The Returned Catcher Wants to Win the Championship
Once Choi Seungtaek received his draft designation, he rose from his chair and offered a quiet, grateful bow. The weight of it still pressed on him like a mountain he could no longer outrun.
‘Ugh… I really screwed myself over this time.’
He dropped back into his seat, brain spinning in every direction. His carefully laid-out plan had just shattered into pieces. Time to rewrite everything.
High school had no professional-level battery coach, so there was no way to build proper pro-grade catching fundamentals. That had been the entire plan: soak up elite MLB techniques during the draft wait, then spend every spare hour after school refining his framing and blocking until the feel came back on its own. But the draft had rewritten the rules mid-sentence.
Until this season, Daejeon Magpies had been unusually generous with independent training time for its players. No longer. Manager Han Geunseong was coming in with a new mandate: raise the entire roster to the same brutal standard or die trying. No favorites, no exceptions. High school stars and low-tiers would be forced to roll together in the same mud.
Stepping out of that collective punishment to do private catching drills was now impossible. The only remaining option was to survive the long, grinding camp and somehow carve out extra time afterward. But if the rumors were true about the monster that was about to arrive, Choi Seungtaek doubted his body would still be in one piece by then.
‘…What the hell am I supposed to do now?’
Choi Seungtaek sat there, face locked in deep concentration while the draft concluded around him. He and the other rookies freshly signed by the Magpies filed into the front-office corridor. A cluster of suits waited at the end of the hall.
“Haha! Our Choi Seungtaek player!”
“Yes! Nice to meet you!”
General Manager Kim Hwan clapped him on the shoulder with a grin that said he had just won the lottery. Behind the GM, a scout in a dark suit stood with arms folded, expression unreadable.
‘Ah. So that was the problem.’
Choi Seungtaek’s eyes locked onto the scout instead. The same man he had seen in the indoor facility during high school tryouts. Magpies scout now.
“Long time no see, Choi Seungtaek. You were already showing something special when you were swinging in the gym, but I had no idea you’d turn into a real catcher this fast. First-round pick—second round, actually, but you’re the #1 pick in the class—so you’d better deliver. Understand?”
“Haha, thank you.”
Of course Choi Seungtaek felt nothing but gratitude. He was already calculating how badly this entire situation had gone sideways.
“Signing bonus? Whatever you want is fine.”
‘Right. Signing bonus.’
“Since you’ll be a backup catcher right away, this should cover it, right?”
The scout spread three fingers.
‘Holy shit, three hundred million.’
Unexpectedly, a wave of genuine gratitude rose in Choi Seungtaek’s chest. His blood was turning orange right now.
“Three hundred million won?” Choi Seungtaek squeaked, voice cracking. “Isn’t that a little steep for a catcher?”
“Haha! Kid’s joking. Even the first-rounders couldn’t get that much. Appreciate it while you can.”
“Haha, what a funny guy. We’ll sort the details during contract signing. Everyone, one group photo and we’re done.”
Kim Hwan had already moved on to the next rookie. Choi Seungtaek took his turn for the final shot, then stepped out of the building with his mother. The evening light painted the Magpies uniform in soft gold as she stared at him, eyes shining with something between awe and worry.
“Look at my son… all grown up now.”
“Mom, stop. I’m just a catcher.”
They walked in silence for a block, then stopped at a quiet neighborhood restaurant. Choi Seungtaek ordered first, the smell of grilled meat and rice making his stomach twist.
“I’m really going to Daejeon Magpies, Mom.”
“That’s good, right? Not staying in Seoul anymore.”
Seoul had always been the plan. When he had first moved to Busan to play there, she had promised to keep living in the capital. But he knew what lay ahead now, and he refused to watch her waste her remaining years in a cramped rental room while he chased the dream.
“Mom… I want you to come with me to Daejeon. The salary is low, but the signing bonus is big. We can afford a real apartment there. Just the two of us.”
“Daejeon?”
“Yeah. Right now the rent is fine, but later… I want you in a nice house with actual rooms instead of one tiny room in a building that smells like old cigarettes and despair.”
His mother set down her chopsticks. The silence stretched long enough to feel dangerous.
“No.”
“Mom, I’m going anyway. I want you with me. A good house, good food, good everything. The place we’re in now… it has memories, but it’s killing you slowly. Please.”
She said nothing. Just stared at her food like it had personally betrayed her.
“I’m not going to live off your help.”
“Mom, I want to play pro. It’s my dream, and I want to make you happy too. But if you keep fighting me on this, I’m going to have to make my own way. You can still come to Daejeon with me. Or you can stay here and watch me from the stands.”
Her voice cracked for the first time. “You can’t do this to me.”
“Why not?”
“Because… because I raised you alone in that tiny room! I sacrificed everything so you could chase this stupid sport!”
