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Chapter 2 – Trade
“Hey, Han Minwoo. Are you even listening? Hey! You punk!”
“Y-yes!”
At the voice calling him, Han Minwoo snapped back to reality.
On his phone, this man was saved as “Beloved PitchingCoachBastard.”
The 2nd-team pitching coach of Busan Dolphins was right in his face, red and blue with anger, chewing him out.
“Get your head on straight. If you show up over there like this, what do you think the Wolves’ coaches will say about the days I spent teaching you?”
“I’m sorry.”
He was infamous for his nasty temper.
And he knew how to fully exploit the power dynamic between “coach” and “2nd-team player” to screw people over.
Instinct, refined over years, told Han Minwoo it was dangerous to rub him the wrong way, so he quickly bowed his head.
Thankfully, the scolding didn’t drag on.
Now that the trade was done, the coach felt there was no point wasting more breath on him.
If not for that, Minwoo would’ve been stuck there getting torn apart for at least an hour.
The pitching coach jerked his chin toward the back.
“The Wolves’ guy is here for you. Hurry up and go pack your stuff at the dorm.”
Turning around, Minwoo spotted a man in his 30s wearing a suit.
He was a Seoul Wolves team staff member, sent to pick him up.
After politely thanking the pitching coach for everything up until now, Han Minwoo headed to the dorm.
Trade.
It meant swapping players with another team, or sending money to acquire a player.
In short, Han Minwoo was leaving the team he’d been with until now, and moving to a new nest.
Even so, while he was packing his travel bag, his head was full of completely different thoughts.
Not that there was much to pack anyway—just a few changes of clothes, a glove, spikes, baseballs, and other baseball-related stuff.
‘What the hell is this?’
On one side of his vision, a hologram was still floating.
Han Minwoo reached out and lightly tapped one of the lines of text with his finger.
[Would you like to draw Special Abilities?
Each Special Ability draw costs 1,000 P!]
[You can earn points by facing batters in games played under official baseball rules,
or by completing your given Daily Quests!]
It had to be one of two things.
Either he was seeing things…
Or a miracle had come to him.
He glanced around; everything else looked normal.
The only thing different from before… was this hologram.
In other words, this wasn’t some hallucination or delusion caused by schizophrenia.
With one of the two options eliminated, the conclusion was clear.
A miracle had appeared.
Somehow, he had gained the BnB game system in real life.
‘If this is really the BnB I know… then I can keep pitching in the pros.’
He had already predicted a pathetic future for himself, but that didn’t mean he’d given up.
He was still here, still on the field, still living each day with a glove on his hand.
If he’d truly given up, the first thing he would’ve done was throw that glove away.
“You’ve worked hard until now.”
When he came out with his packed bag, the pitching coach gave his shoulder a pat.
What a fake bastard.
He was only acting like this because a staff member from another team was watching.
The pitching coach turned toward the Wolves staff and spoke.
“Where’s Minwoo headed, anyway?”
“Haha, I’m not sure I should say.”
“What, is that a secret? It’s obvious he’s going to Icheon. Anyway, good luck.”
Scoffing, the pitching coach disappeared toward the dugout, leaving only Minwoo and the Wolves staffer in the open area.
After briefly introducing themselves, Minwoo got into the car. As it started moving, he looked out the window.
‘So I’m really leaving this place.’
As they drove north toward the capital region, mixed feelings washed over him.
When he first arrived here, his heart had pounded with excitement at finally becoming a pro player.
When he got destroyed on the 1st-team mound and sent back down, he was filled with rage and determination.
When he returned after completing his public service duty, he’d been anxious about the future.
And until yesterday, he’d been grinding his teeth, trying to get back onto the 1st-team mound somehow.
‘I’ll definitely become an MVP pitcher.’
Minwoo made up his mind.
His previous team had written him off as useless and thrown him away.
But at his new home, the Wolves, he would show them a different version of himself.
They had driven about 300 km along the Jungbu Inland Expressway and were passing near Icheon when—
‘Huh?’
The car didn’t exit at the Icheon IC and instead merged onto the main Jungbu Expressway.
Seeing that, Minwoo tilted his head.
The Seoul Wolves’ 2nd-team stadium and dorms were both in Icheon.
So under normal circumstances, they should’ve gotten off the highway around here.
“This isn’t the way to Icheon, is it?”
At his question, the staff member let out a small laugh.
“We’re going to Jamsil.”
July 8, 2030.
Because of one article in the sports section, online communities were in an uproar.
[Breaking) Seoul Wolves and Busan Dolphins complete 1-for-2 trade (1st report)]
[Dolphins execute surprise trade with Wolves… Yoon Je-hyun, Han Minwoo ↔ Yoo Sung-jong]
Struggling since the start of the season with a hole at starting right fielder,
the Busan Dolphins made the expected move and went all-in via trade.
