The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 76

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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 76
First Base, Second Base, Third Base.
All three bases were packed with Desert Dogs runners.
Yet Mark, standing on First Base, wore an expression far from cheerful.
He watched Liam step into the Batter’s Box and swallowed hard.
‘…Will it be alright?’
His anxiety ran deep.
Bases loaded with no outs.
In baseball, the most perfect opportunity and simultaneously the most pressure-laden moment.
To bring down Victor Moretti here required nothing grandiose.
A home run? A double? Such things weren’t necessary.
Just one fly ball sent deep into the Outfield.
That alone would mark the strategy a success.
They could etch a run directly onto that celebrated prospect Major Leaguer’s ERA.
‘Of course, we’ve already done more than enough.’
We’d managed to load the bases against the legendary Victor Moretti himself.
And we’d done it—just Low-A Level players pooling our strength.
The Scouts and the public would have no choice but to take notice of us based on this alone.
But.
‘If we can’t finish this here, it’ll feel incomplete.’
If this inning ended without us scoring even a single run?
Public opinion would flip in an instant.
The Low-A rebellion was worth watching, certainly.
But inevitably, Victor Moretti’s miraculous crisis management would steal the spotlight.
The attention and spotlight that should have been ours alone would scatter.
We might even be reduced to supporting players in Victor’s heroic tale.
‘And of all people, it has to be Liam at the plate.’
Mark’s eyes betrayed his unease as he watched Liam.
A player whose relationship with us was hardly cordial had been handed the decisive opportunity.
Casey, stationed at Second Base, harbored similar doubts.
Casey brushed dust from his uniform and furrowed his brow.
‘It’s like entrusting a cat with the fish.’
Liam stood in the Batter’s Box.
A hitter brimming with ambition.
He too dreamed of becoming a Major Leaguer.
Everyone here harbored that same dream.
So what was running through such a player’s mind right now?
‘This is the United States.’
A place where a single personal home run outweighs a team victory.
What if he hit a grand slam in this situation?
He could suddenly rise to stardom and seize a direct ticket to the Major League.
Would Liam truly follow my strategy in the face of such a once-in-a-lifetime temptation?
‘If it were me, I’d lose my mind and take a full swing.’
Because Liam wouldn’t have the same faith in me that Casey did.
After all, we’d only just met here, hadn’t we?
That’s why Casey was anxious.
My strategy was flawless, but the final puzzle piece to execute it was far too unstable.
But.
Standing on Third Base, I wore a faint smile.
Looking at my teammates on Second Base and First Base with their sullen expressions, I couldn’t help it.
‘I know it’s hard to believe.’
I’d entrusted the opportunity to Liam of all people.
But Liam was an indispensable element in my strategy.
What good was it if my teammates and I exhausted ourselves setting up the bases loaded?
Without a closer to finish the job, it all amounted to nothing.
‘Liam is the only one on the Desert Dogs I’ve actually connected with.’
Every other player was a complete stranger.
People I couldn’t share strategies with or place trust in.
‘So Liam was my only choice.’
Of course, right now the bases were loaded with no outs—a feast that would make any batter’s eyes light up.
One home run and he’d be a hero. Greed was inevitable.
My instructions were simple.
-Don’t aim for something big. Just make solid contact. The ball will carry far enough.
And I was certain of it.
Liam would follow my instructions.
‘Because he swallowed his pride first and came to us with an apology.’
I don’t know Liam.
I could honestly say I know him not at all.
The only fact I knew was that he’d subtly proposed solidarity while treating us to steaks.
‘That’s how I could tell. Despite appearances, he’s not as foolish as he seems.’
And a player who isn’t foolish would be able to calculate this situation coldly right now.
‘Can he beat Victor even with the bases loaded?’
Can he produce results by swinging for the fences?
The odds are extremely low.

