Cheon Ihyun
“……Hey. That guy you went to the sushi place with last time — is that the pitcher over there?”
Cheon Ihyun had been watching the inside of the bullpen when he flicked a sidelong glance at Cheon Sojin. The corner of his mouth curled up like he’d just found a particularly entertaining toy.
“……No?”
Sojin kept her eyes locked on the bullpen and played dumb. She did her best to ignore her brother’s look, but the faint tremor in her eyelids and the way her pupils wavered gave her away completely.
“Oh, please. One look at your face and it’s obvious. With expression control this bad, how do you expect to handle being general manager?”
“Hey! Quiet……! And I’m not the GM, okay? On paper, you’re the general manager.”
Ihyun’s sudden jab made Sojin flinch and spin toward him. She dropped her voice and scanned the surroundings. Once she’d confirmed that only the bullpen coach, the catcher, and a few staff members were around, she let out a quiet breath of relief.
“Obviously I checked that no one was listening before I said anything.”
Ihyun shrugged, wearing a mischievous smile.
“And when are you going to give me my name back? How long am I supposed to live as Kim Ihyun?”
“Cheon isn’t exactly a common surname. If you go around as Cheon Ihyun, people will figure it out immediately. Just deal with it a little longer.”
Sojin answered in a low voice.
“Anyway, it is that player, right? The one you had dinner with.”
“……Haa.”
Under her brother’s relentless pressing, Sojin let out a short sigh.
“Fine. Yes. So what? People can grab a meal together. Don’t tell me you’re a sis-con.”
“Come on. I’m just curious who my little sister is dating.”
Thud.
Sojin’s fist drove cleanly into Ihyun’s side.
“Ow—what a temper. Hey, you can’t treat your boyfriend like that, you know?”
Ihyun had clearly seen it coming; he slipped sideways with a laugh.
“You keep doing things that deserve it……! And we’re not like that!”
THWOMP!
The heavy crack of Han Doyoon’s pitch burying itself in the mitt rolled through the bullpen. Just from the sound alone you could feel the power behind the ball; both Sojin and Ihyun’s eyes went round.
“Whoa, listen to that. Your boyfriend’s got some serious stuff.”
“Wow, are you actually a lifelong single? One dinner and you’re already dating?”
Sojin shot Ihyun a look full of irritation.
“You’re the lifelong single one.”
Thwack!
Fed up with Ihyun’s endless needling, Sojin finally kicked him square in the shin.
“……Shut up.”
“Ah—ah! Cheon Sojin is assaulting people……!”
Ihyun hobbled, bent over in exaggerated pain.
“Hmph. Got any proof?”
Sojin crossed her arms and turned her gaze back to the mound. The moment Doyoon threw his next pitch, another heavy report rang out.
THWOMP!
Ihyun was still rubbing his shin, the sting clearly not gone yet.
“But if his stuff is that good, why are you telling them not to let him pitch?”
“……You think you understand just from watching? You don’t know the first thing about baseball.”
“Oh, come on. I know a little baseball by now. And just listening, the sound is completely different. We’re already locked into last place this year anyway. Can’t we just put him out there a little?”
THWOMP!
As if on cue, Han Doyoon’s pitch slammed into the mitt with a thunderous crack. The ball that had shaken off the aftereffects of Tommy John surgery kept punching through the gaps in Sojin and Ihyun’s conversation, announcing its presence with every throw.
“……No.”
“You really look down on the puppet GM, huh. At least give me a reason.”
Even after Sojin’s firm refusal, Ihyun’s curiosity didn’t seem satisfied.
“……Anyway, no.”
Her voice was absolute.
Ihyun didn’t answer for a while. Only the repeated thwomp of the ball filled the air inside the bullpen.
A moment later, as if a particularly amusing idea had just struck him, one corner of Ihyun’s mouth lifted into a meaningful smile.
“Fine. Got it.”
Sojin’s brow furrowed.
“……Why are you smiling like that?”
Ihyun answered with a quiet snicker.
“Because I just realized my little sister doesn’t want him put in this year so she can go on lots of dates with her boyfriend~.”
He couldn’t even last a few seconds without needling her again, and once more the tip of Sojin’s shoe swung toward his shin.
But—
“Heh. It doesn’t work twice.”
Having read her movement, Ihyun yanked his leg back in time and grinned that infuriating grin of his.
“I said it’s not like that!”
“Team Leader Cheon, keep it down. Everyone’s going to hear.”
Only then did Sojin realize how loud her voice had gotten. She hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, no one seemed to have overheard.
