A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 273

68. A Cup of Warm Cocoa (5)

Tropicana Field Parking Lot.

It was utter chaos.

Swish, swish, swish—

Rain poured down like a deluge.

Honk! Honk!

Cars lined up in long queues.

And,

even people were shouting in anger.

“Hey! How long are you going to make us wait here?”

“Let’s get in quickly! Hey, the game is about to start!!”

“Hey!! Are you going to raise this barrier right now? Do you even know how much money I spent to come here?!”

Jisub and John Llama arrived at the parking lot entrance when this chaos was at its peak.

Peeking his head into the ticket issuing counter, he saw a freckled employee sweating profusely.

It was the same employee who had given Jisub various information when he was first assigned here.

His name was Peter, wasn’t it?

“Peter, are you okay?”

Jisub asked.

“I heard it’s a system error… Which side is it? Is it a problem with the server connection? Or a firmware conflict?”

Of course, Jisub didn’t know much about parking management systems.

It was just a story he had heard while sharing mixed coffee with the facility team guys back in his KH Cannons days.

But for Peter at this moment, the fact that someone who could even utter those words was talking to him seemed like a great comfort.

“I, I think it’s the firmware side.”

Peter wiped away the sweat flowing down.

“It seems like someone messed with the race’s system. All the machines here are old, so if you update them wrong, they just crash.”

“I, in that case…”

Jisub clicked his tongue.

The Cannons’ parking management system was just as outdated as this one, so Jisub had experienced similar troubles a few times in the past.

Fortunately, the solution was so simple that there was no need to remember it separately.

However, the problem was that executing that ‘solution’ required a firm decision from someone in charge.

“In this case, isn’t the only option to forcibly shut down the system? Then restore the firmware to its original state.”

“Y, yes, that’s right. That’s the most certain way, but… If we do that, the data of the vehicles that have already entered will be completely lost.”

This was why a ‘decision’ was needed.

The moment the system is shut down, all data disappears.

If the data disappears, parking fees cannot be collected from the vehicles that have already entered.

“Even if we say this and that, there are already 2,000 vehicles that have entered so far. If we can’t collect parking fees from those people…”

“What about the manager?”

Jisub cut Peter off.

“Isn’t the manager the one who can make the decision? Where is he right now?”

“The manager went to the club’s office. It’s the opening game, so they’re probably busy there, and no one is answering the phone…”

“Ah, is that so?”

If that grumpy manager went there himself, he thought there was not much to worry about.

Gregory Campbell, was it? He would have gone to the head of stadium operations, and they were probably discussing how to solve this problem right now.

‘Well, that’s true, but…’

What came into Jisub’s view was the sight of cars lined up at the parking lot entrance.

At this time when it was already starting to get dark, the cars were waiting endlessly with their headlights on.

‘Honk!’ The honking was still loud, and some people who were tired of waiting were just turning their cars around.

And right then.

“Kim?”

John Llama approached.

“They said it’s a system error, but is there a way to fix it? Is it okay to just wait like this?”

He thought he would just spout some nonsense, but John Llama was surprisingly coming up with constructive alternatives.

“There’s a public parking lot two blocks away from here. It used to be used as an auxiliary parking lot when the Race was doing well…”

John Llama continued, pressing down on his raincoat hood.

“If it’s difficult to solve right away, how about guiding people there first? There should still be space there.”

“An auxiliary parking lot…”

After thinking for a moment, Jisub firmly shook his head.

“No, that won’t work. The game is about to start, and it doesn’t make sense to send people to a place two blocks away from here.”

“Then what? We can’t just stand here and wait.”

“I think…”

Swoosh.

Jisub gave the club owner’s son a meaningful look.

“Llama.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever shouted loudly at someone in your life? Loud enough to shake the neighborhood.”

“Hey, Kim, you tend to look down on people too much, you know?”

John Llama chuckled.

“I do things when I need to. If I need someone, I shout and growl menacingly. I may be like this now, but I was once called the ‘Crimson Tornado of St. Petersburg’ [likely a boastful nickname].”

“Okay, that’s enough then.”

“Yes?”

Before John Llama could figure out what was going on, Jisub was striding towards the parking lot attendant.

Listening to John Llama following behind, Jisub spoke to the employee named Peter.

“Hey, Peter.”

His voice was quite firm.

“Shut down the system right now and raise all the parking lot barriers. Let everyone waiting there come in.”

“Yes?!”

At the sudden story, Peter looked at Jisub with a bewildered expression.

“No, that’s… Whose order is it?”

* * *

About 30 minutes later.

Gregory Campbell of the Tampa Bay Race Stadium Operations Department was getting into a golf cart with a pale face.

“Get in! Get in quickly!”

“Ah, yes!”

The person sweating profusely and getting into the passenger seat was the manager of [Sunshine City Parking Management Services].

As he awkwardly took his seat in the passenger seat, Gregory Campbell hurriedly started the golf cart.

“Mr. Patterson! How can you handle things like this? Huh?!”

While urgently stepping on the accelerator pedal, he shouted at the manager.

“If something like that happened, you should have looked for me right away! Why were you complaining to the innocent technical team staff?!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Campbell.”

The manager lowered his head.

“Isn’t the technical team’s skill not very good? So I thought if I asked them, the problem might be solved faster…”

“Don’t make such ridiculous excuses!!!”

Gregory shouted.

