The Strongest Monsters Arrive
"Why the Monsters all of a sudden?"
The Strongest Monsters are the team composed of players appearing on JTBC's weekly Monday program Strongest Baseball. It's a show where retired pros and overlooked independent-league or college players face off against pro second-team squads, universities, and high schools—giving the veterans one last taste of pro passion and letting the amateurs etch their names into viewers' minds beyond the TV screen.
"In 2024, even Nippert showed up and all that."
Right now it's 2022, the very beginning of Strongest Baseball. The absurd group-stage elimination caused by Kang Baek-ho's ceremony in the 2023 WBC is actually the 2022 WBC happening this year. If I could meet him beforehand, I'd ask him to watch his step on the bases, but there's no way I'd run into Kang Baek-ho unless I'm selected for the real adult national team—the one that mixes KBL players with a few Major Leaguers—for the WBC alongside him.
"Forget Kang Baek-ho and the WBC for now... Should I start thinking about Strongest Baseball instead?"
The current manager of Strongest Baseball is the Lion King, Lee Seung-yeop. In reality, he's the manager who took the reins of the Bears and drew endless criticism for bizarre pitching changes, stubbornly starting slumping players, and inexplicable pinch-runner substitutions... but as a player, there was nothing to criticize except how generously he gave signs. As a player, he was one of Korea's all-time greatest hitters, part of the legendary "Chu-Kang-Dae-Yeop" lineage. In the KBL's 40th-anniversary legend vote, he ranked fourth in popularity, right behind Sun Dong-yeol, Choi Dong-won, and Lee Jong-beom—leaving an enormous footprint in Korean baseball history. Naturally, like the Iron Arm (H) skill Teacher Choi Dong-won possessed, I should be able to copy the skills of retired legends as well.
"Meeting the legendary data of players like Lee Seung-yeop is my big goal for now. If I'm being greedy, I'd love to snatch their skills too."
Among the players who've been on Strongest Baseball since the early days, the ones likely holding History-grade skills... aside from Lee Seung-yeop, would be Jeong Geun-woo and Park Yong-taek.
"Park Yong-taek's History skill wasn't in Strike the Show, though."
As for Jeong Geun-woo, he has the skill Devil's Second Baseman (H). It massively boosts hit probability in scoring-position at-bats and further inflates all stats when playing second base—a must-have skill that every hardcore pay-to-win player grinding a second baseman card ends up acquiring. I'm not a second baseman, and there are plenty of other skills that raise batting average with runners in scoring position, so Jeong Geun-woo's skill isn't particularly necessary for me.
"History-grade is probably asking too much... Epic or Legendary is the realistic ceiling, huh?"
Age has probably dropped their stats quite a bit, but skills are unique. They'll most likely still be with the players. The game against the Strongest Monsters is scheduled for the Wednesday of the week we face Daeji High in the semifinals. With thirty-two teams already eliminated, that gives us two and a half weeks to prepare.
"Hmm... A game against retired pros. Sounds like it'll be a blast."
"Right? I'm getting Lee Seung-yeop's autograph the second I see him."
"When's Lee Dae-ho coming to Strongest Baseball?"
"Right after his retirement tour ends this time, maybe?"
"Ugh, just imagining it is terrifying. How are we supposed to face Dae-ho hyung-nim as high schoolers?"
"You were an Oceans fan?"
"The Strongest Baseball starting rotation... probably Shim Soo-chang, Song Seung-jun, and Jang Won-sam? I should rewatch old episodes and analyze whatever I can~"
The Haneul High clubhouse instantly turned chaotic the moment the matchup with Strongest Baseball was confirmed. Still, that was that, and...
"The game's starting soon! Save the Strongest Baseball talk for after today's match!"
Right—the Blue Dragon Flag round of sixteen was waiting.
...
...
...
Thwack!
"Strike, strikeout!"
"Nice!"
"5252, Lee Seojun, are you actually insane?!"
["Lee Seojun has shattered his own record once again!"]
