Real Man

Now that Yoo-hyun has decided to live a different life, he wanted to make sure that his choice was right.

Once he accomplished that, he wanted to see what kind of scenery would unfold in the end.

At the very least, it wouldn’t be as empty as when he stood at the top all alone.

After organizing his thoughts, Yoo-hyun was about to open his mouth when his friend said, “Ahh but Yoo-hyun, aren’t you too old for that? That’ll be difficult. Social life isn’t easy.”

“Hahaha.”

Ha Jun-seok shook his head with a humorous expression and the other guys burst into laughter.

Yoo-hyun just laughed along.

It’s funny to think that even the CEO of Hansung Electronics would discuss social life issues in front of that person.

Because not long after Ha Jun-seok got a job, he quit the company out of anger.

Then he said he was going to open a restaurant…

Come to think of it, Yoo-hyun couldn’t even go to the opening of the new restaurant.

Yoo-hyun suddenly felt sorry, and so he smiled lightly.

And then it hit him!

Yoo-hyun leaned toward Kim Hyun-su and asked, “Hyun-su, how’s your mother’s health?”

“Huh? She’s okay. Why?”

“Just… just wondering.”

“Hey. What do you mean?”

“But, just in case, let her get a medical checkup.”

“Okay, dude.”

He didn’t just say it for no reason.

In the past, the exact cause was unknown but they said that Kim Hyun-su’s mother died of a chronic disease.

In Yoo-hyun’s heart, there was still a feeling of regret that he couldn’t even go to the funeral under the pretext of being busy.

Nevertheless, when Yoo-hyun’s mother died, Kim Hyun-su comforted him the whole time and helped him with the funeral rituals.

Thank you.

He really wanted to be of any help to Kim Hyun-su.

As Yoo-hyun was looking at Kim Hyun-su, Kang Joon-ki, who was next to him, clapped as if remembering something.

“Right. Hyun-su didn’t you take Hyun-ah’s mother to the hospital when she collapsed?”

“Joon-ki!”

“Ah…”

When Kim Hyun-su put his index finger to his mouth, Kang Joon-ki covered his mouth as if he had made a mistake.

Anyone could tell that they were hiding something.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh. I just happened to help her early last year. It wasn’t just anything serious, it was just anemia. Joon-ki, that guy is really…”

While Kim Hyun-su was answering Yoo-hyun’s question, he kept glaring at Kang Joon-ki and muttered softly, “Your mother told me not to tell you because she was worried about you.”

“…”

Then Yoo-hyun realized it.

He was incredibly indebted to Kim Hyun-su in many ways.

Yoo-hyun’s heart swelled.

“Thank you… Hyun-su. Really.”

“What? If it’s your mother, I consider her to be my mother too.”

“Thank you…”

Yoo-hyun really lived like a fool without knowing anything.

He didn’t even know what was going on around him.

It was the result of only looking in front of him.

He felt regretful and apologetic all over again.

Is it because the atmosphere has become heavy?

Kim Hyun-su changed the topic by talking about Yoo-hyun’s younger sister.

“Try calling Jae-hwi at least once. But make sure to be determined.”

“For some reason, it’s not pleasant to call her.”

“That’s how it’s supposed to be. Now, the atmosphere suddenly became heavy again. Let’s have a drink.”

“Okay. Come on. Bottoms up.”

Glug. Glug.

It felt good to be drunk.

It was better to be with these guys.

It felt like Yoo-hyun’s heart was warming up.

Was it because he was drunk?

When Yoo-hyun blurted out words that didn’t suit him, his friends hated it.

“Hiccup. Hey. I love you guys so much.”

“This kid is crazy. He’s drunk. Totally drunk.”

“No, it’s all true. I don’t need money or success. Because this is real.”

“Hahaha, this is the first time I’ve seen Yoo-hyun this relaxed. Isn’t this kid going crazy today?”

