The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 76

76. The Beginning of the End (2)

“Oh, you’re here? We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Yes!! Senior Yoo Jin.”

“Right, this is Suwon. You know him, right?”

“Yes!! I’ve seen you a lot on YouTube!! I heard you recently threw up to 157 [kilometers per hour, a measure of pitch speed].”

“This guy who answers so energetically is Go Han-gyeol. He wants to be like you. And this quiet kid here is Park Yoo-joon.”

Short hair and deeply tanned skin. Typical baseball youths who haven’t lost their baby fat yet. Of course, they were a bit tall to be called youths. They seemed to be around 185cm [approximately 6 feet 1 inch], but both were a bit scrawny for their height. It feels like they’re still growing, and their bodies haven’t caught up with their height.

“Both of them throw pretty well for middle schoolers. Han-gyeol’s top speed is 134 [kph], and Yoo-joon’s is 137 [kph], right?”

“Yoo-joon threw an unofficial 139 [kph] recently. Senior!!”

“Oh, really? Yoo-joon’s speed increased again? But didn’t the coach say you’re not allowed to throw for a while?”

“Well… I was too restless. I only threw a few. Sorry.”

Park Yoo-joon opened his mouth for the first time.

A heavy, low voice.

“No, no. You don’t need to apologize. But if you think about your body, it’s good to rest when you’re told to. You’ll have to throw a lot later anyway.”

“Yes.”

Hmm…

A mistake?

“Oh? You guys came early?”

The kids who went to support the seniors at Sewon Middle School came back just in time.

“Hey, what happened to the chocolate you didn’t bring? I heard Byeong-yeong was the last one to arrive. Why aren’t you replying to my texts?”

“It just passed by. Where are the coach and coaching staff?”

“They said training starts at ten, so they’ll be here soon. Oh? Are these the prospective freshmen? Hey, Lee Se-jin, your juniors are here.”

Lee Se-jin, the most skilled of the current first-years, slowly walked over. He used to play center field, but Pumba stepped down to right field, and he took his place. His batting isn’t as good as Kyung-seok’s, but he’s fast and has good judgment on fly balls.

“Did you stretch?”

“Yes, it’s a bit cold, so I warmed up beforehand. Senior.”

“Okay, you there, um…”

Lee Se-jin frowned as he looked at Park Yoo-joon. And it wasn’t Park Yoo-joon who answered Lee Se-jin, but Go Han-gyeol standing next to him.

“Ah, I’m Go Han-gyeol, and this is Park Yoo-joon.”

“Okay, Yoo-joon. Did you stretch too?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Well, it’s better to move your body than to stand still, so let’s warm up together. Don’t use too much energy, just take it easy.”

While Lee Se-jin was talking to the kids, Jo Yoo-jin and I headed to the indoor practice field.

“What do they look like?”

“Well, like a bear and a fox?”

“Choi Suwon, you saw it that way too?”

“Anyone would see it that way, right?”

“I guess so… I was a bit obvious when I talked about Yoo-joon’s speed there, wasn’t I?”

“What are you going to do? Captain?”

“I should talk to them once, right?”

“What? When there was trouble between me and Ahn Byeong-yeong, you said the best thing to do was to stay quiet?”

Jjo-yoo looked at me with a slightly apologetic expression.

“Did you hold that against me?”

“Yeah, a lot.”

“Then should I buy you a hamburger later?”

“Shake Shack?”

“Hey!! I’m not a *chaebol* [a wealthy, family-owned conglomerate]. Burger King is having a Whopper promotion right now. I’ll buy you fries too, though.”

“It’s okay. But what made you change your mind? Is it because you’re the captain?”

“Well, that too. I just thought it was best not to stir up trouble. But after seeing today, I wondered if I was wrong.”

“Senior Byeong-yeong?”

“Yeah. I was sure that senior was someone you couldn’t reason with no matter what you said. You know, someone who thinks apologizing when they’re wrong is like losing a fight, so they never apologize to someone they think is below them.”

“Senior Byeong-yeong is kind of like that.”

