Chapter 54
Chapter 54
“Yeah. Good work.”
Manager Choi Sungwoo asked if I wanted to throw more, but I declined.
I had to think about the next game, and more importantly, since it was the All-Star Game, it was only right that other pitchers got their chance.
“They probably don’t see it that way.”
“…Pardon?”
“By now they’re probably all pushing each other to go out there. If they go up now, they get compared to you right away.”
At Kim Mingi sunbae’s words, I almost doubted it.
No matter what, it was still the All-Star Game.
“Well, that’s their problem. We do what we need to do.”
“What we need to do?”
“Not you. These guys. Even if it’s the All-Star Game, we should at least score one run, right? Gotta make sure Siwoo gets the win.”
Kim Mingi spoke as if this were the Marines’ dugout.
Then again, the hitters were all our guys, so maybe it was the same thing.
Maybe because of that, leadoff hitter Kang Yoonwoo sunbae hit a double.
But when Lee Dohyun sunbae struck out, Kim Mingi clicked his tongue and picked up a bat.
“Guess there’s no helping it. I’ll do it myself.”
The at-bat that followed.
“He missed it! Run!”
Kim Mingi kept his word.
Though the process was a bit awkward.
Two outs, runner on second. His hit slipped past the shortstop, turning into an error and bringing in a run.
“Well, we scored anyway. That works, right?”
“Yes, thank you.”
In the All-Star Game, even two innings could be enough for a win.
Still, I didn’t think much about it.
The pitcher after me was Heomin sunbae.
That was a bit unexpected.
Kim Mingi explained after coming back.
“I asked, and he said he wanted to go in. Watching you pitch got his fingers itching.”
Ah.
Anyway, Heomin pitched a clean inning, and the lineup added another run.
After that, it kept repeating.
When Nanum scored one, we answered back, but they never tied it.
Then, top of the ninth.
Crack!
“Out!”
Park Jungwon sunbae recorded the final out.
4–3, game over.
While waiting for the awards ceremony, Park Hyunwoo sunbae got excited.
“I’ve got a feeling. I think you’re getting MVP.”
“Me?”
“There wasn’t really a standout hitter today. Even Kim Mingi sunbae’s winning hit was an error.”
Hmm, when you put it that way, it did sound possible.
But I’d heard that no pitcher had won MVP since 1994.
Rather than expecting it, I just waited, thinking it’d be fine either way.
“And this year’s Mister All-Star is… Park Siwoo!”
…So it really happened.
I walked up in a daze and received the award.
“Wow, I’m so jealous. I heard the car this year is really nice. Congrats.”
The prize was a car worth nearly 50 million won.
Last year it was only about 10 million, but this time a sponsor added a special reward.
“I know you’re lucky and all, but this kind of thing really makes me jealous.”
“Want me to give you lottery numbers?”
“Seriously?”
Park Hyunwoo reacted so seriously that I just threw out some random numbers.
After the closing ceremony, players who got along gathered and started talking about going out to eat.
“You’re coming too, right?”
“Yes. But give me a moment.”
We decided to go as Marines players, and since I had a bit of time, I headed toward the Nanum side.
“Sunbae.”
“Oh, Siwoo. Congrats on the MVP.”
Park Chanhyuk sunbae, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, gave an awkward smile.
It was our first time meeting since that incident.
“Congratulations on making the All-Star team. You always wanted to come.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know if this is the right time to be congratulated. Still, I’m glad you’re doing well.”
“You should be doing well too, sunbae.”
“…Easier said than done. It’s a mess. The atmosphere’s terrible, fans are angry, results aren’t coming.”
Despite his words, his expression didn’t look that bad.
“Sigh. Still, it finally feels like a proper team again. Everyone says so. They said back then it was like they were possessed or something. And… they told me to pass this on if I saw you. That they’re sincerely sorry.”
“Yes. I already heard.”
Honestly, if I wanted to, I could’ve pushed for disciplinary action against most of the players except a few.
But most of them reached out and sincerely apologized, so I decided to end it there.
“It’ll change now. No, it has to. Thanks, Siwoo.”
After that, we talked comfortably like before.
We agreed to grab gukbap together in Daejeon sometime later.
For now, things were still a bit sensitive.
“All done?”
“Yes, I’m finished.”
“Good. I’m starving. Let’s go.”
We arrived at the dinner place in Kim Mingi’s car.
The place was already lively.
“Sigh.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“I asked. He’s upset because he messed up his performance.”
“Fans actually liked it, though.”
“That? Why?”
“They said messing it up suits Cha Jaehun sunbae perfectly.”
Kim Mingi looked completely unconvinced as he sat down.
Then Park Hyunwoo joined the table.
“By the way, Siwoo. Did you really have to throw that pitch? Wouldn’t it be better to hide it?”
“I told him to throw it.”
“…You did?”
“Yeah. It’s not fully developed yet anyway, so he can’t use it freely. Better to show it once and mess with their heads. And besides.”
Kim Mingi chuckled and looked at me.
“Even if they see it, do you think they can hit it? If they think they can, tell them to go try it a hundred times first.”
“That’s it for today.”
“Yes, good work.”
The festival was over.
Now, the fierce standings battle would resume.
Preparing with the coaches, Manager Gwak Gubeom let out a sigh.
“Trades won’t be easy.”
From the start of the second half until the trade deadline at the end of July, trades were usually active.
But this year was different.
Right now, the KBO had the Busan Marines and Gwangju Wolves locked in a tight race for first.
Below them, the Seoul Friends held third, while the remaining seven teams were fighting fiercely for fourth and fifth.
No team had given up yet.
