Chapter 105
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105
His stomach churned. Dokyun could feel the desserts he’d just eaten twisting into a knot inside him, bringing on a wave of nausea.
There were several reasons for his stomachache. First, Eun-byeol had ordered far too many desserts. Second, she had shoved a camera in his face the entire time he was forced to clean up the leftovers.
Dokyun felt his insides flip every time Eun-byeol laughed while teasing him. The misery of being reduced to someone else’s plaything was a complex feeling that couldn’t be summed up in a single word.
“Ahh, that was fun!”
Dokyun watched Eun-byeol as she stretched languidly and started walking. She didn’t even tell him where they were going, just strolled off, lost in her own enjoyment.
After a short sigh, Dokyun turned to her and finally asked the question he’d been holding back.
“Don’t you think it’s time you told me?”
“Hm?”
“Where are we going?”
At Dokyun’s question, Eun-byeol blinked, then burst out laughing before answering.
“To the baseball stadium!”
“What? So suddenly?”
“Yep. It’s the season opener today.”
Was it? He had no interest in baseball, so he had no idea. Dokyun didn’t hide his surprise at her unexpected hobby as he continued his questions.
“You must like baseball.”
“It’s what I live for.”
She answered with a grin. Then, she turned to Dokyun and whispered in a suggestive tone.
“But I like you more.”
He flinched.
Dokyun’s body shuddered at her repeated fawning. Unable to meet her gaze, he looked down at the floor and mumbled a reply.
“Ah, well, thank you.”
“Oh my, you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed!”
“Please, stop…”
Dokyun felt another headache coming on. He just couldn’t keep up with her energy.
It was a different kind of draining from being with Eun-sam. If Eun-sam tormented him by spouting idiotic nonsense, this one tormented him by sucking all the life out of him.
As his thoughts drifted, connecting Eun-sam and Eun-byeol sparked a memory. Dokyun pressed his lips together and glared at Eun-byeol.
‘Go Eun-sam’s community mentor.’
The thought made his eyes narrow with suspicion.
Honestly, aside from being exhausting with her high energy, Eun-byeol seemed quite normal.
That’s what was suspicious.
He remembered that every rumor he’d heard about her had been anything but simple. Hadn’t even Eun-seol sighed deeply while talking about her?
She was hiding something. He was almost certain of it.
Dokyun’s eyes narrowed further as suspicion bloomed in his mind.
*
Arriving at the baseball stadium, Dokyun looked up at it and let out a small “Oh.”
It was a massive, dome-shaped stadium, bustling with people and dotted with concession stands.
It was bigger than he’d expected. Of course a stadium would be large, but there was a huge difference between imagining it and experiencing it in person.
As Dokyun marveled at the scale of a baseball stadium—a place he’d never been to in his life—Eun-byeol spoke up.
“Honey, we have to buy jerseys.”
“Ah, should we?”
Dokyun agreed. It wasn’t a place he’d ever come to on his own, so he figured he might as well get into the spirit of it.
Seeing him nod, Eun-byeol gave a satisfied smile and led him to the gift shop.
She looked completely at home here. A question popped into Dokyun’s mind, and he voiced it.
“You seem to have been here a lot.”
“Yep. Isn’t it exciting coming to places like this?”
“Hmm…”
As someone who didn’t particularly enjoy crowded places, he couldn’t really relate.
As Dokyun tilted his head, Eun-byeol giggled. She entered the gift shop, paid for two white jerseys with the team name emblazoned in red, and handed one to him.
“Here.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Dokyun examined the jersey she gave him, then let out a small “Oh” of recognition when he saw the team name.
“It’s Latte.”
Even he, with no interest in baseball, knew they were a famous team.
“My soulmate,” she said, pulling the jersey on over her outerwear. Dokyun nodded and put on his own.
It was roomy enough to fit comfortably over his clothes.
Feeling a strange sense of excitement at taking part in this mainstream social activity, Dokyun followed her.
