Chapter 3. Why? Because I’m Here
Baseball is a team sport.
For the sake of the team, individual players sometimes have to make sacrifices.
And in that sense, I had absolutely no intention of sacrificing myself.
In other words, I wasn’t going to lower my head and obediently accept everything like I had in the past.
People always justified someone’s sacrifice by saying things like, “It’s an unfortunate reality.”
But there was no way I was putting up with that anymore.
In that sense, what I had done was actually quite reasonable.
“Hey. What the hell did you do?”
The moment I entered the makeshift baseball field, someone snapped at me.
The other guys merely watched the two of us anxiously, their expressions dark.
So this guy was the leader here.
His face looked familiar.
“Let’s introduce ourselves first.”
I answered shortly.
Even when you were angry, it was basic courtesy to say who you were before yelling at someone.
“Huh? Y-Yoon Jae-jun. I’m the captain here.”
“Okay. Got it. So what did I do?”
I asked back as if nothing was wrong.
What I had said to that Coach Jo guy wasn’t really a problem in the first place.
“You made a bet with the soccer team!”
“Yeah, I did. So what?”
Yoon Jae-jun’s face turned red.
Ah.
Now I remembered him.
Yoon Jae-jun.
He was a catcher who later joined the Busan Oceans and performed pretty well.
He never made it to the MLB, but he played an important role as the Oceans’ starting catcher for quite a while.
Good.
At least I had secured one guy capable of catching my pitches.
“Are you kidding me right now?! We’re already in danger of having the club shut down! If we lose that ridiculous bet you made, we’re finished! We won’t even get to make our pro debuts! Everything will end before we can do anything! Are you a spy from Jeil High or something? Did they pay you to get our club shut down?!”
What would happen if they kept getting pushed around by the soccer team like this?
Maybe Yoon Jae-jun would somehow still get drafted as a catcher.
But the rest of these guys?
Forget the draft.
They wouldn’t have a chance.
Individual ability was important for prospects, but something even more important was mentality.
Kids who constantly lived with the mindset of losers didn’t have some bright future waiting for them.
“Really? Then win.”
“What... what?”
“I said win. Win and take what belongs to us. How long are you planning to live while constantly worrying about what everyone else thinks?”
Yoon Jae-jun’s expression twisted.
But it seemed he had no idea how to respond.
He stood there blankly for a moment before abruptly turning his head away.
I grinned.
He had less fighting spirit than I expected.
If I were him, I would have punched someone in the face for spouting nonsense like this.
Apparently, Yoon Jae-jun really was the boss around here.
Judging by how everyone else lowered their heads after our confrontation, there was no doubt about it.
Why did every member of this baseball team have so little fighting spirit?
“How about we at least introduce ourselves to each other?”
Even if schools belonged to the same weekend league, there wasn’t much interaction between different high schools.
That was especially true for Saeum High.
The coach of Jeil High had openly told his players not to associate with losers.
I gave everyone a friendly smile.
Coach Park Seong-hyeon.
He had joined the Incheon Dolphins as an undrafted player and worked as a bullpen catcher before eventually being released.
There had once been a time when he dreamed of playing for the first team.
But that dream had been crushed against the enormous wall of professional baseball.
The first coaching offer he received after being released was to take charge of the newly established team at Saeum High.
There was one major problem.
Since becoming the coach, he had not won a single game.
Of course, there was a reason Saeum High repeatedly finished at the bottom among the relatively small number of high school baseball teams.
The school lacked a proper development system that could send players directly into professional baseball.
On top of that, the baseball club received very little financial support.
Even if he wanted to do something, there was almost nothing he could actually do.
“Damn... this is frustrating.”
He thought while secretly smoking behind the school building.
And in the middle of all that, Choi Seong had arrived.
One of Jeil High’s fairly promising prospects had suddenly transferred to Saeum High.
Park Seong-hyeon had quietly looked into the situation, but it didn’t seem like Choi Seong had transferred here because he had caused some kind of trouble.
For a moment, he wondered whether the boy had quit baseball.
But after checking, that wasn’t the case either.
Just when Park Seong-hyeon thought he might finally be able to do something with one of the most highly regarded pitchers in the country...
Choi Seong immediately caused trouble.
“Of all people, why did he have to say something like that to Coach Jo...?”
The principal had already been pressuring him, saying that the baseball club would be shut down if their performance did not improve.
A practice field originally reserved for individual soccer training had been reassigned for baseball use, and the soccer players’ parents had complained fiercely.