Honestly, Ahn Byeong-yeong writing a letter of apology and kneeling down to me was ultimately a surrender to my ‘skill’ rather than the right and wrong of the incident itself. But still, the attitude Ahn Byeong-yeong showed today was definitely different.

Of course, that changed behavior can’t erase his past. But maybe the colored glasses I wear when looking at his future actions will become a little lighter?

“But you butted heads with him once, and he changed. Seeing that made me think. Maybe it was wrong to give up on him and leave him alone, assuming he was that kind of person. If Senior Byeong-yeong had changed sooner, and if the team atmosphere had been a little different, maybe we could have received better grades. Something like that?”

“Uh… um… I don’t know.”

“Anyway, it’s all the same. I’m the captain, so it’s a bit funny to just stand by like before. Besides, they’re not seniors, they’re juniors.”

“Okay. Good luck, Captain.”

“Ah… that tone of watching a fire across the river is a bit annoying.”

***

-Huff, huff

Go Han-gyeol gasped for breath.

They were monsters.

Honestly, I knew that the pitching staff of Joongang High School, except for Choi Suwon, was nothing special. My rival is Park Yoo-joon, who also aims to be a pitcher.

Pole and Pole.

A run that goes back and forth between 1st and 3rd base. It was an exercise I had often done. But the intensity was different. About 210m [meters]. A pace of 30 seconds to a maximum of 35 seconds for one round trip. And repeating that after about 30 seconds of rest.

The first two or three times were okay. But when it went over four or five times, I arrived too late, so I ran while being pushed back one group at a time.

And the sixth set.

“You guys just rest for this one. Go, start.”

It was humiliating.

Usually, when starting baseball at a young age, players with good physiques and athletic abilities tend to become pitchers. Go Han-gyeol was the same. He had never fallen behind in the team. It was the same when he moved up from Little League to middle school baseball. He often showed a better performance than the seniors who were one year above him.

‘Annoying…’

My breathing didn’t calm down easily.

The seniors who had started at the same time as them returned from the turning point.

17 seconds.

I was grateful for the coach’s words to rest for a while. That’s why I was more ashamed.

Fortunately, Park Yoo-joon was next to me. Moreover, the fact that I was subtly a few steps faster in the fifth set was a small comfort to my mind.

The seniors had almost all arrived.

Next group starts.

I was told to skip a whole set, so I’ll probably start with the seniors who are coming back now. I took a breath that still hadn’t calmed down and gently loosened my legs that were losing strength.

‘Huh?’

The first person to run out was, of course, Choi Suwon.

The way he strode forward with his long arms and legs was truly a sight worthy of being called a super high schooler. But Go Han-gyeol’s gaze was not on Choi Suwon.

Park Yoo-joon.

The guy who had been gasping for breath next to him until just now suddenly ran out.

The coach told him to rest once…

His hesitation was short.

No, to be exact, he didn’t hesitate at all. A rival is running away, and you’re sitting still? That couldn’t happen in Go Han-gyeol’s dictionary.

A few steps late to start.

Go Han-gyeol gritted his teeth. It was okay to fall behind the seniors, but he couldn’t fall behind Park Yoo-joon. He caught up with Park Yoo-joon, who was also gasping for breath. In the distance, Choi Suwon had already tapped the 3rd base pole and was returning.

He’s fast.

He briefly met his eyes.

Why? Go Han-gyeol felt that he was smiling.

Thirteen sets.

Although he experienced the humiliation of starting in the 1st group, running all the way to the 2nd group, and running separately, Go Han-gyeol and Park Yoo-joon successfully completed all thirteen sets.

***

“It’s the first time since Suwon two years ago.”

“That guy is just a natural. From the beginning, I didn’t even tell him to rest once.”

“I guess so… In that sense, should we say it’s the first time since Ahn Byeong-yeong?”

“Han-gyeol was a bit precarious, but should we say his competitive spirit is amazing? Even in the midst of hardship, he followed Yoo-joon to the end with the desire not to lose to him. Yoo-joon… Honestly, I don’t even know what he’s thinking.”

