The Event Game
[Ah... another strikeout. That's already seven. Every batter except Seo Gyeongmin has gone down swinging.]
[It's just too pathetic. Kang Hajin is throwing some truly dominant stuff, sure... but this is still way too one-sided.]
The only contact I allowed was a fly ball to left field off Seo Gyeongmin, the national team's fifth batter. Whether you could even call that "allowing" anything was debatable.
Before the game I'd told Seo Gyeongmin I was going to pitch with my teeth clenched today, and he'd told me to go right ahead and do it.
Honestly, I'd thought about taking it a little easy... but when the captain himself says throw for real, what else can you do?
Seo Gyeongmin was the only hitter who managed to put a decent swing on anything. Everyone else...
The game rolled into the third inning with two outs. One out remaining, and the next batter stepped in.
I figured it would be another four-seamer and looked in for the sign. Wait, what?
[First pitch coming. A curve that drops hard and late to the bottom of the zone. Called a strike.]
[That's a 137 km/h power curve. Velocity that matches most pitchers' fastballs, and it still falls off a cliff like that.]
[First curve of the day, right?]
[Correct. Curves aren't thrown much these days, but this one looks great. Similar velocity to his splitter, only it drops even harder.]
[Curve for strike one, now setting for the second pitch. Oh! Another curve.]
[Wow... 129 km/h this time. About ten kilometers slower, but the break is even bigger. Look at that—starts at the batter's chest and finishes almost at his knees.]
[Beautiful pitch. The Savers battery is exchanging signs again. Wait... did Kang Hajin just smile a little?]
[He did. What kind of sign did he just get?]
[Here comes the third pitch. What will it be—ah...]
[Another curve. Haha.]
[A 90 km/h slow curve. Yeah...]
[It almost looks like an eephus, but you have to call this a slow curve.]
[Three curves, another strikeout. Kang Hajin faces nine batters, records eight strikeouts, and walks off the mound.]
I came off the mound and got a "good work" from Manager Oh Jeong-geun. Along with:
"So? Want to keep hitting?"
I turned him down.
I'd decided this was enough for today. My interest had completely flatlined and I couldn't be bothered to go back out.
So in the bottom of the third a pinch hitter took my spot in the order...
And in the top of the fourth, Kwon Jong-jin took the mound. The guy who'd pinch-hit for me stayed in as the designated hitter in the three-hole...
It was an event game where the rules could go to hell for all anyone cared, so I just rolled with it.
I was sitting half-asleep in the dugout watching the game when Manager Oh Jeong-geun, sitting way down the bench, casually called me over.
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm... next year makes five years, right?"
"That's right."
"You're going, aren't you?"
This guy was cut from the same cloth as our Manager Park. Just chopping off the front and back of every sentence...
Luckily I still understood him.
"Probably, yeah?"
"Right... no thoughts of staying domestic?"
"Well... still a ways to go."
"Alright. Got it. We'll talk again later."
"Yes, sir."
There was no way to miss why he was asking. Not when he was being that direct.
"Hey. He wants to take you with him, right?"
"Probably, yeah..."
"That manager's greedy as hell. He's already got Jong-jin and now he's eyeing you too?"
Ko Mandeok grumbled beside me. Made me want to mess with him for no reason.
"But hyung."
"Yeah?"
"You're the only catcher who can handle my stuff."
"Huh? Oh. R-right?"
"So doesn't that mean he wants to take you too?"
"Uh... m-maybe?"
"Catching a knuckleball isn't exactly easy. If he wants to use me right away he needs a catcher who can already handle it. How long would it take to develop someone new..."
"That's right! Exactly. You definitely need me. Heh heh. Hold on... then I should also... the Raiders... free agency..."
Look at this guy.
From the way he was talking, he was already a Raiders player.
"If you leave, I'm not going."
"······"
"I'll blow up SNS calling you a traitor and head to America."
"······ You're the worst."
"Ehehehe."
This hyung was just too fun to tease.
Kwon Jong-jin also went hitless through the sixth, racking up five strikeouts of his own.
National team so far: six innings, zero walks, zero hits, thirteen strikeouts.
"Good work out there."
"Yeah. You too. Ah~ I tried to keep up, but no chance."
"Ah..."
"Eight of them and you're still talking. Haha."
I thought five was already impressive enough...
Kwon Jong-jin mixed mid-to-upper 140s fastballs with a whole buffet of off-speed stuff and carved through the national team lineup.
