Off-Season
I seemed to have been under a serious misconception.
But then again, most guys would think the same way I did when they first went to meet their girlfriend’s parents.
Something about it feeling… awkward. Careful. Stiff. That whole vibe.
“How dare a punk like you go after my daughter?”
That kind of thing.
Even when Han Song-yi told me both her parents were cheerful people, it didn’t really land. Plenty of parents are fun with their own kids and terrifying to everyone else.
And yet…
“See this? This is from five years ago—”
“Ah, yes.”
“And this one I bought the year before last. Got Seo Gyeongmin’s autograph on it that very day!”
“Oh~ Is that so.”
“Look at this. I caught this one myself. Happened to show up late to the stadium that day, so I had no choice but to sit in the home-run seats. And wouldn’t you know it—the ball came flying right at me.”
“Whoa~”
She never mentioned her dad was this much of a baseball maniac.
The countryside house he’d built himself had five rooms. No one had ever told me that one of those rooms was filled floor to ceiling with baseball memorabilia.
“And this. This is the one you signed yourself.”
“...M-me?”
“Yep. After the game that day I was waiting for my daughter, spotted you, and rushed over for the autograph. Hahaha!”
“Ah… w-when was that?”
“Around mid-season? Right after the All-Star break, maybe? Somewhere around there.”
“Ah~ Right.”
There was even a uniform with my own signature on it. Well, of course. If he had Manager Park’s signed jersey, there was no way he wouldn’t have mine.
“If there’s anyone whose autograph you still need, I could grab it for you?”
“Absolutely not! Autographs only count if I get them myself. No fun otherwise. No fun at all.”
“Yes. Th-that makes sense.”
I’d barely finished greeting both of Song-yi’s parents and stepped inside before being dragged into this room, where I was held captive for nearly twenty minutes. Song-yi, as if she’d known exactly what would happen, had already vanished with her mother to prepare dinner… leaving me alone to endure the full exhibition.
When the baseball museum tour finally ended and we moved to the living room, a huge table had already been set out. And piled on top of it—
“Whoa…”
Land, sea, and air. Everything was there.
Mealtime began almost immediately. Homemade ginseng liquor was cracked open as a side drink, and we dug in. At first I’d been a little nervous about what might come up during dinner, but the conversation stayed light—just casual small talk—so I could focus entirely on eating.
We ate and drank until our stomachs were ready to burst, and only when I genuinely couldn’t take another bite did the meal finally wind down.
Then a simpler drinking session was set up. The same ginseng liquor from dinner, plus beer for Song-yi and her mother. That was when the atmosphere shifted.
“So once next season’s over, you’re heading to the States?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I see… And what about our Song-yi?”
“That’s…”
“She says she’s going with you.”
“Ah, yes. We’ve already decided that between ourselves.”
When Song-yi and I had talked about it, she’d agreed to come without a second’s hesitation. Apparently she’d told her parents the same thing.
Honestly, if she’d wanted to stay in Korea, I would have accepted it. She was thriving in her career right now—practically the top female sports announcer in the country in terms of popularity and recognition. Asking her to throw away all that status and hard work just to follow me to America had felt like pure selfishness on my part.
But Song-yi had shut that down cold, telling me not to say such nonsense. I’d been moved at the time… yet from a parent’s perspective, watching their daughter abandon a successful career to follow a man overseas might not sit well.
So when her father brought up America, I’d tensed up pretty hard.
“Then when are you getting married?”
“Huh? Ah… w-we will, of course.”
“When?”
“That’s…”
I’d figured we’d naturally get married once we went to the States together, but we hadn’t actually made any serious plans yet.
“Before you leave for America, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
“Hmm… Then we should hold the formal family meeting soon too. These days you have to book everything early, don’t you?”
“I-I’ve heard that as well. Reservations are tough…”
“Right? From what I gather, our Song-yi still hasn’t properly greeted your parents either.”
“We’ve already planned to go together soon.”
“Then while she’s greeting them, we’ll set the date for the family meeting as well.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Is this how it normally goes?
Does it usually move this fast?
What about the usual questions—how are you going to live after marriage, whether they even approve of the marriage in the first place? None of that?
Listening to Song-yi’s father, it was already settled. Marriage was a done deal. The only thing left was deciding when.
We talked about the wedding for another ten minutes or so after that…
“Alright! Now that the important stuff’s out of the way, tell me about yourself.”
“Sorry? About what…”
“Back when you were with the Dragons. Did you really throw like that on purpose?”
Ah…
Here we go again.
At this point I genuinely couldn’t tell whether I’d come to this house as a future son-in-law or as a baseball player.
Song-yi and I spent the night there and headed back up to Seoul the next day.
A few days later, we went down to greet my parents.
When I told them I was going to marry Han Song-yi, my parents practically shoved me into her arms.
