The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 92

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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 92
Let me rewind time slightly—to the moment just before Soo-ho stepped into the Batter’s Box.
Scout Paul of the Dodgers was contentedly unwrapping a hamburger, his expression radiant with satisfaction.
Soo-ho’s home run, and that spectacular catch besides.
His eyes had already feasted so thoroughly that his stomach felt full, though his appetite for more remained insatiable.
“Is this seat taken?”
Just then, someone approached him unexpectedly.
Paul turned his head absently, then froze.
A gentleman in a fedora pulled low over his brow.
The eyes visible beneath the shadowed brim seemed familiar.
Paul’s eyes widened in astonishment, yet a smile brimming with joy spread across his lips.
“What? Alex? How did you end up here?”
Alex—an authority on hitting mechanics and Soo-ho’s mentor.
The reason for Paul’s shock was straightforward.
“You only care about mechanics. You’ve never been interested in baseball itself.”
Alex shrugged.
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
Alex and Soo-ho.
Their connection had been brief.
It might have been different had it been right after the season ended.
But at that time, Soo-ho had been occupied with the Low-A season.
And immediately after it concluded, he had to join the Arizona Fall League here.
Therefore, the proper instruction Alex had given him amounted to barely a single day.
Yet regardless of what anyone said, he was undoubtedly Soo-ho’s mentor.
Hitting is not something one learns once and considers finished.
Once a player embeds a mechanism into their body, they must spend their entire career refining and perfecting it.
Alex was the one who had planted that seed, the figure who had set the signposts to keep Soo-ho from losing his way.
And he intended to continue teaching Soo-ho going forward.
He simply hadn’t been able to do so yet because the timing hadn’t aligned.
“But coming to watch my student isn’t wrong, is it?”
Alex spoke bluntly and plopped down into the seat beside Paul.
“It’s not wrong. Your student is performing remarkably well. Actually, ‘running wild’ would be the more accurate description.”
At Paul’s praise, Alex let out a soft chuckle.
“Of course he’s doing well. He’s my student, after all.”
Alex folded his arms and gazed out at the Ground.
Despite his words, he knew the truth.
Soo-ho’s excellence wasn’t because he had taught him well.
‘That kid is simply a natural genius.’
A vessel capable of absorbing and digesting in a single breath the ultimate mechanism he had spent his entire life establishing and perfecting.
Because that kid possessed such talent, Alex could be certain of his future.
“How’s the situation?”
“Ball count 0-2. The pitcher has the advantage. Victor’s really committed to this one.”
Their gazes shifted toward the Batter’s Box.
Victor atop the Mound radiated killing intent.
Whoosh!
Soo-ho let the vicious high fastball pass without flinching.
But the experts saw it clearly.
The pitcher was driving the batter to the edge of the cliff.
“This is the deciding pitch.”
As if hearing Alex’s murmur, Victor began his windup.
The ball released from his fingertips burrowed deep into the batter’s body.
A high-velocity slider, or perhaps a cutter.
For an ordinary batter, it was the perfect pitch to flinch and retreat, or to thrust the bat forward and snap it clean in half.
“Dangerous….”
Paul was just opening his mouth.
Soo-ho’s body moved in an uncanny way.
The weapon-like ball hurtling toward his body.
Normally, instinct dictates leaning the upper body back or extending an arm to block.
But Soo-ho pressed his left elbow firmly against his ribs.
A motion as if cradling the ball in an embrace.
From that position, the bat head followed—late, very late.
Crack!
A dull yet crisp sound. It was not a caught ball.
A perfectly executed technical swing, driving the ball straight through from the inside of the bat.
The ball landed softly in front of the Left Fielder.
Plop.
The half-eaten hamburger slipped from Paul’s hand and fell limply to the ground.
But he had no time to worry about the patty rolling across the dirt ground.
“This is… insane….”
A laugh-tinged curse escaped Paul’s lips.
He was a Scout.
Having seen countless batters, he understood the difficulty of that technique better than anyone.
Inside-Out.
It sounds simple.
