The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 28

Wow, this is a bit embarrassing.

Is he really going to kneel down and apologize while crying? Mungae?

My feelings were a bit complicated.

Of course, it’s not like I feel thrilled, relieved, or like I’ve gotten revenge. The negative feelings I had towards Mungae were less about anger or hatred towards him, and more about embarrassment regarding my own dark history of thinking highly of and respecting such a guy.

Ah, why did I respect someone who wasn’t even as good at baseball as me?

Well… I think I had this idea around that time: an admiration for someone who strives without giving in, even in the face of an insurmountable barrier. Well, it was just a shallow mindset befitting a high school student. At that time, the baseball team was all I saw and knew. After living in the world a bit, I realized that most people just keep banging their heads against those insurmountable barriers.

So, even knowing that he harbored such dark feelings towards me and gossiped about me to the others, I just kept trying. Because I wanted to be recognized. Even though I was overflowing with talent, I wanted to be recognized for working just as hard as the seniors.

Ugh, it’s embarrassing again when I talk about it.

Anyway, seeing Mungae kneeling down and crying like that makes me feel like my high school days weren’t completely foolish, so I feel a little less embarrassed.

Ah, of course, it’s not because I think Mungae is really repenting and apologizing to me. I know very well that there’s no way that guy would actually reflect on himself to this extent. It’s just that his obsession—the fact that he’s so obsessed with baseball that he’d kneel down and cry to grab at even a straw—makes me feel like the senior’s determination that I respected in high school was at least that great. That’s the kind of feeling it is.

Maybe it’s hard for ordinary people to understand.

How significant it is for an athlete to kneel down and cry to their junior.

Of course, it’s not difficult after going out into society, having more responsibilities, having more things that are more important than pride, and after the price of wounded pride hits rock bottom once or twice. But he’s still a high school student. Right now, Mungae is begging me while throwing away the most valuable things he has: the authority of a senior and his pride.

Well, that doesn’t mean I’m so moved that I have to hand over everything I have.

“Okay. Get up for now.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“I said, I got it, so wipe those tears and get up quickly. Ugh, I’m scared someone will see us.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Of course, you should be thankful. I’m giving you a chance with my overflowing, abundant love for humanity.”

Ah, for the record, before my regression, I actually proved my abundant love for humanity by winning the Branch Rickey Award, which can be said to be the Major League’s social contribution award. I did. Actually, I have a lot to say about that too…

“A chance?”

Mungae asked me back with a dumbfounded look.

He looked like he was trying to get it for free, but suddenly everything was ruined.

“Yes, everyone should be given a chance to reflect. Of course, it’s wrong to force that on the victim, but as you can see, I’m a very generous victim, so I have that much leeway. Anyway, in that sense, you can start writing reflection papers from today.”

“Reflection papers?”

Yes. Mungae definitely has many flaws as a person.

But after living for thirty-five years, I realized that education has the potential to greatly change people. Ah, of course, I also know how rare it is for someone to actually change like that.

“Yes, not like those reflection papers that seniors mechanically write in school, just listing the facts and saying, ‘I won’t do that again.’ Ah, right!! Let’s start by having you imagine that someone did what you did to you, and then describe how you would feel.”

Mungae basically has some problems with his personality itself.

When he’s faced with a situation, he fundamentally blocks the possibility that he might be at fault. If that’s absolutely impossible, he’ll find even the tiniest flaw in someone else. And by using that, he rationalizes his own mistakes by saying, ‘You were wrong too!!’ I’ve never seen it directly, but if even that doesn’t work, he’ll probably have the absurd thought that the world is unfair and only messing with him.

It’s obvious.

And from what I’ve experienced, it’s difficult to correct these kinds of guys unless they meet someone even worse than them and experience a thorough role reversal.

So, honestly, I don’t know if Mungae’s character will be corrected with just reflection papers, which are an indirect form of role reversal. Maybe it’ll be difficult? Besides, it’s not even voluntary; it’s a reflection paper written for the price of the lessons I’m giving him, so it might be even more so.

But at the same time, the human mind is more shallow than you think, so repeated actions can correct the mind. Just like how humans change involuntarily in the military or prison.

And above all, putting all of that aside, when I think about Mungae struggling to write reflection papers in the future, it’s worth taking a few minutes every now and then to give him some advice. Of course, whether he develops further by what I teach him, gets nothing out of it, or even regresses is up to him.

“Ah, that’s right. Reflection papers are waived for today. I quite liked what you just did.”

And for that, a taste is necessary, right?

***

In the dugout.

After getting through the bases-loaded crisis in the first inning with a double play, Ahn Byeong-yeong’s gaze turned to Choi Su-won.

‘······.’

One-point lesson.

It was a really short lesson. But with just that, the velocity that had never gone up before suddenly increased. It was like magic.

Throwing 150 km/h [approximately 93 mph] is possible for someone who is born with it.

But teaching the knack of throwing 150 km/h is different. It’s only possible when that person has the experience to systematize their talent, or when that person has that much learning behind them.

