You Have to See It for Yourself, Part 1

"What am I supposed to do about this?"

Even though it was training time I usually breezed through without a second thought, my head was an absolute mess today.

If he'd simply asked to see my face in person or fired questions at me directly, that would be terrifying, sure — but at least something I could deal with on the spot.

But digging into what kind of person I am by combing through the people around me and my past behavior? That's like having your poop-posting account on some forum tracked down by one of your acquaintances. A very, very special breed of fear comes with that.

Meanwhile, the idiot listening beside me, apparently unable to grasp the turmoil of my soul, just answered with a shrug.

"What's going to happen? You're a weird guy, but you're not a bad person, so you'll be fine."

"Agh! Use your brain for once, Kang Min-hyuk."

I don't care how upright and sensible a human being I am — you think there's not a single shred of slander out there? I guarantee some episodes of mine have been wildly exaggerated and maliciously edited into portraying me as history's greatest womanizer or a complete lunatic.

What makes this an even bigger headache is that while some people do it out of malice, there are also people who genuinely see me that way and talk about me that way.

This is exactly why coworker reviews at the workplace aren't the be-all and end-all. But then again, she is from a major conglomerate family — so ruthlessly thorough even in her employee evaluations...

"Hmm... though you are a man crazed for women, are you not? I cannot imagine that you are seeing Madam President as well─"

"Shut up already."

Kang Min-hyuk, as always, was useless.

"Hmm..."

The first thing Chairwoman Choi Hee-jung checked in order to gauge Kim Yi-seon's character was, naturally, the assessments of the people around him.

Of course, if she'd gone up to his circle and asked, "Tell me everything about what kind of person Kim Yi-seon is — flaws and all," did anyone really expect them to readily spill the genuinely bad parts? Not a chance.

So instead, she gathered episodes from things people had mentioned in passing through the friends of his friends, or approached under the pretense of unrelated research and picked up anecdotes on the side, and so on.

In some cases, she even collected testimony from rivals and old grudges — people who had every reason not to be favorable toward Kim Yi-seon.

Synthesizing all these methods gave her a rough picture of his habits of mind. And the assessment of Kim Yi-seon from those around him went something like this:

'Little private life outside of baseball and his girlfriends. His hobby is manga. Not particularly sociable, so he doesn't have a wide circle of acquaintances, but strangely puts real effort into fan service. His mood shows instantly on his face. Otherwise impossible to tell what he's thinking...'

And among the sprawling tangle of keywords and anecdotes, one element in particular caught Chairwoman Choi Hee-jung's eye:

'The type who depends heavily on his girlfriends. Fans say he has qualities that evoke maternal instincts.'

Of course. They're all like that, these men. Swooping in on older women and making them think, "How would this child survive if I don't look after him?" — it's a textbook tactic, isn't it?

Whether it was calculated or subconscious, it wasn't good. Add an impulsive temperament to a face that broadcasts every passing mood, and those are hardly ideal traits in a husband.

Not always, but usually, aren't people with that disposition the ones who end up turning to domestic violence, or becoming those wretched humans who force nothing but their own emotions onto everyone else and use their family as an emotional garbage can?

This wasn't a case of her simply wanting to see Kim Yi-seon in a bad light — even by cold, rational standards, these weren't flattering elements.

That he's affectionate with his girlfriends to an unusual degree, that contrary to rumor he keeps a firm distance from female fans — flip those around, and they're not exactly favorable for Seo-hee either.

Didn't it mean his bond with his existing girlfriends, apart from Seo-hee, was that tight? Which meant Seo-hee could just as easily end up the one squeezed out to the margins.

"Secretary Yoon, good work. This time, let's focus on what's appeared in official media."

Looking only at his on-camera image from the start could deceive anyone — but watching with a baseline grasp of Kim Yi-seon's actual personality already established, even glimpses of his true self slipping through the editing could be sufficiently caught. That was the point.

