Chapter 16: Chapter 15 - People Scratching at Lottery Tickets Chapter 15 - People Scratching at Lottery Tickets 04

    David got a phone call from Alex and furrowed his brows .

    “Hello? What?! No contract?”

    David narrowed his eyes .

    Whenever a problem occurred, his facial expression changed .

    Alex talked to David with a heavy voice .

    “I’m so sorry . Top management already found a VIP pitcher . I didn’t know about this . ”

    David had been talking with Gun Choi about the Major League .

    Free agent(FA) with VIP pitcher .

    David spoke loudly .

    “You told me yesterday…”

    Alex sighed and responded .

    “Hmm…Yesterday was yesterday . Anyway, we can’t provide a sign-up bonus . ”

    Without a sign-up bonus, it was just a generic Minor League contract .

    “Really, is there no way?”

    David tried to persuade Alex some more .

    “Ok, then can you provide a bigger promotion bonus?”

    “Well…”

    “Surely you don’t think it’s the same contract? I thought Baltimore had enough money . ”

    Alex also wanted to invite Gun Choi . But the owner of team had already made a decision .

    “We decided to find a pitcher amongst our own players, not from outside . Most likely it will be an internal promotion . ”

    David became speechless . He was caught in a dilemma .

    Alex decided to hang up before David could catch his breath, and respond .

    “David, hope to see you next time with good news . ”

    Alex hung up the phone . David sighed deeply .

    “I don’t know what to say to Gun Choi . ”

    After a little while, David called Gun Choi .

    Gun Choi answered the phone immediately .

    “Who called?

    David answer frankly .

    “It was from Baltimore Orioles . ”

    Gun Choi’s voice was cheerful . He didn’t know what Alex and David had discussed .

    “Did they want to sign a contract soon? Or review details?”

    David spoke with his hands clasped tightly .

    “No… Baltimore decided not to provide a sign-up bonus . ”

    Gun Choi was shocked by the Orioles rapidly and unexpectedly changing their decision .

    “What?!”

    “The owner of team is interest in signing free agents for VIP pitchers . ”

    Gun Choi realized that this situation put him at a huge disadvantage . Hiring an FA meant there would be no more out of team hiring .

    ‘Things went badly, as I feared . ’

    As he spoke, his face showed mixed expressions .

    “If Baltimore doesn’t need me, then don’t I only have one team left? Who’s that?”

    David felt relieved due to Gun Choi’s positive outlook . He talked about the team .

    “It’s the Cubs . But the Cubs wants you to play in the bullpen . Their pitcher, Samaja, got injured recently .

    But if you play well in the bullpen, you’ll absolutely get a chance . You’re still young . ”

    Gun Choi answered as he nodded .

    “Back up for Samaja . There’s still a chance . ”

    “Sure . ”

    But being a backup meant having few chances .

    Anyway, there’s a vacancy for a starting player .

    “How are the contract details? Same as the Orioles?”

    “Little better…but it’s not for a starting player . ”

    Gun Choi thought debuting at the Major Leagues was better than being a starting player in the Minor Leagues .

    “I don’t care about a position . I want to be in the Major leagues by any means necessary . ”

    David’s voice became cheerful .

    “Do you think so?”

    “It was 3 years . I’ll thank whoever calls me . ”

    David told Gun Choi that he would try to negotiate a better contract .

    Gun Choi’s goal was to play in the Major Leagues, not staying in the bullpen .

    “Ok, only 1 year . ”

    He wanted more benefits due to his playing in the bullpen .

    “Oh, David . I need to add more options instead of the basic conditions . ”

    David tilted his head .

    Gun Choi’s suggestion had no benefit to him .

    “Options?”

    “I mean the same conditions as Daiye . ”

    Daiye lowered his annual salary, but added several options for a multiple year contract with the

    Dodgers . This surprised a lot of people .

    At that time, there were lot of concerns about the contract, but he shocked people by

    getting a larger amount than expected .

    Gun Choi wanted a contract like this .

    “What do you want me to put in?”

    “There should be good options to hold or save . I made a concession on position, they need to make a

    concession on the bonus . ”

    David disagreed with Gun Choi . As an agent, he thought Gun Choi’s decision was not reasonable .

    “Gun Choi, that’s not a concession . Challenging is good, but wouldn’t you prefer something stable?

    And also think about your age…”

    Gun Choi flatly refused .

    “David, I’m still young . You talked about stability, but I don’t want to make do with the current situation by accepting a sign-up bonus . I’ll raise my salary by entering the Major Leagues . ”

    He intended to enter the Major Leagues the next season . s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

    David nodded his head in the end .

    “Ok, then I’ll discuss it with the Cubs . ”

    Gun Choi hung up the phone and laid down on the sofa .

    “I hoped things would go smoothly but… it was same 3 year ago . I thought I had a chance when I was on the expanded roster, but I got injured . ”

    As he closed eye, he saw an unusual message .

    - Here is your first mission . Make your debut in the Major Leagues . This mission does not expire until you complete it .

    There was no conditional term for the mission .

    ‘You don’t need to say it . That’s exactly what I wanted . ’

    He thought it was going to be a simple mission because there was no condition or time limit .

    But he couldn’t understand the next message .

    -You can’t use the acceleration program until you achieve the mission .

    Gun Choi used the ring every day, but he forgot about the acceleration program after he recovered .

    ‘Hmm, was I allowed to use the acceleration program outside of recovering from my injury?’

    Suddenly, he regretted that he didn’t use the acceleration program after live pitching .

    ‘It might be helpful to increase my physical and muscular abilities, but overall it’s better not to use

    it . Baseball should be learned by the body, not by the mind .

    Gun Choi didn’t think that the heavy feeling on this body wouldn’t affect his performance .

    E/N: FA refers to a free agent . That is a player who is not contractually bound to a team, and can negotiate their own contract and salary .