A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 260

66. A Place Where the Sunlight is Warm (2)

Professor Kevin Pryor.

A business administration professor at Fort Myers University in Florida, and a long-time friend of ‘Sakhalin Park,’ Vice Chairman Park Hong-ju.

He is a leading scholar in sports management consulting, and the very person who will be teaching Jisub business administration after the graduate school opens in August.

He was a celebrity who even prominent businessmen could only meet after scheduling months in advance, but Jisub was able to meet this amazing professor that very night.

Professor Pryor happened to be visiting Boston to attend a seminar.

“It’s a long-standing tradition. Of course? A very long-standing tradition indeed!”

The place where Jisub met Professor Pryor was a humble pub near his accommodation.

After putting down his bag and sitting down, Professor Pryor immediately began to rant about the Boston Red Sox.

“People who don’t know think it started with General Manager Theo Epstein in the past, but that’s not true! Boston has been like that from the beginning. They only take what benefits them, and if they think someone’s value is gone, they ruthlessly throw them away! They are very nasty guys!”

He had said that he was a New York Yankees fan from birth.

A person who would wake up in the middle of the night and grind his teeth at the Boston Red Sox, their regional rival.

“I heard during my last visit to Korea that Boston’s bad habits are very famous there too? What was it? Bo… Bosa…”

Professor Pryor trying to pronounce something in awkward Korean.

Jisub immediately understood what he was trying to say.

“Ah, I think I’ve heard of it. Isn’t it ‘Bosa-gu-paeng’?”

A proverb that originated from ‘killing the hunting dog after the rabbit hunt is over,’ *Tosagu-paeng* [a Korean idiom referring to discarding someone after they’ve outlived their usefulness].

When he mentioned the neologism created by attaching ‘Bo’ from Boston to it, Professor Kevin Pryor clapped his hands like a seal and was very happy.

“Yes, Bosa-gu-paeng! I remember now!”

Up to this point, it was almost the same as usual conversation patterns.

A common Yankees fan tearing into and enjoying their lifelong rival.

However, since their first meeting in Seoul, Professor Pryor has had great favor for Jisub.

It didn’t seem like he was just ranting because he hated the Red Sox that day.

“So, Jisub! Get over this incident quickly. It’s definitely not because you lack ability. It’s just that the Red Sox fools didn’t have the eye to see it.”

Professor Kevin Pryor seemed to be trying to cheer Jisub up.

“You know it well, right? Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs… Oh, right! Babe Ruth is the most famous in this regard, isn’t he?”

All of them were players who were abandoned by the Boston Red Sox and gained greater wealth and fame in the teams they transferred to.

Strictly speaking, Jisub was the one who rejected the Red Sox’s offer, but what difference did that make?

Jisub nodded with a more determined attitude than usual because he was grateful to the professor for caring about his disciple not being discouraged.

“Of course, Professor.”

Jisub said.

“I remember what you told me the day I submitted my application to Fort Myers University. You said that nothing in Major League Baseball goes as planned.”

“Um, um!”

He seemed to be in a good mood to have his own words mentioned again.

Professor Pryor nodded with a satisfied expression, like a bulldog being brushed by its owner.

“This level of trouble can happen at any time, so I plan to focus on finding a new team in the future.”

And at this point, he inserts a crucial line.

“That way, I can give the Boston Red Sox, who didn’t keep their promise to me, a proper payback in the future, right?”

“A proper payback to the Boston Red Sox? That’s a very pleasing expression.”

Professor Kevin Pryor, who was looking at Jisub with a playful expression.

It was the next moment that he took out his reading glasses from his jacket pocket and put them on.

“A student who entered our Fort Myers University wants to crush the Red Sox in the future… Then I can’t just stand still. As a professor at Fort Myers University, and as a long-time fan of the Yankees.”

Professor Pryor, with his reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, began to manipulate the phone screen here and there.

What words will follow now? Jisub was also watching his fingers with a slightly nervous heart, right at that moment.

Ding-

An alert sounded on Jisub’s phone, and Kevin Pryor took off his reading glasses.

“Jisub, did you know?”

He said.

“Our Fort Myers University MBA program has a graduate mentoring program, you know? You never know when you’ll have time again, so it seems better to get it over with this time.”