Some might look at this approach and say, "Isn't she just forcing pieces together because she wants to see the worst?" But absolutely not. Marriage is a momentous matter, and one must be thorough.

Only then did Choi Hee-jung finally bring up the footage from the Wirye Jeil High days that Han Seo-hee had once hesitantly recommended — "Mom... it's a documentary I made..." — starting from episode one.

Back then she'd been busy, and she knew nothing about baseball, so it had been nothing more to her than a sign her daughter had gone soft in the head. She'd never actually watched it...

Well then. Let's see how this baseball thing is done.

— "Oh, that? Bro, who do you think I am? I'm Cha Il-sung — loyalty is the only thing I've got, aside from that I'm a corpse. Yeah, I told them you're one batshit insane motherfucker. What about it?"

"You bald-headed bastard... *sigh*... you know what, forget it. Go inside."

Ignoring the nonsense about why he'd trash-talked me after I'd asked him nicely, I hung up the phone.

How has that guy not changed at all, even after becoming an adult?

Scrolling through my saved contacts, I checked whether anyone else was left to call.

"Let's see — Cha Il-sung covers the Jeil High baseball club... the PR team staff I asked face-to-face... the national team hyungs? None of them are idle enough to be asked about me. Middle school classmates... no contact info."

The reason I was digging through my phone making verification calls one by one was a phone call from Director Choi Sang-ho — the first in a long while.

Even after I went pro, the development fund Kang Min-hyuk and I had contributed to our old school (a sum that blew well past ten billion won) had gutted and rebuilt the baseball club's facilities entirely, and he was still coaching at what used to be the stingy, bare-bones Wirye Jeil High baseball program — now transformed into a luxurious operation.

Anyway, he said he gets bombarded with questions all the time about how he raised students like me and Kang Min-hyuk, what our middle and high school years were like — and that among them, there'd been a slightly strange interview recently.

'Said they were from the Daily Seoul. A bit pushy, though. Turns out they weren't digging into me first — they went after the people around me? I'd already given the interview before I realized, but I don't think I said anything that could be a real problem. Still, Yi-seon, you should know.'

That's our director for you. Even after his student graduated, he didn't forget him and lent a hand like this.

Only one person in the world, at this point in time, would investigate my background this thoroughly, starting with everyone around me. Han Seo-hee's mother — the one Seo-hee noona warned me about.

According to Seo-hee noona, she's an incredibly strict, terrifying woman, and true to form, her very first move was scary. Isn't this kind of background check something the National Intelligence Service usually does? To catch spies?

So I was circulating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calls to everyone around me, just in case some distorted account slightly off from my real self had reached my future mother-in-law's ears.

Everyone reported that they'd only said good things — but how she'd interpret them, and what exactly she'd heard from whom, was anyone's guess.

"You don't seem to need to be this anxious. Kim Yi-seon, as a human being, simply isn't complicated enough to warrant misunderstanding in the first place."

"Agh, Kang Min-hyuk! This is exactly why you still haven't proposed to your girlfriends, you know that? Huh? The scariest person in the world isn't your girlfriend — it's your mother-in-law!"

So much for bringing Kang Min-hyuk over hoping he'd be even slightly useful — today, too, he was spouting nothing but garbage.

Come to think of it, he mentioned he still hasn't gotten out the first syllable of "marriage" to his girlfriends. Now I understand why. Anyone this oblivious to the ways of the world would stall too.

Feeling generous, I decided to explain to this poor soul why this situation was so critical.

"Because people run on first impressions, that's why? If you hear good things about someone first, then later stories get interpreted favorably. But if all you hear at the start is bad, and you form a bad impression, then no matter how good the later stories are, you never see them in a kind light."

Which meant that if a bad first impression had somehow formed in Seo-hee noona's mother's mind, I'd have to do everything in my power to rebut it — or prove it wrong through my actions.

But Kang Min-hyuk was still frowning like it didn't add up. Fine, if you can't understand it, just drop it.

