Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 32

Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju were tossing a rugby ball back and forth, running around the yard.

Despite the chilly early winter wind, sweat was starting to bead on their faces.

“Dropped it. Out.”

“Hey, that’s not fair.”

Oh Seok-hoon looked at the rugby ball on the ground and shouted at Park Seong-ju, as if feeling wronged.

“I could have caught that easily.”

“You threw it weirdly.”

“What are you talking about? Let’s do it again.”

“Honestly, the way you throw is just strange.”

“What are you talking about? I’m a third baseman. My throws are super accurate. I hardly ever make throwing errors.”

“I’m a right fielder. I can throw accurately from much farther away. Didn’t you see my assist from the outfield to home?”

It was just a light warm-up exercise before starting real training.

But before they knew it, both of them were burning with competitive spirit.

The smiles that had been on their faces at the beginning were nowhere to be found.

You could even feel the solemnity of facing a crucial moment in an important game.

“Don’t drop it this time, catch it.”

“Just throw it properly.”

Park Seong-ju picked up the ball again and spoke reproachfully, and Oh Seok-hoon’s eyes blazed with competitive spirit.

“Start!”

With Park Seong-ju’s shout as the starting signal, they started running around the yard again, tossing the rugby ball back and forth.

There was a moment of crisis when Oh Seok-hoon barely managed to catch it, but he managed not to drop it and threw it, continuing the run.

Only after returning to the starting point without dropping the ball did the two of them stop.

Their faces were even more sweaty than before.

“You’re getting a little better now.”

“It’s because I caught it well.”

Park Seong-ju patted Oh Seok-hoon’s shoulder as he panted.

“Let’s do it one more time.”

“Let’s stop and do something else now. Are we just going to keep warming up?”

Oh Seok-hoon’s face, holding the rugby ball, still showed his sense of injustice.

I, who had been watching this scene from the window, opened the door.

“It’s almost time to eat. Come in and eat.”

As soon as they heard my voice, Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju almost simultaneously turned their heads to look at me.

“Is it already time to eat?”

“It’s been past that for a while.”

“Already? When did it get so late?”

“I was going to wait until you guys finished since you were working so hard, but I thought if I kept watching, it would never end, so I called you.”

It seemed like the training was getting unnecessarily overheated due to their pointless competitive spirit, and more than anything, I was really hungry.

I gestured to Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju to come in quickly.

“Thank you for the food.”

Park Seong-ju greeted the passing cook loudly.

It was so loud that the room echoed.

The cook flinched and was startled.

Then, he smiled brightly at us and made way.

“I like everything about being here, but the best thing is the food. How do they make it so delicious every time?”

Park Seong-ju picked up a side dish with his chopsticks and repeatedly exclaimed with admiration, giving a thumbs up.

“Eat up. You have to train hard in the afternoon too.”

I was reading the data for the Na Jun-ho negotiation while eating.

“Wow. Are you handling Jun-ho senior’s FA [Free Agent] contract too, hyung [older brother or senior]?”

Oh Seok-hoon looked at me with curious eyes.

“I’m not handling it directly, I’m just watching and learning from the CEO this time.”

“Wow. I’m curious about how FA negotiations are done.”

Park Seong-ju’s face was full of curiosity.

“I’ll let you know what it was like after I try it.”

“Later, when we become free agents, will you do it for us, sunbae [senior]?”

“Of course. I have to handle you two. Don’t let anyone else take you when the time comes.”

I looked back and forth between Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju’s faces and gave a playful, hearty laugh.

“I won’t betray you, sunbae. Seok-hoon, you won’t either, right?”

“Of course. No matter what happens, I won’t go anywhere else, so don’t worry.”

“But you’re not suddenly going to another agency, are you, sunbae?”

Park Seong-ju shifted his gaze to me and asked.

Me going to another agency?

Could that happen?

So far, I had no complaints about our company and only felt grateful.

CEO Im Ye-ji had never opposed my opinions and had spared no effort in providing active support.

Unless something special happens in the future, there’s no reason for me to leave.

“I don’t think that will happen. But if I ever do leave, I’ll tell you two in advance.”

“Eii… Is just telling us in advance enough?”

Park Seong-ju frowned and put down his chopsticks.

“Then?”

“You have to take us with you. To sunbae’s company.”

“Okay, deal. If that ever happens, I’ll do whatever it takes to take you with me.”

“You promise?”

Park Seong-ju raised his hand with his thumb and pinky extended.

“Of course. No matter what happens, I won’t leave you two behind and leave alone.”

I hooked pinkies with Park Seong-ju and promised.

Oh Seok-hoon, who was next to him, hurriedly raised his hand and hooked pinkies with me.

As soon as I finished lunch, I returned to my room.

I was in a situation where I had to give up all my days off for the time being and pour everything into preparing for the negotiations.

