Chapter 7 — We Just Have to Do It
The game ended in an overwhelming victory for Saeum High.
Since it wasn’t a weekend league game or any important tournament, Coach Gu Byeongseok didn’t care that much about the loss.
Still, a certain desire began creeping into his mind.
“I want to bring Choi Seong back…”
Coach Gu Byeongseok stared at Choi Seong, who was smiling after the game ended.
His stomach twisted when he thought about why the kid had suddenly transferred to that school.
If properly developed, he could become famous nationwide.
No, there was even a chance that an MLB team might offer a huge amount of money to sign him someday.
His pitching was completely different from what it had been recently.
A changed pitching form.
An even faster fastball.
Gu Byeongseok could recognize it with the instincts of a coach who had managed to keep his position for eight years.
“But that bastard really has no manners…”
Today, Choi Seong was being tossed into the air by his teammates.
Even Coach Park Seonghyeon, who usually gave the players a look whenever they got too excited and made them restrain themselves, had joined in.
Choi Seong had been surrounded by players near the dugout.
Then, at some point, his gaze shifted toward Coach Gu Byeongseok.
One corner of Choi Seong’s lips twisted upward.
That was unmistakably a mocking smile.
Gu Byeongseok’s hand trembled.
But he managed to endure it.
After all, Jeil High had unquestionably suffered a crushing defeat today.
And it had all happened because of one person.
Choi Seong.
“He really is a disrespectful bastard…”
Still, there was nothing Gu Byeongseok could do.
He couldn’t ruin Choi Seong through the draft.
And what else was he supposed to do?
Order someone to intentionally hit him during a game?
If something went wrong, even his own coaching position—his livelihood—could be put in danger.
So all he could do was wait until they met again.
And then crush him so thoroughly that Choi Seong would never dare act like that again.
Kim Beomjin, who was sitting near Gu Byeongseok, remained in the dugout with a towel covering his head, lost in thought.
The players around him tried to comfort him one after another.
“Your pitching was amazing today. Sorry we couldn’t score any runs.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. It was only a practice game.”
He heard plenty of words like that, but Kim Beomjin’s face remained blank.
He was still in shock.
Ever since his first year of high school, he had believed there was no one who could rival him.
And yet—
Two home runs.
Both of them had come off his first pitch.
“How the hell did he hit them like that…”
There was something else that bothered him even more.
Choi Seong kept glancing toward their dugout with a smile on his face.
It had been a clear defeat.
And the winner had the right to enjoy the aftertaste of victory.
Even if Choi Seong was mocking them, Kim Beomjin had no choice but to accept it.
“I’ll never lose to him again…”
Originally, Choi Seong hadn’t even been someone he considered a rival.
Kim Beomjin had thought he wasn’t even on the same level.
That only made losing to him feel even more hollow.
As a pitcher himself, Kim Beomjin could tell that the quality of Choi Seong’s pitches had completely changed.
And those should have been difficult pitches to hit.
Yet Choi Seong had smashed them with ridiculous ease.
Just thinking about it made his blood boil.
Kim Beomjin felt so frustrated that his chest seemed ready to burst.
My first game of this life was over.
Nine scoreless innings.
Ten strikeouts.
Four hits allowed.
Two walks.
Giving up hits during a game was perfectly normal.
This time, I had focused mostly on avoiding walks.
My body felt much lighter than before.
If I pitched according to my old routine without adjusting, there was a good chance I would keep missing the strike zone.
Fortunately, it seemed like I had gained a decent amount of control over it.
“Seong-ah, come with me to the principal’s office.”
Unfortunately, I had absolutely no control over Park Seonghyeon suddenly barging into my classroom.
Homeroom period had just ended, and I had been preparing to sleep through class when he suddenly called me out.
I had already gotten far more attention from the students than I expected after beating Jeil High yesterday.
Now even more of them were staring at me.
I had spent enough time receiving attention from the public to know exactly what those gazes meant.
Curiosity.
“Why, Coach?”
I had been planning to put on the neck pillow I recently bought from the stationery store in front of the school.
What a shame.
Well, if I was going somewhere, I should at least hear the reason first.
“The principal told me to bring the MVP.”
“…All right, Coach.”
I wondered if the kids staring at me with curious eyes had heard that.
I didn’t want to deal with annoying rumors or gossip.
I had already experienced enough of that in my previous life.
The principal’s office was at the very end of the hallway on the first floor.