At any rate, once I'd wrung my own contact list dry and even raided Kang Min-hyuk's for anyone useful, and there was no one left to call, the time came to reach a conclusion.

"So, out of everything confirmed about me so far, the part that actually needs... explaining... would be that I'm extremely impulsive and lose all sense of foresight when I play baseball?"

"Would that not be accurate?"

"Accurate my ass. You know exactly how calculating my baseball is."

Ignoring Kang Min-hyuk's 'Calculating? Did the meaning of that word change while I wasn't looking?' nonsense, let's actually think this problem through.

Any athlete, really — if you're evaluating a man as a potential son-in-law, watching him lose his composure isn't going to look great. From a certain angle, it could paint him as violent and unable to plan ahead.

As a parent, I understand not wanting to hand your daughter over to such a man. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this is a misunderstanding. I don't know why the people around me keep laboring under this one, but I play baseball under extremely rational, airtight calculation.

Granted, that calculation can pivot rapidly, which might create that impression — but that's merely checking new variables quickly and recalculating. It is never impulsive behavior.

"So. How exactly do you plan to dispel this 'misunderstanding'? Isn't your start tomorrow?"

"Which is exactly why the situation couldn't be more optimal."

If there had genuinely been something wrong with my conduct, showing a brand-new side of myself on a short preparation window would be difficult — and an inauthentic performance would hardly fix a preexisting prejudice anyway.

But if it was, at its core, a misunderstanding, then all I had to do was emphasize my true self and let everyone gather to see it properly. The misunderstanding would dissolve naturally.

"...Honestly, wouldn't it be more effective to skip all this theater, go kneel at her door, and beg for forgiveness?"

"Why don't YOU do that! You're still in a deep freeze with Se-yeon's mother, and you're giving ME advice?"

I shut up the advice-giving Kang Min-hyuk, who can't even manage his own situation, and focused on the game ahead. Whether this would actually work, even I wasn't entirely certain — but you have to try something, don't you?

If I wanted to avoid her suddenly appearing out of nowhere, handing me a white envelope, and telling me to 'stop seeing Seo-hee,' I had to deploy every weapon available.

...I had binged the entire documentary in the blink of an eye.

And that wasn't enough — I'd gone through every last one of the old videos uploaded to the Twins' official YouTube channel as well.

Should I say I could feel Seo-hee's agonizing and effort that went into preparing all of this — the passion and devotion sealed inside those frames — and before I knew it, I was pulled all the way in?

"Hah. Is that child in her right mind or not? She met him back when he was still a student?"

After all, it was now firmly established that Kim Yi-seon hadn't entered her life recently — he'd been there since her school days.

No wonder she'd seemed, unusually for her, almost proud when she told me she'd made a documentary. She'd been dying to show off footage of her own man. That child has completely lost it, honestly.

It almost pained me that I hadn't watched it back then, citing how busy I was. If I had seen it beforehand, wouldn't I have caught on long before today's catastrophe? I could have spoken to my father-in-law and pried Seo-hee away from baseball entirely, even.

"Still, she really did make it well. No wonder it won awards and set records, Secretary Yoon."

"Yes, ma'am. It held the world number-one spot in the documentary category on Webplex for quite an extended run, and it took home numerous awards in the documentary and sports categories as well."

Part of it was surely the strength of the subject matter itself — Wirye Jeil High. Or was it the love Seo-hee poured in? Either way, the film was unquestionably masterfully made.

For content she'd supposedly debated whether to upload to YouTube at all, it was cleaner and more gripping than anything a dedicated professional documentary channel would produce — a genuine drama, beginning to end.

Setting aside the outrageous fact that the cause of all this was a man, it did move me somewhat, as a mother.

Seo-hee really is such a good child. While her cousins and her older sister were headstrong and running wild causing trouble, she was the one who quietly studied alone and obeyed her elders.

