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Chapter 19
Participation (1)
SeoulWolves8:6GwangjuStingzSeoulWolves8:6GwangjuStingz
WinningPitcher:HanMin−woo–2.0IP,0H,1BB/HBP,3K,1R(unearned),Hold:MyungSang−woo–1.0IP,0H,0K,0R,Save:KimDeok−min–1.0IP,0H,1K,0RWinningPitcher:HanMin−woo–2.0IP,0H,1BB/HBP,3K,1R(unearned),Hold:MyungSang−woo–1.0IP,0H,0K,0R,Save:KimDeok−min–1.0IP,0H,1K,0R
LosingPitcher:KimJae−won–0.2IP,4H,1BB/HBP,0K,3RLosingPitcher:KimJae−won–0.2IP,4H,1BB/HBP,0K,3R
<Back-to-back winning series! The Wolves finally catch fire. Can they really push into the postseason picture?>
<52 games remain. No team over .600, even the last-place team is over .400. Ultra-tight race!>
<Is this really the same “designated loser” we used to know? Han Min-woo fully revived! 6 IP, 1 R (unearned) and now emerging as the core setup man of the Wolves’ bullpen!>
<The Wolves look to build an iron-wall bullpen with the trio of Han Min-woo – Myung Sang-woo – Kim Deok-min. Can they project the same intimidation as the Daegu Gladiators’ relief corps?>
<Yu Seong-jong slumps: 6 games, 20 AB, 4 H, 2 RBI. The Dolphins’ smiles turn to frowns; the question mark around the Wolves turns into bright faces.>
The Wolves’ second straight winning series sent shockwaves through the KBO.
The first ones to react were the front office.
“The standings updated! We’re in 9th now!”
“Right, we were only half a game behind the Daejeon Griffins!”
“Oooooooh!”
“Here comes the rebound!”
At the staffer’s shout, the players changing clothes in the locker room roared. Water bottles flew wildly again.
For a long time, the Wolves had been stuck in the bottom tier. Not just “bottom half,” but so deep they rarely climbed more than three steps up from dead last. They had finished in last place twice.
They had grown dull and numb from losing… but at the same time, it meant they were desperately thirsty for victory.
For teams like that, a winning streak sends the mood skyrocketing like a storm. Every single win carries extra weight.
What’s he doing over there again?
Everyone was buzzing and hyped.
And in the middle of that, they spotted Han Min-woo sitting alone in one corner of the locker room.
His whole vibe didn’t match the atmosphere, which made him stand out more.
People who noticed him thought:
He’s calm even at a time like this.
So he really is just a naturally cynical guy, huh.
It felt like he existed in a different space. Like there was an invisible wall around him.
Maybe that’s why he looked even more special. That calmness came off as gravitas.
Phew, stay cool.
But contrary to what everyone assumed, Min-woo was actually holding back his excitement.
Because he’d just earned a lot of points in today’s game.
CurrentPoints:1,360PCurrentPoints:1,360P
From today’s game alone, he’d raked in 1,490 points.
40 points from daily quests,
300 points from pitching 2 innings,
another 150 from 3 strikeouts.
On top of that, he’d gotten a whopping 1,000 bonus points for picking up a win.
And that wasn’t all.
After finishing the 6th inning, he had spun the random gacha and even pulled a B-rank special ability.
It was, in every sense, a jackpot kind of day.
So what do I do? My luck’s good today… Spin again? Or don’t?
Right now, there was one thing on Han Min-woo’s mind.
Should he roll the random gacha again right now, or not?
So many good things happened today. Maybe I really should spin it…?
But despite thinking that, his fingertip didn’t lightly tap the status window.
There’s a saying: “Sai ong ji ma.”
Good fortune and misfortune are intertwined; fortunes can turn to disasters and vice versa.
In simpler terms: a blessing can become a curse.
Hah. Can’t believe I’m agonizing over something like this.
Min-woo shook his head.
But he couldn’t help it.
Because that was how his life had always been.
Every time something good happened, something bad followed.
