Bathroom Hijinks and Boundless Strikeouts
Bwoong!
Struck out batter Kim Jae-hwang on a whiff!
Stamina restored equal to pitches thrown against the batter.
Ball count 2-2! Whiff! A swing-and-miss on the outside breaking ball for the strikeout! Seo Tae-woong had once again retired the inning's leadoff hitter. Not a single batter had reached first base!
An inside 124 km/h high fastball, followed by an 82 km/h slow curve dropping to the farthest outside corner. The combo was perfect. From the batter's perspective, the slowest pitch comes right after the fastest one they feel, making it impossible to time.
Exactly. In slow motion, you can see Kim Jae-hwang's bat already turning as the ball crosses the plate.
Other pitchers know how to throw like Seo Tae-woong, but when push comes to shove, they're too shaky to pull it off. He's got real guts.
Got batter Yang Ui-jin on a grounder to first!
Stamina restored equal to pitches thrown against the batter.
1-1 count, and Seo Tae-woong fires the third pitch! Yang Ui-jin nicks the outside sinking fastball. The ball rolls sharply toward first! First baseman Yoon Sung-min dives for the catch! Seo Tae-woong hustles to cover first! Got it! Two outs!
Seo Tae-woong's base coverage is lightning quick. He stayed cool and handled it perfectly.
Seo Tae-woong unleashes the first-pitch breaker dropping low. Fouled off! The ball rolls toward shortstop. Shortstop Sim Woo-ju fields it easily and throws to first. Out! Seo Tae-woong had racked up three quick outs. Inning over!
The Bears' hitters have been aggressively swinging today overall. Seo Tae-woong's stuff is so slow that the ball looks hittable until midway, so they offer at it—but they're way off on timing. Now the bottom of the order starts the next inning from the seven-hole, so the Bears might want to play it a bit more selectively.
We'll take a quick break and return for the top of the sixth.
Ignoring Ace's nonstop muttering with every out he piled up, Tae-woong kept his tempo brisk and missed his chance to clap back—until the inning ended.
"What are you, some cursed doll like Chucky? Cut the third-rate jinxes and try cheering for once. I hear the systems next door cheer, give tips, hand out items, skills, the works."
"Don't ask about stuff you don't know and just roll with it."
"Well, perfect timing—cleaning time after the fifth means we've got five minutes or so."
"...Precision Lecture? This ain't the SATs or TOEIC. So what's that supposed to be?"
"Somewhere empty? Damn, finding a spot for this is a hassle. Where...?"
An idea flashed in Tae-woong's mind.
"Ah! Right, it'll be empty there. Got it! Let's go!"
He turned from Ace and led the way from the dugout into the stadium building.
"You'll see when we get there."
Passing the players' restroom, meeting room, and locker room, Tae-woong kept walking down the hall until he stopped at a glass door in the corner.
"We're here!"
Ace, who'd chased after him, asked.
Tae-woong opened the door without a word. Ace followed and immediately knew.
"You said somewhere empty. This is the staff and team communal restroom. But it's too far from the dugout during games, so nobody really uses it. That's why I figured..."
Just as Tae-woong finished, an ominous sound and stench wafted from the far stall. He'd cracked the door to enter but slammed it shut and backed away. Ace, who couldn't even smell, jammed two fingers up his nostrils anyway.
"I swear I got here first. Coach Jeong Myeong-eon was chatting with the skipper in the dugout. Who the hell...?"
Thirty seconds later, a flush solved the mystery.
Whoosh.
"Huh? What're you doing here?"
The guy stepping out was none other than Tae-woong's sole rookie classmate from the first team: Kang Baek-ho.
"Ran here quick."
"Players' restroom was packed, so I sprinted."
If Tae-woong hadn't even glimpsed his back, Baek-ho's speed was off the charts.
"Run like that and you'd be stolen-base king. Don't save it just for the john—do it on the bases too."
"My goal this season's 20-20 anyway."
"20-20? You mean 20 double plays and 20 caught stealings?"
