Chapter 65, Most All-Star Votes in History
[“Hawks Savior” Choi Seong Receives Most All-Star Votes in History]
[Seven Days Until All-Star Voting Ends, Choi Seong Already Has 1.2 Million Votes]
[Will He Break the Previous 2025 Record of 1.78 Million? Around 100,000 Votes Arriving Per Day]
Articles like these had already taken over the sports pages.
And that was not all.
[Hawks Fans Officially Announce Support for Choi Seong]
, Content: As the representative of the Daejeon Hawks fan community, I honestly declare support for Choi Seong. Sorry to Kim Beom-jin, Lee Byeong-hwan, Martinez, and everyone else this time. Choi Seong saved this team. He got Park Trash fired, so we’re paying him back.
, Upvotes: 1,227 / Downvotes: 114
, The Hawks are now officially Choi Seong’s colony.
, Honestly, protecting Kim Beom-jin like that was cool as hell.
, Respect for saying what the senior players couldn’t say.
, I’m a Hawks fan, but I put Choi Seong’s name on my uniform. Thoughts?
, Crazy, lol. I did the same.
Fans of two teams that were already popular in Korean baseball joined forces.
For once, everyone threw their votes toward Choi Seong.
As a result, with five days left before voting closed, the total passed three million.
Fans from almost every club were voting for Choi Seong.
Because of that, the league office fell into chaos.
There was one major problem.
“So what you’re saying is that Choi Seong absolutely needs to appear in the All-Star Game.”
Heo Jin-hwan, secretary-general of Korean baseball, let out a long sigh.
By coincidence, he shared the same family name as Manager Heo Jun, but they were not related.
Still, because they had known each other for a long time, people called them the “Heo-Heo Duo.”
Heo Jun, one half of the Heo-Heo Duo, sighed at Secretary-General Heo Jin-hwan’s request.
“The All-Star Game happens, then the Olympics begin the following week. We need to use the All-Star break to train together.”
The Olympics were now around two months away.
They had already asked the clubs for cooperation so national team players could train together every weekend starting this week.
But playing in the All-Star Game could interfere with player condition.
And if someone suffered an injury there, it would seriously weaken the national team.
“But... Choi Seong already has more than three million votes. Our estimate is four million. He’s going to completely break the 2025 record...”
Once again, the unexpected variable was Choi Seong.
A Daejeon Hawks player had set the previous All-Star voting record at 1.78 million votes in 2025.
Choi Seong was on pace to more than double it.
“Even so, no. National team games come first. Who told you to keep Olympic players on the voting list in the first place?”
The national team was struggling with the situation too.
Choi Seong was currently expected to be Korea’s number-one starter.
It was an extremely sensitive position.
The national team had officially asked for selected players to be removed from the voting list.
The league office refused.
There was a reason.
Fans wanted to see how many votes those players could receive.
“It’s only one day. Is there really no way? Choi Seong doesn’t have to pitch. He could only bat.”
Heo Jun had no choice but to think seriously.
A situation like this had never happened before.
At least make a reasonable request...
Traditionally, national teams entered focused training during the All-Star break.
Heo Jin-hwan was becoming unreasonable because professional baseball’s popularity had exploded thanks to Choi Seong.
Just as Heo Jun prepared to reject him again...
Heo Jin-hwan made another suggestion.
“We’ll move the All-Star Game one week earlier.”
“Come on. Then what about fan ticketing...”
“That should be fine. Ticket sales haven’t started yet.”
“Then the entire first-half and second-half schedule becomes messy...”
“Our country has tropical-level summer weather now anyway. Extending the season by seven days won’t change much.”
“Are you sure about this...?”
Heo Jun finally realized Heo Jin-hwan was serious.
His eyes burned with the same passion he had shown when first entering professional baseball twenty years ago.
Heo Jun could only feel confused.
Was the All-Star Game really worth getting this passionate about?
“Hmm...”
As Heo Jun continued thinking, Heo Jin-hwan played his final card.
“You’re worried Choi Seong might get injured, right? Then why don’t we ask Choi Seong directly?”
Heo Jun’s eyes opened wide.
If they did that, maybe it would be fine.
Still, as manager, he had a responsibility to protect his players.
“Why are you so obsessed with the All-Star Game? It’s basically an exhibition game.”
“Three million votes. Three million! Have you ever seen voting numbers like this?”
It had been ten years since Korean baseball entered another boom period.
Yet even then, no one had seen numbers this high.
Fans wanted it.
And baseball was a sport for fans.
Heo Jin-hwan viewed baseball completely from the fans’ perspective.
Heo Jun had no choice but to see things differently.
This was the national team.
Official Olympic competition for the first time in decades.
“...Fine. Call him first.”
Still, they could not simply ignore the highest All-Star vote total in history.
Heo Jun took one step back.
There were far too many unusual variables in baseball this year.
“Hello, Player Choi Seong? This is Secretary-General Heo Jin-hwan.”
Heo Jin-hwan put the call on speaker.
“Seong, this is Manager Heo Jun.”
Heo Jun greeted him with an awkward smile.
“Yes, hello. What’s going on?”
There was noise in the background.
He seemed to be training.
“Do you want to play in the All-Star Game?”
Heo Jun asked directly.
An immediate answer came through the phone.
“If possible, of course. Isn’t it a festival for the fans?”
Heo Jin-hwan’s expression immediately brightened at Choi Seong’s cool answer.
“See? Then Choi Seong will participate...”
“Yes, yes. But I have conditions.”
The expressions of Heo Jin-hwan and Heo Jun became strange when Choi Seong continued.
[Four Million Votes, Nearly One in Ten Koreans Voted for Choi Seong]
[Were There Really This Many Korean Baseball Fans? Even Casual Fans Vote for Choi Seong]
