The Genius Pitcher Dad Throws for His Daughter - Chapter 25

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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 25
#25.
“Haha! From now on, you two Kangs are my bros!”
Kevin laughed and patted both my shoulder and Do-bin’s shoulder.
Confused by what was happening, I glanced at Do-bin, whose expression mirrored my bewilderment. But as Kevin’s joy was infectious, I found myself smiling along—until the Interpreter stepped in to explain the truth.
“Kevin is expressing his gratitude to both of you. Until now, he couldn’t throw his splitter effectively, which hurt his performance. He was always frustrated with the Bullpen’s instability. But Ho-jin created a Catcher who could receive his splitter, and now that the back end is solid, he’s genuinely pleased.”
After hearing the conversation between Kevin and Do-bin from the Dugout earlier, the situation finally became clear.
“I didn’t do anything. It was all Do-bin’s hard work.”
“No. None of this would’ve been possible without Ho-jin throwing those pitches. Without you, I’d still be in the 2nd Team or looking for another job.”
As the Interpreter relayed our words, Kevin suddenly spread both arms wide and pulled us into an embrace.
“Anyway, when we’re together, we’re unstoppable, right? Let’s do this together, bros!”
Regardless of how we got here, what mattered to Kevin was today’s result. He’d earned the win, and he’d thrown his signature splitter to his heart’s content while securing it.
In fact, Kevin had become the subject of fan speculation about whether he should be benched in the second half of the season.
Given the General Manager’s temperament, there was widespread knowledge within the organization that Kevin would be replaced the moment he fell into a slump. His anxiety must have been at an all-time high.
With today resolving everything, his bright demeanor made perfect sense.
“So, bro, what do you think?”
My newfound brother asked me.
Since I had no idea what he was asking or what he meant, I just stared at him. Then he suddenly gripped a baseball and showed me his grip.
“Want to learn my splitter?”
That was the moment.
– Will you teach B-Rank Splitter?
– Since this is teaching rather than learning, the consumption cost is ‘1’ point.
What? Insane!
This was an acquisition method I’d never anticipated.
* * *
“Ho-jin, could you sign this for me?”
“Oh, of course.”
As I left the stadium, fans approached me requesting autographs.
Unlike yesterday, I carefully signed for each and every fan who asked.
“Today’s game was amazing.”
“Absolutely! Such a reliable closer!”
“Please be our team’s firefighter!”
I bowed respectfully to the fans’ voices and diligently signed their items.
The faces of those who received my signature were radiant with happiness.
A nail-biting one-run victory.
Until recently, the Busan Dolphins’ fans would tremble with extreme anxiety whenever such situations arose.
The Bullpen was notorious for starting fires, and games were routinely lost to defensive errors.
In just two games, I had shut things down decisively and reliably, and their eyes gleamed with newfound hope.
“I’ll do my best.”
With that, I bowed and boarded the bus.
I wanted to sign more autographs, but with the last senior player boarding the bus just moments ago, I couldn’t afford to delay any further.
“….”
The bus was silent.
It was a quiet ride, as if proving that the fatigue from the Seoul game still lingered, and watching everyone head straight to their rooms upon arriving at the Dormitory showed they were still exhausted.
Perhaps everyone had rested well?
In the next day’s game, I displayed some impressive hitting for the first time in a while.
Crack—!
Starting with a go-ahead two-run homer that soared over the Phoenix Park fence with a tremendous crack, the second game turned into a hitting showcase.
To be precise, it was a one-sided offensive display, and by the end of the fifth inning, we’d already put up ten runs and could afford to relax.
Meanwhile, Al Torado on the Mound was systematically breaking the opposing team’s hitters’ spirit.
Al Torado, a left-handed three-quarter pitcher, specializes in sliders—a player whose horizontally-breaking slider is exceptional against both left and right-handed batters. Against lefties, his slider curves as if heading for their body, while against righties, he throws a backdoor slider that’s unreachable even when they extend their bats.
Combined with a changeup that’s less threatening than his slider but equally effective against both sides, he was a formidable pitcher to face, and today he had found his rhythm perfectly.
“Nice! Kang!”
“Ooh! Good!”
With his slider bending wildly, Do-bin, our Catcher, followed every movement with his glove and caught them all, allowing Al to cruise through the innings cleanly and secure our third consecutive victory.
And then came the third game.
It was the start day of Kim Se-jin, the Busan Dolphins’ most veteran pitcher and the ace known as our homegrown ace.
It was also a day when Busan Dolphins fans filled the Third Base Away Seating for the first time in a long while.
* * *
Busan Dolphins’ Kim Se-jin.
A homegrown ace who has protected the Busan Dolphins’ Mound for the past twelve years.
A pitcher who captured the hearts of Dolphins fans with his glasses reminiscent of a player now retired with a permanent number, his right-handed pitching, and his waterfall-like falling curveballs.
From his rookie days, he’d taken the Mound shouting for the Busan Dolphins’ championship, yet he was the pitcher who held the center of a team that never reached the postseason and always lingered in the lower standings.
This year too, that pitcher hadn’t received proper offensive support and had few wins.
‘When will we ever smell the autumn baseball season….’
What Kim Se-jin desired was nothing other than postseason advancement.
He didn’t even dream of winning the pennant race. The Korean Series? If we made it, that would be glorious.
But the team, far from reaching autumn baseball, had taken root at the bottom and showed no signs of rising.
