Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 39

39. The Guiding Star in Memory

I’m back!

The home stadium, visited after a ten-day break, felt somehow new. Nothing had changed, that was for sure, but taking a good rest during the season, not at any other time, made it feel even newer.

Only when it was time to leave the house after a pretty long ten-day break did I think, ‘Oh no, what if I’ve lost my touch?’

But even without turning on the GPS, I arrived at the stadium right on time. Even the series of actions—pressing the button to turn off the engine, opening the trunk, and taking out the luggage—mostly matched my previous memories.

“You’re here.”

“Yo, long time no see.”

“Crazy bastard.”

The first to greet me was Hyung-gyu Jin. He was the starting pitcher yesterday, so his expression wasn’t great, as if his body was quite stiff. After chatting for a while, we headed to the smoking room.

“Oh.”

“Yo. It’s been a while.”

Then there was someone I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Of course. I didn’t even need to rest this much in the first place, but the manager forced me to. How about you, Young-jin? Did you get a bonus after signing a contract with me?”

“Ah, yes. It’s not a huge amount, but a little something from the club owner?”

Money is the best, after all. Always thrilling.

Seemingly pleased by the talk of unexpected money, Young-jin smiled and put out the cigarette that was close to the filter. When I put a cigarette in my mouth, he also took a new one from his pack and put it in his mouth.

“But I’m so glad. Both Shin Kyung-seok and Choi Eun-gu. If those two hadn’t rebounded without Han-wool, oh… I might have had to pay damages on top of the bonus I received.”

“To the club?”

“Yes. I was the one who suggested bringing those two in.”

Each of their contracts is the same, 4 years, but Senior Shin Kyung-seok’s total is 1 billion [Korean won, roughly equivalent to $750,000 USD], and Senior Choi Eun-gu’s total is 900 million [Korean won, roughly equivalent to $675,000 USD].

“Hey, I’m really curious.”

“Yes.”

“…How much were you originally planning to give me?”

“Well, I talked to the club owner after eating with Han-wool. There were quite a few offers from other clubs. I think he expected it to some extent, but when I told him there were 5 teams besides us, he pulled out an extra 2 billion [Korean won, roughly equivalent to $1.5 million USD] on top of the initial guideline amount?”

Wow.

“If I had received all that, those two seniors wouldn’t have been able to come here, right?”

“Hmm… We couldn’t have dreamed of bringing both of them… We would have desperately clung to one of them, and maybe, just maybe, we could have gotten one?”

Please save the money you would have given me and bring in other bullpen pitchers.

The club faithfully fulfilled the condition of me directly cutting my own pay.

“Take good care of your body, seriously. We can’t do without Han-wool now.”

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry. I’ll try not to get hurt either.”

School ties, regional ties, smoking ties.

The two men, united by smoking, smiled and left the smoking room. They slung their bags, which had been placed in front of the smoking room door, back over their shoulders and headed to the dugout. While doing so,

“Han-wool-ssi!”

A bright voice calling me.

“Eun-seo… No. Yes. It’s been a while, PD-nim [Production Director].”

“It’s been a while for Han-wool-ssi too… Ugh, you smell like cigarettes.”

“I smell like cigarettes because I smoked.”

“Ugh! Don’t come near me!”

“You came here yourself.”

I waved away Eun-seo-ssi, who was pointing a camera at me from my first day back. Still, not wanting to give up on the footage, she said she would come back later.

I roughly said I understood and went back to the dugout.

“Ah, it’s been a while.”

“Is your body okay?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry. Are you okay, senior?”

“Yeah, yeah. I feel like I can finally live now.”

I ran into Senior Shin Kyung-seok.

He’s such a cheerful and bright person, but when his performance plummeted, the look on his face when he was so downhearted hurt my heart even more.

But now, he seemed to have shaken off some of the burden and greeted my return with a bright smile.

The way to the dugout was still quite far, but I exchanged greetings with many people.

Seong-hyun grumbled, scolding me for coming so late, and Seung-ju playfully tapped my chest with his fist, asking, ‘Does it hurt? It should hurt more, you bastard,’ and we shared stories like friends.

Gyu-hak was on the verge of tears, as if he had met his savior, and Senior Seong-hoon simply said, ‘You’re here.’

The kindest person in the world, hitting coach Yang Taek-gyun, even gave me a warm hug. Ah… I love you, Coach.

As I moved again, Myung-jin, who I met, made a strange noise, ‘Heot!’ when he saw me.