["Back-to-back perfect games... and every single one of the twenty-seven outs came via strikeout. This is a first in Korean baseball history!"]
["Ah, I hope the Baeksago players aren't too hurt by this..."]
["These kinds of days happen. If they use the sting of defeat as fuel toward victory, they'll only grow stronger."]
We sailed through both the round of sixteen and the quarterfinals. Especially the twenty-seven strikeouts I recorded in the round of sixteen became so famous it even made the news. Because Baeksago played an extreme small-ball style—bunts, productive outs, stolen bases on offense and constant pitching changes plus lefty-righty matchups on the mound—I decided to just overpower them with raw stuff. Thanks to that, I could finish off most batters in three or four pitches, letting me focus even more on the duel with Lee Gil-hyeon.
"Lee Gil-hyeon... He lived up to being the national team leadoff hitter."
On the bus ride back to Haneul High, I replayed that moment in my head.
...
[Right after the game against Baeksago ended, while packing up equipment]
"Whoa, that stuff was nasty."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Lee Gil-hyeon walked over with a satisfied grin. It was his final Blue Dragon Flag as a third-year, yet his expression showed zero regret.
"This summer, another crazy guy is gonna show up. Carry hard at the WBC, yeah?"
"...Huh?"
"C'mon, you're definitely getting picked. So... see you at camp?"
...
"Well, Lee Gil-hyeon already said he has a Blue Dragon Flag championship trophy anyway."
The WBC this time would obviously be the U-18 squad.
"To unlock God of Baseball (H), I need to win MVP too."
It was a skill I'd never heard of, so I didn't even know what effects it carried—an unknown ability. I had to get it.
...
Time flowed on, and before I knew it, the day of the game against the Strongest Monsters had arrived.
"Faster!"
"Yessir—!"
With the news that Strongest Baseball—a terrestrial broadcast—was coming, the Haneul High coaching staff pushed us even harder than usual. The players, too, threw themselves into the brutal training without a single dropout, all to build recognition by appearing on TV. After several days of this training addiction, the match day finally came. Classes ended, and I sprinted to the baseball field. Countless broadcast vehicles from the network were already swarming around the Haneul High Dome.
"Hey, angle that camera higher! Add another light!"
"Whoa... How is a high school field this huge?"
"Seriously, PD-nim. Setting up the cameras is gonna take a while."
"That's Producer Jang."
The genius PD who planned Strongest Baseball with Shim Soo-chang and turned it into JTBC's flagship content in just one year.
"Ah, Lee Seojun. Good to see you."
"Likewise."
While I was looking around, a staff member spotted me and steered me straight toward Producer Jang.
"Mind if we do a quick interview? Two minutes is plenty."
"...I really don't want to become a victim of devil's editing."
Compared to the Strongest Monsters, who were clearly the protagonists, Haneul High was cast as the villains. One careless remark could instantly turn into a vicious provocation aimed at the heroes and get broadcast nationwide. I was weighing my desire not to get devil-edited as a high schooler against the network's track record of turning even gum-chewing into a character-assassination scandal for the sake of ratings and buzz, when—
"Here, just sit down for the interview."
"Ah, thank you."
Before I could even finish thinking, I was seated in the chair the staff noona handed me and thrown into a simple Q&A. There were no provocative questions; it seemed like it would end with just introducing my top velocity and recent performances... until—
"What's your predicted score for today?"
A heavy fastball came straight down the middle.
"Whew, good thing I already prepared an answer."
"Uh... Haneul High is famous for its strong offense, and the Monsters have Jeong Geun-woo and Park Yong-taek too, so I expect a fierce hitting battle. Predicted score... probably around 7-8? Ah, with us scoring eight."
The interview wrapped up without incident. On the way back, I felt someone's presence and turned around...
"Told you the entrance looked suspicious... This stadium is ridiculously nice."
"It wasn't this good back when I played here."
"C'mon, Yong-taek hyung, how old are you now?"
Because it was still the early days, a somewhat modest group of players appeared inside the Haneul High Dome.