The Season Ends
After the Korean Series wrapped up, I spent the next several days in a complete whirlwind.
It started with the championship celebration party and only snowballed from there—I had to show my face at every single gathering that invited me.
I even got a chance to meet the team owner, who surprisingly accepted my move to the big leagues without any fuss.
He never even brought up the five-billion-won thing, which left me a little disappointed…
Then came the dinner invitation from Barnett. I headed over to his place not alone, but with Han Song-yi by my side.
Barnett was living in an apartment the team had arranged for him, not far from our place at all.
It was one of those notoriously expensive complexes… the club had clearly spent big on him.
Then again, his arrival had boosted the team’s performance and played a real part in the championship, so the expense wasn’t exactly over the top.
We rang the doorbell, and the door opened to Barnett’s family waiting to greet us.
Barnett, his wife, and their two little girls.
The daughters—six and three—clung tightly to their parents’ sides, watching us with eyes full of curiosity.
Especially Song-yi more than me.
I’d heard somewhere that little kids warm up faster to pretty people…
Today proved that saying true.
We went inside and sat on the sofa chatting while dinner was prepared. The whole time, Song-yi stayed glued to Barnett’s two daughters.
The three of them whispered among themselves, and soon the house filled with peals of laughter.
They stuck together like lifelong best friends, trading secrets as if they’d known each other for years.
“She’s great with the kids. She’ll make a wonderful mother.”
“You think so? They just seem like easygoing kids to me.”
“No way! Those two are…”
He looked like he was about to say something unflattering and barely stopped himself.
A little later dinner was ready, and we took our seats at the table.
Barnett and his wife sat side by side; Song-yi and I sat across from them.
The older daughter planted herself right next to Song-yi. The younger one climbed straight onto Song-yi’s lap.
Barnett’s wife tried to pull them away, but the girls weren’t having any of it…
In the end Song-yi took charge of both.
And she handled them with surprising skill—feeding them, wiping their faces, cleaning up every spill.
Come to think of it, she used to look after me the same way whenever we ate together…
Am I getting the same treatment as these kids?
Once the meal at Barnett’s house wound down, he and I took our coffee into the study.
He said he had something to discuss just the two of us.
The study was impressively put together.
The bookcase behind the desk was packed with countless volumes—most of them about baseball, of course.
I got briefly lost staring at them until Barnett’s voice pulled me back.
“Jin. You’ve heard about me, right?”
“Heard what? You mean the retirement?”
I’d already been told that Barnett had been talking about retiring even before he joined our team.
And the moment the season ended, he made the announcement official.
No second thoughts.
“That’s right.”
“No regrets? You had a pretty solid year.”
“None. It’s enough. This season was actually pretty rough on me. And at this point, I figure I’ve earned a little rest.”
Barnett’s expression looked completely at ease.
No lingering regret or attachment—just quiet contentment.
If he was happy with the decision, that was good enough for me.
“So what did you actually want to talk about?”
He hadn’t pulled me in here just to chat about retirement.
There was clearly something else, so I waited for him to spit it out.
“I’m heading to the Cubs.”
“Huh? The Cubs?”
“Yeah. Looks like I’ll be working for them as a scout.”
“Oh—back to the old home team? Congrats.”
“Thanks. Anyway, about that…”
“……?”
“Any interest in the Cubs?”
“Come again?”
The Cubs? Out of nowhere?
Jack had mentioned they were showing interest, sure.
But back then it was just interest, and nothing more had come of it since.
Jack was finally starting to move in earnest, so the situation could change, but as far as I knew that was still the whole story.
“Well…”
“Is there another team you’re already thinking about?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s more like… nothing’s decided yet, you know?”
“That so? Perfect, then. I put in a strong recommendation for you with the front office. Of course they already knew who you were.”
“R-really? Th-thanks.”
The Cubs… the Cubs, huh…
After their rebuild that started in the early-to-mid 2020s finally paid off, they’d been rolling pretty well the last few years.
One of the most popular teams in the world.
Come to think of it, why had I written the Cubs off completely?
“As you know, the Cubs are aiming for a championship. From where I’m sitting, if you join us the odds look real.”
“……I haven’t shown anything yet. I haven’t even played in an international game.”
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you can just tell. Whether a guy will make it in the big leagues or not.”
“You think I’ll make it?”
“Ha! You’ll eat them alive.”
