The End of the Finishing Camp
"Sorry. I don't mean I don't have any feelings either. It's just that the CSAT is right around the corner and I need to focus on studying, so I was hesitant."
Thump.
"And... if I just confess like this in a place like this, what am I supposed to do?"
The fear that had pressed against his throat suddenly vanished, and a small flame flickered to life in the ashes of his chest.
"But I'm not saying I don't like you. Can I reach out after the CSAT?"
Choi Seungtaek's heart began to thud again at Park Gayoung's shy confession.
"No. Tell me now."
Park Gayoung's eyes widened at Choi Seungtaek's words.
It had been worrying about Manager Han Geunseong's training that made this situation even worse.
Choi Seungtaek didn't have much time for dating going forward.
Manager Han's training was immense, only a slight break after the November finishing camp, then spring camp, and the season would drag on until the end.
In that sense, Choi Seungtaek wasn't a good boyfriend.
"From now on I don't have much time. I won't be able to spend much on you. I'm a pro now. If that's okay, nod. If not, shake your head to let me know for sure. It's your turn to choose."
Thump thump thump.
Park Gayoung's face flushed crimson at the sudden words from Choi Seungtaek.
She had been struggling to decide, but in the end she nodded and quickly turned her body forward.
Park Gayoung felt a pleasant tremble, but she soon opened her notebook again to study.
"Kyaaah... what am I going to do? I nodded."
Park Gayoung felt like she would die of embarrassment.
By contrast, Choi Seungtaek felt even more unsettled inside.
He knew he had good feelings for Park Gayoung, but he also knew the road ahead of them would be full of obstacles. That was why it was even worse.
Not being able to contact her often was already difficult, and now they would be in a long-distance relationship as well.
Ttok ttok.
"Wait a minute, Gayeong-ah, I have something to ask."
"Hm?"
Park Gayoung was taken aback, but it seemed she had to answer Choi Seungtaek's words.
Because his face was slightly red, Choi Seungtaek felt even more unsettled.
"If something really painful and terrifying happens to me, what should I do?"
Choi Seungtaek had asked it because he shuddered just imagining Manager Han Geunseong's training, but Park Gayoung thought it was about her own past experience of being hurt.
'Oh no... what do I say to him? That only makes me feel worse.'
"Um... I don't know either, but everything gets better with time."
Park Gayoung quoted a lesson she had heard from her unnies around her.
"But what if it's impossible? What if the hard time lasts quite a while?"
"Um... I guess you just have to get used to the pain?"
'But I'm not in that situation right now, am I? I nodded, after all.'
Choi Seungtaek fell into thought.
'It's not ideal, but it's a pretty good answer. Since I can't avoid it, I guess I have to get used to it.'
If you get a vaccine, you won't suffer as much even if you catch a disease later.
Difficult environments aren't always that bad; you've already been exposed to them, so maybe it's not as terrible as you think.
After organizing his thoughts, Choi Seungtaek stood up from his seat.
"I think that's the answer. Thank you. It was really helpful."
Choi Seungtaek nodded in understanding and headed toward the indoor batting practice area.
* * *
"What? Choi Seungtaek got here early?"
"You already feel like a pro now, huh?"
Coach and Manager greeted Choi Seungtaek.
"Good. So I'm going to train even harder before I turn pro."
"Really? Well, you were already diligent anyway. What kind of training are you planning?"
"I thought I'd focus on hitting practice from now on. But I need to test something first, so if you could just let me hit for a long time, that'd be great."
Manager Kim Ik-hyun looked at him curiously at Choi Seungtaek's words.
"Oh? Okay. Do as you like. Now you're a pro, and it's important to do autonomous training to fill in your own weaknesses."
With Manager Kim Ik-hyun's permission, Choi Seungtaek immediately headed to the batting practice area.
Right now, the training he could do was very limited.
Catcher training would have to wait until he turned pro, and strength training was also difficult because there were no good facilities at high school.
So, hitting practice was the only option left.
'How many hitting practice sets did I do under Manager Han Geunseong? Around six thousand?'
Among Manager Han Geunseong's training, the most infamous was the hellish fungo for fielders, but he also made the batters throw balls and hit a lot.
Choi Seungtaek set a goal of six thousand balls a day to keep up with that volume.
'Today I'll just do two thousand.'
