Chapter 90: A Foreign Kid Dilemma

The sports tank top clung tightly to his body as if it had been stuck on with double-sided tape.

It was extremely uncomfortable.

The sweat on his face felt like a sponge constantly being squeezed, filtering the moisture from his body over and over again.

Okumura had a feeling that if the training continued like this, one day, he would turn into one of those terrifying, dried-up zombies from American movies.

Every cell in his body was crying out in pain. His stamina had long been completely drained, he didn't know when exactly.

When he woke up in the morning, his whole body was sore, and he didn't even want to move a finger.

If it weren't for his roommate, the Senpai helping him, Okumura seriously doubted if he would even be able to get up.

When he finally woke up, his roommate, Miyuki-senpai, was already calmly dressed.

From his face, there wasn't the slightest trace of exhaustion.

Okumura couldn't help but sigh.

'Is this guy even human?'

It wasn't just Miyuki. Since the Training Camp began, Okumura had noticed that the Senpai members of the Seidou High baseball team were completely different from what he had imagined.

Before, Okumura and all the other new first-year students thought that while the Senpais were strong, they didn't really think they were that much weaker than the Senpais.

Apart from a few key players in the first team, compared to others, even if they couldn't surpass them, they were at least on par.

Because of this self-awareness and confidence, they thought they had the right to fight for the main positions of the Senpais.

Since the special training started, they had clearly realized the vast gap between them and the Senpais. Despite their efforts, they still couldn't keep up with the Senpais' pace during this special training.

Some Senpais, who previously seemed average, revealed extraordinary strength during this special training.

Take Kanemaru and Asou, for example.

They were part of the rotation in the first team. Though they sometimes wore the main roster numbers, they weren't considered absolute key players in real matches.

In the entire first team, their abilities were at best middle-tier.

But even they could easily crush Nishiyama and Yuuki during training.

Though everyone had the same training load, the time spent, the pace maintained, and the results achieved were on completely different levels!

Speaking of training results, there was one person who was particularly interesting.

That person was Lee-Hyun.

During previous training, Lee-Hyun was always at the bottom for almost every task. Not only was he no match for the Senpai players in the first team, but even compared to the other seven new students, he didn't have much of an advantage.

He was constantly fighting with Hirota and Matsumoto for the bottom three spots.

Yes, the bottom three.

But every time it came to base running practice, his performance was outstanding. It was similar to how Hirota surpassed many Senpais in batting practice.

Lee-Hyun's base running speed was ranked second out of all the players yesterday, only behind Kuramochi-senpai.

Both Coach Kataoka and Coach Ochiai were extremely impressed.

However, after the first day, his average speed in base running practice had dropped to 11th place.

Among all the first-team players, he was only middle-tier.

What was once his standout skill now seemed to be just average, and he had to push himself harder to keep up.

It seemed his hopes of staying in the first team weren't very high.

When the results of the players' performance were shown, Coach Ochiai furrowed his brows, stroked his little beard, and murmured.

"Has his stamina been completely drained?"

With such a large drop in his performance compared to yesterday, Ochiai couldn't think of any other reason.

"Before joining our school, Lee-Hyun didn't undergo any professional training. To have come this far in just a few months is already quite impressive," President Ota, however, was more generous with his words.

He focused more on Lee-Hyun's improvement.

But the Seidou baseball team had strict selection standards. If Lee-Hyun didn't show any standout traits during this training, meaning if he couldn't bring any more surprises, he would very likely be removed from the first-team roster by the coaching staff.

Seidou High had over 100 players now, but who could make it to the first team?

There had to be certain standards.

It wasn't about picking players based on who the Coaches liked.

"Although his overall performance has dropped significantly, his first ten base running times were very fast. All of them surpassed Kuramochi-kun!"

Coach Takashima didn't want to give up on Lee-Hyun as a potential trump card. She said while pushing up her glasses.

Her meaning was clear—Lee-Hyun's talent was still intact.

The reason his performance had dropped this time was mainly due to his exhausted stamina.

Therefore, he couldn't maintain his peak speed during the subsequent training…

The other members of Seidou's management also agreed with this point.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have supported Coach Kataoka's decision to promote Lee-Hyun.

However, there was still a bit of regret.

If Lee-Hyun's value was only as a one-time secret weapon, then was it really appropriate for him to remain in the first team?

This was a false dilemma. Depending on the perspective, different answers could be reached.

"Coach, what do you think?"

In the end, the decision was left to Kataoka.

Whether or not Lee-Hyun would remain in the first team ultimately depended on the head Coach's decision.