“Oh, looks like practice is wrapping up. Shall we head in?”
Inside the bullpen the session was clearly winding down. Catchers were peeling off their gear, and the pitchers were starting to gather.
“……Don’t do anything weird once we’re inside.”
Sojin fixed him with a stern look, making sure the warning stuck.
“Then you be the general manager.”
“I don’t want that.”
Ihyun snorted at her blunt reply. Sojin sighed, started to move, then paused and jerked her chin toward her brother.
“You go first.”
Ihyun shrugged and took hold of the door handle.
Creeeak.
The door opened, and the two of them stepped into the bullpen.
“That was excellent. The future of our Flyers looks truly bright, doesn’t it?”
The general manager’s smooth voice loosened the air inside the bullpen at once. Everyone laughed lightly, the tension melting away.
But I had watched Cheon Sojin and the GM just a moment earlier, so my eyes naturally drifted toward Sojin standing behind him. The easy closeness she’d shown with the general manager was gone without a trace; she now stood quietly with a purely professional expression.
“Thank you!”
Coaches and players bowed their heads in unison. The general manager kept his smile and returned a light nod.
“Park Junseong, that slider was razor-sharp. And Kim Daeseung, your high-zone command looked excellent.”
The praised players smiled bashfully. The general manager went down the list of every pitcher who had thrown in the bullpen that day, calling each by name and pointing out what they’d done well.
Kim Ihyun, was it?
……I thought he was completely distracted flirting with Cheon Sojin.
Apparently he’d been watching carefully after all. His feedback was surprisingly detailed.
And then—
“Ah, and I almost forgot the most impressive player of the day. Han Doyoon?”
Finally it was my turn.
“I received the report that your elbow made a miraculous recovery. I never expected the stuff to be this good.”
The general manager spoke with a light smile.
“This might sound a little unfair to you, Han Doyoon, but I find myself thinking it’s fortunate you recovered after coming to the Flyers. If you’d gotten healthy while still with the Wales, they never would have let you go.”
“Ah, ahaha…….”
He was right. If my elbow had been normal, the Wales never would have used me as a trade chip. The part of me that still carried the Wales in my chest produced a slightly bitter laugh before I could stop it.
“That’s how impressive it was.”
Seeing my awkward smile, the general manager added that his earlier words had been meant as praise.
“Thank you.”
……Any second now he’ll get to the real point.
“Which brings me to this.”
As if reading my mind, the general manager seemed ready to move into the main topic.
“The original plan was to keep you in the developmental squad through this season and promote you to the first team next year, correct?”
“Yes.”
The words I’d been waiting for had finally arrived.
Would I get a chance to take the mound this season, or would it be pushed back to next year?
Please…… let them put me on the mound this season.
Knowing the decisive reason the club had decided not to use me was the yips, the odds of them putting me in weren’t high. Still, the fact that the general manager himself had come all the way out here naturally raised my hopes.
And then—
“I’d like to move that timeline up a bit.”
Nice!!
From the general manager’s mouth came the exact words I had been longing to hear.
Third Journey
Appear as a starting pitcher in a professional baseball regular-season game and finish with 6 or more innings pitched and 3 or fewer runs allowed.
🎁 Reward: ??? ???
The clear condition for the final journey of the Blockhead Thrower awakening quest: a Quality Start. Simply taking the mound didn’t guarantee I would complete it. Factoring in the fixed 50% wild-pitch penalty, even with my old velocity restored it would still be a brutal challenge.
Even so, the difference between having a chance to try and having none at all was the difference between heaven and earth. That chance had been given to me, and I was deeply grateful for it.
Just then—
“General Manager? General Manager?”
Cheon Sojin’s urgent voice made the GM turn toward her.
“What is it, Team Leader Cheon?”
Sojin forced the corners of her mouth up into a stiff smile.
“W-when we ‘discussed’ this earlier…… you clearly said……?”
“Well, a person’s mind can change, can’t it?”
Sojin put particular stress on the word “discussed” as she spoke to him. The general manager smiled with perfect innocence and turned his gaze back to me.
……What’s going on?
She’d told me she would ask the general manager, acting as if she simply lacked the authority herself and would have loved to put me on the mound. Looking at her attitude now, it seemed Cheon Sojin hadn’t wanted me to pitch at all.
No—if anything, she had wanted me to stay off the mound.
Cheon Sojin and I weren’t anything special to each other, but I’d still thought we were fairly close.
Of course I understood perfectly well that personal friendship shouldn’t interfere with club business.
But…… even so, I couldn’t help the small sting of disappointment that rose toward her.