Eun-byeol then made the rounds buying snacks and beer before they finally entered the stadium proper.
As they walked in, Dokyun saw the vast, open field and the seats surrounding it, letting out another impressed “Oh.”
He was wondering if they could just sit anywhere when he suddenly remembered her mentioning a “reservation” back at the hospital. He looked at her and asked.
“Do we have assigned seats?”
“Right over there!”
Dokyun’s gaze followed her finger. At the end of her pointed finger was a separate section, partitioned off from the other seats.
“I reserved the VIP section.”
“Oh…”
She’s really serious about her hobbies. With that thought, Dokyun followed her to their seats, sitting down next to her and looking around the stadium again.
“You can definitely see well from here.”
“Right? This is the best spot.”
Dokyun nodded. Seeing Eun-byeol’s cheeks flushed with anticipation, he let out a small chuckle and handed her a can of beer.
“Aw, thanks, honey.”
Eun-byeol took the beer and downed it in one go with a loud “Kaaah!” Dokyun let out a disbelieving laugh and asked her a question.
“The game hasn’t even started and you’re already drinking?”
“Huh? Oh, you wouldn’t know, would you? You’re not supposed to watch baseball sober. You should drink up beforehand, too.”
Dokyun tilted his head at her explanation. He had no idea what she meant.
After staring at her in confusion for a moment, he figured, ‘Well, she’s the expert, there must be a reason,’ and started drinking his beer.
*
The game began. Before the official start, a woman walked onto the mound for the ceremonial first pitch. Dokyun let out another “Oh.”
“She’s an idol.”
It was someone famous enough that even Dokyun recognized her—the center of a girl group that was all the rage these days. As Dokyun watched with fascination, Eun-byeol shot him a playful question.
“First time seeing a celebrity?”
“Yes. I don’t exactly have many opportunities.”
When Dokyun nodded in agreement, Eun-byeol giggled again and continued.
“So, is she pretty?”
A loaded question. He immediately understood her intent. She’s asking if the idol is prettier than her.
Dokyun smirked, pretended to look back and forth between the idol and Eun-byeol, and then gave his answer.
“You’re prettier, Eun-byeol.”
“Ooh, one hundred points.”
She replied with a playful thumbs-up.
Looking at her, Dokyun was struck once again by just how ridiculously beautiful she was.
He knew it was silly to compare who was better-looking, but when forced to answer who was prettier, the answer that came naturally was her.
‘So this is what they call narrative justification.’
You’d think he’d be used to her face by now, seeing it every day, but there were still moments when he’d look at her and be struck with awe.
A brief sense of satisfaction at being with such a person washed over him, but it was quickly followed by a surge of deprivation.
God was unfair.
*
As the game continued, Dokyun felt an unfamiliar sense of enjoyment welling up inside him.
The roar of the crowd from all sides. The loud music that vibrated through his chest. The dancing and the cheering.
Dokyun instantly understood why people bothered coming to a stadium to watch a game.
With so much joyful energy flowing from every direction, his own excitement rose without him even realizing it.
As he watched the game, his eyes fell on the cheerleaders dancing nonstop at the front.
‘That must be tough.’
The weather was quite chilly, but they were still sweating. He felt a pang of sympathy for them, but then thought that it might be fun to work in a place so full of passion. He shifted his gaze to the scoreboard.
It displayed the current state of the game.
It was now the bottom of the 5th inning. Latte, the team Eun-byeol was cheering for, was losing to Hana, 1 to 4.
Dokyun’s gaze shifted to Eun-byeol.
The woman who had been so thrilled when they first arrived now had a distinctly subdued expression as she chugged her beer.
Dokyun finally understood why she’d said you couldn’t watch this sober.
Who would want to watch their favorite team lose?
Then, he remembered Latte’s nickname.
‘Was it Kkol-tte?’
Last-place Latte, because they were always in last place.
