"Hey, Han Minwoo."
When I was young, I was an ordinary kid. I liked running around playing like other kids, and I also liked games.
—Hyung. They say they give points if you verify with a phone. Can I verify with your phone, hyung? If I get this, I can buy an item.
—No. That costs money.
—But I really, really wanna do it...
No, come to think of it, I think I liked games even more than other kids.
FPS, strategy simulations, racing, and so on—there were countless games back then too, but the one I especially liked and poured my time and money into was a baseball game called BnB.
It wasn't for any particular reason.
I just liked it because it was the game I played the most out of all the things I did with my older brother when I was young.
[Welcome to BnB, 'Yahan Minwoo'!]
[Name: Yahan Minwoo] [Position: Pitcher]
[Max Velocity: 151 km/h]
[Pitches: Four-seam Fastball (A), Slider (A), Two-seam Fastball (B), Curve (B), Changeup (B), Splitter (B)]
[Special Abilities (10/10)]
[Emperor of Autumn (S)] [Inning Eater (S)] [Doctor K (A)] [Aura (A)] [Revenge Drama (A)] [Center of Attention (A)] [Guts (B)] [Momentum (B)] [Hunger (B)] [Concentration (C)]
I played BnB for over 5 years. Back then, my brother and I had to pour all our allowance into this game.
The way to play BnB was simple.
With 1,000 points, you could draw up to 10 things called
So depending on how you set up your special abilities, the player's performance varied wildly.
[Player 'Oneulnat Eotteo' takes the mound!]
[Since taking the mound as a starting pitcher,
[Since pitching at the home stadium,
[Since pitching on a 5-game winning streak,
[Since in a 2-strike count,
[Since stepping on the mound,
'Crazy. How do you score against a guy like that? It's totally broken.'
Because of the
Therefore, my players were always getting completely robbed. There was bound to be a limit to an elementary school kid raising players among people who spent millions of won on microtransactions.
Despite that, I played it really enjoyably. A character gradually getting stronger as they filled up their special abilities was incredibly attractive to the young me.
—Minwoo, wanna go to the baseball stadium?
—Yeah!
Like that, I played a baseball game and came to like baseball.
So naturally, I started going to the baseball stadium for fun.
Coincidentally, there was a baseball class nearby.
And coincidentally, there was a middle school with a baseball team nearby...
—Our Busan Dolphins will select Han Minwoo of Deoksu High School as our 1st round pick.
Like that, I naturally became a professional baseball player.
What's my position? A pitcher, obviously. Baseball is a game where the pitcher's influence is so great that there's even a saying that baseball is a pitcher's game.
Since I was doing it anyway, I wanted to become a great player like the pitchers who won MVP in the past.
And I thought I would fully become one.
I made quite a name for myself in high school baseball. I was part of a baseball team at a fairly well-known high school nationwide, and I played as the ace there.
I even won the Golden Lion Flag tournament.
But...
—The windup. Han Minwoo throws the ball.
—Cheon Seungyong hits it. Oh! Oh!
—Han Minwoo is writhing on the ground in pain. Is he okay? It looked like it hit him in the head. Ah, a replay is coming up.
—Ugh. It hit him squarely. The spectators are also turning their heads away after seeing the video on the jumbotron. I'm worried it might affect his career. I hope it's not a major injury.
On my first day on the major league mound, I was hit in the head by a line drive. It was a severe injury, enough to dye the mound red.
After that, it was a succession of dreadful days.
Just stepping on the mound brought back the trajectory of the baseball flying at me.
Cold sweat poured, and I wanted to run away. I was terrified.
Because of that memory, I lost my control whenever I stood on the major league stage.
Every time I was called up to the majors, I got shellacked. The nickname I got because of that was the Defeat Contractor.
It meant if you want to lose, just bring me up.
The strange thing was that I was fine on the minor league mound. So I couldn't give up baseball.
I struggled desperately to escape this fear somehow.
I threw, and threw again. In the rain, and in the snow.
And eventually...
—Ma-an, Han Minwoo! Why are you doing this, huh? I told you not to!
—Ugh... S-senior. My shoulder...
It broke down.
I rushed to the hospital and had a thorough examination with various machines. I can still vividly recall the scene from that time. The doctor entered the room shaking his head.
—Mr. Han Minwoo. There is no need to look further. You need surgery right away. Your shoulder is completely shattered. It must have been terribly painful, so why on earth did you keep throwing until it got to this state?
It was effectively a death sentence.
Surgery was decided immediately. No, it didn't end with just surgery. I had to go through a long, long period of rehabilitation.
I immediately served as a public service worker while undergoing rehabilitation.
Time passed like that, and when I was discharged, I became a professional baseball player again.
After that, I failed to produce any notable results and was just wasting time in the minor leagues.
Career stats: 72 games played, 13.14 ERA, 0 wins, 8 losses, 13 holds, 1 save.
Truly pathetic stats.
"Hey, Han Minwoo. Are you listening to me? You've been traded."
"Consider it a relief, you punk. I heard all the Seoul Wolves pitchers went crazy? If you stayed here, you'd just be throwing batting practice in the minors forever. If you do well there, you might even make the major league roster. Let's think positively."
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
Max velocity 137 km/h. My control wasn't particularly good, I didn't have any flashy breaking balls, and because of the trauma, I would suffocate and tremble all over whenever I stood on the major league mound.
Both my physical and mental were below league average.
From now on, I'd wander from team to team, stuck in the minors, receive a rookie contract someday, and eventually be released.
.
.
.
That was what I thought would happen.
[Welcome to BnB, 'Han Minwoo'!]
[Name: Han Minwoo] [Position: Pitcher]
[Max Velocity: 137 km/h]
[Pitches: Four-seam Fastball (D), Slider (D), Changeup (E), Curve (E)]
[Special Abilities (0/10)]
[Would you like to draw a Special Ability? You need 1,000 P to draw a Special Ability!]
[Currently held points: 0 P]
[※ Tip ※]
[You can earn points by facing batters in a game with official baseball rules!]
[You're wondering if bench players can't earn points?]
[Don't worry. You can earn points by completing daily quests. Of course, it will be slower than facing batters!]
"Hey, Han Minwoo. Are you listening to me? Hey! You punk!"
'What... is this?'
A miracle came to someone like me.