“Look at you all, acting so timid. I’ll go help you get the field back.” Mark King agreed excitedly. Then he shouted to the kids from Dongcheng District who were gathered around him to watch the commotion, “You all shouldn’t play here either. Come with me across the bridge and let’s challenge those adults to a game.”

“Yeah!!” A group of troublemaking kids, always eager for excitement, shouted along enthusiastically.

So, a gang of kids around ten years old, each holding a bat and a glove, marched grandly across the bridge over the Han River toward Gangnam District under the curious gazes of passersby, led by Mark King.

“Excuse me, sir, can I ask you something? Did you take over our team’s practice field?” Mark King questioned a chubby man with buck teeth, dressed in a striped baseball uniform.

The chubby man with small dark circles under his eyes was clearly startled by the dozens of kids wielding bats and gloves. He opened his mouth, but not a single word came out from behind those big front teeth.

“Hey, come on, sir, as a grown adult, how can you take over an elementary school kids’ field?” Mark King stood with his hands on his hips in the river breeze, immediately pinning a crime on this man who looked easy to bully. Seriously, even though there was a big Chinese character—“恨” (hate)—embroidered on his uniform, he didn’t look intimidating at all.

“Hey, little brother, we didn’t take your field. When we got here, it was empty. It’s just that adults hit harder, and we were afraid of hurting the kids, so we asked your teammates to leave. It was for your own good.” A ridiculously handsome man quickly ran over to help the chubby man out.

“It’s So Ji-sub! You’re So Ji-sub from ‘Glass Slippers’!” A small-eyed chubby kid pushed through the crowd, pointing at the man and shouting. Mark King recognized this chubby kid—catcher David King. But then David King did something that made Mark King so mad he almost wanted to throw him into the Han River.

“So Ji-sub xi, can I have your autograph? My name is David King, and I want to be an idol in the future.” The chubby kid somehow produced a ballpoint pen and handed over his glove for an autograph.

“Everyone stand still!” Mark King raised his hand to stop the group of kids behind him who were itching to follow suit. Luckily, after a month of being bossed around by him, they were all pretty obedient, and no one else stepped forward.

After watching David King return to the group with his autographed glove, Mark King immediately issued a challenge to the team, who were clearly all entertainers: “Hey, uncles, looks like you’re all celebrities. But whether you’re celebrities or regular people, there are rules on the field. Let’s play a game—whoever loses leaves, whoever wins stays.”

The captain of the entertainer team, the chubby man with dark circles and big front teeth, discussed with his teammates and accepted the challenge.

While he turned to consult with his teammates, Mark King carefully observed the entertainers and actually recognized a few familiar faces: that chubby captain was none other than Jung Joon-ha, who would later become a star on Korea’s top variety show “Infinite Challenge.” He was still under thirty, with a fair and clean face, no wonder he didn’t recognize him at first. As for So Ji-sub, the name clicked right away—wasn’t he Moo-hyuk from the legendary 2004 drama “I’m Sorry, I Love You”? The skinny “black guy” with rimless glasses was also familiar—Yoon Jong-shin from “Family Outing.” And the uncle who just walked by with thick black frames and no lenses almost made Mark King want to ask for an autograph like David King—he was the “Big Nose Uncle” from Mark King’s favorite variety show before his rebirth, “Running Man.” Born in 1966, he didn’t look much different now than he would sixteen years later.

It seemed this was a team mainly made up of variety show hosts. He’d heard before that there were a lot of entertainers in Korea, and the competition was fierce. People of similar age and interests would form sports teams to relieve stress and build connections. Even big-name movie stars like Jang Dong-gun loved playing baseball together, and though Kim Jong-kook wasn’t very good, he’d still play soccer with his fellow “Year of the Dragon” brothers.

Looking at this team of mostly variety entertainers, Mark King immediately realized this was a golden opportunity. If he could build a good relationship with these people, the benefits would be huge. If he really decided to enter the entertainment industry, the connections from this team would be invaluable. Even if he never made it into showbiz, bringing Sica and little Krystal here to cheer them on could help the two girls in the future.

Since that was the case, he’d just have to show these uncles what the best pitcher in the California U-12 league could do.

“Hyecai, don’t go too hard. Just send the kids off, don’t hurt them.” Before the game started, Big Nose Uncle thoughtfully reminded the others.

An hour later, the 33-year-old Big Nose Uncle was already showing the traits of the “frail old man” he’d become in the future. It wasn’t that his body was exhausted, just his spirit.

The kid who brought dozens of troublemakers to challenge them—the most troublesome of them all—displayed godlike pitching skills and a level of first-base play that could only be called outstanding.