Chapter 59

Chapter 59, Prayer Meta

Did you know the phrase prayer meta?

It described a situation where you wanted something so desperately that all you could do was pray for it to happen.

It could also mean that you had no other method left by your own power.

Two outs were recorded in the seventh.

The batting order reached the fourth hitter.

Then the pitcher was changed.

Without realizing it, I clenched my fist.

Powerful tension controlled my body.

Of course, I did not show it to the other players.

The reason was simple.

If I started acting nervous, the hitters might feel even more pressure.

“Strikeout!”

But Yoon Jae-jun was retired.

A three-pitch strikeout, of all things.

After taking a huge power swing, Yoon Jae-jun smacked his lips in disappointment with the path of his swing.

“I’m not making good contact today.”

I did not add anything to his disappointed words.

Sure.

If you were the home run leader, it made sense to be greedy.

But my future depended on your swing.

If nobody reached base until the end of the ninth, my heart would reach its end.

The ticking that had been seven times per second increased to eight.

The eighth inning had begun.

It was actually interesting.

I found it fascinating that a human heart could beat this quickly.

“Can we win?”

Our team was already behind by one run.

A double.

I never imagined that getting one double could be this difficult.

Still, I could not collapse like this.

The eighth inning began.

The score was still separated by one run.

Yugam, the fifth hitter, stepped into the box.

Maybe he was the true home run king of this era.

He had a strange balance where almost every result was either a home run or a strikeout.

I remembered a similar hitter on the Gwangju Jaguars around 1999.

A foreign player who hit forty home runs but also set the all-time strikeout record...

I did not expect anything.

I actually had more hope for the hitters after him.

But then...

CRACK!

Everyone jumped to their feet when Yugam hit the ball.

He had attacked the first pitch.

The ball flew far.

The center fielder chased after it, but the ball smashed directly into the fence.

A double.

I finally had another opportunity.

The insane ticking inside my heart immediately became quieter.

Only then could I breathe in relief.

We have to win.

But before winning, I needed to hit a double myself.

Thump.

The score remained 4-3.

Neither team managed to add another run.

Then the ninth inning arrived.

Our lineup would begin with ninth hitter Go Gyeong-tae, then first hitter Kwon Geon-woo, then me in the second spot.

I gave one sentence to Go Gyeong-tae, who had remained hitless throughout the game.

“Think of it as me dying if you don’t get on base here.”

I added even more pressure on top of the pressure he already had.

Go Gyeong-tae’s face instantly turned pale.

“Why would you say something that horrible?”

“Take it as a joke that’s also half serious. I’m going to die if we lose here.”

“I know you hate losing, but...”

Then Go Gyeong-tae looked at my expression and nodded.

Apparently I looked quite serious.

In truth, whether Go Gyeong-tae got a hit or not did not directly matter.

I only needed to complete the cycle.

However, the way they pitched to me would be different.

I only needed one more double for the cycle.

If the bases were empty, there was a high chance they would simply walk me or refuse to challenge me.

“I’m not completely joking. It could really happen.”

My vague attitude made Go Gyeong-tae’s expression even worse.

“So hit the ball. Get a hit this time. Overcome it. If you can’t shake off this pressure now, nobody will come looking for you in the future.”

His sudden national team selection.

It had become one of the biggest things blocking Go Gyeong-tae’s true ability.

But he had to overcome it himself.

If he did not, he would never be able to do anything.

It was for him.

And at the same time, for me.

“All right. I’ll try.”

Go Gyeong-tae eventually answered with a firm expression.

I tapped his shoulder several times and sent him toward the plate.

Sometimes, you heard words that felt completely sincere.

That was what Go Gyeong-tae thought.

He had learned countless things from Choi Seong while watching him from nearby.

Choi Seong almost never joked in serious moments.

So if he made a joke like that, it felt as though he were saying one thing.

Do it.

No matter what.

You absolutely have to do it.

Go Gyeong-tae tightly gripped his bat.

The opposing pitcher currently led the league in saves.

His ERA was in the 2.00s.

He had been firmly protecting the back of the Gwangju Jaguars bullpen.

“Whew...”

First pitch, strike.

An absurdly sharp slider perfectly entered the outside edge of the strike zone.

He really was a one-tool pitcher.

With nothing but a fastball and slider, he was dominating Korean baseball.

“If this ends here, we’ll only be one game behind you, right?”

The catcher kept talking to him.

Lately, Go Gyeong-tae had been suffering from catchers constantly trash-talking him.

After seeing his recent slump, other players had realized he was weak against pressure.

It was almost as though catchers had heard that Go Gyeong-tae was an easy target.

Every time they faced him, they talked like this.

“Don’t worry. We aren’t going to lose.”

Go Gyeong-tae sharply answered the catcher, who had entered professional baseball in the same year as him.

It was a one-run game.

Only three outs remained.

The opposing pitcher was currently the league’s save leader.

With an ERA in the 2.00s, there was a high chance they would fail to beat him.

“Really?”

The catcher spoke mockingly.

