A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 254

65. Sometime, Here Again (2)

Team Leader Cha Yoon-jin of the Operations Team was spot-on with her prediction of the ‘Black Curtain Cha Cha’ [referring to a situation where something is being hidden or manipulated behind the scenes].

“Special Assistant Kim, what’s wrong?”

“Why the long face?”

When she and the other team leaders asked these questions, the Special Assistant to the Cannons’ General Manager gave the following answer.

“Ah, the essay…….”

His voice was almost dead.

“The essay got rejected.”

“Essay? Writing?”

The first to react was the head of the Cannons’ Management Support Team.

She was usually in charge of hiring interns and new employees, so she was probably familiar with the word ‘essay.’

“Which one is it? The one you’re submitting to the Boston Red Sox, or the one for Fort Myers University?”

“It’s…… the university one.”

Jisub continued.

“The admissions office told me not to worry too much because the essay doesn’t carry a lot of weight…… but the professor in charge called me a little while ago.”

“The professor did?”

“Yes, he was furious.”

He added, “What kind of essay did you write? Writing is the foundation of scholarship. If you want to learn under me, rewrite it from scratch and send it back.” He didn’t even give me a chance to make excuses, just rattled off, leaving me feeling like my soul had been sucked out.

“Oh dear, looks like you’ve run into a tough professor?”

The head of the Management Support Team chuckled.

“Special Assistant Kim, can’t you just go under a different professor? In my experience, those kinds of professors will be strict until you get your degree.”

“Ah, that’s a bit…….”

Jisub scratched the back of his head.

“The reason I chose Fort Myers University in the first place was because of that professor. Professor Kevin Prior is quite famous in the field of Major League team management.”

“Ah, Professor Kevin Prior! I’ve read his book before.”

The head of the Management Support Team showed interest.

The other team leaders who were watching from the side also chimed in.

“Isn’t the professor doing you a favor in his own way? He could just reject you, but the fact that he even called to nag you…….”

That was the opinion of the head of the Public Relations Team.

“Besides, he’s not exactly wrong, is he? Writing is the foundation of scholarship…… If you’re going to study in graduate school, you need to thoroughly learn how to write.”

That was the opinion of the head of the Marketing Team.

“Well, I’ve been making a living off the writing I learned in graduate school.”

The head of the Management Support Team nodded in agreement, and at that very moment.

Perhaps judging that the atmosphere was ripe enough.

Team Leader Cha Yoon-jin of the Operations Team, who had been quietly observing the situation, opened her mouth.

“Let’s take a look.”

Team Leader Cha said.

“What did you say the essay topic was? The reason you want to go to graduate school?”

“Yes, and it also needs to include the specific field I want to learn, my future goals…… and things like that.”

“Hmm, so it’s a kind of academic plan.”

“Okay.”

Team Leader Cha gestured.

“Give me the laptop. What did you write in the essay that made the professor make an international call?”

“Ah, yes, here…….”

Jisub hesitantly handed over the laptop, and the team leaders flocked around him.

“Let’s see…….”

“How did our Special Assistant Kim write it?”

“Hey, senior! Scroll down slowly. My English reading is slow!”

Tick-tock, hustle and bustle, noisy.

The team leaders read Jisub’s essay with curious eyes.

And the next moment, a moment of silence fell in the corner of the cafe in front of the baseball stadium.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

It was Team Leader Cha who broke the silence.

“Special Assistant Kim?”

“Yes?”

“Can you go order me an iced Americano?”

No sooner had Team Leader Cha’s words fallen than the other team leaders raised their hands.

“Me too.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll take one with an extra shot.”

Jisub seemed a little flustered by the sudden rush of orders.

“No, weren’t you team leaders on your way home? If you order coffee now, when are you going to go home…….”

“Yeah, we’ll take care of that, so go order quickly.”

“Suddenly, I’m really craving caffeine.”

Team Leader Cha was putting her bag on the table.

* * *

While Jisub went to order coffee, the Cannons’ team leaders sat around the corner of the cafe.

After reading Jisub’s essay once more, their first impression was as follows.

“This is…… quite the masterpiece.”

The head of the Public Relations Team gave a wry smile.

