Chapter 21 – Episode 21. Cheon So-Young (1)

[In the 2002 Korean series, at the end of the ninth inning, which can decide fate, AT Thunders’ guardian Ji-hoon Lim is on the mound in a situation where he is leading 7:6.]

[Lim Ji-Hoon, returned to Korea from the major leagues this season and is firmly blocking the back door of AT, right? I’m looking forward to seeing if Lim Ji-hoon will lead this game to Game 7.]

[Ah, the camera captures the image of AT Thunders chairman Cheon Sang-yeop. Is your granddaughter next to you? I am earnestly praying.]

[Chairman Cheon Sang-yeop’s love for baseball is enough for all baseball fans to know, right? Will I live up to the president’s expectations? .]

[The lead batter, catcher Lee Ki-chul, enters the plate.]

[Lee Ki-cheol, who hit 37 home runs this season, is ranked second in home runs. As a player who is in charge of one axis of the home run corps Mad Catz batting order, he is a 3rd year college graduate and has a more promising future.]

Right!

[First ball hit! Gicheol Lee of Mad Catz who makes doubles! He shows in the bottom of the ninth why he’s a superstar! Unbelievable blow he is a 3rd year player!]

[Lee Ki-cheol is a player with a very good swing mechanism. He proved his worth with a good hit! He missed out on the home run king this season, but perhaps Lee Ki-cheol will accept the result. The player who won the home run king this season is the player who is coming out right now!]

[As you said, the player who hit 61 home runs this season and won the home run king is entering the plate. The eternal home run king of Mad Catz! Mad Catz hitter number 4! Hyungjin Joo! Joo Hyung-jin, who aimed straight at the major leagues by declaring free agency this season, enters the plate at the opportunity to score.]

[Is this match worth watching? Last season in the major leagues, Lim Ji-hoon posted an ERA of 3.27, 17 holds and 4 saves, which is better than most bullpens in the major leagues. Joo Hyung-jin will be able to succeed in the major leagues only when he overcomes this player.]

[This season’s total confrontation is 1 hit in 7 at-bats. And in this Korean Series, the confrontation between the two players is 0 hits in 2 at-bats, with Lim Ji-hoon having the upper hand.]

[Still, Mad Catz’s belief in Joo Hyung-jin will not change. Not only the manager and coaches, but all the Mad Catz fans watching this game will be hoping for a big shot.]

[Will Joo Hyung-jin finish the 21-year han that Mad Catz had? Lim Ji-hoon’s first pitch!]

Right! As the cheerful sound of hitting echoed through the baseball field, the baseball field was instantly enveloped in static. The eyes of everyone in the baseball field turned to the ball shot by Joo Hyung-jin, and the ball hit by Joo Hyung-jin fell outside the right fence while drawing a beautiful parabola.

“Wow!!!!”

“Joo Hyungjin! Hyungjin Joo! Hyungjin Joo!”

[Finish! Finish! Finish! Joo Hyung-jin’s last ball this season is a large come-from-behind two-run that ends the 21-year grievance that Hyunseong Mad Cats had! No see!!!! Korea’s pride! National treasure class hitter! Hyungjin Joo! Let’s put an end to this fierce bloody battle!!!!]

[Aaaaa! Hyungjin Joo! I’m done with this game!]

[Mad Cats! Ah ah ah ah ah! The main character of this drama is the home run king of Mad Catz, no, the home run king of Korea! This is Hyungjin Joo! Joo Hyung-jin relieves 21 years of resentment! Are there any matches like this? The winner that Mad Catz fans have been waiting for so long is Joo Hyung-jin, whom Mad Catz loves the most! He decides with his two hands!!!]

“Oh, Chairman Chen. The game was fun.”

“Haa, what is this like coming all the way to Daegu? I also enjoyed it. Chairman Lee.”

Haha, the runner-up was also good.”

Haha, we already won twice. Twice that too! Congratulations on your first win in 20 years. Oh, was it 21 years?”

Haha, President Chun is also runner-up. Congratulations.”

Sparks flew from the eyes of the two elderly gentlemen. The two of them glared at each other, then shook hands with benevolent smiles. It was an unbelievably childish quarrel as the presidents of two giant corporations leading Korea, but men always have a childlike side when it comes to sports.

In addition, if the sports team was the club he ran, there was nothing to say.

“Aaaaagh!”

The conversation between the two presidents, which seemed to be untouchable, was interrupted by the crying of a young girl.

