The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 91

91. Two Billion Won (5)

Someone once said that the saddest day of the year is when the baseball season ends. But for Oh Gyu-hwan, at least today, that statement didn’t ring true.

“Damn Nakdong River Education League.”

Why did it have to start up again, tormenting Oh Gyu-hwan just when the baseball season was finally over?

It took Oh Gyu-hwan only 0.01 seconds to stop himself from throwing his smartphone, a feat achieved thanks to the 877,000 won still owed in installments. Still, unable to simply lower his raised hand like a reasonable person, he carefully separated the smartphone from its bumper case, tossing the case onto the floor.

“Aish, damn it!!!”

Okay, he understood that the Education League wasn’t about winning. But still, how could a record of 2 wins and 9 losses possibly make sense? At this rate, wasn’t next year’s outcome painfully obvious?

More than anything, considering the Education League generally gave rookies significant playing time, it was truly unbearable that the Marines, who held the No. 1 pick this year, had only managed 2 wins and 9 losses.

─AutumnMarines: Seriously, why isn’t Choi Soo-won participating in the Education League?

─again1984: I know someone on the team, and they said he hasn’t joined at all?

─ChoiKangDongwon: What are you talking about? Does Choi Soo-won have some kind of problem? Why hasn’t he joined the team?

─again1984: No, that’s not it. They just said he’s doing personal training.

─SajikYagada: Is he crazy? This isn’t the majors. No, even the majors wouldn’t do that. A rookie doing personal training?

─MathematicsTextbookMarines: Come to think of it, Choi Soo-won’s reputation in high school wasn’t good either.

─ChoiKangDongwon: Reputation?

─MathematicsTextbookMarines: Yeah, there’s a rumor that he was a self-centered jerk who ignored his seniors because he was good at baseball.

─again1984: A rookie doing personal training is ignoring his seniors. Tsk tsk. Think about it.

─SajikYagada: Anyway, that former general manager. His skill in picking rookies is something else. Sigh. The first round is a self-centered jerk with a terrible work ethic who only lives for himself. The second round is a catcher who only hits ground balls? Hey, tell him to quit. I knew it from the start when he kept picking kids from Seoul while ignoring Gyeonggi Province.

─AutumnMarines: Still, Baek Ha-min pitches well, right?

─SajikYagada: Yeah, Jo Gyu-chan pitched better.

The internet was, as always, a mess.

As you get closer to the core fan base, you can’t help but be interested in the rookie draft. Big FA [Free Agent] signings grab people’s attention with the amount of money involved, but what’s more important to a team than that is, of course, the franchise player.

As with any sport, baseball is a regional sport, and naturally, you can’t help but feel more favorable towards players from that region. This isn’t just the case in Korean sports. It’s the same in Japan and the United States.

“These bastards are at it again. Seriously, how long has it been since regionalism disappeared? Sigh.”

Of course, the Marines’ case was a bit special.

Usually, they just ‘prefer’ players from their region, but in the case of the Marines, it was true that an atmosphere of rejecting players from outside the region had formed.

And the biggest problem that arose from that was that they couldn’t play baseball well.

Faced with this online sentiment, Oh Gyu-hwan thought.

That picking Choi Soo-won wasn’t a mistake. The Choi Soo-won he had scouted was the real deal. Of course, there were those who said, ‘Where is there a player who can’t show that kind of performance with just highlight editing?’ But the answer Oh Gyu-hwan could give to those guys was, ‘Where in the world is there a player whose every play becomes a highlight reel?’

“Sigh… But no matter how busy you are with personal training, shouldn’t you be able to play at least one game? You got 2 billion won, after all?”

***

“Oh, Joo-eon. What brings you here?”

“It’s my job to go around the school like this, so what do you mean ‘what brings me here’?”

“Hey, I’m just saying because I’m glad to see you. Glad to see you.”

“How’s Soo-won doing?”

Manager Kim’s gaze flicked over to Choi Soo-won, who was warming up nearby.

“How is he? He’s amazing. I guarantee your team will be a huge hit next year. I’m going to put money in a Busan Bank savings account next year.”

“Is he that good? I remember you cursing Busan Bank, saying it was a legitimate national fraud.”

“Hey, don’t even mention it. They’re going to pay out for the first time this time. What’s the problem with the Marines?”

“Well… If there was a problem with us this season, it’s that our stamina ran out in the second half, so depth? If the depth was a little better, we could have endured while giving the players a rest.”

“No, that’s not it. That’s not the fundamental problem with the Marines.”

“Then what’s the fundamental problem with the Marines?”

“Well, there’s no homegrown ace, there’s no hitter to anchor the lineup, and the defense often falters.”

That was undeniably true.

“Wait a minute, hyung [older brother/friend]. That last statement was a bit painful? That fact just hit me hard? No, if a baseball team can’t pitch, can’t hit, and can’t even defend, that just means they can’t do anything.”

“But listen. If you have one homegrown ace and one hitter to anchor the lineup, then the only problem is the defense. You can aim for the championship even if one of the three is a little lacking. It’s not like all the other teams are perfect.”

“So you’re saying Choi Soo-won alone will do all that? Hey, hyung. Of course, I’ve been pushing Choi Soo-won hard since last year, but honestly, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? Well, the hitting is okay, but the pitching isn’t ace-level yet.”

“Just wait and see. If you leave him with me for just two more months? You won’t have to worry about one of your starting spots at all.”

Manager Kim had known Park Gwang-sik for nine years already.

