The End of the Weekend League

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"By the way, Seojun, how's that opposing batter doing?"

My father asked me just before heading back to his bedroom.

"Oh, I heard his ACL basically snapped. He'll probably have to focus solely on rehab for a whole year."

"Hmm... He did throw his bat at you, but still, it's a shame."

"For now... yeah, I guess. Well, good night."

"Alright. Make sure you do well at school tomorrow."

I closed the door, climbed into bed, and the soft cushioning supported my body perfectly. As I savored that comfortable feeling and slowly closed my eyes, that scene began to replay in my mind.

The version of me who had to end his playing career due to injury had just shattered the dream of a player who, no matter how many lives he'd ruined or how close he'd come to destroying mine, was still chasing the pro dream.

'I didn't feel this way at all when I was tearing into Na Hyunsu right in front of him.'

Was this what they called a moment of clarity?

At first, I'd only planned to spread the image of him as a useless batter and kill off the player known as Na Hyunsu the catcher-slash-batter. But looking at the result, I'd essentially ended the life of the person Na Hyunsu without any of that.

Could a student dreaming of becoming a pro athlete really balance studying and training well enough to keep up with high school academics? I didn't think so. In my case, I had the experience from my university days, so it was somewhat manageable.

"Damn, this isn't helping at all."

Normally my eyes should have closed right away, but because of the Na Hyunsu incident, my sleep time had dropped significantly...

"Hey, Lee Seojun."

"...?"

"Did you stay up all night?"

"Oh, is it that obvious?"

"Yeah, you've got massive dark circles."

My sleep time had been exactly thirty minutes. And since I'd dozed off on the bus, it basically counted as an all-nighter.

'...I can't focus at all.'

It was a good thing my mental fortitude was pretty high. If this had been an ordinary person, they probably would've collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

Everyone was gathering their gear, getting ready for the seventh game of the Weekend League. The coach had said ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I didn't have to come today, but he'd told me to at least stop by and watch.

'...Oh, the Devils are doing surprisingly well, huh?'

The Wiz, who usually struggled early but somehow made the postseason every year, were sitting in the upper ranks from the start of the season. The Oceans, nicknamed the "Spring Sons," were floundering in eighth place. The CN Dragons, formerly the Dinos, looked far weaker than they had during their Dinos days.

'Didn't they change managers four times during last season?'

The bottom-dwelling Dragons would probably sweep up the best talent in this draft. Of course, the Dinos had traded away most of those draft picks to bring in a bunch of ready-to-play veterans.

'Where will Yang Uijin end up...?'

In the original world, the player who served as Yang Uijin's motif started by setting numerous records with the Bears and building something close to a dynasty. His prime then exploded with the Dinos, where he led them to their first championship in franchise history. Since Yang Uijin hadn't gone to the Dragons yet, they currently stood proudly on the list of teams that had never won a title since their founding, alongside the Heroes and the Wiz.

'Yang Uijin's draft is next year... The ones going this year are probably senior Oh Hanil at first base and brother Hyunbin in left field.'

Both had experience with the youth national team, so they'd be picked by the fourth round at the latest. If the Falcons, who desperately needed outfielders, were interested, they could even go in the second round.

As for pitchers, the staff was already in shambles. If they could only pick one, it would probably be Lee Hyunsoo, the only third-year pitcher besides me, Kim Sihu, and Jeong Taehun. He was a right-handed overhand guy who still threw an attractive ball.

'Oh, there's also senior Yongchan.'

He could only throw three pitches—fastball, splitter, and slider—but the perfection of those three was remarkably high. Looking at the order, it seemed like he'd end up with the Dragons.

'The pitching staff really is lacking.'

If Kim Sihu got injured or I exceeded my pitch limit and couldn't appear, the only reliable pitcher besides the third-years would be first-year Jeong Taehun. Well, I'd have to do my best to make sure that never happened.

Maybe because I'd stopped thinking about Na Hyunsu for a moment, sleep hit me like an eight-ton truck...

"Ah, you're awake?"

"Epinel?"

When I came to, I realized I'd woken up on Epinel's lap.

...

...

...

"You've been asleep for exactly three hours. The score is... 7 to 5, we're leading."

Epinel had apparently moved me to the managers' room because she thought the noise from the other players might wake me. Epinel, you're something else.

But for some reason, I couldn't see Epinel's face. In fact, it was a little hard to breathe.

"Um, I'm starting to feel like I can't breathe."

"...?! Huh?!"

Only then did she seem to understand what I'd said. Epinel jumped up in surprise and moved away. Thanks to that, I was freed from the baseball bag that had been blocking my view and could finally check the game that was being broadcast.

Looking at the game log, Kim Sihu hadn't appeared in this one. It seemed like they were saving him for an emergency...