“Soyoung, stop.”

“We lost. Hib, hib. Grandpa wins! He said he would win!”

“Oh, it seems that Soyoung is very upset. How old is Soyoung now?”

“I am five years oldhaha, Soyoung, you’re nice. Pop, pop.”

No matter how big the two were, they were just benevolent grandfathers in front of the girl’s tears. The two tried to soothe So-yeong, the granddaughter of President Cheon, who was crying sadly, but So-young’s crying did not stop.

“Oh dear. Then I have a championship event, so I’ll go first. Thank you for your hard work on your way to Daegu.”

“Yes, thank you for inviting me.”

Haha, what is it?”

Lee Hyun-hak, the chairman of Hyunsung Group, left the VIP room first.

“Soyoung. If you cry like that, those guys are these guys! Do.”

As Chairman Cheon pointed to her bodyguards and said, So-yeong’s tears gradually subsided. Chairman Cheon, who had been exhausted for a long time, finally wiped his sweat the day before yesterday. The stress he had suffered from the loss was soon forgotten, and only the cute cry of his granddaughter remained in Chairman Cheon’s memory.

“Hee, hee, hee, hee. Why are we losing?”

“Soyoung. You’ll know when you grow up, but the world is divided into two: winners and losers. If there are winners, there are also losers. That has become us now, but let’s cheer for us to be the winners next time.”

“Difficult….”

It was difficult for Soyoung, who was still young, to understand. Chairman Chun gently stroked his granddaughter’s hair. Her eyes and her expression contained boundless affection for her granddaughter.

They had three children, all sons. And everything about Cheon So-young, the only granddaughter with the surname Cheon, who was born five years ago to Chairman Cheon, who was the son of all of them, was cute.

So, for my only hobby, watching baseball, I came all the way to Daegu with my granddaughter without calling other family members.

“Yes, yes. Soyoung. Let’s go eat something delicious today.”

“Yes!”

Chairman Cheon carried So-young in his arms and went outside, and bodyguards and attendants followed Chairman Cheon. When So-young, exhausted from crying at Chairman Cheon’s skillful patting, fell asleep, this time a middle-aged man appeared in front of Chairman Cheon.

“Sashimi, Chairman!”

Chairman Cheon’s mood, which had been fun watching So-young, fell to the ground in an instant.

‘Why did a guy who lost baseball appear like this because he was good at it? Tsk tsk.’

“Tsk, President Kim. Did you ask for that much budget for this?”

“Sorry, sorry. Next opportunity….”

“All right.”

Chairman Cheon passed the middle-aged man with a cold expression, unable to believe that he was the one who had been kindly soothing his granddaughter earlier. Left alone, the man called President Kim collapsed with a devastated expression.

“I am, I am done. Ugh.”

President of the baseball team, the last position among group executives. The executives who came to the position are divided into two types. Accepting retirement calmly, or leading the baseball team that the president is particularly interested in to victory and getting a mediation again.

President Kim was the latter. However, President Kim’s ambition came to an end as the AT Thunders’ end of the season allowed a rival group a humiliating turnaround. Not just a defeat, but the first win!

In particular, now that the rivalry between the AT and Hyunseong groups was going to the extreme, President Kim instinctively allowed Hyunseong to win the first championship, realizing that he had no chance of being moderated.

“이, 개새끼들이. Get a couple of billions of money. You bastards!”

In the hallway of the VIP room, where no one was present, President Kim’s desperate screams echoed there. President Kim, who was stained with despair, soon turned that despair into anger. And he knocked on the keyboard of his cell phone in anger. The keyboard of the AT phone given as a gift by the chairman seemed to be broken, but the phone was connected, probably because of its durability.

“Captain Kim!”

– “Hee! Yes. President!”

“This shit. Organize all the high-income earners! Lose to Hyunseong? And to this match the president came to watch! These doggies! If you get money from AT, you won’t have to beat Hyeonseong!”

-“Sorry. President! But when it comes to high-income earners…. Lim Ji-hoon too… ?”

“Okay!”

– “You have one more year left on your contract?”

“Send the tray or something! Because that bastard hit a home run! Aww!”

-“Then, what about this year’s FA, Lee Soo-hyun?”

“Send that bastard away too! I just fall in pain every day! Bastards without team spirit don’t deserve to be at AT!”

– “Oh, I see.”

“And make all the seniors who only eat money and have poor skills go through the retirement process. Even the director was fired.”

