episode_0330

“I can lend you around 500, can you do me a favor? Can we meet today? I’m in Seoul right now. Give me a call. Damn, it feels so sketchy after hearing what Losbi said.”

What kind of favor could it be if it’s not even lending 500,000 won? A corner of my heart felt uneasy. If they’re mafia, should I think of them as gangsters in Korea?

“Hmm, it feels like something might click… Wait. Didn’t Junhu mention that even though he met his girlfriend, it was at Kang Hocheol’s bar?”

Something seemed to click. Gangsters giving 500,000 won and asking for a favor, something interesting as Losbi mentioned. Ugh, my head hurts.

“Huh?”

At that moment, I remembered a coach coming during spring camp to teach clean baseball techniques… No way, right?

“Ugh….”

Just then, I sensed Junhu might groan and start to wake up.

“Junhu, Junhu!”

“Ugh, huh?”

“Hey, try to get up a bit.”

“Why am I lying here?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“I remember coming to the parking lot.”

“For now, try sitting in the car. Lie down.”

I quickly helped Junhu up, laid him on the front seat, and lowered the chair for him.

“Sigh….”

“Hey. How’s your girlfriend?”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“After you fainted, Kang Hocheol texted you. Read this.”

“I fainted? Why?”

“Damn it, take care of yourself and take some medicine. Can a pitcher be so weak?”

“I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, is that why I fainted suddenly? But why does my jaw hurt so much?”

“You fell from your jaw?”

“Can someone fall starting from their jaw…? Ugh, anyway, give me my phone.”

In response to Junhu’s words, I handed him his phone and started the engine.

“Tell him to come to a nearby bar for now.”

“Huh? Wait, I haven’t read it yet.”

“Read it quickly, damn it.”

“Oh, my head hurts. Text from Losbi? Hyung?”

“Were you close enough for him to call you ‘hyung’?”

“Yeah, actually, Jihye noona introduced me to Hyung.”

“They met at a club.”

Introduced to a girlfriend… things were starting to make sense. No matter how much I thought about it, this situation was strange. A gangster approaching a baseball player to introduce him to a girlfriend? I’ve been to that club many times myself, but I’ve never been approached with such a proposal.

But if the purpose was match-fixing, it made sense. It didn’t make sense for a batter to fix matches. Making an error was something that could happen when a hit came their way, and the direction of the hit was something the fielder couldn’t control. Moreover, even if a batter hit into four double plays, they could still win in baseball. Baseball was a pitcher’s game.

Even if a batter wanted to fix matches, there was nothing they could change with their own strength. Looking at the players who had been involved in match-fixing in the KBA league so far, they were all pitchers.

“But we booked a room and were having fun, and Hyung introduced me to his acquaintance as his younger brother. We got along well while drinking together and chatting. So I confessed first. How about it? Do we suit each other well?”

Seeing him ask if he and his girlfriend matched well even in this situation, I sighed.

“How much did you get from that girl?”

“Got from her? I borrowed it. It adds up to about 3,500.”

“3,500? That’s almost your annual salary.”

“About that.”

“And still asking for another 500?”

“No, but Hyung was talking, why about my girlfriend?”

Junhu also seemed uncomfortable with the girlfriend talk, trying to change the subject.

“I’ve been thinking, isn’t it a bit strange?”

“You’ve been thinking?”

“…Yeah?”

Glancing at Junhu, who was saying odd things, he awkwardly chuckled, his body twitching slightly.

“No, no. What’s so strange?”

“Hey, do you know that Kang Ho-cheol guy is a thug?”

“What? He was a thug? Hmm… I did sense something fishy, but I heard he was a senior who played baseball…”

“Your girlfriend said she was introduced by that guy.”

“Yeah.”

“Has your girlfriend ever seen something like your bank account?”

“…She showed it off occasionally.”

It seemed plausible. At the young age of twenty, only sports players like Jun-ho could earn the amount of money he had. Moreover, considering Jun-ho’s personality, it was something to boast about.

“So, she knew about your financial situation to some extent?”

