Chapter 44
Chapter 44
If you were to name the most passionate fans in Korea, it would usually be the Marines and the Phoenix.
There are many reasons for this, but the longest streak without a championship is the biggest factor.
The Phoenix hadn’t won since 1999 before their victory two years ago, and the Marines’ last championship was in 1992.
However, the Phoenix fans, though recently seeing better results, seemed to have changed their temperament, yet deep down, the old spirit still remained.
“Whoa, this is intense.”
All around Phoenix Park, condolence wreaths were placed, and trucks circled the stadium with messages like “Investigate the Park Si-woo trade outrage!” or “What future is there for a team that sold the future?”
“Ah… PTSD incoming.”
Even some Marines players complained of headaches just from seeing it.
For the past few years, this had been normal at Sajik Stadium.
This year, the same had been true during the preseason.
But after the season started, it all disappeared quickly.
“Alright, everyone, let’s take a moment to thank Si-woo.”
“Suddenly?”
“There are things you don’t know. Come on, everyone, gather around.”
The players, including Park Hyun-woo, were sincere.
If it weren’t for Park Si-woo, the wreaths and truck protests would be directed at Daejeon, not Busan.
“Hey.”
As Park Si-woo tried to avoid the players, Park Chan-hyuk approached from a distance.
He was the only player on the Phoenix who had looked out for Si-woo.
“How have you been?”
“Look at my face. More wrinkles every night I sleep.”
“You look the same to me.”
“Thanks for saying that.”
The two, meeting after a long time, shared a light-hearted moment.
“Just throw it down the middle tomorrow.”
“I always aim for the middle, though?”
“…Oh. Since joining the Marines, your words have increased?”
“I’ll try.”
“You still can’t lie. Anyway, be prepared for tomorrow.”
“Yes?”
“We have to win no matter what. It’s weird that a team that couldn’t give us even one win is now giving us a loss, but bear with me just this once.”
Nodding, Park Si-woo casually said,
“Alright. Then I’ll do my best too.”
“…Time. Cancel.”
“What do you mean?”
“Cancel. Hurry up and cancel too.”
Park Chan-hyuk clung to Si-woo until he said cancel, but when he didn’t, Chan-hyuk muttered that he was creepy and returned to the dugout.
‘Ugh, suffocating.’
Being around Park Si-woo felt completely different from this.
Recently, the Phoenix had good results, but the atmosphere was terrible.
At the center of it all was Choi Myung-jun, who radiated pure irritation.
The difference now was that even the players were annoyed with Choi Myung-jun.
They knew why he had been injured.
And they had seen him throw a fit for not winning.
They also understood why Park Si-woo had to leave the team.
To Park Chan-hyuk, though, all of them looked the same.
‘If he had cared about Si-woo from the start, none of this would have happened.’
With a click of his tongue, Park Chan-hyuk prepared for the game alone.
Honestly, he didn’t think they’d win the game tomorrow with Si-woo pitching.
They had to at least secure today’s game.Crack! “Sigh… baseball is damn hard.”
The first match of the series, the most important one, was won by us.
In the last game, senior Oh Kyung-soo had collapsed early, but in this game, he pitched 5 and 2/3 innings and allowed only 2 runs.
The remaining innings were shut down by the relief squad, and with the offense exploding, they secured a 7-3 victory.
Tomorrow, I would face Choi Myung-jun.
“Nervous?”
“A little?”
Min-seok asked first, then looked at me curiously.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well, it’s the first time I’ve heard you say that, I think.”
Hmm, maybe.
I had faced the Phoenix once before at Sajik.
Back then, Choi Myung-jun was the opponent.
But it wasn’t Choi Myung-jun who made me nervous—it was the fact that I was pitching in my debut at a familiar home stadium wearing a Marines uniform.
Although the last memory was getting hit in the head, I had given my all there.
Also, I had seen Phoenix fans wearing my uniform yesterday, which might have influenced my feelings.
“So I have to pitch perfectly.”
“Why that conclusion?”
“So that any lingering regrets can disappear.”
Whether it’s me or the Phoenix fans.
The next day at Phoenix Park.
The weather was perfect as usual.
