Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 9

The Problem Isn’t That (1)

Kim Min-hwan returned to his office and headed straight for the CEO’s office.

“CEO!”

“Team Leader Kim? Weren’t you at the game?”

Im Ye-ji looked surprised to see Kim Min-hwan suddenly appear.

“CEO, what are you thinking?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I’m talking about Kang Hyun-woo. What are you going to do with him?”

“Is there any particular problem?”

Kim Min-hwan felt a surge of frustration at Im Ye-ji’s nonchalant response.

“A rookie should learn the basics first. No matter how much experience he has as a player, he won’t know anything about this side of things. To skip everything and assign him exclusively to Seok-hoon for three months…”

“Doesn’t Oh Seok-hoon need something completely different from what he’s been doing to improve his performance? And I think you’ve mentioned that you’re too busy and finding it difficult these days?”

“Well, yes, but this isn’t right. The other players might make a fuss if they find out.”

“A fuss? Would the company really be in an uproar because a rookie who just joined and doesn’t know the job is helping out for a few months?”

Kim Min-hwan was speechless at Im Ye-ji’s firm words, delivered without a change in expression.

“That, that’s…”

“Please focus more on managing the existing players. The work you’re doing now is also very important. You know that, right?”

“Then… I’ll assign another player to the rookie and focus more on Seok-hoon. I recommended him and brought him in, after all.”

Im Ye-ji paused briefly at Kim Min-hwan’s words.

“…”

As the silence grew longer, the atmosphere in the office became increasingly cold.

“Team Leader.”

When Im Ye-ji finally spoke again, Kim Min-hwan swallowed nervously.

“Yes, CEO…”

“Are you the CEO of this company?”

“Yes? Ah… no, I’m not.”

“I’m glad you know. It’s true that you’ve been with me the longest, but I, as the CEO, decide what tasks our employees, including you, will undertake.”

Kim Min-hwan couldn’t argue while Im Ye-ji was speaking.

“And professionals should prove themselves with results, not emotions. There’s no reason not to acknowledge someone who delivers results.”

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

“If you have nothing more to say, you can leave now.”

Kim Min-hwan bowed slightly and turned to leave.

As Kim Min-hwan cautiously left the CEO’s office, Im Ye-ji casually added a remark.

“Don’t forget to knock when you come to the CEO’s office in the future.”

* * *

Play ball!

The game started not long after I took my seat.

“Today, Oh Seok-hoon is batting sixth and playing third base.”

He had often played as a right fielder recently, including yesterday’s game, but today he was back at third base.

In baseball, the skills required for defense vary depending on the position.

Outfielders stand in the vast outfield and handle high-flying balls.

Therefore, the ability to quickly predict where the ball will land as soon as it’s hit is crucial.

In contrast, infielders must directly defend against the opposing team’s players around the bases.

As such, they are directly affected by numerous variables depending on the game situation and the opponent’s style.

Therefore, they must understand and execute defensive strategies according to the situation.

Also, because they stand close to the batter, the ball comes quickly, so quick decision-making is important, and they must be able to handle tricky balls that bounce irregularly.

Thus, each position requires different skills and movements.

However, Oh Seok-hoon was alternating between infielder and outfielder positions every day.

Moreover, there were often days when he changed positions during the game.

It was more impressive that he didn’t get confused about where he was supposed to be standing.

I focused on Oh Seok-hoon’s movements throughout the game.

Fortunately, the opposing team was the Jaguars, my former team, so it was quite easy to analyze.

Thwack!

The ball hit by the opposing player flew towards Oh Seok-hoon’s position.

As soon as it was hit, the ball bounced off the ground, changing its trajectory.

Oh Seok-hoon quickly moved and reached out with his glove, but the ball bounced once more in front of him and rebounded higher than expected.

“Uh, uh?”

He didn’t catch it cleanly with his glove, but fortunately, he managed to block the ball with his body.

Oh Seok-hoon picked up the ball that had fallen in front of him and threw it to first base.

“Whew…”

Although it took some time because he didn’t catch it cleanly, he was such a good thrower that there was no problem getting the batter out.

Soon after, it was the Buffaloes’ turn to bat.

Thanks to the batters before him getting hits, Oh Seok-hoon, batting sixth, was able to step up to the plate in the first inning.

Although there were two outs, all the bases were loaded.

If Oh Seok-hoon got a good hit here, he could score three runs at once.

I held my breath and watched the game.

‘Huh, his batting stance looks a little different?’

He was bending his knees more than yesterday and holding the bat almost horizontally to the ground.

It was a subtle change that was hard to notice at first glance, but it was definitely different.

