Chapter 231 – Chapter 229. What Are These Bastards Doing Today? (3)

‘Oh, fuck. It hurts like hell.’

Pain radiates from the area hit by the ball. Fortunately, it hit the belt part and absorbed the shock, but I couldn’t help but feel the pain. Of course, I couldn’t pretend to be sick. Even if I let go of moaning here, the opponent would only look down on me.

“Keuuugh, this bastard…”

Baek Kyung-ho, who was rolling on the ground holding my elbow, sat down on the floor before I knew it and glared at me.

‘So what.’

While hiding his true feelings, he smiled and apologized to Baek Kyung-ho.

“Oh, sorry.”

You can’t spit on a smiling face.

“You, you bastard… ! Is that on purpose?”

Of course, the old saying wasn’t always the answer. Because there were guys who got angry even when they were laughing. Like this guy right now.

“What are you doing on purpose? When you swing a bat, this happens and that happens. So, did you intentionally throw that one towards your body too?”

“Stop, stop!”

The referee blocks the gap between us raising his voice. In the meantime, UG’s trainer came over and started checking Baek Kyung-ho’s condition. I could see that Baek Kyung-ho’s arm was swollen blue.

“Ha, fuck. Pretending to be sick is fucking fine. Someone got hit by a ball.”

“This bastard! Are you crazy?”

I said little, did you hear me? The old man has a good ear.

“Oh, that’s right! Whoever sees it will know that he has been hit in the head.”

“This, you bastard… !”

Kyungho Baek shook off the trainer and stood up.

“Looking at what’s happening, I don’t think I’m going to die. Are you running the game? Shortening game time these days, you know what? Are there any rules like that? A 12-second ban on pretending to be sick. Well, something like that.”

“Stop, if you say more, I will consider it intentional and leave.”

The referee, who couldn’t see it, threw a word. The referee seemed to have noticed the situation, but it seemed that my swing was not different from usual, so it was difficult to be sure. In addition, it seemed that he noticed that he immediately sent off the best hitter in the league.

“… Sorry. My fever has risen a little, maybe because I was hit by the ball.”

‘I can’t get kicked out of here.’

I bowed my head and apologized to the referee.

“Okay, we’re in the middle of a game, so be careful.”

“Yes. All right.”

“No, just looking at that bastard, he did it on purpose…”

“Gee, I’m sorry. Is it because I was hit by a ball? The bat is back a bit more. This won’t happen unless you get hit by the ball in the future.”

‘So let’s play fair. Fair play.’

Did you understand what I meant by this? As I continued to look at him, Baek Kyung-ho slowly moved his gaze to the place he had hit.

‘I think I understood this enough.’

“Kyungho, can you run more? I think you should go to the hospital. It never broke.”

Baek Kyung-ho opened and closed his fists at the trainer’s words. It looked a bit clumsy. I was a little sorry, maybe it was because I hit him even though I was older.

“Hey, go to the hospital. Wouldn’t it take a long time for a nobleman who is old enough to recover?”

“This bastard… !”

Puck, Baek Kyung-ho pushed my chest. However, I wasn’t the one to be pushed. As soon as I stayed still even though I pushed my chest, his expression slowly hardened.

‘I was worried about this bastard, but why the fuck?’

“Hey! Hey! Dry it!”

“Maengho, are you okay?”

“Senior guard!”

And players from both teams started running towards us. I immediately raised my hands and expressed with my whole body that I had no intention of hitting. It is sewage that hits Baek Kyung-ho here. Leaving or suspension from business trips was a specification for me too.

“Chief, Chief! I stayed still!”

After appealing to the referee that I was still, I was led away from the plate by the hands of my teammates who ran out.

“What’s the matter!”

“Hey! Aren’t you playing baseball right?”

“Fuck, you make baseball dirty!”

Players from both teams get tangled up and shouts come and go. However, very few players from UG approached me. Because my strong seniors, including Woo Kwan-hyung and Choi Jin-cheol, were blocking my path.

‘What’s the matter? You hold back all your fists.’

Rosby’s voice came through the shouts. A slightly sad voice. Maybe it was a pity that the fight didn’t happen.

‘Ah, if I get kicked out of literature, I’m the only one who loses. No other stadium is as good as this one.’

