A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 176

46. Still Just a Process (3)

About ten minutes later.

Ji-seop was in the reception room next to the chairman’s office with ‘Sakhalin Park,’ Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju.

They had been asked to wait because the meeting presided over by KH Group Chairman Joo Young-eun had not yet ended.

“Hmm, the tea tastes not bad.”

Sakhalin Park savored a cup of black tea brought by the secretary’s office with a refined air.

Slowly nodding, he slid the plate of cookies that came with it towards Secretary Yang and Ji-seop.

“Here, you guys have some too. It’s not too sweet when you eat it with tea; it’s good.”

“Thank you, Vice Chairman.”

Secretary Yang, with her easygoing personality, picked up a cookie without hesitation.

However, Ji-seop didn’t seem to be able to pay attention to the ‘not too sweet and delicious’ cookies at the moment.

“Vice Chairman, you could have given me a hint.”

Ji-seop looked at Sakhalin Park with slightly resentful eyes.

Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju looked at Ji-seop with a playful expression.

“Why? What? What are you unhappy about now?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Ji-seop continued.

“Meeting the Chairman. The heads of affiliates who usually send support funds to the Cannons will also be present… If you had told me in advance, I would have prepared something.”

“Prepare? Prepare what?”

“Yes, even a presentation covering the current state of the team…”

“What, a presentation? Hahahaha!”

Sakhalin Park laughed loudly.

“Oh my, it seems you’ve gotten a little more familiar with computers now? In the past, you couldn’t even put a table in the training report… Secretary Yang, what was that program called?”

“It was Paint, Vice Chairman.”

When Secretary Yang answered, Sakhalin Park clapped his knee, saying, ‘That’s right!’

“You were drawing each line carefully with that… Haha, now you’re even talking about presentations?”

“V, Vice Chairman, how long ago are you talking about…”

Ji-seop was sweating profusely at the mention of the ‘dark history’ of his early days with the company.

Sakhalin Park looked at Ji-seop with a soft smile.

“There’s no need to worry so much.”

Vice Chairman Park picked up a cookie and handed it to Ji-seop.

“Anyway, you came in for a good reason, right? The team is at the top, so the atmosphere won’t be bad.”

“…”

“The heads of affiliates might try to show off and give you some trouble, but you’re capable enough to handle that…”

However, there was one thing.

Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju looked at Ji-seop.

“The Chairman might ask you questions. You should think about that part in advance.”

“Questions? Specifically, what kind of…”

“It’s obvious. Is there anything you want to say, is there anything the team really needs…? Questions like that.”

“Ah.”

He could solve most things with the help of Vice Chairman Park, but there were limits to what he could do.

Things that only the real ‘owner’ of the Cannons, not the ‘acting’ owner, could solve.

If there was such a matter, it seemed like advice not to miss this opportunity.

‘Something only the owner can do…’

Ji-seop stared blankly at the KH Group logo on the wall of the reception room.

How much time had passed?

There was a ‘knock, knock’ sound from outside, and then a secretary appeared.

“Vice Chairman, the Chairman is looking for you.”

“Ah, is the meeting over?”

The Cannons people headed to the chairman’s office, guided by the secretary.

After walking down a carpeted hallway and standing in front of a door without a nameplate, Sakhalin Park paused for a moment and straightened his clothes.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Vice Chairman.”

The secretary knocked ‘knock, knock’ and carefully opened the door.

As Sakhalin Park entered the room, the people who were already there stood up all at once.

“Oh, Vice Chairman! You’re here!”

Some people took a step forward with the eagerness to hug him right away.

“You look even better than before! Are you eating something good? Hahaha.”

Some people burst into hearty laughter and shook hands.

“Congratulations on the team’s rise to the top!”

“I was really surprised! Such achievements in less than two years since you took office!”

According to Secretary Yang, these were all key executives of KH Group.

If they had risen to the position of executives in a large company, they must not have been ordinary people.

However, Ji-seop was looking at them with eyes as if he were looking at neighborhood uncles.

It wasn’t that the KH Group executives’ impressions were faint, but rather that there were people who exuded a much stronger presence than them.

“Haha, looking better? How can you tease an old man like that? You bad people!”

One of them was, of course, ‘Sakhalin Park,’ Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju.

And the other was-

“It’s been a while, Vice Chairman.”

It was KH Group Chairman Joo Young-eun.

* * *

To put it bluntly,

On this day, Ji-seop perfectly fulfilled his role as an employee representing the baseball team.

As Sakhalin Park had predicted, the KH Group executives asked quite sharp questions about the baseball team’s operation, but Ji-seop handled them very skillfully.

“Ah, that matter is…”

At first, he had planned to explain by giving examples of individual players.

He thought this would be much easier for people who didn’t know much about baseball to understand.

However, after a few words were exchanged, Ji-seop could vaguely grasp it.

‘Ah, these people need some kind of… systematic explanation.’

Perhaps because they were people who managed companies, they seemed to have a different way of thinking than ordinary people.

It didn’t seem enough to explain that Ryu Jang-ho’s batting form was clean and Jimmy Morris’s slider was terrifying.

How did Ryu Jang-ho create a clean batting form, and how did Jimmy Morris acquire such a terrifying slider?

It seemed like they would only be satisfied if there was a clear answer to this part.

Of course, at this point, it wasn’t too difficult for Ji-seop to explain in this way.

“Since last season, our Cannons have been faithfully utilizing biomechanics data.”

“Biomechanics?”

The executives’ eyes sparkled.

“Yes, you can think of it as ‘biological mechanics.’ It’s a system that creates data for all movements of the player, such as batting, defense, and base running, and then finds the most efficient posture based on this.”

