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Chapter 17
Setup Relievers (7)
Bench-clearing.
A term used in team sports when even the players sitting on the bench pour out onto the field and it turns into an all-out brawl.
But in Korean pro baseball, it’s actually pretty rare for it to escalate into a real fight.
Everyone is basically connected by one or two degrees of separation, and the whole industry is tangled up in senior–junior relationships, so there’s a strong culture of holding back from going too far.
So usually, when there’s a bench-clearing, everyone runs out, pretends to break things up, asks how each other’s parents are doing, and then it all fizzles out.
But today’s bench-clearing between the Wolves and the Stings was a bit different.
“Did this punk seriously try to lay a hand on our Minwoo?”
Under Pi Gijeong’s fierce grip, Jin Sangheon broke into a cold sweat.
“C’mon, Gijeong-hyung, why are you like this? He threw at me first!”
“Threw at you, my ass. Even if I rolled across the field with my eyes closed, I’d know you were crowding the plate. You think I’m an idiot? You think I can’t tell when you’re doing it on purpose?”
Jin Sangheon actually had a decent relationship with Pi Gijeong.
They’d lived and trained together on the national team.
In his mind, Gijeong was blunt, but not prickly—an easygoing senior.
So seeing him this angry felt completely foreign.
Unfortunately for Jin Sangheon, his troubles didn’t end there.
‘Oh, crap…!’
Because from the far side of the field, Jo Woochan was stomping toward them, breathing hard.
He was actually just winded from sprinting in from the outfield,
but from Jin Sangheon’s perspective, he looked like a man about to explode.
‘Even Woochan-sunbae is taking that guy’s side? Why?’
He couldn’t make sense of it.
In principle, everyone is supposed to come out for a bench-clearing, sure.
But people are human.
It’s rare for someone to throw themselves in front for a teammate they don’t even like.
Which is why it never occurred to Jin Sangheon that the Wolves would go this far for Han Minwoo, who’d only just been traded in.
But there was one thing he hadn’t considered—
The lower the expectations, the bigger the impact when someone exceeds them.
‘You’re trying to rattle a guy who’s pitching this well? These bastards…’
‘My shoulder’s been feeling cold lately… If Minwoo goes down, we’re in trouble.’
‘He does weird stuff sometimes, but he’s fundamentally polite and respectful.’
When he was first traded in, the Wolves locker room had been full of grumbling.
They were already in last place, getting roasted by the fans non-stop.
In that situation, which player would welcome someone whose presence only seemed to increase their odds of losing, instead of boosting their strength?
‘Honestly, there’s no one like Minwoo.’
But when they met him, Han Minwoo turned out to be a really solid guy.
Both on the field and off, there wasn’t much to complain about.
He took baseball seriously, trained hard, and treated everyone with basic respect.
He was the kind of person you could get close to without feeling burdened.
So lately, the Wolves players had been warming up to Minwoo more and more, in their own quiet ways.
“Move.”
Jo Woochan walked up, scowling so hard his face itself looked like a threat.
Jin Sangheon unconsciously took a step back.
‘H-He’s not actually going to hit me with a bat or something… right?’
The Stings players felt the same way.
Woochan’s face was so intimidating that just seeing him walk up to the batter’s box with a bat made your throat go dry.
Veteran players with connections on both sides rushed around, trying their best to calm things down.
“Hey, hey, Junseo, chill out. Why are you so worked up?”
“How am I not supposed to be pissed? He picked a fight first.”
“No, man, it was just an inside pitch. Sangheon got a little heated, that’s all. He lost last season ’cause he got hit on the elbow, remember?”
“Shut it. By that logic, everyone in the league has a reason to be touchy.”
The Wolves players bristled, sharp and hostile, and the Stings guys were utterly flustered.
All they could do was try to calm the Wolves down
and quietly drag Jin Sangheon away from the front lines.
Reluctantly, Jin Sangheon let himself be pulled toward the back.
‘Phew… I seriously thought my heart was going to stop…’
He sighed and glanced around.
The actual cause of all this—Han Minwoo—was nowhere to be seen.
He looked to the rear and saw Minwoo completely surrounded by two or three teammates, wrapped up tight.
‘What is this, a royal bodyguard squad?’
Jin Sangheon stared at Minwoo in disbelief.
└ There he goes again, acting up; that filthy temper of his, seriously ㅡㅡ
└ To be fair, that was dangerous; if it’d come a bit more inside he could’ve taken it off the head.
└ What are you talking aboutㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ His elbow was literally in the zone ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
At that point he’s basically advertising “please hit me here,” no?
└ Honestly, it was pretty lame. If you’re pissed, hit a damn base hit. You’re a pro, act like one ㅉㅉ
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ He can’t hit, that’s why he’s acting out.
Minwoo’s been insane lately ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ What are they, his royal guards or what?
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Woochan really looks like he’s about to murder someone
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’m dying ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Yoon Jehyeon, Ha Yunmin, and even foreigner Victor—dude’s stacked with tanks ㄹㅇ
You’d probably stop halfway just from getting scared.
└ Guess Minwoo’s personality really is good?
Otherwise nobody would be tripping over each other to defend him like that.
└ He’s handsome, he’s pitching well, and his personality’s good too! Perfect!
The bench-clearing only ended once both teams’ coaching staffs got involved.
