The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Gate Burst Open on My Debut Day (59)
“A left-handed pitcher from Haemun High School? Hae-soo, you played baseball?”
One of the trainees from Baseball B Team asked Kang Hae-soo.
Kang Hae-soo nodded with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
“Yes. But I quit quite a while ago.”
“A year ago counts as quite a while for you, huh?”
Jo Min-jae let out a derisive laugh, speaking with obvious sarcasm.
His attitude was hostile to anyone’s eyes, but Kang Hae-soo simply stared into empty space with an unmoved expression.
Jo Min-jae seemed to think provoking Kang Hae-soo was difficult, so he changed the subject.
“Anyway, if a former athlete comes out as a pitcher, the game won’t work. Let’s just take it easy, yeah? The broadcast is more important than the prize money, right?”
“Then Jo Min-jae trainee also….”
I cut off Jo Min-jae, who had been running his mouth arbitrarily since earlier.
“You won’t be pitching, right?”
“Huh?”
“From what I’ve heard, Jo Min-jae trainee seems to be a former athlete too.”
When I asked, Jo Min-jae chuckled as if he’d heard a funny joke and replied.
“I was a batter, not a pitcher? And unlike Hae-soo, I quit during middle school. Still, if it bothers you, I won’t pitch.”
As Jo Min-jae spoke with feigned consideration, Kang Hae-soo’s brow furrowed subtly.
‘This bastard’s trying to pull a con.’
I barely suppressed the hollow laugh threatening to burst out.
“It seems Jo Min-jae trainee didn’t have much talent.”
“Huh?”
I deliberately smiled broadly to avoid being marked by Jang Hyuk-soo and spoke.
“Usually, talented players prepare for both pitching and batting until middle school, right? Oh, maybe I’m mistaken?”
In baseball, position selection typically happens around third year of middle school at the earliest, or first year of high school at the latest.
Since no one knows which position their talent will flourish in, it’s standard practice to keep growth potential open for both pitching and batting.
‘That’s information most people don’t know unless they’re interested in baseball or do separate research.’
But how do I know?
Back when debut was more pressing than escaping regression.
I gave my all to even a single sub-quest to debut.
Of course, I thoroughly studied and practiced every sport in the second sub-quest from theory to practice.
Through obsessive research and study, I couldn’t reach professional baseball level, but I’d gained knowledge equivalent to a parent of an elementary school student dreaming of becoming a baseball player.
“I’m right, aren’t I, Hae-soo?”
“…Yes. If you played until middle school, you’d definitely throw much better than an average person.”
Kang Hae-soo nodded and answered when I asked.
Jo Min-jae bit his lower lip slightly, looking like he’d taken a hit.
“…So for fairness, let’s not have pitchers compete.”
“Well… I don’t really care.”
I quickly scanned the other trainees.
The trainees nodded with slightly uncomfortable expressions.
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
Having accomplished his purpose, Jo Min-jae walked toward the Baseball D Team’s area as if fleeing.
Watching Jo Min-jae’s retreating figure, I realized something was off about our team’s atmosphere.
“Hae-soo, why didn’t you tell us you played baseball?”
In the awkward silence, someone pressed Kang Hae-soo as if interrogating him.
Kang Hae-soo answered with an impassive expression.
“I thought if I stepped forward, the older members wouldn’t have a chance to shine.”
“Still, you should have said something. We kept asking who could pitch, and….”
Another trainee spoke with a betrayed expression, glancing sideways at Kang Hae-soo.
Honestly, it was absurd.
If Kang Hae-soo actually decided to dominate the game, they’d complain it was unfair anyway.
“Come on, if Hae-soo pitches, who’s going to hit the ball? Nobody could hit anything, and he’d just take MVP.”
When I laughed brightly and laid out the reality, the other trainees coughed awkwardly as if they’d just realized it.
But they still didn’t seem ready to give up.
“So then, who pitches?”
All eyes turned toward Kang Hae-soo, then quickly scattered.
“But… we don’t necessarily have to do whatever their team says, right?”
A trainee carefully opened his mouth, gauging Kang Hae-soo’s reaction.
“Right, from what I hear, that Jo Min-jae seems worse than our Hae-soo…. Honestly, aren’t we getting the short end of the stick?”
“Still, we already made a promise.”
There was a trainee who cared about the promise made with Jo Min-jae.
But he quickly folded under another trainee’s persuasion.
“We just can’t have him pitch from start to finish, right? If we slip him in during the middle or near the end, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, that’s true too. And there’s no guarantee they’ll play fair either.”
The trainees chattered on about whether to put Kang Hae-soo in as pitcher, completely excluding the person involved from the conversation.
I glanced at Kang Hae-soo’s expression growing darker and fell into thought.
‘Hmm… should I take a shot? It’s a bit of a gamble, but….’
After quickly making up my mind, I threw a bomb into the conversation.
“I’ll do it.”
The bomb exploded.
Eight pairs of eyes turned toward me.
“Huh… Choyeol, you? Have you played baseball before?”
“But pitcher is the most important position in baseball….”
“If you’ve never done it, let’s just have Hae-soo do it.”
So eager to pass the buck to someone else.
