Chapter 346 – Episode 338. Attube. (1)

“Sangju senior! Just one hit!”

– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!

Bottom of the 7th inning, trailing 2:0. Cho Yong-ju, who had pitched without allowing a run through six innings, was still standing on the mound. This marks the third match between Ki Ki-joo and Jo Yong-ju today. Today’s weather performance was pretty good with 1 hit in 2 at-bats, so I had a feeling that I could get on base.

‘I think we can tie the score if only Sangju senior comes out…’

Perfect!

Gyeong Gi-ju’s first pitch against Cho Yong-ju is a foul. Considering that he hit the ball toward first base, he seemed to be in good shape today.

‘Okay, just like this, just one hit.’

As if he had heard my prayers, Ki Ki-joo, who had fouled the ball just before, swung his bat with confidence this time.

Perfect!

“It’s done!”

“Run! Run!”

– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!

The weatherman’s batted ball draws a beautiful parabola and separates between center field and right field.

“As expected of a weatherman!”

A beautiful blow that makes exclamations come out of your mouth. Ki-Gyeong-ju, who showed great hitting, ran around first base and all the way to second base… Everything?

‘Uh? Fuck, if you do this…’

The leadoff hitter hits a double with no outs. And the batter is me. As a result, an answer more obvious than 1+1 was waiting for me.

“I…, I got no hits in 2 at-bats today… Are you going to compete?”

As soon as I went to bat, I spoke to the catcher in a condescending manner,

“It was intentional.”

“… Fuck.”

The results did not change.

“What are you doing? “Aren’t you going to walk?”

“Yes. “I’m going.”

As I was showing reluctance at bat, the umpire urged me to walk quickly.

‘Fuck, I thought I was hitting it right, but Sangju senior ended up hitting a double.’

I want to recover my hitting skills as quickly as possible, but it doesn’t help anyway. Still, it was good news because they wouldn’t skip me in a situation where there were runners with two outs, but it was still a little disappointing. And then Choi Jin-cheol’s at-bat.

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

“Strike!”

“Ball.”

Cho Yong-ju, who had pitched 6 innings without allowing any runs, began to falter, perhaps because he had put both previous batters on base. And the fifth ball was thrown.

“Base on balls!”

Choi Jin-cheol got on base by getting a walk.

‘With this, does Jincheol also have 1 hit and 1 walk in 2 at-bats? Is it slowly coming back to life?’

No matter how shaky the pitcher is, getting a walk is the skill of the batter. As long as Choi Jin-cheol came back alive with my joining, it was quite meaningful.

A month after opening, our current ranking was 6th with 15 wins, 16 losses, and 1 draw. In fact, there were many reasons why we, who were predicted to be the favorites for the championship before the start, fell to 6th place. First, there were too many injured players.

Injuries to Woo Kwan-hyung, the team’s spiritual leader, and starting catcher Jeong Yun-cheol. Also, Don Williams, the mercenary batsman who led the batting lineup at the beginning of the season while hitting .400, was out due to injury, so the batting lineup without me lost weight, and Junhu, the 5th starter, was also moved down to the second team, which added to the bad news.

As expected, what hit me the hardest was my discipline.

In any case, it was a green light that brought to the senses of Choi Jin-cheol, who was underperforming amid such adverse circumstances. Moreover, today’s opponent, the Charlotte Blue Mariners, is a team that is ranked 4th with 16 wins, 15 losses, and 1 draw. Starting with today’s game, if we sweep the three-game series, it would not be a problem to immediately move up to the top rankings.

In particular, considering that the next opponent was Hwasan, who are in first place with 19 wins and 13 losses, it was important to have a good atmosphere in this series.

‘The problem is that Charlotte spy…’

6th batter Yoon Seong-tae hits his stretch with the bat and then comes to bat.

‘Why did that spy get caught here with the bases loaded, and the bases loaded?’

Seongtae Yoon’s current batting record is 0.287/0.374/0.416/0.790, which is pretty good for a shortstop. Of course, in my eyes, it was a crappy performance, but considering the shortstop position, is he doing his job as a person?

But the problem was that spy’s performance against Charlotte. Whenever we played against Charlotte, we had a huge error, a double play, and a strikeout, so even if we had no bases loaded, I had no expectations at all.

Even in today’s game, Choi Jin-cheol hit a single and got on base in the bottom of the second inning, but it was Yoon Seong-tae who broke the flow with a double play. Also, a strikeout in the bottom of the 5th inning.

‘Ha, fuck. If this happens, will I have no choice but to hope it ends with a strikeout? Who was the next batter?’

When I looked at the standby batting box, I saw Han Sang-gyu swinging the bat.

‘Fuck, it’s a mountain beyond a mountain.’

Han Sang-gyu, who has been playing as a designated hitter since the beginning of the season due to Woo Kwan-hyung’s injury, has a batting average of 0.260 and 2 home runs in 25 games. Last year, he hit 10 home runs as a pinch hitter, so the manager seemed to have faith in him, but in my opinion, he was a guy with no answers.

