The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 33

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

Chapter 33
Immediately after the Division Series Game 2 concluded.
All the Quakes players boarded the bus to head home.
Among them, Casey sat in the very back corner, headphones on and hood pulled over his head, eyes closed.
The earlier conversation between the Manager and Soo-ho came to mind.
He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.
He’d simply boarded the bus first when the Manager’s voice carried so loudly that he couldn’t help but hear it.
But the content was truly intriguing.
‘The Arizona Fall League….’
It was a league only the most promising prospects the organization had their eyes on could attend.
Casey himself was certain that an offer would come his way.
After all, there was no real competition for him in Low-A.
Naturally, the organization would want to send him to Arizona, where higher-level prospects gathered, to test his abilities against stronger competition.
But when he thought about it more carefully.
‘He’s the one going first.’
Wasn’t that the case?
Even with the Manager’s recommendation.
In the end, Soo-ho was the first among all the Los Angeles Dodgers minor leaguers to have his Arizona assignment confirmed.
Gulp.
Casey swallowed hard.
It wasn’t a frequent occurrence, but it was a tell that appeared whenever he felt envious.
He couldn’t help it.
Being first meant being number one.
He couldn’t speak for others, but at least for himself, it did.
That glorious position had been taken from him.
For a moment, his heart burned hot, but he quickly suppressed the emotion.
He wasn’t called a genius for nothing.
He had control over his emotions.
Because of that, his mind worked rapidly.
‘The qualifications are….’
Casey’s gaze turned toward Soo-ho’s back as he chatted with Mark in the seats ahead.
Soon after, he nodded.
‘Sufficient.’
Casey decided to acknowledge it.
In truth, before this Division Series, he wouldn’t have been able to admit it.
And for good reason—the Minor League was full of players whose skills far surpassed Soo-ho’s.
But.
‘He has something other players don’t possess.’
In fact, Casey still didn’t know what that something was.
Except that it ran counter to the path he himself had believed was right.
His play simply caught the attention of the front office, scouts, and so on.
It drew the organization’s focus.
But Soo-ho was different.
He was a player who set an example for the team.
He was influencing the other players.
Which was better?
‘I don’t know.’
Casey didn’t know.
The results hadn’t come in yet.
Still, the path he pursued seemed superior.
Most Minor League players were like him.
Standing out to the organization, even slightly, accelerated promotion.
And that brought him one step closer to the majors.
But did looking good to the team really change anything?
‘It seems like it would backfire instead.’
Rather than respecting Soo-ho,
the players would only try to exploit him.
Not now, perhaps, but once they moved up to higher levels, it would definitely happen.
‘Stop thinking about it.’
Idle thoughts only clouded judgment.
It did nothing good for his career.
Yet Casey was already being swayed.
He, who had never cared about anyone his entire life, was now concerned about someone.
But fortunately,
this aspect would later have a profound impact on his baseball career ahead.
A positive one.
* * *
Several more days passed.
The Quakes had only the Championship Series left before the trophy.
And their opponent was the San Jose Giants.
The Low-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
They were the North Division champions. In other words, first place.
The Quakes had an away game scheduled again.
Most teams departing for away games left the day before.
It was for the players’ conditioning.
Mark, arriving in front of the old bus, clutched his head and cried out.
“Ah… I’m done for… My life is ruined!”
Soo-ho patted Mark’s shoulder reassuringly.
Days ago, when they boarded the bus to travel for the game against the Sixty-Sixers,
Mark had said something like this.
If we had faced those northern teams like Fresno or San Jose instead.
‘Six hours trapped in a bus prison, getting your rear end destroyed,’ I had said.
And by sheer coincidence, the Quakes’ destination was indeed San Jose—the same San Jose as the San Jose Giants.
A grueling six-hour road trip lay ahead.
Mark wasn’t alone in this sentiment.
The other players hung their heads like defeated soldiers.
Was it just the players?
The Manager and coaching staff, and even the Caster and Commentator—all seemed burdened by this long journey.
“Sigh….”
Everyone exhaled in unison.
Only Soo-ho was different.
His expression was bright, as if heading out on a picnic.
And it seemed genuinely so—he was carrying far more luggage than usual.
Normally, he traveled with just one large sports bag.
Today, for some reason, he had three sports bags slung across his body.
Mark shook his head at the sight and asked.
“Going on a picnic? Did you buy a bunch of snacks? I mean, six hours would make anyone hungry, but….”
“That’s not it.”
The bus door opened and players began boarding.
Soo-ho wasn’t in line—he intended to board last.
Mark shook his head at this and said.
“You’re going to save us seats?”
Once everyone had boarded the bus.
Soo-ho placed his equipment bag in the cargo hold as usual.
The remaining two bags, he carried aboard with him.
“Soo-ho? What’s that?”
Bill asked in surprise.
Soo-ho chuckled and opened a bag.
“Please use one of these each.”
Soo-ho produced an item.
It was small but resembled a deflated tube.
There was even a valve for inflating it.
“And this as well.”
Soo-ho handed over an air pump capable of inflating the tubes.
“W-what is this?”
“It’s a cushion. For a long road trip like this, if you inflate it and sit on it, it’ll come in handy.”
Soo-ho continued.
“I tested it at home beforehand and ordered extras. It was really comfortable.”
The bus was so old that the seat cushions had long since deteriorated.
