The Genius Pitcher Dad Throws for His Daughter - Chapter 112

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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 112
#112.
The Dolphins’ Team Owner’s fury ran far deeper than anyone had anticipated.
He mobilized the Legal Team to swiftly identify those who had written malicious posts and comments, then filed lawsuits against every single one of them.
The Administrative Office was startled by such an aggressive response and moved to appease Shin Chairman’s anger.
In the end, the lawsuits were withdrawn against all but a few whose offenses were particularly egregious and a handful of unscrupulous reporters who deserved the label of “trash media,” and the Team Owner’s fury subsided.
Naturally, the Dolphins Community fans who witnessed this applauded the Team Owner’s decisive and bold actions.
– I’m most satisfied that the trash media bastards got dealt with first.
– Our Team Owner is fierce. Impressive.
– I’ve been a Dolphins fan for thirty years, but this is the first time I’ve seen such bold action.
– Still, damn it. An injured kid! Those bastards.
– We should be cheering for someone trying their best to push through, not attacking them!
– I hope they all face proper legal judgment!
– Kang Ho-jin, we support you.
The fans rallied behind the Team Owner with their support.
Especially parents with children of their own began leaving messages of encouragement one by one.
The real problem came next.
A three-game away series against the Incheon Sharks.
The Dolphins, riding high on a winning streak, collapsed in a way that defied belief.
Friday’s first game.
Meck, who had recently been engaged in Buddhist practice, threw pitches at the Sharks batters.
The ball that came in tight against their bodies dipped slightly into the strike zone, but the Sharks batters still flinched frequently at pitches hugging the inside corner.
Whether the psychological warfare worked or not, two walks came in succession, and the next batter launched a towering home run, and the team crumbled entirely.
Saturday, Kim Se-jin pitched well, allowing only two runs over six innings.
However, the batting lineup failed to produce. Even when hits came, they inevitably led to double plays, and an unusual number of batted balls went directly to fielders, preventing any scoring.
Meanwhile, the Sharks added more runs against the Bullpen, and the Dolphins lost 0-7.
Sunday’s final game of the series was the worst of the three.
Due to Choi Jin-ha’s poor conditioning as the starting pitcher, the two-seam fastball he usually threw with new-pitch variation became as flat and dull as a four-seam fastball, and he got pounded.
He gave up four runs in the first inning, two more in the second, and more in the third.
In the end, the Dolphins’ only option was to pull all their starters and replace them with backups and reserves, then call up rookie relief pitchers to somehow extinguish the Sharks’ blazing bats.
For the first time this season, they suffered a blowout loss by fifteen runs.
This three-game series touched a trauma deep within Dolphins fans.
Not only was the team’s atmosphere shaken, but memories surfaced not of the Dolphins gradually improving and striving, but of those dark years from over a decade ago that had tormented the fans.
Nervousness against an unfamiliar foreign pitcher they’d never seen before.
A batting lineup that couldn’t score, grounding into double plays even when they managed to reach base.
A bullpen that collapsed from behind even when the homegrown ace held strong.
Games lost from the start, with the starting pitcher getting shelled from the opening inning.
All the sights they’d grown accustomed to—no, witnessed daily for over a decade—appeared in full during this three-game series.
– Damn it! Just disband the team already!
– You call yourselves professionals!
– What wealth and glory do I expect to enjoy?!
– Is this a rebuild?!
– Just throw it all away!
It was the worst weekend for Dolphins fans.
* * *
While the Dolphins lost consecutive games, I shuttled between home and the hospital.
Out of an abundance of caution, my Mother stayed during the day while I kept watch over my Daughter at night.
Fortunately, nothing else happened after that, and I gradually reduced the time spent at the hospital.
With my remaining time, I slowly warmed up my body in preparation for a starting appearance.
When Monday came around, I finally left the Hospital Room after the Professor told me during his rounds that my Daughter had found sufficient stability.
“Son. I’ll keep an eye on Ye-jin for a while. Don’t worry and go ahead.”
“Yes, Mother. But please don’t stay too long.”
“Your mother will take good care of things.”
Even as she said this, I knew she would stay at the Hospital Room for quite some time, so I gave my Father a meaningful look asking him to look after my Mother.
My Father nodded in understanding, and only then did I head to Busan.
I arrived in Busan around lunchtime, but when I checked the Training Ground, no one was there.
The players were arriving late since the team had just returned from an away series.
The Manager had told them to come in the afternoon and loosen up, so they would start arriving one by one soon.
I found Deok-hwan and received the Salamanders scouting report.
“I…”
He looked like he wanted to say something to me, but knowing what it was, I nodded, and Deok-hwan didn’t say anything more.
Leaving him behind, I settled into a corner of the Conference Room and reviewed the data.
The Salamanders had a rough start to the season.
Not only did they fail to build on winning streaks, but with home runs not coming at their small Salamanders Park, they were struggling to accumulate wins.
The Salamanders are a team that gets stronger in summer. Considering that, they can surge forward in mid-season, so they need to win as much as possible early on.
With the weather not yet that hot, the Salamanders aren’t particularly threatening right now.
‘As always. And, the way I’ve always done it.’
It’s just a matter of throwing the ball and catching it like I always have.
After finishing one analysis, I headed to the Training Ground to warm up again, and I could see the players arriving one by one.
“Oh… you’re here?”
“Um… Ho-jin. No, wait.”
Several seniors approached and greeted me.
They all held back their words. That bothered me more.
I repeated that I was fine several times.
Fortunately, the seniors also said they were relieved and stepped aside, and as I continued exercising for a while, the Captain and Se-jin approached.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“You held up well.”
