Left Fielder Kang Hajin
My first outing in left field generated quite a bit of talk.
Some said my clumsy defense had put the team in danger, but plenty more praised that final throw home that saved us.
For now, the latter carried more weight. After all, we'd won the game, and from the RBI to that last assist at the plate, I'd done it all myself.
There were occasional comments fretting about my stamina and telling the team not to grind me into dust… and Ho-min agreed with those wholeheartedly.
Keep going like this, he said, and I might burn out by the end of the season. Fair enough…
Except that only applied if I weren't on the pills. The weekly dose made my recovery insanely fast.
The Hooded Woman never explained the effects, but after taking them consistently I could tell. They definitely helped with stamina recovery.
Otherwise there was no way I'd bounce back perfectly after a complete game throwing over a hundred pitches with just one good night's sleep.
Anyway, that was the mood heading into the next game. And once again, I started in left field.
Surprisingly, I finished that game without a single error. Smooth sailing.
No spectacular defensive gems, but I didn't miss anything I was supposed to catch.
The catch? First hitless game in a while. Two starts in left field, one hit total.
If the team had won, it would've blown over without much fuss… but of course we lost cleanly.
Especially that bases-loaded, one-out chance in the seventh when I popped out to the infield. That one hurt.
We'd blown a late chance to climb back, and the game ended without another opportunity.
When Ho-min mentioned the team community was full of posts telling me to stop screwing around and just pitch well, I didn't even bother checking the internet.
No need to go looking for people trash-talking me.
The next day.
I started as the designated hitter instead of left field.
I went two-for with a home run included.
My homer sparked the rest of the lineup, and starter Michael Len threw seven strong innings allowing three runs.
We won 10–3 easily and took the series against the Jaguars.
With that, the fans' ever-swaying opinion tilted toward "just use him as DH."
Me? I didn't care either way. If they put me out there, I'd play. If not, I wouldn't.
Honestly, left field defense… it wasn't particularly hard so far, but standing around as the weather got hotter was starting to…
At least the Jaguars series was in a dome, so it wasn't too bad. Anywhere else and I'd have been baking in the sun.
I'd vowed to become a hardworking Kang Hajin… but heat was a whole different problem.
We headed to Daegu for a weekend series.
Road games against the Dragons.
Before Friday's game, after practice, I was catching a breeze in the dugout when that day's starter, Marte, came over.
"%^%@$^#%$%&@%$%@$!!!"
"······ Huh?"
Marte just launched into a rapid-fire rant that sounded thoroughly pissed, and I froze for a second. If he spoke slowly I could catch a bit, but dumping it all at once? Not a single word.
Luckily the interpreter who'd hurried after him chuckled and translated right away.
"He says he doesn't like the current rotation order."
"What? Being the number two starter? He wants to be the ace?"
Michael Len was pitching way too well for that.
"No. Because he's the number two starter, you can't bat when he pitches. He says that's unfair. Heh."
"Ah…"
Anyone listening would think I was some superstar hitter. How many games had I even played?
Marte repeated himself a few more times, then suddenly went "Wahahaha" and vanished.
I wondered if the heat had gotten to him, but the interpreter was laughing too, so apparently they'd shared some private joke.
After the game that day, Marte found me again and dumped the same speech all over me.
Made sense—he'd pitched well and still taken the loss.
7.2 innings, two runs allowed, and the offense hadn't scratched across a single run…
"If we skipped a turn every so often the rotation would shift, but our team doesn't do that…"
Our team had stuck to the opening-day rotation order the whole season. Probably the only team in the league.
It worked because nobody in the rotation had gone down with injury. The only change was fifth starter Noh Geun-sik getting swapped for Hwang Chan-young.
No need to mess with the order at all.
Even rainouts didn't shift things—the scheduled pitcher just threw the next day, so nothing changed.
"He says he's going to talk to the manager and get his schedule adjusted."
"…Will that work?"
"Who knows?"
Marte seemed weirdly fixated on this…
I had a feeling it was going to become a headache, so I just told him to do whatever he wanted.
Honestly, it had nothing to do with me anyway…
Then the next day. My turn to start.
Personally, I felt pretty decent. The pregame bullpen had felt good.
Once the game started it went smoothly too. Through five innings: three hits, no runs.
I'd mix speeds, and when someone reached base I'd shift into full gear and shut them down without real trouble.
The problem was the hitters—quiet again, just like yesterday.
They were helpless against Dragons starter Na Hong-gi's fastball.
Na Hong-gi lived off that heater alone… and today he'd caught lightning in a bottle, even locating pitches he never could before.
Fastballs painting every corner. Our lineup, which had looked a little flat since yesterday, couldn't do a thing with him.
One hit and one walk. That was our entire production through five.
Bottom of the sixth. The leadoff hitter drops a cheap bloop single, then a productive out, a fly ball to the outfield and a tag-up, and the runner's on third.
Then catcher Lee Ki-ho smokes a double off the wall and we give up the first run.
It was a changeup, and he was sitting on it. Lucky it didn't go out.
Then .100-hitter No Gwang-min drops another single in front of the right fielder, and Shane—playing right today—completely airmails the throw, so another run scores.
Just like that it's 2–0.
"Sorry. My bad. I took it too lightly."
Ko Mandeok, who'd put down three straight forkball signs, came to the mound to apologize.
"It's fine. I left it over the middle. Tch. Nothing we can do."
"It was clearly late, but the location was just…"
Like Ko Mandeok said, honestly we'd been unlucky.
The bat was late, it looked jammed… and somehow it stayed fair, just barely inside the line.
Looked like pure desperation contact…
Still, no more damage in the sixth. And through the seventh. That was my outing for the day.
We took a three-hit shutout loss to a guy whose entire repertoire was basically just a fastball.
And then the next day.
CRACK!!
I'd managed to drive the opposing pitcher's slider out of the park.
We barely avoided the sweep.
Naturally, the postgame interview was mine. Han Song-yi was waiting for me.
I dropped that slightly cringeworthy line in the interview, and our fans roared loud enough to shake the stadium.
Even I had to admit the word choice was pretty solid.
Once everything wrapped up, we boarded the bus straight for Seoul.
All I wanted was to get home and rest—until a single message landed and completely rewrote my plans.
The next morning.
"Ugh… I'm dying… Huh?"
I opened my eyes in a hotel room.
I wasn't alone in the bed.