Crack!

"Oh, that one's gone."

A line-drive single that cleared second baseman Lee Yuta's reach...

Thud!

'He caught that?'

It was a ball Oh Jihun definitely would've missed, but Lee Yuta made a spectacular catch, threw out the runner who'd been rounding second thinking it was a hit, and the ninth inning ended just like that.

"Alright, game's over. Shall we head out too?"

"Yeah, let's go."

When I went to the dugout with Epinel, Lee Yuta, who'd just shown off that brilliant defensive play, was receiving praise from the coach.

"At this rate, you'll get picked for the youth national team without any trouble, right?"

"Thank you!"

Hmm... Well, he'll get picked without trouble, sure.

To be precise, he'd be picked as a backup second baseman, not a starter. Lee Yuta was a player optimized for small-ball baseball, with excellent range thanks to his speed, good plate discipline, and the ability to get on base and execute plays.

The problem was that Park Minhu, now free of his trauma, was even better. The moment Park Minhu overcame Na Hyunsu's trauma and returned as the leadoff hitter and number-one batter from his Munhwi High days, the gap between their abilities narrowed significantly.

Crucially, the Blue Dragon Flag would feature a matchup between Cheonji High and Munhwi High. In that confrontation, it would come down to Park Minhu versus Lee Yuta. When both Heo Kangmin and Lee Taehyun hit hard grounders between second and short, Park Minhu would make the play while Lee Yuta couldn't. Since the descriptions said the balls took similar paths, it had probably been written that way on purpose to show the limits of each player.

But Na ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hyunsu won't be able to play in the national tournament.

That was the variable. Would Munhwi High even make it to the national tournament?

After suffering a heartbreaking walk-off loss against Dongcheon High, the team that was originally supposed to advance as the third or fourth seed now had a red light flashing over their qualification. On top of that, the pitcher who'd thrown the headshot at me had been suspended for two games, and Na Hyunsu was out with a torn ACL, leaving them without a starting catcher.

If there wasn't a catcher who'd endured Na Hyunsu's tyranny at Munhwi High, learned another position, and switched over... then a student with practically no catching experience would end up taking the catching spot.

But if he had the brains for that, he would've transferred to another school a long time ago.

Munhwi High's defensive situation had become so bad that they now had worse defense than Haneul High. Their path to victory had grown incredibly complicated; they'd need to produce offense at a level higher than Haneul High just to scrape out wins.

Will Park Minhu, who hasn't overcome his trauma for revenge, really be able to show the dignity of a national team second baseman?

I wasn't sure.

...

...

...

In the ninth game of the Weekend League, we showed off clean bullpen baseball and won 9-0. In the eighth and final game, I took the mound and pitched a complete-game shutout for the victory.

"And the Weekend League champions are... as always... Haneul High!"

Thanks to that, the Weekend League ended in a clean victory for us.

The moment the progress bars were added to the conditions for obtaining God of Baseball.

I'd thought Yang Uijin, who'd hit a .700 batting average and 8 home runs, would take Weekend League MVP. But surprisingly, I—a first-year—received the award.

Lee Seojun: 3 games, 3 wins (2 shutouts)/46 strikeouts/ERA 0.00/Batting Average .653/On-base Percentage .875/7 home runs/22 stolen bases/14 walks

Yeah... I guess I deserved it.

Thanks to that, I had to suffer through an absolute nightmare of interview requests and broadcast crews chasing me around. I'd thought this was a world where a high school freshman's 150 km/h fastball was considered slightly impressive, but after the MVP interview aired, articles related to me dominated the sports news pages for a while.

And that was how I learned something new. The principal of Haneul High had apparently blocked all contact from the media and teams out of consideration for me. No wonder no reporters or scouts from other clubs had been swarming me during games. Normally there should've been a flood of offers like "We'll give you support money, so come to our team later," but maybe it was because I was tucked away safely inside the Haneul High nest. It seemed the principal was protecting me fiercely.

As a result, other clubs were acting like the GL Devils had already marked me as their regional draft first pick. They won't deliberately tank later just to draft me, right...?

Oh, and since it was practically my first interview, a ton of questions came pouring in. Who did I respect, which team did I want to join later, and could I explain how a first-year was throwing all those different pitches at nearly 160 km/h? It felt like I was getting every question I'd never been asked before all at once.

"The player I respect is Choi Dong-il. I don't have a particular team I want to join yet... Since I'm the one being chosen rather than the one choosing, it doesn't matter where I end up. And regarding the doping suspicions, if you look at this test result..."

After the chaotic interview ended, for some reason all the team members were gathered in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠front of the TV.

"Oh, you're here? Come watch the national tournament bracket draw with us."

Ah, so that's why none of them had gone home yet. It was for this.