A time to meet a senior who graduated from Fort Myers University Graduate School and get advice on various things.

Professor Pryor seemed to be trying to introduce Jisub to a suitable person using this program.

“Check your phone. I just sent you that person’s contact information.”

“Ah, yes, thank you!”

Jisub thanked him greatly while picking up his phone, but in fact, he was tilting his head in his mind.

‘A graduate of Fort Myers University?’

He was quite famous now thanks to Professor Kevin Pryor, but his joining was only a few years ago.

Before he came, Fort Myers University was a rural school with nothing special to boast about except for its good air and beautiful scenery.

‘I heard there weren’t any particularly famous graduates, but who is the professor introducing me to?’

As expected.

The moment Jisub checked the message Professor Pryor sent, his question deepened even further.

A business card photo taken roughly with a phone. The following name was included in the business card.

‘Tampa Bay Rays, Director of Future Strategy Planning… John Llama Taylor?’

The name could be overlooked.

There are at least 300 people working for Major League teams, even if you only count the full-time employees.

Jisub always carried the organizational charts of each team as Ryu Jang-ho’s personal interpreter, but he couldn’t remember the names of all those people.

The problem was the department name.

‘Future Strategy Planning Department? Did the Tampa Bay Rays have such a department?’

It seemed like there was, and it seemed like there wasn’t.

It seemed like a very important department, and maybe it was a department that didn’t do anything.

While scratching the back of his head while looking at the phone screen, Professor Kevin Pryor spoke to him.

“Why?”

He asked.

“Why are you just staring blankly at your phone without saying anything?”

“Ah, Professor.”

Jisub finally took his eyes off the phone and looked at the professor.

“The department name, Future Strategy Planning, is unfamiliar. I was wondering if Tampa Bay had such a department…”

“Yes, it does. Otherwise, how could the business card be out?”

I thought he would explain what the department does, but the professor didn’t seem to have any interest in that in the first place.

“Wouldn’t you pay attention to that friend’s last name rather than the mysterious department name? I’m about to get a little upset because the expected reaction isn’t coming out?”

“Last name… are you talking about?”

Taylor, Taylor, Taylor.

As Jisub quietly recited a last name that could be common, his eyes widened the next moment.

“Um, um… Professor?”

“Um?”

“The ‘Taylor’ attached to this person’s name… Does he have any relationship with Tampa Bay owner Jeffrey Taylor?”

“Hehe, you finally recognize it?”

There is a relationship.

There is indeed a relationship.

A triumphant smile bloomed on Professor Kevin Pryor’s face.

“John Llama Taylor is Jeffrey Taylor’s only son.”

* * *

It was almost midnight that day when Jisub parted ways with Professor Kevin Pryor and returned to his local accommodation in Boston.

A two-story house about 20 minutes by car from Fenway Park, the home stadium of the Boston Red Sox.

It was the very house that Tommy Damon, who had left the team, had introduced with an excited voice.

“Oh, hyung, you’re here?”

As Jisub opened the door and entered, Ryu Jang-ho, who was sitting on the living room sofa, got up and greeted him.

“Oh, Jang-ho?!”

Jisub was slightly surprised because he didn’t expect Ryu Jang-ho to be there.

“What brings you here? There are still a few exhibition games left, right?”

“Ah, yes, the manager sent a few players to Boston.”

Ryu Jang-ho had a slightly embarrassed expression.

“He said that the process of adapting to the home stadium is also important in order to show 100% of our skills from the opening game… I think we will be doing adaptation training here for the time being.”

“Opening game? Did you just say opening game?”

Hey, Ryu Jang-ho!!

Jisub slapped Ryu Jang-ho’s big back.

“Congratulations!! Oh, your manager, he was making people anxious by saying he would watch for a while… He finally made a decision?”

Did you contact your parents?

What about Hyung Chang-deok in Korea?

Jisub congratulating Ryu Jang-ho on entering the opening game roster with a beaming expression.

However, Ryu Jang-ho’s expression, who was receiving congratulations, looked a little dark somewhere.

“Ah, yes, I contacted my parents directly from here, but…”

Ryu Jang-ho sighed slightly.

“Um… I heard.”

