Chapter 5: A Gentleman’s revenge is not too late even if it takes ten years.

The 4th annual Greatest Baseball Tournament, Day 3, the second preliminary round began.

Out of 1,600 participants, 320 made it through the first preliminary round.

The players were divided into 64 groups of 5 players each.

Only the first place of each group could advance to the next round.

Soo-hyun was assigned to group 20.

Soo-hyun’s first opponent was Didi Rahman, a student in the 3rd grade, 5th class of Bali High School.

“So you’re the Korean noona who defeated my younger brother.”

“Ah, you’re Fajar’s older brother!”

“Do you both like baseball?”

“I’m different from my brother.”

“I’ll show you the true baseball of the Rahman family.”

My younger brother started with sexual harassment as soon as he saw me, so why is this one getting serious?

Soo-hyun entered the batter’s box, slightly wary of the temperature difference between the brothers.

Thud!

“Strike!”

Didi’s 130 km/h four-seam fastball came right into the middle of the zone.

His ball is definitely better than his brother’s.

But even I can hit this!

Crack!

Soo-hyun hit Didi’s second four-seam fastball.

With a crisp sound, the ball flew 48 meters and landed on the ground.

“Didi, when are you going to show me the Rahman family’s baseball?”

After hitting a nice line drive, Soo-hyun, feeling confident, switched offense and defense and provoked Didi.

“My baseball isn’t over yet.”

“I’ll teach you the fun of a game without timeouts.”

What’s with this confidence?

He must have heard from his brother.

What happens when I stand on the mound.

It didn’t take long for Soo-hyun to understand Didi’s words.

[The conditions for activating the Boob Movement (EX) trait are not met]

Didi, you too!

This is what you meant by being different from your brother?!

Following Gaylord, Soo-hyun was having an unexpectedly difficult time facing a second member of the LGBTQ+

community.

Didi was blatantly choking up on the bat and kept fouling off the breaking balls.

Before she knew it, Soo-hyun was in a full count, 3-2.

If she gave up a walk, she would lose the game.

However, throwing it down the middle was risky since Soo-hyun’s 48-meter hit distance was a bit lacking.

The standard approach would be to induce a ground ball with a low and away pitch.

But Soo-hyun’s mindset was different now.

‘I can just adjust my grip on the bat again.’

‘No need to worry about it.’

I don’t know what Didi will do.

But very few batters can hit a well-located high fastball on the inside in a full count.

There was only one batter like that in baseball history.

Soo-hyun’s choice was the “K-opt.”

Short for “strikeout-optimized pitch.”

Soo-hyun took a big breath, raised her left leg, and went into her windup.

At that moment, she saw Didi adjust his grip on the bat.

This is my win.

Soo-hyun threw her best rising fastball to the high inside corner of Didi’s zone.

Thwack!

Didi Rahman’s swing cut through the empty air below the ball.

“Swing, batter out!”

133 km/h.

It was Soo-hyun’s highest velocity in this tournament.

\- The game is over.

\- Participant Jung Soo-hyun is the winner.

“Didi, you’re definitely different from your brother.”

“Well played, Rahman family baseball.”

“How… did you know I would adjust my grip on the bat?”

“Well, if you try to be too clever like you, Didi, it becomes easier to predict, I guess?”

Soo-hyun added a meaningful last word.

“That’s what I used to do.”

Soo-hyun struggled a bit in the first game, but after that, she had nothing to fear.

Activating her Boob Movement trait, Soo-hyun struck out her opponents in four consecutive games.

With a perfect 5-0 record, she secured first place in her group and advanced to the next round.

“Coach!”

“I did well, right?”

“Do you think I might actually win this thing?”

“You did great, Soo-hyun.”

“You had a good matchup today, so it ended easily.”

“Look over there.”

Dae-joon pointed to the next field, where a fierce full-count battle was taking place.

A pitcher carefully working the borderline and continuing his pitches.

And a batter fouling off bad pitches and waiting for the pitcher’s mistake.

The batter in the box was none other than Gaylord Gay, who had given Soo-hyun her first defeat.

“That gay b*stard is struggling so much, the pitcher must be pretty good too?”

“Yeah.”

“His name is Hiroyuki Nomura, and he’s called the next Shohei Ohtani.”

Soo-hyun turned her eyes to Nomura, who was preparing for his next pitch on the mound.

A beast-like physique of 192cm and 97kg, with an unfitting baby face.

Nomura’s resemblance to Ohtani seemed to have a big influence on why he was called the next Ohtani.

Soo-hyun, who had liked Shohei Ohtani in her past life, naturally took a liking to this Japanese young man.

