Chapter 69

69. Special Appearance Offer

At the baseball broadcast booth.

"Today's ceremonial first pitch is being performed by a very cute little guest, in celebration of Children's Day."

"Recently, he's been quite popular. Speaking of which, I remember really enjoying the drama 'The King's Path' back in the day."

"I watched it too. From the lead actor Song Joon-young to all the young actors, their appearances were so outstanding that they captured the hearts of many female viewers... He was the youngest lead, right? The King of the Underworld from the currently popular movie 'In the Name of the God' is now on the mound."

"His name is... Yun Si-woo. What a lovely name. Haha."

Seoul Superstars vs. Busan Dragons.

This was a match between the two most popular teams in Korean professional baseball, both tied for first place in the win-loss standings.

In short, a big match.

The stands were packed, and the number of simultaneous viewers on the portal site's broadcast was skyrocketing.

Real-time comments were also flooding in at an explosive rate.

- Let's beat the Dragons and take the sole first place in Seoul!

- Go! Busan 1st place! Keep running to the Korean Series! Bu-sa-a-a-an!

- King of the Underworld!

- Wow, the King of the Underworld is here! His face is so cute!

- Yun Si-woo?

- He's doing the ceremonial first pitch for Seoul but not wearing the Superstars uniform, instead wearing the King of the Underworld's outfit. I commend that.

- Si-woo, keep growing like this. You've already reserved a spot in the Superstars.

- Breaking news: The King of the Underworld, who disappeared with Han Yoo-ri in the movie, has been resurrected at the baseball field on Children's Day.

- When the King of the Underworld disappeared and Wolsoon voluntarily disappeared, my girlfriend almost fainted from crying.

- I'm a girl, and I've seen the movie three times, and I cried every time at that scene. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ A guy pretending to have a girlfriend and a girl pretending to be a girl are talking to each other.

As Si-woo's face appeared on the broadcast screen, the fans from Seoul and Busan temporarily stopped their arguments and started discussing the movie.

Though they supported different teams, they all enjoyed the movie.

Si-woo, with a joyful expression, held the hand of Mr. Wangbyeol, the Superstars' mascot, and headed to the mound.

"Wow~!"

The cheers and applause from the packed stands were directed at Si-woo.

Seeing his face on the scoreboard, Si-woo confirmed the approaching camera and made a V sign with his fingers.

"Wow~!"

The cheers grew even louder.

"Yeom~! Ra~! Yeom~! Ra~! Yeom~! Ra~!"

Fans from both teams, forgetting their competition, chanted "Yeom-ra" in unison.

The mascot, Mr. Wangbyeol, wearing a yellow Wangbyeol mask, handed a microphone to Si-woo.

"Si-woo, greet the fans."

The baseball field, which had been filled with thunderous cheers, suddenly became quiet.

The audience, with delighted smiles, looked at the scoreboard to hear Si-woo's greeting.

Si-woo turned to the camera, lifted his pretty face slightly, and recited a line he had practiced with a new entertainment company employee.

"In the name of the god~ I command~"

Laughter erupted from the stands.

Unlike his charismatic appearance in the movie, he was overwhelmingly cute.

The real-time comment section on the portal site was flooded with 'ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ' and 'ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ'.

"Everyone in the baseball field~ cheer~ with all your heart~ please~"

- Why did you lower your voice at the end? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

- Are you shy? Your face is a bit red. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ You're so cute.

- One of the cutest ever. ㅎㅎㅎ I need to find other works featuring this kid.

Mr. Wangbyeol handed a baseball to Si-woo's small hand.

"Si-woo, go forward and throw from wherever you want."

The pitcher, Kim Jin-soo, who had helped the child practice, said there was no need to throw from right in front of the batter, and asked to let the child throw from wherever he wanted.

Mr. Wangbyeol led Si-woo to the batter and catcher.

Suddenly.

Si-woo's feet stopped.

