Chapter 91 – Episode 90. We Also Have to Beat Japan at Rock-Paper-Scissors. (One)

-“Maengho, congratulations on your home run.”

“Well, of course. Look forward to the season too. I will destroy everything.”

-“Confidence. Do you like it.”

Hehe, if I’m not confident, I’m a corpse.”

– “That’s right. Our oath. How can you come out tomorrow?”

“Well…. Does that sound a bit difficult? Cheolyoung hyung’s injuries aren’t too bad either.”

-“Okay? It’s a waste. I’ll break a leg or break it.”

What did Soyoung say? I was taken aback by the unexpected words.

-“That way, the season won’t start too late. It’s a relief, though, because none of our pitchers went to the WBC. This season is really the right time.”

Chun So-young…. Scary woman. It was clear that Soyoung was crazy about the AT Thunders.

– “It’s a joke, because we can win the championship with our skills even without such help. And maengho You know what? To Japan, you have to win even at rock-paper-scissors.”

It was a joke too. I was scared for a moment. No, it was more frightening to sincerely think that AT Thunders could win with their skills.

“Of course you know. Ha. As long as I competed, Ohtani or whatever would be rice.”

– “Whoops. Of course. Who is the chosen man?”

“Thank you for choosing me. So, you don’t dream of ghosts these days?”

-“Yes. Instead, it’s a bit lonely…. Because you’re not there.”

“Just wait, I’ll fuck you like a dog when the competition is over.”

-“I’ll look forward to it….”

The thought of having sex with So-Young made her feel her cock jump. Ugh, I want to have sex soon.

-“Oh. Fierce tiger Did you change your profile picture? With the picture in the article?”

“Yes. I think it came out well. Wait, does your sister do stargrams? But why didn’t you tell me? What is your ID?”

-“Oh, my ID is a thousand in number, S in English…. Uh, ah! I’m sorry for a second, maengho! Later, i’ll be in touch later! Something urgent happened suddenly. Under. Under. Under.”

Pop. So-young abruptly hung up on her. What? Still, tell me the ID and go. Shall we enter a stargram while the words come out?

There were a lot of idiots, so I didn’t post or check my DMs, I was just following pretty girls, but I wanted to check my DMs on a day like today.

‘As expected, a lot of DMs came.’

Well, it would be hard not to let go of such an active performance. I skipped all the DMs with no profile pictures or male profiles, and only checked and replied to DMs sent by pretty girls. Most of them said, “Thank you for cheering me on.”

“Oh, what did he send me a picture of his breasts? Save for now.”

Occasionally, when I was having a good time, taking pictures, I heard the dull voice of the male singer.

“Brother Maengho. Long as a conference room. Let’s go to analyze the power of tomorrow’s game.”

It was Jang Woo Joo. During that time, we had become close friends, so we spoke casually. Awesome. It’s a problem because I’m so nice.

“OK. Do it via KakaoTalk. Why did you come all the way here?”

“Ahhh, didn’t hyung say that I was rude the other day when I texted him? Well, I was going to do it via chat, but I heard a voice from the hallway.”

One thing I didn’t realize after talking to Jang Woo-joo was that his dialect didn’t show much when he spoke with respect, but when he spoke in a casual way, his dialect was obvious. Anyway, this is not important and I refuted Jang Woo-joo’s words to protect my honor.

“Hey, I gave you advice as a senior in life. Don’t do that to other seniors. I’m fine, but other seniors may not look good. And show me what a real bitch is?”

“Advice. Hyung, do you know that you’re fucking twisted?”

“Show me what a real old man is? Yes?”

“Ahh, that’s scary. Anganchi and come quickly.”

I followed Jang Woo-joo to the meeting room, and no one was there.

“What? Did you cheat?”

“Oh, the youngest has to come early.”

Hmm…. That’s right Anyway, while waiting for the players while talking about this and that with Jang Woo-joo, soon all the players gathered and the manager came in last.

“Hmm, hmm. First of all, congratulations on winning against Australia.”

Wow! Clap clap clap!

Cheers and applause fill the conference room. After all, winning is the best.

