Victory's Sweetness – A Catcher Tastes the Championship Thrill
Choi Seungtaek reveled in the elation of that game-ending home run, circling the bases once more as the entire starting lineup lined the third-base line to welcome him.
“Choi Seungtaek! Choi Seungtaek!”
He dove straight into the sea of players chanting his name.
“Waaaahaaaa!”
“Victory! Victory!”
Cheers rang out, and the full weight of winning finally settled over him.
For Choi Seungtaek it was the first real taste of championship joy on the field in years. Four seasons as a pro player and three as an analyst had passed without a single title to his name—until today. The rush still hummed in his veins.
“Magnificent game! Baek Horyeong’s home run tied it in the eighth, but then Choi Seungtaek hit the walk-off homer to end it!”
“Truly outstanding. That first-inning shot wasn’t just luck.”
“Seongho High School has claimed another victory over Buma High! We’ll have an interview with our hero, Choi Seungtaek, ready for you shortly.”
While the other players still shook his hand and slapped his back in the dugout, Choi Seungtaek spotted Go Tae-san in the distance, slowly packing his gear.
He jogged over.
Choi Seungtaek knew exactly how much pain the top pitching prospect would face in the majors. The winner didn’t keep all the glory. With that thought, he strode up to Go Tae-san with deliberate steps.
“Hey, Tae-san. Got a minute?”
“What? Why are you here?”
Ha Seung-yoon had tried to chase him off the field earlier with a glare, but something in Choi Seungtaek’s eyes stopped him.
“What do you mean? Since we won, go play with your kids or whatever!”
Choi Seungtaek clapped his right hand on Go Tae-san’s shoulder and nodded toward the field.
“Listen. Fix this.”
He tapped the back of Go Tae-san’s glove with his left hand.
“Fix what?”
“The tell. You’re telegraphing your fastball. I see it every time you throw.”
“…?”
Go Tae-san still didn’t understand.
The overwhelming velocity and swing-and-miss stuff he’d been throwing all year had hidden any flaw from him.
“Ha Seung-yoon’s framing is trash, yeah, but that’ll iron itself out after a few years in the minors. The real problem is you.”
Choi Seungtaek glanced at Ha Seung-yoon for a second, then grinned.
“You. Get that habit out of your system or you’ll get wrecked in the majors. I know—I’ve been there.”
Only then did Go Tae-san realize what he meant. His face tightened.
“Completely visible? Where exactly? When?”
“You didn’t even know?” Choi Seungtaek clicked his tongue. “Look.”
He demonstrated the exact moment—glove-knuckle tension right before the release.
“When you throw a fastball, that snap shows. Watch yourself pitch in today’s game and you’ll see. You never swung the bat once on a changeup, right? Or just watch the highlight reel tonight.”
Go Tae-san squeezed his eyes shut, the sting of admitting a flaw hitting him hard.
“You’ll need to pay me at least a hundred million when you sign big in the majors. It’s the price of fixing what you’ve been doing wrong in the bigs.”
Go Tae-san opened his eyes again. The pain of his error was worth it if it meant he could reach the majors faster.
“Thanks. You came all this way just to tell me that?”
“Few more chances to talk before your path gets crowded. Fix it now or it’ll cost you everything. And if the President’s Cup shows up, no excuses. That’s ours.”
“Yeah. You do well in the pros too.”
“See you.”
Choi Seungtaek spun on his heel and bounded back to the Seongho High dugout, ready to celebrate again.
But then a reporter appeared out of nowhere, gently steering him toward the interview area.
“Choi Seungtaek, are you happy?”
“Absolutely! Of course I am. We fell short at last year’s Cheongryonggi, and today we made it up to you.”
“So tell me, what’s your championship feeling?”
“Well, every player worked so hard. My manager believed in me. My coaches stuck by us… and…”
For a moment Choi Seungtaek’s mother’s face flashed before his eyes.
He realized he hadn’t seen her since coming back to Korea. Even before the injury, coming home cost money, so he hadn’t taken weekends off. But now he ached for her.
