Chapter 8
<strong>Live Pitching (2)</strong>
e at me, let’s see what you’ve got!’
Gun’s first sign was a slider that stretched far wide .
Kang Han was slightly puzzled .
‘not many yers pitch around the batter on their first pitch during a live pitching session . He must be really taking this session like it’s a real match’
There was only one reason why Gun was taking this session as a real game .
He was determined to clear the mission that the system had given him and earn that mysterious point .
‘it’s offering me something and there’s no reason to decline’
Gun readjusted his grip and threw his first pitch .
WHOOOSH .
Won Yong, who was expecting a middle fastball, began panicking as he was greeted by a wide slider .
‘damn… pitching around me on his first pitch during a live pitching session… is he insane?’
Gil Sung was disappointed to see Won Yong’s unprofessional response to Gun’s pitch formtion .
‘sigh… he’s all worked up . He’s already lost to the pitcher mentally… there’s no way he’d win now’
Gun threw the next pitch; a deep fastball towards the batter .
Won Yong once again swung his bat .
THUD .
The ball was caught on the side of the bat and flew beyond the 3rd base .
“FOUL!”
no balls, two strikes .
The count was in the pitcher’s favour .
Won Yong had already witnessed Min Suk’s 3-strike out so he could not let this third pitch fly by .
<hr>Nervously, he muttered to himself…
‘if you are nning another strike-zone fastball, you will regret it for sure’
Gun’s next chosen pitch was a change-up . Along with his slider, his change-up has a history of sending countless AAA league batters back to the bench .
From Won Yong’s vision, Gun’s change-up seemed like an ordinary, slow fastball .
‘hm… a fastball at this speed… it’s hittable’
He swung his bat with all his might… and it seemed like it was going to be an urate hit .
However, the moment before the ball was about to touch the bat, it sunk like a submarine .
‘DAMN!’
Won Yong quickly tried to stop the bat’s swing, but it had already travelled beyond and home te .
“SWING STRRRRIKE! BATTER OUT!”
Won Yongpletely lost his bnce and copsed to the ground on his knee .
“damn… . ”
2 batters, 2 consecutive strike outs .
They were also both 3-ball 3-strikes; K strikeouts .
Si Hyung, the referee, as well as other 2nd division yers spectating the session were all shocked to witness Gun’s dominance .
“this guy is crazy!”
“did you see the change-up just then?”
“I thought it was a forkball”
“the drop of the ball is insane”
“but didn’t itck a bit on the speed?”
“what? No way . If that pitch had high speed, then it’d just simply be impossible to hit”
Gil Sung, thest batter, had realised that he’d began sweating as he got more and more nervous .
‘damn… am I really that nervous?’
Furthermore, he was left-handed, which made it more challenging than the previous 2 batters .
Instead of getting emotionally worked up, he tried his best to keep his cool and remain rational .
‘let’s not get caught up in his pace . We’re the aces of the 2nd division, we cannot back down this easily’
Gun allowed a dry gulp as he saw Gil Sung approach the te .
‘his atmosphere is entirely different’
He carefully exchanged signs with the catcher, and threw his first pitch .
His first pitch was a wide ball to the side .
He tried to pitch narrowly within the strike zone but it had gone beyond .
‘hm… it’s not going to be too easy’
Gun’s control of his pitches hadn’t yet been perfected .
On top of that, thest batter Gil Sung was somehow imposing this pressure on him .
After seeing through Gun’s first pitch, the strategic formtion game between the pitcher and the catcher heat up .
The ball count was 2-2 .
You could see droplets of sweat forming on Gun’s forehead also .
‘it’s really hard to pitch around him . Should I throw a deep slider? No, if I do that, there’s a risk of it bing a full count . It’s too risky . And I know the batter is aware of that too’
5th pitch .
Gun decided to pitch a change that fell wide .
However, Gil Sung was able to see through the pitch and let it fly by .
That made it a full count .
A ball count that was definitely in the batter’s favour; a situation which Gun desperately wanted to avoid .
<hr>He wiped the sweat off his forehead and regathered himself .
‘let’s not lose the focus . You struggle and fail here, then there’s absolutely no chance of getting to the major league’
Gun fixed his grip and threw thest pitch with all his might .
‘I won’t back down…!’
The ball pierced threw the air as it raced its way towards the mitt .
WHOOOOOOSH!
Gil Sung’s concentration had already reached its peak .
‘this is a definite strike…’
With the urate judgement, Gil Sung’s bat began making its way towards a full swing .
Tick .
With a short, sharp sound of the ball ticking the bat, the course of the ball was disrupted, albeit continuing in the direction of the mitt .
Foul tip, strike out .
“STRRRRRIKE! BATTER OUT!”
Gun’s fastball had beaten Gil Sung’s swing on a head-to-head sequence .
“this is incredible! 3 consecutive K strikeouts!”
“oh man… I didn’t know senior Gil Sung would be striked out too…”
“the clean-up squad all turned down by K strikeouts… the difference is too great…”
Gil Sung dropped his bat and let out a deep sigh .
‘that ball was beyond 150km… I was not expecting a 150km+ fastball pitched deep . I doubt even a 1st division batter would be able to handle such a formtion’
Unlike the previous 2 batters, he showed great sportsmanship by admitting his defeat .
Gun let out a deep breath of relief as he saw Gil Sung make his way back to the bench .
‘man… I just cleared that mission . I didn’t I’ve been too arrogant recently . I still have such a long way to go’
Soon, the system disyed a message .
– first missionpleted . Reward granted –
Reward: 5 points .
Gun was puzzled by the message that was disyed .
‘5 points… where am I supposed to use this?’
As if reading and answering Gun’s thought, a new message popped up .
– points can be used for skill level ups . –
– currently equipped skill: Beast’s Blood level 1 –
– invest the points into the skill? –
Gun only had one skill to invest in, so realistically he had no alternatives .
‘sure . Let’s do it!’
– investing points into ‘Beast’s Blood’ –
– Beast’s Blood level up! –
– Beast’s Blood level 2: bodily recovery 24% increase –
Gun was excited to see that his body could now recover even faster than before .
‘level up aye, man this is like a game’
He felt like he gained some supernatural powers .
But statistically, the increase of his bodily recovery stat from this level up was only 2 percentage points .
This meant that an injury that would require 100 days to recover, would not take 98 days .
From one perspective, this may not be such a significant level up .
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