We Meet Again
It had been a while since I'd done an interview.
They could have called up Michael Len, who'd earned the win as today's starter, or Seo Gyeongmin, who'd driven in the go-ahead runs with a two-run homer. The fact that they called me instead was probably thanks to striking out Lee Gijun.
Sure enough, after a brief greeting, the female announcer handling the interview went straight for the question about my duel with Lee Gijun.
"I simply have to ask this. Two days ago you threw a splitter to Lee Gijun and gave up a home run. Yet today, in another high-leverage spot, you chose the splitter again. Was that your own decision, Kang Hajin?"
"Uh… it wasn't just me deciding on my own. Ko Mandeok and I talked it over together and that's what we came up with. We figured if the two-seamer worked, then a splitter to the same location could succeed too."
"Ah, I see. Since you brought it up, shall we talk about that two-seamer as well? Right after the splitter, you unveiled yet another new pitch. How long have you been preparing it?"
"Hmm… the two-seamer… honestly, I used to throw it. From high school all the way until right after I turned pro."
"Yes, I was aware of that. But we hadn't seen it since then. Was there a reason you stopped throwing it?"
"Uh… no big reason. Just… the velocity wasn't there, and every time I threw it I kept getting hit, so they told me to stop…"
"I see. But today the velocity was there. The broadcast booth was full of praise, calling it an excellent pitch."
"Was it? Thank you. Overall my velocity has been climbing, so I figured I'd try it once yesterday. The coach said it looked good, so I threw it."
Had I said something strange? This pretty announcer looked thoroughly startled.
Those already large eyes went perfectly round as she double-checked.
"Y-yesterday? So you practiced it for one day yesterday and threw it in a game today?"
"Yes. I threw about ten of them yesterday."
Apparently the two-seamer had been what she was most curious about.
After a long back-and-forth of questions and answers about the two-seamer, the interview wrapped up with a few empty questions about my plans for the rest of the season.
I finished the interview and was heading back toward the dugout when the same female announcer who'd just done the interview with me came up again.
I turned, wondering what it was, and she suddenly offered a handshake, thanking me for today's interview.
I had no idea what this was about, but with her hand already out I couldn't exactly ask "what for?"… so I just shook it and went on my way.
"…What the hell?"
"What?"
"That's it? Just a handshake and you're done?"
"Yeah?"
"What kind of… ugh… you idiot."
"Aw, why~"
"Get lost, dumbass."
Ko Mandeok shook his head and disappeared ahead of me.
I got what he was driving at, but…
"So what, I'm supposed to do one interview, say hello, and then ask for her number or something?"
I had zero interest in charging ahead just to make a complete fool of myself.
The game had started at five. By the time it ended and the interview was finished, it was well past eight.
"Ah, shit. Completely forgot."
Between focusing on the game and then doing the interview, I'd blanked on the most important thing.
Today was Sunday. Last Sunday I'd taken the final pill, which meant today I had to meet that girl in the hoodie.
"Haaah, damn it. When am I gonna get there. This is driving me crazy. I'm not gonna miss her, right?"
I fired off a message to Ho-min, whom I'd called down to Busan yesterday. Get the car and come to the stadium right now.
I needed to take Ho-min's car and get to that alley as fast as possible.
I got his reply that he was already waiting out front and hurried toward the visiting team's exit, but—
"Kang Hajin~ Can I get an autograph~"
"Photo! Just one photo!"
"Me too~"
"I've been waiting forever~ Autograph~ Autograph!"
The moment I stepped out, our team's fans who'd been waiting surged forward in a wave.
I could see other players who'd come out a little ahead of me further up, but these people came running like they'd been waiting specifically for me.
"Ah…"
I was screwed.
If I stood here and said, "Sorry, I have somewhere I need to be right now, no time for autographs," I'd probably get crucified.
Young punk already has a star complex, won't even do fan service.
I had no choice but to stand there and sign the papers, balls, and jerseys they thrust at me.
My heart was racing with urgency, but most of them wanted photos on top of the autographs, so time dragged on even more.
I don't know how long it had been. I was signing and taking photos in such a frenzy I couldn't even tell how many people I'd done when a familiar voice came from behind me.
"Everyone~ Our Hajin's got to head up now, so we'll just do the people here. Sorry about that~"
Seo Gyeongmin, who'd come out late, appeared to rescue me from the crowd that had me completely surrounded and unable to move.
The moment they heard Seo Gyeongmin, the people who'd been boxing me in and blocking my escape nodded and stepped aside.
They gave way so obediently I almost felt hollow, wondering what the hell I'd been doing this whole time.
