First Taegeuk Mark (8)
It was a play far too audacious to believe for the first inning.
Players on both the Korean and Japanese benches were already on their feet.
Third-base runner Lee Hajun had anticipated a collision with the catcher from the start. Instinctively he stretched out his arm, twisted his upper body just slightly, and slid.
And the Japanese catcher saw it clearly — the runner's hand he was supposed to stop, touching white.
"Safe!"
Safe at home! Safe at home! Lee Hajun steals home plate right out from under Japan!
An international tournament. And not some blowout everyone had already written off — a game the whole world was watching. Bottom of the first.
The bold, ruthless play from the 2004-born Lee Hajun left everyone stunned speechless.
Even after his dazzling performance this tournament, it turns out he still had more to show! This is Korea's national team shortstop — Lee Hajun!
"What the hell was that."
"Is this guy insane?"
"Whoa — from there?"
Even his teammates sent him off looking half-incredulous. The congratulatory slaps on his back hit harder than usual today. But every last one of them was grinning ear to ear.
"You actually thought about running from there?"
Park Sihye, who had grown fairly close to Hajun over the course of the tournament, couldn't help being stunned either.
"If you'd gotten thrown out, the hate would've been nuclear."
"Then let them hate."
Hajun's logic was simple. He figured his odds of being safe at home were better. So he went for it.
"Lee Hajun."
"……"
Of course, unless it was an individual sport, you couldn't justify a play with that much risk on pure imagination alone. At the coach's call, Hajun went to the manager.
"There was no separate sign. What exactly were you thinking?"
Manager Park Seongrae spoke. The sunglasses made his expression hard to read.
Even if the number-three hitter Kim Jongbeom had gone down by a hair, Park Jinhyeok — a power bat in solid form this tournament — was still at the plate. If Hajun's aggressive baserunning had gone wrong, they would have been looking at two outs and a runner on first: a thoroughly unpleasant situation.
"I was sure of it after I saw the opposing pitcher holding Jaechun hyung on."
"What?"
"And looking at the pitcher's interval and his habits, I thought I could steal the timing cleanly enough."
For someone who had just pulled off such a reckless play, Hajun explained himself with remarkable calm and composure.
Most baseball fans mocked the Seoul Lakers' run-first brand of baseball. But Hajun, who had survived in the first team on pure speed and baserunning instincts, possessed a distinctive feel born of both talent and relentless work.
"Heh heh heh. Confidence like that is something else."
National team manager Park Seongrae laughed. The kid already had the green light anyway — and a solo home steal was never going to be something the bench ordered in the first place.
"Take care of the defense too."
"……Yes, sir."
The manager waved him back toward the dugout.
I thought he was going to give me an earful.
Compared to Lee Ganghyeok of the Seoul Lakers, with his strong personal style, or the almost machine-like Park Taesik of the Hawks, Manager Park Seongrae felt distinctly more human. So this was what they meant when they said every leader carried his own kind of charisma. Whether it suited a player was, of course, a slightly different question.
Hajun was more or less satisfied with his managers — both with his club and with the national team.
CRACK—!
"Out!"
"Out!"
"Man, that was a ball."
"You were too eager."
"It's fine."
"We scored a run. That's enough."
Park Jinhyeok came back to the bench looking frustrated. Trying to yank an outside changeup had made it nearly impossible to square one up cleanly.
CRACK—!
"Out!"
He's out — three outs, end of the inning! Lee Hajun turns in that rock-solid defense once again.
From that distance, a calm throw to first — ah, truly outstanding.
It was a ball that would have been hard to fault anyone for letting slip past the shortstop's left side. But Hajun snatched it clean and fired a strong throw to first, so first baseman An Eunwoo barely needed to work for the catch.
Four innings, no runs, no walks, no hit batters. With Tae Minho's steady pitching and shortstop Hajun's devilish defense layered on top, the Japanese lineup grew more and more restless. Starter Tsuyoshi had thrown a genuinely strong three innings with only one run allowed — and still they couldn't manufacture a single tying run.
POP—!
"Strike three!"
A picture-perfect changeup. Number-three hitter Kim Jongbeom's bat spun through empty air.
CRACK—!
"Out!"
"Out!"
Whether the lineup was stuck or not made no difference. On defense, the pitcher's brilliant outing and rock-steady fielding combined to allow nothing. Japanese baserunners still hadn't so much as set foot on third base, let alone home — truly dominant pitching.
CRACK—!
"Nice!"
"Run!"
The game had been grinding along more stiflingly than expected. With two outs in a scoring chance, the number-eight hitter Song Junhyeong punched one the other way, and it fell along the left-field line.
The runner from second scores! The runner from first scores too! Song Junhyeong's RBI double makes it 0–3!
Bottom of the fifth, two outs — additional runs that felt like rain after a drought, delivered by Song Junhyeong of the Seoul Highlanders.
And the chance kept rolling.
POP—!
"Ball!"
A walk to the number-nine hitter, Cha Seongmin.
CRACK—!
Lee Hajun's base hit brought home the runner from second, Song Junhyeong, and the lead stretched to four.
CRACK—!
A walk to the number-two hitter, Woo Jaechun. Then number-three Kim Jongbeom drove a sharp ball the other way. The right fielder, unable to afford another run, overcommitted — and what could have been a single became a ball that let even the runner from first cruise home with ease.
Even the runner from first, Lee Hajun, scores! Kim Jongbeom's bases-clearing triple!
Kim Jongbeom considered making a break for home, but the third-base coach held him up.
"Woooooooo!"
The Korean fans who had come to cheer their team erupted into a full-blown festival atmosphere after that gloriously cathartic big inning. Meanwhile, the empty seats among the Japanese crowd — the ones who had at least hoped to see a "lost but fought well" effort — began to multiply little by little.
Clap! Clap!
"Damn, we needed that."
"If we hadn't scored there I was about to lose my mind."
Hit after hit kept widening the gap, capped by Kim Jongbeom's bases-clearing triple that drove the stake home. The Korean players felt relief and pure joy all at once.
POP—!
Strikeout! Tae Minho roars! That's his tenth strikeout of the game — three outs!
Seven innings, ten strikeouts, zero runs allowed. That was the line for Tae Minho, the pride of the Daegu Warriors' rotation.
The game had tilted to 0–8. But any baseball fan watching had to acknowledge that his masterful outing had been the foundation for that big inning.
CRACK—!
"Out!"
"Tch."
A well-struck ball hit straight at someone — one of the moments hitters hate most. Hajun watched the ball he'd driven hard into the outfield get swallowed by the right fielder's glove, then headed back to the dugout.
"Tough break, Hajun."
"I'll take it as burning off the bad luck."
He'd already driven in a run with a hit and been one of the central figures in the big inning, and he'd stolen the game's first run with that breathtaking home steal. But the ball luck simply wasn't there — well-hit balls kept finding gloves.
Still, the game was already well out of hand. With tomorrow's final on his mind, Hajun had little interest in his tournament batting average dipping.
CRACK—!
The ball soared toward the sky but never left the infield, and the batter dropped his head.
"Out!"
Kim Seonghee handles it! Korea defeats Japan 0–8 and locks up the silver medal — and tomorrow they head to the final to decide the color of that medal!
"Yes! We're in the final!"
Captain Woo Jaechun tried to fire up the mood. Everyone clapped and smiled.
But celebrating a secured silver medal at this tournament was close to impossible.
"……"
Hajun offered a few polite responses and started packing his gear.
Gold.
That was essentially the entire point of this tournament.