Chapter 1 – 001. Reunion
The groundless expectation that I would be back to where I was a few years ago when I opened my eyes has already been shattered hundreds of times.
Of course, when you open your eyes, the clock hands are far away, and the circles on the calendar also move forward one by one.
March.
Normally, it’s time to prepare your body and put your stamp on the coach’s eyes in exhibition games.
But now it has become something that has nothing to do with me.
“If anyone sees me, they will think I’m a gangster.”
Is there a philanthropist in this world who would pay money to treat a left-handed pitcher who had his shoulder shattered twice and has clear scars…,
I guess I have to do it.
There will be one or two teams that will scratch me if they want.
But I know my body better.
Never again
I can’t go back to the shoulders I used to have.
The thing is, it doesn’t work in the pros any more.
I, who have stood on the mound, know best.
“Haa… “
I lower my t-shirt sleeves to hide my shoulders and get ready to go out.
I need to get my mind in order just by this month and start working seriously, whether it’s delivering work or being a fitness trainer.
You can’t starve just because your life is ruined.
It’s time to move out of this neighborhood where monthly rent is extremely expensive.
The only good thing about Mok-dong is the school district for the kids, but what does it mean to someone who can’t even date, let alone get married?
Now, I leave the corner of my room that I don’t see much of and go to the gym I always go to.
As soon as I unconsciously enter the sports news tab, I see our Director Seo smiling brightly through the screen.
“I don’t even want to see you.”
⋯Revenge.
I would do it if I could, but I don’t hate it so much that I want to risk my life and kill it.
He worked hard for his position, but I don’t think he abandoned me like that just because of what my daughter said.
However, apart from that, I can’t bear to see someone spouting out hopeful words like a saint.
Baby, you parachuted your own daughter into the club.
I don’t know if they kicked me out or not, but at least I was with the club until I was released.
And when he kicked me out, he made sure to let me know that that rude attitude was hereditary.
You may have said that you keep your manners, but you can only see it if you look in the eye.
What the other person thinks of me.
‘Kang Joo-hyuk. I’m sorry, but I think it will be difficult to renew the contract due to the club’s circumstances.’
‘⋯Well, yes. ‘Okay.’
‘Thank you for your hard work.’
‘Yes.’
‘Don’t be too discouraged. There will be a lot of teams that will take Kang out even if he just recovers his restraint.’
‘⋯.’
Anyway, my daughter speaks well as a person who landed with a parachute.
There will be a lot of teams that will take you if you just recover your speed, so what does it mean that it’s difficult to renew your contract?
They are telling you to get out because you will never recover.
If you listen to it straight, it’s an inevitable pruning, but at least that’s how it was read in my eyes.
Simply because I lived competitively from a young age, I became quick-witted in those areas.
Since I was being kicked out like this, I thought it would be easier if I didn’t exist.
Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing…
“⋯What.”
There is.
A familiar yet unfamiliar face was sitting on the bench, sweating profusely but with expressionless eyes.
And those emotionless eyes meet mine.
“Oh, really…”
Then, with a sigh,
The feeling of ‘contempt’ I have only read once in my life,
I was able to feel it with my body once again.
It doesn’t really matter why you are here.
Just.
What did I do wrong that you hate me so much?
The thought that I really wanted to hear that much filled my head.
***
Trudging.
In a gym with not many people, I walk next to the woman who particularly catches my eye.
The woman, who was drinking water from her tumbler while sweating profusely, frowned and glared at me with contempt, as if she had noticed that I was coming toward her.
Those eyes seem to have become sharper than a few years ago.
Standing tall in front of the woman who purses her lips and ties up her long, messy hair, she opens her mouth in a low voice like the day she first spoke to her.
“Are you Seo Ha-eun?”
“⋯Then isn’t it?”
“It’s a coincidence. “See it all in a place like this.”
“I know, right. “I wish we had never met.”
“I agree too. “That is.”
It seems like it’s been a while since we talked, but it hasn’t changed at all.
Ah, it looks like my body has gotten better.
Maybe it’s because of her her thin clothes her her her, but he inadvertently glances at her her her her breasts her her her, even though he feels disgusted with her.
Perhaps noticing her, her gaze, her her, the woman made an even more pitiful expression and shot her words her back at me.
