The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 66

66. Flaws (3)

-8:0 Crushing defeat!! Aftermath of special batting practice right before the finals for the national youth team revealed!!-

-Players aren’t made of steel. The widespread problem of overwork in the baseball world!!-

-Former professional player B: ‘Playing a game and then special batting practice? Ugh, that’s not training. It’s punishment. Punishment.’-

“We’re sorry!!”

“We’re sorry!!!”

Kim Tae-yoon and Yang Him-chan bowed their heads deeply.

Director Kwon Gyu-jong glared sharply at the back of their heads. Then Coach Choi defended the kids.

“Director, I think the kids are still young and don’t know any better. They’re probably upset about the criticism after losing the game, so they wanted to say they did special batting practice and still got this result. They did their best. I think that’s what they wanted to say.”

“······.”

“Anyway, these stubborn bastards. I told them not to use SNS so many times. And they still caused this mess? Hey, you guys. What are you going to do about this? Huh? The public opinion is already bad enough because we lost the finals.”

“We’re sorry!!”

“We’re sorry!!”

What could they possibly say?

Instead of saying anything, Director Kwon Gyu-jong just shook his head.

“Okay. You guys go back to your room for now. Coach Choi, stay behind for a bit.”

“Yes!!”

The two carefully got up, closed the door, and left.

‘See, what did I tell you? Just say you’re sorry and bow your head, and it’s over.’

‘Yeah. But the internet is going crazy.’

‘Did we swear? Did we badmouth anyone? We just said we were sorry for not showing a good performance even after doing special batting practice. That’s all.’

‘I guess so.’

Inside the room where the kids had disappeared.

Coach Choi said to the director.

“Still, Director, don’t worry too much. I’ll mobilize the reporters I know to put up articles against it as much as possible. Overwork, punishment. Honestly, does that even make sense? It’s not like we made them do special batting practice a thousand times. The coaches were tired too, but we were just correcting their batting form. Oh, and Baek Ha-min and Choi Soo-won. They said they’re returning separately. We need to stop that too, right? Honestly, in this atmosphere, such independent action is unacceptable. It’ll only give the reporters something to gossip about. Anyway, these days, kids don’t know anything about teamwork. And the youngest one is acting up just because he’s good at baseball. Anyway······.”

Kwon Gyu-jong cut off Coach Choi’s long-winded speech.

“Don’t.”

“Yes? What are you telling me not to do?”

“I’m telling you not to do anything.”

“But!!”

“Coach Choi, instead of worrying about that, just take care of the kids. ‘If you win, you can learn something small. But if you lose, you can learn everything.’ I want to believe that this finals loss has taught the kids a lot. But at this rate, they’re not going to learn anything and just develop bad habits.”

“But Director, if we leave it like this, the public opinion will only get worse. Ah, if you don’t want to bribe the reporters, just leave it to me······.”

Director Kwon Gyu-jong raised his right hand to stop him.

“Coach Choi.”

“Yes?”

“It’s all going to die down after a while anyway. Don’t keep trying to add fuel to the fire and just stay still. It became a hot topic because the timing was good, but there’s a Phoenix and Marines match tonight. And tomorrow, one of those teams will be challenging the all-time longest losing streak. The Korean Series is only a month away, and there are so many talking points, like whether there will be two teams with a winning percentage in the 20% range for the first time ever.”

“But what about the Director’s honor!!”

“Honor, my foot. I know what you’re thinking, Coach Choi, but in the end, the kids are the ones who get hurt. Especially Him-chan and Tae-yoon. They don’t know what they’ve done yet. But you know it, and I know it, and do you think the pro team directors don’t know it? So go and take care of the kids.”

It was strange.

Just listening to the words, it sounded like he was just telling him to go and control the kids. But the look in his eyes mixed in between the words. And especially the subtle tone in the part where he said, ‘You know it too.’

The moment all those things mixed together, the director’s words came across not as a message that others would know about the kids’ recklessness, but as a threat that others would know about Coach Choi’s sneaky actions.

“I······, Director.”

“What? Aren’t you leaving?”

***

“Ah, those stupid guys. Seriously, can’t they think? The public opinion is already bad because we lost the game, so why are they using SNS? Do they want to give Ferguson another win so badly?”

Baek Ha-min, who was a roommate, leaned against the bed and kept grumbling.

“Soo-won, what should we do now? It seems like it would be really too much to step out and say we’re going to act independently in this atmosphere. Should we go back to Korea first and then leave again?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think we need to worry about it.”

“Not worry about it? The internet is a mess with our story right now.”

“It’s an issue that just came up on a weekday afternoon. Pro baseball is taking a break. There’s no news, so they latched onto it. It’ll all disappear once the game starts tonight anyway.”

A match between two teams with an unprecedented losing streak of 17 games in pro baseball.

In a situation where one of the two teams can definitely reach the all-time record of 18 consecutive losses, how big of a deal is it that high school students scratched some words on SNS [Social Networking Service] ?

“Really?”

“Yes, so don’t worry about anything.”

It wasn’t just a word to reassure Baek Ha-min.

