Mission
Ding.
Me: I'm going.
Mother: Well done, son. And remember to make a heart toward your father in case you hit a home run.
Me: A heart? I'll think about it.
Me: Father, are you coming?
Father: If I have time.
Mother: Here we go again. If I have time, do you have time or not? You're already taking the day off.
Mother: (Shaking-head emoji)
Father: (Shrugging emoji)
This guy has not changed.
Back in the old days, such an answer would've annoyed me.
However, now it only made me smile.
Perhaps because I finally understood my father's feelings.
There hasn't been a single message in our family chat for six months.
Having gathered up the courage, I've finally left my parents a short message.
Let's do this.
Having arrived at the school, I relaxedly checked my equipment and got ready for traveling to Seoul.
Because I took my time, there were not many free seats on the bus.
I took one of the empty seats.
It was beside Minseok, our first baseman.
Who was that guy again?
I had lived my entire life being engaged in baseball after I became professional, so frankly speaking, I couldn't remember much about him.
I think he played quite well in the pros.
However, it would've been more strange if I could remember a person whom I had not contacted for decades despite our common school background.
Hi.
Oh, hey.
Minseok greeted me and closed his eyes.
In a minute, he fell asleep.
Having summoned the diary through the quest window, I checked the first few pages.
Right after returning to the past, Pages 1 through 3 were already filled with writings.
It's gone.
Cleanly erased.
Now, however, there were only blank pages.
So...
Obviously, achieving the wishes described in the diary erased the corresponding pages.
It feels great.
In a certain sense, the content of the diary was just like scars of my father.
Scars inflicted by me.
Scars that couldn't be healed.
But now...
These incidents had been erased.
The blank pages felt as if I pulled out one of the nails from my father's heart.
Even if you remove the nail, the hole it left behind will remain...
But in this life, I could fill this hole with better memories.
Once I had collected my mind, I turned my attention towards the reward.
Ding.
I turned to the next page.
The signs of the cares and endeavors of my father on my behalf were gone.
Instead, I saw something else.
User: Kim Nahan
Position: 3B
Skills Owned
-Speechcraft (NEW!)
The familiar blue window already felt almost natural.
It gave me quests as if it was a game and awarded me for achieving them, so it was natural for me to call it quest window.
Checking the reward provided by it, I saw the following skill.
Speechcraft.
It was a skill related to speaking.
If its name said only Speechcraft, I would be confused what it is.
Speechcraft
Category: Active
Your speech becomes more fluent. Your thoughts are articulated in a smooth way.
Fortunately, it also gave me a detailed description of this skill and how it worked.
Quite a good reward for such a simple quest.
I liked this reward much more than I expected.
Not only it returned me to the past, but it also helped me restore my relationship with my father.
I didn't know who created the quest window, but it looked as if the creator was quite generous.
I thought returning to the past alone was more than enough.
Still, if you give me rewards, I will not say a word.
Once my thoughts were collected, it became much easier for me to check the remaining pages of the diary.
By the time the bus arrived in Seoul, I managed to finish checking my diary.
As soon as our bus stopped in the parking area, our coach stood up and clapped his hands.
All right. Have you checked your room assignments before we left? Unpack your things, take a break for half an hour, and meet in the lobby. We will hold a meeting there. Today we will do a light analysis.
Yes, Coach!
Once unpacked our things in our rooms and having reached the lobby, we waited for the coach to start the meeting.
Our coach stood in front of the whiteboard which he somehow managed to obtain.
His gaze moved from one player to another.
Twenty-one, including Kim Nahan. All of you are here.
Our coach was Choi Jaehoon.
He was my coach in the high school.
Although he grumbled and complained all the time, he could easily get along with his players as if he was a friend.
But when it was necessary to be strict, he was incredibly strict.
It was an ideal coach for a team.
When I joined the pros and then successfully played there, he was among those who rejoiced for me.
Once having gained his full attention, the coach started analyzing our opponent in the first round of the tournament.
All right. The starting pitcher of Cheongsin High School is obvious.
He grinned.
Well, at least obvious to me. But you know little about him. We belong to the Gangwon region of the Weekend League, and they belong to Gyeongsang Group B.
His players smiled at his confident expression.
But the fact that you do not know anything about them is actually a good sign. It means they do not have any famous players.
They themselves are not a powerhouse of the Cheongsin High School, and they never showed any results in major tournaments.
So most of their names will be unfamiliar for you. At the moment, just look at the material I gave you yesterday.
Rustle.
Having turned the page, I saw the profile of a player.
You don't need to look at me. Tomorrow's starting pitcher will be Kim Sinhyeong. There is nothing particularly remarkable about him.
As expected from a coach known for his analytical skills, the material was incredibly detailed.
What type of pitches he prefers.
What tells he has during his delivery.
There was more data than anyone could've collected without being completely obsessed with high school baseball.
Cheongsin High does not have any talented players attracting attention, and they are not even the team of our Weekend League region.
The most dangerous pitch of his is his curveball.
However, it is not one of those modern fast-breaking twelve-to-six curves.
It is a traditional twelve-to-six curve. What does it mean?
Suddenly, our coach threw this question.
Unconsciously, I understood that now it was an ideal opportunity to test my new reward.
Activate Speechcraft.
The moment I thought it, my mouth opened automatically.
It means we can recognize the curveball as soon as it leaves his hand.
Our coach slightly nodded.
Yes. But not all of you have eyesight good enough to recognize it that fast, so let's ignore it for a while.
Kim Sinhyeong has problems controlling his curveball.
Sounds a bit weird, doesn't it?
His fastball is not overwhelming, but his control with it is rather good. Who can tell me how should we approach this pitcher?
It was not a particularly hard question.
Just having briefly scanned the report, it was not difficult to make an approach.
But my teammates were still young.
Maybe, they had not prepared well.
Anyway, having noticed that nobody answered, Coach Choi's face changed.
Was the material I gave you too long?
Silence.
Nobody answered.
