Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li met Frast and his son in the meeting room.
In the beginning, Dai Li did not pay attention to the boy. He only paid attention to his father.
Frast looked like a rambunctious Argentinian man. If one were to say that he was a sports coach, most would believe it.
In truth, Frast was indeed a football coach, he just wasn’t well-known. As such, he was not wealthy. His lifestyle was not yet at the middle-class level. He was just able to meet the demands of life. In Argentina, a lot of people loved football, so there were a lot of people working in the industry. The number of football coaches who just made it past the minimum living standard could be found everywhere.
Dai Li sensed Frast was a coach, so his immediate assumption was that Frast was there to look for work.
It was only when Frast spoke that Dai Li found out that he was wrong.
“Coach Li, please help my son. Coach Claude told me that only you can help him,” Frast said. His accent was very strong. He sounded more like he was speaking Spanish. It made Dai Li have to take the time to understand his words.
“Your son?” Only then did Dai Li notice the short boy, who looked to be around 12 years old, in front of him.
“My son has a growth hormone deficiency. It restricts the growth of his bones, which also makes it impossible for him to grow taller,” Frast explained.
“Growth hormone deficiency? Is it dwarfism?” Dai Li asked.
“Yes,” Frast answered.
“Then you should look for a doctor. Ask the doctor to prescribe you growth hormone drugs or the like. If you use it in the long-term, it should be able to treat dwarfism. I’m only a coach, treating diseases isn’t my specialty,” Dai Li answered.
“But I also know that undergoing scientific sports training will also help a person grow taller, especially children in their growth and developmental period. That’s why I came to you,” Frast stated.
Dai Li nodded, “That is indeed true. Suitable training does indeed facilitate the growth and development of adolescence.”
Although Dai Li said the words, his mind was jumbled.
Generally speaking, if one were to have dwarfism, one would first go to the doctor. Medical methods are the best way to cure the disease. As for improving the growth and development of the body through sports training, that should only be a supplement to medical treatments. Besides, my fees are among the highest in the entire United States. Training at my place is certainly much more expensive than getting injections of growth hormone through medical treatments. Only the extremely rich would choose to train at my place as a supplement to their medical treatment. It should be more cost-effective for a normal person to just go to the doctor.
As he thought this, Dai Li sized up Frast again. Frast didn’t look like a rich person.
If he can afford my fees, it would be better if he used that money to find a good doctor for his son for better treatment. Dai Li became even more confused.
Frast did not intend to hide anything. He directly said, “Coach Li, my son received treatment from doctors before, and he has already been injected with growth hormone, but the treatments aren’t good enough. Moreover, the X-ray showed that his Wagner’s line has already closed. Even if we continued with the growth hormone injections, there wouldn’t be any significant effect.”
“His Wagner’s line has closed! That is indeed a little troublesome!” Dai Li furrowed his brow. As a professional coach, of course, he knew what it meant.
“Coach Li, I know that you are the world’s greatest coach, which is why I want to ask you to help my son. As long as you can help my son get to 170, no, 165 centimeters, he will be able to continue playing football! My son really has a gift in football, if he continues playing football, he will definitely be a star,” Frast pleaded earnestly. “Coach Li, please!”
When talking about football, Dai Li’s first instinct was that to assume it was American Football. After all, in the eye of Americans, football meant American Football. However, Dai Li remembered the father and son in front of him were Argentinians. That country was really a kingdom of football.
Dai Li glanced at the short kid in front of him and used the detector on him.
Football talent, S+! This talent, he can become the king of football of the next generation! Dai Li finally started looking carefully at the boy named Halls Frast.
Dai Li used to work in Dingtian Football Club and, back then, although the top foreign talent the in the club was a world-class football star, his talent grade was only A+.
Later, when Dai Li followed Dingtian Football Club to the Asian Cup, he saw many Japanese and Korean, as well as West Asian world-class players. Among the players in the Korean and West Asian football clubs, some used to play in the top five leagues of Europe. However, among them, only the core leaders of each team had A talent potential. Suffice it to say that at the Asian Cup level, most players had a talent potential of B.
Now, Dai Li actually met an S+ grade player. Based on the assessment of the system, an S+ player was one that could dominate an entire generation. Without a doubt, this kid could be called the “King of Football.”
However, the detection result also showed a weakness of Halls Frast, and that was dwarfism.
This child is only 13 years old. Although his Wagner’s line has closed, he is still going through puberty and can continue growing taller. If I use the athlete’s patch, it should be able to supplement the growth hormone he needs to grow and develop, which will solve his problem of growing taller. An athlete with S+ talent. It’s definitely worth using three athlete’s patch, Dai Li thought.
Humans are complex individuals. The growth and development of the human body are not determined merely by growth hormones. There are other hormones involved. The growth hormone is only the hormone with the largest effect on a human’s growth. It is impossible to manufacture and synthesize all the hormones required in the human body based on the technology of today.
From primates to modern homo sapiens, evolution spanned over 50 million years. The result of 50 million years of natural selection isn’t something biologists and scientists can research thoroughly in a few decades. When scientists really do succeed in synthesizing all the hormones required for human growth, then humans will become “Gods.”
The effect of the athlete’s patch was to supplement whatever was missing so, as long as he let the child use the athlete’s patch, it would mean that he would receive all the hormones for his growth during his puberty. Moreover, scientific training really did help people grow taller.
To groom a king of football. That should also be quite an achievement! As Dai Li thought this, he told Frast, “Mr. Frast, I promise you I will provide your child with the most scientific training available to help him grow taller.”
“Really? That’s great!” Frast was so happy he almost leaped off his feet. However, he looked sad again a second later.