“Is there something you want to say to me?”
“I don’t have anything in particular, but he suddenly sighed when he saw me. “Don’t you think you have more to say?”
“What can I say, really. Get out of the way. Because she has nothing to talk about with you.”
“You’re still the same.”
Looking at her her her her expression her her as she clicks her tongue as if she is dumbfounded, she can’t bear the disgusting boiling up in her chest her and lets out a long breath and barely lets out the nausea that is building up.
⋯Be patient.
I see people.
This girl looks bad, and I’ve been attracted to her for a long time.
“Hey, Seo Ha-eun. Seo Ha-eun, you hate me, right?”
“Can’t we do that?”
“What is the reason? “I’ve barely even talked to that person, and I don’t know much about them.”
“Whether I hate it or not, it’s my choice, right? “She didn’t harm you.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Yes?”
⋯But,
I couldn’t hold back the emotions that boiled over at that shameless remark.
There is also a degree of redness.
Thanks to someone’s father, my shoulders got this shape.
It was fortunate that I couldn’t at least scream.
Even though he had that grim expression on his face.
“Well, what… What am I… “
But surprisingly, the woman who was frightened by my expression,
She turned into a woman with a completely different scent than before, and was looking at me, her body trembling.
She is surprised by the fear-filled iris of her, and turns her eyes left and right to check other people’s moods.
People’s eyes are casting uncomfortable glances as if they are asking what on earth they are doing at the gym.
When I looked at the mirror attached to one side of the wall behind the crowd, I saw a large, 190 cm tall man with massive muscles standing in front of a woman who was at most 163 years old and was pushing her hard.
⋯.
I don’t like the red line.
I hate eating in the gym van here.
I’ll probably move soon anyway.
“⋯Seo Ha-eun. Are you always here, or is this your first time here?”
“Why is that… “
“Answer. “If the time overlaps, it will become uncomfortable for both of us.”
“⋯It’s my first time. “Why?”
“Then come another time. “I absolutely have to exercise during this time.”
“So why me? Why do I have to change the time because of you… “
When I returned to a polite attitude and continued the conversation, this woman, who had frozen for a moment, quickly returned to her previous attitude and began lashing out at me as if it was natural to complain.
Her laughter Her escaped me without my knowledge at her Her familiar attitude Her her her, but then I swallowed it all in my throat.
Using her disgust as my driving force, I went back to my ‘player’ days when I played for the first time in a long time and whispered to her in a low voice.
“Then come. During my time. Definitely.”
The reason a guy like me was able to do well in the pros for at least a year was because of just one specialty.
I’m better at distinguishing between scared kids than anyone else.
And what separates those who are full of thoughts about the future,
“⋯What?”
It’s much better than that.
And there is an intersection between those two sets.
Children who are psychologically discouraged but cannot admit it because of their pride and throw tantrums.
Just like this woman in front of me right now.
“Please come at this time. I was bored because I didn’t know anyone, but it’s nice. “I found someone I knew.”
The leader’s daughter?
I retired anyway, so what can I do?
He’s not a man so great that he can be locked up in a detention center just because he started a fight.
As I looked down at the woman for a long time with her eyes wondering what she was going to do, venom gradually filled up in Seo Ha-eun’s pupils as she stared blankly into my eyes.
Then she pursed her lips and jumped up, without even looking at me, walked over to her treadmill and started running around angrily, fluttering her ponytails.
“Please come? Absolutely?”
“Ha, there are all strange people.”
“People can be strange. Isn’t that right?”
“Are you really crazy?”
“I’m not crazy, so don’t just change the time to avoid me. At this time, definitely. Did you know?”
“What can I say, really.”
As if ignoring the opponent, he throws a flat fastball into the center.
Of course, the opponent is not an asshole, so if he misses a ball like that, he gets angry and tries to catch the next ball with his eyes on fire.
Of all the people who showed such eyes, there was not a single one who bent their pride and turned their stomachs like that.
At that time, right at eye level.
In a place that fits your body.
All I have to do is throw the fastest ball I can throw.
The more you focus, the more you don’t anticipate it, the more difficult it is to deal with it.
Catching an opponent who is panicking and panicking,
It was originally my specialty.
Both inside and outside the stadium.
Always.
