episode_0351

“Hello.”

“You’re here? It’s been a while.”

“Well, you saw me at the practice game too. But, you won’t avoid facing the fearsome Seonghyun, right?”

“You’re not so scared that you won’t even swing the bat, are you?”

“Why worry about that?”

Entering his first at-bat in the second inning with a 0-0 score, based on Yong-gi’s words, it seemed like a direct confrontation was imminent. However, one could bet their life savings that Yong-gi was not that kind of person.

“Well, I’ll probably play as usual, gently scraping the outside.”

“It’s a fastball.”

“A first-pitch fastball? Okay.”

Seonghyun’s first pitch is a fastball. With the mindset of just watching the first ball, he waits for Seonghyun’s delivery. And there goes Seonghyun’s first pitch.

“Ball.”

Seonghyun’s first pitch lands slightly outside. The speed displayed on the scoreboard is 142 km/h. Seeing Seonghyun, who used to throw 150 km/h pitches in his prime, now throwing at this speed, one could feel the passage of time.

“A pitcher like Seonghyun has no place against time. Well, throwing such pitches, he must have returned from the Major Leagues.”

In reality, not a day or two had passed before falling asleep while imagining hitting Seonghyun’s pitches during his school days. Imagining facing off against Seonghyun, the best Korean pitcher of his time, in the Major Leagues. Of course, in those imaginations, I was always the winner, and now it was time to turn that imagination into reality. Even though the stage was in Korea.

“I’ve had quite a lot of nerd fantasies.”

“Oh! It’s not a nerd fantasy; all players of my age group slept while imagining that!”

“If you say so.”

“I’m serious!”

“You got a hit sign, but you’re too scared to even swing the bat?”

“No!”

“What? Why suddenly raise your voice?”

“…Sorry.”

Damn it, thanks to Losbi, I unintentionally raised my voice. Being a polite person, I apologized to Yong-gi and refocused on the plate.

“Let me know about the next pitch.”

“It’s a cutter.”

“A cutter here? So, will he try to hit one coming inside from the outside?”

Thinking about Seonghyun’s pitching tendencies, the possibility of him throwing a cutter hitting the zone inside the bat was high. While most pitchers in Korea wouldn’t opt for such a sharp pitch, Seonghyun was the kind of pitcher who could.

“But will Yong-gi go for such an obvious lead? Will Seonghyun accept such an obvious lead?”

However, a doubt crept into a corner of my mind.

“Alright. Let’s just watch. The count is in my favor anyway.”

After tapping his foot and preparing to throw the second pitch, Seonghyun delivered the second ball.

“Strike!”

The result was a strike hitting the outside borderline. It was a pitch landing exactly where I had been contemplating moments ago.

“Damn, my prediction was correct.”

I had been overthinking. Just before stepping into the batter’s box, I had thought that I should inform my teammates that Seonghyun was just one of many pitchers, but it seemed like I had been overly conscious of facing Seonghyun’s reputation at the plate.

“Fool, fool. It wasn’t a pitch to hit. No, it was a pitch so well placed on the outside that trying to hit it would have been tough. It was right to let it pass if I wanted to hit a home run.”

After quickly regaining control of my mind, I tried to refocus on the plate.

“You chickened out after all.”

“Oh, come on. I didn’t.”

If only Yong-gi hadn’t provoked me.

“This guy, he’s annoyingly cocky. I can’t stand it either.”

“I was just watching. It was too obvious.”

“Obvious?”

“It was so obvious that it was boring. Seeing him keep throwing the ball outside.”

“Okay, I’ll throw one towards your body. You’re good at hitting changeups, right? Hyun-hee hyung also threw a changeup once.”

“What? A real changeup?”

Rossbi was planning to choose a pitch after listening to Gyujong, but Gyujong revealed what pitch he would throw first this time.

“Why?”

As the batter who knew that throwing a changeup at me was like committing suicide, why was he throwing a Changeup?

“It’s a Circle Changeup.”

Then Rossbi’s confirming shot rang out. Indeed, Gyujong had chosen the Circle Changeup, Seonghyun’s formidable weapon, as his pitch this time. Unlike me, who thought he would just mention throwing a Changeup and then throw a different pitch, Gyujong actually demanded the Circle Changeup.

“Now it’s getting interesting. Let’s see how you handle this, shall we?”

Seonghyun’s Circle Changeup. It was a pitch I was familiar with as well. Anyone who played baseball in Korea would know this pitch. Through articles, it was known that in Major League Baseball, there were not many pitches more valuable than Seonghyun’s Circle Changeup. Baseball enthusiasts everywhere knew that Seonghyun’s Circle Changeup was an incredible pitch.

Nevertheless, I was confident. After all, the Changeup was a pitch designed to deceive the batter’s timing. Knowing that a Changeup was being thrown made it an almost unhittable pitch if you were aware of it.

“Anyway, let’s give it a shot.”

Suppressing the laughter bubbling up inside me, I awaited Seonghyun’s third pitch. And there it was, Seonghyun’s Circle Changeup. I watched Seonghyun’s pitch closely and swung the bat.

