Chapter 0
The ₩220 million in the bank account registered under the name ‘Kang Juhyeok’.
That was what I got in exchange for fifteen years of my life, from elementary school until now, and my left shoulder, which had been ground to tatters.
Of course, it wasn't a small amount of money.
The problem was that I had never learned how to make money except by grinding my shoulder to dust.
“Wouldn't even reach 120, damn it….”
I threw the last ball of my life with my right hand instead of my left, then returned to my shabby home with the baseball slamming weakly into the wall behind me.
It was a filthy, cramped studio apartment, but it was clean because I kept it tidy.
It was also absurdly expensive because it was in a needlessly good school district.
Still, perhaps because of the empty space left behind by all the baseball equipment I'd gotten rid of a few days ago, it looked surprisingly spacious.
I flung the window wide open to air out the stale air, then collapsed onto the mattress and sighed as the chilly late-winter wind battered me.
“Maybe I should look into delivery work.”
Choosing to become a pitcher in elementary school because I was mesmerized by the balls thudding into the mitt had been the problem.
It wasn't as if my great-uncle or aunt cared what I did, so if I was going to do whatever I wanted anyway, I should have become a hitter.
I should have ignored the manager and stubbornly insisted on playing hitter.
Even if I was going to pitch, I should have realized something was wrong when my shoulder started aching after pitching four games in a row.
And even if I hadn't noticed then, I should have firmly said, ‘Ah, I can't do that,’ when they called me in for ten consecutive postseason games.
You should have managed a kid with potential after he finally broke out, you fucking blockhead of a manager.
Does eighty appearances in 144 games make any sense?
Including the postseason, it was ninety appearances in 154 games.
Even in the twentieth century, they wouldn't have ground me down this badly.
“Fuck, what's the point of blaming anyone….”
Of course, I knew blaming our esteemed manager was pointless because he was only a figurehead.
The real powers were the owner and the general manager.
If the club took a dislike to you for some reason, suddenly being traded to another team was an everyday occurrence at our club.
And the reason I could guess was so obvious that there was no need to think too deeply about it.
Anyone could see why I had been marked by the club.
***
Our club had a woman so attractive that people instinctively turned to look at her.
Ah, of course, she wasn't a cheerleader. She was just a club employee.
I had briefly gotten involved with a cheerleader before, but the woman I was talking about was in a different league.
What was different about her was—
…Her figure was different.
“Excuse me.”
“⋯What is it?”
The woman standing in front of me had beige ponytail hair and a haughty air.
Her name was Seo Ha-eun.
A tight suit suited her perfectly, and her looks were honestly on par with most TV announcers.
But more important than her pretty face was, naturally, her figure.
Rather than a model⋯ perhaps it would be more accurate to say she looked like a gravure idol from the country next door?
Her face made her look slim, but her breasts and thighs were insane.
I had no idea why a woman like this worked at such a lousy small-time club, but hey, no complaints, right?
Plenty of players had already tried to hit on her, and I wasn't completely opposed to making a move myself, but….
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for my first impression of her to crumble.
“Let's talk.”
“I mean, why?”
“I wasn't going to say anything if I could help it, but could you stop ignoring people so blatantly?”
“⋯When have I ever?”
That uniquely infuriating look in her eyes.
…And that expression and attitude that seemed to look down on everyone.
She never said it out loud, but her eyes made it painfully obvious every time.
It might have been different if I didn't have to see her often, but she was a staff member I saw at every game.
“You just ignored me. You clicked your tongue when you brushed past me.”
“⋯Because our shoulders bumped. Happy now?”
“As far as I know, there are plenty of other people besides me. Did you bump shoulders with all of them too?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? …Move. Don't pick a fight.”
It was true that I was a little sensitive, but I wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable around her.
Aside from a few brain-dead idiots who thought she was great no matter what because she was pretty, most people had similar experiences and were just as offended.
“I don't have anything against you myself, but there are a lot of players who look down on you, so please be careful. I may be a rookie, but the other players have plenty of pull, you know?”
Especially the minor leaguers and the ace veterans.
The minor leaguers had built up fantasies after seeing her face and body, only to have them brutally shattered, and now they hated her.
The ace veterans had been treated kindly for years, so they said it was refreshing to be treated like rookies for the first time in a long while.
In a sense, she was such a consistent person that I almost found her likable for it.
“⋯Are you threatening me?”
“What do you mean, threat? You really know how to choose your words. I'm just telling you because the players complain every time they see you. If something happens, the club will be the one in trouble.”
“No need to worry. Move.”
“Ah, seriously⋯.”
As one of the youngest players, there was no reason for me to say something like this to her.
Even so, I couldn't stop myself from flaring up in the moment because I was certain I wouldn't lose to her.
At least within the team, her reputation was that of a stuck-up bitch whose body was the only appealing thing about her.
I was a key piece in the bullpen, overwhelmingly in second place for Rookie of the Year, and on good terms with the veterans.
I thought there was little chance that I would suffer for it.
And… to be honest, hearing the veterans sexually harass that woman behind her back made me feel a little sorry for her.