“The thoughts of kids that age are obvious. If Go Han-gyeol ran with gritted teeth because he didn’t want to lose to Park Yoo-joon, wouldn’t Park Yoo-joon be the same? Looking at it, Go Han-gyeol seems a bit faster in the run itself.”

“Ah!!”

Coach Park smiled.

“Maybe we’ll see a much better synergy than expected.”

***

In the end, Hamin *hyung* [older brother or close male friend] couldn’t board the plane to America.

It was actually a difficult task. I heard that the general manager was someone who could communicate to some extent, but the opposition from the coach and coaching staff was severe. What was it? The intention is commendable, but they can’t allow special treatment?

“No, he said he’d train with his own money, so how is that special treatment?”

“Well, acting alone is acting alone. Besides, he’s a rookie who’s just joining the team. He needs to get used to the team atmosphere.”

“Acting alone my ass!! If you’re going to say that, then properly nurture the promising players!!”

Park Eun-jin was slightly agitated by the story of Hamin *hyung*. In my opinion, it seemed like she was angry not so much at the situation of the Marlins’ second team or Hamin *hyung*’s situation, but because the Phoenix and the Marlins, the team she supports, overlapped too much.

“By the way, is it okay for you to be on the phone like this? I heard your company is super busy because they’re forming another debut group or something.”

“No, it’s okay to take a break and talk on the phone during this time. Lunchtime is an hour, but the amount of food they give us is a 3-minute cut [a very short time]. More than that, I haven’t seen your face once since you came back to Korea, and your departure is already tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“This time, is it 3 months?”

“Probably around that?”

“Then you won’t be at the opening ceremony either?”

“Yeah, I’m planning to come back in time for the New World Big Mart National Tournament schedule.”

“But Suwon, you can’t participate in the tournament if you fail your grades, right? Are your grades okay? Can you leave right away this time without remedial classes or retaking the exam?”

“I checked my estimated score, and it’s okay.”

“Even math?”

“Of course. I learned a lesson from the midterm exam, so I did a little better this time.”

“A lesson?”

“Yeah, probabilistically, if you mark all the multiple-choice questions as number 3 and mark all the short-answer questions as 0, you’ll get 25 points.”

The average score at our school is between 60 and 70 points. That means you only need to get 24 to 28 points to pass the standard.

“So? How many points did you get?”

“According to the estimated score, 37 points. The math teacher seems to like the number 3 a bit.”

“……”

Park Eun-jin’s subtle silence.

I could fully understand that silence.

“Eun-jin…”

“Huh?”

“From now on, you should just mark number 3 too.”

“Okay…”

***

Unlike Korea, the United States has a semester system in September, and all semesters end in June. That means the resources drafted in July are resources who have already graduated from high school or college, or have finished their semester, and are immediately put into educational leagues or rookie leagues.

And that was the same for Alexander McDowell, the protagonist of 12.1 million dollars. He started playing in the Arizona Fall League immediately after the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup game.

He was the third youngest in this league, and the youngest among players who went through a normal draft, not international prospects. That’s because he dropped out of school and entered a junior college as a trick to apply for the draft, so his age is now only 17 years old. If he was normal, he would still have to attend high school for another year.

-Clang!!

A cool swing.

The batted ball hit by the bat flew far beyond the fence. Even in this place where only the talents carefully selected from 30 teams gathered, his talent was truly overwhelming.

His seventh home run of the season.

It was the moment he tied the record for the ‘team’ with the fewest home runs this season.

“Good job.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

But despite such a record, his face didn’t look very happy.

‘Choi Suwon.’

A rival in life who will surely meet in the Major League soon.

The final was too unsatisfactory. But it wasn’t far off. With his talent, it wouldn’t be long before he was called up to the majors. Although he started his professional life a year earlier, maybe that’s not so bad.

‘Unlike the MVP, the Rookie of the Year can be shared nicely, one for each, right?’

Alexander McDowell.

His middle school syndrome has not yet been cured.