‘Liam knows it himself. He can’t overpower Victor right now.’
I’d already witnessed Victor’s pitches countless times from previous at-bats and the bench.
Before that overwhelming velocity and movement, the batter himself knew better than anyone that his swing wouldn’t connect.
But to act recklessly here?
‘If he squanders this chance with the bases loaded and no outs… that’s nothing but a loss.’
Liam, like everyone else here, dreamed of the Major League.
A greedy batter who throws away his team’s crucial opportunity because of his own ambition, right in front of the Scouts?
The moment that stigma was branded on him, it would be over.
‘The Major League would slip through his fingers.’
Since coming to the United States, I’d learned something, however small.
Scouts don’t just look at results.
They observe whether a player can adjust his batting to the situation.
Whether he can make the high-probability choice for victory over his own pride.
‘They seem to value that more than anything.’
So as I said before, Liam wasn’t a fool.
Since he too desperately aimed for the Major League, he swallowed his pride and grasped the hand I extended.
‘So he has no choice but to follow through.’
I sent Liam a look brimming with conviction.
* * *
Liam’s palms grew slick with sweat as he stepped into the Batter’s Box.
His heart thundered against his ribs as if it might burst free.
Though he’d been playing baseball for over a decade, he’d never felt anything like this before.
‘Damn it, my legs are trembling.’
Liam swallowed hard and adjusted his grip on the bat.
He knew himself well.
He was no genius.
The guys out on the Base Paths right now.
Casey and Mark were elites who’d basked in the spotlight since their amateur days.
They were High School Invitational MVP alumni.
But Liam hadn’t even received an invitation to that tournament.
Yet now, he stood on the same Ground as those geniuses—no, in their cleanup batter’s position.
There was only one reason.
‘I know how to survive.’
If he lacked overwhelming talent compared to others, he could parasitize off the talented ones.
This was Liam’s survival method.
In high school, he’d curried favor with the ace Pitcher, focusing his defense on making him shine, earning a reputation as a team player.
In the Minor League, he’d clung tenaciously to the spot behind the team’s home run leader.
When the Pitcher wavered from facing the batter ahead of him, he’d feast on the scraps and build his stats.
‘Cowardly?’
This was a desperate fight for survival.
I had to succeed.
I absolutely had to earn money.
‘Mother’s surgery costs….’
Liam’s brow furrowed deeply.
My mother, back in my hometown, lay confined to a hospital bed.
Advanced spinal stenosis.
The only mercy was that it wasn’t a death sentence like cancer.
But the compressed nerves meant enduring excruciating pain, and without surgery, I’d be condemned to a wheelchair for life.
With each passing day, my mother’s condition deteriorated.
America’s murderous medical costs were nothing short of catastrophic for an uninsured, impoverished Minor League player.
Surgery and rehabilitation expenses alone ran into tens of thousands of dollars.
My current salary fell laughably short.
‘If only I had never taken up baseball.’
Baseball was an expensive sport.
Gloves, bats, uniforms, travel costs….
For a mother raising a son alone, it was an overwhelming burden.
So my mother shuttled between restaurants and factories day and night.
And I realized far too late that the weight of that grueling labor had ultimately shattered my mother’s spine.
The fact that my dream had grown by consuming my mother’s bones.
That became a debt of guilt I would carry for the rest of my life.
Which is why I had to get my mother to a hospital as soon as possible.
‘The only solution is to become a Major Leaguer.’
If I became a Major Leaguer, the hospital bills would vanish.
‘But….’
My gaze swept across the runners crowding every base.
Bases loaded with no outs.
And Victor Moretti wavering on the mound.
A devil’s whisper seemed to echo in my ears.
‘One swing here and….’
What if I cleared the fence right now?
The architect of a grand slam that toppled Victor Moretti.
That single achievement alone would guarantee me an invitation to next year’s Major League Spring Training Camp.
And perhaps—just perhaps—I could become a Major Leaguer.
Insidious greed began gnawing at the threads of reason.
‘Just close my eyes and swing?’
Liam bit his lip until blood came.
I barely managed to hold onto the thread of reason that threatened to snap.
‘No. I have to resist.’
If I fail here?
My baseball career ends right there.
If I strike out against Victor or hit into a double play, I’ll be branded as someone who chokes under pressure, someone driven only by greed—and I’ll be cut loose.
Then there’s no way I’ll ever scrape together my mother’s surgery fees.
But more than that.
‘I practically emptied my pockets for those guys and even bought them steaks….’
The memory of a few days ago surfaced—when I’d spent nearly everything I had treating Soo-ho and his crew to dinner.
That wasn’t simple kindness.
It was my life’s greatest investment, a desperate bid to ingratiate myself with the winners.
Was I really about to turn that investment into worthless scraps for a moment of greed?
‘My path to survival isn’t a home run.’
Liam exhaled roughly and shook his head.
What I needed now wasn’t a desperate all-or-nothing gamble.
It was certain survival.
And.
‘I have no choice but to follow.’
Think about it.
That Korean I’d been watching, the one I thought was the leader of the group.
Soo-ho was the architect of this entire strategy, wasn’t he?
And what’s the result?
‘What is he, some kind of prophet….’
Everything was unfolding exactly as he’d planned, down to the last detail.
So the conclusion was clear.
‘The one thing I have that sets me apart from every other player.’
It’s knowing who to attach myself to.
That instinct for survival—knowing whose coattails to ride, whose back to push to stay alive—I had it down to a science.
Across both Major and Minor League, I was probably the best at reading the room.
And that instinct was screaming at me now to stick with Soo-ho.
To follow that Korean’s word without question, the alarm bells ringing like madness.
‘Here it comes.’
Victor wound up.
Still seething with rage, his form packed with explosive power.
The ball left his hand with a roar, tearing through the air.
A fastball with murderous velocity.
Instead of squeezing my eyes shut, I recalled Soo-ho’s words and gently extended the bat.
Not a full swing—just a clean motion, placing the barrel along the ball’s trajectory.
Crack!
The contact sound rang out cleaner and crisper than ever before.
A electric thrill shot through my fingertips.
Despite the gentle touch, the ball soared over the infield and stretched deep into the outfield.
‘How… how is this even possible?’
Even as I ran, my eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
I hadn’t put any force into it, yet the ball was already streaking toward the Fence.
But from the perspective of baseball physics, this was an inevitable outcome.
Kinetic energy never disappears.
Victor’s fastball contained an enormous amount of compressed kinetic energy.
If a batter swings with all their might, accuracy actually suffers and they often miss the ball entirely.
But when someone like Liam relaxes and strikes the center of the ball with precision, the story changes.
The pitcher’s force gets reflected back as-is.
Action and reaction.
It was the same principle as when you throw a bouncy ball hard against a wall and it bounces back even farther.
Victor’s overwhelming velocity had paradoxically become the propellant that sent Liam’s hit even farther.
Especially since Liam was so diligent that Soo-ho wanted to learn his routine.
He possessed both innate talent and acquired strength.
“Run! Run!”
Liam screamed with the veins in his neck bulging.
The Low-A trio on the Base Paths didn’t even look back—they sprinted the moment they heard the crack of the bat.
It was a desperate struggle to squeeze out even one more run.
The ball soared well over the center fielder’s head, struck the upper part of the Fence, and bounced back out.
Soo-ho touched Home Plate first.
Casey followed immediately, kicking up a cloud of dust as he charged across Home Plate.
Mark, the Runner on First, rounded Third Base and touched Home Plate as well.
Liam settled safely on Second Base.
The total runs scored this inning: three points.
The Minor League players under the Dodgers
had broken through the seemingly impenetrable prospect Major Leaguer.

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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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