The Price of a Ruined Shoulder
Two hundred and twenty million won. That was the exact amount stamped in the bank account under the name Kang Juhyuk. The compensation for fifteen years of life—from elementary school until now—and a left shoulder that had been ground to shreds.
It wasn’t a small sum. The problem was that aside from destroying my shoulder, I had never learned any other way to make money.
“One hundred and twenty degrees… Fuck.”
I threw the final pitch of my life with my right hand instead of my left, then turned my back on the baseball that weakly smacked into the wall. I trudged back to my shabby house.
It was a filthy cramped studio, but at least I kept it tidy. The place was clean. It was in a ridiculously good school district, so the rent was insanely expensive too. Still, because I had sold off all my baseball gear a few days ago, the empty space made the room feel strangely larger than usual.
I flung the window wide open to air out the stale smell and collapsed onto the mattress, sighing as the chilly late-winter wind slapped my face.
“Maybe I should look into delivery work.”
The mistake was getting hooked on the way a ball smacked perfectly into a mitt back in elementary school and choosing to become a pitcher. Since neither my uncle nor my aunt gave a shit about what I did with my life, I should have just done whatever the hell I wanted. If I was going to be stubborn, I should have ignored the coach and become a batter instead.
Even if I stuck with pitching, I should have noticed something was wrong the moment my shoulder started aching after throwing four games in a row. And even if I missed that, during the fall postseason when they called me up for ten straight games, I should have said firmly, “No, I can’t do that.”
Tell that brain-dead coach to manage his talent properly if the kid actually had potential. One hundred and forty-four games with eighty appearances? Add the postseason and it becomes one hundred and fifty-four games with ninety appearances. Even in the twentieth century they wouldn’t have worked a pitcher like that.
“Fuck… What’s the point of blaming anyone now.”
Of course I knew it was pointless. Our great and glorious manager was nothing but a puppet. The real powers were the owner and the general manager. If you got on their bad side for any reason, getting randomly traded to another team was just daily life on our squad.
And the reason was so obvious I didn’t even need to think about it deeply. Anyone could see why I had been marked by the front office.
There was one woman in our organization so stunning that people instinctively turned to look at her. And no, she wasn’t a cheerleader—she was just a regular team staff member. I had fooled around with a cheerleader once or twice, but the woman I’m talking about was on a completely different level.
What made her different? …Her body, obviously.
“Excuse me.”
“…What is it?”
The woman standing in front of me had beige-colored hair tied in a high ponytail and carried herself with an arrogant air. Her name was Seo Haeun. The tight business suit looked perfect on her, and her face was genuinely announcer-level beautiful. But far more important than her pretty face was—obviously—her body.
She wasn’t quite model material… she was closer to those gravure idols from the neighboring country. From the face alone she looked slim, but her breasts and thighs were insane. I had no idea why a woman like her was working for a pathetic minor-league team, but hey—good things are good things, right?
Plenty of players had already tried hitting on her, and I wasn’t exactly uninterested myself. Unfortunately, my first impression of her crumbled in no time at all.
“Let’s talk for a second.”
“So… what do you want?”
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but could you stop ignoring people so blatantly?”
“…When did I?”
That signature, irritating glare. …And that condescending expression and attitude. She never said it out loud, but her eyes always made it crystal clear. We didn’t cross paths that often, but since she was staff, I saw her at every single game.
“You just did it. You clicked your tongue when you walked past me.”
“…I bumped my shoulder. Satisfied?”
“As far as I know, there are plenty of other people you do that to. Did you bump shoulders with them too?”
“What are you even talking about all of a sudden? …Move. Stop picking a fight.”
I admit I’m a bit sensitive, but I wasn’t the only one who felt this discomfort. Aside from a few brain-dead idiots who thought she was pretty so everything was fine, most people had similar experiences and found her unpleasant.
“I don’t have any particular thoughts about you, but a lot of players find you annoying, so please be more careful. I’m just a rookie, but the other players have real pull around here, you know?”
Especially the guys in the second team and the ace veterans. The second-team kids had built up fantasies after seeing her face and body, only for them to be brutally shattered, so now they hated her. The ace seniors, on the other hand, had been treated kindly for years and found it refreshing to finally be treated like a rookie for once. In a way, she was so consistently awful that it was paradoxically almost likable.
“…Are you threatening me?”
“What threat? You really choose your words carefully, don’t you. I’m just letting you know that the players complain about you every time they see you. If something happens, it’ll only cause trouble for the organization.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. Move.”
“Ugh, seriously…”
Truthfully, as someone who was basically the youngest on the roster, I didn’t need to say any of this to her. But the reason I couldn’t hold back the sudden surge of irritation was because I was certain I wouldn’t lose anything from it.
At the very least, within the team her reputation was “that bitch with the body that makes you horny.” I was the overwhelming runner-up for Rookie of the Year, a key bullpen arm who got along well with the veterans. I figured there was almost no way this would come back to bite me.