24°C, a light breeze, no humidity.
Perfect baseball weather.Crack! “Alright!”
The game began with our offense.
Lead-off hitter Hwang Seo-jun was struck out, but Cha Jae-hoon hit a single and celebrated at first base.
“Why does it feel like the scorekeeper keeps looking this way?”
“Maybe coincidence. He’s a lefty.”
I was also keeping an eye on the field, so I knew who they meant.
Choi Myung-jun.
Actually, it wasn’t that he was looking around—it was me he was watching.
Every time Choi Myung-jun looked at me, I didn’t avert my gaze.
Good, that’s fine.
He should be focusing on the batters, not me.
Especially after the grand slam hit last time by senior Ha Seo-jin.Crack! “Nice! Stop, hey! Thought I was dead there!”
Ha Seo-jin’s hit split the outfield, and Cha Jae-hoon rushed to home but had to retreat to third.
Now, runners at second and third with one out.Crack! A well-hit ball, but straight to the second baseman.
“Run! Nice!”
But an unexpected event happened.
The ball deflected off the second baseman’s glove and rolled slowly into the outfield.
Third-base runner Cha Jae-hoon and second-base runner Ha Seo-jin both made it home.
Even Rex aggressively advanced to second, putting more runners in scoring position.
Then Rex also came home, scoring three runs in the first inning.
With consecutive hits and errors leading to runs, the Phoenix’s mood visibly soured.
At that moment, it felt like we had already won.
Not because of my pitching, but just a general feeling.
No matter what, it felt like we’d win.
“Do this one too. Yes, there.”
While Min-seok and the umpire took a moment to adjust the home plate, I tipped my cap toward first base.
I glanced at the Phoenix fans cheering for me.
Hearing that kind of cheer, which I had once wanted to hear no matter what, while wearing a Marines uniform, felt strange.
But one thing was clear.
“Starting pitcher! Park Si-woo!”
“Si-woo! I used my vacation to see you pitch today!”
“I don’t expect much. Just finish it and get the win!”
Now, these comments from the Marines fans mattered more than the big cheers.
“Strike!”
Phoenix lead-off hitter Park Chan-hyuk watched Park Si-woo throw straight down the middle with an expression like nothing had happened.
‘Is this really the middle?’
The catch location was middle, but the ball moved in all directions on its way.
It was the same knuckleball as last time, but there was no sense of how to hit it.
Still, Park Chan-hyuk didn’t give up.
Even though the ball he made contact with rolled to the pitcher and was easily caught, he ran as hard as he could to first.
‘This won’t change anything, though.’
Returning to the Phoenix dugout, Park Chan-hyuk sighed at the lackluster energy.
Losing isn’t because they gave up three runs in the first.
Even if they couldn’t score off Si-woo, they could wait for the bullpen later to try and score.
But the problem started with starting pitcher Choi Myung-jun.
After the error, he returned to the dugout, letting all his frustration show, staring at Park Si-woo with half-dead eyes.
At that pace, it seemed impossible to win.
And Park Chan-hyuk’s prediction was right.
While the Phoenix lineup was completely blocked by Si-woo, Choi Myung-jun struggled as he allowed runners to get on base.
What completely broke Choi Myung-jun wasn’t the Marines—it was a combination of misplays.
In the top of the fourth, one out, runners at first and third.
[Ground ball to the pitcher! The runner on third can’t move. Choi Myung-jun to first… oh, the ball gets past him! Meanwhile, the runner on third scores! The ball is still in the outfield! Even the runner on first scores! The catcher can’t handle it! The ball goes back! And home again!]
A grounder turned into a three-run disaster due to consecutive errors.
Afterward, Choi Myung-jun was replaced, and the Phoenix dugout fell silent.
Six runs.
Even a perfect Marines and Si-woo team would have struggled to win, yet they self-destructed with errors.
“Go cool your head in the locker room.”
‘…What?’
Alone in the locker room, Choi Myung-jun couldn’t comprehend the situation.
Why was he here?
Why was Park Si-woo pitching perfectly?
Why was he being humiliated like this?
Why, why, why?
