chapter 22
Choi Tae-joon went back into the bathroom and soaked himself in the hot tub. Not only did I drool during my sleep, but the jjimjilbok was damp from how much I sweated during the massage. It was very embarrassing to go back like this without washing.
“Huh… … .”
Waking up after a good night’s sleep and soaking your body in a hot bath is a special taste. Besides, it’s broad daylight now when the sun isn’t even going down. It’s a luxury that I wouldn’t be able to afford normally.
‘Has there ever been a time when I was in such a good condition these days?’
My body is as light as new, and my mind is clear as if the clouds have cleared. As if someone had cleaned it from the inside out.
Perhaps thanks to that, I can feel the vitality slowly rising from the inside. Confidence, as if I could do anything now, rose from a corner of my heart.
But why?
When I was so tired and exhausted, my head was full of obsessions about training and competition, but now, when I am full of energy, my head is rather empty.
The warmth of the hot bath is so warm, it feels so good to feel tired all over… These thoughts only come to my mind from time to time. There were no distractions in my clear mind, so I was rather free.
Choi Tae-joon blankly tilted his head back and started counting the water droplets on the ceiling. A quiet and warm rest. It was obviously the same bath I had been in before the massage, but the feeling was completely different.
‘Listen to the people close to you rather than the words of people you don’t even know… … .’
As I was passing the time blankly, I suddenly remembered what Kang Tae-han had said earlier.
That’s what it says. He had been swayed by the words of people he didn’t even know. I realized that only after my thoughts were scattered and my mind was clear.
‘Taejun, take a break. It’s good to work hard, but you have to know how to do it in moderation.’
‘Hey, ma’am. Why is it all your fault? Okay, so let’s go eat dinner. Today, Bumho hyung bought me crabs.’
‘It’s good to work hard, but take it easy. I go out to play with my hyungs… Seriously, I’ve been telling players to hang out while I was coaching.’
Suddenly, he remembered what people around him had said to him.
People close to him were already telling him the answer. Take a break and do it, it’s not a matter of blaming you… It’s just that he wasn’t listening.
‘… It’s an asshole, completely.’
While paying attention to the words of people whom he did not even know on the Internet, he ignored the words of those who were watching and worrying about him. how stupid is this
Of course, even if you don’t know their faces, there will be fans of the team and fans cheering for you.
I am just grateful for their interest and expectations. fans interest and expectations. Without those two things, being a professional athlete is a job that cannot be established in the first place. However.
‘I can’t even handle it.’
If you lift a load that you can’t handle and collapse on the way, it’s rather a hindrance and a nuisance. It’s just that I didn’t hear it at all.
He struggled to somehow lift the load that was still too heavy for him… It was as if he had been wandering around for a long time without being able to do anything he could have done.
condition management. This is also a virtue of a pro. Its importance cannot be stressed enough several times.
He couldn’t do that at all. I was just obsessed with the indulgence of ‘I keep trying’ and obsessed with that.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… … .”
Taejun Choi let out a long sigh and washed his face with hot water. It seemed that he could see a little bit now. And how frustrated he was, he seemed to understand now.
However, the feeling was rather relieved.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have the slightest bit of bitterness, but I felt so relieved that it didn’t matter.
‘Let’s start again, Choi Tae-joon.’
match! Choi Tae-jun, who got up from the bath, hit his cheeks hard. My cheeks were tingling, but it was a shock enough to bring me to my senses. He was smiling with a smile on his lips.
‘by the way… Do I need to make a reservation to come back?’
Almost 99% of returning doctors!
The professional baseball player who came out with a small realization was no exception. Before leaving the jjimjilbang, Choi Tae-joon stopped by the massage shop once again and made a reservation.
* * *
A taxi going somewhere.
Kang Tae-han, who leaned back in his seat, smiled while reading the article on his smartphone screen.
[Choi Tae-jun, cruising smoothly with consecutive scoreless runs!]
[Super rookie’s splendid resurrection! Was the slump a growing pain for a new leap forward?]
‘The effect appears faster than expected.’
Articles announcing the end of Choi Tae-joon’s slump. Of course, it wasn’t that much of a main topic, so there weren’t many articles coming out, but the things that came up from time to time were all well-received.
Resurrection, overcoming, leap, scoreless. It was so full of positive keywords that you could roughly understand the content just by looking at the title.
‘In fact, it’s just that the original skills come out.’
The reason Choi Tae-joon was sluggish was because he spent more than necessary strength in useless places and failed to manage his condition, but there was no place to criticize for his efforts and talents themselves.
If I recover my condition and return to my original skills, then I’ll be able to play an active part with that alone.
Of course, Kang Tae-han didn’t watch the game, and he didn’t know baseball very well… Still, at least compared to when I played the game with that body, I wonder if there will be a level of skill that is at the level of a complete metamorphosis.
‘It seems that his mindset has also changed.’
Although he awakened and stimulated the blood system to raise his resilience, in the end, he is the one who maintains it. If I had abused my body again like before, by now the hunting would have started to come back to my condition.
However, looking at the contents of the recent articles, there seemed to be no such sign. At least, it seems that he got out of the trap of expecting others.