“Whoa…”
That was some serious praise.
Honestly, Barnett’s words did spark a little interest in the Cubs.
But I couldn’t let myself get my hopes up right here.
“I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I need. You’ll get offers from all over, but if none of them are wildly different, just give us one more look.”
“Got it.”
After finishing the talk with Barnett I headed straight home.
I told Ho-min, who was already there, everything that had happened that day, starting with Barnett becoming a Cubs scout.
“The Cubs. Not bad.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. First off, the team’s loaded with money.”
“True enough.”
“Record’s solid too…”
“Right.”
“Pitching staff isn’t bad.”
“……”
“But they don’t have a clear-cut ace.”
“That so?”
“And you’re planning a short contract anyway, right?”
“Probably?”
“Going there could let you stand out fast. Honestly most of the mid-tier teams are all about the same.”
“It’s not like we only play the teams in our division.”
“Still, almost half the schedule is.”
“Hmm…”
Listening to Ho-min made the idea sound a little more plausible.
Still too early, though.
“Jack’ll handle it.”
“Isn’t that guy way too busy? Your wedding prep plus the contract…”
“……Yeah, no kidding.”
I cleaned up every award there was.
Honestly, I think I took home every single trophy I could possibly win.
I even claimed the wins title I’d missed last year, completed the Triple Crown, and of course the MVP was mine too.
After filling the display case at home to the brim…
I got married.
“I never believed you when you said it’d be a small wedding… but this is still way too many people, isn’t it?”
On the day of the ceremony, Ho-min—who was helping guide the guests—looked at me in pure disbelief.
To be honest, I was a little stunned myself.
The people invited by both my family and Song-yi’s were one thing.
Our teammates and the rest of the club staff were another.
Even the people from the broadcasting station where Song-yi used to work were fine…
“Hey. Kwon Jong-jin just showed up. Kwon Jong-jin.”
“Huh?”
“He came with Im Jong-hoon and Kim Kyung-seok?”
“What? Why?”
“What do you mean why, you crazy bastard? You invited them and you’re asking me?”
I hadn’t invited them.
Here’s how it happened… invitations had gone out to every team.
Not from me—from the team captain.
It was his way of looking out for me, since I didn’t really know players from other clubs that well…
I figured that was convenient and just left everything to him.
I thought, There’s no way they’ll actually come, and never gave it another thought…
Yet three guys from the Raiders, including Kwon Jong-jin, showed up.
And it didn’t stop there…
“Senior Park Kang-su. Thank you so much for coming.”
“Senior Lee Gi-ho…”
“Senior Kim Jong-su…”
“Kim Hyun-sung…”
“Park Ji-hoon…”
.
.
.
Two or three players from every single team had come.
“Unbelievable… even someone from the Dragons showed up?”
“What? Who?”
“Your old teammate. Hwang Jongdu.”
“Ah…”
Far more guests arrived than any of us had expected.
My parents and Song-yi’s parents—now my in-laws—couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces at the wedding’s massive success.
After what felt like an endless round of greetings that left my mouth dry, the guests who’d been milling in the hallway finally filed into the hall.
“The groom will now enter! Groom’s entrance!”
With the voice of Song-yi’s fellow announcer who was emceeing the ceremony, the wedding began.
“Ahhh, this is the life~”
The moment the wedding ended we boarded a plane straight for the United States.
Everything we needed to do from here on out was in America, so we simply turned the honeymoon into a trip there.
Jack was handling all the actual work anyway, so I just kicked back with Song-yi, staring at the ocean and enjoying ourselves.
We hit the famous spots, dropped by a casino and pulled a few slot-machine levers.
According to Jack, things would roughly take shape before December was over.
He’d already narrowed it down to a handful of teams and was meeting with people from each, trying to squeeze out the best possible contract terms.
He was still talking with the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Rangers—teams I’d quietly hoped for—and the Cubs were in the mix too.
The San Diego Padres, the first team that had shown interest, had already been cut loose long ago.
Jack’s word for it was “shameless.” He’d probably shut them down cold the second they tried to lowball us.
It wasn’t all pure vacation, though.
After a stretch of complete rest I started rebuilding my body again, very slowly.
I still wasn’t touching a ball—that would wait until a team was decided.
Time passed, and two days before Christmas…
“I think you can make your decision from among these.”
Jack was back.