Episode 1. The Tarot Cafe
In mid-December 2051, the Golden Glove Awards ceremony—where the best players by position in that year’s pro baseball were selected—was being broadcast live on TV.
“Next, we will hear the acceptance speech from pitcher Taeseong Gim of the Seoul Royals, winner of the Golden Glove for pitchers. Pitcher Gim Taeseong won his first Golden Glove with an astonishing record of twenty-one wins, three losses, and an ERA of 2.25. Particularly as this was achieved in his first year back after overcoming Steve Blass Syndrome—a syndrome in which a pitcher suddenly suffers control issues due to various psychological disorders—we expect he must have extraordinary feelings. Please welcome him with a big round of applause.”
Called by the host, Gim Taeseong stood before the microphone, his large frame betrayed by a face drenched in tears.
Gim Taeseong slowly delivered his acceptance speech in a tear-choked voice.
“Ah. I’m so happy. I don’t know how to express it. I thought I couldn’t wish for anything more if I could just throw the ball from the mound again….”
Gim Taeseong couldn’t continue his words through the flood of tears.
“This glory is all thanks to Director Gang Jihun, a former renowned catcher who now runs a sports psychology center. Everyone turned their backs on me, saying Gim Taeseong was finished, but the Director never gave up on me and helped me back up. He gave me the courage to live not just as a pitcher, but as a human being. Director, thank you so much! I love you!”
Thunderous applause poured down at Gim Taeseong’s heartfelt acceptance speech.
‘You punk. “I love you”? You’re giving me goosebumps.’
Jihun felt his eyes grow red and stroked his tingling nose bridge, then turned off the TV.
‘Can’t just let a day like today go by.’
Jihun rose from the living room sofa, hurriedly threw on some clothes, and went out the front door.
Recalling the days he had held onto Gim Taeseong, struggling to restore his shattered mentality, Jihun wanted to drink and celebrate in high spirits.
With light steps, Jihun slowly made his way toward the restaurant alley near his apartment.
Seeing the lovey-dovey couples filling the streets, he felt a pang of loneliness, but at least today, a satisfying sense of fulfillment was filling Jihun’s emotional hunger.
‘Huh. Is this a new place? I’ve never seen it before.’
A tarot cafe exuding a strange yet mysterious atmosphere caught Jihun’s eye as he headed to his usual bar. Jihun stopped walking and stared at the tarot cafe.
‘Maybe I’ll get my marriage fortune read.’
Jihun suddenly became curious about his future. Currently, Jihun’s greatest concern was marriage.
He had earned money and gained social recognition, but he had never once had a proper relationship, even at age forty-five.
He didn’t believe in things like saju or tarot readings, but on a day like today, he had a feeling that somehow a pleasant fortune would come out.
The inside of the cafe exuded an exotic atmosphere, as if he had stepped into the Middle East. A strange ambiance suggesting a lamp genie might pop out at any moment faintly lingered.
‘Huh. This feels pretty legit.’
“Stop gawking and come sit here.”
A middle-aged woman wearing large earrings and a colorful, flashy bohemian-style gypsy look shot a sharp gaze and abruptly addressed him in a commanding tone.
The tarot cards were spread out in a fan shape on the table where she sat.
The woman, who appeared to be a tarot reader, stared fixedly at Jihun and then threw out a meaningful remark.
“You were born with a special destiny. Draw a card.”
Jihun felt a subtle displeasure at being told to draw a card so abruptly, but since he had visited to get a tarot reading anyway, he didn’t hesitate and picked up one of the cards lying on the table.
The first card Jihun drew depicted a king wearing a large crown adorned with splendid jewels.
“Hmm. A destiny to become a king.”
Jihun let out a snorted laugh.
‘What the hell. That’s so random.’
“I was a former pro baseball player and now I run a sports psychology counseling center. I’m someone far removed from politics.”
The tarot reader didn’t fluster in the slightest and quickly volleyed back.
“I know. I know. But there are kings in baseball too, aren’t there? Home Run King, Batting King, things like that.”
