The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 34

34. The Great Challenge (3)

The Cheongryonggi High School Baseball Championship, the later stage of the King of Kings tournament, was a crucial event.

For students aiming for the draft, this tournament was their last chance to showcase their skills in front of scouts. From all over the country, thousands of players sweated blood at the end of June, hoping to pass through that narrow gate and get scouted.

And I was sweating blood in a different sense.

“Uh… Um… Suwon? This is a bit embarrassing for the teacher, you know? Did you perhaps misread the answer sheet?”

The final exam came a week after the end of the weekend league.

I scored 19 points on the math test.

It was quite different from the 57 points I received on the midterm exam. While 57 points was still at the level of ‘not very good at studying,’ 19 points was statistically improbable, even on a multiple-choice test.

Of course, it wasn’t like I didn’t have excuses. There were two short-answer questions, and I uniformly guessed ‘1’ for both, a common answer for math short-answer questions. Unfortunately, the answers were 0 and 2…

“You know that if you don’t meet 40% of the grade average in Korean, English, and Math, you’ll be banned from extracurricular activities, right? This is according to the recommendation of the Ministry of Education and the Sports Innovation Committee. But still, Suwon, you still have opportunities for supplementary learning and passing tests, so let’s work hard!”

That’s how my after-school remedial learning was decided.

Honestly, even thinking about it again, it was a crazy system.

No, when am I supposed to study when I’m already busy with sports?! Okay, I’ll concede that the intention to socialize by guaranteeing a minimum level of academic achievement is good, considering that many failed baseball players, or even successful ones, often experience bitterness in society.

But the method is uniformly 40% of the grade average in Korean, English, and Math. Does that make sense? Korean and English, fine, but math? What use is that cursed arrangement of x and y in social life? No, I don’t understand it in the first place.

Why? Why is it math when there are more alphabets and various symbols than numbers?

“So, the conclusion is that it’s not your fault for getting 19 points on the math test, but the social system and the academic subject of mathematics itself are the problem. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yeah, that’s right. As expected, you sympathize with me because you also failed.”

“What? I didn’t fail; I just couldn’t take the test itself because I had an important company schedule that day. And originally, I didn’t even have to take this supplementary class, but they said that if I don’t take it, they’ll recognize 60% of my midterm score, but if I do, they’ll recognize up to 80% of my midterm score, so that’s why I’m taking it.”

And surprisingly, Park Eun-jin was also in this supplementary class.

At this point, one might usually talk about fate or something, but unfortunately, Suwon had lived as a top-tier celebrity for too long to have such naive thoughts.

The fact that she deliberately attended a supplementary class that she didn’t have to take was obvious. But still, it wasn’t like it was a bad thing. It would be better than taking classes only with sweaty guys.

“What? So, Suwon, you’re only taking math class?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw you in English class either. Could it be?”

“I did well on the English test. 83 points. I got 64 points on Korean too.”

To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing to brag about doing well.

No, I lived in the United States for almost 10 years and paid quite a bit of attention to languages for some reason, so I’m currently fluent in English and Spanish, and I can understand and speak Portuguese to some extent. But even with such English skills, it was impossible to get a high score on the test.

“What? 83 points? What? Suwon, why are you so good at English?”

“Just, well, somehow.”

“That’s great. Then let’s study together. If you teach me what I don’t know in English, I’ll teach you what you don’t know in math. Okay?”

The moment Park Eun-jin, sitting next to me, smiled brightly and approached me, a unique scent of girls wafted over. It was definitely a fragrance that was hard to imagine from the sweaty baseball team guys.

If I were seventeen-year-old Choi Suwon, the game would have ended here. I would have been hung up on her for at least two or three years, right? But I’m thirty-four. I’ve dated enough, and I’m a veteran among veterans who have finished even marriage, which can be seen as the ending of dating, and divorce, which can be seen as the ending of marriage.

“Eun-jin, weren’t you in the same C class as me for math? Do you know what a logarithmic function is?”

“Uh…, uh….”

“That’s enough. What kind of study group is it with just us? Two stones can only make a colliding sound [an idiom meaning that two people with nothing in common will only clash]. Let’s just study hard in class.”

“No, no!! Then I’ll bring my friend too!! I have a friend named Seyeon who is really good at studying.”

“A friend who is really good at studying?”

I didn’t ask a clueless question like, ‘Then why don’t you study with that friend?’ like the main characters in romantic comedies. It was too obvious that she was doing this because she wanted to spend time with me.

“Okay, well, there’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s do it. Study group. The time you finish supplementary classes and the time I finish training will be similar, so we can meet then.”

“Really? Really? Then I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

***

“Teacher Miyeon!!”

“Teacher Minwoo. I really did my best. I have some sense too. There’s also the principal’s words, and I set it up so that you can just get up to 40 points without any discrimination. Thanks to that, the grade average has risen by 9 points this time.”

“No, that’s true, but…”

Prohibiting participation in competitions if you don’t get more than 40% of the average score.