Go Gyeong-tae felt annoyed, but calmly accepted the provocation.

Choi Seong will probably take care of everything anyway.

He unconsciously thought that.

Strangely, his heart became lighter.

Come to think of it, that’s true.

Choi Seong had accomplished things that Go Gyeong-tae could not.

The moment he thought that, Go Gyeong-tae naturally relaxed.

145 km/h.

A poorly controlled pitch missed the strike zone by quite a bit.

One strike, one ball.

“What, you think Choi Seong will do everything for you? If you and Kwon Geon-woo can’t reach base, you lose. You need to play well. You.”

The catcher stubbornly continued attacking Go Gyeong-tae’s weakness.

But strangely, the more he talked, the calmer Go Gyeong-tae became.

“I should play well too. But even without me, Choi Seong would probably pull it off.”

“You’re his senior and you’re depending on your junior? You have to do it. You. You’re on the national team now.”

The catcher, who had not even been selected for the national team himself, kept trying to pressure him.

Go Gyeong-tae smiled instead.

“No. I’m really nothing special.”

Crack!

Go Gyeong-tae fouled away the slider.

Come to think of it, he really was nothing special.

He was just an ordinary player who happened to be shining for a short while.

Behind him stood Kwon Geon-woo, who was crushing the ball around .300, and Choi Seong, already a legend of Korean baseball.

His heart became lighter.

Even more relaxed.

Crack!

When another pitch entered the strike zone, he swung without hesitation.

It was the kind of light, easy swing he had failed to produce for several games.

The result was a single in front of the left fielder.

“Nice!”

Go Gyeong-tae clenched his fist and ran toward first.

As a bonus, his heart somehow felt much lighter.

Kwon Geon-woo stepped up next.

He ranked first in stolen bases and was also among the top ten in batting average.

It was all thanks to his excellent batting sense.

Still, he could not stop thinking about what Choi Seong had told Go Gyeong-tae earlier.

It was the first time he had ever seen Choi Seong almost force someone to do something.

Then I need to do this properly too.

Choi Seong was basically saying they absolutely had to win this game.

That made sense.

If second place closed the gap to one game, the psychological pressure would definitely increase.

We need to help.

The top of the lineup needed to score here and end the game.

The catcher did not say anything.

This guy was famous for talking to other hitters.

But for some reason, he never said anything to Kwon Geon-woo.

Crack!

Kwon Geon-woo swung at the incoming fastball.

But the ball went backward.

His timing was slightly off.

Another four-seam fastball came inside.

Crack!

He swung again.

Once again, the ball went backward.

He was being slightly overpowered by the pitch.

“Damn it.”

Kwon Geon-woo let out a quiet sigh.

Had Choi Seong ever demanded anything from the team before?

There was only one thing.

During training.

How to swing a bat.

How to throw a ball.

Other than that, he never demanded anything.

Then there had to be a reason they absolutely needed to win right now.

Kwon Geon-woo had made a decision after witnessing Choi Seong’s miracles in the past.

Whatever Choi Seong asked of him, he would follow without doubt.

“Come on.”

Kwon Geon-woo knew it.

The opposing pitcher’s stuff was excellent.

There was a high chance he would not be able to hit that fastball.

Then there was only one remaining method.

A bunt.

With two strikes, if the bunt went foul, the three-bunt rule would result in a strikeout.

But the opponent would never expect him to bunt.

They already knew he was being overpowered by the fastball.

They would throw another fastball.

Kwon Geon-woo believed that and moved his right hand toward the middle of the bat.

He saw the third baseman and pitcher suddenly rushing forward.

Tap.

The bunted ball barely stayed inside the foul line as it rolled toward third.

Kwon Geon-woo threw away the bat and sprinted without hesitation.

It was a better bunt than expected.

Thinking that, he did not look back.

He dove headfirst toward first base.

Almost at the same time, he heard the first baseman catch the ball.

The result was...

“Safe! Safe!”

It was incredibly close.

A battle decided by only half a second.

He had barely reached safely.

Kwon Geon-woo raised both hands and showed them toward Choi Seong.

Choi Seong responded with a thumbs-up.

The Gwangju Jaguars manager walked onto the mound.

He intended to calmly settle his pitcher.

“You can do it, right?”

“Yes!”

“Your pitches are still excellent. Who could have expected Kwon Geon-woo to bunt with two strikes? He caught us completely off guard. Just keep pitching like this.”

“Yes!”

The manager was satisfied with the equally loud answer.

“Hmm... Originally, I was going to intentionally walk Choi Seong.”

A pitcher completing a cycle as a hitter?

He could not allow one of his own players, someone he cared about like family, to suffer that humiliation.

He had not planned to signal an intentional walk directly to the umpire.

Instead, he intended to throw several completely unhittable pitches and simply send Choi Seong to first.

But the situation had changed.

“Challenge him directly and get an out somehow. If you don’t, we’re going to lose this game.”

Rather than loading the bases and facing their sluggers one after another, getting even one out was more important.

If they won today, the gap would become one game.

It was a perfect opportunity to catch the Busan Oceans.