No matter what you had done, going into the room where the boss of the organization sat was rarely a pleasant experience.
The principal was waiting for me with a kindly smile.
“I heard you defeated Jeil High for the first time during the recent practice game?”
I simply nodded.
Was defeating one high school baseball team really that big of a deal?
If winning a single game was enough for the principal himself to summon me…
Then this team’s situation must have been even worse than I thought.
“Thank you for accomplishing something so difficult. I also heard that you pitched nine scoreless innings.”
When I didn’t say much, the principal calmly continued.
From his tone, I could tell that he wasn’t particularly pleased.
Then again, in my previous life, Saeum High’s baseball team had been shut down at the end of this very year.
“It wasn’t anything difficult.”
At my answer, the principal merely chuckled.
“Choi Seong, you only recently transferred here, so you might not know this, but there is a high possibility that the baseball team will be disbanded at the end of this year.”
I remained calm.
But beside me, Park Seonghyeon’s eyes widened.
He had probably suspected it indirectly.
Still, actually hearing it stated outright must have shocked him.
“I didn’t call you here for anything complicated. You worked hard, Choi Seong, so I wanted to give you some words of encouragement. The parents connected to the soccer team have been continuously pushing for the baseball club to be shut down.”
Park Seonghyeon clenched his fists.
He was probably furious.
And angry at the thought of losing the place he had built for himself.
At this point, I had no choice but to make a decision.
My own life was tied to this team anyway.
That was why I could say what I said next.
“Please give us one more year.”
“One year?”
The principal stared calmly at me.
He was probably about to say no.
In that case, I just had to persuade him.
I had already thought of a way.
In my previous life, after the baseball club was suddenly disbanded, there had been a huge amount of criticism from the media.
There were also problems regarding what would happen to the remaining baseball players.
The principal had been the one who suffered from all of it.
“If you suddenly shut the team down like this, you’re going to get cursed from every direction. I can guarantee that. Do you really think the media will stay quiet? People are already making a huge fuss because the number of high school baseball teams in Korea keeps decreasing.”
The principal let out a small sigh.
From what I could tell, he was someone who cared greatly about his reputation both inside and outside the school.
I calmly continued.
“How about this? It looks like the team is in danger of being shut down because of pressure from the soccer club. But if we win a championship, wouldn’t all those voices disappear?”
At that, the principal nodded.
Regardless of everything else, if the baseball team couldn’t show some kind of result now, it was practically guaranteed to disappear.
“I suppose the controversy would die down…”
“That’s why I’m asking. One year. Give this team just one more year.”
A little color returned to the principal’s face.
It seemed he had started thinking that this could give him a way to disband the club without any risk.
“I’ll make this team champions. It doesn’t matter which tournament.”
Then I finally heard the principal give his permission.
Coach Park Seonghyeon stopped trembling with his fists clenched.
“Hmm… Fine. I’ll postpone the disbandment for one year. However, if you fail to win either one of the four major high school tournaments or the weekend league, we will immediately begin the process of shutting down the baseball team.”
“Understood.”
Coach Park Seonghyeon answered in my place.
A one-year postponement.
Still, there was no strength in his voice.
He probably thought it was impossible.
Baseball was a team sport.
Even if one player completely dominated a game, nothing could be done if the rest of the team couldn’t support him.
With that conversation finished, Coach Park Seonghyeon and I left the office.
“Haa…”
Coach Park Seonghyeon let out a long sigh.
He looked extremely troubled.
“Are you worried?”
“No… Still, thank you, Seong-ah. Because of you, we can keep going for another year… Haa…”
“Then why are you acting like that?”
I asked innocently.
Coach Park Seonghyeon gave me an awkward smile.
“Even so, winning a championship is…”
“You think we can’t do it? We just have to do it.”
At my words, Coach Park Seonghyeon’s expression returned to normal.
Of course, it wasn’t because he suddenly believed in me.
He simply didn’t want to show weakness in front of me.
Without either of us saying anything, we naturally began walking toward the practice field.
High school baseball had a weekend league system and four major cup tournaments.
The four major tournaments were the Bonghwangdaegi, the Cheongryonggi, the Presidential Cup, and the Wangjungwangjeon.
Teams that finished first in the weekend league earned qualification for the Cheongryonggi, Presidential Cup, and Wangjungwangjeon.
Every high school was allowed to participate in the Bonghwangdaegi.
