The Baseball Club Has a Team Dinner (2)
It had been, what, about an hour since the baseball club's team dinner got into full swing?
Contrary to her usual image, the first to drop—somewhat surprisingly—was Kim Na-hyun.
"Na-hyun sunbae, are you all right?"
"...Mmh. I'm f, fiiiine..."
Kim Na-hyun groaned into the tabletop, her expression promising anything but fine.
Up until a few minutes ago she'd been staring at me with this oddly resolute look, and I'd wondered if she was planning to drag me off for a second round once the dinner broke up. I'd even been getting ready for it. And now the woman herself had gone and passed out just like that. So much for that.
"Uuugh... uuum..."
Watching her moan at empty air, face flushed scarlet, I felt a flicker of worry and asked.
"Na-hyun sunbae, are you really okay?"
"Ah, Na-hyun? She's a born lightweight. Drops like a fly."
"...Is that right?"
"She spends all day playing the wild delinquent, but scratch the surface and she's a total wallflower. Can't hold her liquor, never even had a proper relationship, from what I hear. Cracks me up, honestly."
"...The hell, you bitch? You picking a fight?"
"Oh, right, Seo-rin, you've never dated anyone either, have you? My bad, heh heh."
"Uu, uuugh..."
The fourth-year seniors, scarcely sparing a glance for the drunken Kim Na-hyun, went on chatting among themselves.
I was debating whether I should be the one to see her home and had just started to rise when Oh Yu-ra beat me to it, easing Kim Na-hyun's arm over her shoulder.
"Let's get you to the dorm, Na-hyun."
"Uu, uuugh..."
"I said let's go, drunkard."
"Uuuh, I'm, I'm still f-fine, though..."
"Then get up."
Oh Yu-ra steadied her and hauled her upright with practiced calm. Apparently this happened often enough that she had the routine down cold.
With Yu-ra offering to take her, it felt a little awkward for me to stand as well—and besides, it made more sense for Yu-ra, who roomed in the same dorm, to handle it.
"Uuuh... Tae-oh... you should... walk me back..."
"Tae-oh's perfectly fine. What kind of nonsense is that."
"Uu, uuugh..."
—thud.
"...Haah."
Mumbling my name like an idiot, and then—just like that—she was asleep.
"We'll head in now."
"Ah, Yu-ra. It's always you doing the heavy lifting."
"Good night, sunbaes!"
Half-carrying the girl, Oh Yu-ra walked the two of them out of the restaurant.
The drinking carried on after that, the party thinning out a head at a time.
"I should head in too."
"Ye-rim, you too? That's early."
"Tomorrow's a holiday, so I'm meeting my boyfriend."
"Well, can't be helped, then."
"Good night, Ye-rim sunbae."
"Yeah. Oh—and like I said earlier, I don't consider it stealing, you taking my spot at third, Tae-oh, so don't lug around some pointless guilt. Just keep working hard like you have been, all right?"
"Yes, thank you!"
Kwon Ye-rim's parting words were a blessing of sorts—don't burden yourself over the starting third baseman's job, since after graduation she'd be inheriting her parents' business, not a baseball career—and with that, she took her leave.
"Hooo, I should probably head in soon too..."
"Tired, Do-hee?"
"Yeees... a little..."
"You're a freshman, so know your limit and stop there. Glad you came tonight."
"Yeees... me too..."
With Do-hee, who had held out impressively long for a freshman, also off to the dorm, the only ones left at the table besides me were the three fourth-year veterans.
"You hold your liquor pretty well, huh, Tae-oh? I had money on the guy going down first."
"I'm pacing myself, that's all."
"Your girlfriend won't have to worry about you coming home drunk, at least. Even if some other girl tried to make a move on you, she'd be the one passing out first."
"Hey—what kind of shit is that to say in front of the guy? I swear, Han Yu-seul, keeping that mouth of yours shut would be doing everyone a favor."
"Stop bickering with Tae-oh caught in the middle, you two. If you insist on doing this every time, maybe I'll just tell him to come sit over here on my side."
Kang Ra-hee refereeing between her battery partners, who couldn't stand each other on the best of days—the same exchange played itself out a few more times, and by the time roughly three hours had passed, the warm, mellow mood of the meal had ripened into a slow wind-down.
"Finish what's left in your glass and let's call it a night."
"Eh? I can still go, though."
"You're starting in four days, you lush."
"Yeah, and four whole days away."
"Which is exactly why you should be managing your condition. Honestly—for someone calling herself a starting pitcher, not an ounce of responsibility."
"Aigoo, fine, fine~."
Kang Ra-hee closed out the meal with brisk finality, and Han Yu-seul, having failed to hold out, finally dragged herself up from her seat.
"You all right, Tae-oh? You didn't overdo it?"
"I'm fine."
"Good—you look fine. Next time, don't linger just to keep your sunbaes happy. Duck out early, like Ye-rim did. Make up an excuse—say you've got a lover waiting."