In fact, in Jamsil, there were quite a few balls that were caught in front of the wall even if they were hit properly, so I didn’t want to be kicked out of the literature that was good for building stats. If it had been in Jamsil, I would have beaten it right away.

‘Haven’t I become quite professional after seeing this? Hehe. Records are precious.’

‘That record. It’s a record that means nothing if you go to the majors.’

‘Why doesn’t it make sense? It makes a lot of sense.’

While broadcasting with Jia, I felt that fact. The fact that if you are good at baseball, there are many fans who suck at whatever you do. In fact, there were very few viewers who spoke negatively about me even after reading the controversy. If my skills were good, it was clear that the majority of fans would cover me even if I acted my way to some extent.

‘Well, wouldn’t you wash it yourself today too? Hehe.’

‘Tsk. Hitting and fucking is more fun for me.’

‘Let’s do hit-and-run at night. Just the way Mr. Rossby likes it.’

‘That’s not bad either.’

Rossby seemed to be thinking of some passionate sex after the game. It wouldn’t be bad to have sex like a beast on a day like today. I was also a little excited.

While talking with Rossby, the situation calmed down, and the referee approached Baek Kyung-ho.

“Baek Kyung-ho, exit!”

“Why, just me!”

“Ji Maeng-ho stayed still.”

Well, then. This is baseball done right. Hmm. Will you stop being a jerk in UG now? Well, if I do it one more time, I won’t stand it anymore.

It was quite pleasant to have Baek Kyung-ho come back in after being sent off.

*

“Director. I guess I should stop.”

“…”

Before leaving the dugout after being sentenced to leave, Baek Kyung-ho approached Moon Ki-taek.

“Ji Maeng-ho, that bastard seems to be doing it on purpose. Same when swinging. This is my opinion, but it feels like the original shape of the volcano was also deliberately soaked. Anything more would put the kids at risk.”

A feeling that only a person standing next to can feel. Ji Maeng-ho was not normal. From the casual expression after swinging a bat at a person, to the way the hot-tempered guy endures physical contact.

The more he talked to the director, the cold sweat flowed down Baek Kyung-ho’s back.

“… I get it.”

Director Moon Ki-taek could immediately understand what Baek Kyung-ho meant. If you play the game in this way, you may injure your players even more.

In fact, director Moon Ki-taek could feel that. Won Joo-hyeok was also a player who had been a pro for quite a while, but he couldn’t help but hesitate when he tried to injure the same player, and coach Moon Ki-taek also threatened Ji Maeng-ho, who was only intending to instill fear.

However, Ji Maeng-ho was different. The ability to act without hesitation in hitting people with a bat. And he’s already injured one player in his career. In addition to that, the testimony that only players who have directly played opponents can feel.

‘If we continue like this, only our players will get hurt more. It’s a pity, but it’s only right to stop here.’

“Head coach!”

Coach Moon Ki-taek urgently called the head coach. Before any more players get hurt. The plan to soak Ji Maeng-ho was abandoned.

Ta-evil!

And the game in progress. Ji Maeng-ho turned the bat coolly as if nothing had happened before, and his batted ball went over the fence. Cool home run. He has the tenacity to hit the catcher with the bat until the end even when he is hit by the ball, and the concentration to hit the home run right away without wavering even in such a situation.

Moon Ki-taek keenly felt that his judgment had failed.

‘Rather, has his sanctity been shaken? I had a stupid idea.’

Moon Ki-taek regretted the home run, but the score was already reversed.

‘Maybe I wasn’t impatient? I can’t trust the players.’

It was the coach himself who decided that he couldn’t win. If you believed in the players, if that’s why you competed with your skills. Even if I regretted it, it was already too late. Now all he can do is trust the players.

Coach Moon Ki-taek prayed more earnestly than ever for the players to win. And leaving such a coach behind, Baek Kyung-ho went out of the dugout. As he headed to the locker room, a terrifying thought suddenly passed through Baek Kyung-ho’s mind.

‘… No way?’

And one memory pops up in my head.

-“It seems that the type of pitch is inferred through the catcher and psychological warfare. Catchers from other teams often said that they would stop fighting Ji Maeng-ho. So, I think it would be better not to talk about anything when fighting Ji Maeng-ho.”