If she didn't change her attitude, she looked like she'd quit eventually, so I hoped that being forcibly intimidated might make her a little more easygoing.
If you asked whether I was meddling in something that wasn't my business, I had nothing to say… but so what?
Anyway, she was pretty, so I was looking out for her.
“I said move! I'm going to yell!”
“No, I was just—”
“Oh, Juhyeok. What are you doing there?”
“Ah, sunbaenim.”
“⋯.”
“Um⋯ Ah, she's gone.”
But while a close senior called out to me from behind, she darted away.
The situation looked exactly like I'd been caught hitting on her, so I deliberately put on a calm face and answered breezily.
“What was that? Were you hitting on her? She took off in a hurry.”
“Come on, what are you talking about, sunbaenim? I don't even like her, and she's not in my league.”
“Look at this bastard's confidence. How are you out of her league?”
“I mean I'm beneath her. I'm still a rookie, aren't I?”
“Anyway, what did you say to that woman?”
“Oh, nothing. She was just getting annoyed with me⋯.”
“Why?”
“Our shoulders bumped.”
I prattled on as if nothing had happened while recalling the image of Seo Ha-eun that remained in my mind.
⋯Honestly, she was pretty.
I couldn't say that I had zero ulterior motives when I used our shoulder bump as an excuse to say something to her.
Well, it wasn't as if I was seriously trying to seduce her.
“⋯Um, Juhyeok. I wasn't going to say this, but just in case, I'll tell you and only you.”
“What is it?”
“You know the show Superstar?”
“You, sunbaenim?”
“No, you idiot. Not that. The audition program.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah. I know of it.”
“She was on it, you know? She brought her younger sister on the show back then, and that girl has debuted as an idol now.”
The unexpected family detail surprised me a little, but it wasn't particularly hard to understand.
Considering that woman's looks, her family probably looked similar, so whether as an idol or an actress, she could easily make a career of it.
If anything, I wondered why she was working somewhere like this after even appearing on an audition show.
Could she really be that bad at singing?
Judging by the set of pipes she carried around, she didn't exactly seem incapable of singing⋯.
“But her younger sister's real name is Seo Ye-eun. Her stage name is Seo Jia.”
“You're really knowledgeable about idols, sunbaenim.”
“That's beside the point. What's important is… she's the general manager's daughter.”
“⋯What?”
“Our general manager's name is Seo Gi-hun, right? She's the general manager's daughter. Seo Ha-eun, Seo Ye-eun.”
“⋯Ah.”
But when I heard what my senior said next, I realized that something was seriously wrong.
…That woman was the general manager's daughter?
Our general manager?
General Manager Seo Gi-hun?
“I think you should be careful. Seeing how rude that woman is, one wrong move and you could get reported straight to the general manager.”
“⋯Thank you, sunbaenim.”
“I gave you this important information. Aren't you going to do something for your senior?”
“Heh-heh, I did send you Hanwoo beef for Lunar New Year⋯.”
“You little punk, how long are you going to milk that? Listening to you, you'd think you're not a fourth-year player but a twenty-fourth-year veteran.”
“Come on, of course I'll send some for Chuseok too. Senior Hwang Sang-hun, enjoy those delicious ribs from your rookie. Hahaha.”
“You little punk, trying to settle this with money? Not that—just say in interviews that you're pitching well because the catcher gives great leads. You're good with words.”
“Understood. If I ever get interviewed, I'll be sure to say it. I always feel at ease when a veteran is behind the mitt….”
“Exactly. Our Juhyeok really knows how to take a senior's words and make them sound good. If we had three more players like you, our team would have won it all.”
“Of course.”
…Still, I hadn't picked a serious fight, had I?
If anything, I had only warned her out of good intentions, hadn't I?
I was well-regarded by the seniors and got along well with the juniors, too.
No matter how petty a person was, how could I end up ruined over something like that—
***
Shockingly, I did.
Of course, I didn't think that woman had some incredible ability and had destroyed my shoulder with telekinesis.
But the trade rumors that circulated all season, and the manager grinding down my shoulder like a mad butcher, clearly meant there was something behind it.
There was no rational reason to put me on the market.
My private life was a little… debauched, but at least I hadn't cheated on anyone.
I hadn't been dating anyone in the first place.
I had managed myself well enough to avoid gossip, so why me?
At the time, I coolly brushed it off, thinking, No way, it must just be some fucking pointless persecution complex.
⋯Look at how things turned out.
After they ground me down like a dog, I suffered a shoulder injury.
Then I was released without even receiving proper support for my rehabilitation.
Rumors spread among the seniors and juniors alike that I must have gotten on the general manager's bad side,
and even a friend I knew on another team during rehab asked whether I'd been caught putting my hands on the general manager's daughter.
I hadn't even put a hand on her; all I'd done was bump her shoulder.
…The world was seriously fucked.
What had I done to deserve ending up in this mess?
Haha….
If I ever happened to run into that woman later on,
I'd seduce her somehow and fuck her until she passed out.
My life was already ruined anyway,
wouldn't it at least feel satisfying if we went down together?