And honestly… after listening to the seniors sexually harass her behind her back, I felt a little sorry for her. If her attitude didn’t change, she seemed like she’d eventually quit. So I wanted to scare her a bit and make her soften up. If you call it meddling, I have nothing to say, but… so what? She was pretty, so I was looking out for her.
“I said move! I’m going to scream!”
“Wait, I didn’t even—”
“Hey, Juhyuk. What are you doing over there?”
“Ah, Senior.”
“…”
“Um… oh, she’s gone.”
But right as a close senior called out to me from behind, she whipped around and ran off. It looked exactly like I had been caught trying to hit on her, so I deliberately kept a calm face and answered smoothly.
“What the hell, were you actually hitting on her? She ran off like her ass was on fire.”
“Come on, what are you talking about, Senior? I don’t even like her, and we’re not on the same level.”
“Look at this cocky bastard. What do you mean you’re not on the same level?”
“I’m saying I’m lower. I’m still a rookie, aren’t I?”
“Anyway, what did you say to her?”
“Ah, nothing much. She was getting annoyed with me, so…”
“Why?”
“I bumped into her shoulder.”
I kept chatting like nothing had happened, but in my head I recalled the image of Seo Haeun that remained. …Honestly, she really was pretty. The excuse I used about bumping shoulders wasn’t entirely without ulterior motives. Well, I wasn’t planning to seriously pursue her or anything.
“…Um, Juhyuk. I wasn’t going to say anything originally, but just in case, I’ll tell you this.”
“What is it?”
“You know that superstar audition program, right?”
“Ah, yeah. I know of it.”
“She was on it. She brought her little sister with her, and that sister actually debuted as an idol.”
I was slightly surprised by the unexpected family story, but it wasn’t that hard to understand. Given how Seo Haeun looked, her family probably had similar genes. It made sense that her sister could become an idol or an actress. If anything, the real question was why Seo Haeun herself was working here after appearing on an audition show. Could she not sing? She always seemed to have a good voice, so I doubted that was the case…
“But her sister’s real name is Seo Yeeun. Her stage name is Seo Jia.”
“You really know your idols, Senior.”
“That’s beside the point. The important thing is… that girl is the general manager’s daughter.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Our general manager’s name is Seo Gihun. She’s his daughter. Seo Haeun, Seo Yeeun.”
“…Ah.”
But as my senior continued speaking, I realized I had made a very serious mistake.
…That woman was the general manager’s daughter? Our general manager? Director Seo Gihun?
“You should probably be careful. With that terrible personality of hers, if you slip up she could go straight to her father.”
“…Thank you, Senior.”
“I gave you such important information. Aren’t you going to do anything for your senior?”
“Haha, I sent you Hanwoo beef for New Year’s…”
“You little shit, how long are you going to milk that? The way you talk, you sound like a twenty-four-year veteran instead of a four-year one.”
“Of course I’ll send some for Chuseok too. Our veteran catcher Hwang Sanghun who enjoys those delicious rookie ribs. Hahaha.”
“This bastard’s trying to pay me off with money? Forget that—go around telling people that the catcher’s lead is so good that you can pitch well. You’re good with words.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure to say it in any interview. As expected, having a veteran behind the plate really puts my mind at ease…”
“That’s right. Our Juhyuk really knows how to listen to his seniors. If we had three more like you, our team would have already won the championship.”
“Of course.”
…Still, it wasn’t like I had started a huge fight, right? I was just giving her a well-meaning warning. My reputation among the seniors was good, and I got along with the younger players too. No matter how petty a person was, there was no way something like that would—
Surprisingly, it did.
Of course, I didn’t think that woman had some supernatural power that let her telekinetically destroy my shoulder. But the trade rumors that followed me all season, and the way the manager worked my shoulder like a crazy butcher—there had to be something behind it. There was no rational reason to sell me off.
My personal life was a little… wild, sure, but I had never cheated on anyone. I wasn’t even dating anyone in the first place. I had managed things pretty cleanly so no rumors would spread. So why the hell did they—
At the time I told myself it was just ridiculous paranoia and brushed it off coolly.
…But the result was right in front of me.
My shoulder was shredded like a dog’s chew toy. Then I was released without proper rehabilitation support. Rumors spread among both seniors and juniors that I must have gotten on the general manager’s bad side. Even a friend I knew from rehab joked, “Did you get caught touching the general manager’s daughter?”
Touching her? All I did was bump her shoulder, damn it.
…This world really is fucking garbage.
What the hell did I do so wrong to end up like this?
Haha…
If I ever run into that woman again by some stroke of luck, I’ll seduce her no matter what it takes and fuck her until she passes out. Since my life is already ruined anyway, dragging her down with me should at least make me feel a little better.