A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 109

30. The First Postseason (1)

Wildcard Decision Match D-2.

Jisub sat in a franchise cafe near the KH Cannons Field.

Click. Click. Click.

The person across from him, clicking a pen, was Hwang Young-joo, a reporter from [Sports Hanseong], known as ‘Jomi’ (a nickname implying a tenacious, in-depth reporter).

She was currently covering the ‘abandonment of winning’ declaration by Vice Chairman Park Hong-joo.

“So, to summarize, Jisub, you’re saying the acting owner of the KH Cannons accepted Director Seo Chang-gi’s opinion?”

“Yes.”

Jisub nodded.

“And the director followed the wishes of Manager Arthur Freeman.”

“Acting owner, director, and manager… So these three reached a compromise through conversation…”

Oh, dear.

Reporter Hwang Young-joo put down her pen and stretched.

“Wow, this is so boring, humanly speaking.”

Reporter Hwang clicked her tongue.

“Higher-ups are supposed to fight and bicker to make things interesting… If they compromise so easily, what am I supposed to live on? No one will even read an article about this.”

“Even if you look at me like that, I have nothing more to say.”

The two had agreed to only confirm facts from the beginning.

“If you have no further questions… can I get the compensation for the interview now?”

“Damn it, no matter how I look at it, I seem to be at a loss here…”

Reporter Hwang nervously slurped the remaining iced coffee in the plastic cup.

But only for a moment. She raised her head, saying, “Okay, a promise is a promise.”

“What were you curious about, Jisub? Ah, right… For a successful postseason, what should the front office do?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Jisub nodded.

“You’ve done the research… right?”

* * *

The ‘compensation for interview cooperation’ that Jisub mentioned.

It was a request to gather the know-how of veteran front office members from various teams.

What needs to be done to successfully navigate the postseason?

What aspects should the front office pay special attention to during the postseason?

Originally, the best way to find this out is to ask a senior member with a lot of experience within the team.

However, it had been a whopping 12 years since the KH Cannons had advanced to the postseason. Even then, it was only a short run with three consecutive 준-playoff [semi-playoff] losses.

There were no veterans with extensive postseason experience in this terrible professional baseball team.

‘…I have no choice.’

That’s when Hwang Young-joo came to mind.

Because of her long career in journalism, she had a wide network in the baseball scene, and since she was so good at generating views, few front offices could ignore her.

If such a ‘Hwang Jomi’ stepped forward, it wouldn’t be impossible to extract the know-how of veteran front office members from other teams.

As always, Jisub’s prediction did not go wrong.

“Honestly, most of it was just obvious stuff. Like making sure the players eat well, closely monitoring injuries…”

Reporter Hwang Young-joo swiped through her phone screen.

She looked at Jisub with sharp eyes and continued.

“But the operations manager of the Future Kings had an interesting story to tell.”

“Future Kings?”

Although they had been struggling for the past few years, they were once a team that had won the Korean Series four years in a row.

Jisub couldn’t help but be excited.

“What did they say?”

“What kind of conversations the players have during lunchtime on game day… In their experience, that was the most important thing.”

The topic of conversation during lunchtime.

Hwang Jomi had a serious expression.

“If the players are talking about baseball at that time? Then that day’s game will be 100% difficult.”

“Why?”

“Pressure.”

Hwang Jomi’s answer was simple.

“You know, Jisub, players don’t really talk about baseball when they eat, right? They say it’s hard to digest. It ruins their appetite.”

It wasn’t just baseball players who were like that.

Jisub also wanted to get away from work thoughts when he ate.

“If those players are talking about baseball during lunchtime? Talking about the opposing team’s starting pitcher, their hitting condition… If they’re bringing that up? That’s proof that the players are under a lot of pressure.”

Pressure that they can’t tell the coaching staff, pressure that they can’t tell the front office staff.

No, even pressure that they themselves don’t realize they have.

The story was that the pressure would be transferred to the field and ruin the game that day.

“It makes sense, but…”

Jisub scratched his chin.

“Then what should we do? Since we’re facing such an important game, I think it’s inevitable that they’ll talk about baseball…”

“According to the operations manager…”

Tock tock.

Hwang Jomi tapped the table with her finger.

“If you create a topic other than baseball, it’ll be fine.”

“A topic?”

“A conversation starter.”

She continued.

“Anything is fine. Celebrity stories are good, YouTube stories are good… Anyway, throw out a topic that the players are likely to talk about.”

It might be a fleeting moment.

There’s a high possibility that they’ll return to reality after the conversation is over.

But at least when they’re eating lunch, they can completely relax and be comfortable.

The story was that that short break would greatly help improve the players’ performance.

“They say it’s one of the secrets to the Future Kings’ success in the postseason… I thought it was a pretty good story.”

“I agree.”

Jisub expressed his agreement.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

* * *

After parting ways with Reporter Hwang Young-joo, Jisub began to work hard to find a suitable topic to introduce to the players.

At first, he thought it would be a simple task, but it turned out to be more difficult than he thought.

“…”

Ages vary, interests vary.

A topic that can grab the attention of all twenty-plus players.

He wondered if such a topic even existed, and his head became complicated.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have asked what kind of topic they introduced.”

