episode_0431

“What are you glaring at? Outsider bastard.”

From the moment a ball struck his thigh, Lim Jun-hoo looked at the batter eyeing him and thought to himself.

“Why not just walk out quickly? Dragging out the game.”

There was no intention of apologizing in Lim Jun-hoo’s mind. Why? The reason was simple. NV’s pitcher didn’t apologize for hitting Woo Gwan-hyung either. This wasn’t a mistake. It was a legitimate retaliation happening during the game. Offering an apology here would only make things more ridiculous.

Spencer was surely aware of this fact. When a pitcher hits a batter, it was common sense that the opposing team’s batter would get hit too. Therefore, even though he might be glaring, he never expected Spencer to come charging at him.

Hit by a pitch, followed by a retaliatory pitch. Nothing unusual in the normal course of a fair game. Hence, Lim Jun-hoo’s expression as he stared at Spencer was resolute.

“This little bastard, look at his expression.”

…However, he was unaware that the expression he exchanged with Spencer could incite quite some anger in onlookers.

[Player Lim Jun-hoo does not avert his gaze from Player Spencer. This will make the atmosphere awkward! Player Spencer charges towards the mound!]

“Huh, …huh?!”

Therefore, when Spencer charged towards the mound, Lim Jun-hoo could only be taken aback. A retaliatory pitch after hitting a batter. Just as Woo Gwan-hyung endured it, Lim Jun-hoo thought Spencer could endure it too. An unimaginable situation, especially when a robustly built Spencer, looking like he had been painted with muscles in the late 180s, came rushing at him, Lim Jun-hoo found himself frozen in place.

“Spencer is charging! What…?!”

At that moment,

Someone came running from behind Lim Jun-hoo. Like a wild animal.

“Hyung!”

Naturally, it was Ji Maeng-ho. By the time Spencer, who had been charging towards the pitcher, noticed Ji Maeng-ho, it was already too late.

“…Huh?”

When Spencer realized the situation, his body was already suspended in mid-air. One of Ji Maeng-ho’s hands was near Spencer’s thigh, while the rest wrapped around his waist, pressing his abdomen with his shoulder, executing a perfect spear.

“What’s happening right now?”

Feeling weightless, with time seemingly slowing down, Spencer remained oblivious to what had happened until he landed on the ground after receiving the impact of Earth all over his body. Spencer only became aware of the situation after absorbing the impact.

With a thud, Spencer’s body crashed to the ground in front of the mound. Intense pain followed. The pressure of being unable to breathe due to the shoulder hitting his chest, along with a ringing sensation in his head, overwhelmed Spencer. If he had charged without a helmet, it could have led to a serious accident.

“…What did I just witness? Spencer, the player shouldn’t get hurt….”

Thus, having brought down his opponent, Ji Maeng-ho immediately assumed the mount position.

“Oh! Player Ji Maeng-ho! You can’t do that! Remember, there are kids watching the game!”

“Hey! Stop it! Ji Maeng-ho, stop!”

“Hey! What are you doing?”

Everyone gathered for the bench-clearing incident was taken aback by Ji Maeng-ho’s actions, including his teammates from AT. If he were to throw a punch here….

-What’s up with Ji Maeng-ho? Did he just send Spencer flying?

-What the heck? LOL

-This is legendary, LOL

-Wow, it’s like pro wrestling move, is this scripted?

-What’s with that mount position?

Even the fans watching the game were left wondering,

“Surely he won’t actually strike, will he?”

“Wow, this lunatic. He really seems ready to fight.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this even in Major League….”

The players watching the scene from the side subtly anticipated what would happen next. Initially, they were teammates who had gathered because a teammate was being rushed by an opponent, but they never thought a real fight like this would break out on the field, so they watched the next scene in silence.

However, the anticipated event didn’t unfold as others had hoped.

“Hey, I’m not a thug. He came at me, so I just subdued him briefly. Subdued.”

*

Glancing over, the mercenary’s pupils were shaking uncontrollably. He probably won’t get back up after this.

“What the f***! Hey! Is this UFC? Are you crazy? What the hell…!”

“No, he came at me, so I just blocked him. I didn’t expect him to fall!”

Brushing off NV’s coach’s words lightly, I stood up from my spot. It seemed like I could let go. I wanted to see it through, but with only about 40 games left, it was too risky to continue. I can’t end the season like this.

“You! Are you crazy?”

NV’s coach, in his early 180s, rushes over and grabs my collar. I flinched slightly, but as a Confucian-looking person, I couldn’t hit an adult.

“Hey, ease up on the collar.”

After grabbing his wrist, I focused my strength in my hand. The collar gradually loosened.

“Ouch… Ouch! This guy, what… strength…”

“It was just a bench-clearing. What did I do wrong? He came at me, and I just blocked him. His eyes had a look that deserved a punch, right? Jun-ho?”

“Yes, yes. Um. That’s right. That’s how it was. Yeah… Oh….”

Why can’t this guy pull himself together?

“Hands, hands! Let go and speak!”

“Yes, yes.”

As the coach released his hand, red marks resembling my hand shape appeared on his wrist.

“Coach! Hold on a moment. First, Spencer. Doctor! Call a doctor! Something’s wrong with his eyes!”

“Hey, you! If he wasn’t wearing a helmet, he could have died! Understand?”

“People don’t die that easily. And, I just tried to block him, but it was lighter than I expected. What can I do? Should I just watch while my teammate gets hit? Huh?”

“This guy…!”