Push from inside to outside.
But executing that technique in a real game, against a breaking ball approaching 150 kilometers per hour aimed at the body, was an entirely different matter.
Human instinct drives one to strike an incoming object forcefully from the front.
But Inside-Out demands fighting against that very instinct.
It’s a technique possible only by keeping the ball tight to the body and delaying the bat’s timing to the absolute limit.
A fraction too early and it’s a foul; a fraction too late and it’s a ground ball to the infield.
A feat that only Major League batting champions could pull off—one that didn’t tolerate even a fraction of a second’s error—had just been executed by a mere minor leaguer.
“…No.”
Paul turned to Alex, pointing at the Ground with trembling fingers.
“What kind of monster have you created? Can you really teach something like that?”
It was a question tinged with astonishment.
But even Alex, who had been asked, couldn’t respond.
His head was tilted back as if his hat might slip off, his jaw hanging slack.
‘What… what is this…’
Alex’s pupils trembled violently.
He had taught Soo-ho the fundamentals and principles of the mechanism.
He had never taught him such advanced applications.
‘No, that’s not a technique you can master in a short period just by being taught.’
Therefore, what had just unfolded was purely Soo-ho’s instinct.
Based on the principles he’d been shown, he had found the answer himself under the pressure of real combat.
A chill ran down Alex’s spine.
His student’s capacity was far greater than he had imagined.
‘Right. That’s the kind of guy he is.’
Alex closed his gaping mouth and let out a soft chuckle.
It had been that way from the very first meeting.
A sponge that absorbed everything, stealing even what wasn’t taught and making it his own.
A monster bound together by an obsession with baseball and an unwavering determination to push forward.
Soo-ho himself wasn’t aware of it.
How those obsessions were accumulating and propelling him forward at a terrifying pace.
So then.
‘This. This. He said he was just reviewing, but if he’s progressing on his own like that, what do I do?’
What could he do?
At their next meeting, he’d be so far ahead that they’d have to start with the steps he’d skipped so far.
And they’d likely cover all the upcoming material as well.
How much more formidable would Soo-ho be by then?
Even Alex, who was called an authority, couldn’t dare predict it.
‘But that’s a story for the future anyway.’
Alex fixed his gaze on Soo-ho, who had reached First Base.
‘Let me see what he can do.’
* * *
Soo-ho had settled on First Base.
Victor atop the Mound stared at him for a moment, then slowly turned his head to gaze at the Batter’s Box.
His insides weren’t churning, and anger wasn’t rising.
It was oddly calm.
As if there was nothing to be surprised about.
It couldn’t have been otherwise.
Victor tapped the rosin bag with a soft pat.
‘If I’d thought I’d been hit by a Low-A rookie, my pride would’ve taken a blow.’
But hadn’t he just re-evaluated him before their confrontation?
An equal—a legitimate prospect for the Major Leagues.
Giving up a technical hit to a player of that caliber was commonplace in baseball.
In fact, it was flawless batting technique that deserved praise.
Victor’s gaze fixed on Casey stepping into the Batter’s Box.
His heartbeat remained steady.
Fear? There was none.
Victor wasn’t wary of the batter before him.
It was only the Runner on First lurking behind him, Soo-ho, who posed a threat.
Meanwhile, Casey in the Batter’s Box twirled his bat lightly and bit his lip.
‘Damn, he’s really good.’
His eyes were fixed on Pitcher Victor, but his mind was entirely on Soo-ho on First Base.
Casey took pride in one thing.
Across this vast United States, he knew Soo-ho second only to Mark.
So he believed he understood him better than anyone else in this world—second only to one.
What kind of player was Soo-ho?
To be honest, he was rough around the edges.
‘Or rather, he used to be.’
A dedicated player lacking in technique and raw power, but willing to sacrifice his body for victory.
This was the Oh Soo-ho that Casey knew.
‘But that swing he just showed….’
It was advanced batting technique that even he, among the best in the team—no, the entire league—couldn’t easily replicate.
‘It’s really difficult.’
Casey’s objective today was clear.
