Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 73

73. The Whirlwind Shaking the League (4)

“What? A left-handed relief pitcher?”

Jaguars General Manager Jo Gwang-hoon’s eyes widened.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Jang Su-young from the Wolves.”

“The Wolves are offering Jang Su-young? Is that even possible?”

“It might be possible because it’s the Wolves.”

“Hmm…”

Jo Gwang-hoon’s eyebrows twitched, seemingly envious of their leeway.

“Are you sure about this?”

“The deal hasn’t been discussed with the team yet.”

“Oh, come on! How can you trade without the team’s approval?”

Disappointment quickly flashed across Jo Gwang-hoon’s face.

“It’s just that if we propose a player the Wolves need, it might be possible.”

“Who does the Wolves want?”

“Since it’s a skilled player, the scale will be quite large.”

Upon hearing my words, Jo Gwang-hoon swallowed hard.

“We’ll have to include Jae-hyung, I think.”

“Jae-hyung? What are we supposed to do if we give up Kim Jae-hyung?”

It was clear that giving up the team’s starting shortstop wouldn’t be easy.

But it was also clear that offering the Jaguars’ backup shortstop wouldn’t even be considered.

“It doesn’t have to be a 1:1 trade. We can get a shortstop from the Wolves too.”

“…Still, if I send away the starting shortstop, I’ll get so much flak. I’m already getting a ton of it these days.”

Jo Gwang-hoon sighed deeply.

“The moment Jang Su-young comes to the Jaguars, we can be sure that our closer worries will be solved for the next few years. How many years has it been since the Jaguars had a decent closer?”

“Ha… That’s true.”

Jo Gwang-hoon furrowed his brow and washed his face with his hands.

He must be troubled since he’s never traded such a key player before.

“Can’t we trade for another position? Maybe we can match the value with two or three promising players we recently drafted in the early rounds?”

“No. They will never accept that.”

The Wolves already had promising players they drafted for the future.

What they needed was a player who could immediately step in as a starter.

Especially if they had to give up Jang Su-young.

“Ha… Does it have to be Kim Jae-hyung?”

I met Jo Gwang-hoon’s eyes and nodded instead of answering.

“I’ll think about it and contact you.”

“Alright.”

As I was about to get up, his voice called out again.

“You’ll talk to other teams too, right?”

“Of course, I have to. I just approached the Jaguars first.”

There was also the reason that the Jaguars seemed to have the highest probability of a successful trade, but more than anything, it was difficult to ignore the complaints from my acquaintances who were Jaguars fans.

* * *

While I was meeting with the Jaguars’ general manager, Kim Min-hwan contacted other teams’ general managers as well.

However, since it was such a large-scale trade proposal, no team gave a concrete answer right away.

For now, we had to be satisfied with the fact that the possibility of Jang Su-young’s trade was being discussed.

Instead, one piece of bait quietly thrown by Lee Soo-min heated up the domestic baseball community.

└Are they trading a key relief pitcher? And a left-hander at that?

└I don’t know if a trade for a key relief pitcher can really happen in the domestic league.

└I think there’s a 100% chance this will fall through.

└But if the source is Lee Soo-min, doesn’t that mean something is happening behind the scenes?

└If a trade really happens, it’ll cause a whirlwind.

└There aren’t many left-handed key relief pitchers to choose from.

└Is that Jang Su-young? He seems like the most likely candidate, but it also seems impossible.

└Even if the Wolves’ bullpen is solid, if Jang Su-young leaves, the key relief pitchers will all be right-handers. Does it make sense to trade him?

└To balance the trade, they’ll have to take the other team’s pillar.

└Which position would the Wolves want?

└They haven’t been able to revive their already ruined center line for years, so they need to get a defensive hitter.

└Even if it’s Jang Su-young, would they send such a player?

As soon as I got home, I lost track of time checking the fans’ reactions.

“Sunbae [senior/mentor]. Sunbae.”

Park Seong-ju approached me urgently.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sunbae, you haven’t met him yet, have you? Of course, something’s wrong.”

“What is it?”

“I think Go Ji-hoon sunbae [senior/mentor] has become very strange!”

Park Seong-ju said to me as if whispering.

“What do you mean strange? Did he get injured or something?”

That would be a really big deal.

“No. His body is fine, but he’s completely changed.”

I was relieved that it wasn’t an injury.

“What do you mean?”

“Suddenly, during training, he started talking to me and Seok-hoon for the first time.”

Oh, come on. It’s nothing.

“Really? Maybe he’s just become more comfortable.”

“He didn’t just talk. His expression was really different. How should I put it? He’s completely brightened up, or something?”

Park Seong-ju gestured wildly with both hands, frustrated that I wasn’t feeling any emotion.

“Still, it’s been a few days since we came here and lived together. Wouldn’t he have become a little more comfortable?”

