After the First Start
The day after my start, I was given a full day of rest.
Ah — this wasn't some special privilege the team was granting just to me. It was rest that applied to every starting pitcher.
Guys who got knocked around early and pulled quickly would sometimes still show their faces the next day, but…
Originally I'd planned to become one with my bed for the entire day. That plan fell apart the moment I left the stadium after every last post-game obligation was done.
"Please sign this!"
"Me too!"
"Me too~ I've been waiting forever~"
The second I stepped out the exit, fans swarmed me for autographs.
It had been quite a while since the game ended, so there weren't that many of them — but I still got held up for a good long while.
Signing for the fans who'd grown so much more numerous since my transfer to the Savers was something I could enjoy doing…
But after pitching as a starter and having every last bit of tension drain out once the schedule was finally over, I was way more exhausted than I'd expected.
So all those balls and papers and jerseys being thrust at me honestly felt a bit overwhelming.
Somehow I managed to get through every last signature and free myself, and when I reached the parking lot, there was Ho-min waving from up ahead.
"Ugh, I'm dying. Gotta get home and sleep."
"Uh… about that. Doesn't look like that's happening."
"…What?"
"I don't think you're getting rest anytime soon."
"What the hell are you talking about? You're saying that to a starting pitcher who just threw seventy-five pitches?"
"Just get in the car first."
"…… I'll walk. Something feels off."
"No! Get in."
Something about it felt wrong, so I tried to slip away from Ho-min.
He'd figured out I was about to bolt and tried to drag me toward the car, but like that was going to work. Instead he just got dragged farther and farther from the car himself.
Just as I was about to make my escape, the passenger-side door of Ho-min's car opened. And I saw long hair whipping in the air.
"Hey! Are you coming or not?"
A sharp female voice. I didn't even need to see her face to know who it was.
"…Noona's here?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you'd do this."
"Ah, shit…"
Seo Hyo-jeong — Ho-min's older sister, four years older than both of us.
Growing up, Ho-min and I had taken so much verbal abuse and habitual beatings from Hyo-jeong noona that even now, fully grown, we somehow still shriveled up the moment we stood in front of her.
So we'd been living our lives carefully avoiding any encounters with her… and now that same noona was getting out of the car and walking toward me.
"Hey! I'm starving to death. Stop messing around and get in."
"…… Okay."
I had to get in. There were still a few fans hanging around who hadn't left yet, and I couldn't exactly get dragged off by my hair in front of them at this age.
"Sit up front."
She said that as I was about to climb into the back, and opened the rear door first herself.
"Huh?"
But there were faces inside the car I hadn't expected.
"Mom? Dad?"
"Hurry up and get in. We're hungry too. Let's go eat already."
Dad frowned, clearly displeased that I'd shown up late, and urged me on.
"Our son was so cool today~ Tired, right? Just eat with us and then go rest up."
Mom, on the other hand, beamed and welcomed me warmly… but it looked like I still had to go eat with them either way.
In the end I climbed into the passenger seat without another word.
The place we went was a pork specialty restaurant with private rooms.
Today's menu was almost certainly tailored to my tastes — I preferred pork belly over the premium loin cuts.
Dragging my exhausted body there had been worth it.
When we entered the room they'd reserved in advance, the meat and side dishes were already set out.
Under Hyo-jeong noona's scolding, Ho-min grilled the meat, and at Dad's suggestion that we eat first and talk later, everyone focused on the food.
Dad, Mom, and Hyo-jeong noona had drinks too. By the time the two bottles of soju they'd ordered were empty, our meal was nearly finished.
"Mom, Dad. About what I mentioned before."
The two of them looked at me after downing their last glasses.
"What? Your salary?"
"Yeah."
"Forget it. Use it however you want."
When I'd first signed that hundred-million-won contract and been stunned by the number, I'd thought I'd made an enormous amount of money.
But after taxes and everything else that gets deducted, what was left was maybe half?
Of course, even that was a lot of money compared to other people my age.
So what was I supposed to do with this money? After thinking it over, the answer was: I had no idea. I needed somewhere to actually spend it first.
Ho-min told me to buy nice clothes, get my license, and pick up a car… but all of that was completely outside my interests.
For everyday clothes, training gear was the most comfortable, and a car… I felt zero need for one.
Half the year I was on the road for away games anyway. We traveled by bus — was there any reason to drive myself around in my own car?
And for home games… the stadium and my apartment were close enough to walk. Plus Ho-min drove me to and from work sometimes.
So why would I go out of my way to spend money on a car and then have to drive the damn thing?
After talking it over with Ho-min, the final conclusion was… just leave it to my parents and do whatever I wanted with the rest.
Set aside only what I absolutely needed and leave the rest with my parents — more precisely, with Mom — and she'd handle it. That was the idea…
"Whether you put it in the bank, invest it and grow it, or blow it all — you handle it. You're a grown man. Why are you bothering us to manage your money?"
Dad's words shut even that option down.