To become the MVP, the brightest star in this war of stars.
But the competition for that throne was overwhelmingly dominant.
Home runs, defense, and that impossible contact ability.
So far, Soo-ho’s impact was undeniably superior.
But.
‘I can’t lose either way.’
Casey adjusted his helmet.
He had to be the best.
No matter how high Soo-ho flies, baseball is ultimately a game of scoring runs.
There was only one way to flip the script and become the protagonist here.
‘Hit one more.’
Send another ball over the fence.
Simple, but the most certain method.
Casey steadied his breathing and raised his bat.
Thwack—!
In that instant, the ball released from Victor’s hand lodged itself in the Catcher’s mitt.
It was a fastball packed tight against the body.
“Strike!”
With the Referee’s call, Casey’s eyes snapped wide open.
He hadn’t even thought to swing the bat.
‘…Is that all?’
The ball viewed from the On-Deck Circle and the one faced directly in the Batter’s Box existed in entirely different dimensions.
The sheer velocity made the air itself feel heavy.
The Pitcher’s intentional throw was far sharper and heavier than in the first inning.
‘No. This is a different person….’
Casey peered into Victor’s eyes.
That blazing gaze seemed as though it would never extinguish.
‘Ah… I understand now.’
His opponent was viewing them as equals.
After all, Victor was a prospect destined for the Major League.
This stage would have held no particular significance compared to other players.
But not anymore.
He could be certain that Victor now believed this stage to be the Major League itself.
Casey’s gaze then drifted subtly toward First Base.
A chill ran down his spine.
Because the architect of Victor’s transformation was none other than Soo-ho.
Above all else.
‘And yet he managed to receive such a devastating pitch with technique and send it out?’
Having experienced it firsthand, Casey now viscerally understood just how extraordinary Soo-ho’s feat truly was.
But there was no time for admiration.
The game was only beginning.
‘I have to swing no matter what.’
Casey clenched his molars tightly.
It was desperation born of survival instinct rather than mere resolve.
He attempted to execute his routine to reverse the momentum.
That action of scraping the dirt ground roughly with his spikes.
But.
“….”
He didn’t move.
His mind had issued the command clearly, yet his lower body refused to obey.
As if his feet had been riveted to the Batter’s Box like concrete, both soles remained firmly planted and immobile.
The reason was simple.
This gesture was an unconscious manifestation of confidence that only emerged when Casey felt certain he could win unconditionally.
In other words.
My legs had gone rigid, and that rigidity meant one thing: my certainty had evaporated.
The impossible performance Soo-ho had displayed.
And the raw, lethal power of Victor’s pitch that I’d just felt coursing through my body.
Before that overwhelming gap, my instincts were screaming that I had no chance.
There was no way around it.
I was still only twenty years old.
No matter how gifted or confident I was.
In the end, my reservoir of experience simply wasn’t deep enough.
Until now, I’d dominated my peers with overwhelming talent, reigning as their king.
I’d never experienced the brutal humiliation of facing someone stronger and crawling through the dirt at the bottom.
In baseball, experience is an inseparable asset.
There’s a reason why longer careers command greater respect in this sport.
Meanwhile, my unripe mental fortitude was trembling helplessly before this towering wall.
Put differently.
It meant I still had vast distances to grow as time passed….
‘Damn it….’
Would a stage this important ever come around again?
No.
It wouldn’t.
This was my one chance, and if I couldn’t overcome it, that would be the end of my career as a player.
That’s why my heart was racing with urgency.
Who in this world would appreciate being told to wait for next time just because they’re young?
It was right then, as my mind was about to go blank.
My gaze instinctively sought salvation, turning toward First Base.
And impossibly, Soo-ho was staring directly back at me.
The moment our eyes met—his unwavering and resolute—I let out an involuntary, breathless laugh.
It was a relief.
Because there was still a way to break down Victor.
‘This is still your stage.’
Then I would have to wait.
After all, Soo-ho was both a magician and a prophet.
And the other future Major Leaguer who would bring Victor down.

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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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