Just like in professional sports, the parents of successful students tended to have louder voices.
The baseball club was already on the verge of being shut down.
And if Coach Jo Byeong-cheol went to the principal and started running his mouth...
Park Seong-hyeon’s head throbbed.
He wondered how he was supposed to explain all of this.
But when he entered the baseball field...
“What... what is going on here...?”
Something looked different from usual.
Everyone was training systematically.
Normally, before he arrived, the players would either be staring at their phones or fooling around.
Park Seong-hyeon could only stare in confusion.
Had everyone suddenly decided to change their attitude at the start of the new semester?
“Yeah, that’s it. You’re doing great. Very good.”
Normally, Yoon Jae-jun was the one who said things like that.
As the catcher, he would usually encourage the pitchers while receiving their pitches.
But today, the voice was different.
It wasn’t Yoon Jae-jun, who was catching.
It was Choi Seong speaking to him.
“That was a good catch. Your receiving is pretty high-level, you know?”
“Thanks...”
Had he seen that correctly?
Park Seong-hyeon closed his eyes and opened them again.
No.
He wasn’t mistaken.
Choi Seong was basically directing the entire team.
“Am I dreaming...?”
Just as Park Seong-hyeon began to feel that something was seriously wrong, Choi Seong shouted at the players who were running laps.
“Everyone, gather up. Coach is here.”
The players immediately stopped running in perfect order and approached him.
“We were doing some voluntary training before you arrived, Coach.”
“Suddenly?”
Something was definitely different.
Choi Seong was smiling casually, but Park Seong-hyeon could see tension on the faces of the other players.
“Why?”
When he asked again, Yoon Jae-jun answered.
He looked nervous as well.
“Because we have to... We have to win this time.”
Win...
Honestly, defeating Jeil High was close to impossible.
Their best players were already practically guaranteed to be selected in the professional draft.
They were high school students in name, but they were practically professionals already.
Since Jeil High was located right nearby, the two schools often played practice games against each other.
But Saeum High had never once been a real opponent for them.
“We can win.”
Perhaps Park Seong-hyeon’s troubled expression was obvious, because Choi Seong smiled as he spoke.
“Why? Because I’m here.”
This crazy bastard.
Park Seong-hyeon almost said it out loud but barely managed to swallow the words.
No matter how he looked at him, Choi Seong wasn’t some blessing that had fallen into his lap.
He was genuinely insane.
He should have realized that the moment the kid threw away Jeil High and transferred here.
Park Seong-hyeon had heard that Choi Seong was a quiet pitcher.
Who would have guessed he was hiding this kind of personality inside?
“I’ll start tomorrow.”
He was the perfect example of an adolescent teenager.
A full-blown case of middle-school syndrome.
The mindset that he could control everything in the world however he wanted.
Park Seong-hyeon had gone through a similar phase himself, but at least he had never caused trouble for his entire team.
Especially at their age, kids could grow incredibly quickly.
In short, Choi Seong was overconfident.
That was how Park Seong-hyeon judged him.
“First, let me see you pitch.”
If they lost tomorrow anyway, he could just kneel and beg Coach Jo for forgiveness.
If that didn’t work, maybe he could cry.
Or perhaps slip him some money.
The team couldn’t be allowed to collapse right now.
Every one of these kids was dreaming of either joining the pros or getting into university.
The dreams of growing teenagers couldn’t be crushed over something like this.
“Yes, Coach.”
Choi Seong calmly walked up onto the mound.
Then he repeatedly scraped the dirt with the tip of his foot.
It was something pitchers did to adjust the mound to their liking.
—BANG!
At that moment, Park Seong-hyeon realized something was wrong.
He turned to right fielder Park Ja-geun beside him.
“Bring me the radar gun. Hurry.”
“Huh? Y-Yes!”
Everyone moved with perfect coordination, almost like they were in the military.
Was that kid always like that...?
No.
There was something more important right now.
“S-Seong, can you throw that again?”
Park Seong-hyeon’s hands began to tremble slightly.
The other students reacted similarly.
Even the pitches Choi Seong had thrown earlier during practice had looked like they were around the mid-130 km/h range.
At the high school level, that kind of speed was already considered decent.
But this pitch had been completely different.
The fact that Yoon Jae-jun had taken off his catcher’s mitt and was rubbing his stinging hand made that obvious.
“Sure. I’ll throw again.”
