date on the calendar, and I’ve set an alarm to go off two weeks before and another one a week before.”

“Ah, yes. That’s what you need.”

He was considered part of the X generation back in his prime…

“Let’s go out for now. We’ve taken up quite a bit of time talking.”

“Ah, yes.”

I cleaned up the paper cup and followed the coach out.

Thwack-!

“Home, home, right away!”

“No cut, don’t catch it!”

The shouts of the players practicing defense on the field could be heard.

The left fielder, twisting his body, deflected the ball towards home, the catcher caught the accurate throw and made a home tag motion, and the catcher, immediately getting up, threw the ball strongly to second base again.

“They’re good.”

There’s no unnecessary movement in the series of actions.

“Of course. They’re the kids I teach. Let’s go see the pitchers.”

Whether it’s hitting or defense, there’s a lot of advice I can give them from a ‘pitcher’s’ perspective.

After all, I’ve been in the baseball world for several years and wandered around the pro scene for several years.

But what they need now is the perspective of a ‘batter’ or a ‘fielder’, not the perspective of a hitter or fielder seen by a ‘pitcher’.

If they were more advanced players, they might feel the need for it, but it’s better to assume they wouldn’t understand even if I told them. They’re still far from making what they’re learning their own.

Therefore, it would be better to go to a place where I can directly help and give advice.

Boom-!

“Ah, good, good!”

Boom-!

“Ah, good, good, good!!”

When I arrived at the bullpen, which I had visited first, the pitchers were in the middle of pitching.

The senior who was clinging to one elite player and teaching him his pitching form greeted me with his eyes and bowed to the coach.

And the other elite players,

“Hello!”

Took off their hats and gave a very respectful greeting.

“When was the last time you came here?”

“It was… two years ago? When you were donating something.”