The Second Journey (2)

The ball left my hand and flew toward the wall.

Lightly—yet impossibly fast.

Ordinarily, I would have had to dig deep the way Kim Taehwan had just shown me: folding my upper body forward, twisting my entire frame, wringing every last drop of power from myself. But I couldn't do that right now.

Right now, I had only one goal.

Confirmation.

How fast was the ball that had just left my fingertips—

—Whooooosh!

"……!"

It's working…… This is definitely going to work!

I could feel it even with my eyes. The ball I'd thrown was far faster than anything I'd ever thrown before.

—Bang!

In an instant, the sound of the ball slamming into the wall rang out.

And then—

"Hold on—I'm throwing from inside!"

"Hey, hey! What are you doing all of a sudden?"

I scooped up the ball and strode straight into the cage.

"Hey, Han Doyoon! Your form was off just now! I told you to lean your upper body all the way down!"

Outside the netting, Coach Kim Taehwan was bellowing at the top of his lungs. But to me—who'd just glimpsed a sliver of hope—none of that mattered in the slightest.

"Hoo……"

I tuned out the noise from outside and poured every nerve into the sensation in my arm, right here, right now.

Feel the weight of the ball in my hand. Then the push off the ground. The hip rotation that follows. And finally, the coiled shoulder uncoiling to load power into the ball.

I ran the entire sequence through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my head once more, then lifted my left leg high. At the same time I bent my right leg and braced against my body weight. My left leg, stretched to the absolute limit of its range, and my right leg, nearly sitting, both screamed in protest.

Then the precarious balance broke, and my body began to pitch forward. The force that had been holding my entire frame in equilibrium surged up from my toes through my pelvis and into my waist.

The power was so great that my body slipped beyond my control. The gathered force did as it pleased—my coiled shoulder uncoiled, and my arm cracked like a whip.

And then—

—Wham!

The moment the ball launched, my body lost its balance and launched into the air. I spun about half a turn midair before barely managing to land, and only then could I track the ball in flight.

—Whooooosh!

—Thud!

The ball arrived well off the strike plate stuck to the wall. Control didn't matter in the slightest, so I bolted straight out of the cage.

I had no memory of how I'd just thrown. It felt less like my own body and more like something else had been dragging me along. Right now, only the speed of that pitch dominated my mind.

Please…… please, 150……!

With trembling hands, I opened the tablet. The numbers slowly appeared.

"……?"

I rubbed my eyes.

Checked again. Still 146.7.

The heart that had been pounding like mad just moments ago went ice-cold in an instant.

……Strange. I definitely—definitely—poured everything I had into that throw.

My right arm still trembling, the ragged sound of my breathing—all of it proved I'd just given everything I had.

But the number on the tablet remained 146.7 km/h.

—Thud.

My legs gave out and I sank to the ground.

Was it because I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just unleashed such explosive power, or because of the hollow emptiness of failing to hit 150 km/h?

I didn't even know which—I just found myself sitting on the floor without meaning to.

But I couldn't stop here.

Sitting here wouldn't make the "Second Journey" floating before my eyes complete itself.

"……No."

I muttered under my breath.

"No—it did get faster. Just a little more…… if I just throw a little harder……!"

Talking myself through it, I pushed myself up.

But—

—Smack!

"Argh……!"

As I stood to head back into the cage, a sharp impact and a smack landed on the back of my head. I reflexively looked up to find Coach Kim Taehwan standing in front of me, fuming.

He glared at me for a moment, then suddenly—

—Crunch!

He grabbed my head and started shaking it back and forth.

"You little bastard, what the hell do you think you're doing? Can't you hear me?"

"Ow, that hurts, Coach! My hair—you're ripping my hair out!"

"Then maybe listen before I rip it out! I said lean your upper body down—when did I ever tell you to launch yourself into the air, you maniac!"