Jihun was startled. Now that he heard it, it felt strangely connected.
“Ah! Yes. If it’s that kind of thing. I used to hold the Home Run King and Batting King titles a long time ago.”
“Yes. You did. You probably hit over fifty home runs for three consecutive years, too, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Jihun somehow felt proud at the thought that she recognized him.
“But didn’t you also earn quite a few Strikeout King, Double Play King, and Blunder King titles?”
A hook crashed in without hesitation.
“Haha. You know a lot about me. It’s embarrassing, but I did. However, in the last five years of my playing career, I never missed out on the Home Run King title.”
Jihun felt the conversation was flowing in a strange direction. Reminiscing about the past was fine, but he had come here because he was curious about the future.
“Home Run King and Strikeout King are all old stories. What I want to know is about the future. Especially when I can get married.”
“Cut the chatter and draw the second card.”
Without paying any heed to his question, the tarot woman urged him to draw a card.
The second card Jihun drew was a monster card resembling an otherworldly being with large eyes, drooping long ears, and a giant red heart.
The tarot woman flinched in surprise, then fell into thought for a moment before throwing a question at Jihun.
“You were a catcher, right? I recall you retired at thirty-five. You were in the midst of your prime. Why did you quit so suddenly?”
Jihun hesitated for a moment as the topic turned to the past again, but pressed by a strangely irresistible atmosphere, he had no choice but to answer.
“I couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher properly. The Yips, which I had never imagined, came upon me. It was the end of my life as a catcher.”
“Oh my, so that happened.”
The tarot woman clicked her tongue, expressing regret while also raising a question.
“Still, with your batting skills, you could have played first base or designated hitter.”
“Of course, I could have. But once my mental balance was broken, my batting didn’t go as I wished either, so I had no choice but to retire.”
“Could you tell me what the cause was?”
Jihun wondered if there was any need to tell such a story, but compelled by an irresistible pull, he brought out the incident from ten years ago that he had carefully tucked away in his memories.
Early September, when the final ranking-deciding matches of the pro baseball season were in full swing ten years ago.
With one out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, relief pitcher Jeonghwan Gim came up.
Jihun’s team, the Royals, were leading 2–0, and the batter was cleanup hitter Hanam Gang of the Goblins.
Jihun had thought Jeonghwan’s complexion seemed somewhat strange, but he merely assumed he was very nervous and didn’t pay particular attention.
As usual, he pounded his mitt hard and bolstered the pitcher’s spirits.
But. Kim Jeonghwan threw consecutive nonsensical balls and let the leadoff batter reach base on a straight walk.
Amid tremendous booing from the Royals fans, Kim Jeonghwan looked toward the dugout and signaled that he couldn’t throw anymore.
As the pitching coach and Jihun were heading up to the mound, something happened.
Kim Jeonghwan’s face suddenly drained of color, and he collapsed heavily on the ground, gasping for breath.
It was clearly hyperventilation.
At that moment, Jihun felt something slip out of his body. He was trembling so hard from shock that he couldn’t remember what happened afterward.
Only fragments remained in his memory: people screaming, the sound of someone running, the sound of an ambulance arriving.
“After the game, I heard it was a panic attack. I was so sorry. I was ashamed that I, a catcher no less, had no idea about the pitcher’s mental state. Once I thought I was unqualified as a catcher, from that moment on, I couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher.”
“I see. So that’s what happened. Are you still in the same state now?”
“No. After announcing my retirement, I met that pitcher. At that time, I was the one who ended up being comforted, and I returned to normal.”
“Oh! Interesting. Could you tell me that story in detail?”
Jihun had already forgotten that this place was a tarot cafe and became immersed in recollection.
“Hyung. Sorry you’re taking a hit because of me.”
“No. What hit? I’m the one who’s sorry. Don’t think like that and take good care of yourself. You have to make a comeback soon.”
Kim Jeonghwan nodded and began to voice the words inside his heart.