When he first started playing baseball…
When he met his first love…
When he got called up to the first team…
When he finally found a way out of his trauma…
Bittersweet.
Thinking back on those days, he sighed.
Just then, Ha Yun-min walked over to the brooding Min-woo and spoke up.
“Hyung, hyung. Aren’t you getting ready to go home?”
“Oh, I just have something to think about.”
“What’re you thinking about? A girl? A game?”
He pestered like always.
Min-woo stared at him for a moment.
Hmm…
Ha Yun-min was famous for his feather-light behavior. Playful, full of jokes, hates being serious, laughs at everything.
Nicely put, he was optimistic. Less nicely, he lived without thinking too hard.
But right now, Min-woo felt that was actually Yun-min’s strength.
Because he himself was thinking so much that he couldn’t do anything.
“Let’s say a lot of good things happened to you today. In that case, would you buy a lottery ticket or not?”
“I’d buy it, of course. It’s not like I lose anything buying one.”
“Oh, right, I forgot a condition. The lottery ticket is really expensive. Like… 1 million won.”
“Then obviously I wouldn’t buy it. Do you know how small the odds of winning are?”
“But what if the chance of winning was, say… 30%?”
Yun-min’s eyes darted around.
With all these conditions piled on, he clearly had to think about it.
But even so, his answer came quickly.
“Then I’d buy it.”
“Even though it’s expensive?”
“You can always earn that million won back. If you only think about what you might lose, you’d never buy a lottery ticket.”
This punk…
Min-woo was quietly impressed.
He’d only asked the “airhead” something light, but the answer was unexpectedly good.
Exactly. If you only think about what you might lose, you’d never buy a lottery ticket.
Thanks. I needed that reminder.
Besides, the BnB system itself was already a miracle.
Whatever came out of the gacha was no different from winning the lottery for him.
Resolving himself, Min-woo tapped on his status window.
Whatwillyougetthistime?Drumrollplease,dudududududu.Whatwillyougetthistime?Drumrollplease,dudududududu.
★☆★☆Tadaaa☆★☆★★☆★☆Tadaaa☆★☆★
Youhaveacquired<SpecialAbility:IronMan(A)>!Congratulations!Youhaveacquired<SpecialAbility:IronMan(A)>!Congratulations!
His eyes flew open.
Huh?
It felt like an electric current had shot through him from head to toe.
This time, too, it was an A-rank.
Holy crap. Is this real?
When he used to play BnB in the past, he’d spun the random gacha literally thousands of times and only gotten 2 S-ranks and 4 A-ranks.
By that standard, this was ridiculous luck.
He’d only tapped the gacha five times now—and already gotten two A-rank special abilities.
So what does this one do?
“Iron Man”…?
He’d played BnB so long ago that just hearing the name didn’t jog his memory of what it did.
Tilting his head, he tapped on the special ability.
<IronMan(A)>–Yourentirebodybecomesastoughassteel.Healthisgreatlyincreased.<IronMan(A)>–Yourentirebodybecomesastoughassteel.Healthisgreatlyincreased.
Ah…
So basically…
Looking at the description, Min-woo let out a hollow laugh.
Of all the effects he could’ve gotten from BnB’s special abilities, he’d pulled what he considered the worst one.
Health.
Out of everything, it had to be this one.
In BnB, there were many different kinds of special abilities, but the stat-boosting ones could roughly be divided into eight categories:
Number of balls you can throw, pitch velocity, control, breaking-ball grade, pitch quality, mentality, defense… and health.
By that logic, the stat he needed most right now was velocity.
If his four-seam fastball were just 5 km/h faster at his current level, he could get outs much more easily.
There was a reason batter Yoon Kang-min had been so shocked by that 144 km/h fastball.
And if I had to pick the one I need the least right now, it’d be health.
Health.
Such an ambiguous stat.
It could mean he doesn’t get sick often.
It could mean he’s less likely to get injured.
Or maybe it just means he eats, sleeps, and poops well.
