Chapter 591 – Episode 583. Coronation. (3)

Ta – Aak!

A cheerful hitting sound is heard once again at Daejeon Stadium and the ball passes over the fence.

-Waaaaa!!!!!

… And the cheers of the fans were so loud that the Daejeon Stadium shook. Unfortunately, the source of this shout was not the third base side, but the first base side, and Lee Yong-gi, who was circling first base and heading toward second base, made eye contact.

-Lee Yong-gi! Lee Yonggi! Use it!

Those eyes seemed to be saying that we should try to get along properly today. With 2 outs and runners on second base, Lee Yong-gi’s two-run home run makes the score now 3:2.

As Lee Yong-gi passed by, what I saw was Park Jun-hyung with his head down and his body shaking.

‘… Fuck. ‘Didn’t that guy take money?’

Rather than feeling sorry, maybe I’m a little angry? After an inning that was overturned, it was immediately overturned… I wanted to hit him in the face one more time, but if I hit him now, I wouldn’t be able to control my strength and I would probably faint, so I held back my anger.

“1 point! 1 point! Just follow along slowly!”

Hyunseong raised his voice to encourage Park Junhyung, but it was soon drowned out by the cheering of the home fans gathered at Daejeon Stadium.

-A story about using volcanoes! Oooooh! Oooooh! Home run! Use it!

‘Your voice is louder. Yes, it’s the first Korean series in twenty years, and it’s a shame it ends here. Is this it? ‘I’ll finish it off with a bang at home, you bastards.’

When I heard the cheering, I wanted to get to the plate quickly. I thought the taste of circling the ground with all the cheering noises silenced at once would be even more special.

“Out!”

Fortunately, Park Jun-hyung caught Mac D with a ground ball to shortstop to end the inning.

“Junhyung!”

Although the inning ended without giving any more points, I had to answer any questions I had, so as soon as I returned to the dugout, I sat down next to today’s starting pitcher, Park Jun-hyung, who was sitting with a gloomy expression and a towel wrapped around his head.

“… Huh?”

“Hyung, it’s not like taking money or risking money, right? “Am I really reporting this to the Clean Baseball Center?”

“… No, dude. … Senior Yonggi hit it well.”

Listening to a voice that seemed to have completely lost confidence, fortunately it didn’t seem like it was a case of risking money. Still, I had to cross-check, so I got up from my seat and approached Hyunseong, the starting catcher.

“Hey, Kim Hyun-seong.”

“Uh? Why?”

“How was the ball that hit a home run?”

I was watching the ball from behind Park Jun-hyung, but I also had to listen to the catcher’s point of view when he saw the ball right in front of him.

“Sweet, I hit it low, but I got over it. I think I was aiming for it. But why is that?”

“It’s okay, dude. Are you not mixing the balls correctly? “Why do you have to do that?”

“If anyone sees it, they’ll think I’m giving out autographs. No, but hitting a home run is annoying, so why are you arguing? “My brother was a catcher.”

“Look at the way he speaks? Shall we gain discipline for the first time in a long time?”

“I will work hard!”

“Who would think I was chasing you around? Am I going crazy now?”

“Hey, Mr. Damn it even if I match it. Uh? Senior Jincheol hit a hit. “I have to take off my gear, so go away.”

Anyway, why are kids these days so rude? This was because I wasn’t thorough enough.

Anyway, there was something I gained from the conversation with Hyeonseong. Today, Park Jun-hyung is not in good enough condition to hit a home run even with a low, well-controlled ball. I glanced at the bullpen and saw that the manager and pitching coach were also thinking the same thing as me, and there was someone warming up in the bullpen.

‘… What? ‘Is it Junhu?’

After Park Jun-hyung, Lim Jun-hoo… It was a mountain beyond a mountain.

‘No, it’s not the mountain beyond the mountain. The director completely sets the stage for me.’

This is the coach’s great intention to keep scoring points and win the Daily MVP today!

As I swept the daily MVP in games 1, 2, and 3, it was my intention to win the MVP today as well and win the daily MVP for the fourth consecutive time in the Korean Series, which has never been done in history. If the director trusts me this much, I also have to repay the director’s trust.

‘Mr. Rossby!’

‘What is it?’

‘Let’s go in after some training, right?’

‘Now? ‘Suddenly?’

‘Yes. I want to work even a little harder.’

‘Why is this guy acting like this all of a sudden? ‘Get out.’

‘… ‘Yes.’

