At first glance, The Weakest Ace in High School Baseball sounds like a straight-up Japanese manga translation.
But surprisingly, this is a Korean webtoon serialized on a Korean platform.

In the beginning, it didn’t attract much attention. That is, until it caught the radar of a certain community—an infamous online forum where users devour every comic that exists, from mediocre trash on the brink of cancellation to forgotten webtoons buried deep in the internet’s abyss.

These people scour through the bottom of the popularity rankings—works that could end serialization any week—and gleefully spread word about just how catastrophically bad a comic might be.

[The Weakest Ace in High School Baseball ← This dude just really wants to draw Koshien LMAO] (21)

You can tell the creator really wanted to make a Japanese-style high school baseball manga about Koshien, but since it’s on a Korean platform, he had to twist himself into knots to make it fit. Poor guy.

High school baseball clubs numbering over 2,000 nationwide? The whole country watching the national tournament? Female managers in every team? C’mon—that’s not Korea, bro. 😂

At first, people mocked it endlessly, saying it was just a lazy ripoff of Japanese baseball manga. Around that time, the forum gave it the nickname “Koja-won,” a mashup of Koshien and Gojawon (the Korean national tournament).

[Not gonna lie, Koja-won’s art is top-tier tho] (15)

The dude barely uploads, but whenever he does, his game scenes, motion, and character designs are crazy good. None of that cheap 3D asset background nonsense you see in modern webtoons.

If you think about it, he probably bent over backwards to localize the setting for a Korean platform, which explains the weird bits. Story’s a bit all over the place, but hey—pretty solid for a first series.

As chapters piled up and more forum users actually gave it a read, the general opinion flipped. The art really was incredible.
Eventually, they decided the nickname “Koja-won” wasn’t worthy of such a masterpiece.

Since the comic was baseball itself (ko-gu in Korean) and also incredibly “weeb,” they combined the two into “Shib-gu”—a mix of “씹덕 (weeb)” and “야구 (baseball).”

Let’s not think too hard about why even their compliments sound like insults.

[Are we really arguing about who’s the main heroine in Shib-gu?] (64)

Who cares about “main heroine” debates? They’ll all get dumped anyway when the MC goes pro and starts dating celebrities 😂
It’s a modern-day harem story on a mainstream platform—don’t overthink it. The author already said there’ll be a pro arc and even a major league arc. No “multiple endings” nonsense here.

This series is basically a pre-sold puppy from a pet shop. 😂

Naturally, the love-interest war became one of the forum’s hottest topics.
But then, one user dropped the “breeding” metaphor—comparing the heroines to dogs in a litter—and things spiraled fast.
The debate got so heated that people started flooding the actual webtoon comment section.

Then, one post changed everything.

[GOD.jpg] (21)

(Image of the author’s profile)

“We worship you, GOAT.”

“Bro, don’t flashbang us with that brilliance 😂”

“He is the light itself…”

[‘In My World, It Works.’] (35)

(Parody of a meme where an author justifies nonsense worldbuilding)

“In my world, polygamy is legal. Got a problem, MANBOONG?”

“This dude is literally the God of baseball manga LMAO”

“Watch your mouth—call him ‘Lord Yashin,’ you peasant.”

That was the day the author officially ascended to divine status.
Since there was already a “Man-god,” the forum dubbed him “Yashin”—the God of Baseball Manga.

Sure, some criticized it as outdated or misogynistic, and review-bombed the series. But die-hard fans fought back with alt accounts and time to spare, so the damage was minimal.

While everyone else enjoyed Shib-gu, one particular user was losing his mind.

[For god’s sake, stop calling that a SHUTO. It’s a TWO-SEAM FASTBALL, YOU MORON!] (23)

Did this guy learn baseball from Japanese manga?
He keeps calling pitches “shuto” when the description clearly fits a two-seamer.

“Hmm… you sure about that?”

“Pitchers win games, batters get fame, bro.”

“GRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Of course, I was still reading it for fun—it’s just a comic, after all.
But every so often, it throws out such absurd baseball “facts” that I can’t help but rage.

The author tries to sound like an expert, tossing around jargon and theories, but even as a casual baseball fan, I can tell half of it’s wrong.

“A real pitcher can divide the strike zone into nine sectors.”

“An underhand curve rises upward.”

“Elite pitchers have faster breaking balls.”

A parade of nonsense that makes any baseball fan’s blood boil.

So why do I keep reading? Because it’s fun. The art’s god-tier. The story just… doesn’t respect baseball at all.

Today’s the most important episode of the high school arc—the finals of the Phoenix Cup.
The MC’s team faces their long-time rivals, Donghyeon High, led by ace pitcher Kim Iseon.

This is the climactic showdown before the pro draft arc.
In this world, Korea is a unified country with a booming population and massive baseball fandom—basically every baseball fan’s fantasy come true.

As expected, Iseon’s been foreshadowed as the #1 overall pick, while the MC’s the underdog rising star. Their duel should define the future.

That’s what I thought—until:

“Kim Iseon is clutching his arm and can’t get up! Let’s hope it’s not serious!”

“Breaking news! Star pitcher Kim Iseon suffers a torn elbow ligament and severe shoulder damage! His baseball career may be over!”

…What?

You’re telling me the rival’s just gone? After hundreds of chapters of buildup?

I scrolled down to the author’s note.

[Author’s Note: I know this development might be shocking, but I planned it from the beginning. Kim Iseon was written to be too strong, which caused narrative issues. I’ve been subtly hinting at his injury potential throughout the story. This is not a sudden decision but part of my planned plotline.]

Planned? Where?!

The forum exploded. People were furious, dissecting every line for “injury foreshadowing.”

[I reread all 326 chapters after Yashin’s comment.]

“An overhand pitching form puts strain on the body.”

“High-speed sliders can damage the arm.”

That’s it. That’s your foreshadowing? Both lines came out like 10 chapters ago.

“If that counts as buildup, every pitcher in the country should be in the hospital.” 😂

But I wasn’t satisfied. I decided to re-read all 326 chapters myself—frame by frame—documenting every possible injury clue.

After days of analysis, I posted my findings:

[Regular Shib-gu reader here. I checked all possible foreshadowing for Kim Iseon’s injury.] (138)

“His pitching form overflows with power.” ← Used earlier for a different character that got scolded for being too stiff. So yeah, “overflowing power” apparently means bad form.

“His slider has great wrist rotation.” ← Wrist rotation is a known cause of injury, so maybe that’s it.

“He’s clearly exhausted.” ← Sure, fatigue leads to breakdowns, but still—torn ligaments at 18? Really?

Conclusion: the author just wanted to break his arm for drama.

“Exactly, Yashin just Yashin’d again.”

“You really reread the whole thing? Respect.”

“Perfect analysis. You nailed the author’s ‘intent.’”

“Nah, his only intent was ‘hurt this dude.’ My explanations are just copium.”

“No, you’re right. That was the intent.”

“How do you know?”

“Hold up.”

2001, Somewhere in Korea.

“Waaaah!”

“Congratulations! It’s a healthy baby boy!”

Ah.