Whatever it was…
It’s not going to change anything in the short term.
He sighed.
“All right, all right. That’s enough. Everyone, pack up and head out. Go get some rest.”
“Yessir.”
At the hitting coach’s words, the players quickly finished changing.
Sitting on the bench, Min-woo also hurried to grab his remaining stuff.
The next series was a home three-game set at Jamsil against the Suwon Wolverines.
They’d have Monday off in between as a rest day.
Maybe that’s why everyone leaving the locker room looked so happy.
As they walked toward the bus, they heard noisy chatter up ahead.
There were barricades set up along the path to the parked team bus, and behind them, a crowd of fans waiting for the players.
The players exchanged glances, then shrugged and headed out with casual familiarity.
“Man, it’s been a while since we could walk out with our heads held high.”
“Back-to-back winning series is more than enough reason. All right, let’s go.”
They passed along the barricades like they’d done many times before. Fans reached out their arms, calling eagerly to them.
The names shouted were mostly the star players’:
Jo Woo-chan, Kwon Jun-seo, Piggy Jeong, Ha Yun-min, and so on…
“Jo Woo-chan! Please sign this!”
“Kyaa! It’s Ha Yun-min, what do I do!”
“Could I please take a quick picture with you?”
An impromptu fan meet-and-greet began.
The players moved busily, signing one thing after another through the barricades.
Watching the fans swarm like clouds, Min-woo’s eyes sparkled.
How many points is all this worth?
<DoFanService>–10Pperperson–Incomplete<DoFanService>–10Pperperson–Incomplete
The list of daily quests he’d gotten today flashed through his mind.
He could earn points just by doing fan service.
In other words, the ground in front of him right now was basically paved with points.
“Hello. Want an autograph?”
“Who… oh! Han Min-woo! Yes, yes, yes, please sign for me!”
“Me too! I even have a jersey with your name on it!”
“This is a foul ball you caught off Lee Kang-won—could you sign right here?”
“You’re so handsome!”
Fans flocked toward him.
He’d only been with the team for three games since the trade, but there wasn’t a single fan here who didn’t know his name.
That was the power of national TV.
In the middle of the crowd, Min-woo earnestly signed one by one, took pictures, shook hands.
“Me too! Please sign for me too!”
“You can just sign right here, if that’s okay? I only have a jersey with Park Jun-young’s name on it right now…”
“I love you, hyung!”
As more fans rushed in, his circle kept expanding.
Which was only natural.
The other players were hiding their fatigue and doing the bare minimum out of obligation.
Min-woo, on the other hand, was beaming from ear to ear.
Because to him, every single person in front of him was literally turning into points.
The quality of his fan service was on a different level, and the fans’ emotional response followed suit.
“Min-woo, time to go. We’re about to leave.”
Just one more person.
“Hey! You coming or what? We’ll leave you behind, you know?”
Just a few more…
Ignoring the coaches shouting for him, Min-woo moved his hands even faster.
The coaches had no choice but to come back and physically drag him away.
“Hey, kid. We need to go. You gonna sign for every single person here?”
“Just one more. No, two more…”
“We’re really sorry, everyone. We have to get going now, sorry about that.”
Like he was being hauled away by detectives, two coaches grabbed him and dragged him toward the bus.
Fans laughed and snapped photos of the scene.
A short while later, those photos were posted on an online community.
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is killing meㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’ve never seen a player dragged away for doing too much fan serviceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Dude’s basically got a lifetime grudge about it at this point
Looks good to me. The ones who never sign anything should learn from this. Without fans, they’re just random dudes who throw a ball or swing a bat wellㅋㅋ
“I love every one of my fans” (fake madness) / “Let me go, I have more signatures to give!” (real madness)
Instant top-tier likeabilityㅋㅋ Going to Jamsil on Tuesday, I’m buying a Wolves jersey with his name on itㅇㅇ
2222222222
3333333333333333 Guys like him are fun to root forㅎㅎ
I love you, Han Min-woo! ⸜( ^࿁^ )⸝
