The Extra in a Baseball Novel

Chapter 52

I arrived at Sajik Baseball Stadium as usual, but today, Ms. Miyeon was with me.

She came along, saying that it would be hard to see me for a while once I left for spring camp.

“You said it’s in Japan this year…”

Ms. Miyeon’s voice revealed a trace of regret as her lips slightly pouted.

“How long will you be gone…?”

“I’ll be there until February, then come back for a bit. Two days later, I’ll be gone again for about a month.”

“T-that long?”

Ms. Miyeon opened her mouth in disbelief, her shoulders drooping. She didn’t cry, but her eyes were already moist.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I felt good whenever I saw her like this.

Because it showed how much Ms. Miyeon cared about me.

I smiled for a moment and then approached her, gently pulling her into a hug.

The startled “Taehyun?” Miyeon from the past was nowhere to be found now. Instead, she tightened her arms around my waist.

As I stroked her hair, I spoke softly.

“I said I’d take two days off when I return from spring camp. I’ll spend the whole time with you, so just wait a little.”

Satisfied with my promise, her head nodded up and down against my chest.

“I’ll call you when I arrive.”

“Yes… make sure… through video call.”

“Of course.”

I entered the stadium, leaving behind Ms. Miyeon, who waved for a long time.

“Hey, Cha Taehyun.”

“Oh, you’re Shin Siwoo, right?”

“Yeah, you finally remembered my name.”

Shin Siwoo, another rookie like me, was drafted in the second round as a catcher and joined the first-team spring camp. It seemed the manager had decided to replace the existing catcher and train this guy.

“…I saw everything.”

“Saw what?”

“I saw you being all lovey-dovey with your girlfriend…”

Not that it’s official yet, but at this point, it’s hard to deny it. Whether it’s Miyeon or me, it seems like we’ll cross the line soon enough.

“So what?”

“…Damn. You’re not even denying it. Anyway… well…”

Shin Siwoo hesitated for a moment and then spoke softly.

“Can you teach me how to get a girlfriend?”

He pleaded earnestly, even adding, “I’m really serious.”

“What can I do if I don’t know how?”

“But you already have one! Just tell me how you got together.”

If that’s what he’s asking…

“You just have to be good at baseball. Then, someone will come along.”

Shin Siwoo was speechless for a moment, then sighed and shook his head.

“Ugh… it’s my fault for asking. Never mind that. How do you find it here?”

“I don’t really have any thoughts about it.”

“Really? I actually find this place more comfortable than high school. The coaches are a bit old-fashioned, but the training itself is pretty loose, don’t you think?”

Indeed, just as Shin Siwoo said, Phoenix’s schedule is so lax that it makes you wonder if this is really how a professional team should operate.

But… since the manager has changed, it might not stay that way.

“We’ll see. It might just be temporary.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The new manager is joining us during spring camp, right?”

“Oh, you mean Manager Lee Eun-seok? He’s a bit old, so he might be strict. But the seniors say he only came here to cash in before retirement anyway. They say there’s no other reason for him to come here and that he doesn’t care about Phoenix.”

What Shin Siwoo said made sense. If you think about why a legendary manager who won three consecutive championships would come here, that reason would be the first to pop up.

I thought the same, but Shin Hayoon, a lifelong Phoenix fan, once told me:

– “I heard he was born in Busan. I found out that he spoke quite often about being a Phoenix fan. I think he genuinely cares about this team.”

“I heard from someone that the manager seems to genuinely care about Phoenix.”

“Really? …Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”

We’ll find out soon enough. That was true.

“This team is hopeless.”

On the first day of spring camp in Miyazaki, Japan, those were the first words that Manager Lee Eun-seok said to the Phoenix players.

The players all tilted their heads in confusion, and the coaches did the same.

“I took a look around this team before I came to spring camp… It’s just hopeless. I can see very well why this team is at the bottom, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows that.”

‘He’s right.’

Standing among the players, Lee Suho kept nodding his head.

The manager walked over to the fielders’ side, stopping in front of Lee Sangjin, and stared at his belly before sighing.

“Is this the body of a baseball player? Should an athlete have such a big gut? No wonder fans call you a bunch of useless junk.”

Once again, Lee Suho nodded vigorously.

The manager pulled out last year’s Phoenix spring camp schedule from his jacket and held it up.

“One hour of basic physical training… The rest is all self-training… I don’t know who made this, but it’s quite simple, isn’t it? I don’t mind simplicity either, so…”

– Rip

He tore the schedule in half, letting the pieces fall slowly to the ground.

“From this year on, it’ll be even simpler. No more self-training. We’ll focus solely on physical conditioning. Simpler, right? You should all be satisfied.”

As expected of a manager called a baseball legend, no one dared to object. However, some of the players who had more experience openly showed their displeasure on their faces.

‘Shin Taeseop… Lee Sangjin…’

The manager made a mental note of their faces and continued speaking.

“Today, we start with running. Everyone, line up.”

One of the players, aligning himself reluctantly, asked the manager,

“How many laps?”

“Laps? There’s no such thing. You’ll run until I say stop. Oh, and for those who stop before I tell you to, your break time will be cut in half.”

‘Cut break time in half?’

The coach’s eyes widened as he looked at the manager.