Back on a now-quiet mound, Minwoo adjusted his cap.
‘That took a while.’
Contrary to Jin Sangheon’s expectations, Minwoo hadn’t taken any mental damage from the bench-clearing at all.
With Stone Heart, his mentality wasn’t going to shake that easily.
If anything, it was the Stings—and Jin Sangheon—whose momentum had taken a hit.
‘Wolves are kind of famous for bench-clearing, after all.’
Covering the lower half of his face with his glove, Minwoo smirked.
They’d spent a long time wandering around the bottom of the standings, and their edge had dulled a bit, but—
Once upon a time, “bench-clearing” basically meant “Wolves game.”
They’d gotten into so many dust-ups with their Jamsil rivals, the Seoul Lunatics, that they’d become de facto experts at the art.
‘Thanks to that, this is going to be an easy out.’
Again: baseball is a mental game.
When your mentality tilts, even the league’s best contact hitter can look ordinary, depending on the situation.
And right now, Jin Sangheon at the plate was visibly deflated.
‘Time to start farming points.’
Minwoo threw his third pitch.
Slider.
Down and in on the body.
‘In his current state, there’s no way he reacts to this.’
The ball Minwoo threw—
Whoosh!
“Swinging strike! Batter’s out!”
—cut just past Jin Sangheon’s bat and snapped neatly into the catcher’s mitt.
“Strikeout! Han Minwoo fans Jin Sangheon as well!”“There was a bench-clearing just a moment ago, so the atmosphere was a bit chaotic,
and yet he handled that at-bat cleanly.”“The momentum has definitely shifted to the Wolves’ side.
Will the Stings be able to hold on to this one-run lead?
Let’s see how this game unfolds!”
‘Impressive.’
Watching Minwoo strike out Jin Sangheon, interim manager Kim Youngseung nodded.
He’d been worried Minwoo’s balance might be shaken by the bench-clearing.
So he’d been keeping a close eye on him.
But Minwoo completely shattered those worries,
striking out Jin Sangheon with almost surgical precision.
Control, location—everything perfect.
‘We’ve gotta keep pushing with this momentum.’
If they wanted to play fall ball, it wouldn’t be enough just to win today’s game.
They’d have to consistently win against the Stings all season.
In that sense, the current situation was a golden opportunity for Kim Youngseung.
“Hey, JAK-coach. Tell Minwoo to hit Oh Jaeseong, who’s up next.”
“Sir? The bench-clearing just ended…”
The strategy coach blinked in disbelief at Youngseung’s words.
“You deal the fatal blow by stabbing a retreating enemy in the back.”
“Are you sure this is okay? You know what a nasty piece of work Oh Jaeseong is…”
On paper, it didn’t make sense.
And the next batter was Oh Jaeseong, the Stings’ resident hothead, infamous for his temper.
But there was no hesitation in Kim Youngseung’s eyes.
“Do it.”
“…Understood.”
‘You want me to throw at him?’
Seeing the sign, Minwoo unconsciously glanced toward the dugout.
At that moment, his eyes met Kim Youngseung’s.
Nod.
“…”
The order was clear.
Hit the number-3 hitter, Oh Jaeseong.
He didn’t know the reason.
But this wasn’t just some random senior or coach whispering off-the-record.
This was a direct call from the acting manager.
That meant there was no need for Minwoo to overthink it.
‘My job is just to execute the order properly.’
Most players would hesitate to throw a purpose pitch in a situation like this.
Hitting a senior player,
and that too only moments after a bench-clearing,
risking kicking off another incident—of course it would weigh on you.
But Minwoo didn’t hesitate at all.
Thud!
“Ah, Han Minwoo hits his second batter of the game.”“That one caught him full on. That’s gonna hurt.”
Hit squarely in the back, Oh Jaeseong’s face twisted.
The entire stadium watched, waiting for his reaction.
The home plate ump subtly stepped in front of him, just in case.
Pi Gijeong also crouched low, ready to react if things exploded.
Even the noisy crowd fell silent, all eyes fixed on the tension unfolding.
But what everyone expected… did not happen.
“……”
Oh Jaeseong shot Minwoo a sidelong glance—
then turned and slowly walked to first.
Nothing at all like his usual “fighting cock” reputation.
Everyone scrambled to interpret what that meant, turning it over in their minds…
But only one person on the field fully understood it—
Han Minwoo.
‘The Stings just tucked their tail between their legs.’
It hadn’t even been five minutes since the bench-clearing ended.
In that context, Minwoo plunking Oh Jaeseong was basically the same as saying,
“Round two? Come at me.”
And the Stings ignored it.
They’d essentially dropped their fighting spirit.
‘He saw all the way to this?’
Minwoo looked over at Kim Youngseung.
He couldn’t help but be impressed.
He’d already known the man was good, given how often his calls and strategies hit perfectly.
But he hadn’t expected him to be this sharp at reading human psychology too.
With that one purpose pitch, the Wolves had set themselves up not just for today’s game,
but also to start the next three-game series against the Stings with a mental edge.
‘We’ll gladly feast, then.’
Facing an opponent whose spirit was broken was always easier.
Minwoo raised his spoon over the meal that had been laid out.
[You have recorded one out. You gain 50 points.][You have finished the inning without allowing a run. Bonus points will be awarded.]
