Pitcher’S End, Batter’S Start [EN]: Chapter 102

Pitchers Done, Hitters Up – Episode 101

As Lee Jung-woo expected, there weren’t many reporters.

It was too early in the morning.

And there was plenty of time left until the official gathering. Most of the reporters present were either preparing,

Or chatting with each other,

Just killing time.

“Oh, oh? It’s Lee Jung-woo!”

“What, why is he here already?”

“Hey, hey, come quick! Lee Jung-woo’s here! What? You’re eating? Swallow it or spit it out, just hurry up and get over here!”

The reporters were thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of the ‘big fish’.

They hadn’t even imagined that a Major Leaguer would arrive so early.

‘He must have some pride, wanting to get a head start.’

As a result, Lee Jung-woo was able to get through them easily, as expected.

And the questions were mostly clumsy because they hadn’t had time to prepare.

“Uh, Lee Jung-woo! So, your aspirations? Your goals?”

“As I said in my arrival interview, my goal is to win the championship.”

“There’s a lot of talk about military service-”

“I just want to play hard for South Korea’s victory.”

After quickly dealing with the reporters, Lee Jung-woo entered the training ground, only to receive a similar reaction to what he experienced outside.

Those who were accelerating their preparations stood frozen, as if petrified, staring at Lee Jung-woo.

Just as they were about to rush around like the group of reporters before, Lee Jung-woo lightly raised his hand to calm the association and stadium staff.

“Take your time and do what you were doing. Don’t be too nervous… I’m going to change and do some light running first.”

“Uh… yes, we’ll get ready right away.”

“I said take your time.”

With that, he smoothed things over.

Lee Jung-woo soon went about his routine as usual, passing the time.

He was so focused on training that he didn’t notice his surroundings, and time flew by.

When he finally came to his senses, several players had appeared around him. Coaches and the manager were also arriving one by one.

“No way, is he already here?”

“I thought Major Leaguers would have a lot of pride. Why is he here so early?”

“Hey, you go talk to him.”

“Me? No way, you’ve got more seniority, you should go.”

‘Am I some kind of zoo elephant? Am I that scary?’

Lee Jung-woo found the sight of them pushing each other quite amusing,

But he didn’t show it and simply greeted them lightly.

The players, startled, responded, but still, no one approached him first.

Except for one person.

“Jung-woo hyung [older brother or male friend]! Wow, you’re here earlier than me? You really haven’t changed. Are you always the first one to work in the Majors too?”

“More or less. But Young-joon, you’ve gained some weight since I last saw you?”

“Nah, it’s all muscle, muscle. You look like you’ve got some power too, hyung. You can’t be like this with someone similar to you.”

Sung Young-joon, who had just entered the training ground, smiled brightly as usual and waved at him.

The other players whispered among themselves at the sight of him appearing friendly with a current Major Leaguer, and a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year.

Sung Young-joon himself didn’t seem to care much.

“But hyung, I heard you went to the school yesterday? It was crazy. Ugh, the manager called me and talked about you so much~ I almost died listening. Why didn’t you call me too? I would have bought catcher’s gear.”

“You? Have you ever bought me even a drink when we played together?”

“Hey, hyung, you’re my senior. I should be the one getting treated.”

Seeing the cheeky Sung Young-joon, Lee Jung-woo felt much more at ease.

He had been feeling awkward being among people he didn’t really know.

Having at least one person he knew made him feel a little less awkward.

‘Well, the others will get better eventually. If not, there’s nothing I can do.’

####

Sung Young-joon stuck close to Lee Jung-woo and followed his training.

“Young-joon, aren’t you going to do your routine? How long are you going to keep following me around?”

“Hey, do you think I have a routine with my personality? I just do whatever the coaches and trainers tell me to do.”

“Then why don’t you do that?”

“Hyung, you’re a Major Leaguer. If I do the same training as a Major Leaguer, it’ll be different.”

That was his logic.

Lee Jung-woo couldn’t help but keep him around since he wouldn’t listen to anything he said.

And to be honest, it was quite enjoyable to have someone to talk to in Korean.

“Huff, ah, I’m going to die. Are you still a high schooler, hyung? Why is the training so intense? You’re a professional player. Don’t you pace yourself?”

“Pace myself? Me?”

Lee Jung-woo scoffed.

At least before his regression, he had never had any problems with his stamina.

It was the same now.

Except for his shoulder injury, he didn’t have any minor injuries, so Lee Jung-woo trusted his body.

“Yeah, our Iron Man isn’t one to conserve stamina. By the way, hyung, did you get on some kind of lucky streak?”

“Why?”

