Chapter 44
‘I’ve heard that you should be worried if someone suddenly changes…’
Although they had been teammates for a long time, Kim Taepyeong had only heard Lee Gwangho speak in such a gentle voice twice.
Once when he attended his brother’s wedding.
And once a few seconds before he completely lost it and flipped out.
In that sense, Gwangho-hyung’s voice felt very unfamiliar, awkward, and even terrifying to Kim Taepyeong.
“Hey, I like that expression. Rejuvenation! I’ve been completely rejuvenated! My body feels so light. I feel like I’m exactly six years younger.”
On the other hand, Lee Gwangho let out a refreshing laugh and punched the air a couple of times with his thumb as if stamping a seal.
A specific and unnecessary figure of six years.
However, Kim Taepyeong knew how high of a praise it was because he knew that Gwangho-hyung’s aging curve had become prominent and his stamina started to decline around that time.
“Is it that good?”
“Hey, I thought Taejun was exaggerating, but he wasn’t. You should get a massage too. The master’s skills are extraordinary.”
I’m going to do some stretching then.
Lee Gwangho left after saying those words.
Kim Taepyeong, who was waving his hand behind him, scratched his head with a puzzled expression.
‘…Well, I’ll know if I try it.’
At this point, he even wondered if it was a hidden camera prank, but anyway, he just had to check it out himself.
As the saying goes, seeing is believing.
Kim Taepyeong opened the door to the break room and went inside.
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“Kkhuuuueeeok…”
The moment Kim Taepyeong stepped into the room, a strange moan leaked out from inside.
A feeling of pain and pleasure mixed together… It was a moan like the kind you’d make if you tasted an amazing delicacy and then lightly stubbed your little toe on the table.
The voice came from none other than the sleeping room.
When he opened the thin curtain that separated the space from the break room, he saw beds lined up on both sides and three of his fellow players lying on them.
Two of them were drooling and sleeping with expressions that couldn’t be more comfortable.
And the other one was lying face down, getting a massage and making the strange moaning sound he had just heard.
‘…Was that Giho-hyung?’
He took a peek to see who was making the noise, and it was Ahn Giho, who was the same age as Lee Gwangho.
He was a hyung who just laughed it off even when he broke his finger before, so it was so strange to see him like this.
‘And is that Daejeong over there?’
And the person sleeping soundly behind him was Kwak Daejeong.
He had always suffered from insomnia and even took medication for it, so he had never seen him take a nap in the sleeping room, but now he was sound asleep with a very peaceful face.
Was this even possible?
At this point, it was more plausible that it was actually a hidden camera prank.
“Is that Kim Taepyeong?”
Just then, someone called his name from the front.
A deep voice filled with weight. It was Kang Taehan.
“Ah, yes. That’s me…”
Due to the structure of the game, baseball inevitably involves a psychological battle between the pitcher and the batter, and it carries more weight than you might think.
And Kim Taepyeong was a player who had eaten his fair share of dirt on the baseball field.
He had rarely been intimidated by another player during a game, except maybe when he was a rookie, and there was no need to mention how he felt around ordinary people.
However, the moment he met Kang Taehan’s eyes, Kim Taepyeong placed his hand on the back of his neck and naturally lowered his head.
He instinctively felt like he had to do so.
“You’ve come at the right time. Wait a moment on this bed.”
Kang Taehan smiled lightly, greeted him with a nod, and pointed to the bed next to him.
It was a gentle face that didn’t quite match the sight of Ahn Giho lying limp like a puddle of dough right below.
‘He looks very young…’
The atmosphere he exuded felt like it should have a grand title like ‘master’ attached to it, but he looked like he was in his twenties at most.
Well, he had turned the rough and tough Gwangho-hyung into a gentle, pleasant guy, so managing his own appearance must be a piece of cake.
Kim Taepyeong nodded to himself, convinced.
“Hooo… Master. Are we done now?”
At that moment, Ahn Giho, who had been lying next to him, sat up and asked.
