Chapter 568 – Episode 560. 73. (2)

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

The second ball he chose was a fastball. The speed of the first pitch was 148 km/h, so I set my timing to that speed and waited for the guy’s ball.

“Ball.”

However, even if he had intended to compete head-on, he didn’t seem to have any intention of playing stupidly, so he took the second ball out of bounds, and I picked the ball out without even making a movement.

‘Slider.’

‘Okay.’

His winning ball, which was confirmed during power analysis, was a slider. His slider was a bell slider type. And here, throwing a slider, which is the deciding pitch, means to make sure to drop it downwards and induce a swing and miss, thus taking the count battle to your advantage with two strikes.

Since there was no need to react to that pitch, I decided to let his third pitch go and waited for the next pitch.

“Ball.”

And as expected, the ball count was two balls, one strike, as he lightly intercepted the guy’s ball, which almost one-bounded. In addition, we checked the trajectory of the slider, so everything was ready.

‘It’s a slider again.’

‘Oh, slider again?’

With a two-ball, one-strike count, it wasn’t strange no matter what ball came, so I was ready to react to all balls except for the absurd ones.

‘Now, come. No matter where you go, I’ll give you a refreshing blow.’

And the guy’s ball was thrown…

‘Outside?’

His slider came toward me, drawing a trajectory vaguely spanning the outside borderline.

Ta – Aak!

It seems like it was hit at exactly the right time, but it feels like it was hit by the top of the bat, and it goes through my hand. And just like that feeling, the hit ball slightly curves away from the left pole.

‘Fuck, I missed it a bit. Sigh, even if Jamsil was a little narrower, it would have been a home run, but there’s nothing we can do about it.’

With a foul home run that missed the pole, the count is now two balls, two strikes. The count was a little high, but that didn’t mean I was worried. Anyway, the pitcher is a two-pitch type pitcher who uses a fastball and slider. He was the type of pitcher who just needed to clear the ball and aim for the ball that came into the zone.

‘It’s a change-up.’

‘Yes? ‘Change-up?’

But his choice was a change-up. I searched through my memory to see if I had ever heard of him throwing a changeup. But there was no such data. Well, the power analysis team told me, but I may not have remembered because he was an insignificant pitcher.

‘Hmm… Changeup? Is that why you threw the slider like that? Are you going to use a changeup at the end? First, it’s not a circle, so it won’t bend…’

There was no need to worry about the changeup since it was a similar pitch unless he was throwing a circle changeup. Besides, since it was a slow ball anyway, all I had to do was hit the ball as fast as I could. The problem is his location.

‘Hmm… For some reason, I feel like putting it in the zone.’

After much thought, the conclusion I came to was that he was likely to put the ball in the zone. His changeup is something I can’t even remember. If it had been the type of ball used as a third pitch, I would have definitely remembered it. It’s too early for him to catch up, but he was a player in the first team.

However, his change-up was not in my memory, and throwing such a ball as the deciding ball in a two-two situation was more likely to be a secret weapon he was hiding.

It wouldn’t be easy to just use that ball as a throwaway ball, so I felt like he wanted to strike me out by throwing this ball.

‘This bastard was a funny bastard. Are you suddenly going to throw in your secret weapon and strike me out and take the spotlight? Try throwing it. ‘I will kill you.’

When all preparations were completed, the guy slowly started the engine as if he was ready to throw the ball.

The guy’s left leg stretches forward and the guy’s right arm swings at the same time. The ball that left my arm grows bigger and comes closer to me. … As if it were a fastball. But I knew that his pitch was a change-up, so I watched his pitch until the end.

‘… ‘Two, three!’

And when he felt that it was about to fall, he swung the bat while watching the ball until the end.

Ta – Aak!

This time, the feeling of hitting the right spot at the right time spreads through my palms. As I glanced at the batted ball, I saw that the batted ball was flying quickly toward the left wall just as I felt.

‘It’s clear that playing alone until recently has been effective. Even those guys throw changeups.’

-Wow!!!!

And the fans who came to see my home run were already cheering, probably because they felt it when they saw the batted ball.

‘Shall we have a ceremony?’

I thought about doing my signature ceremony for those fans, but then I quickly changed my mind. The ceremony was enough to amuse her fans, but she honestly wasn’t that cool. The really cool thing is…

After appreciating the batted ball and making up my mind, I indifferently threw the bat and started running towards first base, as if a home run like this was nothing to me.

‘Fuck, fuck. ‘This is cool.’

-Wow!!!!

-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!

The fans were also chanting my name louder than ever, as if they felt what true cool was in my actions. A thrilling feeling after a long time… !

I felt like my dick was going to pierce my pants, but I heard that there were already a lot of pictures of the outlines of dicks floating around on the internet. Considering my noble image, I didn’t want to add more pictures like that, so I closed my eyes, bit my tongue, and looked at the men. I thought about it and calmed down my alter ego.

‘Phew, I’m finally calming down a bit. Ah, but did I bite my tongue too hard? It hurts.’

Are you biting your tongue so hard that it almost feels like tears are forming?

“Hey! Are you crying?”

“What is crying… “It’s not that difficult to hit a home run.”

