The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 4

4. My Life’s Darkest Moment (3)

Timon and Pumbaa were wringing their hands, looking utterly flustered.

Yu-jin was also staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, his eyes screaming, ‘Are you crazy? Apologize to the senior right now, you idiot!’

Looking back, I guess the one-year age difference felt like an insurmountable barrier in our teens. No, wait. Not just in our teens, even in the pros, the difference between a year of seniority felt incredibly significant.

Well, there’s no helping it. It’s not just athletes. In any profession where academic ties directly lead to jobs, the hierarchy between seniors and juniors tends to be strict.

Moreover, these industries are usually quite small, and a bad rumor can get you blacklisted, ruining your career. Maybe that’s why everyone was trembling like an aspen leaf at the mere frown of that acne-ridden bastard.

“Wow, this punk. I was being nice, calling him cute. He’s completely lost it.”

“Hey, you should speak fairly, even if your mouth is crooked. When did I ever say you were cute? You were just pathetically jealous. Wasn’t that it?”

“You… you, are you out of your mind?”

“Sigh, with such a limited vocabulary. ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Is that all you can say?”

An Byeong-yeong’s face turned bright red. The bumpy acne on his face stood out even more, making him look like a sea squirt.

Come to think of it, the sea squirt bibimbap [a Korean rice dish with vegetables and meat] I had with my ex-wife in Tongyeong was delicious. Damn it, if it weren’t for that sea squirt bibimbap, that huge dark chapter in my life wouldn’t have happened. Sea squirts are always the problem, no matter where or when.

“Senior Byeong-yeong!! Please, calm down!! This crazy bastard must have eaten something wrong.”

“Hey, let go. Won’t you let go? Do you want to die first?”

The sea squirt with the flushed face and Pumbaa were hugging each other, staging a farce.

“Pumbaa, no, I mean, Gyeong-seok. Just let him go.”

“You crazy bastard!! Let go of what!! Hurry up and apologize on your knees.”

“Apologize for what? You asked for my opinion, and I gave it. Strictly speaking, you could say I’m taking your side. Isn’t that right? Senior Byeong-yeong?”

“Wow, is this guy crazy?”

“But Senior, no matter how I think about it, you really do have a limited vocabulary.”

Connections, school ties. Yeah, they’re definitely scary. Especially in such a narrow industry.

Moreover, those who strictly adhere to the senior-junior hierarchy in this industry will act prickly even if you didn’t do anything wrong to them, just because of a rumor that you disrespected a senior from another team they barely know. Something about professional ethics, or whatever.

But…

Let’s think this through.

Is our Central High School a baseball powerhouse?

Of course not. The most recent time our school sent a player to the pros was seven years ago when a senior who graduated went to the Gwangju Hawks as the 67th pick in the 7th round after graduating from college. For reference, that senior has only played in three first-team games in his three years as a pro.

Then, is this sea squirt guy here talented enough to go pro?

Well, objectively speaking, his skills aren’t bad. If I perform well and our school advances to a high level in the national tournament, gaining recognition, he could definitely go to college.

But the pros? That’s a joke. Of course, over a hundred players are drafted into the pros every year. If you include rookie free agents, it might even be over 150. But the number of high school baseball players graduating each year is close to a thousand, and there are about three hundred college baseball players as well.

That means only one in ten graduating players even gets a foot in the door of the pros. Well, you never know in life, so I’m not saying that a pitcher with a top speed of 132 km/h and an average speed in the late 120s can never go pro. But my ex-wife is more likely to have a sudden change of heart and stop shopping for luxury bags.

So, he doesn’t have connections or school ties. And he’s not likely to go pro himself. Why should I be trembling?

There’s no reason to. Of course, even if there were, it wouldn’t matter. I don’t need to go to the pros. It’ll be tough, but I can go straight to the majors.

In other words, I don’t need to be intimidated by this sea squirt human whose red face and the top of his head are below my eye level, who looks like he’s about to pounce on me.

While the sea squirt guy who looked like he was about to charge and Pumbaa were arguing loudly,

“What is all this commotion!!”

“C-Coach.”

A sturdy physique that made it seem believable that he never let a ball pass him on either side when he was a catcher in his playing days. Our coach, whose width and height were almost square, appeared.

The last time I saw him before regressing, he had gained so much weight that I was worried, but looking at him now, he didn’t seem to have much of a belly and looked young. He still seemed to have more muscle than fat.

“If class is over, you should be rushing to practice. An Byeong-yeong, Park Gyeong-seok. Was this morning’s training too easy, leaving you with too much energy? Hugging each other like that, seniors and juniors, you think you’re doing a great job? Huh?”

“N-No, Coach, that’s not it…”

The sea squirt hurriedly tried to make excuses.

Tsk, how foolish.

In moments like these, you should start the conversation with something other than ‘no.’

“Coach!! I’m sorry!! We should have stopped them instead of just watching. Gyeong-seok is probably regretting it too. You always tell us that a man shouldn’t make excuses, no matter how unfair it is. Byeong-yeong shouldn’t have made excuses, no matter how unfair Senior’s scolding was. It’s our fault for not stopping them and just watching.”

The moment I said those words, Jo Yu-jin, Timon, Pumbaa, and even the sea squirt all stared at me with dumbfounded expressions, as if to say, ‘What nonsense is this guy talking about?’

Of course, contrary to their dumbfounded expressions, the coach nodded with a face that said, ‘You’re the only one I can count on.’

“Tsk. Still, Su-won is the only guy who apologizes instead of making excuses.”

“N-No, Coach, that’s not it!!”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s not it’? Huh? A man making excuses. Fine, let’s hear it. What is it if it’s not that?”

I guarantee it. The sea squirt can’t tell the truth here.

This fight started because the sea squirt was picking a fight with me for no reason. Tell the coach that honestly? I’m currently the most likely prospect on our team to go pro, and even if I’m not, my father and the coach have a close relationship with envelopes of cash going back and forth. If the sea squirt tells the truth here? He’s completely insane.

Well, what if he can make up a story on the spot? Then the sea squirt should be a writer, not a baseball player. Of course, the sea squirt doesn’t have that ability.

“S-Sorry.”

In the end, the sea squirt lowered his head with a flushed face.

The coach sighed deeply and said,

“Byeong-yeong. An Byeong-yeong. You know this coach isn’t that narrow-minded. And I know you’re working hard. Sports, huh? There’s that kind of thing too. But that kind of thing is originally, huh? Over there, or in the dorms. Huh? Do you understand what the coach is saying?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

Still, the sea squirt seems to have a sense of what’s going on, repeatedly saying sorry and bowing his head.

“Okay. Park Gyeong-seok. You stay behind today and get fungo [practice drills where a coach hits balls to fielders] from Coach Jang. An Byeong-yeong. You pitched yesterday, so today you’ll just run until you’re out of breath. Ugh, where else in the world would you find a coach like this? Huh? When this coach was playing, the bat wasn’t just for hitting balls. Back then, if the coach just held the bat and hit fungo, that was a real thank you. Understand?”

While the coach was sharing his ‘latte’ stories [old-fashioned stories], the sea squirt glared at me with dagger eyes.

Ah, what was it? There was something you could say in moments like these to ease the other person’s feelings… I can’t remember. Well, there’s no helping it. If I can’t remember something to ease the other person’s feelings, I’ll just have to say something that makes me feel better.

‘Why are you glaring like that? You’ll wear out this handsome face. You’ll wear it out. Still, you have an eye for good looks.’

That day, I was able to confirm that a person’s face could actually turn redder than a sea squirt.