Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 100

100. This Doesn’t Feel Right (7)

I told Go Ji-hoon, who was recovering in the hospital, everything.

Go Ji-hoon initially seemed a bit surprised but didn’t show any particular reaction afterward.

“Hmm……”

“Sunbae [senior colleague or mentor], this isn’t even a question, is it?”

“Well, it is……”

Unlike his words, Go Ji-hoon couldn’t continue easily.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“What Hyun-woo is saying is right. But……”

“……?”

“To be honest, I’m greedy too……”

“Sunbae! But this isn’t right.”

“Y-yeah, I think you’re right too.”

Go Ji-hoon said, smiling awkwardly at my outburst.

“So, you agree to stop prescribing painkillers and focus on treatment, right?”

“I have to…… But will there really be no problem with my FA [Free Agent] contract after this season?”

I could feel the worry in Go Ji-hoon’s expression.

“Considering your performance in the national team games, you’ll meet the FA requirements even with three months of rehabilitation.”

“No, that’s right, but I’m worried the contract size will be unsatisfactory. It’s burdensome to be in rehab before FA.”

“I’ll make sure you get a good contract. I handled Na Jun-ho’s contract too.”

“I know, but Jun-ho was doing well until the season before FA and even won the championship. It’s a completely different situation from me… Are you sure it’ll be okay?”

Go Ji-hoon’s words weren’t wrong.

A player who performed at his best until just before FA negotiation and a player who spent months treating an injury during the season before FA are not the same.

But no matter how much treatment he received due to an injury in the season before FA, the experience and skills that Go Ji-hoon had built up wouldn’t disappear overnight.

“Of course. It’s my job to ensure your value is properly recognized.”

“Hmm… I see. I should talk to my wife and decide. Is it okay if I tell you after we talk?”

“Of course.”

I nodded, looking at Go Ji-hoon.

* * *

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“It has. It’s already been several months.”

The place Kim Min-hwan and I came to was a chicken restaurant.

It was the same chicken restaurant we had visited to celebrate the successful salary negotiations with Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju.

Suddenly, I really wanted to go there.

“사장님 [Sajangnim – Korean for ‘restaurant owner’], two fried chickens and two 500mL draft beers, please.”

Kim Min-hwan raised his hand and ordered before even sitting down.

It was no different from our last visit.

I chuckled as I sat down.

Kim Min-hwan asked a serious question as soon as he sat down.

“Hyun-woo, have you made up your mind?”

“I don’t think there are any other options.”

“…Is that so?”

Kim Min-hwan sighed after hearing my answer.

“I’ve been seriously thinking about it, even after talking with the CEO, but I still think this isn’t right.”

“That’s understandable.”

Kim Min-hwan couldn’t hide his bitterness and let out a faint sigh.

In the meantime, two glasses of draft beer were placed on our table.

“Team Leader, let’s have a drink first.”

I picked up the beer in front of me.

Kim Min-hwan picked up his beer with a smile.

“So, is today the last day? Drinking with Hyun-woo like this?”

“Maybe.”

I felt strange thinking it was the last time.

Kim Min-hwan and I cheered and gulped down the beer.

The cool beer soothed my frustrated heart a little.

“What are you going to do from now on, Hyun-woo?”

Kim Min-hwan asked, looking at me as soon as he put down his beer glass.

“I’m going to create my own agency and do it my way.”

“Create it yourself?”

“If I just leave like this, nothing will change. If I want things to be the way I think they should be, I have to take action myself.”

“…I guess so.”

Kim Min-hwan nodded slowly, took another sip of beer, and continued the conversation.

“Won’t you regret it? Starting from the bottom isn’t easy.”

“It won’t be easy. I’ll suffer a lot, and there’s a high possibility that things won’t go my way. But I’m sure this is the right direction. I have to make it work somehow.”

“I’ll support you. Sincerely.”

I could feel the sincerity in Kim Min-hwan’s eyes.

“What about you, Team Leader? Have you ever thought about leaving with me and creating an agency?”

I wondered if Kim Min-hwan had similar thoughts.

“Me…?”

“You didn’t agree with this method either, did you? There’s no guarantee this won’t happen again.”

“That’s true. But… I’m cautious.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t agree with what CEO Im did this time. But I’m also very grateful to CEO Im.”

“……”

I listened to Kim Min-hwan’s story quietly.

“CEO Im is the one who helped me, who couldn’t let go of my lingering feelings for baseball and was wandering around, become an agent. Honestly, working at an agency wasn’t my dream, but I was still able to be happy because of this job. I was also able to feel a sense of accomplishment.”

Kim Min-hwan took a deep breath and continued.