“Coach Li, in truth, we are not rich, so I don’t have that much money to pay you. However, I can work for you. I can use my wages as payment to offset the training fee. I’m a football coach and I can also train athletes. Perhaps I can do other work. Even janitorial work is fine! As long as my son can stay here, I’ll do anything!” Frast said in earnest.
Dai Li leaned back in his chair instead and clasped his hands together. He stared straight at Frast., “Mr. Frast, I’d like to ask you a question. How many children do you have?”
“I have four kids. Three boys and a girl.” Frast did not understand why Dai Li cared.
“Are they all adults?” Dai Li continued asking.
“The eldest is almost an adult. My second son is still in middle school. Halls is my third son, and he still has a very young sister,” Frast answered honestly.
“Which is to say you are the breadwinner of your family?” Dai Li asked.
“Ye… Yes…” Frast sounded hesitant.
“Since you are the breadwinner and pillar of support of your family if you continued staying in the U.S. all the time, what will happen to your family?” Dai Li asked again.
“I plan on selling my house. The money I get from selling my house should last my family for a time,” Frast replied honestly.
“Alright, Mr. Frast.I cannot let you work here because you still have a whole family to support. I don’t want to see your family sleep in the streets,” Dai Li spread out his hands.
Frast suddenly looked pale, he thought that Dai Li had rejected his request because he could not afford to pay the training fee.
“Coach Li, I beg you, please help this child. He really has a gift in football, as long as he can become a professional football player, he is sure to become a star,” Frast begged in earnest.
On the side, the young Halls looked at his father. He suddenly tugged his father’s shirt and said, “Papa, stop begging him. Don’t beg anymore!”
Halls spoke in Spanish. Dai Li did not understand but, from Halls’ expression, Dai Li could guess what Halls had said.
Although not born physically strong, he was born with a strong will. Dai Li smiled and said, “Mr. Frast, don’t be too hasty. I haven’t finished.”
Both father and son quieted down. Dai Li then continued, “In truth, I have two types of payment systems in my training center. The first is direct payment. You can pay cash, through cheques or even use a credit card. However, it looks like this type of payment method is a bit difficult for you now. So let’s talk about the second type of payment method.
“The second payment method is an income-sharing model. Simply put, the athlete trains here in my center and a portion of this athlete’s income for a period of time in the future will be divided between us based on an agreed ratio to offset the training fee. Just like the commission of agents.”
This put some life into Frast’s eye. He immediately asked, “Coach Li, what you mean is that we can use Halls’ future income as the training fee now?”
Dai Li nodded, “Your understanding is correct. Our fees have always been rather high. Several other athletes could not afford the fees previously, so they used this payment method. Train first and pay according to the ratio after earning money. However, not a lot of athletes use this method. We also need to conduct an assessment on the athlete to see if he or she has the potential ability to earn money.”
“Then can we also use this type of payment method to pay for the training fees?” Frast asked.
“Yes. I have faith in Halls’ potential. However, Halls is too young. He will not have the ability to make money in the next few years, so I want income sharing with him for 20 years! Your son is 13 years old this year so, until he is 33 years old, a portion of his income will be taken out as payment for the training fee,” Dai Li said.
“How much do you want?” Frast asked cautiously. He was afraid Dai Li would ask for a ridiculous amount.
“3%!” Dai Li held out three fingers and said, “This is a lot lower than the commissions for agents. I think this is a more suitable price.”
Frast let out a long breath. A share of 3% was not a large percentage, even if it were 20 years, it was acceptable.
Moreover, Halls was only 13 years old, he wasn’t an adult yet. That meant that in the next five to six years, he couldn’t earn any money. The income sharing of 20 years was actually more like 14 to 15 years.
Frast agreed without hesitation.
“Mr. Frast, I have to remind you, the income that I’m talking about isn’t only limited to the wages paid by the football clubs. It also includes advertisement and endorsement deals, as well as portrait rights. All kinds of income are also commissionable,” Dai Li reminded.
“Yes, I understand,” Frast nodded.
“Your son is a minor now, so I hope you can explain to him clearly and obtain his consent. I don’t want a situation where he uses the excuse of being a minor when the contract was signed to nullify the contract after he becomes an adult,” Dai Li said.
“Alright, I will explain it to him thoroughly,” Frast said.
“Also, Mr. Frast. I have another question. Will you stay in the U.S.? Or do you plan to return to Argentina?” Dai Li looked at Halls and said, “Because your son is still a minor, he needs a guardian in the United States.”
“That…” Frast suddenly looked hesitant. The living costs in the U.S. were much higher than in Argentina. Food, shelter, and clothing, everything cost money. Frast was the pillar of support for their family. If he stayed in the U.S. to look after his son, he would really have no choice but to mortgage his house to support his wife and three other children.
Dai Li saw through Frast’s hesitation and said, “Mr. Frast if you need to return to Argentina, you need to find a guardian for your son in the U.S.”
“I’ll think of something.” Although Frast said this, he was really troubled. He didn’t have any family or friends in the U.S.
“If you can’t find a guardian in the meantime, I can help you find someone. I guess I can arrange for one of the coaches in our establishment to be your son’s guardian in the United States,” Dai Li said. In truth, he already had a suitable candidate in his mind.
“Really? That’s great! Coach Li, I can’t thank you enough,” Frast said passionately.
“Mr. Frast, why don’t you rest here for a moment? I’ll get my lawyer to draft the agreement. Also, I’ll get that guardian candidate here to meet you.” Dai Li left as he finished speaking.
After that, Dai Li took out his phone and dialed Chris Payton’s number.
“Chris, come back for a second. I have a difficult task for you!”
“Boss, another big shot for me?” Chris asked, a little excited.
“Yeah, I’m handing you a king of football!” Dai Li answered with a smile.