And then he spouted some nonsense like, ‘Hyung [older brother or close male friend], do you know what it is when you pick up a tree on the street? It’s wood-deuk [a play on words, combining “wood” and “deuk,” which means “to gain” or “to pick up”]!’

Hey, you bastard, then if you pick up food on the street, is it food-deuk, you bastard?

At that one word, Myung-jin’s eyes sparkled,

‘If you… pick up food on the street… food-deuk… memo……’

He actually took a memo. Creepy bastard.

“How’s your body? Are you okay?”

“Of course, of course, Ne-nechi…”

“……”

“…I’m perfectly fine.”

The dugout, which I finally reached with difficulty. The manager’s expression, whom I saw after ten days, was slightly brighter than before.

Of course, the rebound of those two troublemakers, Senior Shin Kyung-seok and Senior Choi Eun-gu, would have played a part, and more than anything, my return would have played an even bigger part.

“Did you tell Senior Shin Kyung-seok about the closer role, Manager?”

“Ah, I heard from the pitching coach that you were the one who talked about it?”

“Yes.”

“I was the one who talked about the closer role.”

“What did he say?”

“What could he say? He just said he understood.”

I see.

“Then what’s the bullpen plan going forward?”

“Just think of it as Eun-gu and Kyung-seok switching. You stay in your position as is. You might start occasionally depending on the situation. But you can think of it as almost never happening.”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll adjust to that.”

“But still, you’re the most reliable of the three. You’ll probably suffer the most. I’m sorry, but I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Aigoo [an expression of exasperation or mock-exaggerated suffering], it’s an honor.”

Being told to my face by someone who uses me that I’m the most trustworthy is more pleasant than I thought. It feels like a huge morale boost.

I roughly put my luggage down and took out my spikes from my bag.

The time is 3 PM. It’s very early to put on spikes, but I wanted to touch the ball after ten days.

I looked around for a suitable catch partner and saw Geon-young.

“Hey, Geon-young.”

“Ah, Hyung-nim [term of respect for an older brother or male friend]! Is your body okay?”

Again, the same question and the same answer repertoire. Roughly skip it.

“I want to throw lightly, so please catch for me.”

“Yes.”

Geon-young, who was only wearing leg guards, quickly ran out with his mitt. I didn’t plan to go as far as pitching or long toss, I just wanted to feel the sensation of throwing the ball itself, so I took a spot in the foul territory.

“But if it’s a shoulder problem, shouldn’t you rest more?”

“No? No, it wasn’t even to the point where I needed to rest for ten days in the first place.”

“But I don’t know about other places, but the shoulder is really difficult, Hyung-nim.”

“Ah, you had a shoulder injury too, right.”

Geon-young was also a promising catcher in high school. He was recognized for his strength in both throwing and hitting, and his future was quite promising, but he couldn’t play in games until the summer of his senior year due to a shoulder injury he sustained in the winter of his sophomore year.

After that, even in the few games he played, he received a scale close to the lowest score in shoulder-related evaluations and failed to advance to the pros.

He had suffered a shoulder injury himself, so he empathized even more and told me various stories.

The ball, which started with light tosses from about 5m [approximately 16 feet], moved one step further each time it went back and forth, and soon it was as far as one base distance.

I didn’t particularly enjoy long tosses, and I didn’t plan to do them, so I didn’t go any further. But I didn’t throw hard at this distance either. Catching with all the focus on balance adjustment.

When about 15 minutes of catch was over, he said, ‘You worked hard!’ I also accepted his greeting appropriately and went into team training.

I did some PFP [Pitcher Fielding Practice] and some tubing. My shoulder became stiff after pulling on the rubber band for the first time in a while.

According to the pitching coach, he predicted that he would put me up in the 8th inning unless today’s starter was on a complete shutout pace. Because of that, I wandered around looking for Gyu-hak.

After finally meeting him, I reset some signs for the first time in a while and had a beneficial time asking about the recent team atmosphere.

And the time was approaching 6:30 PM. All the team entries were waiting in their respective dugouts. The national anthem was being played, the first pitch was being thrown, and the game was about to begin.

Today’s starter is Jun-hyuk, the 3rd starter. He’s a friend who throws the ball with a low three-quarter, almost sidearm, angle. His fastball speed is a bit slow. Around the low to mid 140km [approximately 87-93 mph] range.

His changeup and curve, which are considered quite good, are his breaking balls. Exactly like Shin Kyung-seok, but with his arm raised a bit and starting.

