Fiction REINCARNATION, Vol. 2

Moranbong Baseball Clup

<57> Moranbong Baseball Club

A week before the year-end meeting, I received a call from Song to meet. Why is he suddenly visiting Seoul? I asked Michelle to find out why and to meet him together.

The reason he wanted to meet me was because of our registrants. Among the registered employees, there are professional baseball players playing in North Korea. Some of them are said to have caused trouble by refusing the club's training programs. Song is working to mediate the conflicts between players and teams and solve the difficulties of professional teams. I called the manager in and asked him how he would react if his player got into trouble. He said managers usually respond in a way that draws the team's concessions from the players' side, but in some cases, players are at a disadvantage.

"Are there many professional players registered in our company?"

"This company manages about two hundred and fifty professional players. They are soccer, volleyball, basketball, and baseball players. Each of the staff specialized in sports marketing manage ten players."

"What happened this time?"

"Some players of the Moranbong Baseball Club have refused the club's training program."

"Why did they refuse training? Is the team unable to solve the problem on its own?"

"I don't know the details yet. They were transferred to Moranbong Baseball Club after playing for the South Korean team, but they seem to have resisted because the club gave them a low annual salary and strengthened their training."

"Are they getting a low salary?"

"Professional baseball teams in North Korea are less than 40 years old. Moranbong Baseball Club is the most popular team in North Korea, but it pays players a low salary because it lags behind South Korean teams in terms of financial and athletic ability."

"Players should also try to stand out in such teams."

"Moranbong Baseball Club is famous for its intensive training to meet the expectations of Pyongyang citizens. North Korean athletes respond, saying strong training is inevitable to catch up with South Korean teams, but South Korean athletes avoid harsh training. Players try to relax with their family after the season, and the club wants to take the time away. So they're resisting it."

When I came into the office after lunch with Michelle, Song had already arrived. Is it that urgent? He holds my hand and is very pleased. He must have been pleased to see live Jong-bin for the first time since the accident.

"You're alive! Now that you've passed the great crisis, you're going to live a very long life."

"I never thought I would see your face again."

"Michelle, long time no see. You've worked hard to save Jong-bin, haven't you?"

"I didn't do anything for JB. Thanks to the desperate prayers of you and your friends, JB must have been revived."

"We only saw Jong-bin lying dead right after the accident. We thought he'd never wake up."

"So did I. A year later I received a call from his sister and confirmed that his consciousness had returned."

"My friends think Michelle used a secret weapon for Jong-bin. What the hell did you do?"

I heard that his friends often visited Jong-bin while he was lying in the hospital. They would have determined that it was difficult for the unconscious Jong-bin to recover. Now that the hospital has given up on him, his friends might think that Jong-bin has been revived because of Michelle. I looked at the friend's face during the conversation. If he felt my voice and speech were strange, there would be some marks on his face, but he didn't respond very much. Was he indifferent to such minor changes because I had such a big accident?