Choi Seong went into his windup and threw another pitch.
It was a standard overhand delivery.
The slightly unusual part was how simple and compact his pitching motion was.
He focused mainly on using the strength of his thighs and arm to throw the ball.
That reduced the risk of injury.
The problem was that normal pitchers usually couldn’t put enough power into the ball when throwing like that.
Choi Seong compensated for that weakness with his outstanding physique.
—148 km/h.
The moment that shocking number appeared on the radar gun, Park Seong-hyeon sucked in a breath.
He had suddenly thrown a pitch in the high 140s?
He definitely hadn’t been like this before.
Whenever Park Seong-hyeon had occasionally seen him during weekend league games, Choi Seong used several different mechanics to push his body to its absolute limit.
But this...
“H-How is this possible...? Is it because you kids grow so quickly...?”
“Maybe.”
Choi Seong answered calmly.
There was a big difference between watching a pitch with a radar gun and watching one without knowing the exact speed.
Aside from Yoon Jae-jun, the other players stared in shock after seeing the number.
“How the hell did you improve this much so quickly? And the high 140s? Does that even make sense?”
Park Seong-hyeon was so shocked that he practically interrogated Choi Seong.
Choi Seong merely gave him that same smile again.
“I can probably throw even faster. Why?”
Everyone fell silent.
Park Seong-hyeon calmly organized his thoughts.
If that kid started tomorrow...
They actually had a chance.
Of course, there was nothing they could do about the six-month suspension from official games caused by his transfer.
But if he showed enough impact during practice games, that would be enough.
If Saeum High caused an upset by defeating Jeil High, one of the strongest baseball schools in the country, even in a practice game...
Then what did they need to do now?
“Y-You idiots! Is this really the time to leisurely run laps?! We need to practice defense for tomorrow!”
Of course, the situation was still bleak.
Yoon Jae-jun was basically the only player on the team who could hit reasonably well.
But they had to start somewhere.
The milk had already been spilled.
And ultimately, the mistakes made by players under his command were the coach’s responsibility.
After making up his mind, Park Seong-hyeon personally picked up a bat.
He began thoroughly drilling each player, starting with basic fielding and catching.
Meanwhile, Coach Jo Byeong-cheol was meeting Jeil High’s coach, Gu Byeong-seok.
“Coach Gu. Have you been well?”
“Well, look who it is. Isn’t this the coach of our prestigious high school team?”
Coach Jo and Coach Gu knew each other well.
It had been about eight years since each of them had taken charge of their respective school teams.
Although they coached different sports, they respected each other for achieving results in their respective fields.
“It’s about our school’s baseball team. Apparently, they’re going to shut it down this time.”
Gu Byeong-seok’s ears immediately perked up.
“That baseball team? The garbage team that hasn’t won a single game until now? Have they ever even sent a decent player into the draft? At best, one of them gets signed as a developmental player.”
His evaluation was merciless.
For a high school baseball coach, the two most important things were sending players into the professional leagues and producing good team results.
To achieve those things, Gu Byeong-seok had developed methods that included overusing certain players while pushing selected prospects toward professional contracts.
One person sacrificed for the team.
For the sake of such a noble sacrifice, he had earned a rather infamous reputation in certain circles.
“Exactly. Do you know Choi Seong? He used to be with you before transferring to our school.”
“Ah, that rude bastard? I raised that little shit for two whole years, and then he stabbed me in the back. He’s not my boy anymore. He’s just a bastard.”
“That’s right. But he did something very interesting this time.”
Jo Byeong-cheol casually told Gu Byeong-seok about what had happened the previous day.
Coach Gu listened to the entire story with growing interest.
“So if we beat Saeum High tomorrow, their baseball club gets shut down? Man, I was already sick of constantly playing practice games against a team like that. The principal kept telling us to do it, so I had no choice.”
“Can you win tomorrow?”
“It won’t even be difficult. I should put in one of the pitchers I especially like tomorrow.”
“One of your favorites?”
“Yeah. There’s a kid like that. He’ll probably be the first overall pick in this year’s draft.”
The moment he heard those words, Jo Byeong-cheol’s grin stretched from ear to ear.
He had never liked the fact that the soccer club had to share the school’s sports budget with the baseball club in the first place.
Why should they share money with a team that finished dead last every single year when the soccer team consistently produced better results?
Starting tomorrow, Saeum High’s baseball club would be gone.
Jo Byeong-cheol was certain of it.