“Isn’t the first sentence intense? ‘Why does man study…… Why do humans study!’ For a moment, I thought Socrates had come back to life.”

The head of the Public Relations Team chuckled, but the head of the Management Support Team looked like she had a headache.

“Ah, really. Why are you writing such grandiose sentences? It’s just an academic plan, right? Then you just need to calmly write what you want to say…….”

“The sentence that follows is also quite impressive, isn’t it? ‘Is it not a pleasure to learn and practice them from time to time!’ Isn’t this a saying from Confucius [ancient Chinese philosopher]?”

“Oh my, Confucius even appears in a business administration graduate school essay? You’re just throwing in all the good words, aren’t you?”

The team leaders’ comments on Jisub’s essay continued for a while.

Why does that ellipsis keep appearing at the end of every sentence?

Why is the structure of the paragraphs made according to the flow of consciousness?

Above all, why do the sayings of great people keep popping up?

Such relentless criticism that a stranger would have felt sorry for the writer.

But only for a moment, a faint smile began to appear on the faces of the team leaders looking at Jisub’s essay.

“The sentences are rough and the format is not properly followed, but…….”

Swish.

The head of the Public Relations Team raised her head.

“Doesn’t the content feel, well, solid?”

“That’s true.”

The head of the Management Support Team also agreed.

“What kind of heart he’s been working with in the baseball team, what kind of rewards and limitations he’s felt, and why he wants to go to graduate school…… Hmm, there’s nothing to criticize in the content itself.”

“Damn it, if only he hadn’t included those sayings.”

Those sayings ruined a good piece of writing.

The head of the Management Support Team grumbled, and a hissing sound leaked out from the other team leaders.

“What do you think, Team Leader Cha?”

The head of the Management Support Team turned to Team Leader Cha Yoon-jin of the Operations Team and said.

“Special Assistant Kim’s essay…… Shall I touch it up a bit? I’m a master’s degree holder, you know?”

The face of the head of the Management Support Team as she said that was filled with an expression that said, ‘What a windfall.’

She wanted to do something for Jisub, but there was nothing suitable, and it seemed like a perfect subject had come up.

But it seemed that the head of the Management Support Team wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

“Wait a minute, senior!”

The head of the Public Relations Team raised her hand.

“The Management Support Team hasn’t had much to do with Special Assistant Kim. Let me take care of it this time. I used to get A+ like it was nothing when I was in college…….”

“Tsk, are you trying to sneakily get a piece of the pie again? This is first-come, first-served. Whoever raises their hand first gets it.”

“Ah, then I can do it, right? I was born two months earlier than Team Leader Jo.”

“If you’re going to go that far, you should go by order of joining the company! Have you forgotten that I’m the most senior when it comes to the order of joining the company?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“No, I’ll do the editing.”

The team leaders bickering over who would look at Jisub’s essay.

It was the Operations Team that neatly sorted out this mess.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.”

Knock knock.

Team Leader Cha Yoon-jin tapping on the table.

“Aren’t you all trying to get something for nothing?”

“Yes?”

The team leaders blinked.

“Getting something for nothing?”

“Isn’t that right? How much has Special Assistant Kim done for you all, how can you try to make it all up with just one essay edit? That doesn’t add up.”

“Th, that’s…….”

Looking at it that way, she wasn’t wrong.

“Then what should we do? It’s not like we can write multiple essays.”

“You just said it yourselves. Our Special Assistant Kim…… The content of the writing is good, but he doesn’t follow the format properly.”

Team Leader Cha continued.

“He’ll have a lot of writing to do when he goes to graduate school. There’s the essay like now, there’s the report, and there’s the exam.”

So, here it is.

Team Leader Cha’s alternative came from here.

“For about a week…… How about we look at Special Assistant Kim’s writing in general?”

“Ooh?”

The team leaders’ eyebrows twitched.

“We all have experience, right? How to collect data, how to cite, how to write in the right format…… Wouldn’t it be helpful to teach him those things?”

“Wow, that’s a great idea!”

The team leaders nodded.

“You’re right. It’s not like the essay will end with just this one.”

“Special Assistant Kim is smart, so a week will be enough. That’s good.”

“Should we teach him how to read a book while we’re at it? There’s a rumor that Special Assistant Kim falls asleep as soon as he opens a book!”