Short distances were bearable, but six hours was far too long—this was his preparation for that.
“You can use up the pump and just pass it to the back seat. Honestly, I wanted to prepare cushions, but with so many of us, it seemed difficult to bring them.”
Bill rubbed around his eyes with his fingers as if wiping away tears.
Of course, no tears came out.
“Thanks! I’ll use it well!”
After that, Soo-ho distributed the remaining items to the Manager, Coach, and all the players.
But Soo-ho’s thoughtfulness didn’t end there.
He sat next to Mark and handed him a small medicine box.
“Mark. Stick that behind your ear.”
“What? How did you know I get motion sickness?”
He whines every time he gets on a bus—there’s no way I wouldn’t notice.
But instead of voicing this, Soo-ho kept it to himself.
“Take two for yourself and distribute the rest to the others who need them.”
“Well, thanks. But why are you so thoroughly prepared?”
“We need to win the game.”
Mark smacked his lips.
I asked something unnecessary.
It was such a characteristically Soo-ho answer.
‘Even so, to prepare this thoroughly?’
I’m grateful. Honestly, I’m incredibly grateful.
I wanted to carry him on my back and walk around the neighborhood right then and there.
But there was no helping the confusion.
‘It’s his own money….’
Does Soo-ho have a lot of money?
Not really.
He receives good treatment from Korea and decent compensation from the Dodgers, so compared to others his age, he’s not without means.
‘But some of the monsters here have tens of times the wealth Soo-ho does.’
Most of the first-rounders were like that.
They had enough money from contracts alone to retire, exaggeration aside.
But do such wealthy people act like Soo-ho?
‘No. It’s actually the opposite.’
They spend freely on themselves but are ruthlessly stingy with others.
It had to be that way.
Spending money on complete strangers.
‘It’s not easy.’
Especially in America, individualism runs strong.
They adhere firmly to splitting bills evenly when paying for something.
So whether these items were cheap or expensive.
Or whether there were many or few—that wasn’t the issue.
Even though Soo-ho came from Korea, a country.
‘Far richer in human warmth than America, I shouldn’t take this for granted.’
I couldn’t speak for others.
But Mark had no intention of forgetting his gratitude toward Soo-ho.
For now, he was struggling a bit, so he’d have to repay the debt slowly over time.
After all, he had his own personal circumstances to consider.
‘But what’s truly astonishing is something else entirely.’
It was a moment when I realized anew just how extraordinary Soo-ho’s obsession with winning was—utterly beyond common sense.
“Mark. What’s the exact schedule?”
At Soo-ho’s question, Mark felt as though an opportunity to repay him, however slightly, had finally arrived.
His eyes widened, and he composed himself before answering with utmost sincerity.
“Well, I won’t bother explaining the six hours on this bus. Once we arrive, we’ll probably head to some cheap business hotel or motel.”
Minor League Baseball clubs had virtually no revenue.
They cut lodging and meal expenses for road games to the absolute minimum.
They contracted the cheapest accommodations in bulk.
So the lodgings where these players would stay would be far from impressive.
They could perform better in slightly better conditions, but unfortunately, that was the reality.
You get treated as well as you perform.
The birthplace of baseball was ruthlessly cold.
That’s why everyone had no choice but to think only of themselves.
Even belonging to the same team, they were ultimately competitors fighting for a spot in the majors.
Mark continued.
“After that, we eat, rest, and then play the next day.”
“What kind of food?”
“What kind of food… we have to buy our own. Speaking of which, hamburgers? Honestly, hamburgers aren’t ideal for such a long road trip, but what can we do.”
Hamburgers were inseparable from Minor League players’ food talk.
They were desperate to fill their stomachs with the cheapest food possible.
Of course, hamburgers weren’t bad food.
But eating them frequently made you sick of them.
“What’s the most famous food in San Francisco?”
“What’s there to say. Dungeness crab.”
“Crab dishes? That must be expensive?”
“It’s not crab dishes. It’s the name of the crab. If you buy it at a supermarket, it’s relatively cheaper, but still expensive. Fifteen to twenty dollars. At a restaurant, it’s three times more expensive.”
Soo-ho nodded.
Not crab dishes, but the crab itself.
It was like the concept of Korean snow crabs, red crabs, or Yeongdeok snow crabs.
“It is expensive.”
Mark blinked his eyes.
“You don’t want to eat it, right? Even if you offered to buy it this time, I wouldn’t eat it. I have my pride.”
“I wasn’t planning to buy it anyway….”
“Oh, really? Sorry for daydreaming alone.”
The conversation between the two ended just like that.
The truth was, I asked Mark that question purely out of concern for the players’ condition.
This grueling road trip was impossible not to worry about.
What was my objective, after all?
To turn even a single player’s heart around.
‘Unfortunately, humans are weak creatures.’
When the body suffers extreme fatigue, one simply wants to abandon everything.
Especially if the game might not even be particularly important.
‘So I shouldn’t expect them to have any desire to win the Division Series and then claim the championship.’
That’s why I’d prepared extra cushions and medicine for them.
It was simply a hope that things wouldn’t deteriorate further from here.
But this alone wasn’t enough.
It would only prevent the worst-case scenario.
After three hours of deep contemplation aboard the bus, my lips curved upward.
‘I found it.’
I hadn’t slept a single wink during this hellish road trip.
I’d done nothing but ceaselessly turn my mind over, devoted entirely to achieving my objective.
And because of that.
The players’ condition and their drive.
A trump card to secure them both had finally come to me.

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