Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 146

146. Difficult FA Negotiations (8)

This time, I visited Jo Gwang-hoon, the general manager of the Jaguars.

Rather, it was to suggest Go Ji-hoon to the Jaguars.

“Oh, welcome, CEO Kang.”

As always, General Manager Jo Gwang-hoon greeted me very warmly.

As I sat facing Jo Gwang-hoon, I could check his information window.

-Not confident about signing Go Ji-hoon.

-Worried about damaging the relationship with Kang Hyun-woo.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars are negative.

I already know the result, but I still have to ask.

“What do you think about Go Ji-hoon for the Jaguars?”

“We seriously considered signing Go Ji-hoon, but… the coaching staff isn’t very interested,” Jo Gwang-hoon carefully answered.

“I see.”

“I thought it would be okay, so I tried to persuade them, but the field staff and the team president weren’t very favorable… I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, General Manager. You have to sign the players the team needs.”

“I’m sorry that you came all this way, CEO Kang. It was a wasted trip.”

In fact, I came to the Jaguars today not only to make an offer but also to ask for a favor.

Jo Gwang-hoon was the only general manager I could trust to ask this kind of favor.

“Then, General Manager, can you do me a favor?”

“A favor?” Jo Gwang-hoon asked, curious.

I told him about my plan, something I had already shared with Lee Soo-min.

“Of course, I have to help with that,” Jo Gwang-hoon answered without hesitation.

His straightforward personality is really helpful in these situations.

“Thank you, General Manager.”

“What thanks? You haven’t forgotten the promise you made with me, have you?”

“Promise?”

When I tilted my head slightly, Jo Gwang-hoon quickly said in surprise, “You can’t forget! You have to sign a foreign hitter with us this time.”

“Ah, of course. Don’t worry.”

Jo Gwang-hoon finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Then how should we proceed?”

“Let’s take a few pictures of me coming in here and talking to you in the car.”

“I don’t know if it will look natural. I’m not good at taking pictures.”

Unlike before, Jo Gwang-hoon’s face was now tense.

“You don’t have to be nervous. Let’s really talk about next season.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

Jo Gwang-hoon and I left the general manager’s office and moved to the parking lot.

I got into my car, which was parked there, and pretended to have a secret conversation.

Meanwhile, a Jaguars official began taking pictures from various angles.

And I brought up real baseball stories.

“By the way, what kind of foreign hitter do you need next year?”

“Well… we lack home runs right now. I wish we had a hitter who could be the center of the offense.”

This season, the Jaguars recorded the lowest number of team home runs.

It goes without saying that the foreign hitter was sluggish, and the other hitters also lacked home runs.

“So, you’re looking for a corner infielder with home run ability?”

“It would be better if he was a center fielder.”

“Then it will be difficult to find a home run hitter, right?”

Most home run hitters were corner fielders such as first basemen, third basemen, left fielders, or right fielders.

“We have a few promising players on our team who can hit home runs, so we’re thinking of developing them in the long term. And we need to stabilize the outfield defense right away.”

Since Lee Sang-hoon, who was the starting center fielder last winter, transferred to the Angels, the Jaguars had difficulty finding a starting center fielder throughout last season.

If my hitting had been a little better, I could have taken that center field position.

It’s now a near-impossible assumption, but I still regret it.

“I understand. I’ll do my best to find one.”

“Do you have any players in mind?” Jo Gwang-hoon asked slyly, with an expectant look on his face.

“I’m getting data from the local area. But I’m going to go to the United States and see it in person before making a decision.”

Alex, whom I met in the United States last time, has been steadily sending me data and videos of local players.

There were some players that caught my eye, but it was difficult to make a decision based on the video alone.

“Do you have a local network now?”

“General Manager, I’m an agency representative now.”

“Hahaha. That’s right. You’ve become someone you can’t compare to a few years ago.”

Jo Gwang-hoon laughed heartily and reminisced for a moment.

Thanks to the immersive baseball talk, both Jo Gwang-hoon and I were able to take natural poses.

I selected a few good photos and sent them to Lee Soo-min.

That’s it.

If things go according to my plan, it will be material that can create a significant change in the negotiation table.

* * *

A glass display case was being brought into the living room of the agency’s accommodation.

Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo asked for a space to put their trophies, so I set aside a separate space.

The trophies will increase, so I ordered a large size to fill one side of the living room.

After the display case was installed, I was finally about to put up the Golden Glove trophy.

“Seong-joo, give me the trophy now. I’ll put it up.”

“Just a moment. I’ll wipe it here.”

Park Seong-joo had been constantly wiping the trophy since earlier.

“You’re going to wear out the trophy.”

“There’s a slight stain here, but it won’t come off no matter how much I wipe it.”

He was blowing on something invisible and wiping it.

“It’s clean enough. Anyway, no one will look at the trophy that closely.”

“Just a moment. I’ll wipe it one last time.”