“At a time like this, we have to go sober up. Let’s go?”

It was Ha Jun-seok’s suggestion.

“Oh. Shall we go swing?”

“Yeah.”

Kang Joon-ki and Kim Hyun-su nodded their heads.

What were they talking about?

Yoo-hyun grabbed his dizzy head and came outside.

It was an unexpected place to go to with his friends and on this cold night too.

It was a baseball machine shop on the block next door.

A ball is projected into the air and one must hit it to achieve a batting score. This score is then displayed, and a doll will be given as a reward based on the score.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, old memories came to mind.

He often made bets with his friends here.

As the memories sprouted up, he heard Kim Hyun-su’s voice.

“The last place pays the second round? Okay?”

“It’s good. Good. It’s good.”

“Hahaha, Yoo-hyun is really out of it. You should rest now, I’ll go first.”

When Yoo-hyun sat down on the bench, Kang Joon-ki stepped forward with an imposing aura.

Bam. Bam.

The guy swung his baseball bat in front of the ball and it flew fairly quickly.

Seeing that he got it right in one try, he must have practiced quite a bit.

Kim Hyun-su and Ha Jun-seok were the same.

They all swung hard because they were afraid to lose.

In an instant, Yoo-hyun reflexively straightened his back as soon as he saw the ball flying.

The blurry landscape in front of him gradually became clearer.

This is because the latent desire to win overpowered his drunkenness.

After all, it was not easy to strive to become the CEO of Hansung Electronics. One had to always push to be the best and to win at everything.

Therefore, for Yoo-hyun, who was used to competing to win, such a bet made his blood boil in an instant. 

Tap. Tap.

After Kang Joon-ki hit the ball a third time, he came down and patted Yoo-hyun’s back.

“Hyun-ah, don’t feel pressured.”

His face was already convinced of his own victory.

He hit all ten balls that were thrown for him.

Although he also had a few ground balls, he had a lot of hits and home runs that balanced them out to give him a pretty high score.

The score was the highest out of all three.

And it was even a pretty high score of beating the 3rd place in the store.

Everyone comforted Yoo-hyun because his two other friends also had high scores.

“It’s okay, dude. You don’t need to cry. Haha.”

Especially that guy Ha Jun-seok.

He had a special talent for teasing people.

Yoo-hyun just smiled.

“Whoo,” Yoo-hyun stood near the plate and took a short breath.

He felt the cold touch of the bat in his hand.

It’s been a long time since he swung a bat like this.

When he entered the company, he didn’t even get to swing a baseball bat.

‘It’s not much different from golf,’ Yoo-hyun simply thought.

Yoohyeon fixed his lower body, grabbed the end of the bat, and swung it with great force.

Whoosh.

Since he used his whole upper body from the waist up, the sound of the bat cutting through the air sounded so loud.

“Oooh. Are you trying to be Barry Bonds? But if you swing like that, you can’t hit anything.”

T/N: Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former professional baseball player.

Yoo-hyun swung it a few more times, not paying attention to the chatter coming from behind him.

As if imagining the ball right in front of him, he swung the bat towards the exact spot three times.

Although it may not be obvious to the eyes of his friends, the trajectory of the bat for each swing seemed to have been measured with a ruler.

Ka-clang.

When they put the money in, the machine hummed and prepared to spit out the ball.

Badhum.

Perhaps due to his drunken state, his heart was beating fast.

He almost felt like he was about to conduct an important presentation.

He could imagine that there were thousands of people in front of them, and dozens of cameras and reporters.

Everyone focused on Yoohyeon.

He slowly turned his head to see the faces of the crowd.

He could sense the sound of each person’s breath, their facial expressions, and even the movements of their hands.

He was able to catch even the changing airflow around him with such sensitivity.

Pak!

One ball came out.

As expected, the trajectory of the ball was of intermediate difficulty.

Now!

Tightly.

