The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 32

32. The Great Challenge (1)

“Huh? Thank you all of a sudden? What are you talking about?”

“No, it’s just, how should I put it…”

Lee Jin-woo, seeing Soo-won looking at him with a puzzled expression, took a long time to organize what he wanted to say. He clearly had stories prepared in advance, but his head was in a mess, and the words didn’t come out easily.

“So, when I first saw you, Soo-won…”

It was a very long story.

When Choi Soo-won was a freshman, they were still sophomores. From then on, that guy, who stood out exceptionally, had no respect for seniors, and that ‘senior’ included not only them but also the juniors. Because you weren’t close to anyone, you were an overwhelming talent who made them feel alienated. And in the middle of that, there was also the story of Ahn Byung-young being dragged around a lot by the seniors because of you.

But Lee Jin-woo swallowed all those stories and just smiled.

Yeah, there was no need to bring up all those past stories now.

“No, I’m just thanking you for letting us win the weekend league.”

“Come on, senior. It’s just the weekend league. Besides, it’s not like I did it alone.”

“It’s not like you did it alone? You practically did it all by yourself. Seeing Baek Ha-min’s momentum, he looked like he was going to pitch a perfect game if it weren’t for your home run.”

“Well, yeah. But Yoo-jin also got a hit…”

“You’re being humble when it doesn’t suit you.”

Choi Soo-won smiled awkwardly.

“And it’s not ‘just’.”

“Yes?”

For someone, it was a passing point, or perhaps it wasn’t even a passing point, just something that passed by. Maybe if he were a little younger than he is now, he might have been angry at that absurdity. But during the three years of high school when other kids were dreaming of college and focusing on their studies, Lee Jin-woo spent every day realizing how shallow the talent given to him was, and how far the end of that shallow talent would go.

“I started playing baseball in the second grade of elementary school, and now I’m a senior in high school, so it’s already been 11 years. Maybe you don’t know. To be honest, I don’t think you’d understand why I keep playing baseball. I should have quit a long time ago and studied for the college entrance exam, which would be more helpful in life.”

“……”

“You little rascal. You really thought so, didn’t you?”

“No… it’s not that…”

“It’s okay, Soo-won, but you know what? What can I do? I love baseball so much I’m going crazy. Honestly, I know. I know I have no potential. If I didn’t know after doing this much, would I even be human? Well, if I were at least Byung-young’s level, I’d have some expectations. If I’m lucky, I might be able to go to a local college with baseball. But the pros? Ugh, the average speed of a fastball thrown by a famous pro pitcher who throws *dung balls* [a slang term for pitches with poor control or weak velocity] is 4km/h faster than my top speed, so what kind of pro would I be? Whoa, whoa, don’t make such a sorry face. So, what I want to say is that this place that you just pass by, winning the weekend league, is the last for me, or maybe for most of our team. So, thank you so much for letting us end that last with a win. I just wanted to tell you that.”

Lee Jin-woo’s calm reminiscence weighed heavily on Choi Soo-won.

Started playing baseball at the age of 10, and 24 years until thirty-four. And back again for three months.

If someone were to ask Soo-won why he played baseball, he would only be able to answer, ‘Because it’s what I’m good at.’

And now, in this place.

One year older than Choi Soo-won himself.

But twenty-three years younger than him.

A man on the border between youth and boyhood sincerely revealing the despair and wounds he had gained in his mere eighteen years of life was so heartbreaking.

It was so heartbreaking that Choi Soo-won himself was brought to tears without realizing it.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Choi Soo-won, are you crying?”

“Ah, no. It’s just that sand got in my eyes because of the wind.”

Jin-woo warmly looked at Soo-won, who was rubbing his eyes for no reason.

“Anyway, thank you for that. Still, when I get a girlfriend later, I’ll have a memory of winning the baseball club in high school. And by the time I get married to my girlfriend and have kids, you’ll be a super famous pro baseball player. I can brag about that too. Even if it’s a bit of a hassle, you have to sign autographs and pretend to know me, okay? If you’re a pro baseball player, you have to be really nice to the kids, you know? That’s how fans like me are born. Huh? You have to kneel down and look the kids in the eye and sign autographs.”

Soo-won shook his head.

“No, I won’t.”

“What do you mean, no? Are you saying you won’t sign autographs and pretend you don’t know me?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m saying this isn’t the end for you, senior.”

“Yeah, I know, man. My life is bright, and there are many things I can do even if it’s not baseball. I’m just saying the end of my baseball life is here.”

“No. That’s not it. You still have one tournament left, the King of Kings tournament.”

“Well, that’s…”

Jin-woo stopped talking.

Yeah, the King of Kings tournament. How could he not be greedy for it?

But that was an impossible dream from the start.

Schools from all over the country gather and hold a tournament.

In the weekend league, where you only play one game a week, you might be able to win with the best members, or with an extraordinary monster like Choi Soo-won. But tournaments ultimately require the strength of the entire team. Even the prestigious Cheonnam High School, led by Baek Ha-min, has only won the President’s Cup once, not the King of Kings tournament.