In particular, it was more of a problem because he was an extreme pull hitter and was the type of hitter who often made double plays.

‘I miss last year.’

I miss last year so much. Senior Joo-yeop also had a short time, but he played the role of the number one hitter by hitting .300, and reliable senior Kwan Hyeong was guarding the number 6 spot. I could only sigh at the batting order as I desperately understood why our team was in 6th place.

‘It’s the worst. The worst.’

However, as if to laugh at me for thinking the worst, Charlotte’s pitching coach visited the mound. Holding the ball And the pitchers coming out of the bullpen were Charlotte’s left-handers Pil Seung-jo and Kim Ji-hwan. In a situation where there were consecutive left-handed hitters, it was a natural choice to drop Cho Yong-ju, who pitched a lot as a right-handed pitcher, and bring up left-handed pitcher Kim Ji-hwan, but I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

All I can do is send a sign to Seongtae Yoon at second base.

‘It’s a slider.’

‘Seongtae hyung. It’s a first-pitch breaking ball.’

For the first time in a while, he sends an autograph to Seongtae Yoon, who is standing at bat with his hand on his knee. When our eyes meet, Seongtae Yoon slightly nods his head.

‘If you really can’t hit this, report it to the Clean Baseball Center. Fuck.’

Whoa!

Seongtae Yoon’s bat cuts through the air beautifully.

“St~! Like!”

“Oh! Mr.”

“Suddenly it’s crazy.”

When I swore at Yoon Seong-tae’s sharp swing, Charlotte’s shortstop next to me looked at me like I was a strange person.

‘No, I told you the type of pitch, but that spy swung and missed!’

… I wanted to tell you the truth, but I kept quiet because telling the truth would have meant clearing the bench.

‘Wow, my stomach is bursting.’

‘Do you know how I feel now? It tells me the type of pitch and its location, but it’s how I feel when I see you not being able to hit it.’

‘…’

While Rossby was talking nonsense, Ji-Hwan Kim threw the ball, and it hit the outside course amazingly, bringing the strike count to two at once.

‘Ha, if you do this, you’ll strike out. Tsk. Should I feel fortunate that it wasn’t a double play? Spy bastard. I didn’t even expect it to begin with.’

‘It’s a slider this time too.’

… But I had to do what I had to do.

‘Seongtae hyung. It’s a change of ball this time too. Please hit me just once. No, you don’t have to hit, so let’s not just hit ground balls, damn it!’

I relayed the pitch I heard from Rossby to Seongtae Yoon by playing with my hands. Because it is the quality of a leader to trust even the worst team members. If you don’t believe in me, the team’s key player, who will believe in you? Of course, I didn’t have any expectations. I just hope that the disaster of hitting a breaking ball that doesn’t work and getting a ground ball doesn’t happen.

Ta – Aak!

“Huh?”

Seongtae Yoon’s batted ball flies. Far, further. Higher, higher. Charlotte’s right fielder glances his head and runs back. A ball that floats so high that it wouldn’t be surprising if it was caught. Either get caught or get away.

-Wow!!!!

“Fuck! Seongtae hyung! “I believed it!!”

Is this the effect of faith? Seongtae Yoon hit a grand slam against Charlotte.

“Hey! Go quickly.”

Because he was the runner on first base, Choi Jin-cheol, who had already reached second base, shouted at me, unlike me, who was watching the hit.

“Yes!”

After answering cheerfully and stepping on the home run, and sharing a high five with Ki Ki-joo, Choi Jin-cheol, who was the runner on first base, and Yoon Seong-tae, the hero of the comeback grand slam, step on the home run one after the other.

-Yoon Seongtae! Seongtae Yoon! Seongtae Yoon!

And the cheers of fans echoing through Jamsil Stadium.

‘It’s Tuesday and a lot of people came. Wow, it tastes like this.’

Even though it was a Tuesday, the dugout was filled with enthusiasm as I returned to the dugout while feeling the cheers of passionate fans who filled Jamsil to about 70% capacity.

“Nice! Seongtae, it was good!”

“Yoon Seong-tae, what is it?!”

And the team members congratulated Seongtae Yoon by patting his helmet. Seeing my teammates like that made me feel regretful that that position should have been mine, but it was still a reversal, so I congratulated Seongtae Yoon by hitting him on the helmet.

“Hey, did you see it?”

When all the congratulations were over, Seongtae Yoon sat down next to me and spoke to me.

“What?”

“You’re my spy.”

“Huh?”

“You’re a spy, aren’t you? “Did you see the ham home run?”

“Brother, you know that the more you deny it, the more suspicious it becomes, right? “Aren’t you a spy who was given orders to hit a home run?”

“It’s done. Turn it off, don’t.”

“How did you hit a grand slam now to get payback later? Yes? “Answer me!”