“However.”

The atmosphere of the players they liked suddenly started to become serious as they applauded coach Lee Geum-hyeon’s determined tone. All the players focused on coach Lee Geum-hyun’s words.

“I don’t think anyone would relax just because Australia won. Our real opponent is Japan tomorrow. And that Ohtani. Then the batter stays and the pitcher goes to the next room.”

“Yep!”

“All right.”

After manager Lee Geum-hyeon finished talking and the batter and the pitcher were divided, the projector started to show images of Ohtani pitching.

Ohtani’s fastball on the screen hit the catcher’s mitt heavily.

“Fuck. What.”

Someone’s curse that comes out spontaneously. I knew it well, but after doing power analysis, I felt that it was even more amazing.

‘How are you, Mr. Rossby?’

‘… I’m sure these days guys have a high standard.’

A pitch that made even Rossby a little embarrassed. After all Ohtani is this? But Ohtani is not the best pitcher in the major leagues. How many monsters are there in Major?

“The average velocity of his fastball is 97.4 mph. So, about 156 km/h. As far as restraint is concerned, there are pitchers like that in Korea. Because I’ve thrown 160 in Jang Woo-Joo right now. However, you can feel that the level of pitch is different just by watching the video, right? In fact, I’m not sure what it means to analyze Ohtani.”

At the words of Kang In-hwan, the national team’s hitting coach, batters in the conference room groaned. If it’s Ohtani’s video, most baseball players watch it. The fact that Ohtani throws a ball in the mid-to-late 150 range and that the top speed exceeds 160 km/h is also the point. He knew he threw a splitter that was close to 90 mph, but also a cutter, slider, and curveball.

Also, there wasn’t really a kuse of Otani that could be found only through the video. Well, in the past there was a kuse that made a strange expression for each type of pitch, but it’s gone now.

Ohtani’s power analysis was just a pitch appreciation time.

“Wow, how do you hit that with a splitter? There are cutters and sliders. Even the occasional changeup.”

“Hanbeom hyung. How was it when you met him?”

“When I hit the ball, I was pushed.”

“Joo Tae. What are you missing? Because it’s the same team. Don’t you know?”

“I do not know. I don’t know either. We’ve never played against each other since we’re on the same team.”

“How was it when you met Sangju?”

“Am I safe?”

The players of the national team began to ask various players from the major leagues who had dealt with Ohtani.

“I also played against him at the national team last time, but the ball was fucking.”

Fucking ball. That’s right. Because Ohtani’s helmet was shit.

‘Well, it probably has nothing to do with me, since I won’t be selected tomorrow anyway.’

So-Young insisted on winning, but he wouldn’t be able to participate in the match anyway. I wanted to have a meaning.

“First of all, Ohtani’s weakness is that he has a lot of balls that are driven and his control is not good? Of course, even if you hit the ball in the middle, it is unclear whether a good hit will come out. Anyway, the number of pitches is limited to 65, so how about increasing the number of pitches as much as possible?”

“Well…. I’m against it Ohtani isn’t a runaway pitcher, and he’ll probably try to drive them into the zone against Korean hitters. If you step into the plate with the mindset of waiting, you won’t even be able to touch the ball.”

At the words of Ohtani’s colleague Choi Joo-tae, the hitting coach also nodded.

“Then are there any other alternatives?”

“I think the only way to do it is to look at the fastball and swing it. No matter how well Ohtani throws, he hits a home run every nine innings. It is virtually impossible to score points on a single hit.”

“Aren’t you going to increase the number of pitches though?”

“In fact, wouldn’t it be just as difficult if Ohtani went down and another Japanese player came in?”

That’s right. Other hitters agreed with Choi Joo-tae’s words. Ohtani wasn’t the only one in Japan. Aside from Ohtani, there were also key players in the major leagues such as Kikuchi, Darvish, and Sawamura, and there was Kenta, who was unable to play much due to an injury last year, but successfully rehabilitated.

In addition, Sasaki, who played a perfect game in NPB last year and became a hot topic, and Tanaka, who returned to Japan in the majors, and other monsters were lined up even except for Ohtani.

