Who Are You?
I had no idea. Not when the interview ended, not when I showered, not even when I was changing clothes.
But the second I casually checked my phone and saw the flood of missed calls and messages, I knew something had happened.
I started with the messages. Ho-min's first.
He had filled the screen with every curse word he knew and told me to meet him somewhere other than our usual parking spot. The place was a circus, he said. On a day like this, the smartest move was to slip out quietly without being seen.
"Hey. They're saying it's chaos out there."
Ko Mandeok, who happened to be on a call next to me, turned with a worried look.
"Seems that way. What the hell is going on?"
"Seriously, why'd you have to make such a show of it?"
"Make a show of it?"
"People are saying you were out there winking and everything."
"······?? Who was? Me?"
"Yeah. That's why the whole place is losing its mind."
"When did I ever wink—"
You can frame an innocent man, but there's a limit. When the hell did I wink at anyone…
"But is this really something to go this crazy over? People can meet. People can date. What are they even planning to do, staging a riot outside…"
"You still don't get what the Goddess means to baseball fans, do you?"
"······ They're seriously overreacting. So what, is Han Song-yi supposed to live her whole life without ever dating anyone?"
I genuinely could not wrap my head around this situation.
Sure, real fans might be disappointed. They might trash-talk online. Community reactions I could understand. But waiting outside? And if they actually ran into me, then what?
"This is ridiculous. Shit, if someone claimed we'd slept together, they'd probably try to kill me."
"······!!! D-did you?"
"Did I what?"
"S-sleep together?"
"······ Ah!"
I'd been so irritated I'd just blurted things out, and now I'd said something I absolutely should not have said.
"Ho-min said you were seeing some other girl, right? Hey—are you two-timing? For real?"
"Two-timing, my ass. Ugh, forget it! Ho-min just got it wrong. You know how clueless he can be."
"Yeah, that's true… So you're actually dating Han Song-yi?"
"······"
I glanced around. Just the two of us left.
Mandeok and I had showered late, and a handful of other small delays had kept us from clocking out with everyone else.
"Just you, hyung. Keep it to yourself."
"You bastard… You absolute bastard… Haa…"
"Yeah, well. Anyway—which way do we get out of here? Is there a quiet exit?"
We needed a way out that wasn't the one everybody knew.
Mandeok had been living this stadium life a lot longer than I had, so I figured he might know. He didn't.
Then my phone buzzed.
Han Song-yi.
"Babe, where are you?"
"Still at the stadium. You?"
"I left a while ago. So… did you see?"
"See what?"
"Our dating rumor."
"…It blew up again? I haven't even checked yet. All I know is it's loud outside."
"Yeah. So… that thing you said before. Is it still true?"
"What thing?"
"You said you wouldn't mind if our relationship went public."
"I don't mind at all. You're the one who wanted to keep it quiet. Figured the fallout would hit you harder."
"Mm… okay. Got it."
"Got what?"
"Nothing. Hehe. Just got to the station. I'll call you later~ Get home safe~"
"Yeah~ Okay."
I hung up and turned back to finish my conversation with Mandeok—and found myself staring at a wild animal.
"Babe? Baaaaabe? Baaaaa~~~be?"
"Ah…"
"Haa… Hajin."
"Y-yeah?"
"Must be nice. I'm jealous."
"Uh… yeah. Should I… say thank you, or…?"
"You lunatic. Heh. So what now? How about we just sit here another hour or two? The crowd outside should thin out by then."
"Do we really have to go that far?"
"I'll wait with you. Ho-min's out there, right? Call him and tell him to grab some food. I'm starving."
"…Alright, fine."
I shot Ho-min a message and collapsed onto the locker room couch. I was drained—somehow more exhausted by the ten minutes after my shower than by the entire game.
"Come to think of it, you were an absolute monster today. And the dating rumor just buried all of it?"
"Ah… yeah. Damn it."
"What was that about today? Why was your condition so good?"
"Uh… the power of love?"
"······ Haa, for fuck's sake. Want me to go outside and tell everyone you're still in here? This is seriously pissing me off."
"Ehehehe."
Mandeok probably thought I was joking. I wasn't…
How was I supposed to know that the floral scent I always caught from Song-yi would explode the moment we were bare skin to bare skin?
If our relationship hadn't gone that far, I never would have found out.
So "the power of love" wasn't entirely wrong.
We killed about thirty minutes talking about nothing in particular. Somewhere along the way I'd completely forgotten the mess outside, laughing and bantering with Mandeok, when Ho-min burst in making a racket, a bag in each hand.
"How'd you get in so clean?"
"Called Tae-seong hyung and asked for a favor."
"Ah~ Nice. Come to think of it, I told you to come but never actually told you how to get in."
"Must be nice living the easy life, huh?"
"Hm? Well, yeah."
"You maniac. The whole place is upside down out there and you're just hanging out in here. Unbelievable."
"What am I supposed to do? It'll quiet down eventually."
"Did Han Song-yi talk to you and confirm it?"
"Huh? Confirm what?"