“And… um… I’ve been so obsessed with baseball that I never came home on weekends. I want to tell her how much I love her… hic…”
Choi Seungtaek suddenly choked up, voice cracking.
The reporter looked stunned.
- I don’t know if he can even finish this interview.
- He was arrogant when he first got here, but the kid is still showing his age. Hahaha.
Choi Seungtaek tried to steady himself, but the floodgates had opened.
“I want to thank everyone who supported me—the coaches, the friends, the teachers… sniffling.”
He struggled to compose himself, but the emotion kept crashing over him. It took a few seconds for him to regain control.
“Better now? With a performance like this, I expect you’ll be drafted and signed within a few days. Any favorite team?”
“Anywhere. I’ll give it my all… no matter where.”
A perfectly professional answer, but the reporter wasn’t done.
“Still, if you could only pick one… every team isn’t bad!”
- Haha, our reporter is so mean.
- This is a really tricky question. His emotions are all over the place right now. Maybe we should just…
As the commentator warned, Choi Seungtaek finally picked a name from the list in his memory.
“Busan Seagulls.”
“Oh! You mean the Busan Seagulls? I didn’t know a Seoul kid would pick them. Any specific reason?”
“When I need a break, I like watching the sea and having a drink. It calms me down.”
“…”
The reporter’s mouth hung open. A high-school senior talking about sea views and alcohol wasn’t exactly the expected answer.
The broadcast crew had already heard everything they needed and chuckled as they wrapped up.
* * *
“Alright! Let’s give a big round of applause to our pride of the class—Choi Seungtaek and Kim Min-jae!”
“Wooooaaaah!”
The next day the school buzzed with victory.
Word spread that the baseball club had won, and every fan who had cheered from the stands repeated how Choi Seungtaek’s walk-off home run had sealed it.
Students from other classes started dropping by during breaks just to bask in the glory. Choi Seungtaek and his wingman Kim Min-jae were now on duty as unofficial fan-service ambassadors.
Especially when rumors spread that he was highly likely to be drafted, several students lined up for autographs.
When the girls started squealing and begging for his signature, Kim Min-jae’s mischievous side took over.
“Fuaaaaah. Thank you so much, Gae-young-ah~”
“Eek!”
The reporter and cameraman hadn’t noticed, but Kim Min-jae had caught every word.
“Hey… Min-jae, wait!”
“Fuaaaaah. Gae-young-ah~!”
Kim Min-jae copied the exact sobbing line Choi Seungtaek had used, while Choi Seungtaek buried his head on the desk and covered his ears.
Thud! Thud!
“Stop! I’m sorry, I didn’t even know!”
Choi Seungtaek pounded the desk.
“Fuaaaaaah. Thank you, Gae-young-ah~!”
“Stop it.”
“Stop it, I said!”
Creak.
“Oh! Here we go?”
“Right here!”
“Hello!”
More girls had come looking for the baseball team, and Kim Min-jae finally gave up the act.
“Phew. Great! The cleanup hitter for Seongho High School, who just won the President’s Cup!”
“Really?”
“Wow, for real?”
Thanks to the visiting girls, Choi Seungtaek finally escaped the evil-spirit teasing.
“Whew…”
As he exhaled, he noticed a trembling figure in the seat right in front of him.
“Huh? Gae-young, you okay?”
Choi Seungtaek stood and walked over.
Park Gae-young’s face was bright red.
“Why?”
“Uh?”
“You didn’t cheer at the game at all. Then you do that interview?”
“Haha.”
Kim Min-jae’s prank had reached her ears too. At first she didn’t know what was happening, but she checked the broadcast on her phone and realized everything.
“But I was sitting right above the players’ dugout. I didn’t see you on TV?”
Park Gae-young really had been there.
She had watched from the stands near the dugout the entire game and every time Choi Seungtaek returned from his on-field duties.
Of course Choi Seungtaek had been too focused on the game to notice her. Sensing she might be upset, he approached.
“So… Gae-young, do you want to hang out?”
Sometimes straight-forward defeat was the only answer.
Finally, Choi Seungtaek felt it—the unmistakable spark of new possibilities.