… The road to repaying faith is always difficult.

Perfect!

“Ah…”

And just in time, Seongtae’s double play ends the inning.

“Bring your gloves.”

“… Yes.”

The bottom of the 4th inning started like that. Park Jun-hyung seemed to be able to block the first two batters well, but he was hit by Hwasan shortstop Kim Seung-sik, who was hitting .100 in the Korean Series, and started to falter as he hit two balls in a row to 9th batter Han Seong-jin.

“Time!”

And the director also took out his sword.

-Pitcher replacement, Lim Jun-hoo. Lim Jun-hoo.

Also, when the pitcher was replaced like this, it was my role as the leader to comfort the pitcher, so I approached Junhu, who was fiddling with the rosin and preparing the mound, and spoke to him.

“Hey, my brother is going to feed the winning pitcher today. “Don’t just give me points.”

“I became the winning pitcher, but am I leaving the club after today?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Uh? … Oh, I’m just kidding, but Mia…”

“What kind of club is this in Daejeon? Let’s go to Seoul.”

“… “I’ll try to block it.”

Junhu’s eyes seemed to be burning as he was clearly motivated. Well, I guess I can go there later. I need to have some fun with my girls today. … It doesn’t matter if I don’t go.

“Ball, good!”

Junhu’s practice pitch makes a pop and hits the catcher’s mitt. The speeds recorded on the electronic display board are 151, 153, and 152 km/h. It wasn’t a very fast ball, but he was throwing the best ball at the level of Junhu, and it seemed to be enough to deal with Hwasan’s hitters except Choi Si-woo and Lee Yong-gi.

‘The ball is good today. Is that power? Then, I think it will save me 2–3 innings.’

“Play ball!”

After the practice pitch assigned to Junhu was over, the game started again. Since Park Jun-hyung gave up two balls, the ball count was at a disadvantage of two balls and no strikes, and Jun-hu’s first pitch was thrown.

Perfect!

And, as if it were natural, the batter aims for the changed pitcher’s first pitch. However, the ball flew high and was trapped in the infield.

“I’ll catch it!”

Seongtae-hyung’s call is as calm as an ordinary easy fly. In the infield, the shortstop had priority for fly balls, so I sneaked out of the way, and Seongtae caught the ball comfortably.

“Out!”

Thus, Hwasan’s attack in the bottom of the 4th inning put one batter on base, but ended without much success. Our attack in the top of the 5th inning ended with Oz’s 4-way throw, and in the bottom of the 5th inning, Hwasan’s attack ended with Choi Si-woo hitting a big ball with two outs. He threw it away, but it was caught right in front of the fence, leaving the score at 3:2 with neither team scoring a point.

“We’re still losing, but you know we can turn things around at any time, right? The leadoff hitter in the top of the 6th inning is a big hit, so let’s follow it step by step starting from 1 point!”

“Yes!”

The beginning of the 6th inning started after a short meeting using cleaning time.

-Batter number 1, Ji~ Maengho!

My long-awaited turn at bat has finally arrived.

‘Remembering the sensations from earlier as much as possible…’

As I stepped into the batter’s box, what kept going through my mind was the feeling I felt when I hit the home run earlier.

After clearing my head and thinking about the feeling of hitting the ball while watching it, I went to bat and waited for Mr. Rossby’s words as usual.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

This time, I wait for the guy’s ball without thinking about whether it is towards the body or the outside. And the first pitch was thrown.

‘… ‘Ugh!’

The bat almost goes out to the outside ball, so I tighten my body and take the bat back.

“… Swing!”

And then the first base umpire’s call comes.

“Wow, it’s a check swing, but it’s really tight. Didn’t it spin?”

“… Are you protesting?”

“No, it looks ambiguous when viewed from behind. “If you had seen it, you would have called.”

“…”

It must have been ambiguous, seeing as the referee was unable to refute it. Anyway, one strike with this. It wasn’t good to worry about uncomfortable decisions, so I tried to forget about the check swing and focus on the next ball.

‘Sweet, when I look at it and try to hit it, my hand goes out to a similar ball. What about the next ball?’

‘It’s a curve.’

‘Oh… Curve?’

Throwing a curveball here…

It seemed like Lee Yong-gi was trying to check my condition by seeing a check swing that would not normally have occurred. Wouldn’t it be fun to check the batter’s condition and immediately taste it?

