episode_0412

“Who’s making a face like a wet dog in the rain?”

…Did I go too far? The expressions of the seniors who heard me varied. Some seemed angry, some looked bewildered, and others seemed to find it amusing.

“Hey! Are you crazy?”

“That guy is at it again. Haha.”

“Sangju hyung! Suho senior! Can you please control this guy! Seriously!”

“That guy acts like this even within the team.”

“…The youngest is trying to fight back. It’s because you guys are acting like pushovers that Maengho is behaving like this.”

“Goodness…”

Gisangju shook his head as if giving up, while Kimsuho shielded me, talking at length. Other seniors also had different expressions, but it was definitely better than before.

“But how do you plan to tie the score?”

Amidst this, the leadoff batter, Choi Jutae, spoke up.

“Now, Jutae senior, you should get on base. Can you do it? You’re a major leaguer, after all.”

“…This guy is insane.”

“If you can’t get on base, I’ll tell the reporters that you’re slacking off.”

“This guy is really nuts… Sangju, don’t you manage this guy in the team? How does Gwanhyung senior tolerate this? He’s just a lunatic.”

“…Gwanhyung hyung is the president of his fan club. That aside, get on base. Maengho said he’ll tie the score.”

“…Did you hear that? Senior, please. Seriously.”

“…Fine, got it, darn it.”

Choi Jutae, sighing as if in disbelief, walked towards the batter’s box. His demeanor was oddly reassuring.

“Please, Jutae senior. Just once!”

Thwack! However, despite my prayers and belief, Choi Jutae’s hit soared high towards the shortstop, an easy fly ball that even a middle schooler could handle.

“Ah… Damn, that’s right. Slacker.”

The shortstop approached, glove wide open, waiting for Choi Jutae’s hit. And the ball dropped. The Japanese shortstop, taking steps backward, moved towards the hit. One step, two steps, three steps. Then, stepping back with a shuffle.

“…Huh?”

– Wow!!!

…The shortstop missed the ball.

“Darn it! That’s it! Truly a major leaguer!”

Controlling hits and fielders with magic! That was something impossible even for me. Well, it wasn’t uncommon for a shortstop to make errors. Shortstops, along with second basemen, were positions where the ball went most frequently.

Moreover, there was the pressure of the stage. The pressure of an Olympic final. Even the best defense in the Major League could miss an easy fly ball in a tied situation in the 9th inning of the Korean Series. Let alone in an Olympic final, the pressure was beyond words.

Anyway, this was a golden opportunity, a stroke of genius pushing me to equalize the score! The path to the batter’s box felt like walking on a red carpet.

“Yes, this is my chance. A chance to become a hero…!”

I will hit a home run no matter what!

With that determination, I aimed the bat towards the outfield wall. And Ohtani, having seen my predicted home run, smirked. A somewhat unfortunate smile, as if he had become the protagonist of a comic… I didn’t like it.

“Let’s see how long you’ll keep smiling.”

*

[Shortstop! Shortstop! Misses it! Genda Sosuke misses Choi Jutae’s hit!]

“Thank you! Genda Sosuke!”

-Hahaha, what’s this? So funny!

“Wow, what kind of shortstop makes such an error? Isn’t Japan known for good defense?”

┗Making errors at the Gold Glove level happens in baseball.

It was the charm of baseball that even the best defensive player in the Major Leagues could make a mistake that not even a middle schooler would make, and that was a stroke of luck.

“Now, entering the batter’s box is Ji Maengho. In today’s game, he has faced Ohtani twice, recorded one hit, and one RBI.”

“Ji Maengho, hitting some amazing balls… huh?”

“What? Ji Maeng-ho is eyeing the wall! Ji Maeng-ho’s predicted home run! Here comes Ji Maeng-ho’s predicted home run!!”

“Did he hit a predicted home run?!!!!?!?!?!?!?”

┗ He did!!!!

“Wow, Maengho Shin boldly hits a predicted home run against Otani kekekeke”

┗ Seriously crazy, if he can’t hit, it’s a disgrace, but here he is doing this against Otani in the Olympics keke

┗┗ He’s the guy who even mocked Call Han during the ceremony keke

┗┗ No worries if he can’t hit

“But that could be a bluff. He did the same thing in the last Korean Series and bunted.”

┗ True keke

“No matter how top-notch a batter is, they can’t beat Tanikun. Tanikun is mocking him too.”