Thanks to Seo Gyeongmin I finally broke free, finished signing for the few remaining fans, and was just about to leave when someone else approached late.
"Ah… um, excuse me…"
"I waited a really long time too. You're just going to leave?"
A young-sounding woman's voice. She had her head down so I couldn't be sure, but that was how it sounded.
Something about the almost mocking tone made me bristle for a second, but I forced a smile and asked where she wanted the autograph.
Only then did the woman in front of me lift her head.
"Huh?"
Long hair, wearing our team's uniform.
She looked straight at me with a slight smile, and I froze solid in pure shock.
"You're really just going to leave?"
Still smiling prettily, she asked me again.
"How…"
"Everyone who watches baseball knows you were playing here. Coming to find you is no big deal."
"Ah…"
"Did you seriously think I'd be waiting in that alley?"
She was right. Completely right.
But why hadn't I thought of that?
Anyone who followed baseball would know our team was playing here today, so why had I…
"Aren't you going to give me an autograph?"
"Huh? Ah! Y-yes, of course. I'll do it! I will!"
The woman held out an ordinary piece of paper, nothing special. The second I finished signing it, she handed me a small shopping bag she'd been holding.
"Here…"
"Enjoy~ Heehee."
Handing me the most disgusting thing in the world and saying that…
"See you next month~"
"Wait a second."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Your number…"
"…… Don't worry. You don't have to contact me. I'll just show up on my own like today."
"Still… or at least your name…"
"Well, I'm off~"
As if my questions weren't even worth answering, the woman simply turned and vanished into the crowd.
"What the hell was that? Who was that woman? Do you know her? You were talking for a while."
I'd taken so long that Ho-min had come looking for me. I was still staring blankly after the disappearing woman when I finally snapped out of it.
"Huh? What?"
"I said who was that woman just now. Someone you know?"
"Huh? Uh… ah, yeah, I know her."
"For real? What is she? She was cute."
"……"
"You dating?"
"… No."
"Then what? And what's that?"
"Just a fan. A fan. Longtime fan."
"Bullshit. Since when do you have something like that."
"Just shut up. Let's go."
"What is that? A present? Food?"
"I don't know. It's not for you."
I shook off Ho-min, who was obsessively interested in the shopping bag I'd received, and headed for the parked car.
"…What the fuck did you just say?"
"Uh… turns out you didn't need to come."
"Ha! Exactly! You had somewhere to go and now you don't have to go? No, before that. You called me here to play chauffeur because you had somewhere to go, is that it?"
"You're my manager. Isn't that the kind of thing managers do?"
"You son of a—"
"Let's go home~ Long drive ahead, so hurry hurry~"
"……"
I had to listen to him bitch the entire way back to Seoul.
We got home just shy of two in the morning.
Ho-min, who'd driven for hours, muttered that he was exhausted the second we walked in and disappeared into his room. I went into mine and finally had some time alone.
The first thing I did was check what was inside the shopping bag.
"Not a wooden box…"
I tore open the packaging that had been done up like a real gift and found a different box from the ones before.
Previously it had looked like a slightly upscale wooden box. This time it was more like… a chocolate box?
I opened it and found the pills inside, each one individually wrapped in gold foil.
"Pfft. Anyone who didn't know would think these were chocolates."
Had she put some thought into it? So it wouldn't look weird if other people saw?
I chuckled to myself and carefully stashed the box in the same hiding place as before.
Then, as I went to tidy up the empty shopping bag, I found a note I hadn't noticed earlier.
You know it's still not enough, right?
"…Is she telling me not to just rely on the pills and train harder to raise my skill level? Or that I'm not even using the pill effects properly?"
Hadn't I been doing pretty well? Sure, I'd gotten torched once the other day, but today I'd shut him down perfectly.
I'd thrown scoreless innings across the board before that… and she still said it wasn't enough.
"Do I really need to train more?"
Since joining this team, no one had ever gotten on me about training. Ho-min nagged sometimes, but that was whatever. I never paid it much mind.
"No matter how I look at it, there doesn't seem to be some special method for boosting the pill effects."
My velocity had jumped to another level entirely, and my stuff had gotten ridiculously good. I'd also been able to pick up pitches that had never felt right in my hand before.
Was there anything else the pills could improve beyond that? Probably not.
Which left…
"She's saying raise my individual skill… I tried and it never worked, so I figured my potential maxed out here and gave up. Is she saying that's not true?"
From the first time I saw her, that girl had never looked ordinary. That hoodie girl seemed to be telling me my limit wasn't here.
"Am I supposed to just trust her and go all out like a maniac?"
I could almost hear the words Of course you should. Probably just my imagination.