VS the Strongest Monsters: Finale
Meanwhile, in the Strongest Monsters’ dugout. As they watched Lee Seojun climb the mound, manager Lee Seung-yeop and the players began talking among themselves.
Song Seung-jun glanced down at the stat sheet in his hands.
“His control… a freshman throwing that hard has to have control issues…”
Kim Sun-woo, the commentator who had dropped by, spoke carefully.
“………”
“He’s throwing 99-mile-per-hour fastballs with command. I don’t know about his hitting, but as a pitcher he’s already better than anyone in the country right now. Even Ohtani didn’t show this kind of impact as a high school freshman…”
Even though some of the previous games had ended in defeat, there had always been the sense that if they could replay them, they might have won. The losses had mostly come from the catcher’s errors, so while the players didn’t say it out loud… most of them believed the Monsters would have won if they’d had a decent catcher.
Among the current Monsters batters, Jeong Seong-hun possessed the best contact ability even if his power wasn’t elite. Yet—
-CRACK!
“Strike three! Batter out!”
After watching him freeze up and go down looking on a strikeout without even swinging, the atmosphere in the Monsters dugout plummeted in an instant.
The score was still 3-1 in the Monsters’ favor. But with Lee Seojun reigning on the mound, it suddenly felt like the runs they had scored might be the last ones they would get.
The intentional walk was the plan the Monsters had come up with for Lee Seojun. The team’s weaknesses had been exposed—especially the pitchers whose form hadn’t recovered and the catcher who couldn’t throw. No matter how big a lead the Monsters built, that catcher was always the spark for a comeback.
It only took two batters for Lee Seojun to steal second and third after the intentional walk and for Lee Surin to hit a two-run homer to tie the game.
Ah, an intentional walk feels a bit cheap.
That was the thought that naturally crossed my mind as I returned to the dugout.
“Ow, my hand’s stinging like crazy.”
As soon as Yang Uijin took off his mitt, he pressed an ice pack against it, wincing slightly from the pain.
“Is your hand okay?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna need a new glove. If I’m even a little late receiving it, my hand feels like it’s going to explode.”
“……Should I lower the velocity a bit?”
“You know that’s incredibly rude to say to a catcher, right?”
“Well, you’re the only starting catcher we have.”
“It’s a problem I have to overcome. It’s not something for you to accommodate. Still, thanks for worrying about me.”
Yang Uijin kept rubbing the ice pack against his hand as he spoke. I momentarily mistook him for one of those variety-show characters who only cracks jokes.
He was someone with absolute confidence in his skills. That relaxed personality was the result of knowing he was the best high school catcher in the country. From a catcher’s perspective, hearing a pitcher ask, “Hyung, it looks like your hand might break—should I slow it down?” would sound like the worst possible insult.
Hmm… when I said it, I didn’t mean anything by it, but thinking back, I was playing both outfield and catcher at the time. Maybe I lacked confidence in my own ability.
Back then I had thought it was genuine consideration and had even lowered my velocity and focused on breaking balls per his orders.
……
I gripped the ball loosely, feeling the familiar high-spin fastball grip.
“Coach, about that complete game…”
“You’re pitching tomorrow too, and you’re starting in the semifinals. Complete game my ass.”
“Aha!”
“What do you mean ‘aha’? At most you’re going until the seventh.”
“Ugh. Coach, don’t you have any thoughts about working your players a little harder?”
“I absolutely refuse to give the media any fodder about overworking pitchers. You’re the only one on Haneul High who can handle back-to-back starts anyway, and even if your stamina could handle it, I would never let you do three or four in a row. Keep that in mind.”
Unfortunately, it seemed our Coach Kim wasn’t the old-school type who would grind one player into dust to get results. A classic example was Kim Yun-dong in 2017, or how even now a reliever throwing 100 innings would get the manager crucified for abuse. But just ten years ago, most top-tier relievers casually threw 100 innings. The results spoke for themselves—because all the managers back then were old-school.
Of course, if we’re talking the pinnacle of overwork, it was the legend who won four games in the Korean Series.
The 1984 Korean Series where that happened had been so dominated by Choi Dong-won’s four wins that people sometimes forgot the Samsung pitcher, Kim Il-yung, had also endured an insane three wins and one loss in that “ace grinder” meta.
