Rural Ace

Episode 6. Minus (3)

My father was one of the most hardworking trainers in MLB.

Looking back now, I think he didn’t want to waste his second chance. Just like me.

Anyway, my father taught me kindly.

Sometimes, as a joke, he would tell me to train more. And when he did, I just obeyed and spent extra time exercising.

Other than training, he often nagged me about one thing—dating.

He kept asking if I had a girlfriend.

After hearing it so many times, I started to wonder—was this related to some kind of trauma from his past?

“If dating distracts you from training, then you were never really focused in the first place.”

“……”

“Are you avoiding dating because you think you shouldn’t be dating at your age?”

It’s not that I hate dating. Before returning to the past, I never purposely avoided it.

When I was younger, I had crushes. I also had breakups, sometimes because of me, sometimes because of the other person. But right now, that’s not the issue.

“Dad.”

“What?”

“I train for sixteen hours a day. Do you think I even have the chance to start dating?”

“When I was your age…”

And so, time passed in this routine.

The Fall of Gangwon Minus

The Gangwon Minus team, whose coach had voluntarily resigned, finished last place for four consecutive seasons after joining the first division.

Jung Si-han, the team’s first-ever free agent signing, who had been expected to lead the team with his 8.6 billion won ($6.4 million) contract over four years, announced his retirement.

His final record over those four years? 32 games, 95.2 innings, an ERA of 6.21, 4 wins, 12 losses, and 3 holds. A shocking career.

He became the symbol of Gangwon Minus baseball.

Reporters criticized the team for wasting money on a bad investment, but it wasn’t a major scandal.

The team said they would announce their new head coach and pitching coach after the season officially ended.

Throwing the First Pitch

In the meantime, I threw the first pitch at a game.

Gangwon Minus wasn’t a popular team, and the season had already ended, yet the stadium was surprisingly full.

> [Online Comments]

“Why would people travel all the way to Gangwon just to see Seo Tae-seong’s son throw the first pitch?”
└ “Seo Tae-seong is the batter.”
└ “Watching Seo Tae-seong was my dad’s dream.”
└ “If it’s a father’s dream, then respect.”
└ “Damn, you guys agree so fast.”
└ “Come on, it’s his dad’s dream.”
└ “LOL”
└ “I’m actually a Yae-seong fan, so I came to see Seo Yae-seong.”
└ “I still have Seo Yae-seong merch, haha.”
└ “Wasn’t Chang-guk cuter than Yae-seong?”
└ “Get out, Chang-guk fans.”
└ “Chang-guk, no…”

Many people came to see my father. Others remembered me from TV when I was a kid.

“My son, I’m not dead yet.”

Dad… why do you sound like you’re in a funeral home?

“You look like you have a complaint.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

My father was always full of confidence. Lately, he had been showing more and more of his true self.

“Did you just insult me with your eyes?”

“No.”

The team asked me if I wanted to participate in post-season training. But since my father was already set to be next season’s pitching coach, he told them he would handle my training himself.

Thinking about it, I really do seem like a daddy’s boy.

“Still, don’t go around acting cocky just because your dad has connections.”

Once the team officially announced my father as the new pitching coach, people would definitely start talking.

I couldn’t avoid it.

But so what?

A son being close to his father—is that such a big problem?

“Why do you keep changing your facial expressions while thinking to yourself?”

“I don’t.”

“You totally do.”

“I don’t have that habit.”

“Be careful. That’s a bad habit for a pitcher.”

“…Got it.”

Did I pick up a weird habit after returning to the past?

The Unexpected Guest

My father was going to America for a while to finalize some business with my mother.

“I’ll bring someone to catch your pitches.”

…

No way.

There’s no way he’d actually bring that guy, right?

—

It turns out, he really did.

> [News Headlines]
“MLB Legend Seo Tae-seong Returns to Korea After Wrapping Up His Business in the U.S. Will He Find a New Home in Korean Baseball?”

“(PHOTO) Seo Tae-seong Arrives in Korea with Former MLB Teammate Timothy Goldberg.”

“Seo Tae-seong: ‘This guy? I brought him to catch my son’s pitches.’”

I thought it was a joke.

Is this what they call second-life momentum?

He just says something, and then makes it happen.

It’s terrifying. I’m scared to even talk anymore.

“Wait, so you actually came here just to catch my pitches?”

An MLB Gold Glove catcher… as my bullpen catcher?

An MLB MVP with 40 home runs… as my training assistant?

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He’s been unemployed since he retired. He had nothing to do, so I brought him along.”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, and I also want him to be the Minus team’s battery coach.”

“He agreed?”

“He wanted to.”

Well then…

Reunion with Mom

“My son, didn’t you miss your mother?”

When I was younger, I used to feel awkward when my mom talked like this. It made me feel like a kid.

But thinking about it… if I were in my 40s and saw a 19-year-old, I’d probably think of them as a kid, too.

“I missed you a lot.”

“…Huh?”

Mom looked surprised by my answer.

“Hey! I remember this little guy. You got so big!”

A massive white guy with thick facial hair and huge traps spoke to me in English.

This was Timothy Goldberg, an MLB MVP-winning catcher.

“Welcome to Korea.”

Since I had lived in the U.S. until middle school, I had seen Timothy Goldberg quite often when I was younger.

He smiled, his beard twitching, and shook my hand.

And then, they unloaded two engineers and a whole shipment of MLB training equipment.

Father’s ‘Retirement’ Struggles

My father never told me how much money he got after selling his business shares.

But he did buy a huge mansion with a massive yard on Geoje Island.

And then, he started pretending to be poor.

“I’m broke now.”

