Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 148

148. Difficult FA Negotiations (10)

After a few hours of talking, Go Ji-hoon made his decision and contacted me.

Go Ji-hoon chose the Buffaloes.

As soon as I confirmed Go Ji-hoon’s decision, I contacted Choi Min-sung, the Buffaloes’ general manager.

Choi Min-sung, worried that Go Ji-hoon might change his mind overnight, suggested we meet and sign the contract immediately, even though it was late.

Despite the late hour, almost dawn, I took Go Ji-hoon to the Buffaloes’ office.

Shortly after, I sat next to Go Ji-hoon, watching him sign.

Go Ji-hoon signed enthusiastically and exchanged the contract with General Manager Choi Min-sung, signing again to finalize it.

With both contracts signed, Go Ji-hoon’s free agent (FA) contract was officially concluded.

Choi Min-sung, having finished signing, stood and offered Go Ji-hoon a handshake.

“Go Ji-hoon, let’s have a great season next year.”

Go Ji-hoon replied, grasping Choi Min-sung’s hand.

“I will work hard to win the championship with the Buffaloes.”

“It’s reassuring to have you on the team,” Choi Min-sung said.

The two smiled and shook hands.

“Congratulations on the contract,” I said, standing and applauding.

Buffaloes officials around us also applauded and congratulated him.

Choi Min-sung approached me and greeted me.

“Representative Kang, you worked hard too.”

“It will be a good contract for both the Buffaloes and Go Ji-hoon.”

I shook hands with Choi Min-sung.

He seemed very happy to have signed Go Ji-hoon and excited at the thought that they might be able to aim for the championship.

“Then, shall we move to the induction ceremony venue?”

Go Ji-hoon and I were led by Buffaloes officials to the venue.

Club photographers were waiting there.

The banner at the induction ceremony also welcomed Go Ji-hoon.

Go Ji-hoon stood at the photo zone with the Buffaloes club logo, receiving applause from the officials.

Choi Min-sung brought a Buffaloes club jacket and personally put it on Go Ji-hoon.

It still felt strange to see him wearing a uniform from a different club, not the Doubles [team name] uniform.

I applauded enthusiastically and congratulated him.

Now, Go Ji-hoon, wearing the Buffaloes uniform, struck a fighting pose and took pictures.

Then, he shook hands with Choi Min-sung and took another picture.

Since it was late, no official interview was conducted.

Our agency planned to film and upload a video separately for the Doubles and Buffaloes fans.

Now, Go Ji-hoon’s FA negotiation was completely finished.

Perhaps because there were so many more difficult aspects compared to last year’s Na Jun-ho negotiation, I felt much more exhausted.

* * *

After completing the contract, I left with Go Ji-hoon for the agency’s accommodation.

“Sunbae [term for a senior colleague or mentor], you worked so hard.”

“What hard work? It’s because you worked hard that we got good results.”

Go Ji-hoon looked at me and said with a smile.

“But what made you decide to go with the Buffaloes?”

Even though the Doubles’ offer had a large portion of incentives, giving up 500 million won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to $400,000 USD] couldn’t have been easy.

“To be honest, I was very disappointed with the Doubles. No matter how old I am for a FA pitcher and my future performance is uncertain, I’ve worked hard for the team since my debut, and it didn’t feel like they were acknowledging that.”

I could easily see Go Ji-hoon’s feelings from his expression.

“The Buffaloes are as good a team as the Doubles. Only good things will happen in the future.”

A faint smile appeared on Go Ji-hoon’s face at my words.

Before long, we arrived at the agency’s accommodation.

As Go Ji-hoon and I opened the door and went inside,

Bang! Bang!

Firecrackers went off everywhere.

“Sunbae, congratulations!”

“Welcome to the Buffaloes!”

The lights turned on, and Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo approached and put a lei on Go Ji-hoon, who had become the Buffaloes’ new teammate.

Lee Joo-hyuk was also smiling brightly and applauding.

“Please take care of me,” Go Ji-hoon said.

Go Ji-hoon hugged Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo.

“Sunbae, can we win the championship next year?”

Park Seong-joo couldn’t hide his excitement.

“Let’s work hard and win the championship.”

“Nice! Let’s go for the Buffaloes championship!”

Park Seong-joo clenched his fist and couldn’t hide his joy.

“More than anything, I’m so glad I don’t have to face you two anymore. I tried not to show it on the mound, but it was really killing me when I kept running into you guys at important moments,” Go Ji-hoon said, shaking his head.

“Do you know how hard it was for me every time you started, Sunbae? There’s never a clean pitch. Ugh, really.”

“We were both tough opponents.”

Go Ji-hoon smiled at Park Seong-joo’s complaining.

“From now on, we’ll give you our full support during your starts, Sunbae.”

Oh Seok-hoon looked at Go Ji-hoon and smiled brightly.

“Yeah, let’s work together and do well next year.”

Go Ji-hoon patted Oh Seok-hoon on the shoulder and smiled.

