Deployment Ready
The bus rumbled along, carrying us back to the dorms. This stop is…
……
……
Epinel and I sat together in a two-person seat, both staring out the window in silence. Beyond the glass, Busan’s cars zipped past in a blur. Even though evening hadn’t fully settled in, the sun was already dipping early, and the buildings had begun lighting up, painting the darkening sky with their glowing windows.
—Murmur murmur
Around us, the usual chatter filled the air—people saying they’d had a fun day, someone celebrating their stocks going up, and on the other side, the heavy sigh of a woman who’d apparently gone all-blue on her lottery ticket. But right now…
Tap.
“……!”
Between Epinel and me, something far more delicate had begun to flow—something so subtle that none of those noises could reach us.
“……Um, since we’re… lovers now, this much should be okay, right?”
She had already rested her head on my shoulder first, only now offering that excuse as if seeking permission. I nearly burst out laughing without meaning to.
“It’s fine. Whatever you want to do… if it’s good for you, it’s good for me. It won’t hurt me at all.”
The moment I said that, Epinel pressed even closer. Before I knew it, her hand had slipped into mine. The distance from the beach to the dorms was quite long, so I spent the whole ride like that—her head on my shoulder, fingers intertwined, watching her drift off to sleep.
At one point her baseball pouch brushed against my arm and startled me, but overall, the time spent riding the bus back to the dorms was… not just good. It was incredibly good.
Unfortunately, the bus arrived right before roll call, so we walked into the gathering spot together quite boldly. The fact that Epinel and I had spent the entire Saturday schedule side by side had been completely exposed.
“Soooo… you two drew half a heart with Seojun’s name in the sand at the beach……”
Under the relentless questioning from the three manager hyungs, Epinel was instantly KO’d and ended up spilling everything—including exactly how the confession had happened.
“Hey hey, there goes your boyfriend (girlfriend)!”
“Noona, you’re bothering Seojun…!”
“Aish, Jihun you idiot. Can’t you see Epinel’s embarrassed? You wanna die?”
It had all gotten a little… twisted, but it was still a satisfying Saturday.
That third-year senior’s artistic scream while getting slapped on the back by Epinel was something else, though.
“Kuaaaaaaaaack! What the hell is this pain, Lee Seojun! My arm hurts so baaaaaaaaaad!!”
Mine was pretty artistic too, I suppose.
……
……
……
After finishing Saturday’s schedule, I ate dinner together with Epinel. The only thing left now was the practice game against Busan High on Sunday.
That was nice.
Inside the elevator, I replayed the vivid sensation from earlier. After finishing dinner, Epinel had glanced around nervously before walking straight up to me and wrapping both arms around me in a hug. When I hugged her back, she trembled a little at first… but soon grew comfortable. We stayed like that for two or three minutes before she pulled away with slightly flushed cheeks, said “See you tomorrow,” and left.
I should ask Coach later to hit Oh Jihun a mountain of fungos.
Of all times, when I went up to my room, Oh Jihun was standing inside the elevator with an ice cream bar in his mouth. Naturally, after I twisted the face of that self-proclaimed “romance century” bastard who’d witnessed the whole thing, I swiped my key card, opened the door to the room, and stepped inside……
“……You’re back, Lee Seojun.”
“What the hell are you doing striking such a ridiculous pose?”
Kim Sihu was sitting on the bed with an incredibly tense expression, clearly waiting for me.
What kind of nonsense is he about to pull with that stupid pose…?
I was a bit flustered, not knowing what sudden stunt he might try, but the words that actually came out were even more surprising.
“Hey, Lee Seojun. Tomorrow’s game against Busan High… they say it’s at Sajik Stadium.”
“……Didn’t Busan High have their own baseball field? Why suddenly use Sajik?”
The sudden special report left me slightly bewildered, but what came next was even more absurd.
“Ah, that’s because… last year the two schools played in the finals of the Presidential Cup, right? They’re calling this a rematch and plan to livestream the practice game. They’re also opening it to free spectators. Not sure how many will show up, though.”
Whoa…… so in this world, if a high school requests it, they’ll lend out a pro stadium even in the off-season?
After listening more carefully, it turned out to be a kind of back-scratching favor. The general manager of the LT Oceans was a Busan High alumnus. Probably figured that since they’d won the Presidential Cup last time, they’d win easily again this time.
Seoul High already knew plenty about me and Kim Sihu. Did Busan High still not know? If they’d looked up the results of our practice game against Seoul High, they could’ve figured it out easily.
Is it confidence… or arrogance? Guess I’ll find out when we get there.
Making a cold game in front of a packed Sajik Stadium filled with Busan citizens? There couldn’t be a more perfect villain entrance than that. Or maybe Busan High had recruited a monster rookie on my level……
I spent some time seriously thinking about how to thoroughly crush those guys.
