Participation (2)
"Yo, Superstar. You're here early?"
"As expected of a Superstar. Coming in to train even on a rest day."
"Take it easy. Your shoulder's gonna give out."
The next afternoon.
Despite it being a rest day, Pi Ki-jeong, Jo Woo-chan, and Kwon Jun-seo reported to Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
Han Min-woo greeted the three with an awkward smile.
"Hello, seniors."
The nickname Superstar had been born from the fan service at Gwangju Champions Field the day before.
When Jo Woo-chan said "What a Superstar, huh?" toward Han Min-woo being dragged in by the bus, everyone had cracked up.
It was exactly the kind of remark expected from Jo Woo-chan, who held the philosophy that only those who love their fans deserve to become stars.
But even though it was a nickname with strong teasing intent, Han Min-woo's expression wasn't bad.
[Currently Held Points: 875 P]
'So this is what they mean when they say just looking at it makes you full.'
The remaining points after yesterday's random draw were 360. However, his current held points were 875.
They were points earned from fan service the day before.
Since BnB calculated 5 points per person, that meant he had given fan service to over 100 fans.
'Good. Climbing up step by step, steadily.'
At this rate, it seemed like he could add another special ability in his next appearance game.
At that moment, other players made their appearance in the locker room.
"Someone's here today too. Is it Min-woo's hyung?"
"Hello, senior."
"I knew it. You were here today too, hyung?"
The Wolves' 2008-born duo. Ha Yoon-min and Yoon Je-hyun.
The two came in with beaming smiles, then noticed Jo Woo-chan, Pi Ki-jeong, and Kwon Jun-seo in one corner of the locker room and looked surprised.
"Huh? Woo-chan hyung? Ki-jeong sunbae. Jun-seo sunbae-nim. Hello."
"Hello!"
"Hello. Both of you came in on a rest day too?"
"We're going to get some extra batting in. My hitting feel has been good lately. I need to keep swinging so I don't lose it. On the other hand, I brought this guy along because he can't hit worth a damn."
Ha Yoon-min said with a glance at Yoon Je-hyun.
"You met me in front just now and you're talking like you brought me? I always come on rest days too, you know?"
Yoon Je-hyun immediately shot back.
But Ha Yoon-min ignored those words and asked Jo Woo-chan.
"But what about you seniors? What brings you here today?"
"Same thing. We're here to train too."
"Ehhh? You seniors?"
"What's with that expression? We train when we need to train. And right now is that time."
The eyes of Jo Woo-chan, who had been talking with a smile, flashed at the end. Pi Ki-jeong and Kwon Jun-seo wore similar expressions.
There are two cases where a person shows behavior different from their usual.
When a crisis has come. And when an opportunity has come.
In that sense, Jo Woo-chan's words about it being time to train referred to the latter.
'An opportunity has come.'
He had spent his entire life on one team. It was already his 15th year.
Yet that team, excluding the 2023 season, hovered near the bottom every year.
Looking back on it now, it wasn't that there had been no opportunities.
The problem was that they had passed by without realizing they were opportunities.
This year was the same. Until the day before yesterday, the Wolves were in 10th place. And yesterday it was updated to 9th. As always, being in the lower ranks remained the same.
But Jo Woo-chan thought now was an opportunity.
'This team has enough potential.'
One foreign pitcher who should have been part of the one-two punch was out for the season. Other starting pitchers weren't filling their roles, and the middle relievers were on the verge of being overworked.
Shortstop Park Jun-young and center fielder Moon Cheol-woo were still living immersed in alcohol and women. They were holes in both the batting lineup and the defense.
Just past the midpoint of the season, the manager was sacked, and the chief coach serving as acting manager was in a power struggle with the pitching coach.
Nevertheless, the team had shaken off their losing streak and was on an upward trend.
Jo Woo-chan thought the reason was Han Min-woo, who had been traded in recently.
'I thought another cancer had come to the team.'
Baseball is a team sport. One person can't accomplish everything alone. But paradoxically, a team was something where changing one person could change the whole.
The core of the Wolves' transformation was undoubtedly Han Min-woo.
'His competitive spirit and diligence are rubbing off on the other players.'
No matter how other players looked at him or what they said, Han Min-woo trained steadfastly and diligently. And he was putting up incredibly good results.
Players who saw that couldn't help but think, 'Should I try training like Min-woo too?'
The result of that was being revealed right now in this locker room.
"Hello! Oh, what's this. Everyone's gathered? Did the chief coach call everyone except me?"
"Is today Tuesday? What's everyone doing here?"
"Hi, everyone. Wow, that's insane. You guys are fucking diligent! You're badass. Alright, let's fucking crush it today!"
Following Yoon Je-hyun and Ha Yoon-min, players appeared one by one. All of them had given up their rest day and come to train voluntarily.
At that sight, Jo Woo-chan wore a satisfied smile.
"Everyone gather after training today. Hyung's buying meat!"
"Ooooooh!"
"As expected of the team's highest-paid player!"
"Can we have beef?"
Simply training one more day doesn't immediately yield good results.
No, in some ways, it could be said that giving up a rest day to train was inefficient. Because humans are creatures that need rest.