“It’s the finale of something you’ve been doing for over ten years, but winning the weekend league, where only six schools were bickering, is too shabby. If you want to brag to your girlfriend later, you should at least be a national tournament-winning pitcher.”

That’s why Soo-won couldn’t be sure of winning either.

Yeah, maybe it’s possible if Soo-won himself grinds his arm [overworks himself]. But what value would winning that way have for them? Also, for Soo-won, the King of Kings tournament was just a passing point, like the second half of the weekend league. There was no need to give it any meaning.

But Soo-won now knew that it could be the most important knot in someone’s life. He could feel how much unseverable attachment was contained in Jin-woo’s calm recollection of saying that he liked it, but couldn’t continue to do what he liked. No matter how good Soo-won was, he couldn’t lead a talentless player to the pros. But one thing was possible.

Not winning.

Soo-won wanted to give them the memory and experience of not giving up until the end and challenging for the championship, instead of being satisfied with just a regional championship and consoling themselves that it was a beautiful ending. And that would be invaluable, even if it ended in failure. Even if it wasn’t enough to compensate for the 11 years of youth who stubbornly stuck their heads into an impossible task.

“Soo-won…”

Jin-woo’s voice trembled.

Why was that? Rationally, he knew it was impossible, but when he looked at Choi Soo-won, he thought, ‘Maybe it’s possible?’

Choi Soo-won continued.

“Ah, right. But senior, you don’t even have a girlfriend yet, but you’re already creating a child in your imagination? You should make a girlfriend first. When you think about it, that seems like a more difficult challenge than winning…”

“Hey, man. I’ve been busy exercising, so I haven’t made one. If I put my mind to it, it’ll be easy.”

“I see. I understand.”

“Choi Soo-won. What’s with that look? I’m serious. I’m not Ahn Byung-young!!”

“No, I really think so too. I’m serious.”

“What is it? I’m definitely getting affirmation, but I feel strangely bad…”

Jin-woo’s expression, saying he felt bad, didn’t look so bad, unlike his words.

Choi Soo-won, who had been building a wall alone and living aloofly, had been gradually tearing down the wall since some point. He put Jo Yoo-jin inside, Jo Gyu-hyeok, Ahn Byung-young… Anyway, now he even allowed Jin-woo himself into his embrace.

And Jin-woo was very happy to see that.

***

When I was a child, I hated my father.

Other kids all went to amusement parks, camping, and family trips, but I had none of that.

Of course, even after I grew up a bit, I still hated my father.

No, I was already doing well in baseball on my own, so why did he give me envelopes [likely referring to monetary support or gifts that made him stand out] and make the kids hate me, and why did he insist that I had to go to school from home when everyone else lived in the dorms?

Most of all, what made me the angriest was that even though he made me go to school from home, I barely saw his face once a week. At the time, I thought this was clearly emotional abuse of a growing child and adolescent.

And when I grew up even more.

So, when I got married and divorced again.

Around that time, I didn’t hate my father anymore. I guess it was because I was a little older now, so I could retort to my father’s nagging with some sarcasm.

Well, it wasn’t like we were as close as other families, but we just exchanged birthday or divorce anniversary gifts and lived distantly.

“Tsk, when are you going to remarry?”

“Once was enough, what remarriage? You realized that you can’t do it in one try either, so you didn’t remarry.”

As I recall, we exchanged stories like this.

And then, after two years?

I suddenly heard the news that my father had died of cancer.

Damn it, it was the end of the season when I was running towards MVP [Most Valuable Player award], and the reason he didn’t tell me he had cancer was to let me do my job, and his will was also to let me do my job.

Of course, I didn’t win the MVP that year either. It wasn’t because I was shaken by my father’s death. It was just because of that damn pitching and hitting.

I had already been second place twice, but I had never cried. Also, I didn’t cry when I heard that my father had passed away. But strangely, when I heard the news of being second in the MVP at that time, I squatted in the bathtub at home and sobbed.

Anyway, he was a father I couldn’t like until the end.

In any case, the conclusion of this unnecessarily long past recollection was that I didn’t like my father very much.

“Father.”

“Yeah.”

It was breakfast together for the first time in a week.

Three months after returning to the body of a seventeen-year-old. I hadn’t seen my father’s face even ten times.

“I want to go to America during vacation.”

“Why America?”

“I want to learn pitching properly.”

“Pitching? I’ll get you Coach Choi Gyu-sik, who was the pitching coach for the Incheon Dragons last year.”

My father’s expression, answering like a machine without taking his eyes off the tablet PC with a blunt face, was not much different from usual. Perhaps around this point, I always gave up by answering, ‘Yes.’ That is, whatever it was.

To be honest, I was too scared of my father’s blunt face at that time.

“I don’t want to.”

But now, perhaps because I’ve already done it too much in a future that won’t come?

Rejection wasn’t very difficult.

-Thud!!

My father put the tablet PC on the table a little roughly.

“What did you say?”