"Huh? Are you going to throw from here? You can go closer if you want."

Si-woo shook his head.

"From here!"

Usually, children of this age throw from just a few steps in front of the batter.

But Si-woo confidently stopped a few meters away.

While touching the seams of the baseball with his fingertips, Si-woo stared at the catcher and the batter.

'Back in the day, I caught wyverns with rocks the size of my fist. If I throw with that kind of feeling... the catcher's hand might break.'

Si-woo had looked up the pitching speed of a six-year-old child on the internet.

'That baseball prodigy threw at 61 km/h, so I'll do a light 50 km/h or so. But in return...'

If he wasn't going to become a baseball player, he shouldn't reveal his abilities recklessly.

If he threw at 80-90 km/h here, he might be forced onto a special train to become a baseball player.

Just enough to make everyone laugh and enjoy.

Si-woo went into his wind-up.

"Ooh~!"

The crowd's cheers grew louder at the impressive wind-up pose of a six-year-old.

To avoid standing out too much, he decided to give up on speed and instead add a bit of control to impress the fans and slightly surprise the professional players.

Si-woo's left leg lifted high and then extended forward.

He planted his left foot on the ground and pushed off with his right, twisting his upper body.

Si-woo's right hand, holding the ball, whipped forward like a whip.

Pfft!

"Ooh~!"

The crowd watching Si-woo's pitching motion, which resembled a miniaturized version of a professional player's, let out a collective gasp of admiration.

Whoosh~

The baseball, leaving Si-woo's hand, drew a beautiful parabola toward the catcher's glove.

Plop!

The ball landed precisely in the catcher's glove.

"Ooh~!"

The stands erupted in cheers and applause.

"Strike~!"

The umpire, providing a good service for the child, called out loudly.

And in the broadcast booth—

"Wow! That was a perfect strike, hitting the low outside corner of the batter!"

"Wow, his control is amazing! Today's Superstars starter, Hong Su-young, has a weakness in his control, so he should learn a thing or two from young Yun Si-woo. Hahaha."

"The speed on the scoreboard... Wow! It's 53 km/h! Didn't the baseball prodigy Lee Hyo-young from Gwangju throw at 61 km/h when he was six?"

"..."

"Mr. Commentator? Mr. Commentator?"

"Ah... Yes. In that case... he's just six years old... this child is just six."

"Wow!"

* * *

The ceremonial first pitch exceeded the expectations of the new entertainment company.

1. Yun Si-woo's ceremonial first pitch

2. Yun Si-woo

3. Yeom-ra from 'In the Name of the God'

The top three real-time search terms on the portal site were all related to Si-woo.

It was a historic moment for Si-woo's name to appear in the top search rankings, not as Dukgu or Yeom-ra.

The entertainment news section was also dominated by Si-woo.

The news of the ceremonial first pitch also appeared in the sports section.

Si-woo's confident and cute first pitch photos and his impressive pitching motion GIFs spread across the internet nationwide.

Even some Japanese and American netizens, where baseball is popular, were circulating the GIFs, praising his perfect pitching form.

"Ah, it's really unfair. How can a six-year-old be both cute and cool?"

A female employee from Got Entertainment's marketing team said.

She was watching Si-woo's first pitch GIF on her phone.

A male colleague, who was exchanging work-related messages on his PC, spoke up.

"Unfair things happen when kids become stars. They act unrealistically well, sing unrealistically well, dance well, or are pretty and handsome. What's wrong? Are you peeking at my messages?"

The female colleague was staring at his message screen.

Since it was work-related, there were no personal messages, but the male colleague subtly covered his monitor with his hand.

At this moment, she said with a gleam in her eyes.

"Let's make Si-woo into an emoticon."

"Si-woo emoticon? Didn't we have one before?"

The female employee, who had checked the information, said.

"No, no. There was only one where other characters mimicked Si-woo's acceptance speech at the MBS Acting Awards when he was three, saying 'Happy New Year, everyone~!'"