While it was true that the previous break time was a bit longer compared to other teams, cutting it in half seemed unreasonable, no matter how you looked at it.

“Manager… If you cut the break time in half, the players might collapse before they even get to the practice games…”

The manager scoffed at the coach’s words.

Collapsing because their previously overflowing break time got cut in half? That just means their basic fitness isn’t up to par.

“If you don’t like it, pack your bags and head to the second-team camp. That goes for the coaches, too.”

The manager was resolute. He might have been past 60, an age where his passion should have cooled down, but from the moment he became Phoenix’s manager, he had no intention of doing things half-heartedly.

He was genuinely dedicated to Phoenix.

“What are you doing? Line up already!”

The manager shouted loudly, and the players reluctantly started aligning themselves.

“Ugh… Seriously, what is this?”

“Does he think it’s still the 80s or something…?”

“See, that’s why old coaches don’t work…”

“Training like this is so primitive. Does he think raising our stamina is all it takes?”

Voices of complaint echoed all around even before we started running.

I also thought that making us run until he said to stop was a bit primitive, but for Phoenix specifically, it seemed like the right approach.

I felt that for this team, it was best to be pushed hard, even if it seemed crude.

Anyway, following Senior Lee Suho’s lead, the line of players began to move.

The manager hadn’t mentioned maintaining a particular speed, so I thought they might run slowly, but of course, Senior Suho was different.

He kept a steady pace, not fast but definitely not slow.

One lap, two laps…

Everyone kept up with the pace well until the third lap, but…

“Huff… Huff…”

Wait, have these guys not done any fitness training at all?

We had only run four laps, and I could already hear heavy breathing.

Then came the fifth lap.

– “Already collapsing! Get up!”

The manager’s words rang out as the so-called ‘junk cars,’ the guys with big bellies, began to fall.

I was still fine. I maintained my breathing and continued running.

At that moment, the foreign player Andy John came up beside me and started talking.

“Oh… Taehyun? I’m starting to feel dizzy. I miss my wife’s kimchifitangsuyuk…”

“What? Kimchi pizza sweet-and-sour pork? Is that even a thing?”

“What? You don’t know kimfitang, Taehyun? You’ve been missing out on half of life. Make sure to try it when you get back.”

I had heard he had a Korean wife, so I expected him to know some Korean culture…

Kimfitang, huh… Seems like his wife has unique tastes.

Andy kept talking to me but finally went silent around the ninth lap, eventually declaring his surrender.

“Damn… If only I had eaten some kimchi this morning, I could’ve run more… Good luck, Taehyun.”

As Andy dropped out, there were only a few of us left in the lineup.

Surprisingly, rookie Shin Siwoo was still holding on.

“Siwoo…! Si

woo…!”

Or maybe not?

The weird sounds he was making suggested he was losing it.

“Why are you making weird noises?”

“Siwoo… Huff… You don’t… Huff… know? Huff… My brother’s… celebration… Huff… Gives me strength… if I do this…”

Muttering something incomprehensible about his brother and a celebration, Shin Siwoo finally collapsed during the 11th lap, shouting “Siwoo!!!”

Now, the only ones left were Senior Lee Suho and me.

We ran quietly, and then…

“Manager… You’re amazing… This is… Huff… the right way… Huff…”

Senior Suho started muttering nonsense, seemingly at his limit.

“Huff… What are you suddenly talking about?”

Lee Suho grinned widely as he answered.

“I really… Huff… feel it… Huff… The change… Now that the manager has changed… Huff… Isn’t it?”

I had to agree. I hadn’t expected the first day to be this intense.

Anyway, I was also starting to run out of breath. Was this ever going to end?

The fact that he hadn’t said to stop yet likely meant that the running was just an excuse, and the real plan was to turn half of the break time into training time.

That won’t do…

If that means my call time with Ms. Miyeon is halved… Then bring it on. Let’s see who wins.

Meanwhile, the manager had been away for quite a while, caught up on a phone call from the team’s general manager.

“Is it this late already…?”

It had been 20 minutes since he left.

The manager returned to the field, expecting everyone to be sprawled out.

“What the…”

Surprisingly, one player was still running.

“Huh… Turns out he’s crazier than I thought…”

His eyes were half-closed, and his body was soaked in sweat, but Cha Taehyun showed no intention of stopping, sprinting past the manager.

Realizing the situation, the manager scolded the coach.

“Are you out of your mind? Why didn’t you tell him to stop? What if he collapses?”

“Uh… You said to run until you told them to stop…”

The manager sighed, putting a hand to his forehead.

“If I said I’d be away for a while due to a call from the general manager… you should have figured it out! Use your judgment!”

Clicking his tongue, the manager left the coach behind and approached the track, shouting.

“Cha Taehyun! Stop! You can stop running now!”

Cha Taehyun halted in front of the manager, catching his breath before saying something incomprehensible.

“I think I can do one more lap. I’ll keep going.”

“What…?”

The manager stood there in shock as Cha Taehyun began to run again, shaking his head.

Meanwhile, Phoenix TV’s filming crew, who had arrived unnoticed, captured the whole scene on camera.

Juxtaposed perfectly with the ‘junk cars’ collapsed on the ground.

—