Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 2

#1. Just Manage the Baseball Team for Me

“Did you have a good weekend? Now, here’s Seattle Mariners’ final offer for Han Su-hyeok: a signing bonus of $3.5 million! The highest ever for a Korean prospect and the best treatment among our team’s rookies this year. So, please sign and come to America with me. I’ve prepared a first-class ticket for the best player.”

Daniel Mitchell, the Seattle Mariners’ scout in charge of the Far East Asia region, thought to himself.

‘An incredible physique that doesn’t seem Asian, a fastball evaluated at over 70 points on the 20/80 scale [a scouting scale for evaluating players, where 50 is average and 80 is elite], and a 60-point slider. Plus, a batting average close to .500 in high school is a bonus.’

He *must* sign this prospect who unofficially threw 103 miles per hour.

Some say this player will be the next Ohtani [Shohei Ohtani, a famous Japanese baseball player], but he sees even more potential.

That’s why he persuaded the team to offer the best contract terms.

He wants to shout that he should give twice as much, but this is the limit he can offer to a Far East Asian prospect without professional experience.

“This is a top-quality pen for Han Su-hyeok. Sign it and you can just keep it.”

Han Su-hyeok, a prospect evaluated to be capable of being a 5th starter in the major leagues right away.

After following him around for the past four years, this moment has finally arrived. Now, all he has to do is get the signature and put him on the plane, and everything is over.

But the next moment, a word from the prospect plunged Daniel into despair.

“I don’t want to.”

“What…?”

“I’m not going to sign the contract. You’ve worked hard to find me, so please finish the shaved ice before you leave. It’s worth 50,000 won [approximately $40 USD], so it’s a waste to leave it. Seong-hoon hyung [older brother/male friend], let’s get up.”

“Huh, uh?”

“Let’s go. We have a lot to do.”

“Ah, th, then, Daniel. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’ll contact you next time…”

“What are you so sorry about? You haven’t even signed the contract yet. Daniel, I hope you find another good player and take him to America.”

“Hey? Mr. Han? Sir! Is the signing bonus not enough? Can I raise the annual salary? Did the Boston guys offer something more? Did you fall for the Oakland guys’ trick? Or are you worried about the long travel distance? Even so, I’ll have to drown myself in the Pacific if you leave like this. Hey? Hey!”

He left the Seattle Mariners scout with a pale face.

He felt a little sorry for Daniel, who had put effort into him since middle school, but what could he do? What he wants now is not a ticket to America.

“Su-hyeok, hey, Han Su-hyeok!”

“Open the car door quickly. Let’s go to the company and talk.”

“Hey, what the hell are you doing? What are you going to do if you overturn everything at the last minute?”

“I told you on the way here. I’m not going to Seattle.”

“No, but why…”

Seong-hoon hyung, his senior from elementary school baseball and the CEO of the agency, followed him with a flushed face.

He feels sorry. It’s because he missed the opportunity to send his affiliated player to the United States for the first time since the agency was founded.

How excited would he have been before this happened?

Hmm, but he has something even more amazing prepared, so he doesn’t have to feel sorry anymore, right?

“Let’s go first. Let’s go to the office and talk.”

“Haa, I don’t know. What the hell is going on.”

Seong-hoon hyung, who knows his personality and stubbornness, sighed and started the engine.

Black smoke billows out of the old diesel SUV, which is at least 10 years old.

“I told you to change the car. Do you even know that the smoke is flowing into the room?”

“Hey, if you signed with Seattle, I wouldn’t be driving a car… Ha, no. Let’s go and talk as you said.”

First of all, he needs to change this hyung’s car. That’s why he got such a terrible disease.

That won’t work. He needs to speed up the progress of the work.

‘Boom’

The agency office is located about 30 minutes away from the hotel where he met the Seattle scout. He entered a shabby building located in the back alley of Seokchon Station.

“Isn’t it hard for a guy who retired due to a knee injury to climb a 5-story building without an elevator?”

“It’s hard. But what can I do? Someone just blew away the opportunity to escape this office, so I’ll just grab my aching knee and die here.”

“Tsk, tsk, a man shouldn’t be so petty.”

“You son of a bitch, I’m really not going to say… Haa, that’s it. Let’s eat first. Athletes shouldn’t skip meals. What do you want to eat? Jajangmyeon [black bean noodles]? Jjamppong [spicy seafood noodle soup]? Should I add sweet and sour pork?”

