An Unwanted Reunion
The baseless hope that I might snap my eyes open and find myself thrown back several years had already been shattered hundreds of times long ago.
As expected, when I opened my eyes the clock hands had fled far ahead, and every circle on the calendar marched one step forward.
March.
This was the season when I should have been conditioning my body and stamping my presence into the manager’s eyes during exhibition games.
But now it had become something that held no relation to me whatsoever.
“Anyone who saw me would think I was a thug.”
A left-handed pitcher whose shoulder had been destroyed twice and now carried vivid surgical scars—there was no philanthropist in this world willing to pay to fix someone like me…
Well, maybe there were.
If I really set my mind to it, one or two teams might still be stupid enough to take a gamble on me.
But I knew my own body better than anyone.
I could never go back to those shoulders from before.
The fact that I was no longer viable in the pros was something I—who had once stood on the mound—understood better than anyone.
“Ha…”
I tugged the sleeve of my t-shirt down to hide the scars and finished getting ready to leave.
I’d sort my head out this month and seriously commit to something—delivery work, fitness training, anything.
I couldn’t just starve to death because my life was ruined.
It was about time to move out of this neighborhood where the rent was obscenely high.
The only upside to Mokdong was the school district, but what use was that to a guy who couldn’t even manage a relationship, let alone marriage?
Leaving behind the room I wouldn’t be seeing much longer, I headed toward the gym I always frequented.
The moment I unconsciously tapped the sports news tab, our dear General Manager Seo appeared on the screen, smiling brightly.
“...I really don’t want to see that face.”
...Revenge.
If I could get it, I’d take it, but I didn’t hate him enough to stake my entire life on killing him.
He’d simply done his job from his position. I refused to believe he’d thrown me away just because his daughter said one word.
That aside, I couldn’t stand listening to him rattle off hopeful, saintly speeches.
You bastard. You’re the one who parachuted your own daughter into the club.
Whether she quit or not, she was definitely there until the day I was released.
And when he drove me out, he made it clear that arrogant attitude was hereditary.
He probably thought he was being courteous in his own way, but it was obvious in his eyes.
How the other person truly felt about me.
‘Player Kang Juhyuk. I’m sorry, but due to the club’s circumstances, contract renewal will be difficult.’
‘...I understand.’
‘You worked hard all this time.’
‘...Yes.’
‘Don’t be too discouraged. A player of your caliber, Kang, will have plenty of teams interested once you recover your velocity.’
‘...’
Anyway, true to the man who had dropped his daughter in through the back door, he was smooth with words.
If there were so many teams waiting for me once I recovered my velocity, what exactly did “renewal will be difficult” mean?
It meant get lost because I could never recover.
Taken at face value it sounded like unavoidable roster trimming, but at least to my eyes, that was how it read.
Having competed since childhood, I’d grown sharp at noticing things like that.
Being discarded this way made me think it might have been better not to know, but.
Sometimes ignorance really is preferable to knowledge…
“...What the hell.”
She was there.
A face both familiar and alien sat on the bench, sweating buckets yet wearing an utterly blank expression.
And those emotionless eyes met mine.
“Ah, seriously…”
With that sigh came the chance to physically experience, once again, the single emotion I had only ever read about in my life—contempt.
Why she was here didn’t matter.
Only one question filled my head.
What the hell did I ever do to make you hate me this much?
I needed to hear the answer.
Step. Step.
Inside a gym that wasn’t exactly empty, I walked straight toward the woman who drew every eye in the room.
She had been gulping water from her tumbler, sweat pouring off her, but the moment she noticed me approaching, her face crumpled into a deep scowl and she glared at me with pure contempt.
Those eyes looked even sharper than they had years ago.
I stopped right in front of her as she pressed her lips tight and gathered her long, disheveled hair into a ponytail, then spoke in a low voice exactly like I had the first time we ever talked.
“You’re Seo Haeun, correct?”
“...Who else would I be?”
“What a coincidence. Running into each other in a place like this.”
“It really is. It would’ve been better if we never met again.”
“I feel the same.”
It had been quite a while since we last spoke, yet nothing had changed.
Well, her body looked even better than before.
Maybe it was the thin workout clothes, but even while feeling disgust toward her, my gaze unconsciously drifted to her chest.