“Hyung. Honestly, I was a bit scared of you at first. But do you know when I started to feel comfortable around you?”
Jihun flinched at the word “scared.”
“Seems like I made things hard for you.”
Kim Jeonghwan smiled and shook his head vigorously.
“No, that’s not what I mean. When I first saw you, your presence was incredible. Your build was overwhelming, your looks striking. I thought, ‘So this is the aura of a Major Leaguer,’ and I naturally found myself intimidated by your pressure.”
“What Major Leaguer. I was just a backup catcher there.”
“But on the first day we worked together, when I was struggling with my control, you came up to the mound. Usually, catchers say the same obvious things to pitchers. But you said something absurd. Do you remember what you said to me then?”
Jihun tilted his head. How could he remember every word he had said to pitchers on the mound?
“You said to me, ‘I need to take a dump. Let’s finish this quick.’ It was so funny. All the tension just melted away.”
“Did I?”
As the memory came back to him at Jeonghwan’s words, the two laughed for a long time. After laughing to their hearts’ content, Jihun’s heavy heart began to lighten a little.
“You were a good catcher. The fact that I got this far was all thanks to your lead. So you don’t have to feel sorry toward me.”
Kim Jeonghwan reached out, took Jihun’s hand, and stroked it. It was a somewhat cringeworthy situation, but Jihun could only stay still.
“This is the hand that suffered catching my pitches all this time. I really wanted to tell you thank you, hyung.”
At that moment, Jihun felt the energy that had drained from his body return. He instinctively knew that he could throw the ball to the pitcher again.
“So that’s how it happened. But why didn’t you return as an active player?”
The tarot woman asked Jihun.
“I wonder that too. I have regrets now, but at the time, the experience was so startling. My head was filled with nothing but the thought that I had to study psychology. So I thought that helping players in similar situations was more important than my playing career.”
“Then if you could go back to the past, would you want to be a catcher again?”
“Of course. It wouldn’t be possible, but if I could go back to the past, I would absolutely want to go. So if given another chance, I would definitely want to become ‘a catcher who touches the heart.’ I used to only care about pitch calling and defense as a catcher, but I realized that isn’t all there is to leading a pitcher. I want to be a real catcher.”
As soon as Jihun finished speaking, the second card’s eyes sparkled, its ears moved, and its red heart began to beat.
Jihun looked at the tarot woman in surprise at the card’s change, but without giving him a moment, she threw the next question immediately.
“You said earlier you wanted to know when you could get married, but do you currently have a marriage prospect or a girlfriend?”
“No. I don’t have a girlfriend, so I came to get a reading out of frustration.”
A faint smile bloomed on the tarot woman’s face.
“A person who meets all the requirements.”
She uttered a strange, incomprehensible remark and then pulled out a tablet PC.
“Read this, and if there’s nothing wrong, sign at the bottom in your own handwriting.”
Jihun read the contents written on the tablet PC in a bewildered state.
[Name: Gang Jihun, Age: 45
Occupation: Director, Sports Psychology Counseling Center
Status: Unmarried, no lover. No hidden children
Disqualifying factors: None
The individual clearly stated that he wishes to return to the past and become “a catcher who touches the heart.”]
“No need to think it strange. Everyone does it like this these days. Problems arise if we just send you off without it. We have to check whether you have a wife and kids, too.”
Jihun thought getting a marriage fortune read was truly difficult. They even checked for disqualifying factors?
He wondered if they really had to go this far, but eager to get out quickly, he hurriedly finished signing.
“Now. It’s time to draw the final third card.”
With the expectation that he might finally learn of his marriage fortune, Jihun quickly drew the third card.
It was a card depicting a large clock. But the strange thing was that the clock hands were spinning backward at tremendous speed.
‘Gasp. What is this?’
As Jihun’s consciousness faded rapidly in shock, the tarot woman’s voice reached him.
“Unfortunately, there’s no marriage luck for you here. So do your best in your second round of life. Though there’s no guarantee you’ll succeed.”