“Anything is fine, just order what hyung wants to eat. I don’t care.”

After a while, the ordered food was delivered and placed on the office table.

“Yours is double. Eat a lot.”

Even in this situation, Seong-hoon hyung thinks about his meal first.

He is a benefactor who took him in and raised him when he lost his mother in middle school and had nowhere to go, and the only person he can trust not to betray him no matter what happens.

When he saw that hyung looking at him with such a normal face, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed.

“Hyung, eat quickly too.”

“Okay.”

Today was the last complete time he spent with this hyung in his previous life.

He watched the Warriors, whom he had supported since he was a child, being dismantled, and immediately started negotiations with American teams.

He signed with the Seattle Mariners, who offered the best conditions, and boarded a plane to the United States alone a few days later.

That was the end.

The last meeting with Seong-hoon hyung, who had taken care of him for over 5 years, ended with such a lonely memory.

He thought it couldn’t be helped.

Even though he knew that Seong-hoon hyung was having a hard time alone in Korea, and even though he heard that the agency’s work was getting more and more difficult, he pretended not to know.

At first, he made excuses that he was busy adapting to American baseball, and after being promoted to the big leagues, he made excuses that he had to survive, and he didn’t look for the person who had taken care of him for 5 years when he had nowhere to go.

Someday, when he gets settled and repays him, the most important thing right now is to succeed as a major leaguer.

He rationalized himself with such complacent thoughts.

And in the meantime, Seong-hoon hyung got lung cancer.

As soon as he heard the news, he ran to Korea, but the person he remembered, the captain of the elementary school baseball team and his childhood idol, was not there.

Hair that had fallen out due to chemotherapy, a noticeably emaciated body, and powerless eyes. He greeted him with such a lonely appearance.

He regretted, blamed himself, grieved, and cried, but it was all useless.

Following the baseball team he loved, the hyung who was the only person in the world he could trust and rely on passed away.

The person who had protected him when everyone in the world turned away from him disappeared.

And he became completely alone.

“Seong-hoon hyung, first of all, quit smoking.”

“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden while eating? Okay, eat this sweet and sour pork.”

“No, I’m full.”

“Oh? What’s going on? You’re giving up food?”

“That’s okay, anyway, quit smoking first. Absolutely right now.”

“…This bastard, what’s wrong with you? Hey, are you sorry for rejecting the Seattle contract? Because I can’t get a commission? It’s okay. What if you don’t go to Seattle? Boston and Oakland are waiting, although the conditions are a bit worse than there…”

“No, that’s not the important thing right now.”

“Hmm?”

He pushed the food bowl on the table to one side. And he looked into Seong-hoon hyung’s eyes and said.

“You don’t have a huge attachment to the agency, do you? Well, I don’t want to become the world’s best agent like Scott Boras [a famous baseball agent]…”

“No, I’m just doing it to make a living? A guy who only played baseball all his life got injured in the knee, retired, and was even exempted from the military, so what would he do? I have to do this.”

“Right? That’s good. Then, hyung, run a baseball team.”

“Puh!”

Black liquid was fired from Seong-hoon hyung’s mouth and nose as he swallowed the last food and rinsed his mouth with cola. He lightly avoided the dirty liquid that flew straight at him.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough!”

“Tsk, tsk, clumsy. Here, wipe it off with this.”

“…Th, thank you, that’s not it! What the hell are you talking about? A baseball team?”

“I’m going to have a baseball team that I didn’t even think about. Someone has to run it, right? Hyung, please run it for me.”

“What the hell is this…”

Whether it was because cola was fired from his nostrils, or because he suddenly received a huge proposal, Seong-hoon hyung’s face turned red.

And after a while, he opened his mouth with a dumbfounded expression.

“…So you’re the son of Ohgang Group Chairman Cheon Pil-ju?”

“Well, for now.”

“That human being, who didn’t even show his face when your mother passed away, is now giving you an inheritance?”

“I cleanly rejected the offer to give me 2% of Ohgang Corporation’s shares. If I take it, it’ll be a headache later. Those sons are so greedy.”

