Villain On The Mound [EN]: Chapter 3

Villain on the Mound – Episode 3

Villain on the Mound 3

5 a.m.

It was the time Ha-sung left home.

“Hoo… it’s a bit chilly.”

Stepping out at dawn, he felt a coolness.

The scorching weather of August felt like a distant memory.

“Shall I warm up quickly?”

Ha-sung started running.

It was a one-hour running route starting from his house.

At first, it was a light jog.

The speed was about 6km per hour.

It was the best speed to warm up his body in his current condition.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

He focused on the movement of his hips while paying attention to his breathing.

Running isn’t inherently difficult.

But running *properly* requires considerable skill.

First, he had to get his breathing right.

If his breathing was disrupted, the efficiency of the exercise would decrease.

Running greatly helps with cardiovascular endurance, but if breathing doesn’t keep up, it negatively affects the improvement of cardiovascular endurance.

‘If you don’t properly engage your pelvis, the force connecting the movements of your upper and lower body weakens.’

What’s important in pitching is the connection between the movements of the upper and lower body.

If the connection isn’t properly made, it interferes with the transfer of power, affecting the pitch.

Ha-sung ran while thinking about these things.

‘The training efficiency of thinking versus not thinking is drastically different.’

If you think, your body follows suit.

When actually throwing the ball, if you focus on throwing it there, the ball goes there.

But if you throw the ball without thinking, it often flies haphazardly.

“Since I’m starting to warm up…”

The sweat from his forehead trickled down his jawline.

Confirming that, Ha-sung pushed off the ground.

‘I need to increase the speed!’

The speed increased rapidly, and his heart beat intensely.

If it was aerobic exercise until now, now he was entering the anaerobic zone.

It was painful because he couldn’t breathe properly.

But Ha-sung didn’t slow down.

‘I need to put more strain on my heart and lungs.’

The human body is amazing.

When pushed to the limit, it sends a signal that it’s painful.

But what happens if you ignore that signal and keep pushing?

‘It’s coming.’

Endorphins, a type of pain-relieving neurotransmitter, are released from the brain, eliminating the pain.

This is a mental aspect.

In the physical aspect, if you experience damage from pain, you become stronger to overcome that pain.

This is the principle of how muscles grow.

This was the same for organs as well.

‘To make them stronger, I have to push them to the limit.’

Ha-sung pushed his body even harder.

* * *

Ha-sung planned his schedule systematically.

In the early morning, he increased his cardiovascular endurance through running, and after school, he went straight to the gym.

‘I need to work my muscles too.’

Ha-sung’s physical condition was excellent.

The biggest advantage was that he was 185cm tall [approximately 6’1″].

His shoulders were broad, and his legs were long.

He was able to throw fastballs because he had this kind of physique.

‘My problem in this era is that I weigh too little.’

Weight is determined by three factors.

Muscle, fat, and bone.

The weight of bones cannot be adjusted arbitrarily.

What’s left is muscle and fat.

People who diet try to minimize fat as much as possible.

That’s because it creates a visually appealing body.

‘But baseball players also need fat.’

Energy was needed to move the body.

Fat was what could store energy efficiently.

Burning fat to get energy was how people moved.

In the case of ordinary people, even if they have little fat, they don’t have any problems living because they don’t move much.

But baseball players are different.

‘They play in games for half of the 365 days a year. In the process, they have to consume a different amount of energy than ordinary people. If such baseball players cut all their fat, they cannot complete the full season.’

That’s why appropriate fat is needed.

Ha-sung chose to increase both fat and muscle through bulking up.

‘Cut the insufficient parts later.’

Bulking up is a method of increasing weight to build muscle and then cutting unnecessary fat to reduce it.

If you don’t pinpoint the amount of fat to cut, you can become overweight.

But he could try it boldly because he had enough knowledge.

‘Let’s train the lower body first.’

Many experts advise doing lower body exercises.

This isn’t simply because the lower body supports the body.

The glutes, quadriceps femoris, and semimembranosus are the largest muscles humans have.

If you train these, you can explosively increase muscle mass.