“…Maybe?”

“But he lent you 3,500? Well, did you even visit their father’s company?”

“I didn’t go there personally… Hyung, but don’t speak ill of Ji-hye noona.”

“This guy still hasn’t come to his senses.”

“What do you mean, not come to his senses?”

“Hey, if Kang Ho-cheol says he’ll give you 500, is 500,000 won pocket change? Will he ask you to run errands and then give you the money? And why would he give it to you instead of lending it to your girlfriend, whom he introduced? Think about it.”

“…Yeah?”

“Damn it, think a bit.”

“…I guess so.”

“Do you find it odd too? Huh? Do you find it odd?”

At my urging, Jun-ho shook his head with a troubled expression.

“Hey, tell that guy to come over.”

“…Where to?”

“The place we used to hang out often.”

“Oh. There?”

The pub where Jun-ho and I used to frequent was set up like a private room, and since we were regulars, explaining the situation might get us some special treatment from the owner.

“Let’s hear him out there first. What was the match-fixing repertoire? Oh, damn. I can’t remember. I must have slept during the lecture.”

“Well, there was talk of a leadoff walk, right? And over/under? I’m not sure, but how many points did they score in the first inning. Oh well, there were quite a few.”

I might have dozed off myself, but it seemed this guy wasn’t remembering things correctly either. As a batter, I didn’t pay much attention to these matters, but seeing him, who was directly involved, not recalling properly made me want to smack some sense into him.

“Hey, what did you hear during the lecture?”

“Well, who actually paid attention to those lectures? I don’t even remember attending classes at school.”

“…True.”

In fact, neither Jun-ho nor I had memories of studying at school, so to some extent, I understood the situation, but it was a bit frustrating given the circumstances.

“Let’s meet and talk. Hey, I’ll give you a recorder, take it with you.”

“A recorder? Where is it?”

“There’s one shaped like a fountain pen in the glove box, take it.”

“Glove box? Geez, why are there so many condoms here?”

“……”

“Oh, found it. It’s filled with fountain pens? Why did you have this? Do people usually use these a lot? One, two, three. What’s this? There are six of them.”

“I don’t know about that. See the button there? Press it to start recording, leave it on when you go in.”

“Okay, I’ll try pressing it. Is this working?”

“Yeah, that’s how you use it.”

“Did you send a text asking him to come?”

“I’ll send it now.”

“Are you starting to have doubts too?”

“Sigh… But Ji-hye noona wouldn’t do such a thing. She’s really kind.”

“Stop being an idiot, please listen.”

“What?”

“…Call her too.”

“I won’t curse, okay?”

“What?”

“…I’ll call her too.”

This guy only listens when you’re serious, huh? While planning with Jun-ho, we had unknowingly arrived at a pub in Sincheon where we often went.

“Oh, Maeng-ho player, you’re here?”

“I’ll rent two rooms here. It’s urgent.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll give you 1 million won.”

I quickly transferred 1 million won to the account. I explained the situation briefly, omitting detailed explanations to avoid unnecessary complications or misunderstandings with the boss.

“So, one room will be used by Maengho, and please bring food to the side where Junhu is, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Please take care of it.”

“Well, whatever it is, I hope it goes well. And fighting for this season too! I almost fainted when we won last year.”

“Yes, please cheer for us a lot this season too.”

Fortunately, perhaps because the boss was an AT fan, he didn’t inquire further into the details. Should I call it trust in me?

“Hey, go into this room and leave your phone on for a call. I’ll be listening from the next room.”

“…Why do you carry two phones everywhere?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Got it. Ugh… This doesn’t seem real… No, could it be? Ah, damn it. Jihye noona, it can’t be true, right?”

“For now, get yourself together.”

“…Okay.”

Leaving Junhu behind, I entered the adjacent room.

“Gosh, it can’t be true. But if it isn’t, that would be better.”

Although I had spoken firmly to Junhu, I also wished it wasn’t true. After all, he was someone whose face I recognized and who used to give me free drinks. Besides, it was I who introduced Junhu to that club in the first place. If he approached us with such intentions, it would be a betrayal.