I was going to be incredibly busy preparing for Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju’s salary negotiations tomorrow, as well as Na Jun-ho’s FA negotiations, which would begin soon.

Salary is directly related to the income of affiliated players and agencies, and because it is disclosed to everyone through the media, it directly shows the capabilities of the agency, so I couldn’t take any of it lightly.

Fortunately, I didn’t have many players under my management yet.

I felt like I needed to build up my own know-how before the time came when I had to manage more players.

Weeing-

A message arrived.

A satisfied smile spread across my face as I read the contents.

It was a message from Choi Jeong-hwan.

-Thanks to you, sunbae, I finished my salary negotiations well. Next year, I’m really going to focus only on exercising and get even better results than this year.

A smile naturally appeared on my face.

Even though not a penny had entered my account yet, I felt like my heart was enriched.

* * *

It was the second meeting with the Buffaloes general manager.

The people who attended were the same, and even the seats were the same, so it was so similar that it was confusing with the first negotiation day.

But upon closer inspection, there was one noticeable difference.

Unlike the first meeting, when there wasn’t even a hint of color on the general manager’s face, he seemed relaxed today.

I could feel that he had prepared something in the past few days.

I was curious to see what kind of content would pop out.

Since it was our second meeting, we didn’t shake hands but just exchanged greetings and sat down right away, so I was disappointed that the content visible above the general manager and operations team leader hadn’t been updated.

Glancing at the operations team leader, I could feel that he was exhausted.

On the day we first met, he would have had negotiations that were close to notifications with the minimum wage players, so there was no reason to be exhausted.

Since then, negotiations with other players would have been completely different.

Negotiations with players who were already receiving high salaries or who had performed well this season could not have been simple.

There were quite a few cases where such players were working with agents who only handled salary negotiations.

There were also not infrequent cases where negotiations continued until just before spring camp started because opinions were not coordinated.

It was only natural to be exhausted after conducting such salary negotiations for days.

Therefore, in order to proceed with smooth negotiations, I am going to approach it a little emotionally this time.

“You must be busy negotiating salaries with the players, right?”

I naturally spoke to the general manager and operations team leader and handed them each a coffee that I had brought.

I gave the general manager a warm Americano and the operations team leader an iced Americano.

I guessed what their preferences were by looking at what they were drinking at the last meeting.

I could quickly confirm that it was not a bad strategy.

“Oh my. You must be busy, but you even prepared this for us.”

The operations team leader’s eyes seemed a little softer.

“Thank you. I will enjoy it.”

The general manager next to him also gave a slight smile and took a sip.

I already expected that the current atmosphere would not continue once heavy stories were exchanged later.

But it would be difficult to suddenly shout at someone who had shown you even a small favor.

“Then shall we proceed from yesterday’s content?”

Now, Kim Min-hwan, who was next to me, intervened and started the negotiations.

“Let’s do that.”

The general manager blew on his hot coffee a few times, took a sip, and then answered.

“If there are no major changes from the existing proposal, it will be difficult to reach a conclusion today as well.”

“Our team leader Kim is very impatient.”

The general manager said with a smile on his face as he looked at Kim Min-hwan’s resolute expression.

“Let’s hear the club’s opinion first.”

“I think it would be good to look at this first.”

At the general manager’s gesture, the operations team leader displayed data on the monitor next to the conference table.

“This is the salary data of players who have achieved similar results to Oh Seok-hoon. It includes Buffaloes players and players from other teams.”

The general manager pointed to the data and clasped his hands together, his confidence fully felt.

“Although he showed good performance this year like Oh Seok-hoon, in cases where the sample was small because he only played in about 40 games, we usually signed a contract with an increase of about 20-25%. As you can see, it is accurately shown in the numbers.”

Kim Min-hwan coughed loudly, as if he didn’t like what the general manager was saying.

“It is true that the team’s performance was not good, but considering that Oh Seok-hoon’s performance was quite outstanding, I think a 40% increase would be appropriate. Considering that the club’s budget for next year has been reduced, I think we have shown the best sincerity we can.”

“If it’s a 40% increase…”

“It’s a 20 million won increase, making it 70 million won.”

The general manager answered without giving a moment’s gap, as if he had been waiting.

“I think this would be a satisfactory result for both sides. Do you have any other opinions?”

“Um…”

Kim Min-hwan was racking his brain, but I could feel him glancing at me sideways, as if he couldn’t think of anything to refute.

It wasn’t an absurdly low offer, but it certainly wasn’t the level we wanted.

‘Finally, it’s time to use this.’

I felt proud that the data I had prepared overnight could play a role in this crucial situation.

I took out the documents from my bag, stood up, and handed them to the general manager and operations team leader one by one.

“I missed this in the data I gave you yesterday.”

The general manager’s eyebrows twitched severely as he read the documents.