Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 209

209. How to Be Good at Baseball (8)

A man and a woman hurried toward me, as if they’d been expecting me.

Who could they be?

Judging by their age, they looked like parents of middle or high school students.

I was sure I’d never seen them before.

“Are you CEO Kang Hyun-woo?”

“Yes, that’s me. What brings you here?”

“We need to talk to you. Could we have a moment?”

“Talk to me about what…?”

“Our son plays baseball.”

“Ah, then shall we go inside?”

Even though I’m exhausted, I can’t just turn them away when they say their son plays baseball.

I led the man and woman into the agency’s accommodation.

We sat down facing each other in the office and started talking.

I offered them drinks, subtly gathering information through my ability.

-Worried their son’s career will end due to their poor decision.

-Anxious about how to hide the fact he was intentionally injected with drugs.

The information window revealed why they rushed over so urgently.

It seemed the player had been intentionally injected with performance-enhancing drugs.

If that was the case, it was a serious situation.

I started the conversation, pretending I didn’t know anything.

“What brings you all the way here?”

“We have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

It’s not like I’m a counselor, but they suddenly came to me with a favor.

“Our son is about to undergo a doping test…”

With this recent scandal, almost all amateur players were expected to be tested.

Even if some were missed, the chances of undergoing a doping test to join a professional team were very high.

“Is there any way we can avoid the doping test this time? Or, if not avoid it, could we postpone it for a few months?”

“Is there a particular reason for that?”

What’s the point of postponing it for a few months?

“Our son is a pitcher, and his velocity was lacking, so he was offered an injection at Victory Baseball Academy.”

“…”

“We didn’t know things would turn out this way when we agreed, but the situation has become more complicated than we thought.”

“You got the injection to increase his velocity?”

“Before that, to be honest, it didn’t seem possible for him to aim for a professional debut. But they said the injection would make a big difference…”

The player’s father trailed off, his voice weak.

“So, was it effective?”

“His velocity is much faster than before the first injection. It’s over 140 km/h [approximately 87 mph] now.”

“What was it originally?”

“It was barely 130 km/h [approximately 81 mph]. As you know, CEO Kang, how could he even think about the pro draft with that kind of velocity?”

So, this was the player whose velocity increased by 10 km/h [approximately 6 mph].

But is that really possible?

“You’re saying that change happened after just one injection?”

“Not just one. We’ve given the academy over 30 million won [approximately $23,000 USD] for the injections.”

Since it was 3 million won [approximately $2,300 USD] per injection, that meant he had received it more than ten times.

That meant the player was certainly aware of the situation.

“Didn’t you think that was strange?”

“We thought it was helping with his training. To be honest, we didn’t think it would completely change him just by getting the injection. And we also changed his training program, so we thought it was thanks to that.”

This must be a lie.

“What kind of changes did you make in the training method?”

“Pardon?”

The parents looked flustered, as if they hadn’t expected that question.

“Gaining 10 km/h [approximately 6 mph] in velocity in such a short time is a huge change. What kind of changes did you make in the training that caused such an unbelievable change?”

“That’s…”

“Please be honest. Did you really not know there was something wrong with that injection?”

“…”

The parents didn’t answer my question for a moment.

Then, they sighed and continued.

“You may not know since you don’t have children, but all parents feel the same. We want to do anything that can help our child, even a little bit. Isn’t that how all parents are?”

“Does the player himself know about this?”

“Well… they said it was a way to get better at baseball… But what would a kid know? He probably just did it because he wanted to be good at baseball.”

After hearing the player’s father, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Then, clasping my hands together, I replied.

“Mr. and Mrs., there’s only one way to be good at baseball. It’s to honestly sweat it out at the training ground with the right training methods. There’s no other way. No, there should never be.”

“…”

“And if you choose a dishonest method and get caught, shouldn’t you accept the punishment for it?”

I looked back and forth between the parents’ eyes and said firmly.

“But how can our son be at fault? It’s all our fault.”

“Either way, your son knew it was a dishonest method, didn’t he?”

“He just wanted to be good at baseball…”

“Is there any player in the world who doesn’t want to be good at baseball?”

“…”

“How are you going to take responsibility for the situation where other players who are honestly working hard are being harmed by your son’s choice?”

“…”

“What you’ve done is making countless honest people look like fools. Even if your son felt that temptation, you should have stopped him. Isn’t that a parent’s role?”

“Ha…”

The player’s father sighed and covered his face with both hands.