"Is that so? Then... it could be good?"

"Right? Listen."

The female employee moved her arm as if throwing a ball.

"Our cute Si-woo throws the ball really coolly. How about... throwing a heart? Throwing a heart! And above it, 'Straight pitch to you!' What do you think?"

"Take out 'to you.' Just simple: 'Straight pitch!' and sprinkle hearts~! Sprinkle hearts in the hearts of consumers~! Oh, and this could work too."

The male employee also came up with an idea.

"I thought it was cool when Si-woo was exorcising evil spirits in front of a cafe. It was a hot topic, right? Si-woo in the King of the Underworld outfit, with a sword stuck in the ground! Red words rising up! Si-woo staring expressionlessly inside, with the words appearing above. For example... 'Cheating leads to death.' Don't you think young couples would use it a lot?"

"Cheating leading to death is a bit extreme. How about 'I won't forgive it!' in a cute way?"

"Si-woo has so many cute scenes, we could easily make 20-30 emoticons. If we take a cute scene from when Si-woo disappeared and make it look like he's shocked... "

While the male employee was excitedly talking, the female employee interrupted.

"Don't touch that."

"Uh? What?"

"The scene where Si-woo and Han Yoo-ri disappear shouldn't be touched lightly. I won't forgive it."

"Who? Si-woo's fans?"

"Not just them. I won't forgive it first."

"..., Right."

The female employee was also a fan of Si-woo.

Despite not being directly involved in the project, the two enthusiastically organized their ideas and sent a proposal directly to the CEO, Shin Young-min, via email.

The open communication between CEO Shin Young-min and regular employees, despite his status as the chairman, was a significant advantage of Got Entertainment.

Although it wasn't a company that operated like a well-oiled machine like MGS Entertainment, the freedom to express oneself was a major strength of Got Entertainment.

Si-woo, despite having signed with Got Entertainment only recently, was receiving support in various aspects.

* * *

Hyun-ju visited a kids' cafe with Ji-ho's mother and the children.

"Is it because it's new? It's so clean."

Ji-ho's mother, satisfied, came back after looking around the indoor playground in the kids' cafe.

Hyun-ju, after watching Si-woo and Ji-ho playing in the ball pit, took a photo from a distance.

"Since Si-woo's mom isn't alone, you can sit and rest here. I'll keep an eye on the kids. If anyone recognizes Si-woo, I'll talk to them. People in the neighborhood are getting used to seeing Si-woo around. Hehe."

"Thank you, sister."

"No problem. We look out for each other."

Si-woo and Ji-ho were enthusiastically putting balls into a machine.

One, two, three.

The balls, once inside the machine, traveled through a transparent tube and stacked up in a large basket above the children's heads.

Si-woo, finding it fun, was quickly and continuously putting balls into the machine.

And finally—

"Wow~!"

"Wow~!"

"Mom~!"

With the children's cheers, the large ball basket began to tilt to the side.

Whoosh!

Balls rained down from above their heads.

Si-woo and Ji-ho, along with other children, cheered and ran around, waving to their mothers.

"They're both so cute. They look like brothers."

Ji-ho's mother, resting her chin in her hand, watched the children.

Hyun-ju also nodded with a smile.

Vroom—

While looking at the menu to choose a drink, Hyun-ju received a text message on her phone.

"Is it a call?"

"No, it's a text from Si-woo's agency... They say they need to discuss the next project urgently and ask if I can take a call now."

"Sure. I'll order drinks and some snacks, so take the call comfortably. I'll order some food for the kids too."

"Okay, sister."

After Ji-ho's mother left, Hyun-ju, sitting alone at the table, replied that she was available for the call.

As soon as she sent the reply, the call came through.

"Yes. What is it? Ah... Yes. Of course I know. I'm really enjoying that drama now. Um~ Yes? A special appearance offer?"

Oh