Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 106

Beginning of Full-Scale Operations (1)

“Then, I’ll see you next week.”

I shook hands with the last interviewee, concluding the interviews.

It took a full day to complete all the scheduled interviews.

We finalized contracts with a video production company, hired a culinary team to prepare meals at the dorm, and brought on office staff and a management team.

Simultaneously, the exercise equipment that Na Jun-ho had sponsored was installed in the training facility, and the computers and desks needed for work were also set up.

From next week, when the staff starts coming to work, it will really feel like a proper company.

Now, it was time to put aside the completed hiring documents and turn my attention back to the players.

I took out the performance indicators that Lee Joo-hyuk had compiled up to yesterday’s game.

Detailed performance data for all six of our players was laid out in detail.

With the middle of June passing, the regular season had progressed to about 65 games.

Before we knew it, the season would be reaching its halfway point in a few days.

If I had to pick one player with the best performance so far, it would be Oh Seok-hoon.

He was recording a batting average of .331, 8 home runs, 55 RBIs [Runs Batted In, a key offensive statistic], a WAR [Wins Above Replacement, a comprehensive statistic measuring a player’s overall contribution] of 4.25, and a WRC+ [Weighted Runs Created Plus, a statistic that measures how many runs a player creates compared to the league average] of 158.

In addition to his explosive hitting stats, he had already recorded 22 stolen bases.

If his home run pace picked up just a bit, he could potentially record 20-20 in home runs and stolen bases, proving himself as a power-speed threat.

He was performing perfectly as a third batter.

Park Sung-joo was recording a batting average of .290, 24 home runs, 57 RBIs, a WAR of 3.73, and a WRC+ of 153.

If he didn’t lose his pace, he could aim for 50 home runs this season.

Moreover, his recent performance had been good.

Now, there was nothing more I could advise Oh Seok-hoon and Park Sung-joo on when it came to hitting techniques.

Without worry, I turned to the next page, which showed the indicators for Sohn Young-joon of the Pelicans.

Sohn Young-joon had noticeably reduced his number of errors and was occasionally hitting long hits.

However, due to his poor performance at the beginning and his team’s low ranking, it was difficult to say that his overall indicators for this season were good yet.

But since his recent performance was much better than at the beginning of the season, he could expect a personal career-high by the end of the season.

Now it was the pitchers’ page.

The pitchers’ performances were just as positive as the hitters’.

First of all, Choi Jung-hwan was consistently handling the starting rotation this season as well.

In particular, his fastball’s pitch value was rated very highly at 19 points.

He was recording an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of how many earned runs a pitcher allows per nine innings] of 3.86, a WHIP [Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched, a measure of a pitcher’s ability to keep runners off base] of 1.30, 85 strikeouts, and 20 walks.

He was putting on a good performance with just his overwhelming fastball.

If he could refine his control of breaking balls, he could record even better results than now.

Next, Jang Soo-young established himself as the Angels’ reliable closer as soon as he transferred.

Although the Angels were in the mid-tier, so not many save situations were created, he reliably took responsibility for the 9th inning whenever the opportunity arose.

He was recording an ERA in the 1-point range and 8 saves.

The last player was Go Ji-hoon.

He was the only player among our players whose recent game indicators were empty.

Go Ji-hoon had gone down to the rehabilitation group and was focusing solely on treatment.

For the time being, he would be hospitalized and focus on recovery.

As advised by Professor Park Jung-joon, he would completely focus on treatment for about a month, and then combine treatment and training from then on.

The goal was to get him back on the mound in three months.

I promised to get him a good contract in FA [Free Agency] after this season, so I had to keep that promise.

I also needed to carefully examine which team would need Go Ji-hoon the most next season.

I just checked the overall situation of the players and wrote down the necessary parts, but the notepad was already full.

I stretched once and got up from my seat to go down to the training facility.

Another important schedule was waiting for me right away.

* * *

Today was the day to take the first step in operating the channel in earnest.

After the interview with Lee Soo-min was released, the number of subscribers was already over 100,000 with just one intro video.

Given the situation, I couldn’t take it lightly just because it was the first time.

To create even better content, I even went through a planning meeting with the team helping with the filming in advance.

And today was the first day of filming.

When I went down to the training facility, several staff members were busy setting up cameras and lighting.

Oh Seok-hoon and Park Sung-joo were lightly exercising with the newly arrived exercise equipment.

“Is everything ready for the first broadcast?”

Oh Seok-hoon saw me and jumped up, grabbing my hand.

“Hyung [term for older brother or close male friend], I’m getting nervous too.”

“You’ll do well. You can edit it after it’s over, so think of it as easy.”

“Hoo… I hope it goes well.”

I patted Oh Seok-hoon on the shoulder to ease his tension.

“Has Jung-hwan not arrived yet?”

I turned my head this way and that, but I couldn’t see Choi Jung-hwan.

Choi Jung-hwan was living with his family, so he wasn’t living in the dorm.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

But as soon as I finished speaking, Choi Jung-hwan came in as if he had been waiting.

Choi Jung-hwan was holding white bags in both hands.

“Jung-hwan, welcome. What is that?”

“The weather has gotten too hot, so I bought some.”

Choi Jung-hwan took out drinks from the bag and handed them out one by one.

He approached not only me but also the staff one by one and handed out the drinks he had brought.

“Thank you for the drink.”

