Strikeout! The Demon's Tongue Strikes Again
Strikeout!
Kid's got something. He's good.
Yoon Jeong-jin was pleased with Choi Seungtaek's pitch calling. It was their first time working together, and yet Seungtaek seemed to already know which pitches Yoon liked and where he liked to throw them.
Two outs already. This inning's going to be easy.
The chemistry was better than he'd expected, and that was how he'd punched out two strikeouts so fast.
Nice. He's not afraid to mix it up.
Yoon liked that Seungtaek was willing to go to the curve. That kind of aggressive sequencing was exactly why he decided to keep following the kid's signs.
Whiiiiish—
Pop!
Strike!
That's the stuff.
A curve slipped in at a timing no hitter could sit on only made Yoon's real weapons—the fastball and the slider—bite that much harder.
Yoon nodded.
Whiiiiish—
Crack!
Fooled once by the curve, the Sparrows batter flailed at the slider breaking off the plate.
The problem, unfortunately, erupted somewhere else entirely.
It had been a routine grounder to shortstop. Hwang Ganggyeong simply butchered it.
Hss. Defense is a little rough. Whatever. I'll just get the next guy.
It was still two outs, runner on first. Yoon reset himself.
A nod.
Shiiiiip—
Crack!
He'd thrown the outside fastball to the left-handed hitter exactly as asked, and thrown it well. The batter punched it out in front of third—and Shin Heeseong nutmegged it, the ball rolling straight through his legs into left field.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me. What are they even doing?
Two boneheaded errors in a row, and Choi Seungtaek's head started to throb. He still hadn't come down from being angry, and this incomprehensible stretch of baseball was making it worse.
Unbelievable. Min-jae would've had that in his sleep. Why is this happening?
They'd already punched out two strikeouts and were gliding toward a clean inning. Two routine ground balls later, it was two outs with runners on first and second.
"What are you doing!!! What the hell are you doing!!! AAAAAAAAGH!"
MacGanji—the internet streamer who ran a Magpies-biased broadcast—was screaming himself hoarse, gasping for air between howls.
"No! Shiiiit. Why are you putting on a variety show again?! This is professional sports! You're baseball players, not comedians!"
Dressed in the orange Magpies uniform with the magpie mascot splashed across it, MacGanji looked like a man in genuine physical pain.
A lot of people were watching, and the chat was flying. The stream itself was a hit—with one small problem. It was supposed to be a Magpies-biased broadcast, and somehow the people who showed up to clown on the Magpies always outnumbered the actual fans.
"How are you still making mistakes this basic… ninth place again…. No, are we going to finish tenth again?"
"Guys, I'm a dried anchovy, okay? I'm underweight and watching Magpies baseball is going to give me hypertension."
"Exactly! Guys! Wait! Our manager is Han Geunseong, right? Didn't they do that Hellish Fungo thing? Why do they still suck?!"
MacGanji was screaming with the veins standing out in his neck.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's think positive. Regular season hasn't even started. We should tell ourselves they're getting a little better."
"Ooooh! Strikeout! Wow…. In the end Yoon Jeong-jin finishes the inning himself. The man's forty and he's playing baseball by himself. This is infuriating. Infuriating."
Top of the eighth, and Choi Seungtaek's turn finally arrived. Two outs, runner on first—cleanup hitter Tae Pyung-yang had singled, so at least there was traffic on the bases.
Seungtaek studied the pitcher.
Huh…. Who is this? I don't remember him. Which means he's not that good….
He stared hard, but he didn't have the information, and the System didn't kick in.
Fine. I'll just do it. Not like I've got a choice.
Shiiiiip—
Pop!
Strike!
The System wasn't helping him, and Seungtaek still found himself smiling.
What? Why can I see the ball this clearly?
Every so often he got this feeling. He couldn't explain it, but the ball looked slow, and he could see which way the spin was turning, even the shape of the seams.
So what's next? Breaking ball? Or another fastball?
He looked at the pitcher again. Developmental squad or second team, Seungtaek couldn't tell, but the kid looked like he was in his early twenties, same as Seungtaek.
No. Stop thinking. Just hit. What can't I do right now? I came back. The swing feels good, too.