But put another way, that means she was a timid, passive child who did nothing but follow adults' instructions. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Which is why I was always worried about her — and why, without realizing it, I became the double-edged kind of parent who steers her child in the direction I want.

And so the Seo-hee who always walked only the paths others laid out for her, terrified of being scolded — at some point, she'd left the nest and was attempting to stand on her own. No longer doing what adults ordered, but what she herself wanted to do.

When my brother-in-law laughed and said, "Seo-hee's all grown up now — she even stabs her uncle in the back these days," I hadn't believed him. When my father-in-law said, "Seo-hee loves that club so much, I'm making her its president," I hadn't believed him either. And yet, absurdly, it was watching this documentary that made me realize it, all too late.

Looked at one way, I am a completely disqualified mother.

But that's neither here nor there.

"Well-made documentary aside... Kim Yi-seon is, without question, a walking magnet for women, isn't he."

Watching the documentary only made me more uneasy about Kim Yi-seon. Something about this sly creature.

Allowing for a degree of editing, that terrifying game face that could devour a person whole would melt completely into a beaming grin the moment he looked at his interviewer (almost certainly Seo-hee) or his girlfriends.

And those slightly sharp features, offset by the softness of a high schooler, gave the whole thing a certain... effect. If it's deliberate, he's a formidable operator; and if it's unconscious, what woman alive could hold out against it?

Beyond the official footage, there were photos and videos taken with fans, ostensibly as fan service, and frankly, plenty of them struck even this aging Chairwoman Choi Hee-jung as dangerously handsome. A natural-born charmer, through and through.

And he isn't just a fan to some woman — he's her target? I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of bewitching performance he'd put on to lure her in.

My naive Seo-hee, who doesn't understand the first thing about men, has probably already handed over her liver and gallbladder — clothes, accessories, and if he played it well, maybe even bought him a car or an apartment by now.

Money is no object, of course. Isn't one of this family's virtues that we never want for it? Even if he fleeced a considerable sum, it could be written off as tuition. But a twisted man, the wounds he leaves on the heart — no amount of money settles those, does it?

The time for observing from a distance was over. I hadn't examined a tremendous volume of material, but it was more than enough to grasp the danger.

"When is the nearest game featuring that Kim Yi-seon boy?"

"As it happens, he's pitching tomorrow at Jamsil."

"Good. Contact Seo-hee, Secretary Yoon, and tell her to join me on game day. It seems mother and daughter are due for a serious conversation."

I'll see for myself at the stadium. Because it's in the moments when a person is working, or struggling, that their true nature shows itself most clearly.

"Yi-seon! What do we DO?!"

Seo-hee noona was trembling like a leaf. I did my best to soothe her with an air of perfect calm.

"It's fine. Honestly, I think this works in my favor. If she watches my game in person and we talk face-to-face, the misunderstanding will clear right up."

"But... what if even after the misunderstanding clears, my mom still doesn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like you..."

Even with me comforting her, the anxiety wouldn't leave her, and she kept shaking. Frankly, I was a little scared myself.

However adult Seo-hee noona may be — dating a man five years younger, who's already married with two women? It wouldn't be surprising if that didn't exactly look pretty.

But apparently, that wasn't what she was worried about.

"My mom prefers men who are diligent and wholesome, and you, Yi-seon, are anything but..."

"Noona, what are you even saying? Where else would you find a man as diligent and wholesome as me?"

Where else will you find a man who trains more systematically than anyone, doesn't drink or smoke, and indulges in zero vices whatsoever? Good luck finding a baseball player more wholesome than me.

But Seo-hee noona was looking at me with eyes full of utter disrespect. Eyes that said, 'As much as I love you, even that's a stretch.'

Slightly hurtful, but I'll let it slide. She's anxious right now; all sorts of thoughts can creep in.

Besides, I already had the perfect play in mind — one that would put every last one of her fears to rest.

"You really have nothing to worry about. I've got something prepared."