Kataoka's expression was usually hard to read, especially with his sunglasses on.

At that moment, he was no different—his face was a permanent, icy expression.

When he heard Coach Takashima's question, he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he wore a thoughtful expression.

"Why do you think Lee-Hyun didn't give his all during base running on the first day?"

The question was like a thunderclap, shaking the coaching staff's minds.

Coach Ochiai was the first to react: "What do you mean?"

"This guy knew from the start that the result would be like this."

Coach Takashima also understood the situation.

Nearby, President Ota was puzzled. He rubbed his hands together, looking at the three people who were speaking in riddles.

He could hear and understand every word they said, but when these words were combined, he couldn't make sense of it at all.

"Could someone kindly explain?" he thought.

"Just keep watching, if he knew beforehand that this would be the result, and he used his brain to analyze the situation and had a clear understanding of his own abilities, then he's a genius! If he was just slacking off and trying to regain his stamina using his strong suits, then he still needs refining."

Coach Kataoka made the final call.

This type of test wasn't difficult for Seidou's coaching staff.

The final results of the test would directly determine Lee-Hyun's future in the first team.

On the training field, Lee-Hyun didn't know anything. In just one fleeting moment, his future had already taken a sharp turn.

At that moment, he was exhausted, feeling like a dried log.

Looking at the figures around him, he felt like they were all monsters.

The Senpais, who could laugh and chat after the training, were especially out of reach.

He felt he could never compare to them.

After the first day's complete exhaustion, on the second day, from the moment he woke up, Lee-Hyun already felt drained.

His bones felt like they were about to fall apart, and his muscles were sore beyond belief.

This was the ironclad evidence of overtraining.

In this state, Lee-Hyun's training results on the second day compared to the first day were definitely much worse.

After completing the last ten laps on the first day, although Lee-Hyun collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, his brain was still conscious.

But by the second day, after the training, his mind was completely blank, with no awareness whatsoever.

After collapsing onto the ground, he lay spread-eagled, looking as if he was about to melt into the field.

"Just let me melt into this!"

That was the last thought that crossed Lee-Hyun's mind.

Technically, the new students who joined at the same time as him didn't perform much better than him on the first day of training.

They should have been in a similar state on the second day as well.

Seeing that he wasn't the only one struggling, Lee-Hyun felt a bit of comfort in his heart.

But strangely, these guys seemed to come back to life by the second day of training.

The most noticeable ones were Nishiyama and Yuuki. Even though they both looked pale after finishing their runs, as if they were about to pass out at any moment, panting heavily as if they could hardly catch their breath, they surprisingly didn't get lapped by the Senpai players.

"A bunch of monsters!"

Okumura and Yui were behind Nishiyama and Yuuki, but like them, they hadn't been lapped.

They looked utterly exhausted, but at least they had barely kept up with the Senpai's pace.

Even Matsumoto and Hirota performed better than yesterday.

But Lee-Hyun was the only one whose results, after giving his all in every exercise, showed that he had been completely drained.

By the time the last ten laps came, he had been lapped by the Senpai team for three full laps.

Even Matsumoto, the slowest, had lapped him by one and a half laps...

The gap was much greater than Lee-Hyun had anticipated.

"Can you keep going? If not, just switch places with me."

"Don't push yourself. If you can't go on, just give your spot to us."

These voices during the last three laps felt like needles, deeply stabbing into Lee-Hyun's heart.

Sometimes, Lee-Hyun thought he was very lucky.

To have such a life-changing opportunity after just one program...

It was nothing short of a miracle!

So, Lee-Hyun was deeply grateful.

After coming to Seidou, he received a lot of care and help from others, which had a lot to do with his personality.

A person who doesn't know gratitude will find it difficult to receive help from others.

With his personality and life experiences, hearing the Senpais around him mock him like this...

Even though Lee-Hyun understood very well that the Senpais weren't being malicious...

This was just a characteristic of Seidou's coaching style, meant to stimulate them...

He still couldn't fully accept it.

He felt that the gap between him and the others was just too vast. Did he really deserve to stay in the first team?

After the training ended, everyone went to sleep.

Returning to the dormitory, Lee-Hyun just couldn't fall asleep.

He tossed and turned for a long time, then left his bed.

He walked quietly around the school alone.

The moonlight was bright, and the campus at night seemed especially quiet.

Occasionally, he could hear the chirping of cicadas.

In this quiet environment, besides the cicadas, he could vaguely hear the sound of bats being swung...

…