“Alright, calm down…”

While the coach calmed down the opposing team’s coach, the ambulance arrived to check on Spencer’s condition.

“[Are you okay? Are you okay?] Hmm… seems like symptoms of a concussion; we need to conduct further tests.”

A concussion…? Surely… it’s not serious, right? Hmm…

“Don’t worry. American kids don’t die that easily.”

“Ugh… F***! Hey! Ji Maeng-ho! Are you a thug? Huh? How many times is this, punk!”

“Hey, don’t call someone else’s team player a punk.”

“This disgraceful punk. Hey! Lee Soo-hyun! Aren’t you teaching your players properly?”

“Oh, Coach Park, why are you like this? Did he try to kill someone? Huh?! He just came at me, and I blocked him. Isn’t that right?”

“Coaches! Calm down! If you keep this up, you’ll be ejected.”

“Hey! Gu Seung-jae! If you had refereed properly, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“We’re in the middle of a game! Don’t call names!”

“These junior players are so disrespectful…!”

The coaches’ argument sparked even more tension among the players. Just as the scene unfolded before my eyes, someone behind me spoke up.

“Maeng-ho, step back for now.”

It was Captain Woo.

“…Yes.”

“Hey, let’s shield Maeng-ho from view.”

At Woo’s command, the players gathered around me. Damn, I wanted to watch more. The voices of the coaches arguing faded as the situation seemed to come to an end.

“Ji Maeng-ho!”

Ignoring the umpire calling me, I pushed past the players and faced the umpire.

“Ejection!”

“Me? Why me?”

“There was contact.”

“But still, I was just trying to protect my teammate…”

“Rules are rules! Ejection!”

Sigh… I thought I’d get kicked out, so I was ready to throw a punch at least… As I tried to console myself with that regret and began to move towards the dugout, the coach approached.

“Well, you won’t be disciplined. You didn’t really throw a punch. You just intervened.”

“…That’s a relief.”

It seemed like a good decision not to throw a punch.

“Maengho, it was still cool. That loyalty is what a man should have. Junhu probably felt touched too.”

“…Yes.”

Honestly, whether Junhu was touched or not wasn’t my concern. Still, I couldn’t show that, so I nodded at the coach’s words.

“Go in and cool your head.”

“Got it.”

The only regret was not being able to stay at bat anymore… The score difference had widened to 5 points, and today, with the stance of the NV guys geared for a fight, missing such an opportunity felt a bit disappointing.

“Sigh… Just blocking with my body and getting ejected for this. It’s a bit much.”

“Just getting ejected for that kind of scuffle. This country is far off.”

“That’s true.”

*

-AT Thunders! Marching towards 4 consecutive victories!

……In a bases-loaded situation with one out, AT Thunders’ closing pitcher, Kang Yoonho, stepped up. Kang Yoonho struck out two batters and induced a ground ball, ending the game with a final score of 9:5 in favor of AT Thunders. Meanwhile, following the bench-clearing incident that occurred that day, the KBA Disciplinary Committee decided not to impose any further penalties on Ji Maengho……

┗Haha, another epic bench-clearing today

┗┗Can’t wait to see what Ji Maengho will do if another bench-clearing happens now haha

┗┗Throwing punches, grappling, and now even spearing haha STS is crazy haha

┗Disgusting how they push each other in baseball, and no penalties given?

┗┗Honestly, it doesn’t feel like it warrants a penalty. They didn’t throw punches, just rushed in.

┗┗Spencer’s profile says he weighs over 100kg, Maengho probably didn’t expect to be toppled haha

-Why is Maengho playing baseball? He should’ve done MMA instead haha, would’ve dominated UFC

┗Does UFC look easy to you? Ji Maengho is just cleaning up in the lightweight division

┗┗Still, there are weight classes, why just lightweight? Should aim for at least middleweight

┗┗Weight classes don’t matter if you learn fighting professionally. Do you know a bodybuilder in Russia got beaten to death by a fighter?

┗┗Honestly, watching him during the bench-clearing, Ji Maengho seems like he can fight

┗┗It’s different when you learn professionally, and I’ve trained for about 2 years, I think I could beat Ji Maengho

┗┗Haha, let’s see next time.

-Metal bat Ji Maengho vs Silver Ga-nu, who would win?

┗Do metal bats look easy to you?

┗Does Silver Ga-nu look easy to you?

┗Baseball players swing bats at speeds exceeding 100km/h, how do you dodge that?

┗┗Punch speed is faster, you see it coming and dodge.

┗┗Ji Maengho would probably get hit before completing a full swing, baseball players need to position themselves correctly, just dodging once means Silver Ga-nu wins.

┗┗Haha, do metal bats look easy? If you get hit, you turn into bone dust, Ji Maengho’s hit speed is around 180-200, getting hit means you’re done. And a full swing is fast even with one hand. People who haven’t swung a bat are saying these things haha

┗┗If Ji Maengho has sports reflexes, he might punch with the bat when a jab comes at him

┗┗Metal bat enthusiasts are talking again haha

┗┗Ji Maengho has sports reflexes, he can hit a 160 ball, if someone runs at him, he’ll just hit them.

┗┗Just guard

┗┗Guard? Haha, are you stupid? When you get hit, your bones shatter, the moment you get hit, even Silver Ga-nu will scream like Guan Yu

┗┗Haha, Silver Ga-nu is a professional at beating people, can Ji Maengho swing at metal bat users? Mindset is different

┗┗Hmm… Seems possible?

┗┗Maengho