But what was really important wasn't whether they trained a lot or a little.
The atmosphere.
An opportunity had come, and the desperate struggle to somehow seize that opportunity.
That struggle was producing results in the away three-game series against the Suwon Wolverines the very next day.
-Hello, viewers who love Korean professional baseball. Today at Suwon Wolverines Stadium, the first game of the midweek three-game series between the Wolverines and the Wolves will take place.
-For the Wolverines, Won Hong-il will take the mound, and for the Wolves, Tak Jun-sung, making his first-team debut, will start as the pitcher.
-The key point of today's game for both teams seems to be Tak Jun-sung. He's a rookie called up for the first time after Jason Cross went down with an injury, right? Depending on what kind of performance this player shows today, the expressions of both managers will likely change.
-Another walk. As Ki Jeong-wook steps on first base, it's bases loaded with no outs. Tak Jun-sung is shaking.
-Jo Woo-chan with another hit! That's his 3rd hit of the game alone!
-Won Hong-il had shown a strong performance against Wolves players overall this season, right? But today he can't find his rhythm. The Wolves batters came out with sharpened knives.
-Viewers who love professional baseball, stay tuned. A fiery hitting battle is unfolding here at Suwon Wolverines Park today!
Today's starting pitcher for the Wolves was Tak Jun-sung.
He was a rookie called up from the 2nd team in place of foreign player Jason Cross, who was out of the roster due to injury.
As is typical, Tak Jun-sung was helplessly battered by 1st-team batters as soon as he came up. He was so nervous that his control fell apart.
Tak Jun-sung ended his first 1st-team debut after giving up 5 runs in 1 and 2/3 innings.
What saved him from the shackles of being the losing pitcher was the Wolves' batters.
"Oh! That one's gone!"
"Nice batting!"
"Wow, sunbae-nim, that's already your 17th home run. At this rate, you might get a Gold Glove this year!"
With 13 hits including 2 home runs, they scored 9 runs in just 3 innings.
After that, the situation repeated where whenever the Wolverines caught up, the Wolves added more runs and ran away.
Bottom of the 6th inning.
With the score at 11-8, the pitching coach spoke to Chief Coach Kim Young-seung.
"After Jun-yeol, I'll bring up Jae-hyuk."
It wasn't a question seeking opinion but a unilateral notification.
He wasn't trying to pick a fight. The pitching coach was simply following the pitching order of the must-win relievers that the former manager had used before being sacked.
In the past, he would have just nodded lightly, but today Chief Coach Kim Young-seung wasn't going to let it slide either.
"You might as well say you'll write the lineup card yourself."
"Excuse me?"
Lineup card. It refers to the paper submitted to the umpire with the pre-game lineup and positions written on it.
Usually, unless there are special instructions, the manager writes and submits the lineup card personally.
So Chief Coach Kim Young-seung's words were a rebuke, meaning if you're going to do that, why don't you be the manager.
"......"
The pitching coach glared at Chief Coach Kim Young-seung.
Chief Coach Kim Young-seung didn't back down and received that glare.
The one who backed down first was the pitching coach.
'No need to get angry here.'
The conversation with his uncle, General Manager Ryu Hyun-jong, was already finished.
After this season, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung will be sacked. The reason will be poor performance. The pitching coach taking that empty spot was their plan.
'I'll see how long that face of yours holds up.'
The pitching coach clenched his jaw and forced a smile.
"I apologize. Then who should we bring up after Jun-yeol?"
"Han Min-woo."
"Yes? That guy is in the chasing..."
"You talk too much."
"......"
The pitching coach, who was about to give his opinion, shut his mouth.
Then, without even waiting for a response, he picked up the phone connected to the bullpen.
When he sent the signal, the voice of the bullpen coach came from the other side.
"Yes, sunbae-nim. Who should I get ready?"
"Han Min-woo. From the 7th inning."
The pitching coach said each word as if chewing on it, breaking it off stiffly.
Han Min-woo.
He was the main culprit who had made the pitching coach angry. Because of that guy, he couldn't smoothly bring up the players he had received money for, and because of that, he had to clash with Chief Coach Kim Young-seung.
He still couldn't understand it.
A player with only a 137-kilometer pitch—what was there to trust?
He thought the results so far were just luck. Such cases occasionally happened. Cases where properly hit balls were caught by fielders one after another, or bats followed wild pitches and resulted in strikeouts.
'From the moment Han Min-woo gets hammered, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung's acting manager days are over too.'
The pitching coach let out a long breath and calmed his anger.
'No need to overthink it.'
Teams that are going to fall will fall.
The cause of the game's defeat will be Han Min-woo. And Acting Manager Kim Young-seung who used him. If an article goes out with this content, both of their positions will be shaken, and eventually they'll collapse.
One to the 2nd team. And the other to being sacked.
Once that happens, the team called Wolves will fall completely into his hands.
-With the score at 11-9 starting the bottom of the 7th inning. The pitcher the Wolves have brought in is Han Min-woo.
The pitching coach glared at Han Min-woo on the mound.
He thought the day when the thorns in his side would disappear was not far off.