Our opponents are Australia, Panama and China. Since there were no particularly dangerous opponents, it was clear that Japan would do everything in its power against us.

“It’s a mountain beyond a mountain.”

“Sasaki, he said he wasn’t kidding either. Under….”

At Choi Joo-tae’s words, the batters’ expressions darkened once again. Is Japan too difficult?

“Therefore. You have no choice but to build a lineup with hitters who can aim for one shot and expect the pitchers to keep it clean.”

As expected, an insight worthy of a major leaguer. At Choi Joo-tae’s words, the hitting coach continued to nod.

“Shouldn’t I tell the director?”

“Yes. I think we have no choice but to build a lineup focused on power as much as possible, aim for fastballs, and hope for home runs.”

“Okay. Let’s do that for now. Aren’t the other players dissatisfied?”

“Yes! I also think that senior Joo Tae is right.”

“What do you think, Cheolyoung?”

“To be honest, I don’t feel like I can hit Ohtani’s ball either. It is true that the fierce tiger is stronger than me, so it seems that the fierce tiger is the right one to aim for a random gun.”

“Brother….”

To say that you are giving up your seat to the honorable position of the national team? What a great person this is… ! I couldn’t help but be moved by Park Cheol-yeong’s words. In addition, in order to perfectly prepare for the game against Japan, he was replaced in the game against Australia….

It seemed cool that he was willing to hand over his seat for the sake of the team.

‘I’m sorry. It’s stat management.’

‘Do you think everyone in the world is like Mr. Rossby? Cheolyoung hyung is saying that with a heart for the country.’

“I’ll discuss that with the director first. So that’s enough for Ohtani analysis, you coach! Show me the next pitcher.”

“All right.”

In a situation where maybe I can start tomorrow, I started looking into the projector with more concentration than ever.

*

[Now, I would like to introduce the lineup of the Korean national team. 1st batter, shortstop Choi Joo-tae, 2nd batter, center fielder Joo Seung-cheol, 3rd batter, left fielder Ki Gi-joo, 4th batter, designated hitter Kang Han-beom, 5th batter, right fielder Lee Jin-hong, 6th batter, 1st baseman, Koo Jin-mo, 7th batter, 3rd baseman Kim Su-ho, 8 Hitter #1 catcher Lee Yong-gi, hitter #9 second baseman Ji Maeng-ho. Has the lineup changed from yesterday?]

[Anyway, it feels like coach Lee Geum-hyun composed the players with batters with one shot. Choi Joo-tae is currently playing an active role as a hitter in the major leagues, but he was a shortstop who exceeded 30 homers in the previous season in the major leagues, Seung-cheol Joo also hit 30 homers, and Ki Sang-joo Ki hit 20 homers in five seasons. Even Jin-Hong Lee, who did not come out yesterday, is a player who can claim the home run king at any time if there is no injury.]

[Oh I see. According to the fact that we have just received, the combined home run titles of the players in the lineup are eight.]

Haha, looking at this record, it’s a pity that there is no Choi Jin-cheol.]

[Well. By the way, what does Ji Maeng-ho, who is on second base, mean as a selection?]

[Although Ji Maeng-ho is a rookie, he broke the high school home run record last year and made a sensational performance. But I’m worried he’s putting too much pressure on the young rookie. In fact, we need a player who sets the table like Park Chul-young.]

[Still, didn’t Ji Maeng-ho show a good performance by recording goals and home runs with his fighting spirit?]

[Even so, against an Australian pitcher versus a Japanese pitcher. There are many differences. I personally look out for Seon-soon, but I hope I don’t get frustrated even if I can’t hit, and I hope I show that I’m wrong by performing well today.]

[Yes, as soon as I said that, the game started. Japan’s starting pitcher is Sohei Ohtani for the Los Angeles Angels. His last year in the major leagues is 16-11 with a 2.73 earned run average. Korea’s No. 1 hitter is Joo-tae Choi, a colleague of Ohtani.]

[The two players know each other well, so we need to be careful with each other.]