Chapter 46

Chapter 46, 31 Innings, 1 Run Allowed

Kim Byeong-hee, who had made such a flashy introduction not long ago, followed me around like a puppy until the game started.

When I casually drank some water, he drank water beside me.

When I warmed up by pitching, he stood right next to me and threw balls with the other fielders.

Even though it was not his day to pitch...

I asked him why he was doing this, but he would not give me a clear answer, so I had no idea.

“That senior looks like a huge fan of yours. Why don’t you give him an autograph?”

“Jae-jun, there are no fans among pro players. We’re all competing against each other.”

“R, really? But I’m your fan...”

“What? Want to exchange uniforms?”

Yoon Jae-jun laughed it off and started working with me again, but it still bothered me.

Even if he copied me, it was not like his skills would suddenly improve dramatically...

That was just the reality of it.

I calmly threw the ball.

Just calmly.

“Your pitches are looking great today, sir! This should be an easy one!”

Kim Byeong-hee’s voice came from beside me.

At the same time, Yoon Jae-jun’s face stiffened.

I did not like people jinxing things in baseball.

Still, I did not show it.

He could learn why getting ahead of yourself was bad in baseball.

Maybe he simply did not know yet.

The final game against the Seoul Magicians.

My fourth start.

Three wins, zero losses, 0.00 ERA.

A great record of 23 consecutive scoreless innings.

Even if you only looked at his pitching stats, Choi Seong was already a god.

Kim Byeong-hee wanted to learn everything from him.

His batting stats were already beyond discussion, and even the quality of his pitches belonged in another world.

He would probably sweep the MVP, Golden Glove, and every other award this year.

“I’m jealous, sir. Seriously.”

Kim Byeong-hee sighed as he thought about his own ability.

He had never been good enough to enter Sangmu, the military baseball team, so he had served regular active duty instead.

His body was too healthy for public service duty as well.

Still, he had never given up baseball, and after being traded, he had gained another chance.

It seemed the Gwangju Jaguars had originally intended to use him as a sidearm long reliever.

But their judgment was wrong.

“I’m an elite starting pitcher. I lose interest when I come in with runners on base or enter halfway through a game.”

He muttered to himself while watching the game.

From the first inning, Choi Seong completely shut down the runners.

His pitching was nearly perfect.

Every batter already looked lost against his stuff.

It was almost beautiful.

“Strikeout!”

Two strikeouts and one hit.

But that was all.

The Magicians hitters, who had been flying around in Games 1 and 2, could do absolutely nothing against Choi Seong.

Not one of them could score against him.

Without realizing it, Kim Byeong-hee raised his voice.

“Nice! Fighting, sir!”

Kim Byeong-hee handed Choi Seong water and a towel with a wide grin.

“Thank you, senior.”

Choi Seong casually accepted the towel from him.

He definitely had the natural attitude of a superstar.

His feelings really seemed to stop at, Thanks for giving me a towel.

Choi Seong calmly looked at his own arm.

Why?

Was he proud that his body had endured this far?

“Baseball is hard.”

Choi Seong casually said it to Yoon Jae-jun as if it were nothing.

Yoon Jae-jun quietly nodded.

Why was it hard?

He was the best player in the league and was currently pitching a perfect game.

The answer became clear when you looked at the other team’s at-bats.

The Seoul Magicians were in last place, but every season they somehow produced at least one decent starting pitcher.

Today was a duel between Choi Seong and that ace.

Their starter would probably use the posting system to move to America after this season.

A clean three-up, three-down inning.

Choi Seong, who was batting fourth today, calmly walked back onto the mound.

“You can do it, sir...”

Kim Byeong-hee quietly whispered beside him.

Choi Seong said nothing.

He endured through the second inning, extending his scoreless streak to 25 consecutive innings.

The problem came in the third.

1-0.

Shockingly, Choi Seong gave up consecutive hits and finally allowed one run.

Disappointed groans came from everywhere.

Kim Byeong-hee’s heart strangely started pounding.

This happened as soon as I arrived.

Still, Choi Seong continued pitching calmly.

His expression did not change at all.

Was that the mindset of a true professional?

Even after his great record had been broken, he did not complain even once.

“He isn’t shaken at all...”

While Kim Byeong-hee admired him, the players on the bench answered for him.

“Even after giving up one run, his ERA is still below 1.00. He’s probably just thinking, ‘Whatever.’”

“Choi Seong has always been a complete poker face on the mound.”

“Is that really a rookie? Isn’t he some hundred-year-old serpent spirit?”

“Why would a serpent spirit play baseball?”

“I mean, maybe it needs something like this before it can ascend to heaven?”

Kim Byeong-hee did not join their lame jokes.

He was calmly calculating the ERA.

Twenty-five innings, one earned run...

0.36.

An ERA he had never possessed in his entire life.

After allowing the run, Choi Seong calmly returned to the dugout.

Yoon Jae-jun worriedly asked him from the side.

“Are you okay mentally?”

“What? I’m completely fine.”

Yoon Jae-jun visibly relaxed at the answer.

The problem was that every player asked him the same thing at least once.

Was he having a hard time?

That last hit was just luck, things like that.

Choi Seong merely drank his ice water without reacting.

Then came the seventh inning.

Against the opposing ace who had stubbornly maintained a shutout, Choi Seong hit a solo home run.

It was already his ninth home run.

If he reached ten, it would be another record.

He would become the first pitcher in Korean baseball history to hit ten home runs in one season.

In Major League Baseball, a Japanese player had once achieved that incredible record.

Now, in Korea, Choi Seong was challenging that territory.

He was overwhelming.