“Hmm.”

The executives nodded.

Ji-seop continued the explanation.

“With the introduction of biomechanics, research on the SSW effect [Seam-Shifted Wake effect, referring to the trajectory change caused by the seams of the baseball] has become possible this season through an agreement with the Boston Red Sox.”

“SSW effect?”

“There isn’t a definite translation yet, but it refers to the trajectory change caused by the seams of the baseball. If you study this well, you can strengthen curveballs that flow sideways.”

“Ah-ha!”

An executive who knew about it came forward.

“Jimmy Morris’s slider has become stronger thanks to the research on that S… whatchamacallit effect?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Ji-seop continued.

“In this way, our Cannons have established our own system to become a strong team. The good results this season can be attributed to that.”

Ji-seop was picking out and telling the stories that the group executives wanted to hear.

Even while diligently continuing to speak, Ji-seop did not forget to subtly praise his ‘direct superior.’

“And the establishment of all these systems was possible thanks to the active support of Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju here.”

“Hahaha, is that so?!”

The executives, who had been listening to the story with serious expressions, burst into laughter at this timing.

“You’re amazing, Vice Chairman! You’re really Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju!”

At this time, Ji-seop thought that there would be praise for Vice Chairman Park’s management of the baseball team, but the KH Group executive’s praise was directed elsewhere.

“You explain well, and you also know how to subtly praise your superiors… Haha, where did you get such a smart employee?”

“That’s what I’m saying. If it were our employees, they would be trembling and making a fuss… I’m jealous, Vice Chairman?”

“Oh, you people! Why can’t you grasp the context of the conversation?!”

As the executives’ praise focused on Ji-seop, Sakhalin Park got angry again for no reason.

“In terms of context, you should be praising me now, me! What’s going to come out of praising this guy!”

Even while saying that, Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju patted Ji-seop’s shoulder ‘thump, thump.’

While Ji-seop was quietly laughing inside, the KH Group executives were expressing their own impressions.

“Frankly, there have been many criticisms within our corporation that we are sending too much support money to the baseball team… But I think those stories will decrease a little now.”

“I think so too. If the baseball team is building up its system like this, we can expect good results in the future.”

“Whether we like it or not, it’s true that the baseball team’s performance is directly related to the group’s image, isn’t it? In that respect, we are also grateful to the Vice Chairman.”

The KH Group executives were showing an unusually favorable reaction to the baseball team.

Ji-seop was thinking, ‘That’s good’ inside.

No matter how much he was trying to ‘stand on his own,’ the baseball team’s operation had no choice but to rely heavily on the support funds from the group’s affiliates.

‘If the heads of affiliates are so favorable, the finance team people won’t have to suffer so much this year.’

The finance team people were struggling because the support money that had been clearly promised by the affiliates was not being sent.

The marketing team people were running around trying to fill the reduced support money somehow.

Ji-seop was smiling inwardly as he thought of those colleagues.

And,

It was the moment right after that.

“Yes, our Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju has worked very hard.”

It was Chairman Joo Young-eun.

She, who had been quietly watching the situation until then, opened her mouth for the first time.

“The support for the team itself will be provided by the executives here… Hmm, was it Kim Ji-seop?”

The chairman of KH Group was calling him.

Ji-seop quickly raised his head.

“Ah, yes, Chairman!”

“You’ve worked hard coming to this difficult place today, so tell me about it.”

Her voice was quite warm.

“I wonder if there’s anything you particularly want to say to me, or anything the Cannons really need…? I think there might be something like that?”

“Ah, th, that would be…”

In fact, Ji-seop was prepared.

Before entering the chairman’s office, Sakhalin Park had given him a heads-up in advance.

Things that the ‘acting’ owner couldn’t do, but the real ‘owner’ could do.

Ji-seop had been thinking about it and had prepared an answer since hearing Sakhalin Park’s advice.

However, the moment he met Chairman Joo Young-eun’s eyes, Ji-seop had no choice but to swallow hard.

[Yes, the baseball team has a system.]

It was Chairman Joo Young-eun’s inner thoughts.

[Then it wouldn’t be bad to take my hands off at this point? So that they can’t win the championship this year.]

[Sakhalin Park’s term was until next year. If I cut off support for now and then give it again from the year after next…]

The next moment, Ji-seop could read the ambition rising in Chairman Joo Young-eun’s eyes.

[The credit for KH Cannons’ championship… Couldn’t it come back to me?]

Ji-seop was a little embarrassed.

He wondered if a person who was the chairman of a large company could break a promise so easily.

He also wondered if a person who already had full control of the group needed to be greedy for just one baseball team championship.

‘…’

The only fortunate thing was one thing.

Chairman Joo had not yet solidified her mind.

“Ah, that is…”

While pretending to hesitate slightly, Ji-seop hurriedly started to turn his head.

What should I do?

What should I say?

What kind of request should I make to change Chairman Joo’s mind even a little?

After thinking, Ji-seop raised his head and looked at Chairman Joo Young-eun.

“Chairman.”

And the one word he took out with the feeling of ‘Oh well, I don’t know’ was the following.

“I hope you will hold a ritual.”

“A ritual?”

“Yes.”

Ji-seop nodded.

“I’ve heard that even large companies hold rituals before big events. I hope you will hold such a ritual for our Cannons too…”

“A ritual… That’s a bit unexpected?”

It was the very next moment that a strange smile appeared on Chairman Joo Young-eun’s lips.

“Biomechanics, SSW effect… Hasn’t Kim Ji-seop only talked about such scientific things until now?”