“Okay? Hmm…”

Senior Jincheol, who was the standby hitter, tried to tease me by giving me a high five, but I immediately blocked out Jincheol’s joke and walked to the dugout.

In the dugout, my teammates were already gathered to congratulate me on my 73rd home run.

“Meng Hao. Well done.”

“Thank you! Director!

From the director,

“Nice!”

“Meng Hao! Congratulations!”

“Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maeng-ho!”

“Thank you!”

Coaches and other players. And after I marked ’73’ with my finger while looking at the camera that came to take a picture of me, the dugout calmed down a bit. When all the celebrations were over, the manager came up to me as I sat on the bench drinking a drink.

I thought he was probably here to talk about home run balls, but I happened to be curious, so I asked him first.

“But is there any event today? No fireworks explode. “I think I did something last time.”

“Hmm… I didn’t say anything for fear of putting pressure on you, but the president is following me around, so I understand that an event is scheduled when you break the record, that is, when you hit your 74th home run.”

Somehow. Nothing special happened today. It seemed like club officials and league officials were confident that I could hit my 74th home run. Of course, I also had the confidence to do so.

“Oh, really? I don’t really feel any pressure. “Since when have you been following me?”

“Perhaps you followed literature first?”

“I see.”

“Ah! And you know the one you hit this time. Park Ji-hwan. Last time you broke the Korean record, you were the pitcher. Did you know?”

“No? Because I don’t even care about that. It’s a bit surprising.”

Is that why his eyes looked like that? Anyway, as I hoped, he seemed to have left his mark on the history of Korean baseball. The pitcher who allowed a new Korean home run record and the pitcher who allowed the world record for home runs.

“But. Meng Hao, you’re not the type to care about such things.”

“But, it’s good. He’s also a member of the draft team, but he’ll be on a broadcast later, so there’s a story to tell. I guess this is why I love my classmates and my country.”

“Is that so? Haha. Ah, well, anyway. “It’s home run ball No. 73. Are you going to get it?”

“Yes. It’s nice to have something. Can I give you an autographed bat and uniform? The uniform… “You brought it.”

“Of course. But honestly, it might be hard to accept. There are cases where they ask for money.”

“Hey, how much can I do? It’s deducted from my annual salary. “What?”

I took out the uniform and bat that the manager brought, quickly signed them, and then handed them back to the manager.

‘Hmm… Are you going to ask for money? Since this is the 73rd home run, can I pay about 730,000 won?’

To be honest, I never had a hobby of collecting souvenirs. The only ball I treasured was the first home run I hit last year without Rossby. The rest of the balls were rolling around somewhere in the house, but there was no harm in keeping the home run ball that tied Bonds’ record, so I was willing to give about 730,000 won and waited for news from the manager.

However, the news the manager brought was shocking.

“Falcon, fierce tiger.”

“Yes?”

“They ask for 730 million?”

“Yes? Are you crazy? Just tell them to turn it off. Eok is not even the name of someone’s dog. No shit, this is ridiculous. What the fuck, it’s not even the price of a house. Where is that bastard?”

I was wondering if I should give 7.3 million won, but 730 million? I immediately got up from my seat at the absurd remark.

“Now, wait a minute. Just calm down. “It’s a fierce tiger!”

When I got up from my seat, the manager grabbed my body to stop me.

“Hey! Hey! What happened all of a sudden?!”

“No, if some crazy bastard wants to get credit, he will appease 730 million!”

“700 million?! “Are you crazy?”

The other seniors’ expressions showed a look of bewilderment at my words. However, what was more shocking than that were the words that came out of the manager’s mouth.

“Hmm… Well, I did some searching on the way there, and I heard that Maguire’s No. 70 home run ball was up for auction and sold for $3 million in 1999.”

“…”

“…”

For $3 million, multiply 10,000 by 1,000. There are two zeros, so it’s a billion, billion. 3 billion? A baseball?

“It could be cheap for 700 million. It’s Meng Hao. How should I calculate my salary?”

“… That, the auction. “Can I sell it?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Why, take it and sell it?”

It’s not a major league ball, but if it’s properly auctioned, wouldn’t it fetch about 1 billion won… ? No, it’s a record that was set almost 20 years ago, so it’s about 2 billion…

“By the way, Meng Hao. If you hit your 74th home run, the value may drop. “If more home runs are recorded, the ball’s value will decrease.”

“Was that something like that? Oh, just tell them to go. Fuck, I’m so dirty, I should hit more home runs.”

Fuck. I almost lost 700 million won. But why are they selling baseballs that are nothing special at such a high price? . Anyway, after hearing that, I thought that I had to hit my 74th home run. Because it hurt my stomach too much to give such a large amount of money to someone I didn’t even know.

‘Fuck, everything is gone. I keep aiming for home runs until I find someone who returns the ball… !’

… But is it because I was too conscious of home runs, or was it because I couldn’t focus on the huge sum of 700 million won?

After that, he was able to get three at-bats for the rest of the game, but he hit three outfield flies, once to left field, once to center field, and once to right field, and the game ended that day with a record of 1 hit in 4 at-bats, 1 home run, and 1 walk. .