“So, even if the situation isn’t good, it’s not easy for me to turn my back on someone who helped me when I was having a hard time.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll stay here and help CEO Im, while making sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Preventing CEO Im Ye-ji from repeating the same mistakes, and for the sake of the players in other sports who will remain at YJ Agency, was absolutely necessary.

“If we both work as agents, we’ll run into each other often, right?”

“Wouldn’t we? If we’re working hard.”

“It’ll be nice to meet you outside. I think the feeling will be different from now.”

A faint smile appeared on my lips.

“Hyun-woo, you’ve worked hard so far. I’m grateful, and… I’m also sorry.”

Kim Min-hwan hesitated for a long time and then trailed off at the end.

“Even sorry?”

“I think I was too mean at first.”

“Well, that’s true. Starting with the PDF file.”

As the things that had happened with Kim Min-hwan flashed through my head, I burst out laughing.

“You’ll forget it, right?”

“Let’s have a drink.”

I smiled and cheered with Kim Min-hwan once again.

* * *

I came back to the dorm.

Come to think of it, I have to prepare to leave this place too.

It was a place that had provided clean facilities and delicious meals.

The moment I declared my resignation, I had to give up everything I had enjoyed here.

Now I had to create this kind of environment for the players.

The more I thought about the things I had to do in the future, the more they came to mind endlessly.

As I opened the door and walked in, Luffy ran towards me, wagging his tail as if he had been waiting.

“Luffy. Did you have a good day today?”

I stroked Luffy’s belly and head.

For a moment, I felt like my complicated thoughts were clearing.

Click.

I heard the sound of the dorm door opening.

“Oh, Joo-hyuk.”

“Hyun-woo. Are you here?”

Lee Joo-hyuk was walking out, pushing a carrier.

The day he was supposed to leave had already arrived.

“Are you leaving already?”

“I can’t stay here forever. I’ve rested well for a few days, so I have to work hard again from now on.”

Lee Joo-hyuk replied with a bright smile, raising the corners of his mouth.

Even though it wasn’t like I wouldn’t see Lee Joo-hyuk forever, I couldn’t help but feel sad.

“Luffy, today is the last day with you too. How am I going to do without you?”

Lee Joo-hyuk squatted down and stroked Luffy.

Luffy seemed to sense that Lee Joo-hyuk was leaving and snuggled into his arms with a gloomy look.

Even though they hadn’t spent a long time together, I could feel a deep sense of intimacy between them.

“Luffy seems sad too.”

It was never easy to say goodbye to someone you were attached to.

“I really have to go now.”

Lee Joo-hyuk pushed his carrier and walked towards the gate.

I followed him to see him off but stopped abruptly.

…Huh?

A thought flashed through my mind, which had been immersed in sentimentality for a moment.

In order to create a new agency and provide players with an environment no less than YJ Agency, there was a lot of work to be done in the future.

And it was difficult to handle all of that alone.

I needed someone to work with me…

There’s no need to find that person far away, is there?

“Joo-hyuk, wait a minute.”

I grabbed Lee Joo-hyuk’s carrier.

“Is something wrong?”

Lee Joo-hyuk looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Joo-hyuk, have you ever thought about working in baseball?”

“Baseball? I’d love to do it anytime if I had the chance.”

Lee Joo-hyuk’s expression brightened as soon as he heard the word baseball.

“Then it’s okay to work with me, right?”

“Yes? Then can I work at YJ Agency?”

Lee Joo-hyuk didn’t seem to understand the meaning of what I had said right away.

“No, I’m going to create a new agency. Let’s work together there.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I need someone like you.”

Lee Joo-hyuk couldn’t say anything for a while, as if he couldn’t believe the situation.

“If there’s a place that needs me, I should definitely go. Especially if it’s baseball, which I love.”

“Thank you. Let’s work together in the future.”

I held out my right hand to Lee Joo-hyuk.

“Thank you.”

Lee Joo-hyuk shook my hand.

-Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of being able to work in baseball.

Luffy, who had been listening to our conversation, had already gotten up and was wagging his tail vigorously.

As I turned my head back to Lee Joo-hyuk,

“Joo-hyuk, are you crying?”

Lee Joo-hyuk’s eyes were moist.

“No. Something got in my eye.”

I patted Lee Joo-hyuk on the back.

“Thank you for being with me.”

“Thank you for believing in me.”

I grabbed Lee Joo-hyuk’s carrier again.

“Then shall we go back in?”

“We should.”

Lee Joo-hyuk smiled brightly and pushed the carrier in the opposite direction from before.

It was the moment I gained my first colleague to start a new beginning with.