Chapter 656 – Episode 643. A Man of Controversy. (2)

[AT Thunders and UG Overlords, UG Overlords and AT Thunders 14th match of the season. It’s a match between AT Thunders, who have a long way to go, and UG, who is looking for a final twist, and this match is getting a lot of attention, right?]

[You’re right. Actually, you’re getting some attention outside of baseball, right? There is a lot of interest in whether Ji Maeng-ho will play today… I don’t know how to say this.]

[Actually, it’s our first time experiencing something like this, so it’s a little awkward. Still, the KBA said there were no issues, so they couldn’t stop the player from playing, right?]

[Yes. I’m also curious to see if Ji Maeng-ho will show his usual self today.]

[Then, I will call the AT Thunders’ offensive lineup. 1st hitter Kim Su-ho, 2nd hitter Baek Jeong-jin, 3rd hitter Ki Ki-joo, 4th hitter Ji Maeng-ho, 5th hitter Choi Jin-cheol, 6th hitter Yoon Seong-tae, 7th hitter Kim Sang-min, 8th hitter Baek Kyeong-ho, 9th hitter Jeong Hwi-cheol, today is Birch. The player is taking a break.]

[As it is summer, AT’s veteran players are taking turns resting, and this lineup without Burch is said to have the strongest batting power, right?]

[Yes. And I will call you the defensive position of UG Overlords. The starting pitcher is UG’s ace Kim Seong-gyeol…]

[What kind of performance will Kim Seong-gyeol, Korea’s best underhand pitcher, show today? …]

*

‘What is the mentality of that bastard?’ .’

UG’s ace, Kim Seong-gyeol, felt dizzy as he looked at Ji Maeng-ho standing in the standby batter’s box. It was a controversy that could easily be said to have shaken the Republic of Korea, and it was even admirable to see Ji Maeng-ho casually standing in the waiting box.

As we have also played for the national team, it is impossible not to be concerned… However, the batter in front of him, Ki Ki-joo, was not an easy hitter to be able to get an out while his mind was preoccupied with something else.

Perfect!

A hit that came out after two outs. Fortunately, right fielder Choi Jae-hyeon’s arm was good, and he was able to get it off with a single, but the bigger problem was that the batter coming to bat now was Ji Maeng-ho.

-Wooooo!!!

“Ji Maeng-ho, get out!”

And when Ji Maeng-ho appeared, the home fans booed loudly. However, the booing was actually disturbing Kim Seong-gyeol’s mind.

‘Ah, the more he does that, the better he gets at it…’

Since he has already played in the same league as Ji Maeng-ho for four years and has teamed up with him several times for the national team, Kim Seong-gyeol also knew a certain amount about Ji Maeng-ho. That guy is a guy who burns even more in situations like this.

And as if to prove that Kim Seong-gyeol’s thoughts were correct, before coming to bat, Ji Maeng-ho began to look around the audience. And the grinning guy…

To Kim Seong-gyeol, that laugh felt like the laugh of the devil.

‘Whoa, since he’s a human anyway, there’s no way he won’t be shaken. An incident like that happened. That’s just a bluff. It has to be a bluff.’

The laughter brought back old thoughts and fears, but Kim Seong-gyeol controlled her mind by holding himself together as best as he could.

… Until Ji Maeng-ho came to bat and pointed his bat toward the first base outfield, which was full of home fans.

‘This bastard again… !’

Ji Maeng-ho’s anticipated home run that only comes a few times a year! The predicted home run, which boasts a home run rate of almost 100% unless you count walks, came at a time when it was becoming a hot topic due to controversy.

Seeing that preview home run, Kim Seong-gyeol’s calm mentality begins to shake once again. The fact that this behavior, which has never occurred this season, has occurred at this moment means that he is belittling himself.

Fear turns to anger, and Kim Seong-gyeol’s mentality is shaken once again.

‘Whoa, whoo…’ . Let’s focus, focus. … No, but I hope this bastard sees me as a piece of shit…’

I regained my composure, but the time I could pitch was becoming less and less difficult to cool down my anger. Now it was time to throw the ball, and then I checked the catcher’s sign and saw that the catcher was asking for a fastball toward the body.

‘Fastball to the body? It’s okay.’

Ji Maeng-ho’s first pitch swing rate this season was in the 20% range, and the rate of watching the first pitch increased significantly compared to last year or the year before. Moreover, in the first game of the game, the rate of swinging the first pitch was much lower.

In other words, throwing a first-pitch strike against Ji Maeng-ho in the first at-bat means getting a free strike.

Kim Seong-gyeol believed in the statistics and threw the ball with confidence,

Ta – Aak!

The batted ball makes a cheerful sound and flies to the right. He feels like he can predict the destination of his hit without having to look back.

-Wow!

And the small cheers coming from the expedition seats confirmed that his prediction was correct.

‘You crazy bastard. No matter how small the literature is, you push the ball towards your body and pass it over…’

In fact, although Ji Maeng-ho this season was a step above other hitters, compared to last year or the year before, this season’s Ji Maeng-ho was not such a scary hitter.

But now Ji Maeng-ho seemed to have returned to the old Ji Maeng-ho he knew.

Just appearing at the plate gives pitchers nightmares…

‘Fuck, that bastard was talking nonsense until now…’ . Because of the controversy, we are now doing it properly, right? Well, a kid who achieved everything he could in Korea didn’t need to work hard.’

There is at most a month left until Ji Maeng-ho goes to the Asian Games.

‘But if I pass today, I won’t have to meet Ji Maeng-ho…’

Kim Seong-gyeol prayed for the soul of the pitchers who had to deal with Ji Maeng-ho for the rest of his season and waited for the next batter.