Noticing the look, she twisted her face into an even more unpleasant expression and snapped at me.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Not particularly. You were the one who sighed the moment you saw me. If anything, it seems like you have more to say.”
“...What the hell are you on about? Move. I have nothing to talk about with you.”
“Still the same as ever.”
Watching her click her tongue in clear annoyance, the revulsion boiling up from my chest became too much. I let out a long breath, barely swallowing back the nausea rising in my throat.
Just endure it.
People are watching.
This woman had always drawn eyes like crazy with that body of hers.
“Excuse me, Seo Haeun. You hate me, don’t you?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“What’s the reason? We’ve barely even spoken to each other, and I hardly know anything about you.”
“Whether I hate you or not is my business. I haven’t done anything to harm you.”
“...Are you kidding me?”
“Pardon?”
But the moment those shameless words left her mouth, I couldn’t hold back the rage that surged up.
There were limits to flipping the victim card.
Thanks to whose father did my shoulder end up like this?
It was a miracle I didn’t shout it out loud.
My expression must have been truly vicious.
“Wh-what… What did I…”
Yet the woman who had been so bold a second ago suddenly transformed. The fear that flooded her eyes was completely different from before. Her body began to tremble as she stared at me.
Startled by the pure terror in her irises, I quickly glanced around to read the room.
People were shooting uncomfortable glances our way, clearly wondering what the hell was going on in the gym.
When I looked at the mirror covering one wall behind them, I saw a 190-centimeter wall of muscle looming threateningly over a woman who couldn’t be more than 163 centimeters tall.
…
I hated getting red-flagged.
I hated getting banned from this gym even more.
Though I’d be moving out soon anyway.
“...Seo Haeun. Do you normally come here, or is today your first time?”
“Why does that…”
“Answer me. If our times overlap it’ll be uncomfortable for both of us.”
“...It’s my first time. Why?”
“Then come at a different time. I have to work out at this exact hour.”
“Why should I? Why do I have to change my schedule because of you—”
When I switched back to polite speech, the woman who had frozen for a moment quickly reverted to her earlier attitude and started firing complaints at me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The familiar behavior made a chuckle slip out before I swallowed it back down my throat.
Using that disgust as fuel, I slipped back into the mindset I had during my playing days and whispered to her in a low voice for the first time in years.
“Then come. At the time I’m here. Without fail.”
The reason a guy like me had lasted a full year in the pros was thanks to one single specialty.
I could spot someone who was absolutely terrified better than anyone.
And spotting people who were overflowing with the urge to rebel?
“...What?”
I was even better at that.
And there was an intersection between those two groups.
People who were mentally shrinking yet refused to admit it because of pride and threw tantrums instead.
Exactly like the woman standing in front of me right now.
“Come at this time. I don’t know anyone here and I’ve been bored. This is perfect. I’ll even get an acquaintance out of it.”
The general manager’s daughter?
I was already retired—what was she going to do about it?
He wasn’t powerful enough to throw me in jail just for picking a fight.
I stared down at her with a look that asked what are you going to do about it? For a long moment Seo Haeun stared back blankly before poison slowly filled her eyes.
She bit her lip hard, shot up from the bench, and without even glancing at me stormed over to the treadmill. Her ponytail whipped behind her as she began running with clear fury.
“You’ll come? Without fail?”
“...Ha, what a crazy bastard.”
“People can be crazy. Can’t they?”
“Are you actually insane?”
“I’m not insane, so don’t bother changing your schedule just to avoid me. This time. Without fail. Got it?”
“...What the hell is wrong with you?”
I threw a flat fastball right down the middle, completely ignoring her attempt to dismiss me.
Of course she wasn’t an idiot, so missing that pitch would make her furious. She’d light up with rage and try to crush the next one.
Among everyone who had ever shown me eyes like that, not a single person had ever swallowed their pride, rolled over, and shown their belly.
That was exactly when I needed to throw one at eye level.
Or somewhere that might clip their body if they flinched.
All I had to do was bury the fastest pitch I could throw right into their face.
The more focused they were, the more unexpected it was, the harder it became to react.
Devouring opponents who panicked and flailed was my original specialty.
Inside the stadium.
And outside it.
Always.