-“All right. Then, who would be the best new manager?”

“Should I even care about that? Okay. The reason the Thunders lost was all because of guys without team spirit. There is no way the team will do well because there is no discipline. Bring me from the well-disciplined future buffaloes. Be a tough guy.”

– “Future buffaloes. Okay. Then the budget for next season….”

“Hey, Sanghoon Kim. Is it time to talk about it now?”

-“… Sorry.”

“Okay. Hang up.”

‘Four years left. The team has many young and promising players. If you get rid of old people who act as they please…. Besides, the president likes baseball, so even if he said that, he would give me enough support. If we release the old guys and recruit a few free agents, we can show the president a championship. Then me too….’

But until then, Kim didn’t know. The fact that that decision would plunge the team into a dark period, and that the AT Thunders would not be able to advance to fall baseball for the next 20 years.

*

21 years later, in 2022.

“Gosh. Chief Cheon, are you here?”

A gray-haired man approached a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties and greeted them.

“Mister. This is my job, so feel free to talk to me.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Then I have a meeting today, so I’ll go in first.”

The woman answered in a soft tone that did not match her cold expression and entered the building first. She was distracted with several people busy working in the building, but she was called Team Chun. When the woman came inside, everyone stopped what they were doing and she looked at Team Chun.

“Hello!”

“You’re here early, boss!”

“Look at things.”

People who looked at her with her firm tone, who could not believe that she was the one who answered the middle-aged man with her lithe tone, bowed their heads again and became quiet, overwhelmed by her charisma. As she entered her own office she began to exhale here and there.

“Ugh, Team Leader Cheon is chilly today too. She would be prettier if she smiled a little. You are pretty enough though. Since I was born, I have never seen a person as pretty as Team Leader Cheon.”

When a young man said so in the bathroom, the man in his mid-thirties who had been listening to the story covered the man’s mouth and looked around him.

“Uh huh. I’m not saying that here. Still, the manager is pretty.”

As the men said, Team Leader Cheon’s appearance was amazing. The wavy black hair looked silky soft, and the big eyes with double eyelids created a synergy between the beautiful eyebrows and long eyelashes, further enhancing his appearance. And her veiled nose and bright red lips topped her look.

Her lack of facial expression made her appear even colder.

“By the way, Chief Cheon is really great. Because you are the first female operation team leader in professional baseball and the youngest operation team leader.”

“What is great? Oh, you don’t know since you just joined the company, right?”

“Yes? What?”

“Yumma, a young man with the surname Chen in the AT group. Can’t you just feel it?”

“Yes? Then….”

“Ugh, how did you get here without knowing that? It’s just a parachute, maybe in a few years you’ll be the boss.”

“Yes? Why is a woman like this?”

“All the members of the chairman’s family occupied seats, but the chairman gave one seat to his granddaughter. This place is almost like a gag in the group. The president is very interested, but the results are not coming out.”

Haha, a little like that.”

“Tsk. The people at the top won’t know why the grades aren’t coming out, even if they die? So put the parachute in like that. Only the fans bleed.”

“Uh? Are you a Thunders fan too?”

“Otherwise would you have come here? Mr. A. If only my father hadn’t dragged me to the baseball field…. Of course, AT won that match.”

“It will be difficult this year too, right?”

“Are you saying? If you do well in the first half, no matter what you do, you will fall again in the second half. This team won’t be there until the earth is destroyed?”

“Ah, but we have to trust the players.”

“To believe. I’m not good at baseball, so I ask for an increase in my salary….”

At that moment, the door to the bathroom opened and team leader Cheon entered. When team leader Cheon appeared, the two stopped talking and the young man started drinking coffee.

“Chief Lee. No data on your desk? You know we have an important meeting today, right?”

“Ah, I’ll upload it right away.”

“Okay.”

“Ah, chief. Have a coffee. I just got on.”

“It’s okay. I will take care of what I drink.”

“Ah….”

When Team Leader Cheon left after finishing what he had to say, the two sighed as if they had squeezed each other out.

“It’s pretty, but it’s fucking pretty.”

“Heh, how good would it be to date a woman like that?”

“Wake up the dream. Will the third generation of chaebol go out with you?”

“A. If you can’t even imagine that, how can you go to work?”

“Oops. Don’t be fooled and go find some materials. And just in case, don’t go around bragging that the president’s granddaughter is around. If you get caught then, it’s a mogaji, a mogaji. Got it?”

“Yes….”