Making changes to one’s batting stance during spring camp, and even during the season, was not uncommon for professional players.

And although rare, there were cases where players abandoned their batting stance and tried something new during the season.

The reason was one of two things.

Either a desperate change to overcome poor performance, or a new challenge to achieve even better results than now.

In Oh Seok-hoon’s case, it was the former.

‘His batting isn’t going well, so he’s probably grasping at straws…’

The information I had seen earlier flashed through my mind.

-He doubts whether he can survive as a professional.

-He’s afraid of playing every day.

With poor batting performance and defensive errors in every game, anyone would feel the same way.

‘I felt that way not too long ago.’

The pitcher facing Oh Seok-hoon was a player who had recently returned from an injury.

He wasn’t a pitcher with a fast ball or a variety of pitches.

However, he had the strength to throw his pitches without wavering even in critical situations.

He might seem easy because he didn’t look special, but this type of pitcher was actually difficult to deal with.

The pitcher exchanged signals with the catcher and prepared to throw the ball.

Oh Seok-hoon also prepared to bat.

Whack!

From the first pitch, a high, fast ball was caught in the catcher’s mitt.

It was the beginning of the game, but it was a full-force pitch, perhaps because it was a critical situation where they might give up a lot of runs.

Whoosh!

Oh Seok-hoon’s bat swung powerfully, but the ball had already passed.

“Strike!”

The umpire’s loud call was heard.

Although he didn’t hit the ball, it wasn’t a bad strategy to aim for the first pitch against this type of pitcher.

However, it was a very high ball that the catcher had to stand up halfway to catch.

Oh Seok-hoon shook his head, dissatisfied with himself.

The pitcher and batter took their positions again.

The second pitch was a slider that curved away from where Oh Seok-hoon was standing.

It was a perfect decoy that the batter couldn’t help but be fooled by.

However, Oh Seok-hoon’s body only flinched slightly, and the bat didn’t swing.

“Ball.”

One ball, one strike.

If he got two strikes against this pitcher, it would be very difficult to compete afterwards, so it was necessary for Oh Seok-hoon to actively aim for this ball.

However, the opposing pitcher and catcher were well aware of this fact.

The third pitch thrown by the pitcher seemed to be coming quickly into the strike zone, but the speed suddenly decreased and it dropped slightly.

Oh Seok-hoon, who had judged it to be a fast ball, was already swinging his bat.

Tick.

“Ah…”

The ball hit the bottom of the bat, resulting in a weak ground ball.

Oh Seok-hoon ran to first base as hard as he could, but the ball reached first base first.

Unfortunately, it was an out.

It seemed that Oh Seok-hoon’s disappointed expression could be seen in his back as he passed first base and slowly slowed down.

The game seemed to be progressing without anything special, but the problem was in the fourth inning.

A ball flew to Oh Seok-hoon, who was playing third base.

It wasn’t a difficult ball.

However, the ball was slightly mis-hit, reducing its speed, and it took longer than expected to catch it.

Moreover, the opposing batter was a very fast runner.

Oh Seok-hoon seemed to be positioning himself well, but perhaps because he was conscious of the fast opposing batter, his expression and movements showed a sense of urgency even before the ball entered his glove.

“Gasp.”

As soon as he caught the ball, he threw it to first base, but perhaps because he put too much force into it, the ball flew so high that the first baseman couldn’t catch it even with a jump.

It would have been fortunate if it had ended with a simple error, but the ball went into the dugout.

Confirming this, the umpire signaled the batter to go to second base.

Oh Seok-hoon, who was sitting on the spot, ruffled his hair and blamed himself.

The runner who advanced due to Oh Seok-hoon’s error eventually came home, resulting in a run.

And as the fifth inning began, Oh Seok-hoon’s position had changed to right field.

“He ends up changing positions again today.”

Because he had been showing unstable defense and made a critical error in the fourth inning, the manager or coach may have thought that a change was necessary.

However, from the player’s perspective, confidence was bound to drop as soon as his position was changed after making an error.

Fortunately, he finished the rest of the game without incident as a right fielder.

However, Oh Seok-hoon’s hit did not come out until the last at-bat.

The game ended with the Buffaloes losing 1-0.

The one point resulting from Oh Seok-hoon’s error was the only score of today’s game.

As the game ended, all the players gathered in one place and greeted the fans.

Oh Seok-hoon, the only one wearing his hat pulled down low, couldn’t even lift his head.

After the game, I briefly summarized the contents of today’s game on the spot and then got up to go meet Oh Seok-hoon.

I was a little worried about what to say when I met him.