And Choi Su-won had both that experience and learning.

Of course, most of that experience and learning was about hitting. But curiosity always existed about what process his shoulder went through to be damaged, and whether there was a way to overcome it. And Su-won, who was a top-class hitter in the major leagues, was surrounded by elite instructors, physiologists, and players who could answer that.

Thus, at the age of 35, Choi Su-won, a top-class MLB hitter, had a level of knowledge that was incomparable to most professional coaches who were doing coaching training in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] while half-heartedly doing it, and who were coaching based on their name value from their active days. Moreover, it was even with knowledge that was nearly 20 years more advanced than it is now.

Therefore, Ahn Byeong-yeong, who didn’t know that fact, couldn’t understand it. The Choi Su-won he was looking at was only seventeen years old. He’s good at baseball because he’s talented, but he can teach someone this well? Is that even possible?

But at the same time, he also knew that since it was happening in reality, it was meaningless to argue whether it was possible or not.

‘Reflection paper······.’

Even if I were to write it and submit it to a senior, no, a teacher, I wouldn’t like it. But I have to write that to a junior in the sports club?

Ahn Byeong-yeong shook his head.

The price was too sweet to hesitate. Anyway, he already hit rock bottom when he knelt down and cried. Reflection paper? Okay, fine. I’ll write as many as you want.

‘Ah, but what should I write in the reflection paper? He said he’d decide how much to teach me based on the content. This is driving me crazy.’

***

3rd inning.

Jo Yu-jin picked up his bat and counted the timing in the on-deck circle.

‘One, two······.’

-Bang!!

“Strike!!”

The fastball is faster than I thought.

And again.

‘One, two, three······.’

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!!!”

Ah, it’s really faster than I thought.

And again.

‘One, two, threeeet······.’

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

About 0.1 seconds off from the timing I thought was the fastball timing?

The slider is crazy fast too. But the angle is quite sharp. How am I supposed to hit this? There’s no answer.

Pumba, no. Gyeong-seok puffed out his nose and stepped away from the plate.

Is it because Choi Su-won calls him that every day? Jo Yu-jin thought that Gyeong-seok really looked more and more like that warthog from The Lion King these days.

Bottom of the 3rd inning.

One out, no runners.

Jo Yu-jin’s first at-bat came around.

Compact stance.

Short grip on the bat.

He remembered what Choi Su-won had told him a while ago.

There’s a reason why coaches teach this kind of hitting.

It’s just a different direction, not wrong.

First pitch.

‘One, two, three.’

-Tap!!

A swing perfectly aimed at the fastball.

But the bat was pushed back. A weak hit that went over the third base foul line.

Jo Yu-jin briefly stepped away from the plate to catch his breath.

Recently, he studied a little bit.

Why high school baseball coaches mainly teach downswings. And what the advantages of that are. And through that study, he learned that baseball contains something academically complex that far exceeds what he thought it was.

A damn 47-page paper.

And it’s full of hard-to-understand math and stuff. And the price is a whopping 9,000 won [approximately $7 USD], which is a lot of money that could buy a hearty bowl of seolleongtang [ox bone soup].

Anyway, to sum it up, the reason why coaches emphasize downswings is because it’s impossible to create long hits with a wooden bat without considerable skill and power, and that requires innate talent. At least a downswing from above makes it easier to put power into the swing.

Second.

-Bang!

He barely stopped the bat.

A slider that slightly missed the zone. The umpire’s hand didn’t go up.

Baek Ha-min’s face on the mound showed no change in expression. But it’s obvious. The reason he came to a game he didn’t need to come to was to get revenge on Choi Su-won, and he probably just wants to quickly get rid of Jo Yu-jin, the ninth batter, like a small pebble.

He probably knows that he’s aiming for the fastball because he swung at the first pitch.

But Baek Ha-min is the best pitcher in high school. And at the high school level, a ball over 150 km/h is a magical ball that’s hard to hit even if you know it’s coming for a lower-level hitter.

Thus, the third.

A high fastball.

Jo Yu-jin swung his bat.

He swings down hard as he has learned and become accustomed to for a long time. He wasn’t aiming for a long hit. He doesn’t have the power like Choi Su-won or Senior Gyu-hyeok. So, he didn’t pound the ball like them or hold onto the bat rotation until the end. Although he was right-handed, he stood in the left batter’s box and did his best to just make contact.

-Tap!!

One of the biggest advantages of a downswing.

‘Strong against high pitches.’

Jo Yu-jin’s bat hit Baek Ha-min’s slightly high 151 km/h fastball properly.

The batted ball flew quickly.

There was no fancy follow-through after the swing.

He just dreamed of becoming a 30% hitter, buried his head towards first base, and ran as hard as he could.

And after throwing the ball, Baek Ha-min moved.

Exactly as he had practiced thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands of times.

A textbook first base cover.

The ninth batter’s batted ball was quite fast.

Maybe if the launch angle had been higher, it could have been a line drive long hit. But today, luck wasn’t on his side.