The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 20

Episode 20. I Was Always Special (1)

“Ugh… Already Monday.”

Thirty-three years old this year.

Oh Gyu-hwan, a graduate of a university in the Seoul metropolitan area and an employee at a small to medium-sized company in Seoul, was an ordinary office worker who loved baseball. He had a steadfast routine to start his day: taking a dump before work.

“You gotta take a dump while getting paid.”

Of course, his workload was fixed, and Gyu-hwan was forced to work overtime every day due to the comprehensive wage system, where he couldn’t leave until all the work was done. Nevertheless, he couldn’t give up this precious routine.

“Huh?”

Another small pleasure of his was reading a couple of professional baseball articles on his smartphone while thus occupied.

As a pro baseball fanatic, he already knew the results of most games from the previous day, but columns summarizing the week’s game results held a certain charm.

“What nonsense is this?”

But today…

An article at the top of the portal sports news particularly caught his eye.

[The Second Ohtani Appears Like a Comet in Korean High School Baseball!! Meeting Choi Su-won, the Home Run King Who Throws 151km/h.]

“Ohtani?”

In fact, among KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] fans, there were quite a few who didn’t know much about NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball], let alone MLB players.

They usually only knew a little about players related to Korean players who had advanced to MLB, so even Mike Trout, who dominated Major League Baseball in the 21st century, was just ‘a player they seemed to have heard of’.

But even for them, the name Shohei Ohtani was special. It wasn’t just because an Asian was performing overwhelmingly in MLB.

In fact, it wasn’t the first time an Asian player had performed at the top level in Major League Baseball. Also, it wasn’t the first time someone had won an MVP, so Shohei Ohtani’s popularity wasn’t simply because an Asian was performing at the top level in the United States.

The history of baseball.

In that grand history of nearly two hundred years, there was no such player, regardless of race or country.

Therefore, Shohei Ohtani was not just a baseball player challenging the limits of Asians. He was an Asian challenging the limits of humanity.

That’s why Oh Gyu-hwan couldn’t help but frown at the article title.

It seemed like just a high school student throwing fastballs was doing well at bat. In the first place, it’s common for talented pitchers to perform well at bat in high school leagues.

Looking at Choi Seong-su, the Korean hitter who left the biggest mark in Major League Baseball, he was a big name as both a pitcher and a hitter until high school.

Besides, using Ohtani’s name to promote a young player just to get some views wouldn’t be good for the player. Public attention is more often poison than medicine for players who are not yet fully mature.

“Seriously… The media’s hype is real.”

But it was an article that he couldn’t help but click on, even while grumbling. The Second Shohei Ohtani, the home run king who throws 151km/h, were definitely attractive words.

***

After the game, the manager came to me directly and said.

“Me? An interview?”

“Yes, there have been a lot of requests from other places, but even if we ignore the miscellaneous internet newspapers, it’s hard to ignore the Korea Daily.”

“Are you talking about the Korea Daily that published an article about my home run last week?”

“To be precise, it wasn’t published in the physical paper. It was the online version. But this time, they said they would put it in the paper newspaper tomorrow morning. For now, they’re just going to interview you for about 10 minutes about today’s game, so you don’t have to be nervous. Just go and answer well.”

“Yes, I understand.”

In fact, it wasn’t that surprising.

My performance yesterday was a record that wouldn’t be strange to see on TV, let alone in the top ten daily newspapers. It wouldn’t be strange if an interviewer came from a public broadcaster tonight and a short segment was broadcast on the news.

Besides, you might say, ‘What’s with paper newspapers in this day and age?’ but its impact is quite significant. The Korea Daily, one of the top 3 daily newspapers among the top 10, still has a circulation of over one million copies, and about 700,000 of them are paid.

Above all, internet news has a trashy feel to it, but paper newspapers have an undeniable tradition, so even if similar articles are published, they gain persuasiveness and credibility.

“Hello. I’m Lee Ji-yeon from the Korea Daily.”

Huh? Lee Ji-yeon?

Wait a minute, why is she here?

Short hair. Dark circles that can’t be hidden by makeup.

The reporter from the Korea Daily, who is today’s interviewer, was a beauty with a decadent charm and a very familiar face to me.

“Hello. I’m Choi Su-won.”

Come to think of it, I heard that she had worked as a daily newspaper reporter. What was it? She passed the difficult media entrance exam with great ambition and became a reporter, but she said that the work she did was no different from that of internet trash reporters, so she quit and took the exam again to work for a public broadcaster? Anyway, that’s it.

Of course, the impression was a little different from then.

Her clothes, hair, and skin were much more worn out, but her eyes were much brighter.

“Choi Su-won, I enjoyed watching today’s game very much. In fact, I wrote an article about Choi Su-won last week, but I don’t know if you saw it.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m usually too busy with training… The only time I have a little time is during breaks between classes, but they take away our phones before class starts, so I don’t have time to use the internet.”

