Chapter 342 – Episode 334. Juji Daejeon. (3)

“Hey. Hoon-chan says he’s going to kill you?”

“Hoonchan hyung? Who is that person?”

“What really? Don’t you know Hoonchan? “He’s our catcher now.”

“Oh, really?”

In the top of the third inning, Joo Seung-cheol, who arrived at second base after hitting a double with one out, took off his gear and spoke to me. It seemed like the name of the catcher who was angry at me earlier was Hunchan. But what touched my heart more than anything else was Joo Seung-cheol’s performance.

Joo Seung-cheol’s current performance, as confirmed by looking at the electronic display board, was a batting average of .401, 1.228 OPS, and 8 home runs. Even a month after opening, he’s batting over .400 and a ridiculous OPS. And he has ridiculous slugging power, leading Jamsil in home runs. His performance made all hitters in the KBA league jealous.

So, am I jealous too? It wasn’t like that. Jealousy was originally an emotion felt by a person who is inferior when he sees someone who is superior to him. There was no reason for me to feel jealous of Joo Seung-cheol, as I was confident that I could record far superior grades than him. The only thing that bothered me was…,

‘Sseu-eup, won’t Seungcheol get sentenced if we keep doing this?’

… Joo Seung-cheol’s Achilles’ heel, drug use, was a problem. It was clear that if it was revealed that he had been taking it so blatantly, he would become the target of a drug test. Last season, I also took a drug test almost once a month, or at worst, once every two weeks.

Perhaps because I was playing baseball in collaboration with Rossby, I didn’t have any antipathy towards drugs. Since I didn’t play baseball based on pure skill, I had no right to criticize people who played baseball in unfair ways.

To be honest, I was even thinking that other players would use drugs to entertain me before going to the majors. Of course, it was the players’ situation that they would be screwed if they got caught, so it had nothing to do with me.

However, since he was a close brother to me personally and one of the few players in the league who made me happy, I hoped that Joo Seung-cheol would not get caught. Additionally, there was a big event in the baseball world this year. The Summer Olympics held in LA. It was actually the last Olympics I would be able to participate in, because baseball could have been eliminated unless the Olympics were held in Korea, the United States, or Japan.

Unfortunately, we finished second in the last WBC, so we really wanted to win this time, but it was clear that if a player of Joo Seung-cheol’s caliber could not participate in the Olympics due to disciplinary action, our country’s chances of winning would be further reduced, so it was a loss for Joo Seung-cheol to get caught on drugs.

Moreover, if Joo Seung-cheol is caught taking a banned substance…,

‘Jia will be very sad, right? ‘I’m sure you’ll be sad.’

It was clear that Jia would be very sad. Even though she and Joo Seung-cheol bickered, the two were family anyway, and I could feel that Jia thought a lot about Joo Seung-cheol. Well, in addition, since it was Joo Seung-cheol who connected Jia and me, I hope I don’t get caught as much as possible.

“Hyung, it’s good to play well, but don’t make it too obvious.”

With that in mind, I gave advice so that only Joo Seung-cheol could hear it.

“… Huh? “What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?”

It’s embarrassing. Well, you can’t help but be embarrassed when you hit the nail on the head like this. I saved what I said next because Seongtae Yoon might hear it. Looking at his puzzled expression, it seemed like he had not yet noticed that I had noticed.

Since I gave him advice, there is only one thing I can do for Joo Seung-cheol.

‘Whoa…, I should play better for Seungcheol hyung, right?’

Well, Joo Seung-cheol may not be able to maintain his current grades, but if Joo Seung-cheol maintains those grades alone, he will have no choice but to continue to take tests like I did last year. Even if banned drug designers continue to supply drugs that are not caught, if the tail is long, they are bound to get caught.

The only way I could help was by dispersing the aggro by getting better results. Well, it’s still inevitable that there will be suspicion, but if there are two batters who are not up to standard, you may think that the pitcher’s level has dropped.

“Brother, I will help you.”

“You’ve been saying random things since a while ago…”

Perfect!

While I was talking with Joo Seung-cheol, Han-cheol’s fourth hitter, Thompson’s batted ball, flew toward me as a line drive. Pop! As soon as he felt the ball hit his glove, he quickly took the ball out and threw it to Seongtae Yoon, who was covering second base.

“… Safe!”

Unfortunately, we were unable to get a double out.

‘I guess I was concentrating.’

“This guy, he said something out of the blue. This is why Hoon-chan is so upset. Dude, don’t talk to me anymore.”

“Kabiyo.”

And the top of the third inning ended with Bellingham striking out the next batter. In the bottom of the third inning, we had one batter on base, but we were unable to score and the game remained tied. And in the bottom of the 4th inning, the opportunity to lead off came to me.

“Hi?”

“…”

‘Seungcheol said earlier that he was very angry, and it seems like he was furious.’

I laughed a little because the energy coming from the way he was sitting seemed to say, ‘I’m angry!’ I can’t believe a catcher, who is not a pitcher but is responsible for the team’s home defense, gives off this kind of vibe.

‘Shall we play with it a little again this time?’

“I was grateful for the return gift earlier. I kept thinking about it, and you gave me a gift because it was my return day, right? Otherwise, there’s no way they’d give you a ball that’s that easy to hit, right? Right? “Senior?”

“Please shut up and let’s play the game.”

“You’re the one who said it first, right?”

‘It’s a slider.’

‘Okay.’