“Do you think I don’t know your true intentions? You were trying to prevent the forced shutdown of the system, weren’t you! Because you were afraid that all the revenue earned today would be lost!”

“Th, that is…”

“How many times have I told you? We will compensate for problems caused by system errors, so please prioritize the convenience of the fans! Was that such a difficult request?”

Swish.

Roughly turning the steering wheel, Gregory Campbell said very firmly.

“I will report this matter to the higher-ups.”

“Y-yes?!”

The manager’s eyes widened.

“Wh, what does that mean…”

“Have I been doing business with Sunshine for a day or two? It must have been your boss’s order, right? To handle it quietly at Mr. Patterson’s level without informing me if possible.”

Gregory Campbell continued.

“If you’re doing this even though we promised compensation, it means you can’t even wait for the time until the compensation is paid… If you come out like this, we have no choice. We have no choice but to look for a new parking management company.”

“C-Campbell!!”

The manager went into begging mode.

He was sorry, he apologized, and he would make sure this never happened again.

The manager was so persistent that it was difficult to drive, but Gregory Campbell didn’t hear a single word.

It wasn’t because he was a particularly heartless person.

It was simply because this day’s situation was a huge mistake for him as well.

‘Damn it, if I had known this would happen, I should have checked the parking lot in advance…’

Since it was the opening game, it took a lot of time to prepare the stadium facilities, which was the root cause.

He wondered if it was necessary to go all the way up to the catwalk on the ceiling to check, and he wondered if it would have been better to end the meeting with the ground safety personnel a little shorter.

Looking back, it was something he should have paid attention to, but once a problem occurred, the responsibility would fall entirely on him.

‘If the already small number of spectators decreases even more because of the parking lot system… Ugh, the president will try to tear my scalp off.’

He wanted to tear down this damn parking management company first, but he had to deal with this situation first.

He had to run to the parking lot entrance as soon as possible and bow his head to the customers who were very angry.

Whether it was a free parking ticket or a free food and beverage ticket, he had to use all the coupons he had to bring customers to the stadium.

Reaching this point, Gregory Campbell glared fiercely at the manager.

“Damn it, what are you doing standing there like an idiot!”

“Yes?!”

“Call the parking lot attendant! Tell them to raise the barrier quickly and let the people waiting come in!”

“I’ve been trying to call since a while ago… Ah, that bastard isn’t answering the phone.”

“Ugh, the manager and the manager…”

A feeling of wanting to die from frustration.

A feeling of being suffocated.

Just as he was passing by Parking Lot 5 with a feeling of giving up halfway, a strange sight came into Gregory Campbell’s view.

“Hmm?!”

Cars were lining up and entering from the parking lot entrance.

Some people had already finished parking, and some people had started heading to the stadium with umbrellas.

The atmosphere was quite different from what Gregory Campbell had expected from start to finish.

‘……What is it?’

While tilting his head, Gregory Campbell arrived at the parking lot entrance.

Without even thinking about taking an umbrella, he ran towards the ticket issuing counter.

“Why don’t you answer the phone?”

When Gregory Campbell reached the parking lot counter, he heard someone’s voice from inside.

“Still, shouldn’t we report to the manager? It’s better to get scolded sooner rather than later.”

“Wow, I really didn’t see it that way… You guys are really scary people.”

He also heard someone grumbling.

“No, when did you start shouting and yelling to raise the barrier right away… Now you’re pretending to worry about me? Are you a double personality?”

“Hey, I apologized for that, didn’t I? The situation was too urgent at the time…”

At this time, Gregory Campbell was unknowingly letting out a sigh of relief.

‘I, I’m alive.’

Someone seemed to have shut down the parking lot system in his place.

They shut down the system and let all the waiting vehicles into the parking lot.

And thus, he prevented the misfortune of people who came to see the opening game from turning back.

‘Who the hell is it? Who did this…’

With a question in his mind, Gregory Campbell moved towards the counter.

Even in the meantime, a voice was coming out from the counter.

“Anyway, you have to keep your promise? If I get kicked out of the company because of this… Then you really have to take responsibility?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that? This person here is the son of the Tampa Bay Race club owner!”

Ahem, ahem!

He heard someone clearing their throat.

“So don’t worry… Oh my, why are you shaking so much? Are you that anxious?”

“No, well, I’m anxious and… I’m cold because I got a lot of rain…”

“That won’t do. We’ll go and buy you a cup of warm cocoa. Llama, is there a cafe near here?”

“There is! It’s across the street! Would you like to go with me to buy it?”

As they were coming out of the narrow counter, the two ‘top contributors of the day.’

It was at this moment that Gregory Campbell called out the two people.

“Mr. Taylor! Mr. Kim!”

“Oh, Mr. Campbell?!”

The two people he had sent to the parking management company with the thought of ‘Oh well, whatever’ because they were too annoying.

He never thought that those two people would solve the crisis that had befallen him in one fell swoop.

Gregory Campbell raised his hand high towards the two people who were blinking their eyes, not knowing what was going on.

“Ah, yes, I’m Gregory!”

First, he had to greet them, and then he had to thank them.

But perhaps because it was raining so much. So perhaps because he was starting to feel chilly.

Mr. Gregory Campbell was smiling brightly and saying this first.

“Cocoa! Warm cocoa is good!”

He said to Jisub and John Llama.

“I’ll buy it for you… Would you like to go with me?”