“…Huh?”

But contrary to what I had anticipated, Seonghyun’s Changeup veered away from the bat gradually. The ball coming towards the zone seemed to defy the laws of physics, moving further away to the outside.

“Damn…!”

Thud!

And the ominous sound ringing in my ears. I dropped the bat and sprinted towards first base. From behind, I could hear Gyujong tossing off his catcher’s mask. Then, a white baseball whizzed past me.

“Foul!”

“Wow, damn, that was close.”

Swearing under my breath due to the tense situation. Fortunately, the hit I made turned out to be a foul.

“Is this Seonghyun’s Changeup?”

It resembled a slider thrown by a right-handed pitcher. While I had seen countless videos and imagined Seonghyun’s Changeup, seeing it from the batter’s box was a whole different experience. It immediately made sense why a once obscure Asian pitcher had engaged in a fierce competition with Cy Young winners.

“How was that? Did it get you?”

As I walked back to the batter’s box, Gyujong greeted me with a smile.

“It did get me. But…”

“But?”

“Can you handle it? You couldn’t even make an out with that.”

Even so, a smile crept onto my face as I looked at Gyujong. Once I had seen it, I knew there was a way to counter it. While the strange contact resulting from Seonghyun’s Changeup was unexpected, I wasn’t worried. Adapting to it through training with Rossbi was just a matter of time. Besides, judging by the speed, it seemed like I could lay off and wait for another pitch.

“The guy who barely survived death is still alive, at least in the mouth.”

“After coming back from hell, it’s okay to keep your mouth alive, right?”

Gyujong, chuckling at my words, put on his catcher’s mask and took his position.

“Phew, I’ll just lay off the Changeup for now.”

Honestly, since I couldn’t tell if the pitch was coming into the zone or not with my current ability, I decided to adopt a mindset of laying off when hearing about the Changeup.

“What’s the next pitch?”

“A fastball.”

A pitch after deceiving the eyes with a Changeup, a fast pitch. Was Gyujong going by the book now that things had progressed this far? I adjusted my timing for Seonghyun’s fastball and waited for the pitch. After a few seconds, Seonghyun raised his right leg and swung his arm.

“It’s coming!”

When observing the trajectory, was it inside? Instinctively, I swung the bat in sync with the timing of Seonghyun’s fastball I had just witnessed.

Whooosh!

Thwack!

Although I heard the sound of the ball hitting the bat, it felt like my swing hadn’t ended yet.

“…Huh?”

And a sense of emptiness washed over me.

“Strike! You’re out!”

“What’s this?”

The speed of the pitch displayed on the scoreboard was 154 km/h. It was a level of swiftness entirely different from what had been seen before.

“Just 10 km/h faster. Is that all?”

“How was it? Fun?”

“….”

I wasn’t a batter who never struck out. Sometimes, due to the pitcher throwing better trajectories than usual, there were futile swings, or I got struck out by a ball that came into the zone unexpectedly.

But the strikeout I just experienced was more shocking than any before. It felt as disheartening as facing an off-speed pitch for the first time.

“A sudden 10 km/h increase in speed? Is this some kind of joke?”

I knew. There was footage of Jung Seung-cheol throwing 150 in a game. At that time, I simply thought it was luck…

“To throw the same pitch with the same form but with a 10 km/h difference and sneak it in when you want?”

It was unbelievable. Was this guy really a major leaguer? Honestly, I thought Seong-hyun had escaped from the majors. Using injury as an excuse. But watching him pitch today made me think he could still hold his own in the major leagues.

“Why on earth did he come back?”

“Hey, there’s the Olympics this year, and he said he wanted to win with his original team in his final year.”

Even though the subject of who had returned wasn’t mentioned, my teammates nearby understood perfectly and explained why Seong-hyun had returned.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Don’t you read the news? He said all that in his comeback interview.”

Sigh… So he’s not a has-been after all? I had underestimated Seong-hyun. I thought he became a has-been due to injury, but apparently, it wasn’t that severe.

Honestly, I wasn’t completely off my game. I just couldn’t react because I was erasing the 150 mph fastball from my mind. If I had been paying attention, I wouldn’t have missed it so miserably and ended up walking back to the dugout.

“Well, getting struck out now is better. It would have been awful if it was a scoring situation. Seong-hyun, Lee Yong-gi. You guys messed up. Are you using such hidden moves now?”

From the dugout and the on-deck circle, the two pitches to watch out for from Seong-hyun were clear: the changeup and the fastball. Cut the changeup and hit the fastball with an easy swing. That would be the end of Seong-hyun. Especially considering the movement of the fastball, if I prepared for the fast one, I should be able to handle the slower one.

“Yeah. At this level, he deserves to be Korea’s best pitcher ever. This is fun. Ross B., ready to go in? Let’s start with the changeup.”

“I thought you’d drag it out like an idiot, but you’re quicker than I expected.”

“Hehe, I’m no rookie. Do you think I’d be like that just because I got struck out once? Besides, strikeouts are inevitable for a home run hitter like me. I only need to hit once out of four times to win.”