Chapter 2

Chapter 2 — What If I Get You One Win?

The transfer process to Seoul Saeum High School was completed in the blink of an eye.

And during that process, Jeil High School was thrown into chaos.

“Choi Seong. You’re a second-year student right now. You’ll be a third-year soon. Don’t you know this is the most important time for you? Have you lost your mind? Hey, don’t you feel sorry for your parents? They’ve spent their whole lives supporting you, and—”

“Coach, be honest. I was your target this time, wasn’t I?”

“What kind of bullshit are you talking about?”

The coach shouted at the top of his lungs inside the private office prepared for him at Jeil High.

Jeil High’s coach had never really cared about people in the first place.

His style was to continuously overwork one particular player.

Then he built his own career off that player’s sacrifice.

I knew because I had personally suffered through it.

Even after becoming an adult, I had never treated him like some respected mentor.

“Weren’t you planning to grind me into the ground to build your career?”

“Y-You disrespectful bastard! What did you just say? Do you know whose safety I’m worried abou—”

“I’m leaving because I don’t want that happening to me.”

Some things had to be said directly.

This guy had spent nearly ten years coaching high school baseball and had worked countless kids into the ground.

He would probably have a rough time from now on.

Jeil High was about to enter its dark age soon, after all.

And in my previous life, I was the one who had stopped that from happening.

He also demanded ridiculous amounts of money.

Whenever we went on an away training camp, each player had to pay two million won.

And on top of that, we were expected to slip the coach extra money here and there because he was supposedly “working hard.”

If you didn’t?

It didn’t matter how talented you were.

He would never let you move up.

In short, he wasn’t even human.

The first thing I did after finishing the transfer procedures at Jeil High was simple.

“Burns pretty well.”

I lit a fire inside an oil drum in the empty lot in front of my house and tossed my school uniform into it.

I even burned the Jeil High baseball uniform that had cost me 1.2 million won in team fees.

That was how sick of the place I was.

Because this was where my abuse had begun.

As I warmed my hands over the flames, my phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

But for some reason, it felt familiar.

“Hello?”

[Ch-Choi Seong? Is this player Choi Seong?]

The voice was trembling.

But it was strangely familiar.

It didn’t take long for me to realize who it was.

I just didn’t show it.

After all, from his perspective, this was our first meeting.

“Yes, that’s me. Who is this?”

[Ah… I’m Park Seonghyeon, the head coach of Saeum High School. I heard that you decided to transfer to our school, so I wanted to contact you…]

Ah.

Right.

Park Seonghyeon.

The greatest agent on the face of the earth, who had supported me until the very end in my previous life.

Of course, this year he would be kicked out of Saeum High because of poor results.

“Yes. I’ve already completed all the transfer procedures.”

[By any chance… are you quitting baseball?]

“I’m going to keep playing.”

I answered simply.

He had probably called because he wasn’t sure what was going on.

At this point, I still wasn’t some nationally famous rising star.

My talent wouldn’t truly bloom until my third year.

Even now, I could probably get selected somewhere in the lower rounds of the draft.

But in my previous life, it was during my third year that I became nationally known.

[Really? Then… are you willing to join our school’s baseball team?]

“Of course.”

[But why…? Why would you leave a prestigious baseball school and come here…?]

For Park Seonghyeon to say something like that himself showed just how little Saeum High had.

The baseball team had only been founded three years ago.

Because they never produced results, they received practically no support from the school.

They barely had the most basic equipment.

And most of the players who gathered there were students who hadn’t stood out in middle school.

There had once been a saying passed around young baseball prospects through social media messages.

If even Saeum High won’t take you, just give up baseball and find something else to do.

One school in the area was considered a prestigious baseball powerhouse.

The other was basically where all the leftovers were dumped.

That was the current state of Saeum High.

“It’s simple. You already have a lot of things in place.”

Of course, I was talking about Park Seonghyeon himself.

In my previous life, during my third year of high school, Park Seonghyeon had watched me pitch.

Then he had packed up gifts and personally visited my house.

He kept nagging me, telling me not to get injured and insisting that I should refuse to play in games if they tried to overwork me.

He was also the only person who had gone directly to Jeil High’s coach and told him to stop abusing me.

A team built by someone like that…

Surely there wouldn’t be any overworking.