He kept whining that if he lost his coaching job, he would have to rely on my tiny rookie salary.

I just pretended not to hear him and decided to guarantee his comfortable retirement.

The way he said nonsense with a straight face was unbelievable.

Every baseball fan in town knew he had plenty of money from his playing career.

Not to mention, if he had used his business earnings to buy an island instead of just a mansion, maybe I’d believe him.

“But why Geoje Island?”

“The basement is huge.”

“…And?”

“It has good heating.”

“…Why do you care about heating?”

“We’re going to train in the bullpen I built there during winter.”

“…Me?”

“Who else? Me? Or that freeloader?”

My father pointed at the so-called ‘freeloader’—who was currently raiding our fridge, eating three times more than a normal person.

Anyway,This year’s postseason has ended.

The league is divided into the East Sea League and the West Sea League.

Out of the six teams in each league, the top three qualify for the fall baseball season.

The third-place team faces the second-place team, and the winner of that match plays against the first-place team.

The final winner of each league then competes in the Korean Series.

The Seoul Archers from the West Sea League defeated the Suwon Castlers from the East Sea League and became this year’s champions.

The Archers achieved their fourth title, winning their second trophy of the 2020s.

Meanwhile, the general manager of the Minus packed his bags as his contract expired.

The Minus team quickly announced a new general manager, but as far as I know, he’s just a figurehead.

At that time, I was on Geoje Island.

With Dad, Timothy Goldberg, a chef, two housekeepers, and two American staff members responsible for handling various training equipment.

—

“That won’t build big, beautiful muscles, kid! More, more, more!”

Timothy Goldberg sat next to me, spitting as he shouted.

I heard that before coming to Korea, Timothy Goldberg had already been appointed as the battery coach for the Minus.

— “You be the manager, you bastard! I’ve never seen someone build a whole crew before even becoming a coach!”

Calling it a “whole crew” seemed like an exaggeration. But after my training ends, the two American engineers will also officially join the team.

Manager Song Moon-jung sounded angry on the phone, but Dad just replied that he brought some fine liquor from the U.S.

— “Hmph. Alright then. Maybe I’ll visit Geoje Island sometime.”

And that was the end of it.

Meanwhile, Timothy Goldberg kept insisting that I needed more muscles.

“Just pick one—battery coach or physical coach.”

“There’s no catcher here, is there?”

“To be honest, you seem more like a physical coach.”

Or, to put it bluntly, just a muscle-obsessed American gym rat.

Timothy scoffed and started lecturing me about muscles.

“Weaklings get injured all the time because they don’t have enough muscle. And then they cry like little kids!”

Even though I joked about it, I actually agreed with the importance of strength training. So, I followed his instructions without complaint.

With the equipment brought from the U.S., my physical condition was closely monitored, and my pitching form was analyzed. Since I was still 19 and constantly training, my body was going through small changes, affecting my balance.

The two engineers were biomechanics experts specializing in pitching. They advised me on the exercises I needed and helped me refine my pitching form.

“So, in the end, the conclusion is that he needs more muscle, right, geniuses?”

“No, that’s NOT the conclusion!”

“Stop thinking muscles can solve everything!”

The engineers got frustrated, but Timothy just asked them to teach him brain muscle training.

And with that, the engineers lost the argument.

—

During his MLB career, people used to talk about how Timothy Goldberg’s muscles kept getting bigger as he got older.

“With that bulky body, how can he even catch behind the plate?”

But he wasn’t just randomly bulking up.
He built his muscles like armor—to protect his back and knees.

He had incredible talent, worked relentlessly, and had an overwhelming passion for his position.

Of course, most people probably remember him more for flipping off opposing teams or climbing the fence after getting hit by something thrown from the stands.

—

Even though I didn’t gain any superpowers after coming back in time, my mindset had definitely changed.

Looking back at my first time being 19, training felt like something I had to do, rather than something I wanted to do.

But now, I think things through more carefully and take everything much more seriously.

And so, I kept focusing on training.

—

The news broke that Song Moon-jung would be the new manager of Minus, and fans were divided.

Some criticized the team for bringing in a washed-up coach, while others argued that only someone like Song Moon-jung could straighten out the team’s terrible discipline.

Reactions were also mixed about my dad becoming the pitching coach.

Some fans were shocked—”Seo Tae-seong as pitching coach?! WTF!”—while others claimed that star players rarely make good coaches.

Then there were the sarcastic comments:
“So we’re done with fostering adopted sons? Now we’re watching real father-son baseball?”

“The Minus are truly revolutionizing Korean baseball!”

Timothy Goldberg joining the Minus coaching staff also made headlines.

Since the team was bad at baseball but good at selling jerseys, people joked that they sold their soul just to sell more uniforms.

Well, from an outsider’s perspective, Dad and Timothy didn’t exactly look like typical coaches.

—

“Four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, changeup.”

“You’ll mainly use those four pitches. If you run into trouble… you do know how to throw other pitches, right?”

“Some, yeah.”

We decided to focus on refining these four main pitches first.

Even though my body wasn’t fully in peak condition yet, these pitches already had decent movement, and I was used to throwing them in different situations.

If I ever needed an extra weapon, I could add another pitch later, just as Dad suggested.

He nodded and then smirked.

“Yae seong.”

“Yes?”

“Alright, time to really start working hard now.”

I was already training so much that my lungs burned every day.

And now, it is really starting?

“I’ve been waiting for this moment, actually.”

Great.

There’s nothing else to do here but play baseball anyway.

“That attitude…”

Dad let out a small laugh.

I smiled and replied,

“A son takes after his father—”

“Stop. That’s enough.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll stop here.”

“Hah…”

Dad sighed.