Currently, when only considering the earned run average, the first place is Jun-hyuk, not Hyuk-jun or Hyung-gyu Jin.

It’s been a little less than two months since the season started, at 2.15. If you dig into the detailed stats, you’ll say, ‘Ah, still, the 3rd starter is the 3rd starter,’ but as a result, you can say that he’s pitching well enough.

The game flowed into a hitting battle. By the 6th inning, the number of hits from both teams combined exceeded 20.

However, Jun-hyuk minimized runs by cleverly using the defense even when he let runners out, while the opposing team connected every runner they let out with a score.

The score is 8 to 3.

In the 7th inning, I thought Senior Choi Eun-gu would go up, but another pitcher went up.

Kim Ji-ho, a high school rookie this season.

He’s an ordinary overhand pitcher. His speed is ordinary, and his breaking balls are only curve and slider. Ji-ho allowed a double and a walk, but somehow managed to block the 7th inning well.

After that, without additional points, the top of the 8th inning was greeted.

– Your love is a wildcard, Folding is the hard part……

Waaaaaah―!!

My entrance song, which resonated in Jamsil Stadium for the first time in a long time.

“I don’t know if I’ll hold me, or leave me here feeling lonely…….”

I hummed my entrance song as I walked to the mound. I picked up the rosin bag placed behind the plate and fiddled with it.

Should I call it an occupational disease? Something feels awkward when I see a clean right hand. It feels like my hand only when it’s covered in white powder.

I received the ball thrown by Gyu-hak and swept the plate with my right foot. I hadn’t even seen it for ten days, but habits are so scary that it completely matched the guiding star in my memory from the past.

After that, I marked the toe cap by attaching the tips of my feet and stepped on the plate again.

I showed the fastball sign and the fastball I threw made a pleasant bang! sound and went to where Gyu-hak wanted.

Slider, curve, sinker, changeup, splitter, I tested each pitch once. Nothing had changed at all. Whether in the above sense or the below sense. Exactly as much as the stats.

After all eight practice pitches were over and the infielders’ rounding was over, the batter entered the plate. It starts with the 4th batter, Jo Tae-poong.

He’s a somewhat troublesome batter to face, but considering the score difference, there doesn’t seem to be a need to go around.

“Play!”

The play call I heard while stepping on the plate was so welcome. My head went up slightly to suppress the emotions that were rising slightly. Behind the backboard,

Dding―!

[Comeback Match]

– Block 1 inning without giving up a run in your comeback match. (0/1)

– Reward ― +1 to all pitches

Even the long-awaited quest that greeted me was perfect. I lowered my head again and focused only on Gyu-hak’s sign. The first pitch is an ambiguous curve going high.

“High ball―”

It went as requested, but I wasn’t expecting a strike in the first place, so I wasn’t particularly disappointed even when a ball came out. And then the fastball that followed.

“Swing!”

The timing was far too late for a fastball that differed by nearly 40km [approximately 25 mph] from the 103km [approximately 64 mph] one. With a great swing and a miss, the count was tied.

I passed on the outside changeup, high fastball, and outside fastball, and chose a slider that curved into the body. It’s the pitch I’m least confident in, but I don’t have much pressure in this situation.

“Ball!”

I thought it was nicely curled in, but Jo Tae-poong easily picked it out without any reaction. Disappointing.

After that, I kept shaking my head until the exact same sign as before came out. And as before, he nonchalantly picked it out, and the count became 3-1.

An unfavorable count.

Gyu-hak asked for various signs, but I shook my head at all of them. When one sign came out with a look that said, ‘Could it be…?’, I nodded.

Woong―

“Swing!”

There was nothing special. Just another slider going into the body in the same way. I could see that he was shaken because he didn’t expect me, who was known for my good control, to throw another slider that dug into the body at 3-1.

Man! This is psychological warfare.

I want to throw the same ball one more time, but honestly, that’s a bit scary. But next to a crazy bastard, there’s another crazy bastard, and Gyu-hak decided what I couldn’t decide.

Another same ball.

I chuckled inwardly and went into the windup. In that fleeting moment when the ball left my hand and headed towards Gyu-hak’s mitt, I thought.

Wow, I have surprisingly good control.

Four consecutive pitches, not fastballs, but sliders, were bent in the same direction in the same place. The difference was the count of each ball.

Tak―!

When the ball floated high, I smiled brightly and pointed to the sky with my finger.

“It’s up there!”