"······ You didn't know? Every single article is about that right now."
"About what…"
I'd been talking with Mandeok and tossed my phone aside. Hadn't even thought about checking the internet. Seeing the pile of useless calls and messages, I'd put it on silent too.
So of course I had no idea.
I unlocked my phone and found a message from Song-yi.
She'd even sent it cutely. No—that wasn't the point.
I scrambled to pull up the baseball news.
"······"
Looks like I was going to need a lot more hate coming my way.
Before Wednesday's game, Manager Park called me in.
"You wanted to see me…"
"Sit down."
"Yes, sir."
"You going to be alright today?"
"Sir? What do you mean?"
"Things seem pretty loud out there."
"Ah…"
Loud was an understatement. Today was worse than yesterday.
Apparently some people were even saying I had dirt on Song-yi. Every wild theory imaginable was making the rounds.
"I'm fine, sir."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Hm?"
Manager Park tilted his head, frowning. What was that look for?
"I can sit you for a few days if you need it."
"No, sir. I'm really fine."
"Alright. If you say so. Go get ready."
"Yes, sir."
I figured it couldn't be that bad.
This was our home stadium. How bad could it get?
And then—
"BOOOOOOOOO~~~~"
"WAAAAAAAH~~~"
[Kang Hajin steps into the on-deck circle, and the cheers and boos are coming in equal measure.]
[Well, he is the man of the hour after yesterday and today, isn't he?]
I hadn't even stepped into the batter's box yet and they were already booing me.
The on-deck circle sat right in front of the stands behind home plate, so every single curse landed with perfect clarity.
At least there were cheers mixed in—I supposed I should be grateful for that much.
The cheers were high-pitched. The boos were low.
In other words, the women were still cheering like yesterday, while every man in the building was raining down nothing but boos.
"Three home runs yesterday, two of them grand slams, and this is what I get. Seriously over the line. Tch."
A stubborn fire lit up inside me.
My parents used to say that when I was little, the second anyone told me not to do something, I'd dig in and do it twice as hard. I'd thought I'd grown out of that contrary streak. Apparently some of it was still in there.
Because looking at those boos, a thought floated up uninvited: Maybe I should put on another clinic today and do another interview. Grab my girl's hand on camera—that'd be fun, wouldn't it?
[Bottom of the second, one out, nobody on. Kang Hajin steps in.]
[He showed incredible bat feel yesterday. Watching him at the plate lately, that early-season awkwardness is completely gone.]
[That's right. Kang Hajin yesterday—oh! He got a hold of it! Left fielder chasing! Left fielder—he can't get it! Kang Hajin goes deep on the very first at-bat again today!]
[I'll be damned… He looks like a man who's fully awakened at the plate. That pitch was high. A 158 km/h fastball a ball or two above the zone, and he just sent it out.]
[Kang Hajin's hot streak continues. Score is 1–0. The Savers take the lead.]
CRAAACK!
It was high, but I just swung. All I thought was hit it hard—and I caught it flush. Looks like the floral-scent buff was still hanging around.
I stood in the box for a second watching the ball fly, then headed for first and flung the bat still in my hand with zero mercy.
Hitting a home run had somehow made me angrier. I do this for you and you're still booing me?
So as I rounded the bases, I kept staring into the stands.
Like, go ahead—boo me after a home run. I dare you.
Thankfully there were cheers and no boos. The cheers were just a little quieter than usual.
And almost every voice was a woman's.
"Haa… shit. That actually feels better."
I came back to the dugout, took the usual round of congratulatory beatings, sat down, and muttered to myself.
"…How the hell did you hit that?"
"Hit what? It came in, so I swung."
"No. A 158 km/h heater up in the zone just gets hit because you 'swung'?"
"…It was 158?"
"You didn't know?"
Of course I didn't. Like I was going to notice the opposing pitcher's velocity.
"Shit. I'm so damn jealous. The Goddess, the home runs… damn it all."
Mandeok sighed heavily, grabbed his bat, and headed for the on-deck circle.
Crack!
[Kang Hajin! Another three-hit game today! He rips a single in his fourth at-bat as well.]
[That one was a ball running away outside too. All three of his hits today have been on pitches out of the zone. And yet the bat keeps finding them perfectly.]
I was locking on to everything. Call it rage-fueled bat feel.
Strike or ball, I just swung at whatever I saw—and everything was finding the barrel.
The one out I'd taken was on a well-struck ball the right fielder had laid out to snag.
Score was 4–1. Michael Len was throwing like he intended to go the distance… If it ended like this, either he or I would get the postgame interview.
And my money was on me. No way the broadcast people were going to leave me alone.
[That's the ballgame. The Savers win 4–1 again today and take the series.]
The game ended exactly as it stood, and just as I'd predicted, the interview came to me.
They asked more carefully than usual—was I okay doing this? I said yes immediately.
And a little later, when I walked over for the interview…
"Joining us now is today's player of the game, Kang Hajin."
"······ Who are you?"
Where the hell did my girl go?