“I’m not in a position to tell the police investigation what to do. Even if I had that ability, I wouldn’t help you.”

“Sir…”

The father stood up abruptly and knelt down in front of me, bowing his head.

Seeing this, the mother also knelt down immediately.

“What are you doing?”

“Please, I beg you. Please help us just this once.”

I tried to help them up.

But they didn’t budge.

That didn’t mean my mind would change.

“It’s not like your son’s life ends today. I don’t know if he’ll continue to be a baseball player or live a second life in another field. But I hope he can gain a great realization from this.”

If he was caught in this doping test, it was certain that it would greatly affect his career.

But it didn’t mean his life as a player was completely over.

He would have a label following him throughout his career, but he would be given a chance to challenge again after serving his suspension.

Whether he becomes someone who learns a great lesson through this incident, or just a failed baseball player, is up to him.

* * *

After that, as the investigation progressed, illegal activities were revealed one after another.

It wasn’t just using existing banned substances, but also commissioning a professional illegal drug manufacturer to produce them.

There was also meticulousness in calculating the half-life of the drugs to avoid detection when doping tests were expected.

An investigation was also conducted simultaneously into whether there was intentionality among the students who tested positive for doping.

And as expected, with this incident, all players drafted in the draft were required to undergo doping tests.

└Who the hell is A? Isn’t he crazy? He gave illegal drugs to student athletes?

└Didn’t the players want to get the drugs? Did he just bring the drugs and inject them?

└Are you illiterate? Read the article properly. He forced it on kids who didn’t want it.

└There’s such a crazy person.

└What happens to them if they all get caught for doping and can’t debut?

└Players who doped should never be allowed to set foot in the pros. You can’t make fools of players who worked hard.

└They say there are kids who got it even though they didn’t want it. Shouldn’t they be helped somehow?

└Even if they didn’t know and got it, their bodies would have already changed. They should be given a definite penalty or disadvantage.

* * *

Even as the noisy issues outside the baseball stadium unfolded, professional baseball continued busily.

Amidst the unsettling atmosphere caused by the drug scandal, the All-Star Game was held successfully.

As in the previous year, the main players of our agency were invited to the All-Star Game.

Donald Watson, as well as Seo Seong-min, had the honor of being invited to the All-Star Game for the first time since his debut.

Go Ji-hoon, who couldn’t attend last season due to injury, was also able to step onto the All-Star Game stage.

Among them, Donald Watson pushed Oh Seok-hoon to second place and took first place in the fan vote.

Thanks to the strong fan base of the Jaguars and his MVP-level performance, there was no room for controversy.

Go Ji-hoon and Michael Scott were selected as starting pitchers for different teams, and they had a starting match that they couldn’t show in real games.

Oh Seok-hoon, Park Seong-joo, Na Joon-ho, So Young-joon, and Seo Seong-min showed off their great defense and hitting in their respective positions, captivating the fans.

Jang Soo-young and Choi Jeong-hwan, who came out as relief pitchers, also blocked the last inning with perfect pitching.

Among them, So Young-joon once again showed off a variety of performances, drawing enthusiastic cheers from fans.

Of course, the Performance Award was his again this year.

After the All-Star Game was over, the ranking competition continued fiercely.

Each team had already played over 80 games.

At the halfway point, it was no surprise that the defending champion Wolves were still at the top, but things started to change from 2nd place compared to last season.

The 3rd place Buffaloes were fiercely chasing the 2nd place Dragons.

They were within a gap of no more than 2 games, so they could reverse the rankings at any time.

That was why the upcoming match between the two teams was highly anticipated.

And another team showing amazing results was the Jaguars.

Due to the strong performance of the 4th place Jaguars, the two teams competing for 2nd and 3rd place had to play with the Jaguars in mind.

Thanks to their increased power, crowds of spectators gathered at every Jaguars game, sending enthusiastic cheers.

Jung In-gyu, who is also a Jaguars fan, couldn’t hide his expectations for the autumn baseball season [playoffs].

One of the reasons why the Buffaloes and Jaguars were able to achieve good results was thanks to their reliable starting pitchers.

Go Ji-hoon and Michael Scott both achieved 13 wins, fiercely competing for the most wins title.

Whether each other’s existence played the role of a pacemaker, they maintained good performance throughout the season without wavering.

Han Gyo-jin, who was discharged from the military and returned to the team, was gaining experience by playing in games as a catcher in the minor leagues.