“Um? What?”

“I stopped by Fenway Park for a while today and heard from Vice President Light that hyung will be leaving the team soon…”

“Ah, are you talking about that?”

Jisub answered calmly while taking off the coat he was wearing.

“Yeah, that’s how it is. I want to work in the United States if possible, but the team seems to want to send me to Japan.”

“Should I tell them?”

Ryu Jang-ho said.

“If I say I don’t like the newly changed interpreter, wouldn’t the team reconsider hyung’s treatment? Like assigning me to be my exclusive interpreter again…”

As Ryu Jang-ho, he seemed to want to spend the season with Jisub somehow.

He was very grateful for that, but Jisub lightly shook his head.

“No, you don’t have to go that far.”

Jisub sat on the sofa and continued.

“Didn’t you say that the newly changed interpreter is working very hard? And he knows a lot about baseball too.”

“Yes, well, I can’t compare him to hyung.”

“Hey, I can’t kick out a friend who’s doing a good job because of me, right? Besides…”

Smile.

The corners of Jisub’s lips went up.

“The preparations for moving to the next team are also progressing smoothly.”

“The next team? Has that been confirmed already?”

“No, not really, but…”

I guess I can reveal it to Jang-ho.

Jisub took out his phone and showed him the business card photo that Professor Kevin Pryor had sent him.

“The professor introduced me.”

Jisub continued.

“John Llama Taylor. He’s the son of the Tampa Bay Rays owner.”

“S, son of the owner?”

“Yeah, the professor said he would contact him in advance. I should call him tomorrow and make an appointment.”

Jisub shrugged his shoulders.

“If he’s the owner’s son, he must have a lot of connections here and there, right? Then it won’t be difficult to find a place for me to work. So there’s nothing to worry about too much.”

“Ah, then I can rest assured, but…”

While Ryu Jang-ho was carefully looking at Jisub’s phone screen.

It was at this moment that he suddenly scratched his chin and looked at Jisub.

“But, hyung.”

“Um?”

“John Llama Taylor… Why does that name sound familiar? I think I’ve heard it somewhere?”

“Really?”

Jisub, who was leaning on the sofa, straightened his posture.

“When? Where? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it?”

“No. Why… the day our spring camp first started, that’s when my agent came to visit, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right?”

Since he was a player who had landed a contract worth $100 million, his agent’s visit wasn’t that strange.

“At that time, the agent mentioned this person’s name in passing? He said he was able to start his agent career thanks to that person…”

“R, really?”

Jisub picked up his phone again.

When interpreting, it’s common to use the phone’s memo function to record the other person’s words.

Since the time was confirmed as ‘the day spring camp started,’ it wasn’t difficult to find the conversation at that time.

“Opening day of spring camp, opening day of spring camp, opening day of spring camp… Wow, it’s real?”

It was exactly as Ryu Jang-ho said.

Among the memos written on the opening day of spring camp, exactly the seventh page.

The name ‘John Llama Taylor’ was written in one corner while interpreting the conversation with the agent.

“Wow, Jang-ho, I see you in a new light.”

Jisub laughed heartily.

“That’s right. John Llama Taylor’s help was great. He gave permission, so I was able to enter the agent industry…”

Did he become interested in his surroundings as he became a major leaguer?

A truly shockingly accurate memory.

When Jisub raised his thumb while saying ‘Kuh!’, Ryu Jang-ho asked Jisub.

“But hyung, what did you write here?”

Ryu Jang-ho pointing to Jisub’s memo.

“Mr. Seventy-Two? Mr. 72 Hours? You wrote it here in red.”

“Ah, that? I think it was Taylor’s nickname? All the front office staff working in Major League Baseball call him that… Hmm?”

Right then,

A vivid memory flashed through Jisub’s mind.

“Ah, right! Mr. Seventy-Two!”

Information about John Llama Taylor that he was able to recall thanks to Ryu Jang-ho.

A triumphant smile suddenly bloomed on Jisub’s lips.

“Hey, Jang-ho.”

“Yes?”

“Professor Kevin Pryor… I think he introduced me to a really amazing person?”

“An amazing person?”

Ryu Jang-ho blinked his eyes.

“What… what kind of person is he?”