Something animal had taken over, and that instinct said this was a pitch to attack.
It's an exhibition game. If I look bad, who cares. Let's just compete.
He had no evidence it would work. He just felt like he could.
Whatever. Come and get me.
Seungtaek held the bat long and timed up the fastball.
Shiiiiip—
A fastball in the upper 140s carved toward the outer edge.
Crack!
It flew a long way. It stayed foul.
Close. But I can really do this.
When he hit it, the ball had looked as big as a watermelon.
Thump…. thump…. thump….
The moment he locked in, he could even hear his own heartbeat.
Come on. I'm going to kill it.
He held the bat long again and loaded the same swing, committed to nothing except driving it out.
Shiiiip—
Mistake!
Spooked by how far that foul had carried, the Sparrows pitcher yanked it, and the ball leaked over the heart of the plate.
Crack!
He didn't miss the pitch that leaked middle. He yanked it with everything he had, and the ball cleared the left-field fence at Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
That felt good.
Seungtaek flipped the bat and took off for first. It wasn't quite that walking-on-clouds feeling from before, but a home run still lit him up.
Rounding the bases, he searched the stands for Park Gayeong. She was in the third-base seats, and this time he spotted her right away. He waved toward third, and the Magpies fans over there roared for him.
"Choi Seungtaek! Choi Seungtaek!"
Thwack!
Oof—
"Hey! I said Choi Seungtaek! Nice job, you bastard!"
The home-run hitter had been so busy looking for Park Gayeong that he was jogging in like an idiot. Cleanup man Tae Pyung-yang, waiting at the plate, praised him by cracking him a good one.
"Thank you!"
The score was 2–0, and the dugout was buzzing.
"Good work out there."
On the back of Choi Seungtaek's home run, the Magpies finally notched their first win of spring camp and the exhibition schedule combined.
"We actually won one. How many had we lost? It was getting ridiculous."
"Isn't this the jinx, though? Teams that look good in exhibition always fall apart once the regular season starts."
Seungtaek said it to keep the mood rolling.
"He's not wrong. Let's get all the mistakes out of the way now, and once Opening Day hits, nobody screws up and we win everything."
"Yes, sir!"
Captain Tae Pyung-yang picked up the line, and the clubhouse lifted another notch.
While the players were still riding it, Manager Han Geunseong called the head coach over.
"How many errors today?"
"Five, sir."
"Opening Day is right in front of us. You think errors are acceptable?"
"No, sir."
"When we get back to Daejeon… run defensive drills. All of them."
"We've got another game tomorrow against the Falcons, though…."
"Run them anyway."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
Han Geunseong had won the game and still hated how they'd won it. The result was fine. The process was not.
Seungtaek finished packing and was about to go find Park Gayeong….
"Seungtaek, where do you think you're going?"
The clubhouse manager had called him back.
"Me? I just finished packing…. I was heading home."
"The skipper ordered night training. We're going straight to Daejeon Baseball Stadium, eat dinner, then practice."
I'm sorry, what?
Seungtaek's face went rigid at the horror of it.
"Could… someone else catch? I'm a little…."
"It's defensive work, so you especially have to be there. You're the only catcher on the first team."
"If we used a second-team guy…."
"The second team's in Gangjin playing. They can't come."
Thump!
"Hey! Choi Seungtaek! You were great today. Let's go, hurry up."
"Huh? Thank you~!? Argh—"
Seungtaek's soul was leaving his body in real time when the veteran players came pouring out behind him. They scooped him up on the way to the bus.
"Choi Seungtaek! You've been kidnapped. You're sitting next to me today. We're talking."
Captain Tae Pyung-yang had liked the home run enough to claim the seat beside him.
Ah…. shit. I'm fucked. What do I do?
The kidnapping was about to go off without a hitch when something he'd forgotten slammed back into his head.
"Sorry, hyung. I joined the team late, so I drove myself here!"
"Ah! Right. I was wondering how you even got here…. Well, nothing we can do. You can't just leave the car."
"I'll drive straight to Daejeon Baseball Stadium. See you there."
"Yeah! See you in Daejeon. You were really good today. I mean it."
And just like that, Seungtaek slipped the net.
Haa…. Now I need to get to Gayeong….