“Thank you.”

The staff who received the cool drinks thanked Choi Jung-hwan.

I also drank the cool drink that Choi Jung-hwan handed me.

Choi Jung-hwan handed out drinks to everyone and approached me again.

“Sunbae [term for senior colleague or mentor], but what are we filming today?”

Choi Jung-hwan looked at the staff walking around as if he was amazed.

“Today, we’re going to introduce the agency’s dorm and training facility, and introduce you guys as well.”

“Then will the players who can’t come today come out later?”

“We have to.”

It was not easy to gather the players together in one place because they were scattered all over the country.

Click. Click.

A staff member who was taking pictures of us next to us approached us.

“I’m going to post the pictures taken naturally on SNS [Social Networking Service] from now on, is that okay?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll update it right now.”

Park Sung-joo, who heard the staff’s words, stopped exercising and immediately took out his smartphone from his pocket.

“I wonder what the fans will say.”

“Have there already been comments?”

“Hey, we still have recognition.”

I was also curious, so I went next to Park Sung-joo and looked at the smartphone screen together.

“What if there aren’t any comments at all?”

“No, it’s crazy. Look.”

“Really?”

Every time Park Sung-joo refreshed, dozens of comments were added.

└They say they’re working out to relieve tension ㅋㅋ Was Park Sung-joo born an athlete?

└The training facility is really good. If I worked out in a place like that, I could work out every day.

└Choi Jung-hwan is also there. It would be great if he learned how to control breaking balls from Kang Hyun-woo.

└Kang Hyun-woo has never even thrown a ball as a pitcher, so how can he teach him how to control breaking balls ㅋㅋ

└Kang Hyun-woo is a player who hit 30% and 20 home runs, so he didn’t make Oh Seok-hoon and Park Sung-joo like that.

└I’m a fan of Seok-hoon oppa! [term used by females to refer to older male]

└Oh Seok-hoon is so handsome.

└I support the new start of the agency.

Even after reading for a while, the comments kept coming.

“They’re really paying a lot of attention.”

“Sunbae, I’m still the league’s home run leader right now.”

Park Sung-joo’s shoulders were raised.

“But I don’t think there’s been much talk about you so far?”

Even after looking at the comments again, it was true.

“Hey. Sunbae, what are you talking about? Look here, it’s right here.”

At my words, Park Sung-joo glared and barely found one comment that mentioned him.

“I’m kidding.”

I laughed and nudged Park Sung-joo’s shoulder.

But Park Sung-joo was still reading the comments without missing a single one with a serious expression.

After talking with the players for a while, it was time to film.

“Okay, let’s start filming.”

“Oh, it’s starting!”

Starting with the staff’s cue sign, I opened the first word.

“Hello, this is Kang Hyun-woo. This is the first time I’m greeting you on our channel. In the future, I’m going to introduce the stories of the players that fans are curious about through videos.”

It was not easy to start talking because it was the first time I had ever talked while looking at the camera.

“Today, I’m going to introduce our newly starting agency first. There are several players who have joined the agency, but they couldn’t all come today. Today, I’m going to introduce the leisurely players who have nowhere to go even on their days off.”

“Hey! Leisurely players!”

Park Sung-joo, who was next to me, naturally came into the screen.

Oh Seok-hoon and Choi Jung-hwan also came in and continued the introduction briefly.

Since it was the first filming, I lightly showed every corner of the agency and introduced it.

Some even sat on the exercise equipment and exercised.

It seemed like all the content that had been prepared in advance had come out, so I was slowly trying to finish filming.

“Wait a minute! I have one last thing to say!”

Suddenly, Park Sung-joo raised his hand and interrupted.

“What is it?”

“Everyone, don’t forget to vote for the All-Star Game!”

It was the time when All-Star voting had just begun.

“If you guys are selected this time, how many All-Star Games will it be?”

“I think this is the first time for all three of us? That’s what I remember.”

Oh Seok-hoon looked at Park Sung-joo and Choi Jung-hwan alternately and asked for an answer.

Park Sung-joo and Choi Jung-hwan nodded vigorously.

“Really? That’s quite unexpected. I thought you’d all been there at least once.”

“Everyone, please let us meet at the All-Star Game. I’m really confident that I’ll do well if I go to the Home Run Derby!”

Park Sung-joo clenched his fist and said powerfully as if shouting.

“Are you confident you’ll win?”

“Of course! I’ll practice like crazy and show you how I win!”

I could feel the desperation in the fist clenched and Park Sung-joo’s expression.

“If you want to see our players at the All-Star Game, please vote for us!”

“Ugh! Really!”

With Park Sung-joo’s scream-like shout as the last, our first filming ended.

Even while we were filming, the pictures of us filming were being uploaded continuously.

We also posted a comment saying that the filming will be uploaded soon as a short video before the main video, so please look forward to it.

Comments were coming up faster than before on the teaser video.

└When will the video be uploaded? I’m curious.

└Will other players not appear?

└Oh Seok-hoon is ranked #1 in All-Star voting!!! Let’s hit the most votes ever!

└Let’s make this year’s All-Star Game a Dream Agency All-Star Game, everyone!

└Looking at the stats alone, you can pick them.

└Look at Park Sung-joo’s desperate expression, how can you not pick him after seeing that.

The number of views was also rising rapidly, and the response to the comments was also hot.