The Heavenly Demon Will Give You a Massage – Chapter 71

Chapter 71

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange…”

Kim Hojung, a veteran pitcher for the Daeseong Whales, muttered in a low voice as he sat in a corner of the ondol room at the jimjilbang, carefully peeling boiled eggs.

“What is?”

Choi Taegu, who was lying next to him, responded to his muttering. Kim Hojung dipped the freshly peeled boiled egg in salt and said,

“The fact that we’re just spacing out at a jimjilbang at this hour.”

Originally, it was time to get up and lightly warm up at the hotel’s fitness center.

But waiting like this at a jimjilbang, eating eggs, felt awkward. Even more so because the reason for waiting was to get a massage at the massage shop attached to the jimjilbang.

“Honestly, I can’t say I feel bad about it…”

Kim Hojung put the boiled egg in his mouth, took a sip of the ice-cold sikhye, and then opened his mouth again.

“It feels a bit… sinful, you know? No matter what, we have a game this afternoon, and this feels wrong, you know?”

“You don’t seem to be feeling that bad about it.”

Choi Taegu pointed to the tray in front of Kim Hojung. It was piled high with eggshells, besides the ones he had just peeled.

“And well, the manager must have a reason for this.”

“That’s what’s most surprising. He’s usually so sensitive about managing our condition.”

Players have a set routine when it comes to games.

They wake up late in the afternoon, have a light meal, go through meetings and training, and then rest on their own. After that, they play the game.

It’s an extremely simple process, and you might say, “What’s the big deal?”… But for players who have been doing this for years and are accustomed to it, even a small change in the routine can affect their game condition.

Manager Shim, in particular, considered these things important. He tried to accommodate the players’ diet as much as possible and refrained from interfering with their daily routines or training menus.

But suddenly, he’s telling us to cut back on sleep and get massages at a jimjilbang? It didn’t quite match the manager’s usual behavior.

“…It is a bit strange. It’s not like we’re not pitching today.”

If it were a day without pitching, they would have interpreted it as a sign to rest. However, when Kim Hojung sent a separate message to the manager, he received a reply saying that he was scheduled to start and to make sure to get a good massage.

“Or maybe… the massage here is really amazing?”

Kim Hojung said, a sudden thought coming to mind.

“Well, it must be good. The manager wouldn’t tell us to get one before the game otherwise. It’s a basic requirement, right?”

“I mean, not just good, but like, it opens up all the blood vessels in your body and you feel like you can fly. Wouldn’t that explain it?”

“…Why don’t you just say it makes you younger?”

Choi Taegu chuckled at Kim Hojung’s words. Kim Hojung nodded, even clapping his hands once.

“Yeah, that would be great. There was a novel you borrowed a while back that had something similar. What was it called? Chugoo… something blood.”

“Chugonggwahyeol?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“That’s just something that happens in martial arts novels, man.”

Even in martial arts novels, it’s considered a rare fortune, a kind of lucky encounter that’s hard to come by. Choi Taegu chuckled and waved his hand, saying it was ridiculous.

“I know. But it would have to be something like that for Manager Shim to give an order like this, right?”

“If there was someone like that, wouldn’t we have heard about it by now? The players’ abilities would suddenly improve, and the team’s performance would skyrocket…”

As he was waving his hand dismissively, a thought suddenly occurred to Choi Taegu, and he trailed off. A team that perfectly fit the description had come to mind.

“The Hanha Hawks?”

“…Wait, really?”

When Choi Taegu mentioned Hanha, Kim Hojung’s reaction changed. The playful atmosphere suddenly turned serious.

The Hanha Hawks, who suddenly started showing great skills and performing well towards the end of the season. Their progress was a hot topic among the coaching staff, but naturally, it was also a hot topic among the players.

Unlike the staff, the players were more sensitive to changes in the condition and skills of the opposing players because they faced them directly on the field.

“Gwangho’s form definitely came back to his prime…”

Lee Gwangho, Ahn Giho, Kim Taepyeong… and a few others.

Hanha’s veteran players suddenly started showing crazy skills and leading the team’s performance, as if they had regained their old physical abilities.

The change was so dramatic that it even led to additional doping tests requested by opposing teams after the games.

But what if it was all thanks to massage? What if Coach Song or the manager found out about it and brought the two here? Then everything that happened today would make sense.

“…Nah, no way.”

“That would be a real martial arts novel, dude.”

But it was too absurd, so they both shook their heads and dismissed it as a wild imagination.

“Sorry, the call took a bit longer than expected.”

However, when Coach Song Namseop, who had been away for a while due to work, returned to the ondol room,

“Coach! About the massage therapist we’re meeting today.”

“Is he by any chance related to Hanha?”

Both of them were asking questions quite enthusiastically, considering they had just dismissed it as ridiculous.

It was just a ‘what if’, and they expected Coach Song to react like he didn’t know what they were talking about… But that ‘what if’ was too tempting.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”

However, Song Namseop’s reaction was extremely casual. As if it was a matter of course.