‘It looks much better than the complexion I first saw.’
Seeing Choi Tae-joon’s bright face in the article, Kang Tae-han smiled. It felt like it wasn’t as bad as I thought that someone who had received my help was making an active performance.
“Guest, it comes out roughly around here, is this right?”
At that time, the taxi driver who was driving spoke to Kang Tae-han. There are roads, but there are no buildings around. The taxi driver looked around for a while with a puzzled expression.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll get off here.”
Kang Tae-han, who checked the location with the map app, nodded. After paying the bill, he got out of the taxi, and the cool mountain air gently brushed his cheeks.
A hill rising high in front of you.
The corners of Kang Tae-han’s mouth rose at the sight. This place was none other than a hill belonging to Shin Jun-ho, where Kang Tae-han had saved his life at that time, where there was a possibility of obtaining the elixir.
‘It feels good.’
It was a bit ambiguous whether this place was right when I only looked at it through the map app, but I was immediately convinced when I got in touch with the air.
Where there is good ground, good energy flows.
I hadn’t climbed the mountain yet, but I could already feel a faint spiritual energy hovering around me.
Moreover, this place is an empty mountain where people rarely come and go.
The spirit of the mountain has the property of gradually becoming blunt and scattering as people step on it. This is why most of the famous mountains are not suitable for training.
‘Well, it’s illegal in modern times in the first place.’
If you lock yourself in the mountains or collect medicinal herbs or herbs for training on Mt. Gyeryong, you will be sanctioned by forest officials.
However, there is no such concern here.
There is nothing that people’s feet can’t reach, and the herbs would have remained intact if they hadn’t been touched by flying animals. In addition, he has even received permission from the owner of the house to say, “You can do whatever you want.”
Can you feel more comfortable and excited than this?
Now, to Kang Tae-han, the hill in front of him looked no different from a large treasure chest.
‘Shall we go soon?’
A large backpack in the back. A multipurpose vest with portable gathering tools stored on top of the outerwear. Kang Tae-han, who finished his preparations, moved to the mountain.
Did you climb a little while carefully looking around?
Sure enough, it was Kang Tae-han who found one right away.
“This is deodeok.”
Bellflower, an herb that looks very similar to ginseng.
It is easy to confuse with wild ginseng because they look so similar, but wild ginseng has five leaves and deodeok has four. Kang Tae-han also looked forward to it for a moment, but burst into laughter when he saw that it had four leaves.
However, you won’t be disappointed.
It’s not just that they look alike, they’re also similar in their effectiveness. Of course, there is a difference in the strength of the medicinal effect, but it is still good for the body… Above all, it tastes good.
‘Of course I have to bring it.’
Take out a small shovel from the vest pocket and assemble it.
Originally, one would have to keep a sufficient distance from the roots to avoid damaging them, but Kang Tae-han put a shovel next to the root without hesitation.
An action that is possible because the location was identified in advance with the sense of humor.
After that, it is enough to scoop up the soil with a shovel and pick up the kernels.
“It’s definitely in good condition.”
I’m not an expert, so I can’t tell how many years it’s been there, but I can guess how much spiritual energy it contains.
With this amount, he could make enough of the bellflower wine he drank at the time. In other words, as an elixir, a sufficient effect can be expected.
This kind of thing came out from the beginning of the mountain.
That’s a really positive sign. Kang Tae-han put the deodeok in his backpack and accelerated his steps up the mountain.
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Leave a certain distance, and spread your senses from time to time.
Originally, the senses are conveyed through the qi that spreads all over the place, but the spirit grass, which has a certain amount of qi, absorbs some of that qi.
In other words, the qi feeling around it is blurred.
It’s hard to find the exact location with just this, but at least it means that there is a medicinal herb that has its own aura in the vicinity. In other words, it could be called Youngcho Radar.
“Still, this is beyond imagination.”
Kang Tae-han muttered as he dusted off the large soil.
Not much time has passed yet, but the weight of the bag on my back is already quite heavy. Deodeok alone goes over the heat root, and it is full of medicinal herbs such as Hasuo, Sandolaji, Night Gate (night gate) and Changjo (蒼朮).
It must have been because it was a place rarely visited by people, so many medicinal herbs appeared every time I opened my eyes. There are so many things like kudzu that I dug up in moderation and didn’t even touch it anymore.
Have you ever heard a saying in fishing that you get a bite every time you throw a fish? This place was a mountain, not water, but Kang Tae-han’s situation was just like that.
‘It will take quite a while to eat this much.’
Two hours had passed since I climbed the mountain, but it was enough to finish gathering here. However, one regret remained… … .
“… Well?”
Kang Tae-han felt a huge void in the feeling he had just unfolded. At one point, I didn’t feel the sense of qi at all.
Kang Tae-han’s steps sped up at the unusual reaction.
Eventually, Kang Tae-han smiled as he looked at the collection in his hand.
“At this rate, he’s been around for at least twenty years.”
The pronoun of medicinal herbs, the treasure of the mountain, and the main character of the word ‘I saw it’.
With the appearance of wild ginseng, even Kang Tae-han’s reluctant regret disappeared as if it had been washed away.