*

“Base on balls!”

Where did Kim Seong-gyeol go, who confidently hit a fastball to the inside from the first pitch of his first at-bat? Since then, Kim Seong-gyeol gave me a walk in two consecutive at-bats.

‘Well, since it’s literature, I wanted to write at least two things.’

As it was his first game back, he wanted to make a strong impact, so he continued to attempt notice home runs, but Kim Seong-gyeol’s choice was to skip me with a walk. However, Kim Seong-gyeol was not a pitcher who couldn’t throw the ball, so the current score was 2:1.

After my two-run home run, we still haven’t scored a point.

‘Well, what can I do? In times like this, you have to shake it more.’

Let’s get ready to run and walk to first base,

“Wow, Ji Maeng-ho is so shameless. How do you carry your face?”

“Ji Maeng-ho! Get out!”

Perhaps because it’s near the home team’s cheering stands, I can hear the crowd cursing me. I heard similar sounds in previous at-bats, but they couldn’t touch my mentality that had been trained by Mr. Rossby. But then,

“Hey! Hey man! “Can’t I take back your wife too?!”

I heard someone talking nonsense in a loud voice. When I turned my head toward the man who was making noise, I couldn’t see him because he was screaming and hiding, and only the silent audience greeted me.

‘What? Aren’t you running? I thought you would run.’

Mr. Rossby expressed his curiosity as if it was strange to see me quietly looking at the audience. Mr. Rossby seems to have thought that I would not be able to control my anger and would run away.

‘Yes? Me? ‘Why?’

However, I found Mr. Rossby’s reaction even more strange. It is fate for sports players to be criticized by fans of the opposing team. And considering the insults I received from Mr. Rossby, such as pad lip, this was nothing.

Besides, honestly, is it funny?

I looked around the audience where the sound came from, but there was no male that looked like I could compete with them. Well, the guy you’re dealing with has to say something like that to get angry. Even when people I was no match for said things like that, it had no effect on me.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes? “What is it?”

“No, I just…”

“Hey, bro. Do I look like someone who cares about such things?”

Jinmo, who was watching the first baseman, also tried to talk to me as if he thought this wasn’t right, but I really didn’t think anything of it. Just focus on the game,

‘Just tell me the type of pitch.’

‘… It’s a curve.’

‘Okay, curve.’

“Safe!”

I made it to second base, ignoring the swear words from the crowd. As soon as he gets to second base, he receives the pitch again from Mr. Rossby and passes it back to senior Jincheol.

‘Senior, it’s two-seam!’

Perfect!

And senior Jincheol, who accurately pushes the outside throw-seamer. In my last at-bat, I swung and missed, but in this at-bat, I succeeded in producing a hit without missing.

“Run! Run!”

The opponent’s right fielder is Choi Jae-hyun, a renowned strongman in the league. However, because it was a two out situation, my start was faster than usual,

“Safe!”

My feet were also faster than his throw.

‘Is this 3:1? At this rate, Kim Seong-gyeol will go down soon.’

*

[Ji Maeng-ho’s feet were faster than the ball! Score 3:1! AT Thunders run away by 2 points! … Seongtae Yoon’s batted ball! Caught! Inning ends. The game now heads to the UG Overlords’ attack in the bottom of the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 6th inning, the UG Overlords’ attack begins with the 6th batter, Park Kyung-min. …. At Munhak Stadium, where the fierce 3-2 one-run game continues, AT Thunders’ attack in the top of the 9th inning will start with the fourth hitter, Ji Maeng-ho.]

[From the UG Overlords’ perspective, they have to keep this inning scoreless, right? The difference between 1 point and 2 points is the difference between heaven and earth.]

[Yes. Then, the match against the first batter Ji Maeng-ho is really important, right?]

[You’re right. Putting Ji Maeng-ho on base with no outs is essentially the same as giving him 1 point, right? This match is especially important.]

[Ji Maeng-ho at bat, and Yoon Jung-hwan on the mound. Yoon Jung-hwan’s first pitch! It is a ball.]

*

‘I can see it, I can see it.’

Yoon Jung-hwan… He was the first pitcher I had trouble with when I came to the pros. The grip was the same, but the movement of the ball changed every time I threw it, so I remember having a hard time as a rookie, but now I can distinguish between his balls to some extent.

If the wrist is slightly bent, it is a two-seam movement, or a four-seam movement.

To be honest, in the past, when he was in good condition, you had to concentrate to make out his moves, but as if hitting the ball without Mr. Rossby was in vain, his moves were clearly visible.

‘It’s the fastball grip again.’

‘… Two-seam!’

“Ball.”

‘It’s a fastball grip this time too.’

‘… Four-seam!’

“Strike!”

Of course, when I was concentrating on my pitching form like this, there was a high chance of getting hit by a suddenly thrown breaking ball,

‘Slider.’

… Unlike before, there was Mr. Rossby next to me.

Ta-ah!

I swung the bat, perfectly aiming for the guy’s slider, and the batted ball flew straight toward the fence.

If it weren’t for Mr. Rossby, I would have swung the bat helplessly at this ball. But as long as Mr. Rossby was there, there was no need to worry about that.

‘Mr. Rossby, are you breathing well?’

‘Okay, let’s keep this feeling going forward. At this level, there won’t be much to worry about in the major leagues.’

‘Yes!’

Plus, it’s been a while since I received a compliment from Mr. Rossby.

‘So, 2 home runs in 2 at-bats today? The two walks are unfortunate, but this isn’t bad before returning. Well, I just took a day off.’

2 hits and 2 home runs in 2 at-bats, and even praise from Mr. Rossby. I thought this was enough to show that I was still alive.