It should be clean and straightforward.

Of course, now that the team had fallen into my hands, winning a championship was only natural.

[We’re not exactly a team with that kind of foundation… If you think about your future as a player…]

“You’re the foundation.”

[What?]

“I said you’re the foundation. I’m busy right now, so I’ll hang up.”

Park Seonghyeon’s nagging.

Even before my regression, he had nagged me so much as my agent that my ears practically bled from hearing it.

For some reason, though, I didn’t feel like listening to it right now.

So I simply ended the call and stared blankly at the flames inside the drum.

Then a text message arrived.

— I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable, Choi Seong. If you tell me your uniform size, I’ll prepare one for you.

He was probably planning to buy it with his own money again.

Not that I had any intention of refusing.

After all, hyung…

I’m going to take care of you from now on too.

The entire transfer process was completed within August.

That was absolutely necessary if I wanted to participate in the four major tournaments and the weekend league that would begin with the new semester next March.

Whenever a student transferred schools, they were prohibited from playing official games for any high school team for six months.

Dad and Mom came all the way to the front door to see me off.

I waved at them.

For some reason, Mom was so moved that she actually sank down where she stood.

“Was I really that indifferent before?”

Don’t worry.

I’ll be much warmer toward my family from now on.

Classes for the latter half of my second year of high school began.

“Don’t skip evening self-study today. Study for once. Why are your grades always so terrible? Anyway, you’ll be third-years soon, so try harder. If you study now, your entire life can change.”

Our homeroom teacher’s speech was short and powerful.

I stared blankly out the window.

I had taken a seat at the very back of the classroom, yet for some strange reason, everyone seemed to be watching me.

The moment I turned away from the window and looked inside the classroom, they quickly faced forward again.

What was wrong with them?

“I’ll emphasize this one more time. Study. No matter what happens, study. You’re even in a good school district, so seriously, what is wrong with all of you?”

With those words, the homeroom teacher walked out.

The moment he left, the students stretched their arms.

Everyone looked like prisoners who had finally been released.

“Hey, let’s go to the school store.”

“Is it already open? I’m coming too.”

“I’m gonna go see my friend~”

Since the semester had just started, students naturally gathered in little groups with classmates they had known the previous year.

I alone remained separated from everyone.

Not that I was going to whine about having no friends at this age.

[Mission: Make a Bottom-Ranked Team Champions!]

— Transfer from Jeil High School to the high school ranked last in the weekend league. Then, during the following year, lead that team to at least one championship.

— Reward: Potential Trait ‘Championship Contractor’ / Failure results in death.

The mission window continued floating across my vision.

All I could do was answer inwardly.

I get it.

I picked up my phone and looked through some articles.

[Three Years Since Its Founding, Saeum High Remains Winless… “Someday, We’ll Get One Win.”]

[Miracles Never Come to Seoul Saeum High… But the Players Still Smile Together]

[If Pro Baseball Has Daejeon, High School Baseball Has Saeum High]

Because they were the worst team, there were actually quite a few articles covering them.

A legendary baseball team that had failed to win even once in three years.

They had become so famous for losing that articles were written about them and people turned them into internet memes.

“You want me to win a championship?”

The words escaped my mouth before I realized it.

Returning to the past was nice and all, but no matter how I looked at this team, they didn’t seem to have a single proper player.

The most successful players to ever come out of this school had either gone to university or barely managed to enter the professional league as developmental players.

A sigh naturally escaped me.

“Is there a student named Choi Seong here?”

While I was lost in thought, a deep voice called my name.

Autumn was approaching, yet the man was sweating nonstop.

He looked familiar.

He was much younger now, but there was no mistaking him.

Coach Park Seonghyeon.

“Yes. That’s me.”

The moment he heard my answer, his face brightened and he hurried over.

He had a bit of weight on him and was fairly large.

“Ah, there you are. I prepared your uniform. How about I show you around?”

At those words, every gaze in the classroom focused on me.

“That’s him. The guy who transferred here from Jeil High’s baseball team.”

“Why would he leave a prestigious school like that? Is he quitting baseball?”

“No idea. Maybe he caused some kind of trouble?”

“No, apparently there’s this rumor…”

They were whispering, but I could hear every word.

I walked toward the two girls who looked like the type who enjoyed spreading noisy rumors.