“It’s late, but we have to have a party. We can’t just let it pass,” Park Seong-joo said, looking at me and asking.

Then, I suddenly thought of the old days.

“Didn’t you say you hated eating with Ji-hoon Sunbae a while ago?”

Come to think of it, it hadn’t even been a year yet.

“Seong-joo, did you say that?” Go Ji-hoon’s eyes widened, and he turned to Park Seong-joo.

“T-that was a long time ago. It’s completely different now. I like you so much, Sunbae.”

We couldn’t help but laugh at Park Seong-joo’s flustered and embarrassed appearance.

So, the five of us, including me, celebrated Go Ji-hoon’s contract with a small party.

And the next morning, as soon as we distributed the official press release, articles poured out.

└Doubles’ Go Ji-hoon to the Buffaloes????

└Are the Doubles crazy!! What are they going to do losing Go Ji-hoon?

└Seeing that he signed a 4-year contract, was the 6-year offer a lie?

└Honestly, the Doubles should have invested this much, right? Considering Go Ji-hoon’s career, it doesn’t seem like an excessive amount?

└If the Doubles offered less than this, they’re hopeless.

└Go Ji-hoon wasn’t a player who wanted to leave the Doubles, so maybe the Doubles lowballed him.

└Can’t keep Go Seong-pyo, can’t keep home-grown Go Ji-hoon. What are the Doubles going to do next year?

└He transferred to the Buffaloes, who were fiercely competing for the rankings until the very end.

└The Buffaloes vs. Doubles game next season will be so much fun (꿀잼 [Korean slang for ‘honey jam,’ meaning very fun or interesting]).

└Then the Buffaloes have three players from Dream Agency.

└And all three are core players. At this point, Kang Hyun-woo might as well be the president of the Buffaloes.

* * *

I left the accommodation to meet another person.

I had planned to meet him as soon as Go Ji-hoon’s FA negotiation was concluded.

Even though I contacted him suddenly after the negotiation, he readily made time for me.

I met him at a hotel.

“Representative Kang, it’s been a while.”

“How have you been?”

The person I came to see was Kim Sang-wook from Sky Corporation, who had approached me around this time last year with an acquisition offer.

Since then, Sky Corporation had been gradually expanding, entering the domestic sports market.

“I keep hearing news about you, Representative Kang. You’re running the company well, leading big deals, and realizing the values you initially set one by one. Your performance is really amazing.”

“You flatter me.”

“Anyway, you must be busy preparing for next season, so what’s the reason for asking me to meet?”

“I want to make a proposal to Sky Corporation.”

“What kind of proposal?”

“How about Dream Agency and Sky Corporation join forces on a project?”

“A project?”

Kim Sang-wook focused on my words with an interested expression.

“I want to create opportunities for our players to challenge the Major League [MLB, professional baseball league in North America].”

“Are you talking about Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo?”

“There’s also Michael Scott from the Jaguars. There may be more players who want to challenge it in the future.”

“So Dream Agency needs Sky Corporation’s local network?”

It was convenient that he understood without me having to explain everything in detail.

“Yes, I would like you to promote our players to Major League clubs. Of course, we will take full responsibility for the players’ management and training.”

Even if they performed well in Korea, advancing to the Major League was another matter.

There was no guarantee that they would succeed in the Major League just because they did well against domestic players.

Therefore, to advance to the Major League, it was necessary to have Major League clubs come to see our players’ games directly and create scouting reports themselves.

“Then, can Sky Corporation and Dream Agency negotiate together?”

“Yes, if they transfer to the Major League, we will pay Sky Corporation half of the agency fee generated at that time.”

If we were to get a Major League contract, the total amount would be hundreds of billions of won [Korean currency, equivalent to hundreds of millions of US dollars], so half of the transfer fee would be a large amount.

However, proceeding with Sky Corporation was a much more likely way to increase the possibility than proceeding on our own.

If we could get even a little closer to our players’ goals, it was worth investing even half of the fee.

“That’s a good condition,” Kim Sang-wook said, nodding and expressing his satisfaction.

“But there’s one condition.”

“What is it?”

“I want us to have the authority to decide which team the player will transfer to.”

The agency would want to contract with the club that offers the most money and receive more fees.

However, there was a good chance that the agency’s preferred choices and the player’s desired choices would not match.

While Kim Sang-wook was thinking, I added, “And if the player doesn’t want to transfer, I hope they can refuse without any conditions. They may want to stay in Korea.”

“If the Major League transfer doesn’t happen, the contract size will be greatly reduced.”

No matter how big the domestic FA market has become, it was impossible to compare it to the American market.

“If that happens, we will provide Sky Corporation with reasonable compensation. We will ensure that no losses occur even in the worst-case scenario.”

Would there be any reason to refuse if we were willing to take on the risk?

After coordinating some detailed clauses, we officially signed a consortium agreement with Sky Corporation a few days later.

As a result, we gained a reliable partner in promoting the overseas expansion of our players.