00022 Agent ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
After formally signing an agent contract with Minjun, the very first thing Jorge did was not activate Bundesliga infrastructure, but rather raise Minjun's recognition in his homeland, Korea.
He did not know the exact reason, but despite Minjun having grown so much, very few people in his homeland of Korea knew anything about him.
Even though it had been reported that he received tutoring from Korean football legend Cha Beom-geun, the article had briefly surfaced but soon died down, and as a result, it had reached the point where even those who had known forgot about him.
Since a player's homeland fans are their most reliable allies, Jorge decided to take advantage of the atmosphere where Korea's interest in football had peaked thanks to the World Cup.
Jorge was a clever man who knew how to read the flow. If he approached first, his intentions would be obvious and it would reflect poorly on him in many ways, so he made it so they had no choice but to approach him.
After learning that there were extremely few places in Korea that could properly handle overseas agent work, he used this to formulate his plan, approaching them under the pretense that he had not come to see World Cup stars but simply to look into Korean youth football.
In fact, Jorge did not even contact Korea's World Cup stars and only looked into the youth side, so Korean agents thought of him as someone they could collaborate with without losing their livelihoods, and cautiously spoke about advancing overseas, approaching Jorge first.
Instead of handling this part through collaboration himself, Jorge introduced them to fairly conscientious agents, and this attitude of his gave the Korean officials such trust that he obtained a great deal of youth information that he did not even particularly need.
Well, while chatting about how he came to Korea and who he had with him, he slowly leaked information about Minjun, and when they heard Minjun's name, they spoke as if they knew of him.
Saying things like he was a genius praised as becoming Korea's special-class striker after receiving tutoring from player Cha Beom-geun in Germany, and also subtly leaking that a professional contract was in the works, these people then spilled this information to journalists who were always starved for article material and in a bind.
Articles came out about a Korean super-special-class prospect who grew up learning German football, not a World Cup star, being on the verge of a professional contract, and on top of this, some journalists put out provocative articles asking why such a prospect had not appeared in the youth national team.
The one hit directly by such articles was, of course, the Football Association, which had been in a very good mood after the World Cup; they had secretly investigated the existence of a Korean boy receiving tutoring from Cha Beom-geun.
However, this investigation had not been conducted properly. The person dispatched had roughly treated him as a second-generation Korean-German expatriate and brushed it aside.
The employee who went to investigate witnessed a German man (Daniel) and a Korean woman (Gyeongsuk) welcoming Minjun and getting into a car with him; though they looked older, he simply assumed Minjun must be their late-born son and left it at that.
Had he even tried talking to a club official, he could have found out, but after conducting such a shoddy investigation, the employee said that he was probably not of Korean nationality but German nationality, calling him a second-generation expatriate, and interest in Minjun plummeted.
But now articles came out saying that this Minjun was fully Korean, his parents lived in Korea, he had gone to Germany in fifth grade of elementary school where relatives lived to study abroad, and that he had purely received recognition for his genius talent in Germany and a professional contract would soon be executed.
Afterwards, talk exploded asking why the Korean Football Association had neglected such a player until now, truly nothing short of a bolt from the blue.
Well aware of this situation, Jorge feigned a chance meeting with a Korean Football Association official and made a statement that he would personally speak to the journalists raising questions, leaving an excellent impression.
And afterwards, he spun it that the reason Minjun had not appeared in the youth national team was that at the time Minjun was in an adjustment period, and after his potential exploded, due to rapid growth in height he was refraining to the extent that he could not even play in the Bundesliga youth league.
The Korean Football Association claimed that they had already known about Minjun and, knowing these circumstances well, not wanting to ruin a promising football talent needlessly under the pretext of a national team call-up, they had formed the team with existing K League prospects.
The Association side, saying that this level of spin was truly an art form, expressed real gratitude to Jorge for helping Korea's World Cup stars advance overseas and greatly saving their face, and said that if anything came up for Minjun in Korea in the future, they would actively cooperate.
