Ace of Ace - Chapter 16

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 .

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 .