“Kim Hee-chang. How did you know? Wow, I knew he was good, but he’s like some kind of monster, just like you said? I thought I was going to die getting beat up by him all season.”

“I told you to be careful.”

“I’m regretting not listening to you back then.”

‘Even after regressing, he’s still doing well.’

Lee Jung-woo nodded.

Many things would change with his regression.

But it seemed that a player who was good would still be good.

Or maybe it was just that he was in America and Kim Hee-chang was in Korea, so the impact was small.

Lee Jung-woo was chatting lightly with Sung Young-joon and warming up,

But he overheard subtle voices.

“They’ve got it good. Look at them not even greeting their seniors.”

“He’s a Major Leaguer, you know. He thinks he’s all that.”

“Would he even notice his seniors? He’s playing in a different league. Tsk.”

“American water must be good. He’s just an American, an American.”

“Are they talking about us?”

“Probably.”

Lee Jung-woo glanced in the direction of the voices.

There were quite a few players in the training ground, and some of them were grumbling while looking at Lee Jung-woo.

‘They want to act like seniors. No way.’

Lee Jung-woo scoffed.

When they realized he had heard them, the players shut their mouths and then stared at him.

As a cold atmosphere was created, Sung Young-joon shouted cheerfully,

“Ah~ How can we have it good when we’re training, sunbaenims [senior colleagues/players]? I’m dying here.”

“Who said anything? And Young-joon, why are you acting like Lee Jung-woo’s spokesperson? Stop sticking your nose in.”

It had the opposite effect.

Sung Young-joon seemed a little flustered by the cold response, twitching like a glitched machine. Lee Jung-woo sighed at the sight and stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, sunbaenims. I was late with greetings because I was warming up. I’ll do it later when everyone’s gathered.”

Lee Jung-woo spoke as politely as possible and bowed to them.

They seemed embarrassed when he bowed first and looked away.

And since there was nothing to pick on in Lee Jung-woo’s words, the atmosphere quickly eased.

‘Still, this isn’t too bad. Well, there are a lot of eyes watching. There probably aren’t any people with the guts to act openly.’

Lee Jung-woo nodded calmly at the sight, which was about what he had expected.

Sung Young-joon, however, seemed a little uncomfortable with the atmosphere that had just formed and stroked his chest.

“Wow, the atmosphere is intense. Am I going to get beat up with you if I’m with you, hyung? And you were strong to begin with, but you’ve gotten so strong after eating American food.”

Sung Young-joon joked with relief, but on the other hand, he looked at Lee Jung-woo with concern.

Lee Jung-woo was indifferent.

It wasn’t like they were openly hazing him. This level of atmosphere wasn’t something to worry about.

It was something that could be easily smoothed over.

And even if the atmosphere was bad, Lee Jung-woo didn’t care.

Even if hazing or a battle of wills broke out, it wouldn’t have any impact on him anyway.

“They’re backing down on their own? Don’t worry too much. And even if the situation gets worse, you won’t get beat up.”

“Oh~ What’s with the confidence?”

“I’m a good shortstop. And I play amazing defense.”

Lee Jung-woo grinned.

As a pitcher, he knew.

If a shortstop was really good, the pitchers would have no choice but to become close to that player.

Even though the defensive burden of most positions has increased, the key is still the shortstop.

So, at least the pitching staff was on his side.

‘And at least within the national team, the pitchers will have a big say. The national team is just a short-term thing after all.’

Mark was worried about the hazing,

Lee Jung-woo didn’t care.

As long as the pitchers were leaning towards him, they wouldn’t be able to act recklessly, no matter how much they hated him.

And…

“If they keep doing that, I’ll just have to crush them with my skills.”

As he said, he had the skills. Skills were an all-purpose weapon that solved everything.

If there was an overwhelming difference in skill that they couldn’t even compare to,

They would have no choice but to shrink, no matter what their personality was like or how dirty their character was.

“It’ll be over after training together a few times.”

“Oh, Major Leaguer class is amazing. Well, how much is your salary? Are they going to beat up a Major Leaguer? What are they going to do?”

Only then did Sung Young-joon smile as usual at Lee Jung-woo’s bold statement.

“Alright, team gather up!”

“The manager’s calling us. Let’s go.”

####

When all the players gathered, Manager Do Myung-woon gave a light lecture-like speech.

He immediately ordered team training.

It was meant to be a light check of the players’ physical condition.

After the light test was over,

Manager Do Myung-woon subtly asked the team’s physical trainer.

“How is it? Does it look okay? It doesn’t look bad to me.”

“Yes, the team’s stamina is generally okay. Among them, Hee-chang and Tae-joon stand out.”

“Those two are good players anyway.”

Manager Do Myung-woon nodded at the trainer’s satisfactory answer.