Seniors gather around me as if they heard my voice.

“Look at that, Meng Ho is being mean again.”

“Why are you doing that to Seongtae?”

“Looking at Meng Hao’s appearance, it seems like Charlotte is a spy.”

“Oh, come to think of it, when Seongtae first joined, didn’t he know everyone except the Charlotte players?”

“Ah, senior! Why are you talking about that time?”

The seniors seemed to agree with my story and added their words one by one.

“As expected, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.”

“That’s a kid, you’re kidding, a kid!”

“Brother, don’t forget that I’m always watching.”

“Oh, I’m really going crazy.”

“Why? Are you going crazy because you can’t become a spy?”

“Oh, Shiba’s.”

Seongtae Yoon can’t hold back any longer and raises his fist. I was so startled by that sight that I walked away, and maybe because the camera was rolling, Seongtae Yoon didn’t come closer.

“Brother. “I am watching.”

“Turn it off.”

And fortunately, perhaps because I was watching, Seongtae Yoon could no longer spy, and the game ended with us winning, 6:3.

‘As expected, I can’t do it anymore because they keep watching me. I’ll have to watch the whole series.’

*

“Congratulations to Seongtae Yoon, today’s award winner. Please tell us your thoughts.”

“Thank you. I think I was able to hit a home run because of the fans’ support. Thank you, fans, for always supporting us.”

“Please explain today’s game.”

“Yes, first of all, senior Cho Yong-ju’s pitch was very good today…”

The hallway between the dugout and locker room after the game. Seongtae Yoon, who had finished interviewing the distinguished player with the broadcaster, was being interviewed by the iTube operators operated by the club. The content of interviewing one or two highly decorated players at the time of victory was AT iTube’s regular and most basic content, so Seongtae Yoon was also answering questions with sincerity.

At that time,

“Brother, I will watch over you tomorrow as well. Just try it once.”

Ji Maeng-ho, who came out to collect the bat he had left in the dugout, saw Yoon Seong-tae like that and spoke to him.

“Ma, I’m in the middle of an interview. Turn it off. I’m sorry. “I said I would edit here and come back.”

“Ah, … Yes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Take care. Ugh, this should have been my seat.”

“Meng Hao did it on Sunday. Haha.”

“Well, it’s better to do it every day. “I win every day.”

“We also like seeing Maeng Ho appear…”

“Well, I’m the main character today…”

“Oh, sorry. Then we will continue the interview. Maengho, have a nice day off work.”

“Yes, good work.”

Ji Maeng-ho left like that, and the AT iTube management staff whetted their appetite after seeing Ji Maeng-ho leave.

‘If only Ji Maeng-ho appeared, the number of views would be guaranteed.’

Last year, the biggest protagonist of this interview content was Ji Maeng-ho. Because every time he won a game, Ji Maeng-ho was selected as the Distinguished Player with a high probability. And the player who drove the number of views of last year’s Seungri interview was none other than Ji Maeng-ho.

A handsome face, skills that bomb the league, and a personality that is not often shown in the media. AT’s iTube was almost the only medium through which AT Thunders fans could see Ji Maeng-ho. Among them, since it was the only interview content featured, it was natural that the number of views for Seungri’s interview featuring Ji Maeng-ho soared.

Last year, employees who run AT’s iTube tried to get Ji Maeng-ho to appear in various content to increase views, but they were all rejected under orders from superiors. Because Ji Maeng-ho is a rookie, he needs special management, and there was a special order from the club to prevent the player’s condition from being affected by exposing him to the media.

Even when filming training vlogs, they were edited to avoid showing Ji Maeng-ho as much as possible.

‘If Ji Maeng-ho often appeared, the number of subscribers and views would immediately increase.’

That was the common thought of the employees running AT iTube. And now, as Ji Maeng-ho passes by with a joke, that regret has become even more intense.

“Then, thank you for the interview.”

“Yes, have a hard time.”

The hallway became quiet after Yoon Seong-tae left after Seungri’s interview. Someone opened their mouth.

“Then let’s go shoot content on the way home from work.”

“Yes, let’s go. “Can’t we film Ji Maeng-ho this time too?”

“I guess so, right? Last year, that was also banned.”

“Hmm… It’s because I was a rookie last year. Wouldn’t this year be a little different?”

“Do you think so?”

“Honestly, Ji Maeng-ho is a waste. When Ji Maeng-ho appears, the number of views doubles. Think about incentives.”

“Yes, of course. But will the operations team leader allow it? It would be nice if only it could happen. He also has a sense of humor when you see him joking in the dugout sometimes. It looks perfect.”

“Oh, that won’t work. I’ll ask you when I come to work tomorrow. For now, let’s prepare content on the way home from work. “The players will be out soon after showering.”

“I understand.”

So Seong-cheol Choi, the iTube team leader who runs AT iTube, took a step forward with a firm resolve.