The regulations of the Ministry of Education and the Sports Innovation Committee were strong, but at the same time, there were loopholes. In fact, many prestigious baseball high schools were using such loopholes. In the case of Joongang High School, it was far from such a prestigious school, so there were no special loopholes until now, but recently, the story was a little different.

Suwon’s records were appearing in the newspaper every time he played, and sometimes even on TV public broadcasting news. Every time that happened, the six letters of Joongang High School were prominently displayed, and most of all, recently, the local newspaper even interviewed the principal. But a player like this can’t participate in the national competition because of grades? It’s impossible.

That’s why the 2nd-grade math teachers did their best to create the problems. So that anyone can get about 40 points. Even if the average is a little higher because of that, you only need to get 40% of that average, right? But 19 points…

“Teacher Miyeon, then please take good care of the kids.”

How easy should the questions be?

Even if I put the practice problems in the textbook as the test questions, including the numbers, they wouldn’t get it wrong, right?

A battle between the examiner trying to get them to pass the test somehow and the examinee crushing that intention with their skills. Im Miyeon sighed.

***

“What? Choi Suwon. What’s with you showering in the dorm for once? You usually always went home to shower.”

“No, I have an appointment later. I have to put on my school uniform again, but it’s a bit uncomfortable to wear it with sweat on.”

“Appointment? What appointment?”

“Study group. I didn’t pass math this time. I decided to study together after school.”

Jo Yujin tilted his head.

Study group? That aloof Choi Suwon? It would be a more believable story if he were getting private tutoring at home. The only people who matched him were Jo Yujin himself and senior Gyuhyuk. Well, if you include matching in a bad way, then senior Byeongyeong is all.

Jimin and Gyeongseok in the same class don’t even greet him properly. Of course, considering what they did, it’s impossible to get along, but in Jo Yujin’s view, Choi Suwon’s attitude was closer to ignoring guys who weren’t worth getting along with than hating guys who slandered him.

“Were Gyeongseok and Byeongjin failing math? So, you’re saying you’re studying with them? But if that’s the case, it doesn’t matter if you wear your uniform, right? Everyone’s a mess anyway.”

“Huh? No. That’s not it. Besides, what more can I get from studying with those guys than the sound of stones colliding?”

“Then? The final exam is over anyway, so what crazy people are studying at this point?”

“Not guys. Eun-jin and her friend?”

“Eun-jin?”

It was a familiar name.

But yeah, of course, Choi Suwon is a bit famous these days, but still, really?

Eh.

“My close friend Suwon. Is that Eun-jin you’re talking about Park Eun-jin in class 3?”

“Well, was she in class 3? Anyway, if you’re talking about that idol trainee, then yeah.”

“Y-yeah? No way? Why? How did Park Eun-jin?”

“How did we get close? I told you earlier. She’s in math C class. We got close because we took the class together. And we’re not dating. Just a fling?”

“Wow, Choi Suwon’s class is crazy. A fling with a celebrity?”

“Hey, an idol trainee isn’t a celebrity. And if you put it that way, Park Eun-jin’s class is crazy. She’s having a fling with me.”

Jo Yujin scanned Choi Suwon again.

A tall height and a solid body. Good prospects. His personality is a bit of a problem, but it’s improved a lot recently. And his face is quite handsome. Recently, some baseball fans have started to become Choi Suwon’s face fans.

“Is the secret to popularity his weightiness [referring to his mature demeanor]?”

“What are you saying? You crazy bastard.”

“Okay. Anyway, it’s a 2:1 date, no, study, right? Let me join too.”

“You don’t have any failing subjects. Besides, now is not the time for you to study that kind of thing, but the time when you should swing the baseball bat even once more, right?”

“Hey, Choi Suwon!! How can a person only train twenty-four hours a day? I can be happy for about an hour a day too.”

It was then.

The door to the shower room burst open.

It was Lee Jinwoo, a pitcher in the 3rd grade.

“Suwon, is Choi Suwon here?”

“Yes. I’m here.”

“Hey, Choi Suwon. You better go to the coach quickly. He’s furious right now.”

“Yes? Furious?”

“Yeah!!”

A scout’s visit? Or an interview? Or tempering disguised as friendship [a senior player trying to intimidate a junior]?

But whatever it is, is it worth making such a fuss over such a thing? Well, it might be possible if he appeared exclusively on public broadcasting, but considering the recent popularity of high school baseball, it’s unlikely that public broadcasting media would pay so much attention just because a monster rookie appeared.

“Yujin, go to the third table behind the library. We decided to study there. Go and tell them that something came up and I’ll be a little late.”

“Okay. Don’t worry and go take care of your work well.”

What on earth was going on that was causing such a fuss?

That question was immediately resolved the moment he opened the door to the coach’s office.

“Hello. Choi Suwon. My name is Ted Park.”

The black-haired foreigner sitting there handed Suwon a business card.

-JAMES CORPORTION-

James Corporation.

It was an agency that had recently started to gain considerable fame in the Big League [Major League Baseball].