┗ But Maengho Shin should at least put up a fight, right?

┗┗ Lower leagues always look like lower leagues, making the majors look like crap.

“Please, Maengho, just once!”

┗ Maengho will do it. He has always shown something in these situations, that’s Maengho for you.

“Great Empire of Japan 3 vs Something that used to be in the past 1”

321

Ohtani is the best!!!!!!!

334

Those bastards are doomed lmao

347

What? Weren’t those guys supposed to have beaten the American guys and come up here?

349

>>347 Ohtani being Ohtani lmao

351

Those bastards also threw a wild pitch, let’s throw one too.

352

The soccer pigs must be shedding tears lmao

359

What? How did that guy become a national representative? The Seibu guys have been watching his crappy baseball all along?

361

That guy is definitely Zainichi

364

It’s the reincarnation of GG Sato..

371

Of course, right in front of Ji Maeng-ho…

374

Hey hey, Korea’s tiger is terrifying…

376

Can’t we just strike that guy out with a wild pitch?

379

What? Another predicted home run?

380

Hahaha, it’s my first time seeing this live, that guy is awesome!!

381

Arrogant. If only we could definitively crush him so he doesn’t dare to compare to Japanese baseball for the next 30 years…

*

“It’s okay! It’s okay!”

Ohtani shook his head and without saying a word, first reassured the shortstop, Genda Sosuke, that everything was fine. Normally, when such a dire error occurs, any pitcher would get angry. Especially if the leadoff batter makes an error with no outs? If Genda had been a junior, until ten years ago, he would have been dragged to the back of the dugout and slapped by the pitcher, and it wouldn’t have been strange.

But fortunately, there was no chance of that happening to Genda. Not because Genda was a senior, but because Ohtani’s reassurance was sincere and calm. No, not just okay, he felt sorry.

“If I had struck out the batter, Genda senpai wouldn’t have made an error… But still, he did well touching that ball.”

An error is just a part of the game. If you get upset about allowing a baserunner due to an error, you shouldn’t expect the fielders to make a super play to get the out. Once the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, everything is their responsibility. If you didn’t want errors, you should have struck the batter out.

So, rather than getting angry, Ohtani was more concerned about Genda’s mental state after making a mistake on such a crucial stage. Well, he was slightly annoyed, but more than that, he found it comforting that the fielder approached the game with a relaxed mindset, which tended to lead to good results both defensively and offensively.

There’s no point in getting mad on the mound.

“Well, still, to put Genda senpai’s mind at ease, I need to get an out here. The problem is…”

The problem was the batter stepping up to the plate right now. A batter even Major League Baseball pays attention to. Especially since he was following Ji Maeng-ho even in his current team, the LA Dodgers, making him a high possibility of becoming a future teammate. And as much as he was being watched in the Major Leagues, his skills were undoubtedly solid.

WBC and the Olympics. They had only met three times, but Otani knew. Jimaeng-ho would eventually astonish the baseball world. He had faced many monster-like hitters in the Major Leagues, but there weren’t many hitters at this level.

It was a talent that sparkled unmistakably to anyone… Things known to fellow baseball players.

“Of course, he can’t be called the best in the world yet.”

But he was not fully ripe yet. Jimaeng-ho, of course, was a good hitter. The ability to hit as if knowing what pitch is coming and the power to send even a brushback pitch near the wall. Especially in terms of power, it was uncommon in the Major Leagues. If you had to name a few, maybe Judge or Stanton?

However, the issue was his reliance on guessing pitches. A hitter who relies on guessing pitches cannot become a good hitter. In the Major Leagues, there were plenty of pitchers who threw pitches you couldn’t anticipate. Moreover, unless you knew for sure what pitch was coming, guessing pitches relied on luck. In the long run, it killed a hitter’s skill…

Otani wanted to convey this fact to the promising junior player at this opportunity. It was a sentiment hoping that as fellow baseball players beyond the nations of Korea and Japan, the junior player would grow splendidly. And he also hoped that the junior player would realize his own shortcomings at this opportunity and focus on baseball.

According to the article that caused a stir in the athletes’ village, the guy was crazy about girls. It was common for promising prospects to fall apart due to being infatuated with women, but Otani didn’t want to see such a sparkling junior player go down that path.

Sometimes, there is much more to learn from defeat.

“May this match be helpful to you…”

At that moment, Jimaeng-ho stepped into the batter’s box and took aim at the wall.

“A predicted home run…?”