The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 127

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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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Chapter 127
The year had turned, and January had arrived before I knew it.
Just over a month remained before I would join the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Major League Spring Training Camp.
“Where exactly is this place?”
Soo-ho narrowed his brow, alternating glances between his phone’s map and his surroundings.
He had arrived at a desolate warehouse district located merely ten minutes by car from Dodger Stadium, the home venue of the LA Dodgers.
‘Based on the address Alex gave me, this should be it.’
There wasn’t even a proper sign—it was impossible to tell whether this was a research facility or an abandoned warehouse.
Feeling as though I’d stumbled upon a clandestine secret base, I descended the narrow staircase along one side of the building with suspicion in my heart.
And the moment I pushed open the heavy iron door that had been firmly sealed shut.
“…Wow.”
I gasped involuntarily, my feet rooted to the spot.
The grandiose descriptors Alex had used when we first met flashed through my mind.
Biomechanics specialist. Sports scientist. Performance analyst. And rehabilitation expert.
Honestly, at that time I’d thought there was quite a bit of typical American exaggeration mixed in to make himself sound impressive.
But I was wrong.
The vast space that now unfolded before my eyes visually proved that he hadn’t exaggerated by even one percent—every word was absolute truth.
In the center of the sprawling underground facility spanning hundreds of square meters stood an enormous indoor practice area equipped for both batting and pitching.
It wasn’t merely a simple practice facility with dirt or grass.
Dozens of ultra-high-speed motion capture cameras were installed seamlessly around the batter’s box, each one capable of tracking even the minutest joint movements of an athlete down to the skeletal level.
Beneath the floor lay a state-of-the-art ground reaction force sensor system that measured the explosive power generated from the lower body during batting.
But that wasn’t all.
Massive monitors covering one entire wall displayed intricate trajectories and data streams flowing ceaselessly across their surfaces.
In another section, cutting-edge rehabilitation and training equipment that you’d expect to find only in a university hospital was perfectly arranged.
I had never actually visited a Major League training facility before.
But gazing upon the overwhelming manifestation of capital and sports science before me, I knew instinctively.
‘This must be what the highest-tier Major League training facilities look like.’
Team facilities, after all, were shared spaces used by multiple players.
But this was an extreme personal customized laboratory designed solely to perfectly analyze and optimize a select few athletes.
Just as I stood there in amazement.
Alex appeared from the back, holding a coffee cup.
“You’re already here? You really are diligent, aren’t you?”
Alex greeted me warmly and approached.
But the moment his eyes swept across my entire frame, his steps came to an abrupt halt.
The coffee cup he was holding trembled slightly.
‘Oh…?’
Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief.
There was no need to deploy the complex ground reaction force sensors or ultra-high-speed cameras to measure the numbers.
A single visual sweep was enough.
He could viscerally sense that I had perfectly completed the impossible task he’d assigned me a month ago.
My shoulders, chest, and thighs had thickened noticeably compared to a month ago.
Yet this was not a crudely bulked-up, lumbering physique.
Like a bowstring drawn taut and trembling.
My frame possessed a sharpness that seemed ready to explode outward at any moment.
‘Speed and power. I’ve perfectly embodied two elements that people believe cannot coexist in a single vessel.’
In truth, Alex himself understood all too well how absurdly difficult and agonizing this undertaking was.
In baseball, it’s easy to build massive muscle and launch the ball beyond the fence.
Conversely, it’s common to steal bases and sprint like an arrow with a lean frame.
But to increase body mass while simultaneously maintaining joint flexibility and explosive speed—
that required meticulous calculation, ruthless nutritional discipline, and insane training that shattered limits, all perfectly synchronized. It was nearly miraculous.
Alex recalled the ultimate realm that only an infinitesimal number of geniuses in the Major League could reach.
Ruthlessly pounding out over forty home runs in a single season.
While simultaneously succeeding in over forty stolen bases whenever reaching base—a monstrous breed that barely existed in baseball history.
The moment Alex witnessed Soo-ho’s naturally flexible physique and innate instincts.
‘I thought he might one day become that kind of legendary player.’
Driven by that hope, I had prescribed the most ideal and grueling framework.
Yet in merely one month.
During that brief off-season, Soo-ho had materialized the most perfect blueprint from my mind into living flesh with flawless precision.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
More than any perfect numerical data I’d ever extracted as a sports scientist, Soo-ho’s physique standing before me now thrilled and awed me a thousand times over.
It was an outcome that exceeded my every expectation.
“There’s no need to measure numbers. Let’s get straight to the main event.”
My voice carried barely concealed excitement and anticipation.
It couldn’t be helped.
Perhaps the greatest masterpiece of my career was about to be born from my hands.
* * *
The Analysis Room set up in one corner of the Underground Research Laboratory.
Alex faced Soo-ho with a serious gaze and spoke.
“Before we formally establish your hitting mechanics, I want to ask you something first. What kind of batter do you want to become?”
It was a simple question, but one that struck at the core.
Yet Soo-ho answered without the slightest hesitation.
“I want to become a versatile batter.”
