NOVEL NEXT Chapter 324
Korea’s Pro Baseball.
First established in the 1980s, it remains one of the four major sports leagues in South Korea.
However, it holds such an overwhelming position in terms of popularity, marketability, ratings, and audience attendance that it’s practically untouchable compared to the other three major sports. While fans of soccer, basketball, and volleyball are hard to find, baseball fans are relatively easy to come by.
Unlike other leagues where the stands might be empty or the games become a betting affair, Korean baseball is filled with genuine fans who earnestly cheer for their teams, their emotions swinging in sync with the day’s wins and losses.
Today was no exception. At 6 PM on a weekend afternoon, despite the heat, the baseball stadium was packed with people.
This was because a match between the Olivers and the Titans was scheduled for today.
The two teams, based in Yongin and Seongnam — not too far apart — didn’t get along well.
Perhaps because they were geographically close, from the start, the teams were treated as rivals, and it wasn’t uncommon for fans to ramp up their enthusiasm during matches between them. This naturally created an atmosphere reminiscent of derby matches or rivalries in foreign soccer.
Today’s game was especially important because the team that won between the Olivers and the Titans had a better chance of securing the 5th place spot and advancing to the postseason, or as the fans like to call it, fall baseball.
The winning team advances; the losing team’s season ends.
From a rival’s perspective, there’s no way they’d want to see the opposing team win a championship. For the players stepping onto the field and the fans watching from the stands, today’s match was a highly tense, crucial game.
“Just try losing, I dare you. It’s hot out here too.”
“I heard Kim Ji-un isn’t in good shape today?”
“Last time, Kwang-soo got hit by a pizza box after losing, right?”
Even as the summer evening sun dipped down, the heat remained intense. Yet, the crowd packed inside the stadium had no signs of fatigue and were eager to chat about the game.
— Olivers! Olivers! Olivers! Olivers!
— Hey, don’t hang on the net!
A person, swept away by madness like a hooligan, shouts the Olivers’ cheer only to be stopped by a security guard. What on earth made him like that? The man silently observes the scene and sighs suddenly, feeling an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
‘What am I even doing right now…’
On this hot day, he came alone to watch a baseball game, without family, friends, or a significant other. In this golden weekend, dragging the fatigue from work during the week, he somehow secured a ticket to this match.
He was a long-time fan of the Olivers. He couldn’t quite remember how it started. Was it because of his father who often took him to the baseball field since childhood?
Before he knew it, he had become an 18-year veteran fan who had loved the Olivers since his early days.
‘But what’s the point if they can’t even win once?’
However, whether it was a prank from the gods or some sort of joke, there was no memory in the man’s mind of the Olivers ever winning. Since he became a fan at the age of 12, the Olivers had never won once, as if they were cursed.
Every time he watched an Olivers game, his father would be cursing like a sailor, at least having memories of the glorious days when the Olivers were a strong team, but the man had none of that.
At this point, there was no way he couldn’t feel disillusioned. What was the reason to come watch the game on such a blazing day, sweating profusely? He had instinctively got the ticket and come to the stadium, but now that he was here, all he could do was sigh.
‘If they lose again today, I’m really gonna lose it.’
In reality, whether the Olivers won or the Titans won had no impact on his life whatsoever. It was just a brief release of dopamine that he could trick himself into thinking was the vitality of life.
This was the dilemma most sports fans faced. The more one immersed oneself in the game, the more fun it became, but the deeper they got, the more they stressed over scores that had nothing to do with them and ended up feeling disillusioned.
The pure joy he once felt watching the game had completely vanished. All that remained was a nagging resemblance to a tiger mom from Daechidong, way too invested in her kids’ grades.
The man’s current state was just like that: with no sight of the team winning, not knowing what he was doing, the weather hot and nothing but irritation filling his mind.
He resolved that this time, he would finally make a decision.
‘If they lose today, I swear I won’t be an Olivers fan anymore.’
“I swear, I’m not a fan of Olivers anymore.”
He thought about completely ditching baseball, but it already took up a significant part of his life, so that wasn’t going to happen.
