A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 62

The Newbie in the Baseball Team is Too Good – Episode 62

Chapter 18: Not Easy (2)

Even the great ‘Sakhalin Park’ [a nickname for Park Hong-joo, implying his tough and uncompromising nature] seemed slightly taken aback at this moment.

“So… you’re saying the three of us are going to have dinner together like this?”

Park Hong-joo, the acting owner of the KH Cannons.

Seo Chang-gi, the general manager in charge of the team’s front office.

And Ji-seop, Arthur Freeman’s personal interpreter.

The only thing they had in common was that they all belonged to the KH Cannons.

Different ages, different personalities, and completely different social positions.

For these three people to gather in the general manager’s office and have dinner together…

“Haha, for you, Ji-seop, to organize a meeting like this… I’m seeing all sorts of things as I live,” Park Hong-joo chuckled.

However, deep down, he seemed to find this strange combination amusing.

“It’s not bad. Let’s do that. Secretary Yang, come and sit here too.”

He plopped his large bottom onto the sofa in the general manager’s office and said,

“…Should we just order Jajangmyeon [Korean-Chinese noodle dish with black bean sauce]?”

The type of ‘delivery food’ that the owner’s proxy in his seventies could think of seemed to be limited.

“Yes, let’s do that.”

General Manager Seo and Secretary Yang also followed the owner’s proxy and ordered ‘Jajangmyeon, regular’.

However, Ji-seop was someone who could boldly say ‘no’ when everyone else said ‘yes’.

At least in front of Sakhalin Park.

“I’ll have the ‘Chef’s Special Emperor Jjamppong’ [spicy seafood noodle soup] here, Vice Chairman.”

“…Show off, you.”

* * *

It was about 20 minutes later that the meal began.

People sat huddled around the table in the general manager’s office, busily moving their wooden chopsticks.

At first, Park Hong-joo had been nagging about this and that, but he seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere.

“Eating Jajangmyeon like this… Haha, it reminds me of the old days.”

He took a piece of white onion and dipped it in the black bean sauce, saying,

“When we first created the baseball team, we were always short on time, so we always ordered Jajangmyeon like this.”

Park Hong-joo was the first general manager of the KH Cannons.

So, being in the general manager’s office like this, eating Jajangmyeon here, was the perfect setting to bring back old memories.

“Back then, our Chairman Joo Tae-san…”

Sakhalin Park was about to tell a story about his friend who had passed away with a wistful expression.

But at that moment, a sound that shattered the warm and pleasant atmosphere echoed in the general manager’s office.

Ring- Ring- Ring-

General Manager Seo Chang-gi’s phone.

General Manager Seo didn’t say a word about the caller, but Ji-seop could easily guess who it was.

It must have been the KH Group’s high-ranking executives who had been bothering General Manager Seo all day.

However, he couldn’t answer their calls while having a meal with the owner’s proxy.

“I’m sorry, Vice Chairman.”

General Manager Seo hurriedly changed his phone to ‘vibrate mode’.

“General Manager Seo, isn’t it an important call? You can answer it if you want.”

“Ah, no. I can call them later. More importantly… please continue with your story.”

“Hmm, should I?”

Sakhalin Park brushed it off with an indifferent expression.

However, even after changing to ‘vibrate mode’, General Manager Seo Chang-gi’s phone continued to ring.

“So, Chairman Joo Tae-san and I were eating Jajangmyeon here…”

Vrrr!

“The chairman poured sweet and sour pork sauce on me without saying a word…”

Vrrr! Vrrr!

“So I said, even if you’re the chairman of the KH Group, this is a bit too much…”

Vrrr! Vrrr! Vrrr!

Sakhalin Park was already known for his bad temper.

And he was telling a story about his memories with Chairman Joo Tae-san after a long time.

But the phone kept ringing without any consideration.

It was only natural that Park Hong-joo’s brow furrowed slightly.

“General Manager Seo, why don’t you just answer it? If they keep calling like this, it means the other person has something urgent, right?”

“Ah, no. I just forgot to change it to silent mode because I was flustered…”

From what Ji-seop had observed, General Manager Seo Chang-gi was someone who felt like a civil servant.

He had the advantage of being meticulous and serious in his work, but he seemed to inherently dislike conflicts or troubles.

Even now, General Manager Seo Chang-gi was trying to act as if nothing was wrong to avoid making things worse, but the other party was the one and only Sakhalin Park.

Even if he had just returned from a business trip to Australia for the past ten days, even if he had been suffering from a hectic flight schedule all day.

He was someone who could roughly grasp what was going on just by looking at the other person’s expression.

“General Manager Seo, is everything really alright?”

“Y-yes, of course. The team atmosphere is good, so what could be wrong? Haha, hahaha…”

General Manager Seo put on an awkward smile and shoved his phone deep into his jacket pocket.

However, contrary to his desperate wishes, the KH Group’s great executives seemed to be the type who never gave up.

Beep- Beep- Beep-

This time, a call came into the general manager’s office.

General Manager Seo tried to quickly reject the call again, but Sakhalin Park, who had already roughly grasped the situation, moved as Ji-seop had expected.

“General Manager Seo, answer it.”

“V-Vice Chairman?”