Not the kind of power hitter that the Major League Baseball world obsesses over—one who simply connects the bat to the ball and launches it beyond the fence.
Whether singles, extra-base hits, or simply reading the pitcher and drawing walks.
A player who, through any means necessary, reaches base and becomes a suffocating threat to the Opposing Battery.
The reason Soo-ho had set such versatility as his goal was simple.
First, a month ago, Alex had issued that harsh command: bulk up while never sacrificing flexibility and speed.
Soo-ho hadn’t merely trained to fulfill that command.
‘I had wrestled fiercely with its intent.’
I had come to understand perfectly that this was the path I needed to walk to survive in the Major League, that this was the right answer.
But beneath that lay something even deeper—a highly practical and meticulous calculation as a batter.
‘Opportunities will inevitably come to me more frequently.’
Whether I became a Major League player who hit crisp line drives or selected walks.
Once I reached the Base Paths, let’s assume I became that annoying and terrifying runner who tore through the bases like a madman.
The moment this fact became known throughout the Major League, opposing pitchers would find themselves in a dilemma.
If they carelessly gave me a walk, I would inevitably steal Second Base and Third Base for free.
From the pitchers’ perspective, they had no choice but to opt for a direct confrontation, forcing the ball into the Strike Zone even if it meant risking a hit.
The pitcher couldn’t escape and chose to challenge me within the zone?
Then the probability of better pitches coming my way at the Batter’s Box would increase exponentially.
I would use my speed and base-running ability as bait to force the pitcher into direct confrontation.
And then convert that back into an advantage at the plate—the completion of a vicious game of chess.
“Perfect.”
Alex, having read my clear intention, smiled with genuine satisfaction.
Because his ultimate goal for me aligned exactly with that.
“The current trend in modern baseball, especially in the Major League, is unconditional ‘power.’ Even if they strike out, there are monsters everywhere who increase exit velocity and launch angle to send balls over the Fence.”
I brightened my eyes as if ready to listen intently.
Alex continued.
“But just because everyone pursues power doesn’t mean a versatile player with precision, speed, and power is bad. Rather, if such a complete player emerges in this era of overwhelming power, it becomes a catastrophe that destroys the entire ecosystem of the League.”
Alex was determined to mold this clever and ruthless Oriental player before him into the ultimate complete player who would devour even modern baseball’s trends.
Right then.
“Hey, I’m getting jealous here?”
An unfamiliar voice came from behind me as I listened to the lecture with bright eyes.
When I reflexively turned my head, there stood someone grinning.
Like someone who could burst out from a movie at any moment.
He was a typical American Handsome Man with a thick, angular jawline and deep-set eyes.
Most striking of all was his overwhelming physique.
He appeared to be around 23 or 24 years old, about the same age as me.
But he was easily 195 centimeters tall and weighed close to 100 kilograms.
It wasn’t just fat—his entire body was packed with rippling muscle, the unmistakable frame of a perfect professional baseball player.
I stared at the stranger with a bewildered expression.
Then I turned my gaze toward Alex and opened my mouth.
“Who…”
But before Alex could even open his mouth.
The foreigner closed the distance with his long legs in an instant and thrust out a large hand toward me.
“You’re that Soo-ho who’s been hot lately, right?”
I tilted my head and answered.
“I’m not sure if I’m hot, but yes, I’m Soo-ho.”
“I’ve been hearing about you constantly these days.”
“From where?”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter where from anyway. This isn’t important. Hello. My name is Ethan. Ethan Cross.”
Soo-ho felt the grip strength in their clasped hands and tilted his head in confusion.
Ethan Cross.
In truth, this was a name that didn’t exist anywhere in Soo-ho’s mental database—a man obsessed with baseball—until this very moment.
That meant one thing: this player with such an incredible physique wasn’t yet a Major League player.
But Alex’s matter-of-fact supplementary explanation that followed forced Soo-ho’s eyes to widen dramatically.
“Ethan will be joining the Major League Spring Camp next year just like you, Soo-ho. But more than that, he’ll be joining the Major League Roster starting the very next season. And most importantly, this guy has only been under contract with the Dodgers for just one year and three months.”
A Major League call-up in just one year and three months.
Anyone who understood baseball could instantly grasp how shocking this fact was.
In the distant past when systems were less established, there were occasionally geniuses who went straight to the Major League immediately after the draft.
But from the Rookie League through Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A.
In modern baseball, where the Minor League system for verifying and developing players was as intricate and sophisticated as a spider’s web.
The idea of demolishing every minor stage and getting called up in just one year and three months was, by any reasonable standard, absurd.
It meant the organization had concluded there was no further need to verify this player’s abilities in the Minor League.
Alex lightly patted Soo-ho’s shoulder, driving the point home.
“Soo-ho. You’ll be able to receive a lot of help from this guy before you head to Spring Training.”
At those words, my heart began to race roughly once more.
A fleeting envy did brush past me at the fact that a player who appeared to be my age was already stepping onto the Major League stage.
But that meager envy lasted less than a second.
The only emotion that dominated my mind was a fierce, burning hunger to learn.
If a player with such absurd genius became my training partner?
It was certainly an opportunity to grow.

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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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