Diamond Body
The Second Journey has been completed. Please check your rewards.
The notification that the Second Journey was complete told me I’d cleared 150 km/h.
Still, curiosity got the better of me. I figured I might as well check the velocity out of courtesy. The pitch had felt good, too—I was a little curious.
“Coach, what did it clock?”
“Just come look. See it with your own eyes.”
I shrugged for no real reason and walked out of the cage. The second I saw the number on the tablet screen, the corner of my mouth lifted on its own.
156.3 km/h
A velocity that cleared 150 with room to spare. It had been a long time since I’d seen a number like that. It had felt good, sure, but I never imagined it would be this fast.
“I deliberately didn’t say this before you went in, but throwing a light ball doesn’t automatically make the pitch faster.”
Kim Taehwan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching me. His tone was flat, but irritation was written all over his face.
“Huh?”
I blinked, eyes wide.
I couldn’t quite grasp what he meant. Didn’t throwing a lighter ball make it faster by default? I didn’t know the physics, but that seemed like common sense.
“The human body is weird. When something light lands in your hand, you unconsciously use less force. You need a little weight to feel how you’re actually moving.”
Kim Taehwan flicked his wrist in the air, mimicking a throw. A thread of irritation ran through the motion at his fingertips.
Watching that, I recalled the feel of the ball I’d just thrown. He was right—without the weight, the sensation had floated somewhere, disconnected. That was why I’d had to concentrate far harder than usual.
“I get that, but… isn’t that just a matter of focusing?”
I asked out of genuine curiosity. The moment the words left my mouth, Kim Taehwan’s face twisted slightly.
“Ugh. This is why geniuses are so damn annoying.”
He let out a hollow laugh and scratched his head.
“The whole point of this drill is to activate that sense because most people can’t feel it! And you did it in a single day!”
“How long does it usually take?”
I tilted my head. I really was just curious. Kim Taehwan’s expression said, Here we go again.
“It varies by person, but… getting it activated to your level takes at least a month.”
My eyes went round.
“A month? It takes that long?”
In an instant, Kim Taehwan’s brow furrowed hard.
“……”
He stared at me in silence, then heaved a long sigh.
“Kid. Kid, enough. Let’s drop it. Just do your cool-down stretches.”
He waved a hand through the air and turned away. From his back I could feel the clear message: Make me talk any more and I will actually die.
Crushed by that energy, I picked up my cap and edged backward, reading the room.
What is he even mad about… His student worked hard and finished in a day what takes everyone else a month.
The question kept circling my head, but Kim Taehwan’s aura was too fierce, so I quietly grabbed a resistance band and moved off to a corner.
“Hup…! Hup…!”
Alright… time to check the reward.
I tapped the gift-box icon in the top-right corner of the Status Window’s main screen. The long-awaited reward for the Second Journey was waiting.
Second Journey Reward: Passive — Diamond Body
Huh? Another passive skill?
The word “passive” made me think of Blockhead Thrower, and a flicker of unease passed through me—but the skill name itself put me at ease.
Diamond Body—unbreakable as diamond, rock-solid, never crumbling. Athletes usually used the phrase for someone with iron durability who rarely got hurt.
When I opened the skill window to check, the name lived up to its meaning.
<Passive — Blockhead Thrower Lv.1>
◈ Fastball-type stats increase by 5.
◈ Wild pitch rate is fixed at 50%.
◈ Skill awakens upon meeting certain conditions. (Awakening quest in progress)
<Passive — Diamond Body>
◈ Stamina increases by 5.
◈ Grants immunity to all physical injuries.
<Empty Skill Slot>
A skill packed with pure honey options greeted me.
“Hup…!”
The moment I saw those top-tier options sitting right above the dumpster fire that was Blockhead Thrower, a cheer tried to burst out of my mouth. I barely choked it down.
And at the same time—
Shoulder muscle soreness is being relieved.
Minor finger sprain is healing.
Calf muscle tension is releasing.
Micro-bleeding in the shoulder rotator cuff is vanishing.
…
Accumulated forearm fatigue is being cleared.
An endless barrage of notifications.
Every lingering minor injury was being washed away at once under the effect of Diamond Body.