Choi Seungtaek raised the ball.
Tac!
Tac!
Tac!
Right as practice started, the System number began to rise.
After practicing for a while, Choi Seungtaek checked his count.
[214 / 10,000,000]
'Wow... it's enormous. Really like a speck of dust.'
The low number only made him feel even more gloomy.
After that, he kept hitting all day at school and got closer to his goal.
His hands hurt a lot once he passed a thousand, but Choi Seungtaek kept training silently.
His hands ached, but strangely, his mind was calm.
* * *
Time passed, and the final high school baseball tournament, the Bonghwangdae National High School Baseball Tournament, came to an end.
Choi Seungtaek told the coach he wanted to step down as the starting catcher, and when Manager Kim Ik-hyun saw his insane hitting practice, he had no choice but to hand the starting catcher position over to Go Jae-myung.
After all, there was no way a catcher with such a damaged hand could continue.
Thanks to the disgusting hitting practice he had done all day, Choi Seungtaek was now able to hit five thousand balls a day.
If he tried to do more, his fingers wouldn't move properly. So he couldn't put the bat down. To set it down, he would have needed help from others, so he had set his own limit.
The Bonghwangdae tournament went surprisingly well.
Even though Choi Seungtaek had stepped down as the starting catcher, as the designated hitter he had played and swung the bat hard every game, so he had won several large-margin victories.
But in the semifinals he lost to Buma High School.
Go Tae-san still hadn't erased his weakness, and since Choi Seungtaek wasn't behind the plate to frame pitches perfectly, he was unable to fully take advantage of the batter, resulting in the lopsided loss.
After that, Choi Seungtaek signed a contract with the Daejeon Magpies worth three billion won in signing bonus and twenty million won in salary.
The signing bonus was higher than that of the first-round pick, which made headlines, but because of his performance in the two recent tournaments, there was no controversy.
Since it was still before Choi Seungtaek had actually played in the majors, the league hadn't changed much.
The Daegu Eagles had firmly held their dynasty and won the 2014 Korean Series.
And at the end of October, Manager Han Geunseong left the independent club Goyang Twerk Lux and signed with the Daejeon Magpies.
And in November, Choi Seungtaek headed to Okinawa, Japan, to join the Daejeon Magpies' finishing camp.
* * *
At the Okinawa training ground, one player was staring blankly up at the sky.
"I lost. I really lost."
Starting second baseman Woo Jeong-geun of the Daejeon Magpies said. Of course, Jeong-geun had originally planned to spend good time with his family.
He was also the national team second baseman and a core player for the Daejeon Magpies, so the club had given him special consideration by saying he didn't have to participate.
But because of news at the end of October, all plans were canceled and he came to the finishing camp.
"Why only you?"
Veteran backup catcher Park Gyeok-po was there, too.
Park Gyeok-po had come as backup catcher for the weak Daejeon Magpies, but as a veteran he had played many games in 2014.
He was a standout hitter but had trouble maintaining his form because of his age, so Park Gyeok-po had always planned to participate in the finishing camp.
"Hyung, you haven't tried it yet, right?"
Jeong-geun's gloomy voice had also affected the other players.
"Manager's coming."
"Ugh, we have to hurry!"
But as soon as the manager's words came, Jeong-geun was the first to run.
"Um... is everyone here?"
"Yes! We're here!"
It was unusual for so many players to attend the finishing camp.
Manager Han Geunseong wanted to check all the players, so every senior and rookie was gathered in one place.
Players who would make the first-team lineup and additional rookies had come to the Okinawa finishing camp, and Choi Seungtaek was among them.
"Today we'll start lightly and do it properly starting tomorrow."
The players felt relieved at Manager Han Geunseong's words.
Still, the first day was usually just to loosen up the body, so the players thought he wasn't as cruel as the rumors suggested.
'No! Kids, don't relax! It's not what he meant!'
Jeong-geun couldn't relax.
The Korean and foreign standards for spice were different.
Whether something is spicy or not is from the foreigner's perspective, while whether it's so spicy it twists the stomach or just deliciously spicy is from the Korean perspective.
In that sense, Manager Han Geunseong's words needed to be thought over again.
Jeong-geun felt sorry for the players whose futures he didn't know.
And he felt even sorrier for himself, who knew the future all too well.