A deep inferiority complex toward Park Si-woo, criticism and anger from fans, increasing isolation within the team, the relentless bad luck that followed him whenever starting—
All tangled in his mind.
As he strained his clogged thoughts, he suddenly felt clarity.
‘Right. That’s it.’
He remembered the last time he had been alone with Park Si-woo.
Si-woo had said, “Let’s see whose luck is better.”
Choi Myung-jun stood up, almost entranced.
Returning to the dugout, the Phoenix players noticed him.
‘Not bad, actually.’
‘What the… he looks even more unsettling.’
Sitting in the dugout, staring at Park Si-woo in an uncharacteristic manner, Choi Myung-jun seemed eerie.
Until now, the game had been one-sided.
After Choi Myung-jun was taken out, the Marines hammered every reliever that came in, while Si-woo kept the Phoenix batters completely shut down.
The score gap widened beyond reach, and Si-woo remained unscored upon.
Meanwhile, Choi Myung-jun watched calmly, almost frighteningly so.
As if he had made a decision.
Then it happened.
“Ugh.”
Si-woo’s control wavered, hitting the batter.
The batter wasn’t hurt, but he stepped forward slightly to try to shake Si-woo.
Yet from the Phoenix dugout, someone ran out.
“Hey! Stop him!”
“Choi Myung-jun! You crazy bastard!”
The sudden chaos stunned both Phoenix and Marines players, but distance kept them from intervening.
For a brief moment, it was just Si-woo and Choi Myung-jun.
Then Choi Myung-jun attempted to headbutt Si-woo.
“Crazy bastard.”
Fortunately, Si-woo easily dodged.
Choi Myung-jun tried again, but Rex arrived to block him, and he ended up flailing on the ground.
The bench-clearing brawl erupted.
Choi Myung-jun didn’t give up, shouting,
“It’s because of that headbutt back then! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be like this now! This is only fitting for you! Park Si-woo! You bastard!”
“Hey, hey! Come here!”
Park Hyun-woo ran in, but Phoenix players pulled Choi Myung-jun away, finally ending it.
The game descended into chaos.
The Marines coaching staff first checked on Park Si-woo.
“Are you hurt? Any discomfort? Speak up if anything feels off.”
“Yes. He came straight at me, and I dodged immediately.”
“Phew, good. Let’s stop here. That’s enough.”
Respecting Si-woo’s decision, Coach Park Seung-hyuk allowed him to finish the inning, giving the bullpen some time.
The Marines fans applauded Si-woo.
Si-woo closed out the inning perfectly, seven scoreless innings.
But the anger of the Marines players hadn’t subsided.
“If anything happened to Si-woo, I’d want to go find that bastard and beat him up myself, but then I’d be the same kind of guy.”
Kim Min-ki spoke fiercely to the team.
“Don’t think you can slack off just because we won. Just finish him off.”
When the game ended, the score difference between the teams was fifteen.
The Marines filed a formal complaint with the KBO against the Phoenix, and the incident became known to all baseball fans.
Choi Myung-jun, that bastard, is seriously insane.]
His face… he really looked like a crazy person charging at him.
Same pitcher… and he charged? Shouldn’t he be permanently banned?
If Si-woo had gotten hurt, I’d kill that bastard.
But Si-woo handling the inning himself was badass.
This is what a real pitcher is.
But seriously, why did he do that?
Yet no one knew the real reason Choi Myung-jun charged.
Even the Marines players were curious.
The only person who knew was Park Si-woo.
“Don’t bring this up to Si-woo, no matter what.”
Still, within the team, the atmosphere was set: no questions, and all eyes turned to the Phoenix.
“…Yes. I’ll handle it. Sorry.”
O Gyu-jin hung up, shaking with the accumulated tension.
“…Phew.”
He knew Choi Myung-jun was reckless, but this exceeded that.
There was only one option left.
Before things escalated, the root of the problem had to be removed.
The safest approach was the military.
Or the second team, anywhere reporters couldn’t reach him, to buy time and think.
Just then, the operations manager rushed into the director’s office.
“Director! You need to see this immediately!”
O Gyu-jin took the phone with trembling hands.
-…I was assaulted by Park Si-woo in the past.
“…Aaah! This crazy bastard!”