I'd figured I'd ask one more time while I had them here, just in case… but sure enough, they had zero interest in my money.
After the meal we left the restaurant and headed for the apartment.
Wait — on a day like this, when they'd come up from the countryside to Seoul and stayed out this late together… wouldn't they normally spend the night?
Especially when their son's apartment had empty rooms sitting there unused.
"…You're leaving? Now?"
"What else? We watched our son's game and we ate, so we should go. We've got work tomorrow."
"But it's this late already. Just sleep over."
"I said we've got work tomorrow. If we take today off and then rest through tomorrow too, that won't work."
"What kind of…"
Who was going to break that stubbornness? If it were just Dad being like that, maybe — but Mom was nodding along beside him, saying they were heading down.
They'd go in Hyo-jeong noona's car?
She and Dad would take turns driving, apparently, so there was nothing more I could say.
In the end, the three of them got in the car and left without a shred of lingering attachment.
"What the hell was that. My head's spinning."
"Heh heh. I knew this would happen. They came up in a rush because you were starting."
"Really?"
"Yeah. When you came out after shutting them down through the sixth and got the applause."
"Yeah."
"Mom was crying then."
"……"
"Dad barely held it in too."
"Aigoo… over something like that."
"Wouldn't they be happy? Their son who never caught a break came out as the number-three starter, got a standing ovation, and walked off the mound?"
"Tch… I guess so?"
"So stop being so snippy with your parents."
"…You're one to talk? Cut the crap and let's go inside. I'm seriously dying."
Hearing about the two of them made something well up in my chest. Then I got suddenly embarrassed, so I snapped at Ho-min for no reason and went inside first.
I could hear him snickering behind me, but I ignored it.
The next day when I woke up, my body felt better than expected.
Nothing hurt, and while there was a slight heaviness, it wasn't enough to bother me.
I drank a glass of water, jogged the park behind the apartment for about thirty minutes, came back and showered, and even that slight heaviness was gone.
Ho-min and I had a late breakfast-slash-lunch, then sprawled on the couch flipping channels until highlights from yesterday's game came on.
The timing was perfect — it was just starting, showing the first inning…
"Is it really that surprising?"
The commentators were a little worked up, replaying the knuckleball footage over and over.
"You haven't checked the internet yet? It's gone completely crazy. Because of that knuckleball."
"Any hate?"
"Hate? Was there a single moment in yesterday's game worth hating on? It was a one-hitter."
"No, you know, the usual stuff. Like, he's already a monster and now he's throwing a knuckleball too — isn't that cheating? That kind of thing? Heh heh heh."
"…… You've completely lost it. The dumb crap I have to listen to. You're not even at that level yet, you know."
"Heh heh heh."
Looking thoroughly disgusted like he'd just heard something he shouldn't have, Ho-min went into his room.
Thanks to that I got to quietly enjoy yesterday's game highlights… until Ho-min came back out with a laptop in his hands.
"Done watching? Now look at this."
"What is it?"
"Scouting report on your next opponent."
"…… You want me to look at that now?"
"When else are you going to look at it if not on a rest day? You've got a start on Sunday. So look at it now. Check this out first, then when we go in tomorrow you can compare it against what the scouting team gives you."
"Huh?"
I thought for a moment — I just throw whatever Ko Mandeok tells me to throw. Do I really need this?
I'd also looked at the materials the team's scouting department had given me before, and honestly… they'd been a bit disappointing. Like they'd just collected stuff you could find anywhere.
"That's exactly why you don't get it. No matter how well a catcher leads, doesn't the pitcher need to know at least something about the opposing hitters going in?"
"Mandeok hyung is good at it, so whatever."
"I know you just don't want the hassle of looking at this stuff and memorizing it. Haa… there really is no pitcher who puts in less effort than you."
Did he have to go that far… but it stung a little.
"I-I'll look, okay? I'll look. Alright~ let's see the strategy our manager prepared for us~"
"…… Seriously. Haa. I'm not even going to make you memorize it. I'll explain, so at least listen carefully."
"Yes sir!"
From that point on, Ho-min's lecture began.
For every hitter on the next opposing team, he went through the basics like strengths and weaknesses, then into the fine details — habits that were hard to pick up on, all of it explained meticulously.
By the time the lecture ended, a full four hours had flown by.
Ho-min, who'd been explaining nonstop for four hours straight, said he was exhausted and went into his room.
But left alone, I somehow couldn't rest. I kept thinking about the room Ho-min had gone into, and I couldn't ignore the laptop he'd left behind either.
I kept feeling bad for Ho-min, who'd gone through all that trouble gathering and analyzing this much more extensive material than I'd expected, all on his own.
Then suddenly the thought came:
I'd said I was going to work hard, and here I was falling back into old habits again. When someone's looking out for me this much from the side, if I can't even take it in…
Somehow these days it felt like all I did was reflect on myself.
In the end, I started going back through the materials on the laptop Ho-min had left behind, from the very beginning.