“I know. That’s why I want you with me now. So you don’t have to keep sacrificing.”
The restaurant fell quiet except for the sizzle of the grill. Choi Seungtaek’s mother’s eyes were wet, but she refused to cry in front of her son.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
She said it so quietly he almost missed it.
***
Back in class the next morning, Choi Seungtaek sat at his desk trying to rearrange the wreckage of his original plan. Then the System message slammed into his vision like a freight train.
Goals have been achieved. All System abilities have been unlocked. You may also receive special abilities through the System’s unique perks.
Special Ability Slot Available.
‘Special ability?’
Think of a special ability that would help your playing career. Once chosen, it will be granted in a perfectly tuned state.
‘What would be the single most useful special ability?’
He ran through every problem he had faced in high school. Every time his body had failed him, every time the schedule had crushed him, every time he had wondered if he was even built for this. The answer rose to the surface like a shark fin cutting through dark water.
‘I don’t want to get hurt.’
Special Ability: Injury-Free Body.
Rank: S+
Penalty: You must complete the daily training quota and follow the restricted diet. Failure to do so will cause severe performance drops.
‘What the—’
But the System simply waited, letting him read every line. No fluff. No warnings. Just cold, final certainty.
Unlocked System abilities now active. Current player stats:
Choi Seungtaek – Right-handed, right-handed batter C+ Grade, C Grade Catcher – Eligible for backup catcher duty in the pros.
‘…C+?’
Seungtaek stared at the numbers until they blurred. The batter side came first.
Batting Metrics
Contact: C Grade – Higher probability of hitting a single to center or one-handed pull-side/ opposite-side zones.
Power: C Grade – When you make contact, you can hit extra-base hits.
Swing Form: A Grade – Mitchell Nelson’s swing form. Allows you to square up every pitch.
‘All pitches will be easy to square up. Of course. The form is perfect. The power and contact are trash, but the form carries everything.’
That explained why he was C+ overall. The talent was there; it just needed one elite skill to carry it.
He scrolled to the catcher side.
Catching Metrics
Blocking: C Grade – Does not let the ball slip behind you.
Framing: C Grade – Keeps the ball exactly where you receive it.
Pop Time Control: C Grade – Maintains under 2.0 seconds.
‘C Grade across the board. For a catcher, that’s actually decent.’
His eyes widened. C Grade for a position that demanded 10,000 repetitions just to reach B. This was not bad. This was actually good.
‘This is C Grade? Are you kidding me?’
He double-checked the requirements.
Training Requirements
Blocking Training: 0 / 100,000
Contact Training: 0 / 1,000,000
‘…1,000,000?’
Choi Seungtaek’s face hardened into stone. One million contact swings. Ten thousand blocking drills. The System had just handed him the keys to a completely new game… and immediately told him he was still a baseline rookie.
‘I’m not doing it.’
Training was mandatory, but the System offered a loophole.
Game-based training will fill the counter faster.
‘…Right. Games.’
Choi Seungtaek stared at the empty training meter. He was a rookie catcher on a cellar-dweller team now, walking into a professional locker room with a $300 million contract and an S+ injury-free perk that still required him to train like a dog. The System had given him everything it could, and the only thing left was to make the most of it.
‘Fine. Then I’ll win on the field instead of the gym.’
His expression stayed grim, but something new flickered behind his eyes. A spark of real purpose.
Back in the classroom, Kim Min-jae leaned over and poked his shoulder.
“Seungtaek, what’s up? Your face is all serious. You look like you just got drafted by the Yankees and realized you’re still the same guy.”
“Shut up.”
Kim Min-jae laughed. “Pro player and still this dramatic? Legend.”
Outside, students were already lining up to get autographs. The news that the #1 pick in the second round had just signed with Daejeon had spread like wildfire. Fans, classmates, even a few local reporters. But Choi Seungtaek sat there, arms folded, jaw tight, letting every single person stare without flinching.
One girl finally approached, notepad in hand. “Seungtaek-ssi, can I get your autograph?”
He looked up. The girl’s smile faltered when she saw his face.
“I’m not in the mood right now.”
“But… you’re a pro now. You should at least—”
“I’m not in the mood.”
She backed away. Someone else stepped forward. Same result. Same cold reply. Same stony expression. The excitement in the hallway slowly died, replaced by awkward silence.
Kim Min-jae finally sighed. “Dude… you’re gonna scare away all your future fans.”
Choi Seungtaek didn’t answer. He was too busy feeling the weight of every single stare pressing down on him like the entire future of his life was already being judged, and he had already lost.
‘…This is terrifying.’
Park Gayeong watched from across the classroom, eyes full of quiet worry. She had thought the draft had already broken him once. Now she wondered how much worse it could get.