My chest tightened.
The other seniors were fine, but the words from these two people in front of me hit differently.
The Captain’s “you’ve been through a lot,” spoken from the perspective of a father raising a daughter, lifted some of the fatigue from my body, and Se-jin’s “you held up well,” coming from someone who had been close to me for quite a long time, carried the meaning of not giving up and pushing forward—it warmed my heart.
“Thank you.”
After receiving encouragement from the Captain and Se-jin, I returned to my pre-start routine for tomorrow’s game.
Or rather, I tried to.
“Sigh…”
Something was wrong.
For some reason, I couldn’t concentrate.
My body creaked like a broken machine.
* * *
Tuesday, the first game of the midweek three-game series.
The Daegu Salamanders visited Sajik Baseball Stadium, and the Dolphins were there to greet them.
By now, the weather had fully transitioned into mid-April spring, and in Busan, famous throughout South Korea for its warmth, more and more people were beginning to wear short sleeves.
However, today there was noticeably more fine dust in the air, and while it wasn’t a problem for playing baseball, some of the fans coming to the stadium wore masks.
Was it because of the poor weather? Or perhaps the team’s recent performance?
Empty seats were quite visible at Sajik Baseball Stadium.
Considering that Kang Ho-jin was today’s starting pitcher, box office success was guaranteed to some degree, yet the empty seats stood out all the more.
The game began in such weather.
“Play ball.”
The Umpire’s call rang out as Caster Jung Jae-hyuk opened the broadcast.
“I’m Jung Jae-hyuk, bringing you coverage of the first game of the midweek three-game series between the Daegu Salamanders and the Busan Dolphins.”
“I’m Choi Dong-yeon, providing commentary.”
“Sir, the weather is quite poor today. Both fans and players must be struggling in conditions like this, right?”
“That’s right. Since fans are aware that prolonged exposure to fine dust isn’t good, Sajik Baseball Stadium feels rather empty today.”
Yet thanks to the cheering section leader raising their voice in support and the cheerleaders working hard to energize the crowd, Sajik Baseball Stadium still had a lively feel to it.
“Starting pitcher for us is Kang Ho-jin. In his last four games, he’s 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00 and 41 strikeouts, leading the league.”
“Wow. For a second-year player, those are incredible numbers. Especially considering he’s pitched all nine innings in all four games, his inning consumption is remarkable, and he leads the league in both strikeouts and ERA.”
Kang Ho-jin’s performance was astounding.
Though these were results from just four games, the way he was running away with the league right now suggested that if this continued, he would single-handedly sweep every award.
Any manager would have no choice but to love a pitcher like Kang Ho-jin.
Despite recent unfortunate news, Kang Ho-jin threw the ball powerfully as if nothing was wrong.
“First pitch! A strike on the inside.”
“Hmm… He must be struggling emotionally from recent events, yet he’s showing stable pitching. That’s something to admire.”
As if unwilling to say more, the Caster and Sports Commentator fell silent for a moment.
In that interval, Kang Ho-jin threw his second pitch, and a backdoor slider against the right-handed batter caught the strike zone.
“A breaking ball. It’s in.”
“Wow, no matter how many times I see it, that’s an incredible slider. It catches the zone perfectly, but from the batter’s perspective, it looks too far outside. It’s a pitch that should naturally miss, yet it comes into the zone.”
Though not quite a magic pitch, it was certainly worthy of such praise, and with the count in his favor, Kang Ho-jin threw his final pitch.
“Swing! The batter’s bat whiffed.”
“Inside, outside, inside. One might think it’s a natural victory, but looking at the batter’s bat, it seems he was expecting the outside pitch. He was completely fooled.”
Having cleanly dispatched the first batter of the first inning, Kang Ho-jin quietly faced the next batter and threw his pitch.
And against the second left-handed batter that followed, Kang Ho-jin brought out his signature high-velocity splitter.
“Ball four! A foul ball toward the shortstop. And heading to first base—he’s out.”
“That was pure guts right there. Four consecutive splitters thrown inside, all on the body.”
Kang Ho-jin had truly pitched with audacity.
As if daring the batter to hit it, he threw the same location and same pitch type repeatedly.
Against the Salamanders’ number-two batter, known for his solid contact, even the Caster and Sports Commentator were taken aback.
Facing the cleanup hitter next, Kang Ho-jin reached for his curveball.
The first pitch hugged the inside corner for a strike, and the second caught the outside borderline for another strike.
As if to finish it off, he threw a third curve inside, but it accidentally drifted toward the center of the strike zone.
Crack!
A bullet-fast grounder pierced through the infield.
But since it was headed directly at the shortstop, everyone anticipated the inning would end.
“Shortstop! Oh, he dropped it!”
The shortstop had dropped it, and in that moment, the base runner touched first, leaving the inning unfinished when it should have ended.
The shortstop gestured an apology to pitcher Kang Ho-jin, and the pitcher waved it off with a reassuring gesture.
The inning that should have ended continued into the heart of the order.
As if to say this was nothing serious, Kang Ho-jin pitched again.
Knowing the cleanup hitter struggled against fast-dropping pitches, he threw high-velocity splitters in succession through the strike zone.
“Strike!”
Despite the umpire’s call, the batter watched the ball intently as if counting it with his own eyes, and only on the third pitch did his bat finally swing.
Boom!
A sharp crack accompanied the ball as it soared in an arc.
In an instant, it cleared the fence.
A two-run deficit.
Kang Ho-jin’s first runs allowed in the 27th season.

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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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