“Let’s do that. Good. That’s the answer.”

Just as the team leaders were talking excitedly, the person in question appeared before them.

“Team leaders, coffee’s here!”

The Cannons’ Special Assistant to the General Manager appeared with his hands full of iced Americanos.

But the team leaders were looking at Jisub, who was carrying them, with beaming faces, rather than the cup of coffee that would replenish their caffeine.

“Special Assistant Kim, you said you wouldn’t be too busy for a while, right?”

“You also said that the handover work is almost done now?”

“Then you’ll have plenty of time for the next week or so…… right?”

“Yes? Y-yes, well, I have plenty of time, but…….”

*Why* are you doing this?

The man who would be receiving the team leaders’ ‘special training for college life’ for the next week was tilting his head.

* * *

A few days later.

Professor Kevin Prior of Fort Myers University in the United States was reading an essay with an interesting expression.

“Hoo…….”

The professor, stroking his bushy beard reminiscent of Santa Claus, nodded quietly.

When he put down the essay with a satisfied smile, a voice was heard from across the room.

“You seem to like it quite a bit?”

“Hmm?”

When Professor Kevin Prior turned his head, a man in a suit came into view.

He looked to be in his mid-30s. A face that looked a year or two older than Jisub.

A tall, well-built Caucasian man who would be quite popular if he went outside.

But unlike his neat appearance, his smoke-colored eyes created a strange sense of unease.

“Why are you holding on to a two-page essay for so long? You’re not getting presbyopia [age-related farsightedness] already, are you?”

“P, presbyopia! Can’t you do something about that way of talking?”

Professor Kevin Prior was unnecessarily angry at the man across from him.

But he soon took off his reading glasses with a soft expression.

“I’ll have to watch him a little longer to see if he’s smart…… but it seems like an interesting guy has come in for sure.”

“Interesting? How is he interesting?”

“Hehe, would you like to see?”

Professor Prior took out another essay from the drawer and handed it to the man.

“This one is the essay he sent last time, and this one is the essay he sent a little while ago.”

“Ah.”

The man compared the two essays side by side.

Before long, he gave the answer the professor wanted.

“……It’s changed a lot.”

“Isn’t it?”

Professor Prior seemed to be in a slightly better mood when he got the answer he wanted.

“I didn’t give him any specific advice, but he sent me an essay that had changed so much in just one week.”

“One week.”

“Hmm, looking at the sentence structure, it doesn’t seem like he got any separate editing…… I wonder how he made such a change in such a short time.”

There was even a hint of pride in Professor Prior’s voice, but the man’s reaction was quite stiff.

“Well, I don’t think he did it entirely on his own.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

“Yes, trying to cram the gist of the article into the first paragraph is a habit of those who major in journalism, and emphasizing the connectivity when reading the article aloud is a habit of those who major in linguistics.”

The man continued.

“I don’t know exactly, but it seems that at least three people? Maybe five people have stuck to this student. They must have gathered in one place and given him writing lessons.”

“Writing lessons?”

Is that so?

When Professor Prior tilted his head, the man put down the essay and asked.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Hmm, no, it’s nothing else.”

Professor Prior waved his hand.

“The friend who wrote this essay works for a baseball team? KH Cannons, a professional baseball team in Korea.”

“I think I’ve heard of it.”

“If you work for a baseball team, you won’t have time to meet friends separately…… I was wondering where he got four or five people to teach him how to write.”

“Ah.”

The professor snapped his fingers.

“Did his company colleagues help him? Is that why his writing has improved so much in such a short period of time?”

“Professor, as you said, baseball teams are busy 365 days a year. Everyone is busy handling their own work, so how can they look at their colleagues’ writing? Especially so meticulously.”

The man reacted as if it didn’t make sense, but Professor Prior shook his head, saying, ‘No way.’

“No way, this friend has potential. He’s only been with the team for two years, but the acting owner of that team called me directly and asked me to take good care of him.”

“In just two years of joining the team…… he caught the eye of the acting owner?”

It was at this point that the man’s attitude changed.

“Professor, can you tell me more about it?”

He said, pointing to the paper on the desk.

“About this…… student who wrote the essay.”