"I don't have a lover, though."
"That's the point I'm making. Especially with Han Yu-seul—you indulge every single one of her moods, and before you know it she's a goddamn nightmare to be rid of. You know that, right? Draw your own line and keep a sensible distance."
"I'll keep it in mind."
She'd been looking out for me noticeably more since I'd become the starting third baseman. Taking Kang Ra-hee's advice with a grain of salt, I stepped out of the restaurant alongside her once she'd settled the bill.
"Brrr... it's April, but once the sun's down it gets a little cold..."
"Where's Seo-rin?"
"Says she's going to walk it off and sober up before heading in."
"All right. I'm going straight home tonight, not stopping by the dorm, so Yu-seul, you get yourself back safely on your own."
"'Course I will~."
"And don't you two go dragging Tae-oh into a second round just to mess with him."
"I said I wouldn't, geez~."
Kang Ra-hee vanished into the night, still doling out warnings to the very last, while Han Yu-seul answered each one with a breezy, unbothered wave of her hand.
"Ah, I'm going to stop by a convenience store first."
"Oh, yeah? Then see you the day after tomorrow~. Good work tonight, Home Run King~."
"Yes, Yu-seul sunbae."
"Don't forget our deal, okay? At least one home run in Wednesday's game..."
Home runs on the days she started, too—she kept chattering right up to the end as she wandered off toward the dorms. I watched her go for a moment, then turned my steps toward the convenience store.
A park near Chaewon University.
"......Hoo."
Using her walk as cover, Cha Seo-rin settled onto a bench, face still faintly flushed from the alcohol, and let out a long breath.
"...Damn, you're good, you punk."
There was never any question who the muttering was aimed at.
Kang Tae-oh.
The monster who, on top of homering in at-bat after at-bat from his very first official game, had personally swept up four of the six runs Chaewon University managed to put on the board.
Summoning the image of him standing in the batter's box, Cha Seo-rin found a strange guilt creeping over her, whether she wanted it or not.
"Haah... if I'd known he'd be that good, I should've just cheered for him from the start."
In a baseball world populated by nothing but women, a man taking the field could expect nothing but eyes thick with prejudice.
But to Cha Seo-rin, a male baseball player meant something categorically different than it did to anyone else.
Cha Joo-won.
Her older brother, three years her senior—a man who, like Kang Tae-oh, had been born male and still clawed desperately at the dream of professional baseball.
Of course, in this world, a man training with his sights on something like the KLB knew exactly what looks he'd get back for his trouble.
Not one genuine cheer—just ridicule, and the slow slide into somebody's spectacle.
Cha Seo-rin knew all too well how much her brother had suffered walking that road.
He'd given up on going pro in the end. These days he somehow kept a men's semi-pro club team afloat, but the struggle hadn't gotten any lighter.
Sometimes women would contact him under the pretext of sponsorship, asking to meet him privately—she'd heard him gripe about it more than once, and every time, the worry she carried as his little sister grew heavier.
Early last year, when Kang Tae-oh had said he wanted to join the baseball club even as a mere practice player—
From the moment she'd seen those eyes, burning with that same passion, a gut feeling had whispered that he was headed down a path eerily like her brother's.
She'd worried he'd come out of it wounded, chewed up among the other players for nothing—and hoping he'd find his way to some other sport, any sport but baseball, sooner rather than later, she'd made a habit of casually steering him toward other events.
With a physique like Kang Tae-oh's, men's volleyball or men's basketball would've been well within reach—and at least those fields offered far brighter prospects than men's baseball ever would.
...Though after watching his first official game, the only thing left was the admission that she'd worried over nothing.
The way he'd done his job—batting, fielding, all of it—had left no room for denial.
That a man, even a man, could have skill more than good enough to survive the professional leagues. If that man was Kang Tae-oh.
Well. If it's going that well for him, then good.
All she had to do was start cheering for him in earnest from here on out.
Granted, she had her doubts that Kang Tae-oh—the man she'd spent a full year riding nonstop—would take her support to heart. But even if he didn't, so be it.
Just seeing him hold his own among the pros as a male baseball player would be enough. Seeing him achieve, in his own body, the dream her brother never could.
...Just as she herself, chasing that dream in her brother's place, had switched from soccer to baseball—belatedly, but she'd made the switch.
"...I'm just glad it's working out for him."
Cha Seo-rin was murmuring it under her breath, just pushing herself up from the bench, when a voice from behind her drifted into her ear.
"And what exactly is working out so well?"
......
Was she drunker than she'd thought? Turning her head, she found a face she knew all too well.
Kang Tae-oh, convenience store bag swinging from one hand, regarding her with perfect composure—and Cha Seo-rin's mind promptly tied itself in knots.
"...T-Tae-oh...?"
In any case, the alcohol was well and truly gone.