“I need to know who wants to hear General Manager Seo’s voice so badly at this late hour. So answer it.”

“T-there’s no need to go that far…”

When General Manager Seo hesitated and didn’t answer the phone, Sakhalin Park gestured to Secretary Yang.

Secretary Yang, who had been acting like Sakhalin Park’s right-hand man for a long time.

Without saying a word, he pressed the ‘speakerphone’ button on the general manager’s office phone.

And almost at the same time, a voice was heard.

-Hey, General Manager Seo Chang-gi!!!

Ji-seop couldn’t identify the owner of the voice, but Sakhalin Park’s thick eyebrows were already ‘twitching’.

-Why aren’t you answering your phone? Does that mean you don’t need our company’s support next year?!

A loud voice that made a ‘static’ sound from the speakerphone.

-I won’t beat around the bush. The Chun Jin-woo trade… proceed with it again! Everyone around me is clamoring for Chun Jin-woo, so why are you overturning it? You guys are steadily receiving our company’s support, but how can you be so clueless…

The voice on the phone was causing a ruckus, and General Manager Seo Chang-gi was just sweating profusely.

In this situation, Park Hong-joo leaned his large body ‘slightly’ towards the phone.

-General Manager Seo! Are you listening to me? If you heard me, you should answer, you…

“Hey, Director Choi.”

Park Hong-joo cut off the person on the phone and ‘hooked’ in [interrupted abruptly].

The person on the phone, called ‘Director Choi’, seemed momentarily speechless at the sudden voice.

-W-who… who is this?

There were only a few people in the entire group who could address him as ‘Director Choi’.

Director Choi’s flustered voice was clearly felt even through the low-quality speakerphone.

“Even if it’s been a long time since I left the company, isn’t it a bit too much to forget even my voice?”

-T-this voice is… V-Vice Chairman? Vice Chairman Park Hong-joo?

A voice as if he had met a ghost flowed from the speakerphone, but a gentle smile bloomed on Park Hong-joo’s lips.

“Why are you so surprised? Is it strange for a baseball team person to be in the baseball team?”

-A-ah, no, that’s not it…

“By the way, I didn’t know that our Director Choi was so interested in the baseball team’s affairs.”

It was at this moment that Sakhalin Park’s eyes flashed sharply.

“Our Director Choi… you must be very free these days, right?”

* * *

They say ‘beating someone until dust comes out on a rainy day’ [idiom meaning to thoroughly punish someone].

For about 10 minutes after that, Ji-seop realized that it was possible to inflict that level of damage even through a phone call.

-Are your performances coming out at a satisfactory level these days? I remember hearing from the chairman that they weren’t very good?

-Do you want me to go back to the company? Should I go and get things in order?

-If you’re an executive, you should be so busy with your company’s work that you’re bleeding from your nose! That’s why we give you that salary, but are you giving instructions to other companies? Are you that free? Huh?!

Ji-seop didn’t know much about company life, but even he clicked his tongue at the comments.

And what was even more frightening than the sense of fear that the comments themselves gave was that Sakhalin Park had poured out these comments not to Director Choi himself, but to his superior, the president of KH Corporation.

-I-I have nothing to say, Vice Chairman.

The president of KH Corporation was flustered.

-I will make sure this never happens again… I will teach Director Choi well. I’m really sorry.

He was saying ‘I will teach him well’ in a polite manner, but it was obvious what form that teaching would take.

Of course, Sakhalin Park didn’t care about the trouble that Director Choi would face.

“I appreciate the support you guys send from the group level. The baseball team is also doing its best not to waste that support.”

Sakhalin Park, who had been raging as if he would chew them up in an instant, was comforting them with warm words at the end.

“But if a third party starts giving instructions, the support you guys worked so hard to provide may be wasted.”

-That’s right. Of course.

“I will do my best to make you feel rewarded for giving us support, and to make the baseball team self-sufficient without the support of other affiliates if possible… So please help me a little.”

-Oh, of course. How dare I refuse your request.

Heo heo heo heo [sound of nervous laughter].

This is how the trouble of the day was resolved in a superficially amicable way.

“…”

Park Hong-joo, who had finished the call with the president of KH Corporation, was staring at Ji-seop for a while.

[That Ji-seop, the reason why you asked me to have dinner with you today was this.]

In a way, it seemed that Sakhalin Park had danced on the stage that Ji-seop had set up.

He must have felt a little resentful, and he must have been a little dumbfounded.

However, what Ji-seop heard as he ‘gently’ looked into Sakhalin Park’s eyes was a rather pleased voice.

[Hehe, it feels like just yesterday that you were touching gloves in a moldy underground office… Now you’ve learned how to use your head quite well.]

An expression that suggested he might reach out and roughly stroke Ji-seop’s head at any moment.

But Sakhalin Park was still Sakhalin Park.

Now that he had removed the noise flowing in from outside the club, he knew exactly what to do.

“Judging from the situation, it seems that the contents being discussed within the club have leaked to the outside…”

Park Hong-joo stuck his wooden chopsticks into the Jajangmyeon that had already become bloated and continued,

“Do you know who that clueless bastard is who leaked the internal information to the outside…?”

Sakhalin Park was someone without brakes.

He seemed determined to punish the gossipmonger who leaked the internal information of the club.