Then I spoke confidently.

“The reason I came here is simple. I like this school. It has nothing to do with those stupid rumors you’re talking about.”

The two girls flinched.

In my previous life, whenever scandals or rumors about me spread, I had always stayed silent.

I had believed that influential people naturally had rumors following them around and that the proper thing to do was simply endure them quietly.

Some old-fashioned Confucian nonsense I must have picked up somewhere.

But I was different now.

I would speak up.

And if someone said something false about me, I would demand that they correct it.

“So stop spreading weird rumors and keep things quiet. Got it?”

The two girls swallowed hard and simply nodded.

Once that was settled, I walked over to Coach Park Seonghyeon.

After watching what I had just done, he gave me an awkward smile.

“Well… haha… you’re more straightforward than you look.”

“Things happen when you’ve lived long enough.”

“First, I’ll show you around the baseball club. Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”

I didn’t care that he naturally spoke casually to me.

That was normal between a coach and a player.

As long as he didn’t cross the line beyond that, there was no problem.

When we stepped outside, a fairly large athletic field came into view.

The problem was that the area the baseball team could actually use looked extremely cramped.

“Over there is our baseball practice area. We’ll do our running here. Fortunately, the pitching machine facility was completed earlier this year. It’s a shame we don’t have individual lockers… but we do have a shared locker room, so it should be fine.”

Coach Park Seonghyeon seemed excited as he led me around and showed me everything.

I simply looked around without much expression.

We calmly walked a lap around the field as I listened to him explain various things.

Then someone called out to him from a distance.

“Hey, Coach Park!”

Coach Park Seonghyeon’s expression changed instantly as he hurried toward the man.

What appeared on his face was sadness.

No.

I knew immediately.

He hated how servile he had become.

I had spent more than ten years with the man.

I could tell even if he didn’t say a word.

“Yes, Coach Jo!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to use the track around the field? That belongs to our soccer team. My players keep complaining.”

At those words, I remembered.

Saeum High’s baseball team had only recently been created, but its soccer team had long been one of the traditional powerhouses in the region.

Was that why they could push the baseball team around like this?

“You know that if I say one word to the principal, this baseball team could get shut down, right?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll correct it. But the soccer team isn’t using the field for practice during that time. We’re only running…”

“Ah, if I tell you not to do it, then just listen. Seriously. A last-place team that hasn’t even managed a single win shouldn’t be acting like this. Honestly, what exactly have you shown since becoming coach here? Isn’t this the final year of your contract?”

This guy called Coach Jo was openly tearing into our Seonghyeon hyung…

There was no way I could tolerate that.

I was living my life over again anyway.

Might as well do whatever I wanted.

“Can’t we just share the field?”

“Who are you?”

“Just a student.”

Coach Jo snorted as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Coach Park Seonghyeon quickly tried to stop me from talking, but—

“I’ll get you one win.”

I continued before he could stop me.

“What will you do if I win? If we win our next game, we get to use the field fairly. No—our team gets the track for morning running. Deal?”

Coach Jo burst out laughing.

“You gathered a bunch of washed-up kids from who-knows-where, and you’re talking about getting a win? Sorry, kid, but do you even know your next practice game is against Jeil High?”

He sure knew the baseball team’s schedule well for someone who treated us like garbage.

I chuckled at the sight.

It seemed like he simply disliked this team.

Back in MLB, I had faced plenty of huge bastards throwing pointless racism my way.

Compared to that, this was nothing.

“I’ll do it.”

I looked straight at him.

“But if we get that one win, you back off completely. And stop talking about shutting down the baseball team.”

“Listen to the mouth on this brat. Want me to stamp my seal on it too? Anyway, Coach Park. Your player started this, so you’re responsible for this bet.”

“What?”

I turned toward Park Seonghyeon.

“Tell him we can do it. Hurry.”

It seemed that this Coach Jo guy still had no idea who I was.

Then again, nobody would be paying attention to me at this point.

At best, I was probably just someone being talked about among a few students.

A second-year boy who had suddenly abandoned the baseball program at a prestigious school and transferred somewhere strange.

In any case, when Coach Park Seonghyeon heard the certainty in my voice, he instinctively nodded.

Then he spoke.

“We’ll do it.”

He looked directly at Coach Jo.

“We accept the bet.”