Man… I really was hurting all over, huh.
People assume athletes are healthy because they train so much, but often it’s the opposite. Every sport is like this—if you don’t push every muscle, joint, and bone in your body to the absolute limit, surviving at the pro level is nearly impossible.
That’s why most athletes live with injuries big and small, and even I—who hadn’t missed a game to injury in the past two and a half years—was no exception. You just borrowed the adrenaline of a live game to grit through the ones you could tolerate.
Watching those old, festering little injuries disappear felt downright refreshing.
And then—
BEEEEEP!
“Ugh!”
A notification tone stabbed into my ears so hard I clapped my hands over them in shock. The sound vanished almost immediately, but my ears still rang.
“What? Something wrong?”
Kim Taehwan turned at the noise I’d made.
“Ah—no. It’s nothing.”
“What is it? Why’d you yell like that?”
I scrambled for an excuse, but that only seemed to make him more curious. He left the cage he’d been tidying and walked straight toward me.
At the same moment, a new alert window filled my vision.
Abnormal tissue structure detected in the user’s right elbow.
Tissue regeneration program initiating.
Extreme pain may occur during regeneration. Exercise caution.
“KRAAAAAAGH!”
The inside of my elbow twisted. Pain crashed through me like flesh being ground and bone being crushed. My body convulsed on its own under the unbearable agony, and my vision blurred.
“What the—Doyoon! What’s wrong?!”
Through the fading edges of my sight I could just make out Kim Taehwan rushing toward me in a panic.
“Doyoon…”
That was the last thing I heard—Kim Taehwan calling my name—before my consciousness sank deep under the surface of sleep.
“Team Leader Cheon~ Off to see Doyoon again?”
Inside the operations office, during a lazy lunch hour.
Assistant Manager Nam walked in with coffee just as Cheon Sojin was heading out to eat, and he asked the question with a teasing grin.
“Oh my, oh my—what a coincidence that it’s exactly when Doyoon’s training ends?”
“Right? This is starting to look a little scandalous.”
Snickers erupted all around.
The office air brightened in an instant.
Cheon Sojin sighed and lifted her head.
“Come on, I always eat lunch at twelve. Why are you all like this again?”
The explanation didn’t land.
Even as team leader, Cheon Sojin was the youngest person in Operations, and that “odd little position” of hers always became kindling for teasing at moments like this.
Every time, the staff ribbed her while looking at her with eyes that said, Our baby team leader is so cute—just another ordinary day in the Wonju Flyers operations team.
“I saw the two of you eating together all cozy, you know?”
“Th-that’s just because he was eating alone and I felt bad, so a few times…!”
“A few times? I’ve personally witnessed five, Team Leader~”
The office filled with laughter in no time.
Only Cheon Sojin forced a smile and swept her hair back.
“Alright, alright, settle down. How about the whole operations team eats together for once today?”
She tried to pivot the mood, but the teasing mode showed no sign of shutting off. Staff members locked eyes and snickered among themselves.
“Come to think of it, you two did yoga together last time, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I heard Team Leader taught him herself instead of the instructor?”
“Gasp…! Couple yoga already?”
With Sojin’s defenses looking lukewarm, the teasing only climbed higher.
“No, that was because Doyoon was teasing me so much! I just wanted to mess with him a little…!”
“That’s how everyone starts dating~ When I first met my wife I used every excuse in the book.”
Assistant Manager Nam, the only married person in Operations, poured oil on the fire.
“I’m telling you it’s not like that, seriously!”
Cheon Sojin couldn’t take any more. Her cheeks flushed pink as she waved her hands frantically. The cute flare-up only made the office explode with laughter again.
“Team Leader, your face is bright red.”
“At this rate are we getting an official club couple?”
“Stop it, for real!”
Cheon Sojin covered her face and fled back to her desk.
The office rocked with laughter once more.
But that peaceful moment didn’t last long.
BANG!
The door slammed open and Kim Taehwan burst in, gasping for breath.
The laughter in the office died instantly.
“Team Leader! We’ve got a problem!”
Cheon Sojin spun around, eyes wide.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Kim Taehwan’s face was bone-white.
He sucked in air and forced the words out.
“Doyoon… collapsed!”