“It’s not just that! How should I explain this? If you talk to him later, you’ll know right away.”

Park Seong-ju pounded his chest, expressing his frustration.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I heard someone coming up.

If it’s this sound of footsteps, it must be Go Ji-hoon.

I could already distinguish who it was just by the sound of their footsteps.

As Go Ji-hoon came into view, I raised the corners of my mouth.

“Sunbaenim [senior], are you done with training?”

“Oh, yeah. Hyun-woo-ya.”

Go Ji-hoon awkwardly accepted the greeting and carefully approached me.

I thought he would just greet me lightly and go upstairs.

“I don’t think you came home yesterday?”

“Yes. Something suddenly came up in the countryside.”

“Ah, you went to the countryside? You’ve been through a lot.”

I think this is the first time he’s spoken to me first?

I was starting to understand what Park Seong-ju meant when he said he had brightened up.

“And…”

Go Ji-hoon hesitated, struggling to continue.

“…?”

“…About the gift you gave me… Thank you so much. Sua really liked it.”

“Really? I’m glad. I feel so proud.”

“I don’t know how you knew she liked it, but my Sua said it’s her favorite character. Her mom said so.”

Information Broker, thank you again.

“I heard that all the kids watch that animation these days.”

I mumbled vaguely.

“Anyway, thank you. I just wanted to tell you that my daughter really liked it.”

As soon as he finished his last words, Go Ji-hoon smiled awkwardly, turned around, and hurried upstairs to the second floor.

Park Seong-ju and I waited quietly until Go Ji-hoon’s back disappeared from sight.

“Go sunbae [senior] is strange, right?”

“He’s different from usual.”

“I told you, right? It’s like he’s become a completely different person.”

I could only nod at Park Seong-ju’s words.

“But what’s this about a gift? Did you give Go sunbae a gift?”

“It was Go Ji-hoon sunbae’s daughter’s birthday a while ago. So I gave him something that kids these days would like as a gift.”

“Ah!”

Park Seong-ju’s eyes widened and he clapped his hands like someone who had gained a great realization.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s why.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s just feeling so good because of that gift. He’s even more grateful because it’s his daughter who likes it, not someone else.”

“That makes sense. I didn’t know the effect would be this strong.”

Well, good is good.

A faint smile appeared on my face.

“Then, can we all get along well from now on?”

“I think it’ll be okay from now on.”

“Nice!”

Park Seong-ju clenched his fist and rejoiced as if he had hit a home run.

“But where’s Seok-hoon?”

“He’s probably still training.”

“He’s still training?”

“He said he doesn’t think he’s hitting the ball well these days.”

“Even so, he should take enough breaks.”

I felt like I should go and tell him to rest now.

Just as I was about to go down to the underground training area.

Weeing-

A phone call was coming in.

It was Wolves General Manager Park Young-no.

“Yes, General Manager. This is Kang Hyun-woo.”

-What on earth is this all about?

Park Young-no’s voice was a little agitated.

“Pardon?”

-Who said they were trading Jang Su-young? I’ve never said anything like that.

The rumor had already spread that far.

Well, I told the general managers of nine teams, so it was unreasonable to expect that only the Wolves’ general manager wouldn’t know.

“General Manager. I’ll meet you in person and explain.”

* * *

I went to meet the Wolves’ general manager again.

He was endlessly bright when I met him last time, but he was a little different today.

I could even feel sharpness in Park Young-no’s eyes.

It was enough to make me flinch just by looking at him.

“Is it true that the Jang Su-young trade story came from the agency?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“What kind of behavior is this? How can you let a trade rumor spread without me, the general manager, even knowing about it!”

Park Young-no’s face turned red, and he slammed the armrest of the chair once with his right hand.

“First of all, I apologize for letting you hear about this through rumors when the situation hasn’t been discussed enough yet.”

As I bowed my head and apologized politely, Park Young-no’s expression seemed to soften slightly.

“While watching the Wolves’ games these days, I’ve been thinking about what I can do to help the Wolves in any way.”

“…?”

“Inquiring about trades with other teams was just one option among many.”

“Trades can happen anytime, but trading Jang Su-young? Do you think that makes sense? I told you last time how important Su-young is to our team, didn’t I?”

Park Young-no’s face turned red again as he spoke.

“Doesn’t the Wolves have enough relief pitchers?”

“Still, he’s the only left-handed relief pitcher. It’s hard to find a player like that in the league. And if Su-young leaves, how are we supposed to manage the game?”

“Since he’s so valuable, wouldn’t we be able to make a better trade?”

“That’s true, but Jang Su-young is a no-go, no matter what. He’s an absolutely untradeable player.”

Park Young-no said firmly, looking at me.

I paused for a moment, letting the time pass.

“What if we could bring in a shortstop who could come to the Wolves and play as a starter right away?”

“…What did you say?”

Park Young-no’s eyebrows twitched severely at my words.