It was rather amusing how displeased they looked now that I volunteered.
They all secretly wanted Hae-soo to step up, didn’t they?
“Hae-soo… how about catcher?”
“Catcher?”
I turned to Kang Hae-soo and spoke.
“It’s just as important a position as pitcher. I’d feel reassured if you caught for us.”
“If I’m acceptable….”
“Then I’ll pitch, and Hae-soo catches. Does anyone have a different opinion?”
I asked the trainees for their thoughts one last time, but fortunately or unfortunately, no one spoke up.
“Let’s practice now.”
If you have complaints, say something, you guys.
Don’t irritate me.
I flashed a bright smile while suppressing the frustration roiling beneath the surface.
* * *
Practice began in an awkward atmosphere.
My practice partner was Kang Hae-soo.
Pitcher and catcher were originally eternal partners.
“Hyuk-soo.”
Kang Hae-soo, who kept glancing nervously even while we played catch, carefully opened his mouth.
“Are you really sure about this?”
“Sure about what?”
“You didn’t really want to pitch, did you?”
“Well….”
The pitcher position was literally high risk, high reward.
The position that got the most attention, but also the most criticism.
“Truth is, I wasn’t that drawn to it at first….”
When I confessed honestly, Kang Hae-soo’s expression darkened.
Regardless, I was the one who chose to pitch, so Hae-soo didn’t need to feel guilty.
“…But thinking about it, it seems like it could be fun.”
It’s a bit of a gamble, but… isn’t success in gambling always the most thrilling?
“Hae-soo, will you help me practice my pitching?”
“Yes.”
After finishing our catch, Kang Hae-soo and I prepared for pitching practice.
Kang Hae-soo knelt down, and I loosened up at a comfortable distance from him.
Our Team’s trainees began gathering quietly.
“Starting?”
“Yes!”
Kang Hae-soo nodded with a determined expression.
I placed my fingers on the seams of the baseball.
―Whoosh.
The ball that had been traveling smoothly suddenly curved sharply mid-flight.
Kang Hae-soo caught the ball with incredible athleticism just before he had to dodge backward.
The expressions of the trainees watching our practice darkened.
“Nice ball!”
But Kang Hae-soo, unconcerned with the atmosphere, encouraged me and threw the ball back.
‘Next….’
I received the ball back and adjusted my finger position slightly before throwing it again.
This time it flew well until it curved sharply to the left just before Kang Hae-soo’s glove.
“What’s that? Can’t you throw straight?”
Eventually, the trainees watching practice couldn’t hold back and spoke up.
“Nice! Great! Nice ball!”
But contrary to the other trainees, Kang Hae-soo’s eyes began to sparkle with intensity.
‘Hmm… it’s a bit ambiguous.’
Index and middle fingers wrapped around the seams, thumb underneath….
I tilted my head and wiggled my fingers experimentally.
“Throw the same one as before!”
As I continued to hesitate and deliberate, Kang Hae-soo encouraged me.
He’d grasped my intention from just two pitches.
‘Sharp instincts, this guy….’
I chuckled and threw the same pitch again, exactly as Kang Hae-soo wanted.
―Whoosh.
It didn’t break as dramatically as before, but in an actual game, it would’ve been called a strike.
“The ball’s too slow though?”
Finally, one of our team’s trainees couldn’t hold back and burst out.
“The control is terrible too. Are you sure this is actually good?”
“Of course it’s not good. I think we should switch to Hae-soo right now.”
The other trainees nodded in agreement.
“Chowol, sorry, but maybe you should give up pitching right now….”
One trainee stepped forward to try to convince me.
But Kang Hae-soo, who’d been standing far away, strode over and blocked my path.
“Chowol hyung.”
Kang Hae-soo grabbed my shoulders with an excited expression.
“How many different pitch types can you throw?”
“What? Pitch types? What are you talking about?”
The trainee who’d become an unwelcome intruder furrowed his brow and asked.
“What do you mean…. Ugh!”
But the trainee was forced back by Kang Hae-soo’s broad shoulders.
“Your control was unstable so I didn’t notice at first… but that was definitely a slider, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you throw other pitch types? Wait, hyung, did you play baseball? How did you….”
“Hold on, hold on. I’ll explain everything, so calm down first.”
I skillfully calmed down the excited Kang Hae-soo.
“I’ve never formally learned baseball. I’m just somewhat interested in it.”
“But the breaking pitches…!”
“The breaking pitches….”
How am I supposed to explain this?
I was thrilled that the gamble paid off, but what came after was the real problem.
‘I need to explain it… convincingly….’
After a moment of deliberation, I showed him the grip I’d used when throwing the slider.
Index and middle fingers wrapped around the seams, thumb gripping underneath the ball.
“Hey, I saw this baseball grip somewhere and just tried copying it… did I throw it well?”
Kang Hae-soo’s eyes went wide with astonishment, his mouth falling open.
From Kang Hae-soo’s perspective, it must have felt like watching a genius claim they solved one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems after only reading a math textbook.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
[Dexterous Mastery – Max Level
Rank: C
Description: You can skillfully perform any activity involving manual dexterity.]
Who could have known that Dexterous Mastery would work for baseball too?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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