"What the hell kinda nonsense is that, you psycho? Obviously 20 homers and 20 steals."
"Dude, you got zero steals. Same as me. Zero."
"Idiot, I haven't stolen once to build momentum."
"Momentum?"
"Yeah, momentum."
"You two are identical. Spitting images. You even human?"
Baek-ho glanced around tensely at Tae-woong's words.
"This guy? Nobody here's a ghost, right? You losing it? No wonder you're dealing lights-out today—baseball ghost possession?"
As Baek-ho grabbed Tae-woong's collar, he sensed something skipped in the convo.
"Hey, Baek-ho."
"Yeah? What?"
"You washed your hands on the way out, right?"
"Nah, saw someone at the door and bailed to check who. Speaking of, lemme wash up."
Baek-ho shook his hands and headed back in.
Tae-woong looked down at the white home jersey. A stain.
No freaking way...!
He burst into the restroom and yelled at Baek-ho.
"So this brown crap on my uniform... it ain't... that? Right? Tell me it ain't."
Baek-ho grinned wickedly.
"Ah, paper was low so I wiped with my hand—guess some stuck. Sorry. I'll wait outside; scrub it with soap while you're in. Should come right off."
"Gahhhhhhh!"
Tae-woong's scream echoed through the bathroom.
Moments later, the door opened, and they stepped into the hall.
"Kekeke, hahahahaha!"
Baek-ho couldn't hold it, gasping as he slapped Tae-woong's shoulder.
"Stop laughing, man. I thought it was actual shit."
"Kekekeke, you think I'd go that psycho? Plus, every stall's got a bidet."
"Oh, yeah?"
"For real. Installed while we were on the road trip."
"Phew... that's solid proof. Dodged a bullet—nearly folded in half from shock."
Tae-woong finally relaxed.
The brown-stain fiasco killed the cleaning time after the fifth.
Top of the sixth: The Wiz hitters, facing early-130s heat from Kang Bin, couldn't adjust to his near-150 km/h stuff and meekly gave up three outs.
Entering the bottom of the sixth, Tae-woong huddled with Hae-chan to tweak the pitch mix.
"Hae-chan hyung, how 'bout we go back to off-speed heavy?"
"Could do. We've shown a ton of fastballs, so they'll hunt those—smart. Outside slider to lefties, outside curve and change to righties."
"Fastball only in favorable counts, high or inside, once or twice."
"Got it. Holler if issues mid-inning."
"Will do, hyung."
Top of the sixth: Kang Bin took the mound again after the fifth, allowing just one hit while fanning three to close the frame.
Hidden behind stars like Kang Baek-ho and Seo Tae-woong, Kang Bin's no ordinary rookie this season. What do you think, analyst?
As the Bears' top draft pick, his fastball alone doesn't yield to anyone. But skipper Kim Tae-hyun uses him in relief for a reason: command and mastering at least two breaking balls will make him elite.
His growth in short camp is promising. Now, bottom of the sixth! Time to see if the Wiz can bury a guy this good.
Seo Tae-woong climbs the mound for the sixth. From the first hitter in the first, he's retired 15 straight on outs!
Recently etched in the record books, he's living up to the hype. Perfect through five! Now facing seven-hole Paregis.
Shwoong. Bwoong!
Tae-woong fired an outside slider tailing away to lefty Paregis, drawing the whiff as planned.
"Still can't touch the breakers. One more..."
Shwoong. Bwoong!
Nearly identical spot and pitch.
"Hmm... maybe. But with skills firing nonstop, no need to gamble."
Baek-ho's homer made it a three-run lead. In this hitter-friendly league, one big swing could flip it.
"Nah, jab inside first. No need to push our luck here."
Tae-woong played it safe.
No balls, two strikes. Hae-chan's mitt rose to chest-high on the lefty, and Tae-woong fired his hardest right at it.
Shwoong.
The result proved him right.
Bwoong!
Thwack!
Got batter Paregis on a pop to the catcher!
Stamina restored equal to pitches thrown against the batter.