Even after asking other managers during the All-Star break, the responses weren’t promising.
At best, they were trying to squeeze the Marines by using their performance as leverage.
In the end, they’d have to finish the season with the current roster.
Of course, they’d done well so far, and there was belief they could keep it up.
But the Marines had always struggled in the summer.
It had been repeating for over a decade.
Many managers had tried to fix it, all failed.
“In the end, it’s stamina.”
Because of Busan’s location, the Marines always had long travel distances.
Even with recent scheduling considerations, a round trip to the capital region could take ten hours.
On top of that, with a thin roster, starters couldn’t get enough rest.
Once injuries started, everything tended to collapse.
More than anything, the Marines were last place last year.
There were barely any players with experience handling this kind of situation.
The fact that they were now competing for first was incredible in itself.
“It’s all thanks to Siwoo.”
16 wins, 0 losses.
A perfect ace.
And with his innings-eating ability, he was the biggest contributor to preserving the pitching staff.
But at the same time, even with him, they still couldn’t firmly secure first place.
They couldn’t just rely on him either.
Gwak Gubeom looked over the minor league roster.
“A pitcher who knows how to face hitters, huh.”
A pitcher personally recommended by the minor league manager.
The problem was he was an 11th-round pick last year, with a two-seam fastball topping out at 140.
Then there was another pitcher.
A former first-rounder who could hit 155 even when throwing lightly.
But his control was terrible, and his breaking balls were too flat.
Still, his recent minor league performance had been good.
Two pitchers at opposite extremes.
After some thought, Gwak Gubeom decided to call up both.
He didn’t know when or how he’d use them, but for now, every pitcher mattered.
“I’ll have to see the situation first.”
Even as he sighed at the reality of relying on unproven arms, he steadied himself.
“For the opener, it has to be Siwoo.”
Just thinking about him cleared his mind.
A true ace really was good for a manager’s health.
“I didn’t think I’d be surprised again, but Siwoo managed it.”
That was Oliver’s reaction after seeing the splitter.
“90 miles per hour, 500 RPM… it’s more like a high-speed knuckleball than a splitter.”
“A high-speed knuckleball…”
It wasn’t wrong.
His knuckleball was around 110 km/h at 150 RPM, and the hard knuckleball around 130 km/h at 400 RPM.
“So it’s similar. But the difference is the drop at the end. What’s interesting is the distribution. The horizontal movement is extremely wide.”
If the difference between the knuckleball and hard knuckleball was angle, the splitter had that sharp downward movement.
But after that, it behaved like a knuckleball.
It dropped sharply, but where it would end up was unpredictable.
“Anyway, it’s good. This solves your breaking ball issue. The only problem is control.”
Oliver stared at Siwoo.
“But for you, that won’t be a problem.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. Honestly, it’s a pitch I’ve never seen before, so I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just approach it like a normal splitter.”
After saying he needed some time to think, Oliver stepped away.
For now, Siwoo went to find Song Minseok for the next game.
“I’m thinking of starting with the knuckleball. What do you think?”
“Sounds good.”
The Marines’ second-half opener was at home against the Incheon Stars.
The Stars’ strength was their power-heavy lineup, built to take advantage of their home stadium.
Against that kind of lineup, the knuckleball was the most effective.
And with hitters that big, there was no need to worry about stolen bases.
The plan was to mix in fastballs later depending on the situation.
But things don’t always go as planned.
“Rain from the start, huh.”
On game day, rain fell unexpectedly.
Not enough to cancel the game, but not light enough to ignore.
“How is it?”
“Not bad. Should be fine as is.”
They checked the knuckleball in the bullpen first.
Fortunately, its movement and control weren’t too bad even in the rain.
But the knuckleball was a pitch whose movement could change from batter to batter.
“Ball!”
Two straight batters walked to start the game.
It wasn’t the first time, but it had never been this uncontrollable.
Song Minseok hurried to the mound.
“You okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Siwoo remained calm.
“If anything, I’ve just been lucky until now.”
And it wasn’t like he didn’t have other options.
“Let’s go with the fastball.”
“Hmm. Okay. Want to warm it up outside first?”
“No. I’m good.”
At his confidence, Minseok returned to his position.
An early crisis.
On the other hand, the Stars were determined to capitalize.
Their third batter, Choi Hyunjun, squared to bunt immediately.
A bunt from the three-hole in the first inning.
The Stars weren’t a team that relied on sacrifice bunts.
But against Siwoo, everyone understood.
Still, he wasn’t fully committed to bunting.
“His control is off today.”
There was no reason to give away an out if they could pressure him instead.
If the control kept wavering, he planned to pull the bat back and disrupt him.
But that plan—
Boom!
“Strike!”
—was shattered in a single pitch.
A 155 km/h fastball flew right past him.
“…He can switch just like that?”
They had prepared based on the All-Star Game.
But this wasn’t part of the plan.
Still, Choi Hyunjun felt relieved.
“The knuckleball’s the problem. If it’s the old Siwoo, I can handle it.”
155 km/h.
Fast, yes.
But rookie Siwoo had thrown this and posted an ERA in the twos.
Choi Hyunjun had even gotten a hit off him before.
Meanwhile, the knuckleball was nearly unhittable.
The easier choice was obvious.
Second pitch.
He swung confidently.
Crack.
His bat shattered, sending the ball high into the air.
He’d swung with conviction, but lost in both power and timing.
The out was called before the ball even came down.
“Out!”
Infield fly.
“…Should’ve bunted.”
Only then did he realize.
Even if the pitch had changed, Siwoo was still Siwoo.
And just like that, with the first out of the second half, the game began.