As he sighed and clicked the mouse ‘click, click’,

“Jisub, is the manager in?”

The office door creaked open, and a well-built man poked his head in.

It was Jang Kyung-woo, the section chief of the KH Cannons operations team.

“Yes, the manager is inside… What’s the matter?”

“Ah, it’s nothing big… But I have something to tell the manager anyway.”

Section Chief Jang Kyung-woo smiled as he wiped the cold sweat flowing down his cheeks.

Soon after, Section Chief Jang, along with Jisub, entered the manager’s office, Jang opened his mouth with an embarrassed expression.

“There was… a bit of trouble on social media, Manager.”

“Trouble… what kind?”

As Manager Arthur Freeman showed interest, Section Chief Jang took out the tablet PC he was holding.

“This is a post that was uploaded to our Cannons community two hours ago…”

“Hmm, this is…”

Freeman squinted as he looked at the tablet PC screen.

He tilted his head slightly.

“This is… a cookie, isn’t it?”

A cookie to eat. A snack.

But the shape was a bit unique.

“It’s shaped like a person’s face wearing a hat. Wait a minute? Could this be… a depiction of our Cannons players’ faces?”

“That’s right, Manager.”

Section Chief Jang nodded.

“Actually, this is… said to be made in the Dongjin Generals’ players’ cafeteria.”

“Dongjin Generals?”

The team that ranked 5th this season.

The very team that would be competing with the KH Cannons for a semi-playoff spot in two days.

“They say they made the cookies to cheer on their players.”

Chewing on a cookie shaped like Ryu Jang-ho, chewing on a cookie shaped like Chun Jin-woo.

The meaning was to ‘crunch, crunch’ chew up the KH Cannons in the game two days later.

From the perspective of the Dongjin nutritionist, it was an event worth trying, but the problem was that it was leaked on social media.

“It seems like there’s talk in the internet community. Apparently, making edible cookies in the shape of our players’ faces is a bit…”

“Hmm, that’s right. Depending on how you look at it, it could be considered an inappropriate way to cheer.”

“Yes, fortunately, the Dongjin Generals posted an official apology a little while ago. The operations manager even made a personal apology call.”

The point was that this incident was the personal action of a nutritionist working in the Generals’ players’ cafeteria.

The operations team had left her alone because she usually held a lot of fun events, but the operations team didn’t even realize she would cross the line like this.

They added a promise that they would thoroughly crack down on this so that this would never happen again.

“There was also a message from Dongjin saying that if our Cannons players were hurt by this, they would somehow compensate…”

A situation that could be seen as offensive depending on the person.

However, Arthur Freeman, after hearing Jisub’s explanation, simply waved his hand, saying, ‘That’s enough.’

“When young people burn with enthusiasm, they can sometimes make mistakes. They’ve made an official apology, so what other compensation is needed? By the way…”

Hmm.

It was at this moment that Arthur Freeman looked closely at the tablet PC screen.

“These cookies, they’re pretty well made, aren’t they?”

“Yes?”

“It seems like that nutritionist has a good eye. They’ve captured the characteristics of our players well.”

Freeman smiled.

Section Chief Jang, relieved by the manager’s reaction, opened his mouth with a much brighter expression.

“T-That’s what I was thinking too.”

“Right? This cookie with the piercing eyes seems to be modeled after Ryu Jang-ho…”

“Wouldn’t this cookie with the thick lips be player Ahn Young-chan?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

The two, having completely forgotten that the cookies were made by the opposing team, were looking at the photos on the tablet PC.

“Then who is this modeled after? If it’s someone with particularly round ears…”

“Isn’t it player Lee Soo-bin? That’s what I was thinking.”

“No, wouldn’t Lee Soo-bin be this photo next to it? The expression looks particularly cocky.”

“Ah, that’s right. Then who is this…”

Jisub, who had been diligently translating between the two.

It was at that moment, when he was about to feel a bit of ‘현타’ [hyun-ta – a feeling of disillusionment or emptiness after intense effort] about what he was doing now, with the wildcard decision match just around the corner.

‘…Wait a minute?’

Jisub felt a ray of light flash through his head.

‘A topic that can be introduced to the players on the day of the postseason game… Wouldn’t this be okay?’

Cookies. Cookies in the shape of players’ faces.

If they were lined up at the entrance of the cafeteria, it seemed like it would be a good conversation starter for the players.

They could talk about who this cookie is supposed to be.

They could joke around while ‘crunching’ on the cookie.

A topic that could empty their minds, which were complicated with thoughts of the game, even for a moment.

‘Yes, just like the manager is doing now.’

This is it.

This will do.

Jisub, feeling his heart pounding, called out to Jang Kyung-woo, the section chief of the operations team.

“Section Chief.”

“Hmm?”

“You said that we can ask the Dongjin Generals for anything, right? Since they caused the accident.”

“W-Well, that’s true, but…”

Section Chief Jang blinked.

“Is there anything special you want to ask for?”

“Yes, there is one thing.”

Jisub pointed to the tablet PC and opened his mouth.

“These cookies… Could we ask them to make as many as possible and bring them to us on the day of the game?”

Jisub continued.

“I’d like to be able to show this to the players directly.”