The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 60

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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 (60)
The Auditorium was packed with trainees bustling about.
Okada, having changed into fresh clothes, came rushing toward me in a flurry and asked.
“How do I look, hyung?”
Okada was wearing a volleyball uniform.
Navy blue base with white accents—and despite her warm undertones, it suited her beautifully.
“Looks great on you.”
“You look great too, hyung!”
“Yeah?”
The baseball uniform I wore had a white base with navy and red accents.
The logo of the company that provided the product placement was emblazoned across my chest.
They’d used the same material real players wear, so the quality was excellent and movement felt unrestricted.
“How are your teammates?”
I asked casually, seeing that Okada seemed to be in good spirits.
Okada hesitated slightly before nodding.
“Yes, they’re all kind.”
“That’s a relief.”
If someone as perceptive as Okada—who often reads the room—called them kind, they must genuinely be good people.
“What are you two doing?”
Someone abruptly called out to us from behind.
That voice….
“You made it?”
I turned around to see Yoo Sung standing at an angle with a badminton racket slung over his shoulder.
True to the saying that a good face completes any outfit, he wore the badminton uniform flawlessly.
He looked just like the protagonist of a coming-of-age film.
“What are you staring at?”
When I said nothing and simply gazed at him, Yoo Sung furrowed his brow.
If Yoo Sung were the protagonist of a coming-of-age film….
‘Wouldn’t audiences get into massive arguments over the protagonist’s character controversy?’
Reviews for a film that didn’t even have a release date kept surfacing in my mind.
‘The protagonist looked too much like a delinquent—couldn’t concentrate.’ ‘Is the protagonist’s character real? I thought he was the villain, not the lead.’ ‘I thought it was a complex character, so I enjoyed it. Don’t mind what these casuals say.’
Yoo Sung really does suit being an idol more than an actor.
“Kim Chowol, hyung!”
When Kang Hae-soo appeared in the Auditorium, the trainees began to stir.
Kang Hae-soo was wearing the exact same baseball uniform as me.
It was clearly the same uniform, and yet….
“Hae-soo, you really look like an actual baseball player.”
“Huh?”
“No, I’m saying it suits you well.”
Kang Hae-soo pulled off the baseball uniform almost excessively perfectly.
With broad shoulders and a solid build, he looked like a genuine baseball player.
He could step onto the mound at Jamsil Baseball Stadium as a relief pitcher right now without any sense of incongruity.
‘How can the same outfit feel so different on different people?’
I was satisfied enough with my perfectly sculpted idol physique achieved through dieting, but watching Kang Hae-soo made me want to gain muscle.
Of course, I abandoned that thought immediately.
I wasn’t Kang Hae-soo, after all.
“Then we should head straight to prepare for the match….”
“Gasp!”
Several trainees nearby flinched in surprise, drawing in sharp breaths.
Following the startled trainees’ gazes, I turned my head toward the Auditorium entrance.
‘Han Theo….’
Han Theo, dressed in a suit, was entering the Auditorium.
“He looks like a movie star….”
One trainee gasped involuntarily.
With a face that stood out even when doing nothing, dressed in a suit, Han Theo was the only one visible among the countless trainees.
I envied how much attention Han Theo commanded, but honestly, I was relieved I hadn’t worn a suit.
I would definitely have been compared to him.
‘If it stopped at comparison, that would be fortunate.’
Now that a rival dynamic had formed between me and Han Theo, the bridge between my fans and his had burned irreversibly.
When the broadcast airs later, they’ll definitely mock and tear into each other, arguing whether Kim Chowol or Han Theo is better.
And in terms of appearance, I… cannot defeat Han Theo.
“Let’s go.”
I stared at Han Theo for a moment, then headed to the Sports Field with Kang Hae-soo.
I planned to practice briefly before the match started.
“I’m ready!”
Today, Kang Hae-soo, properly equipped with gear, took his position.
I recalled my memories of practicing all day yesterday and threw my first pitch.
―Whoosh.
Kang Hae-soo caught the ball as it flew in a clean arc with ease.
Whether thanks to yesterday’s practice or my maxed-out dexterity trait, my control was far more stable than before.
‘Two-seam, cutter, curveball, slider….’
I had mastered four pitch types through my trait—relatively easy to learn and practical to use.
‘For something learned through a trait, the quality isn’t bad at all.’
After confirming each pitch type once, I gestured for Kang Hae-soo to come closer.
“You called?”
“What do you think? My breaking balls?”
“Excellent. At a beginner’s level, no one could match you.”
“Then….”
I paused for a moment before continuing.
“Do you think they’ll work against Jo Min-jae?”
“That’s….”
Kang Hae-soo furrowed his brow, clearly struggling to find an answer.
“Well… I didn’t expect much anyway.”
There was no way my breaking ball, practiced for only a single day, could work against someone who’d been playing baseball for at least five years.
When throwing a pitch, what matters most is control and velocity.
‘But if I focus on control, my velocity drops. If I focus on velocity, my control wavers.’
To increase velocity, I’d need to build muscle, but building muscle right now is impossible.
In the end, I’ll have to win this game through control alone.
‘I don’t care about anyone else, but I really want to strike out Jo Min-jae….’