They strengthened their lineup for fall baseball by sending out two prospects and acquiring a national-team-level right fielder.
This season, Yoo Sung-jong has appeared in 83 games, with 87 hits in 296 at-bats,
a .294 batting average, 11 home runs, and an OPS of 0.787…
– MNS News, Reporter Kwon Joo-cheol (manibajo@mns.co.kr
)
└ FFS I wanna smash the Wolves’ front office to pieces lol
If you’re giving up Yoo Sung-jong, shouldn’t you at least be getting someone like Jung Tae-min or Seo Ji-ho back?
They gave away their starting RF and got a defense-only prospect and a cripple?
└ LOL fr, isn’t Yoon Je-hyun just a late-inning defense and pinch-run guy?
└ Nah, at least Yoon Je-hyun is somewhat useful;;
The moment I saw “Han Minwoo” I thought my eyes were broken ㄷㄷ
Career ERA 13.14 LOOOOOL
└ Two prospects coming in and both are trash, amazing ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
This team has no future, seriously
└ The real problem is his mentality.
His 2nd-team stats aren’t that bad, but the moment he comes up to 1st team he just explodesㅎ2
└ Exactly. Sometimes there are pitchers who bulk up hard in the weight room or learn a new breaking ball and suddenly reinvent themselves,
but it’s hard to put Han Minwoo in that category.
What the hell is the Wolves front office even doingㅋ
└ Ha… I wondered why everyone was raging, so I looked up his name, and yeah, he’s hopeless ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
No control, no pitch quality, velocity is slow, and he just walks guys and loads the basesㅡㅡ
└ I’ll bet my left wrist they come up to 1st team a few times and then disappear without a trace.
And FYI, my left wrist is my girlfriendㅇㅇ
└ C’mon now, they’re coming to our team anyway, let’s at least cheer for themㅎㅎ
Fighting, Yoon Je-hyun! Fighting, Han Minwoo♥
“You must be tired. Thanks for coming all the way here.”
A thick palm reached out toward him.
Minwoo stood from his seat and took it with both hands.
Kim Young-seung, head coach.
He had recently taken over as acting manager for the Wolves after the previous manager was dismissed.
A pro player can only prove himself by playing in games.
In other words, this was the man who held his life and death in his hands.
“Hello, Coach. I’m Han Minwoo.”
“Hello, I’m Yoon Je-hyun.”
“Mm, I welcome both of you to the team.
You know what it means that you came to Jamsil instead of Icheon, right?”
“Yes, sir. We understand.”
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be registered on the 1st-team roster.
The club has high expectations for both of you.
So do your best out there.”
“We’ll work hard.”
The mood in the manager’s office was fairly warm.
Kim Young-seung’s impression wasn’t bad, and the hitting coach sitting in as well greeted them with a warm smile.
But that didn’t mean Minwoo could relax.
‘If I don’t produce results, it’s all meaningless.’
Coaching staff aren’t volunteers.
Their job is to take the players under contract and somehow produce results.
That meant they’d always show that warm smile to players who performed well or were useful to them.
But to the others, they could be endlessly cold and ruthless.
If it weren’t for the BnB system, Kim Young-seung could easily end up becoming Minwoo’s personal King of Hell, handing down a sentence straight to Hell.
Leaving the office, Minwoo’s shoulders dropped.
So much had happened in one day that he already felt exhausted.
But he still had tasks left to do.
‘Man, I really hate this kind of thing.’
Minwoo, who was somewhat passive when it came to human relationships, let out a long sigh.
‘Still… I have to do it, right?’
[Daily Quest List]
[<Introduce yourself to your teammates> – 100 P – Incomplete]
[<Record 10 strikeouts in one game> – 2,000 P – Incomplete]
[<Complete-game shutout> – 5,000 P – Incomplete]
[<Console a teammate who made an error> – 700 P – Incomplete]
[<Do stretching> – 20 P – Incomplete]
[Daily Quest: Introduce Yourself to Your Teammates]
– Baseball is a team sport. Bonds with your teammates are very important.
Go greet your teammates and leave a good impression!
In the old BnB game, there was a Daily Quest system.
You’d get five random quests, all baseball-related.
For players who couldn’t get into games, it was the only way to earn points.
Just like in the game, Minwoo had received five quests today.
Three of them were things he couldn’t possibly do today.
‘100 points…’
Daily quests disappear if you don’t complete them today.
There’s no guarantee the same one will appear tomorrow.
This one was a must-do.
But for someone as serious and reserved as Minwoo,
taking the initiative to approach others was not easy.