A story that the power analysis team once said. He said not to share anything because the type of pitch can be inferred through psychological warfare with the catcher.

‘… Did I suffer?’

After thinking like that, it felt like all the puzzles came together. A player who uses such psychological warfare is so hot-tempered and thoughtlessly provokes pitchers? I said in an interview that it was a ceremony for the fans, but it was a nonsense story.

Everything was Ji Maeng-ho’s psychological warfare.

The conclusive evidence is today. Even though there was physical contact, Ji Maeng-ho calmly looked down at him. If Ji Maeng-ho was known through media or interviews, Ji Maeng-ho was no stranger to punching himself there. However, Ji Maeng-ho was calm today. To the point of being afraid.

‘If all of this was Ji Maeng-ho’s calculation…’

An awkward tone, a ceremony that provokes pitchers. The hot-tempered appearance of beating a senior, and other incomprehensible eccentricities. If he was his old self, he would have thought he was just a guy like Thunder Naked, but the appearance of the fierce tiger he saw today was a little different. He was saying that those cold eyes looking down at him had been acting up until now.

‘There’s no way a player who uses such psychological warfare in the first place would act so stupidly. Yes, everyone was being tricked.’

Provokes the battery to give the ball count an advantage. And based on the advantageous ball count, it drives pitchers and hunts pitchers who are cornered. That’s why even an ace pitcher like Kim Seong-gyeol had no choice but to feel the pressure from Ji Maeng-ho. Because it wasn’t an equal match in the first place. The guy wasn’t fighting the pitcher, he was hunting. That’s based on his brilliant hair.

‘Maybe he came after analyzing all the pitches he was throwing under certain circumstances before entering the game. If the ball count goes down, there are only a few pitches that the pitcher can throw.’

It felt like showing the truth behind Maeng-Ho Ji’s monstrous record.

‘Then was the violent act calculated?’

Just as a pitcher instills a sense of intimidation in the batter by throwing the ball toward him, the guy instilled fear in the pitcher with his threatening behavior. With a single bamboo stick thrown at his senior, he had a real fear that he could get hit at any time. Even if they weren’t aware of it, all pitchers facing Ji Maeng-ho couldn’t help but have that fact embedded in their subconscious.

And pitchers with hesitation tend to throw misplaced pitches easily. Maeng-ho Ji improved his grades by eating the mistakes thrown by the fear that came from such unconsciousness, and his monster-like performance brought another fear to the pitchers.

‘Yes, everything was calculated.’

To think of him pushing his chest and making a clumsy provocation. It was only natural that Ji Maeng-ho did not react.

A monstrous guy who survived propane for over 15 years, uses psychological warfare worse than himself, and calculates every situation calmly. There were many players who designed how to play each game, but this was the first time that he designed the entire season, and even his baseball life.

Baek Kyung-ho and Ji Maeng-ho became afraid of Baek Kyung-ho when he thought that the guy he had shown so far was acting.

‘How can humans do that?’

While enjoying psychological warfare with the battery, he makes use of each and every one of his actions as an image, not enough to increase the success rate of his geth hit. Just for baseball.

That’s why he was able to hit himself with a bat or smash the leg of Hwasan’s second baseman Lee Won-hyung without any emotion. Without the slightest hesitation, he did such an act that a human being would have no choice but to hesitate. Ji Maeng-ho was a devil-like guy who could do anything for the sake of baseball, so it was quite possible.

‘He is not human. It’s the devil devil! A demon born to play baseball!’

Baek Kyung-ho walked to the locker room, holding on to his goosebumps arm even as he felt the pain.

*

‘Shit. But something is missing.’

‘What’s wrong with a guy who hit a home run?’

‘Is it because of the bancle? Strangely, the UG guys feel passive?’

If it came closer, I was going to break one somewhere, but after the bench clearing, the UG guys were playing as usual. There were still many things I wanted to show you, but it was a bit disappointing that they became passive.

‘Well, today isn’t the only day.’

‘Chit, then I’ll have to be content with hitting it with a bat today.’

Strangely, the UG guys, who seemed to have lost their momentum, couldn’t stop us, and the match that day ended with our victory easier than expected.