Instead, he concluded he could just root for a strong team that wins every time, unlike the weak Olivers. While he was deep in thought, that conclusion popped into his mind.
“Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak!”
“It’s Kayak!”
A voice echoed from a corner of the seating area. The excited voice seemed unrelated to the game, so the man turned his head.
“Kayak?”
The crowd cheering for someone named Kayak made the man realize what was happening.
– “Today’s first pitch will be thrown by streamer Kayak. Welcome!”
A beautiful woman appeared on the scoreboard alongside her name.
“That’s a pretty unique name. Is she an idol?”
Her snow-white hair and blue eyes were captivating. As the man stared at the scoreboard, the featured person slowly walked into the stadium, wearing an Olivers uniform.
– “Streamer Kayak will be throwing today’s first pitch.”
– “The crowd is getting lively!”
– “Looks like there are a lot of young fans here. You can see them cheering for Kayak in the stands.”
Kayak walks into the stadium, waves at the fans there to see her, and the crowd erupts in cheers again.
That moment was being streamed live online. Comments about Kayak, who came out to pitch, began flooding in.
[Wow, she’s so pretty]
[What’s the idol’s name?]
[Yeah, idols these days are really pretty! LOL, they get a lot of maintenance. LOL]
[Not an idol, she’s a streamer, apparently.]
[What’s a streamer?]
[VTuber]
[Kayak fans are a bit embarrassing…]
[Ah, I should’ve gone!]
[But it would’ve been too hot to go LOL, guess I made the right choice.]
– “An interesting point is that Titans’ Yang Sang-hyun is a fan of Kayak.”
– “Yang Sang-hyun is the adorable youngest member of the Titans.”
– “Yet Kayak is dressed in an Olivers uniform. Oh, the camera’s showing Yang Sang-hyun now.”
– “Looks like he’s a real fan! He’s grinning from ear to ear.”
[If Sang-hyun doesn’t play today, we’ll never hear the end of it!]
[Sang-hyun should be swinging that bat instead of chasing after girls. The kid’s hitting level is… well…]
[Sang-hyun, is he a Kayak fan? LOL]
[As long as he’s happy, that’s what matters.]
[Who’s that? I hear the commentators say she’s famous and that players are fans? Never seen her before.]
[It’s because you’re an old-timer, right? Yeah, yeah.]
[Oh ho!]
[Cleanbot detected inappropriate language in the comment.]
With that brief intro about Kayak wrapped up, she puts on her glove on her right hand and slowly loosens up in an Olivers uniform.
-Oh, she’s got the glove on her right hand. Is she throwing with her left?
-That’s unusual. It’s not easy for an ordinary person to throw left-handed.
-Not the Titans or Olivers, but we’ve got Hyun-seok in our KBL who throws lefty.
[Is she left-handed?]
[Jun-seok throws with both hands; he switches it up whenever he feels like it during games.]
[Her throwing form looks good.]
[Kayak is also good at baseball, oh my!]
[Must be because her limbs are long, her posture looks great.]
[Wow, is she a model?]
Stretching out her long limbs and pretending to throw the ball, Kayak amazed the commentators and the viewers watching live.
In the meantime, Kayak raised her hand and started chatting with someone who seemed to be a staff member.
The next move from her shocked the commentators and the live viewers.
-Um… is she moving further back?
-Ah, is she really going to throw from the mound?
-She seems to have requested it herself? That’s quite a distance now.
-That must mean she’s confident. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a woman throw from the mound.
-Seven years ago, Lee Hye-jin threw from the mound.
[Huh? From the mound?]
[What a show-off, LOL. Just throw from the front!]
[Even from the mound, she’ll handle it. That’s our Camilla for you!]
[Honestly, the image-making of celebrities makes me roll my eyes.]
[Can she even throw properly? LOL, she looks so flimsy.]
[If she throws well after all this, she’ll be a legend.]
[I just hope she throws quickly so we can get back to the game!]
Other than the existing viewers of Kayak, most people watching the pitch weren’t expecting much.
Kayak got into position to throw the ball.