“Fighto~ Fighto~ Nomura!”

“Fighto~ Fighto~ Nomura!”

Suddenly, Soo-hyun started cheering for Hiroyuki Nomura at the top of her lungs.

Startled, Dae-joon hurriedly tried to stop her.

“Soo-hyun, there are a lot of Korean people here, what if you cheer for a Japanese person so loudly?”

“People will recognize you.”

“So what?”

“It would be nice if he could take care of that gay b*stard for me.”

“He’s handsome too.”

Gaylord Gay, who was completely immune to the Boob Movement trait.

If that Gay was eliminated here, Soo-hyun’s chances of winning would surely increase significantly.

Crack!

“In play!”

Was it thanks to Soo-hyun’s enthusiastic cheering?

A ground ball was hit by Gay, and he slammed his bat on the ground while shouting the F-word.

In contrast, Nomura calmly made a fighting pose on the mound.

It was Hiroyuki Nomura’s victory.

“Hehe.”

“Good riddance.”

“He was an opponent I never wanted to meet again.”

“Goodbye, Gay!”

“You’re so naive.”

“Don’t you want to beat him yourself?”

“Winning is more important than that, isn’t it?”

As the two left the competition venue, their conversation topic was still Hiroyuki Nomura.

A monster rookie who was successfully showcasing his two-way talent in Japanese industrial league baseball and on

the national team, and was rapidly gaining popularity.

“Why is someone like him playing in the industrial league?”

“It seems like the team that drafted him after high school told him not to do the two-way thing.”

“Now that he’s shown what he can do, he’ll probably enter the draft again next year, but I didn’t expect to meet him here.”

“What about his relationships?”

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

“Soo-hyun, don’t tell me you’re interested in Nomura?”

“I haven’t heard of any scandals.”

“You should be asking about his weaknesses, you dummy.”

I’m not!

For me, that’s more important than any weakness!

“You can tell me about his weaknesses when we actually face him.”

“Anyway, it’s clear that he’s an opponent I want to meet as late as possible.”

“That’s right.”

“There’s no player in the current generation who has perfected the two-way style as much as Nomura.”

“He’s the number one favorite to win.”

There was another reason why Soo-hyun was wary of Nomura.

With that face, and a clean life without any scandals?

That guy might not be straight.

Soo-hyun was unaware of it, but after facing Gaylord Gay and Didi Rahman in succession, her weakened mind was

on the verge of neurosis.

The 4th annual Greatest Baseball Tournament, Day 4.

The morning of the final day of the preliminaries dawned.

There were 64 participants remaining.

The final group stage was divided into 16 groups of 4 players each.

The 16 players who survived by winning first place in the third preliminary round would advance to the final

tournament tomorrow.

Soo-hyun was assigned to group 3.

Soo-hyun’s first opponent was Ricky Rahman, a sophomore in the Physical Education department at Bali University.

As the giant Ricky Rahman, who was close to 2 meters tall, opened his mouth, a metallic sound that didn’t seem like

a human voice came out.

“Grrr.

“I’ve finally come to avenge my younger brothers.”

“Let’s have a match, girl from a foreign land!”

“Wait a minute, what did I do wrong…?”

“No questions!”

“If you’re a man, answer with that ball!”

He was not an opponent who could be reasoned with.

And am I a girl or a man?

What’s the conclusion?!

[Boob Movement (EX) trait is activated]

Soo-hyun’s new weapon, the 128 km/h boob sinker, attacked the low outside borderline of the left-handed Ricky.

“An excellent two-seamer!”

“This is for my youngest brother, Fajar!”

Thwack!

“Swing, strike!”

Ball count 0-1.

Soo-hyun’s finishing pitch, the 118 km/h titty change-up, came in on the same course as the boob sinker, then

suddenly dropped, tempting the batter.

Boing~

“A beautiful trajectory!”

“This is for my brother Didi!”

Thwack!

“Swing, strike!”

Ball count 0-2.

The attack of two whales, shaking and dazzling the vision.

Between them flew Soo-hyun’s four-seam fastball.

132 km/h.

With crazy vertical movement.

“Grr, it looks like it’s at least 160 km/h!”

“Lastly, this is for me, Ricky Rahman!”

Thwack!

“Swing, batter out!”

Even though he struck out on three pitches, Ricky’s kingly spirit remained unbroken.

“You were indeed a worthy opponent!”

“Girl, if you can hit this ball, I will acknowledge my defeat!”

Was it a trick of fate, or a trick of the group assignments?

The final showdown of the blood feud with the three Rahman brothers.

The aura of revenge emanating from the man in front of her stimulated something inside Soo-hyun.

And the time for awakening had come.