When Kang Taehan nodded in response, a somewhat contradictory expression of relief and regret appeared on his face.
There were moments of pain so intense that he couldn’t hold back his voice, but the coolness that followed was even greater…
While he was receiving the massage, he had been waiting for the moment it would end, but now he felt more regret that he couldn’t receive it longer.
“It won’t be very effective if you receive it any longer now.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. So, get some sleep for now.”
Tap. A light tapping sound somewhere.
The next moment, Ahn Giho, who had been half sitting up, collapsed back onto the bed.
Kim Taepyeong, who was watching the scene vividly from the side, widened his eyes.
‘…What was that? A murder?’
No way. How could that be?
But until he heard Ahn Giho’s breathing as he lay flat on his back, Kim Taepyeong couldn’t take his finger off the call button on his smartphone.
“Now then…”
Immediately after, Kang Taehan turned to Kim Taepyeong.
Perhaps it was because of the brief misunderstanding just now, Kim Taepyeong gulped involuntarily.
“You have a long-standing aftereffect in your shoulder from a previous dislocation.”
Kang Taehan approached, reading the documents he had put down beside him.
It was a list of players who would be receiving massages today and their major injury history, which he had received from the coaching staff beforehand.
In Kim Taepyeong’s case, after he had a serious shoulder dislocation while playing as an outfielder, he had days when his condition would deteriorate because of recurring pain in the injured area.
Especially recently, his batting average had been declining steadily with each passing year.
He was still a capable player, but on the other hand, that was all he was.
“Hmm…”
Meanwhile, Kang Taehan, who had been staring intently at Kim Taepyeong, slowly nodded his head.
“There seems to be a problem with your shoulder muscles, but there’s a bigger problem I see.”
“…Is that so?”
Kim Taepyeong’s voice was somewhat doubtful.
He knew his own injury history better than anyone else.
Of course, the shoulder dislocation wasn’t the only injury he had suffered, but the others were just minor injuries.
“Lie down on your stomach first.”
But there had been more than a few things that had been questionable so far.
Kim Taepyeong obediently lay down on the bed, and Kang Taehan placed his left and right hands on his upper and lower back, respectively.
And then, the next moment.
“Kkuheok!”
As Kang Taehan’s left and right hands pulled in both directions, a short scream erupted from Kim Taepyeong’s mouth.
It felt like his stiffened spine was being stretched back into its original shape.
At the same time, an intense sensation as if the nerves around it were waking up all at once came over him.
A method of gently stimulating the connected nerves and blood vessels throughout the body by lightly straightening the spine.
However, this was just a kind of groundwork.
Kang Taehan immediately moved his thumbs to his tailbone and then quickly stimulated a dozen or so acupoints along his spine.
“Heueueueok!”
A scream escaped him involuntarily.
His back stiffened as a sudden stimulation ran up the pillar of his body.
In the midst of the dizziness, the word that came to his mind was electricity, which had been mentioned in Choi Taejun’s experience.
‘Taejun, you little… It’s not just a tingling sensation!’
Until just now, he had considered his words to be an exaggeration, but now he felt that they had been an understatement.
“As I said before, your shoulder is one thing… but your Taiyang acupoint here seems to be a bigger problem.”
Meanwhile, Kang Taehan, who had loosened the acupoints on his spine and activated the blood vessels, approached Kim Taepyeong’s head and grabbed his head with the fingers of both hands.
‘…Huh?’
Kim Taepyeong, who had reflexively tried to move his head, was momentarily flustered.
He was only holding it with his fingers, and it didn’t seem like he was using much force, but his head wouldn’t budge as if it were fixed in place.
“W-where is the Taiyang acupoint?”
“Simply put, it’s your temple. It’s an acupoint that’s closely connected to the nerves of your eyes.”
He had a bad feeling.
But his head didn’t move an inch, and Kang Taehan’s thumbs gently landed on both of his temples.
The moment he felt the sensation of cold sweat running down his back.
“Kkhaaaaaaaaak!”