Watching him pitch, it looked almost effortless. And yet he still piled up the strikeouts. Just... yeah.
Even after multiple strong showings in international tournaments that drew huge interest, Kwon Jong-jin had stayed in Korea for a record contract.
Seriously, why doesn't this guy go to America? He's not the type who should be playing king of the hill in this neighborhood...
"But your injury's all good now?"
"Hm? Ah... heh heh. Healed up ages ago. Was nothing, really."
"Ah..."
This guy... was it just a fake injury? Somehow it felt like he'd walked a path pretty similar to mine.
In the seventh another pitcher came on and also threw a hitless frame. In the eighth, yet another arm took over.
And then—finally!—the national team got its first hit.
The hero was none other than our captain!
Seo Gyeongmin smoked a double off the wall against the new pitcher and barely managed to prevent a complete no-hitter disaster.
But the next batter was out on the first pitch.
Then the ninth. Falcons closer Yang Chan-young came in and casually retired the side in order.
The national team had to finish the game with the humiliation of a single hit.
Final score: 8–0. Absolute thrashing.
It was absolutely scorching. Everything was on fire.
Portal sites, community boards—every corner of the internet that even vaguely touched baseball was burning.
It was so hot that no matter how much I scrolled, it never ended.
"Hyung... I think we're screwed. The atmosphere is completely insane..."
Hwang Chan-young's weak voice filled me in on the national team mood. Of course it wasn't good.
"It's just... haah... without you here it feels like I came for nothing. And the manager just keeps yelling with no answers..."
"What can you do? Stick right next to the captain. Or glue yourself to Kang Chanjung-sunbae. Don't hang around alone and catch stray heat."
"Yeees..."
I tried to cheer up the completely deflated Hwang Chan-young a little before hanging up.
"Uhehehehehe."
I couldn't hold the laughter in.
I felt a little bad for Hwang Chan-young and the rest of my teammates... but the news that Manager Min Gucheol had completely lost his mind was just too good. I couldn't stop myself.
"You're a real psycho, you know that? Is it that fun?"
"Ah... hyung. Don't tell anyone else. Got it?"
"You absolute bastard. I'm telling the captain everything."
"Then I'll tell him you wanted to go to the Raiders."
"······"
Nice. I'd just grabbed excellent blackmail material. This would last me a while.
A little later, Ko Mandeok, still fiddling with his phone, spoke up again.
"But why aren't there any articles about you?"
"Huh? There are."
"No there aren't."
"Yes there are? I saw the ones about the strikeouts and the home runs earlier."
"Not those. You almost beat a guy with a bat today. How come nobody's talking about that?"
"Ah~ I didn't actually hit him. If I had, it would've been chaos, but... there's a national team that managed one hit. Where am I supposed to fit into that story?"
"Man. You're lucky. Tried to club someone with a bat and it just quietly blew over."
He wasn't wrong. Normally it would have been another full-blown scandal.
Back then I really hadn't been able to see anything in front of my eyes.
"Aww~ come on. We've got another game tomorrow. Time to sleep."
That was how the day ended. The next day, the All-Star Game was held.
The All-Star Game passed by pretty uneventfully.
There was some back-and-forth... but my own performance was pretty mediocre.
I went 0-for-3 and never reached base.
I'd been swinging for the fences hoping to win a car... and somehow I kept fouling everything off.
With the All-Star Game wrapped up cleanly, we headed into nearly a full month of Olympic break.
Manager Park gave us a week of vacation.
Thanks to that I... would have loved to see Han Song-yi... but she'd already left for the States because of the Olympics.
So I decided to just loaf around at home...
"Ungrateful son of a bitch."
"Ah, what now!"
"Isn't this exactly when you're supposed to go see your parents?"
Ho-min kept nagging nonstop from beside me.
"······ I'm going to train. And I just went not long ago!"
"You stayed one lousy day and you're bragging. Ungrateful son of a bitch."
The nagging was starting to make my ears ring, but I wasn't about to lose.
I spent a full week as an unfilial son, rolling around the house in pure comfort, then returned to the training facility.
And then...
"It's starting! Hurry up! It's on!"
"Coming, coming."
"Hyung! You too, hurry! Hyeon-bin, you as well!"
"On my way!"
With Ko Mandeok and Hyeon-bin crammed into my place, the Olympic baseball team's first game began.