Episode 1
Look around you.
Have you forgotten anything? Have you lost anything?
***
I was just one of many prospects who challenged the major leagues and failed.
Back then, I couldn’t afford to miss the second chance I’d been given.
So I ran forward, never looking back.
I had tasted failure, so success was all the more desperate to me.
But you can’t let yourself be consumed by success alone.
Even after I had more than enough room to look around me, I chased only my own career and my own success.
And after all that, what meaning is there in being inducted into the Hall of Fame if there’s no family left to celebrate it with you?
Only then did I realize it… Far too late.
When I visited the columbarium where my parents’ urns were kept, someone had already been there before me.
I had a feeling who it was.
No… There was no way I wouldn’t know. Around this time every year, the only person who came to see my parents was my ex-wife.
I took out my phone and, for the first time in a while, made a call.
“I’m back in Korea. If you’re free, let’s meet up.”
***
You could say the bond between Seung Hye and me was tenacious.
We first met in kindergarten, naturally started dating, got married when we became adults, and then divorced.
Even now, as strangers again, we still contact each other once or twice a year.
“You’re going back to Korea?”
Seung Hye tilted her head as she asked.
“Didn’t you say you got a $10 million offer for one year from the Phillies?”
“One plus one. The second year is a team option. But I turned it down.”
“Are you insane?!”
She stared at me, dead serious.
“They offered a two-year deal to a thirty-eight-year-old player, and you rejected it?”
I let out an awkward laugh, trying to calm her down.
“I told you I wanted to play for the team my parents rooted for.”
“That wasn’t a joke?”
I had told her I wanted to go back to Korea, play for my hometown team… and retire there as well.
“It wasn’t a joke.”
“Wow. So you really meant it.”
I nodded. She looked at me with complicated eyes.
“You’ve got international tournament points, so the waiting period might be reduced. But you’ll still have to sit out for at least a year, right? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
The rule requiring a two-year waiting period for a player who went straight to the MLB before returning to the domestic league was still in place.
But a new clause had been added.
Just like how domestic players who participated in international tournaments were granted reductions in their FA service time,
Overseas players who participated in international tournaments would now receive reductions in their reinstatement waiting period.
It was meant to benefit players who competed in events like the WBC and Premier12. I’d heard there was still a lot of debate over whether it would actually be effective.
“Maybe I can play for an amateur club team for a year.”
“Is that a joke? Or are you serious?”
Seung Hye shook her head.
“By the way, would it be possible to sign with your agency?”
“With our company?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t that a bit impulsive?”
Impulsive… that was partly true.
But I had been thinking about finding a domestic agency for quite some time. It just so happened that Seung Hye was running a sports agency. Really… there was no other meaning behind it.
“If it’s difficult, then I understand.”
“It’s not difficult. If Major Leaguer Song Seongjun signs with us, our company profits no matter what.”
For some reason, it sounded like she was pouting.
Maybe it was just my imagination. Still…
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry to you.”
Seung Hye stared at me.
I’d said those same words before. But back then… had they truly carried sincerity? I wasn’t sure.
“Now? All of a sudden? Out of nowhere?”
“It’s not out of nowhere. I’ve always felt sorry. I was just too much of a coward to say it.”
I couldn’t admit that it had been pride that stopped me this time, too.
“It’s too late.”
“I know. But they say the moment you think it’s too late is actually the fastest time to start.”
“Or maybe, when you think it’s too late, it really is too late.”
Something a comedian supposedly once said.
Looking at her expression, it seemed like she meant it half as a joke.
“Guess that’s true too.”
Whatever we do now.
“Both this and that are true. Do you know you’re not acting like yourself today?”
Instead of answering, I nodded.
Since the columbarium, I’d known I wasn’t acting like my usual self.
“Still, I’ll accept your apology.”
She smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
For some reason, that faint smile put my heart at ease.
We talked a bit longer about trivial things. I agreed to visit her company tomorrow to sign the contract, and then we parted ways.
I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the hotel I’d booked.
In the distance, Namsan Tower came into view.
‘Are the locks still hanging there?’
The sudden memory made me smile to myself.
Seung Hye was right.
I really wasn’t myself today.
***
Sunlight filtering through the window tickled my eyelids.
I rubbed my eyes as I woke… only to have my gaze caught by a familiar yet unfamiliar room.
I had definitely gone to sleep in a hotel.
But when I woke up, I was in the house where I had once lived with my parents.
I had already experienced this before.
“Did I… regressed again?”
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