He was a boastful hyung. But one thing was certain: when it came to baseball, he didn’t easily make false statements.

“Since hyung is saying that, I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

“Soo-won, are you all warmed up?”

“Yes.”

“Choi Soo-won, it’s been a while. Is this the first time we’ve met since the draft day?”

A youthful face that hadn’t fully matured yet.

Could this young man really become the savior of the Marines?

Manager Kim hoped that Park Gwang-sik’s words would come true.

He was thirty-five years old this year. The Marines last won the championship the year he was born. For the sake of the countless fans who supported the Marines, fans he had met throughout his life, the Marines needed to win at least once.

Of course, if Choi Soo-won’s performance led to the championship, it was also important that his own future, as the one who had first recognized and recommended him, would become a little brighter.

“Alright, then let’s not stand here and talk; let’s go get dinner together.”

“What? Is it the company card?”

“The limit is 150,000 won.”

“Hey, 150,000 won is enough. There’s a place in front of the school that’s good at cold pork belly, so let’s go there.”

A store filled with the savory smell of grilling pork.

Park Gwang-sik volunteered to hold the tongs and scissors. As expected of a former athlete and a current athlete’s appetite, it didn’t take long for 25 servings of 6,000 won frozen pork belly to disappear.

“Choi Soo-won, I’m just saying this just in case. Don’t misunderstand, because I’m not forcing you.”

“Yes, please speak comfortably.”

Park Gwang-sik, who was scraping the remaining soybean paste stew, suddenly jumped into the conversation.

“What is it? Why are you suddenly so serious?”

“No, I was wondering if you could participate in the last game of the Nakdong River Education League the day after tomorrow.”

“Education League?”

“Yeah, it’s good to get a feel for the game. It’s not bad to get a head start on working with your teammates. The atmosphere is a bit different from high school baseball in many ways.”

“Well, that’s true. I feel like I’m slowly getting used to the curveball, so it wouldn’t be bad to go and throw some balls for a while.”

“Right? It’s good practice to throw in a real game.”

Manager Kim’s face brightened at Park Gwang-sik’s words.

“Soo-won, don’t you want to eat ice cream?”

“Huh? Suddenly?”

“Suddenly? It’s natural to want ice cream after eating meat. Here, use this to go to the convenience store across the street and buy some ice cream.”

“Hyung, just on the way…”

“Uh-huh, a gentleman always eats everything, including dessert, in one place. Soo-won, here. Buy it with this card. Never even go near the fancy ice cream corner. Two-plus-one [buy two, get one free].”

Soo-won got up from his seat without a word. Unlike some, Soo-won had a sense of tact. Sending him on an ice cream errand at this timing, it was obvious to anyone that the purpose wasn’t ice cream, but to have a conversation with Manager Kim alone for a while.

And it wasn’t like he had no idea what the content would be.

“Okay, now that Soo-won is gone, let’s talk honestly. Is your general manager struggling a lot these days?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you surprised? Everyone in this industry knows you’re on the former general manager’s line.”

The biggest problem with the Phoenix, which is called one of the two major floors of the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] along with the Marines, is the respect for the franchise. Of course, you might think, ‘How can treating the franchise be a problem?’ But the Phoenix goes beyond simple treatment and hires them as coaches. Of course, it’s not that good players always ruin themselves as coaches. But the qualities needed for a good player and a good coach are subtly different, and that was the biggest problem with the Phoenix coaching staff.

So what about the Marines, who are on par with the Phoenix?

Here, they don’t treat the franchise that well. Here, they value school ties and personal connections more. It sounds like it’s even more of a mess. But surprisingly, whether it’s a coach who maintains his position with school ties and personal connections or a coach who maintains his position with his reputation during his active career, it’s about the same, so it’s not that much more of a mess.

Anyway, it’s not that the Marines don’t know that, so they sometimes bring in foreign managers or radically bring in general managers, but it’s almost impossible to change the people and systems that have been in place for decades in an instant. Eventually, after time passes, it returns to its original state.

And one of those radical general managers was Jeon Sang-ik, the current general manager of the Marines.

“Honestly, he’s probably struggling a bit. From three years ago to this year, the amount of money the former general manager spent on the rookie draft is unprecedented, but the Education League results with those rookies as the main players are like this.”

At this rate, they should have spent money on FA instead. These stories can’t help but come out here and there. Of course, it was a somewhat unfair assessment from Jeon Sang-ik’s point of view.

Choi Min-hyuk, the first-round pick of the draft two years ago, was pitching quite well in the first team before being sidelined by elbow surgery, and Baek Ha-min, the first-round pick last year, was very good.

But anyway, the result is the result. This boiling public opinion is bound to be quite burdensome for Jeon Sang-ik.

“But if a 2 billion won rookie suddenly appears here and shows an overwhelming performance, those stories will disappear. Of course, there’s a risk. If he comes up in bad condition and fails, the public opinion will get even worse, saying that the prospect they spent 2 billion won on is in that shape. So you came to see it with your own eyes. Isn’t that right?”

“Hyung… What are you? Have you been hiding your intelligence until now?”

“Hey, what am I hiding? People misunderstand because my body has gotten a little plump. I was originally an intelligent pitcher even during my active career. Anyway, I personally get angry when I see those public officials in the Marines, so I’ll help too. No, have I already helped?”

“Helped?”

“Yeah, you idiot. Soo-won is quite stubborn, so once he says no, he usually doesn’t change his mind. If he says he won’t participate in the Education League, then he’ll say he doesn’t like it no matter what conditions you bring. So…”