And Saeum High was always eliminated in the first round.
These major tournaments usually finished shortly before the draft was held in September.
The second-half weekend league taking place right now was something the players participated in with relatively little pressure.
Since most official competitions usually ended by July, teams tended to spend the latter half of the year focusing on training.
There were six months left until I could return to official games.
I steadily built up my body while making sure I didn’t get injured.
“Haa…”
The players’ sighs grew heavier.
Coach Park Seonghyeon had honestly told everyone about the situation the team was facing.
The third-year students weren’t affected too badly because most of them had already gone off to find their own paths.
But the first- and second-year students were different.
Even if their eyes suddenly filled with determination, that didn’t mean their abilities could immediately improve.
“Gather around.”
November passed.
I called all the players together.
I still hadn’t played a single official game with them.
Even so, both the first- and second-year players had chosen me as captain.
Thanks to that, I quickly pushed Yoon Jaejun aside and settled into the center of the team.
In roughly four months, the weekend league that would decide this team’s fate would begin.
“Today, the batters will focus on fielding drills. Pitchers, you’re doing weights.”
Since I was now a soon-to-be third-year student, everyone listened to me pretty well.
Coach Park Seonghyeon and I took turns helping the players.
“Your release point is too far forward right now. Because of that, you’re not properly transferring the strength from your thighs when you throw. Try adjusting your pitching form a little.”
I corrected the pitchers’ forms one by one.
Once the principal played the disbandment card, everyone on the team naturally began banding together.
Still, there were plenty of areas where they were lacking.
“Seoha, if you throw sidearm, you should be able to get a little more movement on the ball.”
He was a better prospect than I had expected.
But maybe because he had developed too freely without proper instruction, there were many things that needed fixing.
The same applied to the other pitchers.
I carefully tore apart and rebuilt their pitching forms one by one.
It was almost surprising that none of them complained.
“If I do this, will I be able to throw over 140 kilometers per hour like you?”
“If you combine this with serious lower-body training, you should be able to.”
Park Seoha’s expression immediately brightened.
He could currently only throw around 130 kilometers per hour, so the idea that he could improve seemed to make him happy.
If I assumed that I would be the team’s number-one starter, then our number-two starter still needed to be a proper pitcher.
That person was Park Seoha.
“All right. Keep working on that. Jaejun, come over here.”
I called Yoon Jaejun, the catcher who guarded home plate for our team.
Next, it was time to do some light catch with him.
The pitch I would work on today was my fastball.
I had also dumped all the stat points I earned from beating Jeil High into my fastball.
Choi Seong
Pitcher Status
Stamina: 80/200
(1 stamina is consumed per pitch / Can be increased through running, weight training, etc.)
Fastball: 60/100
(Limit Break available after exceeding 100)
Slider: 33/100
(Limit Break available after exceeding 100)
Additional breaking pitches can be acquired.
A new pitch can be learned after throwing 100 or more pitches with the same form.
Injury Risk While Pitching: 0.7%
Batter Status
Power: 45/100
(Limit Break available after exceeding 100)
Contact: 40/100
(Limit Break available after exceeding 100)
Speed: 12/100
(Limit Break available after exceeding 100)
Potential
(Activates after certain conditions are fulfilled in specific situations.)
My stats had risen sharply compared to before.
My average fastball velocity had already reached the upper 140-kilometer-per-hour range.
It wasn’t a bad rate of growth.
I continued training the batters as well, teaching them the differences between a downward swing and an uppercut swing.
In my previous life, I had played baseball with my own growth as the priority.
This time was different.
I planned to share the burden.
I wanted to play baseball where everyone could win together.
“Yoon Jaejun, raise your launch angle by about seven degrees when you hit the ball.”
After throwing around a hundred practice pitches, I began coaching Yoon Jaejun, Park Byeonggyu, and the other main batters on the team.
What I demanded from them was simple.
Hit home runs.
No matter what.
These guys had enough strength to send the ball over the fence.
The other players could handle getting ordinary hits.
A clutch hitter needed to swing with enough power to fit the role.
.
.
.
After spending the long winter training, I could confidently say that I had at least built a team capable of winning one game in the weekend league.
March arrived quickly.
Along with the opening ceremony for the new school year, we finally received the weekend league schedule.
Our first opponent—
Bundang Yatap High.
If I remembered correctly…
They had a pretty interesting batting lineup.