These days they don’t throw 200 or 300 pitches in practice for conditioning. They don’t do those insane drills of walking across burning coals to build mental toughness for hitting the strike zone either. Even so, Coach Kim Tae-hwan seemed to be one of the true masters who helped players reach the professional level while preserving their bodies without overworking them.
I wasn’t joking—I genuinely wanted to play for Coach Kim when I turned pro.
-CRACK!
While I was organizing my thoughts, the score gap had already widened to 3-5. Well, I should enjoy the innings I was given.
“You said until the seventh, right?”
“That’s right.”
“If I get every batter with three pitches or less from here on, can I go to the eighth?”
“……I’ll think about it.”
Unfortunately, in the top of the seventh with two outs, the slider I threw as the finishing pitch got fouled off, so I had to come down without saying anything about going into the eighth.
The game ended with the Monsters taking an 8-7 victory over the Strongest Monsters after Choi Yong-su and Jeong Tae-hun each gave up two runs, turning a five-run lead into a razor-thin margin.
Oh, looking back, it went exactly like I predicted in that interview.
If Jeong Tae-hun hadn’t given up that two-run homer to Park Yong-taek in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, it would have ended 8-5. Still, Yang Uijin caught every one of my pitches to the end. Right after the game he headed straight to the infirmary with Shin Si-ah. I hope it wasn’t a serious injury.
“Let’s go say goodbye.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Haneul High players lined up and walked over to the Monsters’ dugout.
They all bowed at ninety degrees and thanked the Monsters players for their hard work.
This game probably exposed the Monsters’ overall weaknesses.
There was no countermeasure against fastballs over a certain speed (155 km/h), and their catcher couldn’t throw to second or first base. Having drilled that point into them, the Monsters would probably come up with some internal countermeasures.
Lee Dae-ho’s participation, which was already all but confirmed, is definitely set in stone now…
What was certain was that they would try to gather catching talent somehow. The problem was that catchers at Yang Uijin’s level were already starting in the KBL, and if they brought in retired players, those players had retired for the same reasons as the current catcher Lee Hong-gu, so the situation would be similar.
The only realistic option would be to bring in catchers from the college league…
For the time being, the catcher will be the key to victory.
Whether my prediction was accurate or not, the very next day in the second game, the Haneul batters stole bases the moment they reached base. It was brutal for Lee Hong-gu. The Monsters pitchers, whose mentality was crumbling in real time, started losing command in a chain reaction. That naturally led to runs allowed, which lowered the batting lineup’s morale, which led to my strikeout show, which sharply raised our team’s momentum in a snowball effect.
-CRACK!
“Ah, too bad.”
Haneul High had been on the verge of throwing a perfect game against the Monsters through eight innings. If I had just taken a tiny bit off that last pitch, it would have been perfect. Instead it became a hit… Well, since it wasn’t Yang Uijin but the second-string catcher behind the plate, I had been prepared for one or two hits… Still, it was a shame.
“Good work.”
“Thanks.”
After handing the ball to the next pitcher, Jeong Woo-jin, and stepping off the mound, I was greeted by applause from the dugout.
Now all that’s left is the game against Daeji High and Seoul High.
Seoul High would probably cruise past Busan High and advance to the finals without much trouble. This series against the Monsters had become incredible nourishment for Haneul High. The Haneul High from the original 3X3 that got completely destroyed by a single player named Lee Tae-hyun no longer existed.
-CRACK!
“With Jeong Geun-woo, the Monsters’ last hope, striking out… the game is over…”
“In the top of the ninth, Jeong Ui-yoon’s grand slam looked like it might spark a comeback, but…”
“Haneul High really is strong. Lee Seojun’s pitching, which was perfect through eight innings, was especially sharp.”
“I hope they maintain this kind of performance in the national tournament and get good results.”
Strongest Monsters Game 1: 7-8
Strongest Monsters Game 2: 4-9
Since they had only agreed to play two games, there was no third. It was a sweep.
Man, that bullpen is seriously shaky.
In the game against Daeji High, I would have to shut them down for all nine innings no matter what. Or maybe end it by mercy rule.