Honestly, he was a little surprised.

Since they had been called up in the middle of the season, he thought their game sense would be good,

But he thought their stamina would be a little lacking. This wasn’t bad.

‘Even if it’s a short-term thing, you need good stamina to maintain concentration. Not bad.’

Manager Do Myung-woon, who was nodding, looked at the trainer at a question that suddenly popped up.

“But how’s Lee Jung-woo? He’s not saying anything. Is there a problem?”

“I separated Lee Jung-woo.”

“Why? Even if he’s a Major Leaguer, there shouldn’t be special treatment in training-”

The trainer hurriedly waved his hand when Manager Do Myung-woon made a serious expression.

That wasn’t why he had separated him.

“No, that’s not it. If I included Lee Jung-woo, the team average would go up too much, so I excluded him. He’s a complete machine. It’s natural for a shortstop to have good stamina. But it’s beyond imagination.”

“That much? Lee Jung-woo played the season, right?”

Manager Do Myung-woon’s eyes widened at the overwhelming praise.

He expected him to be good since he was a Major Leaguer, but this was a better evaluation than he had thought.

“Yes, he played in the Majors, Minors, and exhibition games. And even the Australian League… It’s natural for it to drop then- but this is like a marathon runner…”

The physical trainer tilted his head as if he didn’t understand it himself, and the head coach, who was listening to the story, smiled faintly and said.

“Still, Major Leaguers are different. Coach Kim Byung-gyun strongly recommended him. Honestly, I was half-doubtful.”

“In fact, if you exclude the politics and relationships within the association, it’s right to pick him unconditionally. He’s a Major Leaguer, so he’ll be outstanding among the young players.”

Do Myung-woon had even been a professional baseball manager at one point.

Nevertheless, he knew how big the gap between Korean professional baseball and Major League Baseball was, and he admitted it himself.

It was hard to even compare. In Major League Baseball, they compared Korean professional baseball to Double-A.

That’s why he expected it.

He hoped that the great Major Leaguer, Lee Jung-woo, would really become a key card, as people expected.

And looking at the test results, at least his stamina seemed to be as good as he had expected.

“Okay, then that’s enough for stamina. Have Byung-gyun do a light batting check and prepare for positioning training. We don’t have time. We have to match our breathing as much as possible.”

####

Bang-

“It’s over the fence.”

Bang-

“It’s over the fence again.”

Bang-

“It’s over-”

“I have good eyes, so I can see it. Don’t say it.”

Kim Byung-gyun, who stopped him from speaking, looked at the batter in the batter’s box with a dumbfounded look.

Not only him,

All the players in the batting training ground looked at one player with the same eyes.

“Hey, how many kilometers is that?”

“One hundred and sixty [~99.4 miles per hour].”

“How many has he hit in a row?”

“I don’t know, I stopped counting after ten.”

“Wow, even if it’s a machine, 160 is stronger than a 150 [~93.2 miles per hour] thrown by most pitchers, right? But he’s hitting more than ten over the fence?”

One player shook his head in disbelief.

He knew because he had used the pitching machine often.

Even if it’s a machine, at 160, the bat doesn’t follow even if you know the course.

But that guy who easily hits it over the fence, and doesn’t even sweat yet.

He looked like a monster of a different species.

The player who was shaking his head had to be horrified once again at the words of another colleague.

“Hey, that’s a new machine, so it’s not just a batting ball. It has some power too.”

“Then is it really 160 kilometers? Even if you know the course… is that possible?”

“Major Leaguers… are different?”

“Hey, he can have it good. With those skills, who cares about seniors?”

“Ugh, don’t say it, it’s embarrassing.”

The man in the batter’s box, Lee Jung-woo, kept 120% of what he had thought before joining the national team.

To become an untouchable presence within the team with overwhelming skill.

The players had no choice but to be intimidated by Lee Jung-woo’s appearance, who was hitting the pitching machine’s tremendous fastball.

And the batting coach, Kim Byung-gyun, watched the scene with a pleased face.

‘I still have an eye for talent. Yes, that’s the kind of player he is. If we had selected him from the beginning, it would have been better for everyone.’

He, who had been pushing Lee Jung-woo hard within the national team, praised his insight.

As a coach, he had to look at all the players equally.

But even if he looked at it objectively, Lee Jung-woo was outstanding.

“It’s over again, heop-”

Coach Kim Byung-gyun, who suppressed the guy who was shouting loudly with his eyes, was convinced.

‘The Japanese will be whining. Saying that they’re social baseball and that Korea is cowardly.’

Do Myung-woon’s team was preparing for a smooth voyage with Lee Jung-woo as a turbo engine.

The destination was only one.

Victory.