In addition, it stabilizes the balance of the body, so there was no reason not to do lower body training.

“Hoo…”

Ha-sung filled the barbell with plates for squats and placed it on his shoulders.

The weight was 110kg [approximately 242 pounds].

Since Ha-sung’s current weight was in the 70kg range [approximately 154 pounds], it was a considerably high weight.

A man wearing a sleeveless shirt approached, thinking it was too much.

“Student, you’ll get hurt if you do that from the beginning. Reduce the weight a little more…”

Ha-sung glanced at him once and then gave strength to his upper body.

“Hup!”

The weight that seemed too much was lifted lightly.

“Huh?”

The sleeveless man’s eyes widened.

He knew how good Ha-sung’s posture was because he had a considerable amount of exercise experience.

‘He’s lifting that weight with such a perfect posture?’

The man was shocked.

His exercise experience was 7 years.

He was experienced enough to be a trainer.

‘His posture is too perfect. How can he control that weight without his posture collapsing?’

Of course, he could do it too.

But that’s because his weight is at least 1.5 times more than the boy’s.

‘And the stimulation of the muscles is also art.’

The boy’s muscles aren’t that big.

Nevertheless, it was visually confirmed that the muscles were properly stimulated.

‘If the force is focused on other places, the muscles won’t move that much. He’s really amazing.’

The man became more and more fascinated by Ha-sung’s movements.

‘The squats I did involved unnecessary movements and force. If I do it like that too…’

He wasn’t just admiring Ha-sung.

He thought about how to correct his actions.

Meanwhile, Ha-sung’s exercise continued.

Starting with squats, he intensively stimulated his lower body.

It was the most representative three-part exercise method in weight training.

‘Detailed muscle building can be done after the body is made. First, build the body by focusing on the largest muscles.’

Ha-sung’s physical remodeling operation began.

* * *

One month after starting exercise.

As he entered the gym, the eyes of the muscular men who were exercising were focused on Ha-sung.

“He’s here.”

“He came again today.”

“He did lower body yesterday, so he’ll do upper body today, right?”

“He will.”

The sound of them whispering among themselves caught Ha-sung’s ears.

But Ha-sung ignored them and moved according to his routine.

After finishing his warm-up with running and stretching, Ha-sung immediately moved to the free weight area.

Then, as if they had been waiting, the men also followed.

Ha-sung inserted plates into the barbell, sat on the bench, and took a breath.

“How many kilos is it?”

“60 kilos [approximately 132 pounds].”

“It’s still a warm-up.”

“When I saw him last time, the stimulation he gave with low weight was no joke.”

While the muscular men were talking about Ha-sung’s exercise.

Ha-sung lightly lifted the barbell with his breath.

As he slowly lifted the barbell, his chest muscles were stimulated.

“If you lift it like that, the pectoralis major muscle is properly stimulated, right?”

“The stimulation is going so far that you can see it with your eyes.”

“Even though the weight isn’t high, the stimulation is going that far. It’s amazing.”

“That’s because his posture is good.”

“Usually, you have to hit it with high weight.”

People murmured and were amazed.

In this era of Korea, weight training was the preserve of some enthusiasts.

In addition, the weight training method was not very developed.

Many of the things that were said to be the answer in this era were wrong in the future.

It was difficult to obtain advanced exercise methods in Korea, so there were quite a few people who exercised in a rough-and-tumble manner.

When Ha-sung, armed with the latest methods, appeared in front of such people, everyone couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

Ha-sung did not lose his concentration even while being watched.

He continued to exercise as efficiently as possible, stimulating the correct areas.

As a result.

“Hmm…”

After all the exercise was over, Ha-sung, who took off his clothes in the locker room, looked at his body reflected in the mirror.

“The speed isn’t bad.”

His body had become much better compared to a month ago.

First of all, his weight increased by 5kg [approximately 11 pounds].

A successful bulk-up was achieved, with 3kg [approximately 6.6 pounds] of the increased weight being filled with muscle.

“If it continues to increase at this rate, I might be able to do bodybuilding.”