But before that.
“Oh, and Kim Sihu.”
“What?”
“You know Randy Johnson, right?”
“……More or less?”
“His pitching form seems like it would suit you perfectly. During tomorrow’s pitching practice, I’ll show you roughly how he throws. Try copying that form.”
“You… you’re a two-way pitcher……”
“Hey now, don’t ask for details.”
No matter how many skills I had stacked on, I wasn’t some insane monster who could use both arms with perfect freedom.
If I could use both hands, couldn’t I just pitch right-handed from the first through fifth innings and left-handed from the sixth through ninth? Wouldn’t that make me a total broken character?
There wasn’t a skill like Ambidextrous(?) among them, so if I wanted to throw with my left hand, I’d have to grow until I could use my left arm with complete freedom. And rather than wasting time polishing that kind of trick, it was better to focus on getting even better at what I already threw well.
So I probably wouldn’t end up pitching with both arms. Unless a real Ambidextrous skill actually appeared, that is.
If it did exist, though, that would be pretty interesting.
Starting Game 1 right-handed, Game 2 left-handed, Game 3 using the power of Iron Arm (H) to pitch left-handed, and the same for Game 4—theoretically, I alone could eat up an entire rotation. That crazy theory was complete.
Whoa… then theoretically, couldn’t I get 80 wins and 700 innings in a season?
Just imagining it made my chest swell with grandeur.
……
……
……
And the next day.
After finishing roll call in the blink of an eye, we boarded the bus and headed for Sajik Stadium. The number of spectators who had gathered was unexpectedly large, and I was a little taken aback.
Wait, it’s just a high school game—how are there this many people?
Well, Busan High was one of Busan’s prestigious baseball schools and the defending Presidential Cup champions, but still… even at a glance, there were over two hundred people. Including the players’ parents and various others, it was quite a crowd.
“That’s part of it, but it’s also because that ‘Ain’ is coming.”
“Ain? Who’s that?”
The moment those words left my mouth, the entire outfielders’ bus fell into dead silence.
“You…… don’t know Ain?”
“What the hell is that, you normie……”
I tried to protest, but Oh Jihun immediately clamped his hand over my mouth, making any rebuttal impossible.
“As everyone knows, Ain is the main vocalist and leader of the current top virtual YouTuber group, Isegye Idol. She’s also a popular V-Tuber BJ and…… (after a ridiculous amount of praise)…… that’s who she is.”
……So virtual YouTubers are popular here too, huh?
“Anyway! She’s coming to broadcast today’s game live!”
“Mmph, mmph mmph. (Yeah yeah, Jihun. So can you get your hand off my mouth now?)”
—Squeeze!
“Kuaaaaaaaaack! Damn it, Lee Seojun! I don’t think I can endure the force you’re applying to my calf!”
“If you get injured, I’ll just send Senior Surin to center field and move into the infield myself. Problem solved!”
“Please don’t say that like you actually mean it!”
Anyway, today’s game was going to be broadcast live, and for Haneul High’s students, it apparently felt exactly like playing in a real pro baseball game at a stadium full of spectators with real-time transmission.
But isn’t that the same for all high school baseball?
No, high school baseball already gets spectators and live broadcasts. I didn’t really understand why everyone was so excited just because it was at Sajik.
I wasn’t sure about the details, but it seemed the fact that the virtual YouTuber named Ain was doing the broadcast had them all nervous……
When I looked closer, the character drawn on Yang Uijin’s Galaxy Buds case was apparently the same Ain that Oh Jihun had mentioned, so she must be incredibly famous.
Hmm… blonde with blue eyes and cat ears. It was a combination that looked like it would be popular, but I still thought, Eh, whatever.
If she was that famous, I should’ve known about her easily. Thinking that, I searched for Ain on YouTube and……
“……Why didn’t I know about this person until now?”
Even with 1.8 million subscribers, shouldn’t I have at least heard of her?
……
……
……
When we arrived at Sajik Stadium, the sound of bats cracking against balls could already be heard from inside, proving the other team had gotten there first. After roughly dropping our gear in the away team dugout, I watched as Coach Kim and the Busan High coach shook hands. Then I observed the players warming up on the mound.
Those are the guys I saw back then. So they’re the starters.
Center fielder Ahn Seongho and, most likely today’s starting pitcher, Jo Seonghwi.
“Coach, we have plenty of data on Jo Seonghwi.”
After roughly explaining what had happened at Sajik Stadium with Epinel and the pitching style I’d seen from Jo Seonghwi at the time……
“Good. If he’s a fastball-only pitcher… this should be pretty simple.”
Our god of strategic baseball, Coach Kim Taehwan’s eyes began drawing a perfectly round arc like a full moon.
The old man really does get excited at times like these.