Kim Taepyeong screamed a scream close to a death rattle, experiencing what it was like for his mind to turn completely white. In the midst of it all, the sight of the two people lying next to him sound asleep was quite a strange sight.
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The Hanha Hawks had a nickname, “Mari Hanha.”
Back when they were doing well, they earned the nickname because they would be losing early on, but somehow catch up and pull off a close victory, a feeling as addictive as marijuana.
However, these days, as their performance stagnated and they became a symbol of losing streaks, the nickname had morphed into something that was harmful to one’s mental health to watch, but also felt empty if you didn’t.
“So what?”
“Mari Hanha is tasting so sweet today, man!”
The man emphasized his point by nudging his friend’s shoulder.
He had to speak loudly to be heard over the surrounding cheers.
It was Hanha’s home game day.
Usually, the stands were quite empty, but for the past week, they had been packed for every home game.
The biggest reason for the crowds was simple.
It looked like Hanha was going to win!
Since Choi Taejun’s slump had ended, they had started to rack up good results, and the fans, who had thought, “I won’t be fooled again,” had begun to change their tune.
“What’s the point? Even if we win all our games from now on, we’ve practically missed the fall baseball season!”
“Hey! You don’t get it. Fall baseball? Hanha fans… they’re just grateful if we win!”
They didn’t expect much.
Just play some decent baseball!
That was all they needed to enjoy gathering at the stadium to cheer, and if they happened to win, they would be grateful.
“He hit it! He hit it again!”
Waaaaaaaaaa!
For some reason, the energy was at its peak today!
A solo home run and consecutive hits followed, and a fervent cheer erupted from the stands.
It felt like the team’s form itself had changed.
Especially the veteran players, who had long careers but had been struggling recently, were shining today.
“Hoo…”
Kim Taepyeong was up next at bat.
He dusted off his hands and took his batting stance.
‘It’s definitely different.’
This was his third time at bat today.
He had felt it since he woke up from his nap after the massage, but he could really feel it now that he was standing in the batter’s box.
His condition today was top-notch.
His shoulders were loose, his legs were light, and his field of vision had widened.
It was natural to lack experience when you were a rookie, and to lose physical ability as you gained experience, but he was currently a step ahead of that pattern.
Of course, no matter how good he felt, he couldn’t match his physical abilities from his prime…
But he had regained his physicality to some extent, on top of the experience he had accumulated.
‘And the biggest difference is.’
His dynamic vision.
The moment the pitcher threw the ball, its trajectory was clearly visible, as if drawing a line.
This was the result of his regained dynamic vision combined with his experience of seeing countless pitches.
He had thought that dynamic vision inevitably declined with age, but after Kang Taehan’s touch, it was completely different.
It was a sweet reward for enduring the excruciating pain of his temples being crushed.
‘Now!’
As he saw the ball approaching, drawing a line, he swung the bat in time with it.
He felt a solid impact through the bat he was gripping tightly.
“Ugh, master! I kept my promise!”
Even though the ball was still in flight, Kim Taepyeong shouted from the batter’s box and started running towards first base with all his might.
After he woke up from his nap after the massage.
Feeling his drastically improved condition, he had made a bold prediction to Kang Taehan, “I’ll definitely hit a home run today,” to express his gratitude.
Perhaps thanks to that, the ball flew far and, although it was a close call, it finally cleared the stands and landed between the front seats.
‘How long has it been since I hit a home run!’
Woooooooo!
He leisurely rounded the bases amidst the cheers!
It was a joy that only a batter who had hit a home run could experience.
‘Now I understand why Seonghyeon watches this.’
Meanwhile, Kang Taehan was nodding his head as he watched from the premium seats in the center.
He had received a ticket from a staff member, so he had decided to watch the game since he was here.
But as he sat there watching the game, he found it quite entertaining, and before he knew it, he had chicken and beer in front of him.
However, the fun he was experiencing wasn’t the typical kind of fun that spectators had…
It was closer to the fun of a game, watching the results of training players.