Holding the bat, Yoohyeon turned his back in the same posture he practiced earlier.

The bat swung with an excessively large arc and cut the air fiercely.

The bat flew at the right time and the right location.

Bang!

However, because Yoo-hyun’s bat was a little higher, the ball bounced toward the ground.

Perhaps because it was hit so hard, the ball made a strong sound and rolled roughly to the floor.

“Oh, will you be able to hit a home run with a ground ball?”

His friends behind him teased him a bit, but Yoo-hyun felt a little different.

All right, then.

It was really similar to golf.

He started to imagine hitting it from the top and then turning it to the side.

The main difference between this and golf is that the ball here is flying, but if one knows exactly where and when the ball will arrive, then it is no different from a ball that is at rest.

The first was just a trial.

‘About five centimeters downwards.’

The ball fell that much compared to when the trajectory was drawn in a straight line.

It is definitely different when viewed from a distance than when viewed from up close.

Whoosh.

Yoo-hyun swung the bat once and increased his concentration.

He sobered up a long time ago.

His surroundings were quiet and he felt as if he were alone on a stage.

Another ball was seen flying.

Bang!

When Yoo-hyun swung, it hit properly this time.

Like this.

The high-flying ball shook the green net attached to the top.

Home run.

As the mark appeared on the LED display board, the score went up at once.

It has been the same ever since.

The ball that kept flying straight to the same position was similar to a stationary golf ball.

Although Yoo-hyun never competed in any tournaments, he always had golf skills comparable to a professional.

Moreover, hitting a big ball was no problem at all for him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then Yoo-hyun hit the last ball and came down from the pitching area.

Creak.

When the door opened, he saw the faces of his half-frozen friends.

In particular, Ha Jun-seok’s expression was worth seeing.

“Jun-seok is paying for the second round, right?”

“Huh? Uh…”

Yoo-hyun’s score went up to the top spot of the store.

Suddenly, a large white teddy bear was placed into Yoo-hyun’s arms.

“What are you doing? You’re not moving.”

“…”

When Yoo-hyun stepped forward first, Kim Hyun-su suddenly came to his senses and said,  “Was that guy really studying?”

He said it because he couldn’t understand it at all.

From the 2nd and 3rd round all the way to the 4th.

Yoo-hyun finally played with his friends after completely loosening up.

It had never been done before and was a big deviation from his usual life.

“Ahh.”

Yoo-hyun sighed, clutching his aching head with both hands as if it was about to break.

When he opened my eyes, he saw an unfamiliar interior with bright lights.

Turning his head to his side, he saw his friends lying around him in different chairs.

“…”

With a strange feeling, he slowly looked around and saw people in police uniforms.

Something is definitely wrong.

“Hey, hey, wake up.”

“Hmm, why? Let’s sleep some more.”

As Yoo-hyun woke up his friends, he heard a deep male voice behind him.

“Hey, are our drunkards awake?”

“…”

The situation was clear.

As Yoo-hyun put the puzzle together, he remembered lying down on the street after drinking.

I remember looking at the stars in the night sky and talking nonsense with them.

Someone reported the four guys who stretched out on the street, and then this was the result.

After understanding the situation, Yoo-hyun shrugged.

“Haha, I’m sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, so we drank too much.”

“Oh, my. The smell of alcohol. Whew,” The police shook their heads.

At this moment, Yoo-hyun thought about banging the heads of his friends who were still sleeping.

Ringing.

Yoo-hyun came out of the police station, opened the glass door again, and entered with his friends.

In his hand was a bottle of anti-fatigue medicine.

“Hey, why are you here again?”

“Take this. I’m so sorry for earlier and thank you.”

“You’ve been scolded for a long time, now what else have you done?”

“You are a lifesaver, but this is not enough. Thank you so much.”

When Yoo-hyun and his friends politely greeted the policeman, the man smiled broadly.

“Hahaha, thank you for thinking like that. Thank you.”