Park Seong-joo was busy wiping the trophy for a long time after that.

He still wasn’t satisfied and tilted his head.

“Why don’t you stop and put it in now?”

“I’m done now.”

Park Seong-joo came over holding the trophy with both hands as if he were moving a precious treasure.

Then he carefully placed it in the highest place.

Finally, Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo’s Golden Gloves were placed in the highest place in the display case.

“In a few years, this place will be full and there will be no space, right?”

Park Seong-joo said, looking at the trophy with a proud expression.

“It will be soon, right? Our players will continue to do well in the future.”

“Hahaha.”

Park Seong-joo laughed heartily as if he was proud just imagining it.

It was fun to fill the display case with trophies.

“Winning awards isn’t everything in baseball. Don’t get too stressed about it.”

“That’s true, but it feels good to win an award.”

Park Seong-joo was a player who enjoyed this situation.

“Okay. Seong-joo, you fill this place up.”

There was no need to suppress the player’s enjoyment.

“Yes. I’ll try to fill it up.”

Park Seong-joo smiled contentedly as he touched the display case.

“But it seems like Seok-min is here too, where is he?”

No matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t find him.

“Where else would he be?”

Park Seong-joo shook his head as if he was fed up.

Looking at Oh Seok-hoon’s expression next to him, his thoughts didn’t seem to be much different.

“Wow, I thought Ji-hoon was the king of training, but there was an even more amazing senior.”

Oh Seok-hoon shook his head.

“Is it that much?”

“Just think of it as twice as much as we train. No, what do you mean twice, it’s much more. He hits with his left hand and then with his right hand, and he does infield defense training and then outfield defense.”

In fact, Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo’s training was also not easy.

However, it was more accurate to say that Seo Seong-min’s was ridiculously intense.

It was good to see him working hard, but sometimes I was worried about injuries.

“And now I can say he’s a right-handed hitter, right?”

“Really?”

I haven’t seen it in person because I’ve been busy these days, but I’ve been watching videos that Lee Joo-hyuk has been sending me. But it must be true that a professional player has seen and felt it.

“His power is much better with his right hand. Is it because he’s originally right-handed?” Oh Seok-hoon asked with a curious expression.

“Well, the hand he mainly uses has good strength.”

“I envy him being able to hit with both hands.”

When Oh Seok-hoon took a swing posture in the right-hand direction, I burst into laughter and patted him on the shoulder.

“Oh! It looks like the competition to sign Ji-hoon is fierce?”

Park Seong-joo said, looking at an article on his smartphone.

“An article came out?”

“Yes, there’s a picture of you up there now.”

I immediately turned on my smartphone and checked the article.

There was a picture of me and Jo Gwang-hoon, the general manager of the Jaguars, deliberately taken with a satisfactory headline.

It definitely looked like I was secretly meeting with General Manager Jo Gwang-hoon.

The feeling of being secretly filmed was well alive without being too awkward.

└ Go Ji-hoon is surprisingly popular.

└Even if his prime is over, he’s still a domestic first-class starter in most teams, so it’s worth competing for.

└There were rumors that the Angels also poked around.

└There are no S-class hitters in this FA [Free Agent] market, so it seems like he’s benefiting. It’s not common to have a starting pitcher who can be calculated like this.

└Even though the Jaguars are in a hurry for hitters, Go Ji-hoon is worth signing.

└No matter what, the Doubles won’t let him go, right?

└If the competition starts to heat up, you never know what will happen.

Weeing-

Not long after, I received a phone call.

The urgency seemed to be felt from the ringtone.

I couldn’t help but raise the corners of my mouth as I checked who the caller was.

* * *

Not long after the phone call, I was able to meet with Choi Min-sung, the general manager of the Buffaloes.

Moreover, Choi Min-sung even came to our agency’s accommodation himself.

I have a good feeling.

“General Manager, please come in.”

“Oh, the agency’s facilities are quite good.”

I briefly introduced the agency’s accommodation while entering the office with Choi Min-sung.

“Our players are doing well because they live and train in this environment.”

Choi Min-sung couldn’t stop admiring as he looked around.

I ran into Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo, who were resting comfortably.

“General Manager, you’re here?”

“Seok-hoon, Seong-joo. It’s even nicer to see you here. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m in really good condition. I feel like I can start the season right away.”

Choi Min-sung’s lips curled up at Oh Seok-hoon’s energetic answer.

“It’s good to train hard, but be careful not to get hurt.”

“Yes.”

After greeting the two players, Choi Min-sung and I entered the office and sat facing each other.

We started talking with a warm cup of tea in front of us.

Of course, I could easily know why Choi Min-sung came all the way here and what he was thinking.

-Quite embarrassed that there is competition to sign Go Ji-hoon.

-Feels burdened by the manager’s request to sign Go Ji-hoon.

“What brings you here?”

Unlike last time, my face was full of composure.