‘Still, I have to do this one no matter what.’
But when he treated it as just a game, another side of him woke up.
As a kid, Minwoo would do anything—literally anything—to earn points.
“Coach.”
“Yeah, Minwoo?”
At his call, the hitting coach who was escorting them to the dorm near Jamsil Baseball Stadium turned his head.
“Would it be alright if I did some training before going in?”
“Now? It’s already past five. Why don’t you rest today?”
“I have a usual routine. I’m only going to do some light stretching.
And… since I’m there anyway, I’d like to go greet the seniors.”
At that, the hitting coach stared at him for a moment, then snorted with a smile.
“This your first trade? Kid, you’re good at this whole social-life thing.”
There was clearly a misunderstanding.
He’d said it to earn points,
but to the hitting coach, it sounded like a diligent rookie wanting to formally greet his seniors.
Minwoo didn’t bother to correct him.
For the record, no one had ever told him he was good at “social life” in his entire career.
“Alright then, let’s go. What about you, Je-hyun? If you’re tired, you can go straight to the dorm.”
The hitting coach turned to Yoon Je-hyun, who was stiffly following behind Minwoo.
“Uh… I-I’d also like to go greet them.”
Je-hyun wasn’t an idiot.
First impressions were important.
Depending on how you set that first impression, your future relationships could change drastically.
Baseball especially required teamwork.
Unlike football or basketball, one superstar couldn’t carry everything alone.
And pro baseball was notorious for its strict hierarchies.
For a rookie who had only been in the pros for three years, the veterans held massive influence.
So it was crucial to get the first button fastened correctly.
“Sssip… hoo. Sssip… hoo.”
“Woo-chan, your knee’s going too far forward. Just a bit more!
Think of putting the tension in your glutes!”
“Excuse me, sunbaenim. Are you done using that machine?”
When they stepped into the indoor training facility, a wave of heat greeted them.
Even though it was Monday, an off-day from games, a good number of players were out training hard.
“Hello, sunbaenim! I’m Han Minwoo. I’ve just been traded here from the Dolphins and will be wearing the Wolves uniform from now on. I’ll work hard!”
“I’m Yoon Je-hyun. Please take good care of me!”
Minwoo and Je-hyun went from player to player, bowing 90 degrees as they introduced themselves.
Reactions varied.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Welcome. You guys are the ones who came in for Sung-jong, right? Work hard.”
A nod.
Some were indifferent, some welcoming, some just gave a slight chin lift.
Even so, Minwoo kept a smile on his face and greeted them all politely.
Thinking about the points, those lukewarm reactions didn’t bother him at all.
His back bowed automatically.
You could call it a capitalism smile.
After making a full round of the training hall, Minwoo settled down in a corner.
His previously energetic attitude quickly calmed down again.
‘That should be 100 points.’
[You have successfully completed <Daily Quest: Introduce Yourself to Your Teammates>.
You have earned 100 points.]
Points came in.
His heart pounded.
It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
What he felt now was excitement.
All he’d done was say hello, yet it felt like the character named Han Minwoo had gotten stronger.
So his first goal was simple: earn 1,000 points.
He needed to draw a Special Ability as soon as possible and fill that empty slot.
‘My status is basically rock bottom already. There’s nowhere else to fall.
No matter what Special Ability comes out, it’ll be a plus in my situation.’
It didn’t matter what he got—velocity, stamina, control, breaking ball, anything.
If he kept filling them in one by one,
he’d eventually be able to overcome that wall called the 1st-team mound.
As he stretched, he recalled his memories of playing BnB back in the day.
‘But that’s weird. Didn’t every player in BnB normally start with at least one Special Ability by default?’
Why was his completely empty?
Was it because this was the real-world version?
Tilting his head, Minwoo lightly tapped his status window.
His surroundings turned colorful, and several notifications popped up in a row.
Ding!
[Would you like to draw Special Abilities?
Each Special Ability draw costs 1,000 P!]
[This is your first time pressing <Random Draw>.
The first time is always meaningful!
All of us at BnB will gift you one Special Ability!]
[What will it be? Drumroll, please—dugun-dugun-dugun-dugun-dugun.]
[★☆★☆ Bbam-ba-bam ☆★☆★]
[You have obtained <Special Ability: Heart of Stone (A)>! Congratulations!]
‘…Huh?’
For a moment, his body stiffened.
His first random pull turned out to be A-rank.
And not just any A-rank…
‘It actually gave me this one?’
It was, coincidentally, the thing he needed most at this point in his life.
[<Heart of Stone (A)> – Your mind is as solid as stone, and you are not easily shaken by anything.
When you appear in a game played under official baseball rules, your mental strength greatly increases.