Then, the probability that this curve would fall within the zone was low. No matter how much I tried to hit without thinking, not thinking about this was like a real monkey going to bat, so I decided to skip this ball and waited for the next ball.

“Ball.”

And the curve of Oz coming into the almost one-bound castle.

‘Good. I got the count right.’

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

Fastball again. Even though he hit a home run with a fastball in his previous at-bat, he couldn’t help but throw the fastball, so it was an inevitable choice,

‘It has arrived!’

… I saw his fastball too many times. Since the game ended yesterday.

Ta – Aak!

And the clear sound is heard once again. The batted ball was shot out into the outfield like a laser, just like the previous at-bat. I didn’t have the same feeling as before, but I hit the ball pretty perfectly!

‘Great, this is it.’

Feeling satisfied once again, I laid down the bat and tried to snipe at the pitcher like usual…

‘What are you doing?! You idiot! Run!’

‘Huh?!’

I was startled by Mr. Rossby’s words and when I checked the batted ball, it had already hit the fence and was rolling to the left fielder at a high speed.

‘Fuck! ‘I didn’t check the batted ball!’

I regretted running to first base, but the ball had already reached the shortstop.

“… “It’s Meng Hao.”

The first base coach holds my head and calls my name in a low voice…

“… I’m sorry. “I couldn’t check the batted ball because it seemed like it was hit so well.”

Since it was clearly my fault, I immediately apologized and received a base-running glove.

“But, I thought it would pass. “Didn’t the coach think it would be overlooked?”

“The launch angle was too low. It was too much of a line drive.”

“Ah…”

Fuck. I really thought it would pass…

“Meng Hao. Let’s focus.”

“Coach. “I will clean up the poop I made.”

“Okay. “Let’s run again this time.”

“Yes!”

Can’t go home from here? Then I couldn’t bear it.

‘Mr. Rossby! Please!’

‘Ugh, you idiot. You are just a monkey. A monkey is perfect.’

This humiliation of being demoted from a gorilla to a monkey… Gathering the humiliation I was feeling in my legs, I began to focus on pitching once again.

*

[Ji Maeng-ho’s batted ball! Straight! Straight! It’s expanding! Ah! A batted ball hits the fence and bounces out! Ji Maeng-ho’s location is…, Huh?]

[Uh, what is it? I think Ji Maeng-ho just held a ceremony? First, run to first base.]

[The ball stops at shortstop. Ji Maeng-ho is on first base. The situation becomes 1st base with no outs. What just happened? With a hit like this, Ji Maeng-ho can easily run to second base… Maybe I should watch it again? … Oh, it looks like Ji Maeng-ho was trying to do his signature sniping ceremony… So the start was late.]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I couldn’t leave during the ceremony hahalegend

┗ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ You give me big laughs in the Korean series too, have a drink haha

-Wow, if he had just died, it would have been the best ever haha

-This is my first time seeing Ji Maeng-ho run so fast to first baseㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

┗That kid doesn’t run like that unless he’s bunting. It’s like he’s riding a shit haha

┗┗That kid doesn’t sprint after hitting a ground ball?

┗┗ㄴㄴ It’s hard to see a ground ball if you just throw it out.

-As expected, STS and ETR are fucked haha

[Haha, Ji Maeng-ho makes this mistake. Haha. If he is like Ji Maeng-ho, will he be like Ji Maeng-ho? Well, actually, there isn’t much of a difference between first and second base for Ji Maeng-ho, right?]

[Yes. Ji Maeng-ho is a player who can steal second base at any time. … Ah! Ji Maeng-ho steals second base! Three leaves! Ji Maeng-ho takes advantage of Oz’s first pitch to steal second base! … Ji Maeng-ho runs to third base! At third base! Three leaves! Three leaves! Three leaves! We can’t stop Ji Maeng-ho!]

[Hey, it’s Ji Maeng-ho, after all.]

[I hit the weather forecaster, and the second baseman hit this ball, catch it! He can’t throw home. Ji Maeng-ho heads home and Ki-Gi-joo goes out at first base. The score is tied 3:3! Game 4 of the Korean Series is back to square one! Ji Maeng-ho’s quick feet once again scores 1 point!]

[This is Ji Maeng-ho. Because Ji Meng-ho has this ability, you can’t hate him for making such small mistakes, right? It’s amazing. Ji Maeng-ho. And Ki Ki-ju’s batting ability was perfect as he was able to hit a ground ball according to the situation.]

[One out in the bottom of the 6th inning. The game starts again from the beginning!]