“Oh my, thank you… Our boy’s a bit lacking in a lot of ways, so please take good care of him…”
With both families’ greetings finished, the adults took over the communication and everything moved quickly.
While my personal life was progressing like that, I still had to pay attention to my life as a player.
First order of business was personal training. Since team workouts weren’t allowed during the inactive period, I needed a plan.
Last year it had just been me, Ko Mandeok, hyung Taeseong, and Ho-min—pretty light.
“Chan-yeong and Hyeon-bin are coming too?”
“Yeah. They insisted we take them.”
“Ah… so how many people is that?”
“For now it’s you, me, Chan-yeong, and Hyeon-bin. Not sure if more will join…”
“What the hell…”
“This is already the trimmed-down version because the captain and the two senior Chan-jungs took the other guys. Otherwise Seung-won, Yang-gyu, and Jong-seong would’ve come too.”
“Huh…”
“Oh right. Senior Jeonghun also asked if there was room.”
“……”
This was getting out of hand.
“Is it even okay for this many of us to just pile in like that?”
“What’s the problem? No coaches are joining. We’re just training somewhere warm among ourselves.”
“…… Fine, whatever. You handle it. I don’t even know anymore.”
“Heh. And there’s two people I really want to bring.”
“Who?”
“First, I’d love to get Coach Cho Hyun-joon again.”
Ko Mandeok carefully brought up Coach Cho Hyun-joon, the man who’d rebuilt my swing during last year’s off-season training. He was basically asking me if it was possible.
“I already talked to the coach. He’s joining.”
“Yes! Perfect. If I learn from him this year, I’m hitting .300 next season for sure.”
This past season Ko Mandeok had fallen just short of .300—final batting average .291. Considering Manager Park’s reluctance to use Jeong Jong-seong behind the plate had forced him to catch almost the entire year, it was an excellent result. But clearly the near-miss still bothered him.
“Who’s the other one besides the coach?”
“Obviously Senior Sangjun.”
“Ah…”
Jo Sangjun.
He wanted to bring the newly retired Jo Sangjun along as a coach. Since no official coaching contract had been signed yet, it was still doable.
“You ask him, hyung.”
“You’re closer to him.”
“How old are we that you’re still doing the ‘you’re closer’ thing?”
“I don’t care! You call him. Hurry! Now!”
“…… Are you serious right now?”
What the hell was this? Ko Mandeok was suddenly throwing a tantrum. I nearly punched him on the spot.
Even when I looked at him in disbelief, he just avoided my eyes like it wasn’t his problem. I sighed, pulled out my phone, and made a quick call.
Jo Sangjun agreed without hesitation.
A few more days passed after that meeting with Ko Mandeok.
“The 2028 KBO MVP is Kang Hajin!”
I’d already half-expected the MVP, and I also took home the ERA and strikeout titles. One more win and I would’ve had the Triple Crown… I was short by exactly one.
Then a few days after that:
“The Golden Glove for pitchers goes to Kang Hajin.”
I managed to snag the Golden Glove as well.
Because of the award ceremonies, personal training started later than last year.
“Whoa~ What is this place? It’s way better than I expected.”
For this training camp I’d borrowed the power of my agent, Jack, for the first time. And Jack had casually secured a training facility in Okinawa that was ridiculously good—far too good for just a handful of us.
“This is basically a full camp, isn’t it?”
“No kidding. Last year we barely managed with an indoor facility… and now this…”
Everyone who’d come to train—Ko Mandeok included—was stunned. I would’ve loved to shrug it off like it was nothing, but…
“Holy shit, what is this? How the hell did you even book a place like this?”
I was more shocked than any of them.
“How much does it cost to rent something like this?”
Jo Sangjun sidled up and asked quietly…
“I-I have no idea?”
How would I know? Jack hadn’t even taken any money from me. He’d just arranged everything on his own.
Personal training began in the warm climate of Okinawa.
Since I’d thrown a heavy workload this past season, I took Jo Sangjun’s advice to give my shoulder a little extra rest and started with hitting sessions under Coach Cho Hyun-joon.
I’d thought my numbers as a hitter this year had been pretty solid, but apparently Coach Cho still saw plenty of flaws. He announced he was going to tear everything down and rebuild from scratch, and the brutal training began.
Right beside me, Park Jeonghun started training as well.
“Hmm… Jeonghun, your fundamentals are already perfect. We just need to polish the details.”
Meanwhile I was getting completely dismantled from the ground up…
We were all sweating buckets in Okinawa when the call came.
“I think you’ll need to fly over for a bit.”
“Because of the salary?”
“Yes. Looks like you’ll just need to sign.”
“…… We’re not negotiating?”
“Well… they took such good care of you that negotiating might actually be a bad idea.”
“Just how much did they offer…”
“Come see for yourself. Heh. It’s beyond anything you can imagine.”
What the hell? How much did they give me?
The internet kept shouting about a billion, a billion. Did they actually hand me a billion?