The chance of throwing a mistake pitch due to psychological factors becomes extremely low.]
Inside the Wolves’ 1st-team manager’s office.
Reading the profile sheet on the round table, the pitching coach let out a long sigh.
“Seriously, this is unbearable. Is our front office full of suckers? Or are they blind?
How can they make a trade like this?”
“Yoon Je-hyun is salvageable if we fix his hitting approach…
The real problem is this guy. He’s been broken ever since he got hit by that line drive.”
“No matter how we change his pitch selection or add a new pitch,
if you put him on the mound he’ll just get shelled.
I have no idea what they saw in Han Minwoo to bring him here.”
The bullpen coach and battery coach also voiced their complaints about the trade.
Their job was to develop and manage players so they could perform well all season.
From that perspective, the new “cards” they’d been dealt were nothing but headaches.
Han Minwoo.
Right-handed pitcher, right-handed batter, from Yeongdong Middle–Deoksu High.
Drafted in 2026 by the Dolphins as the 2nd overall pick in the 1st round. Now a 5th-year pitcher.
Height: 184cm. Weight: mid-80kg.
At the time of his debut, he was a top-tier prospect throwing up to 158 km/h,
but after rehab his max velocity dropped to 137 km/h.
Pitches: four-seam fastball, slider, changeup, curveball.
However, none of them were sharp enough to be true put-away pitches.
His Futures League stats were decent,
but his career ERA in the pro league was 13.14—quite high.
Clicking his tongue, the pitching coach slapped the scouting report down on the table.
“At best, we use him briefly and then toss him. Anything else?”
In his mind, Minwoo was already labeled as trash.
And the pitching coach happened to be the nephew of Ryu Hyun-jong,
an executive at the parent company and the Wolves’ general manager—
so his words carried a lot of weight.
While everyone grumbled, the hitting coach thought back to his impression of Minwoo.
His first impression had been quite good.
Even when the other players responded half-heartedly,
Minwoo kept greeting them without minding, and calmly continued his stretching whether people watched or not.
Baseball relies heavily on strong bonds between teammates.
Unlike some sports, you can’t have just one guy drag the entire team by the scruff of the neck.
No pitcher can throw a 27K perfect game.
No hitter can bat 1.000.
From that angle, the hitting coach felt at least that Minwoo wouldn’t become a negative presence in the clubhouse.
‘As a player though…’
If you asked whether he’d be useful, the answer was a reluctant shake of the head.
A tragic prospect.
The Dolphins’ sore spot.
His problem was clear:
after being hit by that line drive, his control collapsed.
Unless that issue was resolved, no coaching staff would ever treat him as a real pitcher.
Things like personality or backstory didn’t matter at all to people running a team.
He was just a disposable card—something you use until it breaks, then throw away.
The hitting coach spoke up.
“I think the key is whether Han Minwoo has overcome his trauma or not.
Until we confirm that, I’d like to withhold judgment on him.”
To him, players were like his own children.
Even if they were 2nd-teamers he’d hardly see,
even if they were pitchers outside his direct responsibilities,
he always treated them with sincerity.
So he wanted to take Minwoo’s side as much as possible.
But the other coaches were brutally realistic.
“Has he even been back to 1st team once since returning from public service?
If the trauma were gone, he would’ve already come up by now.”
“Tch. Then he’s completely done.”
“I really don’t get what the front office is thinking.
We’re already short on usable pitchers, and the one that came in via trade is defective…”
As complaints about the trade piled up,
Kim Young-seung stepped in to wrap up the discussion.
Even if his position inside the organization was weaker than the pitching coach’s,
he was still the acting manager.
“We’ll use Yoon Je-hyun as a defensive utility.
If we send him up as a pinch hitter from time to time and build his confidence at the plate, he should improve somewhat.”
“What about Han Minwoo, Manager?”
“People from the Dolphins say his work ethic is excellent.
We’ll keep him on the 1st-team roster for now and use him in mop-up duty in losing games.
Having a guy who works hard is good for team morale.”
Mop-up reliever.
A middle-relief role where a pitcher is used to cover the remaining innings when the game is already almost impossible to win.
In other words, someone who goes out there to eat up the leftover innings
in a situation where he can’t really influence the outcome.
Because of that, unlike other pitchers who get careful management,
a mop-up guy doesn’t get special treatment.
Even if he gets hammered by the opposing hitters,
even if he throws dozens of pitches,
he won’t be taken out until he finishes the leftover innings.
“Alright, that’s enough about Han Minwoo. Next is… let’s see… Yoon Min.
He’s really improved lately. By August, I think…”
With that, Minwoo’s scouting report was pushed aside,
and the coaches moved on to discussing the next player.