“Haha, I see. I suddenly realize that you’re a high school student. But after today, you probably won’t be able to avoid hearing about Choi Su-won himself through the media, even if it’s not the internet. As you can see, you caused a big stir today. 5 plate appearances, 3-for-3, 3 home runs, 2 walks. If you add up the last game, it’s 8 plate appearances, 6-for-6, 6 home runs, 2 walks. So the slash line [batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage] for the last two games is 1.000/1.000/4.000. And a whopping 6 innings without allowing a run!!”

Ji-yeon’s eyes, which were spitting out words, were shining brightly. Looking back, she was like that before. She sincerely loved baseball and felt the greatest reward in doing this job. Yes, Ji-yeon was a bit, no, openly a workaholic.

And as you can infer from calling Ji-yeon by her name instead of ‘noona’ [term used by a younger male to address an older female], we dated briefly.

Even at that time, we didn’t date for a long time or affectionately, and Ji-yeon and I broke up coolly and well with each other. Of course, I was a bit young at the time, so I couldn’t act coolly in a Hollywood style after the breakup. For a while, I avoided interviews with SBC [Seoul Broadcasting System].

But I’m okay now. I’m completely cool. I’ve lived in the United States for 9 years, so you can say that my mindset is almost Hollywood.

“Thank you for the compliment. Now that I hear it, I was a bit amazing in the last two games.”

“It’s not a little. I guarantee that public broadcasters will be asking us for footage today. Just thinking about how the team leader scolded me for taking equipment to a high school game instead of going to the Elitz and Marines game today!! Ah… I’m sorry. I was so excited that I said unnecessary things.”

“It’s okay.”

“You hit 3 consecutive home runs in the last game. Did you know that if you hit a home run in the first at-bat today, it would be your 4th consecutive home run, tying the high school baseball record set by Park Ju-won 20 years ago?”

“Yes, I knew.”

“Then were you conscious of the record?”

A very brief moment of contemplation.

It’s not a big question, but it’s more important than you think. I messed up my first media interview before, and I really suffered for several months. Of course, this isn’t a live broadcast, and Ji-yeon will edit it well, but it’s the first answer that determines how I’ll approach the media in the future.

“Yes, opportunities don’t come often. So it’s good to break it when you can.”

***

-Knock knock knock!!

“Oh, Deputy!!”

By the time Oh Gyu-hwan came to his senses, 30 minutes had already passed.

He was a person who strictly adhered to the rule of taking a dump within 10 minutes, 15 minutes at most. But starting with the interview article, he watched Choi Su-won’s play that was briefly shown on the 9 o’clock news last night, and then more videos on YouTube, and before he knew it, he lost track of time.

“@#$^%@$%#^@#$%!!!!!”

The team leader’s voice, yelling at him for being in the bathroom for so many minutes when the 9:30 meeting was starting, hit his eardrums, but it didn’t have much of an impact.

Numerous comments on Choi Su-won’s article.

-Ohtani because he hit some home runs and threw 151 in the high school baseball weekend league? Seriously, everyone is talking about Ohtani these days because Ohtani is hot. Ohtani threw 160 in high school.

-fact) Ohtani could only throw 151 when he was a sophomore in high school.

-Ohtani isn’t all about speed. The key is his durability and stamina, which are beyond human. Even if Ruth came back to life, he could never do what Ohtani is doing now.

-Dual pitching and hitting is quite common in high school. He’s just one of those kids. If he has a shoulder that throws 151 with 6 consecutive home runs, he should be a full-time right fielder from now on.

-Ohtani threw 151 when he was a sophomore in high school. Looking at his physique, he’s no less than Ohtani, so it’s a waste to make him a fielder. Frankly, a pitcher who throws 160 might come out.

-But if this happens, is this season a battle for Choi Su-won? The competition for last place will be fierce.

-Yeah, it’s Masuwon anyway. We’re in last place for the second year in a row.

-Marines, you’re in 6th place this season. In my opinion, Dolsuwon is his destiny.

-Marines, don’t you know DTD [Down to December]? We’re only good in the spring. Just wait. We’ll be back in 10th place soon.

-I’m convinced.

-Looking at his name, Su-won, he’s a fan of the Suwon Dolphins. Anyway, that’s it. He’ll come to the Dolphins.

More than 2,000 comments.

Of course, most of them were nonsense.

But considering that most other high school baseball-related articles have no comments, it’s an absurd amount of attention. Is it a successful clickbait title? Or did he feel something special in this guy’s play, like Oh Gyu-hwan himself?

‘So it was Mokdong this weekend, right?’

Monday morning, 9:45.

Oh Gyu-hwan was already thinking about his schedule for Saturday.

***

“David. Was our international prospect pool $4.75 million this year?”

“Yes. And we’ve used $1.25 million of that.”

“Oh, that’s right… So we have $3.5 million left. Ugh… What should we do… Ah!! I miss the old days. Why did they block international prospect slot trades!!”

“If they hadn’t blocked it, we would have sold it all off a long time ago, and we wouldn’t have $3.5 million left, would we? But why the sudden interest in the international prospect pool? Is there any news from Dominica?”

“No no no, not Dominica. Korea. Korea.”

Josh handed David a tablet.

The video of Choi Su-won throwing a 151km/h ball was playing on it.