Dokyun felt a surge of pity for Eun-byeol, but that was quickly replaced by a sense of fear at the madness of someone who would so tenaciously cheer for a losing team.
“Um, Eun-byeol-ssi. Are you okay?” he asked, seeing her poor state.
Eun-byeol glanced at him and nodded.
“I’m fine… We’ll make a comeback… We have to make a comeback…”
She looked extremely strange.
Dokyun found her trembling expression terrifying.
*
Top of the 7th.
Somehow, they had closed the gap to 2-4. It was Latte’s turn to bat.
Two outs, bases loaded. A home run here would put Latte in the lead.
Dokyun’s gaze shifted from the scoreboard to Eun-byeol. She was chewing on her thumb, her face anxious as she stared at the mound.
“Homerunhomerunhomerunhomerunhomerunhomerun.”
She muttered the word over and over.
‘Is this okay?’ he wondered for a moment. Too scared to keep looking at her, Dokyun turned his attention back to the field.
It felt safer to just focus on the game.
A batter stepped up to the plate.
He had a stout build, looking less like an athlete and more like the owner of a neighborhood restaurant.
The player took his stance and raised his bat. The opposing pitcher threw the ball.
As the ball shot forward, the Latte batter swung.
What followed was the sight of the ball sailing smoothly past the bat.
Strike.
Flinch!
Eun-byeol’s body jerked.
Dokyun didn’t have the courage to look at her, so he kept his eyes glued on the batter.
“Shit…”
He flinched at the curse he heard beside him.
The second pitch.
The pitcher threw, and the batter swung again.
Another strike.
“Moth…”
Flinch.
Dokyun’s body trembled at the sound.
He was scared. The anger seeping from the atmosphere, from her voice, was terrifying.
Dokyun prayed desperately for the batter to hit a home run and break this tension.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Please…!’
A desperate prayer. Just then, a sharp CRACK! echoed throughout the stadium.
It was followed by a massive roar.
“WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”
Startled by the eardrum-shattering sound, Dokyun’s eyes flew open.
“FUUUUCK! YES! THAT’S IT!!!!”
A vulgar cheer erupted right next to him. Dokyun turned his head to see Eun-byeol on her feet, screaming her head off.
It was a relief. She seemed to be in a good mood now.
Dokyun let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and weakly pumped his fist, joining the cheer.
“Wow, waaaah…!”
*
Dokyun began to retrace his steps, trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong.
Was it his failure to be suspicious when she said they were going to a baseball stadium? Was it his failure to realize anything as she grew more aggressive during the game? No, his mistake was not getting her out of there before the game ended.
Bottom of the 9th. With the score at 7-6, Hana hit a two-run homer.
Latte had lost.
Dokyun covered his face with his hands, trying to block out the scene.
It was because of Eun-byeol, who was right next to him, screaming with her eyes rolled back in her head.
“YOU FUUUUCKING BASTAAAAARDS!!!!”
The moment the ball flew over the fence, Eun-byeol had shot to her feet, tearing at her hair and screaming.
“WHY DO YOU PLAY SO FUCKING SHITTY!!!! GO PLAY WITH YOUR DICKS AT HOOOOME!!!!”
Then she started grabbing anything within reach and hurling it.
Dokyun’s eyes squeezed shut.
‘Why…’
Why was this happening?
No, maybe he had known all along.
Of course. The clues had been more than plentiful.
—She doesn’t come out in winter.
‘Because there’s no baseball in the winter.’
—She goes around causing trouble.
‘Probably property damage.’
The area around them was already a chaotic mess of things she had thrown.
—She’s Eun-sam’s community mentor.
‘Baseball communities…!’
A notoriously huge and toxic online community. If she was a member there, it all made sense.
A look of utter despair washed over Dokyun’s face.
A word surfaced in his mind, far too late.
The word for the hooligans who poured their lives into the perpetually last-place Kkol-tte.
The final personality was…
‘A Kkolrigeon, for fuck’s sake…!’
She was a Kkolrigeon.