Honestly, if I can just get Jo Min-jae out, it’s practically a victory for us.
It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone else on their team who’s actually played baseball.
‘Should I spin the wheel?’
The moment the thought crossed my mind, the status window appeared.
[Hidden Quest: Have your name mentioned by people 2 million times or more.
*Nicknames and aliases are all included.
*Online mentions on SNS and Community Sites are also counted.
Reward: Item Draw Ticket (B) x1]
Since I still haven’t used my S-rank item selection ticket, a B-rank draw ticket is definitely worth spinning for.
‘Use Item Draw Ticket.’
A wheel appeared before my eyes—no rainbow or gold colors, only silver, bronze, and black sections.
―Whirrrr.
The wheel began to spin.
It spun chaotically before seeming to land on silver, but then it stopped on a black section instead—neither silver nor bronze.
‘Black… black?’
Black meant C-rank, didn’t it?
I’d never drawn a C-rank item from the wheel before!
Of course, I’d always known that eventually I’d draw a C-rank item someday.
But now that I’d actually drawn one, I felt worse than I’d expected.
‘Still, I have one item selection ticket left, so… huh?’
The moment I checked the C-rank item I’d drawn while swallowing a sigh.
‘This might actually be more useful than I thought?’
My eyes gleamed with interest.
* * *
Our first opponent was Baseball A Team.
“Good work, Hae-soo.”
“You worked hard too, Kim Chowol.”
The final score was 3:0, a victory for our Baseball B Team.
I didn’t allow the opposing team a single run, and Kang Hae-soo scored all three points with home runs on his own.
‘The Sports Field is so narrow that whenever Kang Hae-soo hits it properly, it just flies right over….’
I wiped away the sweat dripping down my face and gave Kang Hae-soo a high five.
Throwing the ball continuously without rest had drained my stamina far more than I’d anticipated.
“Wow! Kim Chowol, you’re absolutely incredible!”
“Kang Hae-soo! Why do you hit everything as a home run!”
The moment our victory ended the match, our team’s trainees came rushing toward Kang Hae-soo and me in a flood.
“You all worked hard out there.”
Watching them celebrate so freely without landing a single proper hit was honestly a bit grating, but….
Our team’s trainees must have learned something from this match.
Baseball was harder than they’d thought.
And without Kang Hae-soo and me, they wouldn’t have received any reward at all, let alone a good one.
‘Either way, the MVP will go to me or Kang Hae-soo.’
I tapped Kang Hae-soo’s shoulder with my glove as he grew flustered under the barrage of praise, thinking to myself.
A trainee who had been staring blankly at us spoke as if entranced.
“You two… you’re like protagonists from a youth movie….”
“Huh?”
“No, no! I mean, you two are just so cool.”
My eyes met Kang Hae-soo’s.
He looked startled, his mouth slightly agape with a vacant expression.
That expression was so amusing that laughter burst out of me unbidden.
“Haha!”
“Uh, why, what’s wrong? Why are you suddenly laughing….”
“No, it’s nothing. We’ve got some time before the next match, so let’s go watch some other events.”
I gave Kang Hae-soo a wink, and he nodded in response.
We left the other trainees behind, exited the Sports Field, and entered the Building.
“Kim Chowol.”
In the Hallway where there were no people or cameras, Kang Hae-soo called me to a stop.
“Yeah?”
“Have you really never learned baseball before?”
“No, I haven’t. Well, I’ve done some basic catch before.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t my first time.
Having regressed dozens of times, I’d played baseball at least five or six times.
“Do you have no plans to continue in the future?”
“In the future? What do you mean… Oh, Hae-soo, you’re not suggesting….”
Realizing what Kang Hae-soo was implying, I let out a hollow laugh.
“What are you talking about! How could I become a professional baseball player at my age? All I can do is throw a few breaking balls.”
“But you really do have talent, Kim Chowol.”
“Enough, enough. No matter how much talent I have, it’s useless if I’m not drawn to it.”
As I waved my hand dismissively, Kang Hae-soo’s expression suddenly darkened.
What was he thinking right now?
“Besides, I want to become an Idol, not a baseball player.”
I lightly tapped Kang Hae-soo’s shoulder and continued.
“You quit baseball because you wanted to become an Idol, didn’t you?”
In truth, I don’t know much about Kang Hae-soo’s circumstances.
Why he abandoned baseball, or why he hides the fact that he ever played.
But there is one thing I know for certain.
‘Kang Hae-soo loves being an Idol.’
When he practices, drenched in sweat alongside teammates whose hearts beat in sync with his own.
When he sings his lungs raw upon the Stage, dancing until his body threatens to shatter.
Kang Hae-soo’s eyes gleam with the brilliance of a dreaming boy.
“No, sir.”
After struggling in silence for a long while, Kang Hae-soo spoke with difficulty.
“I’m not like Kim Chowol hyung.”
“What?”
“I ran away.”
Kang Hae-soo confessed.
That he had fled from baseball.
“I couldn’t endure it. I’m a pathetic person. And the Idol Industry was….”
Unable to speak further, Kang Hae-soo’s lips trembled before he forced out the words in a strangled voice.
“Just an excuse to escape from baseball.”

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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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