“I’m not sure when it started, but he’s been going to Hanha regularly. I guess that’s when their performance started to improve.”

“…Y-You should have told us that earlier!”

“Sorry. I just woke up… I thought I told you.”

Song Namseop scratched his head at Kim Hojung’s words.

“Anyway, it’s almost time for your massages. Who wants to go first?”

“Well…”

Kim Hojung and Choi Taegu looked at each other without saying who would go first. A battery that had been working together for a long time. They didn’t need long conversations. Both of them smiled and said simultaneously, in a voice that implied it was obvious,

“Of course, me.”

“I should go first.”

“…Hey, I’m the pitcher, I should go first.”

“I’m the one who has to get to the plate, I should go first.”

“You know my shoulder hasn’t been good lately, right?”

“Don’t you know my back is about to give out?”

Their voices grew louder as they exchanged words. It looked more like two middle school students arguing than grown adults.

“It’s not like only one of you is getting a massage, it’s just a 30-minute difference… Let’s just play rock-paper-scissors.”

In the end, they were even arguing about who had bought meals how many times until Coach Song finally intervened.

⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢

And about two hours later.

“…Crazy, crazy.”

“Is this even possible?”

The two who had come out after the massage had changed drastically, their condition visibly improved. Even their skin was glowing.

“Chugonggwahyeol exists in real life.”

“Didn’t you say that’s rare even in martial arts novels?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Kim Hojung kept moving his shoulder, which had been bad, and Choi Taegu kept moving his back, both constantly expressing their amazement.

Just a while ago, they could feel the stiffness, but now it was as smooth as if it had been oiled and reassembled. It was only natural for them to be amazed.

“How was the massage?”

“Oh, Coach Song.”

When Coach Song, who had been waiting for them, approached, Choi Taegu grabbed his hand without a word.

“It’s just like you said! It feels different. This isn’t just simple conditioning… it’s like extending our careers!”

His words were no exaggeration.

If they could get this kind of massage once a month… no, even once every six months, it would be a huge help to their careers.

“That’s why I told you.”

Coach Song shrugged with a smile at their reaction. Their reaction was completely different from when they were grumbling in the morning.

“Anyway, do you think you’ll be able to play well today?”

“Well… with this feeling…”

Kim Hojung thought for a moment, rotating his shoulder. He was known for predicting the outcome of games accurately, so he often joined the staff meetings.

“If we lose today’s game, I’ll retire.”

And Kim Hojung made a shocking statement. That’s how confident he was.

“I practically feel rejuvenated. If I can’t win one game, I’m disqualified as a pitcher. Don’t you think so?”

He looked at his longtime teammate and friend, Choi Taegu, as if asking for agreement. Choi Taegu said with an indifferent expression,

“I’m not retiring.”

Sports are unpredictable!

Especially baseball, so Choi Taegu drew a clear line against his friend’s statement.

⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢

“Daeseong Whales win by a landslide…”

A four-seater table in the corner of the massage therapist’s break room.

Choi Seonghyeon, sitting there, read the headline of an online article. It was about the game at Jamsil Stadium the previous day.

“It specifically mentions them. ‘The performance of veteran lineup Kim Hojung and Choi Taegu stood out. The two players seemed to be showing their prime form…’ That’s what it says.”

The article briefly described the performance of the two players who had received massages from Kang Taehan the day before and concluded by saying that their future performance was highly anticipated.

“Yesterday’s game seemed pretty exciting.”

And Kang Taehan replied with a smile.

He had only watched the highlights later, as usual, but even those were full of cool scenes, making it enjoyable to watch.

The two players who had passed through his hands were especially prominent in the highlight reel.

“At this rate… won’t the outcome of the games be decided by how many players have received massages from you?”

Choi Seonghyeon said in a playful tone.

But at the same time, he was scared by the thought that it might actually be true.

“Taehan, you got a minute?”

Manager Hwang, who had entered the break room, spoke to Kang Taehan.

“I have something to show you.”

“Sure. I was just sitting here.”

When Kang Taehan readily nodded, Manager Hwang sat across from him. Choi Seonghyeon, who was sitting between them, asked cautiously,

“Is it okay for me to hear this?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Manager Hwang said, placing the documents he had brought on the table. It was no secret that he and Kang Taehan were moving shops. They had already discussed it with the owner.

“What is it that you want to show me?”

“About that. You remember what you said last time, Taehan.”

“Last time…”

“You said we should start taking reservations soon.”

“Ah, that.”

Now that the opening date was set, Kang Taehan had told Manager Hwang that it would be okay to start taking reservations from the clients who had requested them.

Of course, it would be unethical and wrong to start taking reservations for Kang Taehan’s shop here…

So they had decided to contact only those clients who had specifically asked to be notified when the new shop opened and ask them if they wanted to make reservations.

“Is there a problem?”

“Problem? There is. I started taking reservations two days ago…”

Manager Hwang opened the documents he had placed on the table in response to Kang Taehan’s question. It showed a table densely filled with letters in each cell.

“…and the reservations are almost full.”

The table showed the reservations for the week following the opening day.