After shaking my head a few more times, Kim Taehwan seemed to cool off a bit. He let go and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Hoo…… You scared the hell out of me! Why would you do that?"

"Ah, well, um……"

If I tell him about the Status Window, he'll grab my head and tear into it all over again.

"……I just wanted to see 150 km/h on the board again after so long."

So I told him the truth—minus the Status Window part.

The fury drained from Coach Kim Taehwan's face, and he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glanced sideways at my elbow.

"……Tsk. Getting that worked up over something like that. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

There was clear worry and guilt at the end of those words.

Coach Kim Taehwan knew.

He knew that after Tommy John surgery, I couldn't throw the way I used to.

And I knew, too.

That he still carried that day somewhere in his heart. That he still blamed himself for not stopping me back then.

Coach doesn't need to feel guilty……

I was the one who'd brushed off his attempts to stop me and walked out to the mound.

Making him dredge up those memories and feel guilty all over again—I felt bad about that.

"……Even if a light ball hits 150, what does that even mean?"

"It just…… it just feels good."

I couldn't exactly start talking about Status Windows and quests. I felt bad for the coach, but that was the best I could do. I could feel Kim Taehwan's expression hardening. But the look in his eyes wasn't anger—it was worry.

"You want to throw that badly?"

"……Yes."

A brief silence.

Kim Taehwan let out a short sigh.

……He was probably misunderstanding—thinking my obsession with 150 km/h came from old wounds.

That wasn't it, but for now I listened carefully to what he had to say.

"Then you absolutely cannot throw the way you just did."

"What?"

"Don't get excited—stay calm. No matter how much power you generate, if you can't control it, it's useless."

Kim Taehwan stood up and mimicked my pitching motion as he continued explaining.

"First, your kick was way too big. You sat down too deep, too. That's why your balance completely fell apart. Your left leg came down later than usual. That opened your hips early, and the power leaked out. In the end, that force slipped right out of your control."

He was exactly right. Just now, I'd been far too excited at the thought of glimpsing that "sliver of hope." All I'd cared about was generating more power.

"……I see."

"Your body launching upward was the same reason. The force should have been directed forward, but it shot up—meaning it went somewhere it shouldn't have."

……That was probably from trying to drive off the ground too hard.

Walking carefully back through the pitch I'd just thrown, I realized my body had already been out of control the moment my left foot landed. I'd just been dragged along wherever the force wanted to go. And by trying to force power out through my right foot, I'd actually redirected that energy somewhere completely wrong—turning the whole thing into a thoroughly inefficient pitch.

"Alright. You remember the ball you threw during warm-up? That's the lightest one, so try throwing with that again. If you just throw the way you normally do, 150 km/h will come easy."

Saying that, Kim Taehwan tossed me the yellow ball I'd used during warm-up.

"Throw the way I normally do……"

I repeated the words under my breath. Following Kim Taehwan's advice, I discarded any thought of throwing hard this time. As I walked toward the cage, I slowly reviewed each piece—the weight of the ball, the angle of my arm, the timing of my legs—simulating the pitch in my head.

"Hoo……"

Stepping onto the mound, I felt that surge of excitement again. But this time, I vowed not to let it swallow me.

I lifted my left foot and drew a breath. This time I didn't force the power. I focused only on releasing the gathered force in the right sequence, in the right direction.

I drove off the ground, my left foot landed, my hips rotated, and my waist and shoulders followed. The weight of the ball was almost nonexistent. The sensation of power loading into it was faint, too.

But that didn't matter. Because just now, my body had moved under my complete control—with precise mechanics and precise force.

In that perfect sensation, power loaded into the ball without me even realizing it. And that ball streaked toward the strike plate like lightning.

—Crack!

The ball slammed into the strike plate with a heavy sound. The resonance filled the cage. Looking outside, I saw Kim Taehwan nod and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meet my eyes.

It was a satisfying pitch.

But there was no need to rush out and check the tablet.

Because—

Obviously, I'd cleared it.