In the first place, the popularity of Korean baseball is based on the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization]. It’s different from soccer, which is only good for international competitions. Even if you look at the Asian Games or the Olympics, the focus is on how many players from our team get military exemptions rather than the victory or defeat of the competition itself. So, at best, a U-18 competition that doesn’t even have military exemptions at stake is just a flash in the pan.

And my prediction was brutally wrong.

So, just yesterday evening. Based on U.S. time, the Phoenix and Marines’ soul-stirring match ended this morning.

It was truly a heart-pounding game.

They missed balls they should have caught.

They didn’t get the points they could have gotten through stupid base running.

The pinch hitters were out on ground balls or strikeouts every time they came out.

It was a fierce battle where both teams showed their altruism to give up the victory until the very end, and it was a classic Chick-kkol-la-si-ko [A Korean slang term referring to a pathetic or low-quality game] itself. As a result, the losing team was left with nothing but scars, and the winning team was left with nothing but scars.

Of course, the internet public opinion exploded. And that was exactly as I expected. However, what I didn’t realize was what kind of existence ‘I’ was to the current Kkol, no, the Marines and Phoenix.

─8888577: Ah, crazy. The game result is so frustrating.

─Sajik-Nuke-Bat: ?? What? Didn’t we win? Did I dream for a moment while drinking beer?

─ChoiDongSooWon: Unfortunately, we won.

─Sajik-Nuke-Bat: ?? Why are you saying it’s a pity that we won? We finally broke the losing streak.

─8888577: No, what are you going to do to avoid being in last place if you can’t even go to the postseason anyway? We have to be in last place for sure to get Choi Soo-won!!

─886899: Guys, it was a close game, but thank you for winning anyway.

I don’t know if that was the real skill or a desperate attempt to pick me up. Whatever the case, the Phoenix and Marines were recording the worst winning percentage of all time. There was a prediction that there might be two teams with a winning percentage in the 20% range for the first time in pro baseball history in one year.

Thanks to that, the meme of the Choi Soo-won League was more widespread among baseball fans than I thought, and some fans were really convinced that both teams were giving up their victories to pick me up. And honestly, after watching the highlights of this Chick-kkol-la-si-ko, I couldn’t help but think that way.

Anyway, due to this overwhelming poor performance, my name was once again on the rise in the media, and thanks to that, the issue of overwork at the U-18 competition, which I thought would pass quietly, resurfaced.

But fortunately, when those problems surfaced, the youth national team was already on a plane to Korea, and I, the hottest issue, was unpacking my bags in a $6,000-a-month apartment in New York instead of on a plane.

Well, the people who went to Korea will suffer in their own ways, but it will all be resolved on its own if you stay in New York for about a month. From what I’ve learned, most things are naturally resolved over time.

“Hey, isn’t this too expensive?”

“Hyung [Korean term for older brother or male friend], New York is expensive.”

“No, if you look over there, there are some cheaper places······.”

“In Korea, if you go to a neighborhood with cheap rent, it’s just a little inconvenient for transportation, right?”

“That’s right?”

“In the United States, if you go to a neighborhood with cheap rent, your life becomes a little inconvenient. So you can think of it all as the cost of your life. Don’t forget. This is a country where a state law banning the possession of handguns in public places is ruled unconstitutional.”

Baek Ha-min laughed.

“Hey, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration, no matter how you look at it? Life. This is New York. New York.”

“That’s right. This is New York, where the ban on handgun possession was ruled unconstitutional. Don’t walk around outside after 11 p.m., and especially don’t go outside of Manhattan after dark.”

Well, to be honest, it was a bit of an exaggeration.

If it’s some strange neighborhood in the South, I don’t know. But in New York, the risk of getting shot at night isn’t that great. Wouldn’t it just end with getting beaten up and having your wallet stolen?

But our bodies are our assets, and it would be a big deal if we got hit wrong and broke something. And we’re only staying here for a month, so we need to learn a lot during that time. It would be a problem if we got hurt and were sick, so it’s better to scare them like this.

“Okay. But Soo-won, you seem to know a lot about America?”

“Well, I studied a bit in advance because I’m going to be here. Anyway, the company said they’d assign someone to me, so I’ll be able to go to the center starting tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

It was a truly Korean pronunciation of okay.

***

“Both of the pitchers we saw back then are coming, right?”

William Washington checked the machines for measurement one more time.

How long has it been since we had a guest? And they’re talented kids who throw the ball over 95 miles, not players from a low-level college league.

“You look happy? You were about to sell the center and go to Walmart.”

“I’m happy because I’m thinking about making money.”

Jack Washington chuckled at his brother William Washington’s words. Both brothers loved baseball. That was for sure. They jumped into an uncertain path instead of a guaranteed one because they had a desire for great success and confidence in their theories, but at the root of it all was a love for baseball.

“But they’re supposed to come today, right? Why aren’t they here yet?”

“Hyung, they’re supposed to come by 3 p.m. It’s only 2 p.m. now.”

“Oh, really?”

Unrefined ore and gems that were being processed in the wrong way.

The two brothers welcomed the pitchers from Korea with pleasure.