‘Last year was our only hope….’
Last year, when we climbed to second place with a 95% probability of postseason advancement, we were the team that somehow broke through that 5% miracle.
Of course, Kim Se-jin threw to prevent that from happening.
He consumed as many innings as possible to reduce the Bullpen’s workload, encouraged the batters to give their all, and cheered together with them.
But that was the problem.
His aging body lacked the stamina of his youth to handle many innings, and burning through his energy cheering only made it impossible to endure.
Eventually, he was even removed from the roster due to injury in the latter half, and it was only after this year’s Spring Camp ended that Kim Se-jin finally returned to the team.
I moved my body according to my starting pitcher’s routine, and soon the game would begin.
In my younger days, I’d spent long hours alone to sharpen my focus, but now I survey the players from the Dugout.
It was nothing special.
Knowing that retirement was approaching, I’d created this routine to keep the players and the Ground fresh in my eyes for as long as possible.
‘Still, the atmosphere has improved quite a bit.’
The team, which had been mired in a losing streak until recently, had undergone a dramatic transformation after stringing together three consecutive victories.
Smiles, however faint, had begun to grace their faces, and a warm breeze of vitality swept through the once-desolate atmosphere.
The most striking change, however, was the foreign mercenaries over there making all that noise.
“Kang! Cook-bap has soul! It’s delicious!”
“I’ll give you that.”
….
There were three foreign mercenaries and a Korean player gathered together.
Typically, foreign mercenaries gravitated toward one another. Language barriers and the hardships of living in a foreign land made it natural for them to seek out compatriots.
Yet surprisingly, a Korean player had inserted himself into their circle—and Kim Se-jin found it unexpected that it was Kang Ho-jin, who had only recently been called up from the 2nd Team.
‘He always struck me as polite and diligent. Guess he studied English well.’
There he was, chattering away without an interpreter, his fluent English drawing the three mercenaries naturally toward him.
More precisely, Kevin was doing most of the talking while Rodrick chimed in with hearty laughter, and Al participated through listening alone, occasionally offering faint nods of acknowledgment.
Kim Se-jin, having once dreamed of reaching Major League Baseball himself, could grasp fragments of the conversation, though not all of it. Then something unexpected slipped into the dialogue.
“Kang, what do you think of my splitter?”
“Hmm? Seems like you’ve got a good handle on it.”
Kevin’s bizarre splitter.
The news that he had taught it to Kang Ho-jin shocked me the first time, and the fact that Ho-jin had mastered it shocked me the second time.
‘I couldn’t pull it off.’
Kim Se-jin, who had always considered himself talented as a pitcher, grew increasingly curious upon hearing that Ho-jin had mastered a splitter that even he couldn’t execute.
He wondered how Kevin’s terrible splitter—thrown by a right-handed pitcher—would manifest in the hands of Kang Ho-jin, a left-handed pitcher.
“Come on! Let’s get ready for the game!”
At the Senior Coach’s call, Kim Se-jin picked up his glove.
Curiosity could wait—it was time to play ball.
His eyes gleamed with fierce intensity.
* * *
“Senior, nice pitching out there.”
I waited in the Dugout with a towel and water as Kim Se-jin entered, ready to attend to him.
“Thanks.”
He wiped the sweat from his face with the towel and took a drink of water.
With June just around the corner, the heat was beginning to set in, and my senior’s entire body was drenched in sweat from his focused effort on the Mound.
At least his condition today was far better than when I first arrived at the 1st Team.
His control was precise, placing pitches exactly where he wanted them, and he’d managed to build favorable counts. His breaking ball was sharp and decisive. As a result, it was the Daejeon Phoenix who grew increasingly desperate.
‘They can’t afford to lose all three games.’
The Daejeon Phoenix, needing to secure at least one victory in the series, had no choice but to grow more frantic, and my senior skillfully navigated around their batters while methodically accumulating favorable counts.
Five innings pitched, seventy-six pitches. One hit, two walks, zero runs allowed.
He’d already satisfied the conditions for a winning pitcher.
Actually, let me correct myself.
He’s not the winning pitcher yet. Our batters have been unusually quiet compared to yesterday, so the score remains 0-0.
It looks like Kim Se-jin will pitch another two innings or so, and if we can score during that stretch, he’ll finally get his first win in a while.
“By the way, Ho-jin.”
“Yes, senior.”
“There’s something I’ve been curious about.”
Perhaps it was because there was time during the cleaning period—but my senior spoke to me for the first time today.
As I looked at him calmly, his question caught me off guard.
“You learned Kevin’s splitter?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. I did learn it.”
“Oh… does it fit your hand?”
Seeing the genuine curiosity in my senior’s eyes, I nodded quietly.
“Yes, it fits my hand better than I expected.”
At those words, my senior’s expression flickered with surprise.
“That bizarre splitter?”
“Pfft!”
I couldn’t help but spit out the water I’d been drinking.
But my senior was right, so I nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. It’s better than I thought.”
Then I gripped the splitter hold with my hand.
A splitter acquired by sacrificing one stat point.
I’d probably be able to have quite a bit of fun with it.
One day of rest, then back out as the closer.
Whoosh—!
“Oof… how am I supposed to handle this?”
The Catcher receiving the ball in the Bullpen muttered something, and I smiled slightly.
‘It’s genuinely overpowered.’
The splitter Kevin had taught me.
It was truly a pitch that deserved to be called bizarre.

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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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