“How do you know that…? No, that’s not the important thing. Hey! It’s okay to receive money instead, but what are you going to do with the Warriors? Do you even know that the team is full of FA [Free Agent] washouts after selling all the useful players?”

“I know, otherwise, why wouldn’t there be a single conglomerate that would take over the team even though it’s based in Seoul?”

“Yeah, and what about the debt? You’re not thinking of paying off the team’s debt with the 15 billion won you received, are you?”

“No, Ohgang Group will cleanly settle the debt and taxes like inheritance tax and hand it over. You can establish a corporation and take over the team in its name.”

“…Then it makes sense. Anyway, it’s still difficult. When was the Warriors, your half-brother, that stupid human being, completely ruined the team after becoming the owner. Just let it be dismantled. Instead, ask for more money. Take that money and go to America and play baseball comfortably. Huh?”

He knows very well that he’s saying that because he’s really worried about him.

But what can he do?

Being a major leaguer, it really doesn’t mean anything. His happiness is not in America, but here.

He feels like he can be happy if he takes over that damn last-place team and wins the championship.

“Seong-hoon hyung.”

“Ah, why.”

“Do you know why I started playing baseball?”

“…I know.”

“Mom was a Warriors fan. When I think about it now, she still thought of him as her husband even though he abandoned her. When I see her choosing that team, it must be because of that.”

“It must be because it’s a Seoul team.”

“Maybe. Anyway, just as you can’t choose the parents you were born with, I guess a baseball team is like that too. I don’t know why I came to like this team. Hehe, and it’s your responsibility too. You were the one who signed me up for the Warriors children’s membership. Anyway, I can’t stand to see that team being dismantled. Please take care of it and save it.”

“…Hey, aside from everything else, do you even know how much it costs to run the Warriors for a year? Even if there are no high-priced players, the parent company’s support fund alone was 10 billion won last year? You 15 billion won, that’s compensation for you and your mother’s life. Are you going to use it to save a baseball team?”

“No, I’ll keep 50 billion won first, and invest only about 100 billion won in the baseball team.”

“Wh, 100 billion! Wow, you’ve really become a chaebol [a wealthy business person or conglomerate owner]. You’re taking that huge amount of money so casually… Okay, let’s say you can last for about 5 years or 10 years with 100 billion won. But what vision does a baseball team that only endures have? What’s the difference from now? It’s going to fail anyway.”

“Hyung, think about it.”

“What!”

“Why is the Warriors like that?”

“Well… Is it because the guys who were caught by FA are all washouts, the real star players are all sold off, and everything from the front office to the players is a mess?”

“Right? Then we can change that.”

“What how…?”

“Somehow trade or retire the high-paid FA washouts, and send out all the rotten front office and players…”

“You crazy bastard, then how are you going to play baseball? Who is going to perform instead? And the spectators, the fans? Who are they coming to see at the baseball stadium? There has to be a center of gravity!”

Seong-hoon hyung’s face began to rot in earnest.

Yeah, he still doesn’t understand. He has to know that he’s oblivious.

He pointed to himself with his finger and said.

“Me.”

“Huh?”

“Han Su-hyeok, the best prospect in Korean high school baseball history and a super-special prospect who rejected a $3.5 million contract from the Seattle Mariners. How is it? Is this not enough?”

“What…?”

He left out the modifier that he was a Major League Cy Young winner and American League MVP after converting to a hitter, but well, for now.

“Won’t it work even with my name value?”

“…Hey, crazy, is that why you rejected the Seattle offer? You didn’t even submit a draft application… No, it was abolished this year anyway. Anyway, are you serious?”

“Of course. The Warriors, it’s mine now?”

Seong-hoon hyung’s face turned blue. Now he realized that he was serious.

Now, shall we drive in the wedge?

“Do you remember what you said to me at elementary school graduation?”

“…What?”

“You said: ‘Later, the Warriors’ 4th hitter will be hyung, so I should be the ace. So let’s make sure to win the team.'”

“I… Did I say such cheesy things?”

“Hehe, it seems impossible for hyung to return as a player now…”

Seong-hoon hyung looked at him with his mouth open, as if he had nothing to say.

“Let’s make it together. The Warriors we thought of, the Warriors we wanted.”

“Hey, you crazy bastard…”

The power is ruined, and I’m the only player I can trust, and I don’t know how long I can last with 100 billion won in operating funds.