“Give me a good ball to hit this time too.”

“This bastard until the end…”

While talking with the catcher, Na Seung-yoon’s feet moved, and he started pitching. Even while we were talking, I was waiting without losing concentration. As soon as I felt the guy’s ball enter the zone, I put out the bat.

Perfect!

‘Kabi!’

The result is a foul. The moment it was hit, the batted ball flew toward the stands near third base.

‘Was the bat a little fast? ‘How was Mr. Rossby?’

‘It was a bit fast.’

‘Okay.’

The ball that hit the home run in the previous at-bat was a fastball, so it was easy to get the timing right, but perhaps because it was a return game, it seemed like my batting sense was slightly not good.

‘If this goes on, I’ll have to throw away intermediately fast balls like sliders and splitters.’

Both his slider and splitter were breaking balls with a good angle while recording a velocity in the mid to high 130s. Even if I hit it in my current condition, I didn’t think I could hit a ball that would get past Jamsil, so I erased those two things from my head.

Then, there are two breaking balls left for Na Seung-yoon. Curve and changeup. However, there was no idiot in the league who had the courage to throw a curveball or changeup into the zone, so there was only one ball for me to aim for.

‘I guess I should aim for a fastball.’

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

“If I just throw a breaking ball like this, are you going to walk me out? Can you catch it if you run? “You know the rumor that Baek Kyung-ho couldn’t throw the ball to second base because he had a mouth infection after the Korean Series last year?”

“Please, shut up. Please.”

As I was waiting for the fastball and skipping the ball, I suddenly found myself in a two-strike, two-ball situation.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

And the waiting fastball was thrown. I pushed the ball against the grain on an outward trajectory.

Taaak!

‘Are you done?’

A pushed ball with an ambiguous touch. He launched it into the outfield, but it was not clear whether it would go over the fence, so he ran straight to first base.

-Wow!!

“Run! Run!”

When I heard the shouts and the first base coach’s words, it seemed like I wasn’t caught.

‘Mr. Rossby! What about batted balls?’

‘Run to second base, you can survive.’

‘You mean it’s time for a close fight?’

Hancheol’s right fielder is Kim Jeong-hyeon, a national team outfielder. Since he was a player with a good arm, I did my best and ran all the way to second base.

‘Sliding!’

When second base came into range, Rossby screamed. And at the right time, I threw my body and touched second base. And you can immediately feel the feel of the glove.

“Safe!”

‘Whoa, that was close.’

It was a double hit thanks to the combination of my quick feet and Rossby’s knife-like sliding timing, but it didn’t feel that good.

‘It definitely seems like the feeling of hitting has been a bit damaged.’

Normally, I would have sent it to the fence, but it turned out to be a double hit like this. The results were good though. Even if I got out, I was a little disappointed because the ball should have gone all the way to the fence.

‘Well, that’s it, you have to do what you have to do.’

There may be a slump in batting. There is no slump in the feet.

“Meng Hao, gloves. Are you going to run right away?”

“Yes. “You have to jump once so the pups you meet in the future won’t do anything foolish.”

After receiving a base-running glove from the coach, I immediately prepared to steal third base.

‘It’s a curve.’

‘Okay. I can run right away.’

And Na Seung-yoon’s first pitch was thrown to Choi Jin-cheol. I ran straight toward third base, and the glove touched my body, but I had already stolen third base.

“Safe!”

‘Senior Jincheol, I’m asking you now.’

When I arrived at third base, I looked at Choi Jin-cheol’s back and prayed that he would call me home,

Perfect!

Choi Jin-cheol struck the ball as if answering my prayers. It was an infield ground ball headed to second base, but since it was a no-out situation, Hancheol’s second baseman gave up the home run and chose to count out, and the score on the electronic display board went up.

‘With this, 3:2. Good.’

I was a little worried because Choi Jin-cheol’s performance was not good for a month after the opening, but it seemed like the AT Thunders’ scoring formula of Choi Jin-cheol somehow bringing in runs after I got on base and stole a base would continue this year as well.

“Meng Hao, it was good!”

“As expected, Ji Maeng-ho! It’s still the same.”

“Okay, let’s keep going like this!”

*

[With the game still tied at 4-3, the inning begins in the top of the 9th inning with Hancheol’s 9th batter, An Si-Hwon. Today’s game is a fierce match, like a rivalry game held in Jamsil on Children’s Day, isn’t it?]

[It’s a game appropriate for Children’s Day. This is a match that fans will really enjoy.]

[You’re right. If you had to choose the protagonist of this famous match, you could choose two players: Hancheol’s Joo Seung-cheol and AT’s Ji Maeng-ho. Both players hit two-run home runs in the first inning, marking the start of a great game, and Ji Maeng-ho scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning, putting AT ahead. And in the top of the 5th inning, Joo Seung-cheol scored 1 RBI, leveling the score at 3:3. After that, the balance of the tight game was broken in the bottom of the 8th inning, the previous inning, when Ji Maeng-ho made a deep outfield fly that went all the way to the fence.]

[That’s right. Ji Maeng-ho and Joo Seung-cheol, the core players of both teams, are leading the team by being involved in all the team’s goals.]

[So, Hancheol’s fans are probably thinking that Joo Seung-cheol’s batting lineup will somehow continue, right? And now, if only one batter gets on base, Joo Seung-cheol’s at bat comes back. The game is not over yet as to which player will be the protagonist of this game.]