“Damn, is it really betrayal? Well, from the beginning, I didn’t like his informal tone or attitude. Damn, ugh… Did he look down on me?”

The more I thought about it, the more betrayed and angry I felt. This bastard…

“Let’s just hold back for now. Oh, and I need to contact Soyoung…”

In times like these, the reliable person was undoubtedly Soyoung. However, since I was currently on the phone with Junhu, making a call was impossible. I left a brief message about the current situation on KakaoTalk and waited for Kang Hocheol, that guy, to arrive.

“Are you here? Joon! Long time no see.”

And as time passed, Kang Hocheol’s strong Daegu dialect rang out.

“I’ve arrived.”

“Hehe, looking forward to it.”

“What are you looking forward to?”

“It’s fun, isn’t it? Even during my playing days, there were trashy guys like this pulling off stunts.”

“That’s fun for you?”

“…Well, it wasn’t particularly fun back then. When I think about the hardships we endured… I wanted to tear them apart at the time.”

Even though he said it was fun, it seemed that Rosbi was getting annoyed. He was just being sarcastic as usual. Despite this and that, Rosbi was also a person who loved baseball. How much resentment must have built up for him to say such things?

“These trash bastards, they should have been torn apart back then.”

Anger could be felt in Rosbi’s voice. Or perhaps, was the emotion he felt back then being shared with me?

-“So, Huiya can give around 500. It’s our signatures, can’t you even do that much? But I have one request.”

At that moment, Kang Hocheol’s voice came through the phone. I finished the conversation with Rosbi and focused on the incoming call.

-“…What’s the request?”

-“It’s nothing big. Just a simple request. Really simple.”

-“I’ll listen for now.”

-“You’re starting as a pitcher this week, right?”

-“How do you know that?”

-“I’m also from the baseball club, I know everything. The rotation is obvious, kid.”

-“That’s true.”

-“When you pitch, just throw one walk. It’s just a practice game, so nobody cares, kid?”

…This damn guy.

-“What’s this? Are you asking me to manipulate the game?”

“Hey, this is match-fixing. After all, exhibition matches have nothing to do with the regular league, right? Just think of it as adjusting the scores. It’s 500 for a walk. Is that too hard?”

“Sigh….”

There was no need to hear any more. This was a proposal for match-fixing.

“By any chance, do you run a betting site too?”

“Betting site? You have one too?”

“If it’s a betting site anyway, can I join in too?”

“Ha! You make sense. Well then, it’s good for us too. It’s all about making a living. If we earn some money from that, we can get Wisdom Father’s factory running again and you can pay back the money borrowed from Wisdom.”

“Where is this site?”

That was the extent of the conversation so far. If these guys were really fixing matches, they needed to be rooted out from the beginning.

“Look, I’ll send it to you. Do you use Telegram?”

“No.”

“Hmm, then give me your phone. I’ll log in for you.”

“Okay.”

After a few minutes that felt like tens of seconds, the sound of Jun-hu tapping on the table could be heard. A signal that the job was done. There was nothing more to see now. I got up from my seat and opened the door where Jun-hu was.

“What the hell?”

“Ho-cheol, you bastard. I didn’t like it when you started using informal language from the beginning.”

“Suddenly cursing, is this guy crazy?”

Whether he was angry at being cursed at me or not, the guy stood up and approached me. Then came the swinging fist. Compared to the speed of a baseball that I had seen all my life, blocking his fist was quite an easy task due to its infinitely slower speed.

“Ow. That hurts.”

The pain felt in the arm that blocked the fist. It hurt quite a bit, but it was bearable. Compared to getting hit by a baseball, this was manageable.

“Are you making fun of me?”

The guy seemed to sense that there was no emotion in my words, and he also seemed quite angry.

“If you keep hitting, I won’t hold back either, Ho-cheol.”

“What will you do if I don’t hold back?”

Well, since I’m recording, this should count as self-defense now.