He ranked second in home runs behind Yoon Jae-jun, but how could anyone look at such a hitter and imagine he was actually a pitcher?

Of course, Yoon Jae-jun was also incredible for leading the league in home runs as a rookie catcher.

But the public spotlight remained entirely on Choi Seong, who was creating unprecedented records as a pitcher.

If there was one player shining brighter than anyone else right now...

It was Choi Seong.

The score was 1-1.

A tie.

Both starters pitched through the eighth inning before leaving the mound.

The score remained frozen at 1-1.

Just when everyone wondered if this game would also go into extra innings, the Busan Oceans received their opportunity in the top of the ninth.

Kwon Geon-woo got a hit and then stole a base.

The second and third hitters were both retired.

But we had Choi Seong.

Four at-bats, one hit.

The moment the man who had hit the game’s only home run stepped up, the bench became noisy.

Everyone was expecting something.

They wanted to see Choi Seong hit the ball.

More than that, they wanted to see him create the comeback.

“They’ll probably challenge him aggressively.”

“Daniel Sanchez and Yugam are both in amazing condition today.”

“Seriously, those two are terrifying when they’re hot.”

Everyone stared at Choi Seong in admiration.

But their prediction could not have been more wrong.

The pitcher could not control his pitches.

Ball.

Another ball.

As the balls continued piling up, boos began pouring from the stands.

They were not boos from Magicians fans.

They came from Busan Oceans fans waiting for Choi Seong to deliver the decisive hit.

“If you’re gonna pitch like that, cut the damn thing off!”

“You seriously suck!”

“Just throw it into the strike zone and let him hit it!”

“Hey!”

The crowd continued pouring out every kind of insult and complaint.

Kim Byeong-hee shrank back slightly.

If somebody messes with Choi Seong, things are going to get terrifying.

The Busan Oceans were already famous for having some of the most passionate fans in the country.

The third pitch came far inside.

Most hitters might have flinched.

Choi Seong casually swung.

Crack!

The pitch had nearly hugged his body, but Choi Seong reacted instantly and hit it.

“He really is the definition of a bad-ball hitter.”

“How does anyone hit that?”

Every player rose from the bench.

It was a single in front of the center fielder.

The speedy Kwon Geon-woo easily reached home plate.

The score became 2-1.

As everyone erupted in cheers, Kim Byeong-hee made a decision.

Choi Seong was not a rookie.

To him, Choi Seong was simply a god.

I calmly untied my shoelaces.

My feet had become pretty uncomfortable from pitching and hitting in the same game.

I gulped down water and wiped away my sweat with a towel.

Twenty-five consecutive scoreless innings.

Then, almost like magic, I gave up consecutive hits and allowed one run.

It would be a lie to say I was not disappointed.

Still, I reminded myself that I would stop worrying about things that had already happened.

Eight innings, one run.

Now my season total was 31 innings and one run allowed.

During the interview, the announcer asked me how I felt.

“What do you think about it?”

“About what? It’s just part of the game.”

“Your record was broken today...”

“Records exist to be broken.”

I decided not to give it any more meaning.

The team won.

I delivered the winning hit.

That was enough.

If I had to be even more perfect than that...

I would basically be some AI robot.

I calmly packed my equipment.

Still, the senior standing next to me kept distracting me.

It was not exactly annoying.

His eyes were simply shining far too brightly.

He reminded me of myself during my first life.

“You were amazing today, sir! Right?”

The ridiculous speech pattern came from someone much older than me.

He tightly gripped his glove.

Then he asked me.

“I want to become better at baseball, sir. I seriously don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

His ERA had been pretty high.

He gave up a lot of hittable pitches too.

His arrival on this team was probably close to Park Seung-ah simply dumping him somewhere.

He had been a player they needed to move after receiving someone decent in return.

“What do you think you need to do to become better?”

As I asked him that, memories of the past suddenly returned.

The days when I had rushed toward the coaches and the team ace, loudly declaring that I wanted to pitch better...

During my first life, the Daejeon Irons had been overwhelmingly last.

Things seemed slightly different this time.

Back then, because we were losing so badly, everyone always looked miserable.

No one wanted to teach me anything.

That damned coach had eventually ordered me to do something.

Throw one hundred pitches every day.

Always be ready to enter from the bullpen.

Then he repeatedly made me pitch on consecutive days.

The team naturally started climbing afterward and eventually won the championship.

I pitched both as a starter and a reliever.

The team won a championship, but that workload became the biggest reason my career ended early.

Looking back, every single part of it had been insane.

Why did Senior Kim Byeong-hee remind me so much of the person I had been then?

“I’ll teach you.”

I said it calmly.

“Really, sir?!”

Kim Byeong-hee’s eyes widened.

Until now, despite all the talk about Choi Seong School or whatever people called it, Choi Seong had never directly taught anyone.

The reason was always the same.

There were simply too many people who wanted to learn from him.

“Yes. Even if I lose some of my own time, I’ll teach you.”

I simply wanted to save this poor soul.

People starving for guidance were always taken advantage of by someone.

I wanted to make sure he would not be used.

And if our fifth starter became even slightly more reliable, we would move closer to the championship.

“But starting tomorrow, your life is going to become hell. Understand?”

“Yes, sir! Victory! No, loyalty!”

If he was this desperate, then someone needed to stand on his side.

I gave him a small smile.

“Go home for today. Hell begins tomorrow.”

There was one thing that mattered most.

Increasing his stamina as a starting pitcher.

At this rate, he might become someone who barely survived three or four innings.

Maybe I should start with ten laps around the field every day.

Thinking about passing something on to someone else made the day more enjoyable than expected.