But Ha-sung knew very well that it was impossible.

“It’s the beginning, so it’s increasing like this. It will be difficult to gain weight in the future.”

People who haven’t exercised gain muscle quickly in the beginning.

The method of losing weight and gaining muscle at the same time, which is called a recomp diet, also comes from this effect.

Ha-sung was bulking up, not dieting, but he was able to get this effect because he weighed so little.

“Above all, my genes aren’t bad.”

The increase in muscle requires effort.

But what’s more important than that is genes.

Ha-sung’s genes were very good.

His innate shoulders and physique proved it.

With knowledge combined with it, he showed a growth rate that could not be compared to his previous life.

‘At this rate, I can maintain a better body condition than the life I lived before.’

He gave up high school baseball for that.

There are no regrets.

Because everything was according to plan.

* * *

Ha-sung spent his high school years quietly.

He didn’t quit the baseball team.

He steadily went out and engaged in training.

His colleagues looked at Ha-sung with unfavorable eyes.

“That bastard ruined our national tournament.”

“Why did he suddenly rebel against the coach?”

Most of them didn’t talk directly.

But not everyone was like that.

“Hey! Jung Ha-sung.”

A male student who was a head taller than Ha-sung approached.

He looked like an adult just by his appearance, but he was wearing a baseball team uniform, so I thought he was a student.

“Yes, senior [older student].”

Yang Dong-geun, a third-year pitcher.

That was the male student’s name.

He wasn’t an ace, but he was a fastball pitcher who threw a maximum speed of 140km [approximately 87 mph].

His control was unstable, but his future was promising.

There were even rumors that several clubs would nominate him [for the professional draft].

“Why did you do that this time? If the coach was going to put you up there because he was thinking of you, you should have said thank you and gone up!”

“I threw too much the day before, so my body condition was bad. That’s why I said I couldn’t go up. Didn’t the coach get excited and hit me on his own?”

“What?! You bastard! You ruined our national tournament! Besides, the coach was fired, so the baseball team atmosphere is a mess!”

“Is that my fault? The coach was fired because he did something wrong in the first place. He committed statutory rape. Is that my fault too?”

Yang Dong-geun’s face contorted at Ha-sung’s retort.

“So you’re saying you did well?!”

“There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“This bastard!!”

Yang Dong-geun grabbed Ha-sung by the collar.

And the moment he was about to swing his fist.

Ha-sung’s lips curled up.

“Can you handle it?”

“What? Why? Are you going to send me away too?”

“Yes. There are a lot of problems with school violence these days, right? What will happen if I stab you in the media [report you to the press]?”

“…What?”

“They’ll bite the senior very well. Oh? By the way, this baseball team’s former coach has a history of taking kickbacks [bribes], right? If you dig into it, you’ll naturally find the person who put the money in, right?”

“You… are you?! Are you clean?!”

It’s hard to find someone who plays baseball in Korea and doesn’t give bribes.

Ha-sung is the same.

His parents must have given a lot of money behind the scenes without him knowing.

Ha-sung did not deny it.

“I’ll be dirty too. But there’s one difference between you and me.”

“What… what is it?”

“You’re in a position to be nominated for the pros soon, and I’m not.”

Yang Dong-geun’s face hardened.

“Will a pro team nominate a player who has been embroiled in school violence? Even if he’s not an ace-level player, but just a so-so player?”

“What… what?! What about you?! You’re in the same position!”

“You’re really stupid. I sent the former coach away myself. In the domestic baseball world, where personal connections are important, will there be a place to nominate a crazy person like me?”

“This… this bastard is really crazy, isn’t he?”

Ha-sung’s twisted smile deepened even more.

“Yes. I’m crazy. So hit me once. I’ll show you how crazy I am.”

“Eek… eek!”

Anger soared to the top of his head.

But Yang Dong-geun couldn’t do anything.

Ha-sung quietly said to him.

“Let go.”

Soon, Yang Dong-geun’s hand was released, and the situation ended with that.

At the same time, it was the moment when Ha-sung was branded as a crazy person.