After that, Jorge appropriately wrapped up matters in Korea and returned to Germany, conveying this heated response from Korea to the local scene there and raising Minjun's value. Receiving such passionate attention from the homeland meant his marketability rose, so Bundesliga clubs felt Minjun was even more attractive and drooled with desire.
Of course, in this regard Frankfurt was in an absolute position, so Jorge did not take any particular action, but just having other clubs drool like this made Frankfurt have to pay even more attention to and be even more generous with Minjun.
If they did not, the player they had raised so diligently might disappear like a mirage.
"My word… you are truly remarkable."
"It is for my player. It is only natural."
"I truly did not expect you to go this far. It convinces me that choosing you was the most important choice in Minjun's life."
At Daniel's high praise, Jorge spoke humbly but did not hide that he was inwardly pleased. It was, after all, an achievement obtained through tremendous effort.
"Once the professional contract goes through, Minjun's existence will inevitably become known anyway. Recently, the younger generation has begun to lead information and culture through the Internet via computers… if someone just stirred things up a little there, the flames would have spread quickly."
"Haha, the Internet… Minjun has been fiddling with computers lately, too. I do not know much about such things. Anyway, thank you. Being recognized in one's homeland feels better than being recognized abroad… if Minjun knew of your efforts, he would truly be grateful."
Since everything had been carried out without Minjun knowing, Daniel was even more grateful to Jorge.
Daniel had wanted Minjun to learn of these fights that could be considered messy and sordid only after he had grown more. He was still at an age too busy growing, and given Minjun's personality, he would take this very seriously and could have a hard time mentally.
And perhaps having read these thoughts well, Jorge had only spoken to Daniel, the guardian, about how he would make Minjun shine, asking for understanding, and had successfully carried out such splendid work in Korea.
"This is something he can learn about later."
"That is right. Haha… by the way, Frankfurt contacted me… they were talking about you. They asked various things, but the main one was why you keep meeting with Bundesliga club teams."
"Is that so? Well… they must be feeling sensitive given their recent results."
"Kkeung… you know that well enough without me saying it. Tch. Getting held back by one team after another, always dropping from the title race to mid-table. Tsk. There is a limit to how long you should linger in the second division."
After going up and down, now that they seemed to have settled into the second division, having spent consecutive seasons there endlessly, Daniel and many fans could only feel frustrated.
"Haha, my apologies. Anyway… you know, do you not? You have to pressure the club to draw out good things for the player. Even though I am just going around meeting with them, the club's attitude has already changed, has it not?"
"That is right. You know that well. Well, since I left it to you, I told them I did not really know. Of course, I answered positively regarding the contract."
"Yes. If you just push and pull like that, they will come to their senses and not make a single mistake in their attitude toward Minjun."
"Tsk tsk, to think I would be playing hard to get at my age, something I never did even when I was dating… anyway, truly, thank you."
"Do not mention it… then I will take my leave now. I should treat you to a meal, but I am so pressed for time that I have to go like this."
"Oh my… I am not such an inconsiderate man. I am the one who should treat you. Are you really that busy?"
At Daniel's question, Jorge sighed and nodded, having spent several more days in Korea than expected, leaving him with a string of busy schedules.
"My apologies. The schedule is too tight."
"Tch, understood. Then contact me when you come again. I will treat you to a delicious meal."
"I look forward to it. I am a complete big eater."
"Of course. Our household is full of big eaters, too."
---------------------------= Author's Afterword ---------------------------=
Hmm...
I was born in '87.
'87: 1 year old, '88: 2 years old, '89: 3 years old, '90: 4 years old
'91: 5 years old, '92: 6 years old, '93: 7 years old, '94: 8 years old
'95: 9 years old, '96: 10 years old, '97: 11 years old, '98: 12 years old
'99: 13 years old, '00: 14 years old, '01: 15 years old, '02: 16 years old
Korean age 16, German age 15 after his birthday.^^
I was worried about the age too.. hehe;
Saved it. LOL, in case I make a mistake...