Booking Glory-Chapter 30: A Congregation of Geeks - Part 2

"You know what, let’s just agree to disagree, right?" Rob said in exasperation.

He and Brent had been arguing the merits and demerits of IndiSoft’s approach to commercialized research and trying to get the computer more user-friendly for two hours straight.

By now, Rob had realized a few things. One, Brent may look like an awkward kid who is too shy to talk, but when he gets going on the topics he is interested in, he can argue for a really long time.

Two, Brent was very passionate about computers. He strongly feels that they are the future and has a lot of opinions on how things need to be done. Unfortunately, they were not something Rob sees working out from his experience in his previous world.

Three, Brent is a bright man with several ideas running in his head. He has ideas that could potentially become the next big break in technology if he could make them into reality.

Four, Brent is a college graduate who wants to start his own business in the computer industry. He and several of his friends, who were of the same mind, have been working on some stuff that they didn’t have a clear goal for yet. But, these people were like scientists who hop from one idea to another and try to make it work.

This has them running around like headless chickens trying to do way too many things at the same time and ending up doing nothing for a long time.

And last but not least, the concept of the internet was also beginning to emerge in the computer circle currently. While it may take a few years to develop it, the seed is already planted and a lot of computer experts were gravitating toward the free movement that his previous world went through.

From what Rob heard Brent say, the internet is where his research was being based around on and he was really interested in trying to create a program or software that could help him know stuff easily.

To Rob, it sounded vaguely like something Yahoo and Google were based on. Browser or search somethings, they were called in his previous world. He knew that there was immense potential in those ideas, but he wasn’t sure Brent would be able to do it.

During his interaction with Brent, Rob also realized something. Brent was a dreamer. He dreamt of accomplishing impossible things without any thought as to whether it was realistically possible for them to be accomplished.

Rob knew that guys like Brent were the ones who truly changed the world. However, they really needed someone who could be a realist amongst them and reign in their excessive mind wandering. Unless Brent could find someone like that, it would be hard for him to accomplish something.

While Rob had a pretty good idea about what could be done with the internet, he also knew that it couldn’t be accomplished in a short time. From his point of view, the internet was an amalgamation of different fields.

While the software is essential, there is also the fact that you need the hardware and other equipment to be capable of accomplishing the goal the software was based on.

One couldn’t build an internet shopping site without the capability of hardware to process the images and take orders. While the QR payment was already available here, Rob didn’t think it would be easy to move it to the internet.

Also, Rob also understood a bit about the situation with this QR payment thing after talking to Brent a bit about it. Apparently, several banking institutions had banded together and funded the research for that particular technology.

The technology in use was considered very advance by current experts. It is even said to be a milestone in technological innovation. Brent was very vocal about how very few people in the entire world would be able to understand the technology thoroughly.

Rob didn’t think about it much. He wasn’t a tech-savvy individual, to be honest. The only reason he even tried to understand the situation behind it was that it was very awkward every time he used his phone to buy something.

The dissonance with the current technological development of this world was really very hard for Rob to move past. Now that he understood that it was the pinnacle of technology in this world, he could gladly put it out of his mind.

"Fine, but I still don’t think that it is the way that research should develop in," Brent grumbled in reply to his question. "Do you want to check out some of our stuff? I promise you, it will blow your mind away."

Rob seriously doubted the last statement. There was no way that any of the current advances in technology could truly surprise him. Not to mention that these things were still in their infancy currently.

But, Rob was glad for the invite. He really didn’t have much to do apart from going to LWC. He had decided to take the Sunday off as there was no special event planned.

He knew that the LWC will still be functioning with people who would come in for some training and other stuff. Despite it being a Sunday, Rob knew that there will be work around LWC.

After all, he had spent the Sundays of the last six months doing exactly that. There was never any free time to be had in LWC. There was always some work or the other lying around the corner.

Brent’s invite was good enough for Rob and he really didn’t mind checking out the work these guys are doing. So, he decided to go and do it.

"Sure, let’s check it out. Is it in your basement?" Rob asked standing up.

"Nah, man. We have a separate space where we do our stuff. Uncle Andrew helped me out with it. It is really a cool spot. I am sure some of the guys are already there. We can go there and check it out," Brent said standing up.

"Fine, whatever. I don’t have much to do anyway," Rob shrugged his shoulders to indicate he was fine with that.

"By the way, what do you do exactly? I never caught that. I was so caught up in our discussion I didn’t even realize that I don’t know what you do," Brent said as they walked out of the apartment.

"Well, I work as a booker for LWC," Rob said nonchalantly.

"What! No way!!! Are you telling me that you work for LWC?" Brent asked in surprise after closing his door.

"Yeah, I do," Rob said a little warily now.

He never expected such a reaction out of Brent. Brent’s reaction was way over the top and Rob was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with it.

What he didn’t realize was that this was Longham City. In any other city, Rob’s words wouldn’t have elicited such a reaction. It would have been a normal matter to others.

But, Longham City was different. It was the mecca of professional wrestling.

The kids here grew up watching wrestling events live. They were ardent followers of anything wrestling. And a lot of them dreamt of becoming wrestlers themselves when they grew up.

And Longham City had two notable wrestling promotions operating out of there. AWF and LWC. While there were many wrestling-related businesses and companies operating out of Longham City, only two promotions have made a name for themselves.

So, it was only natural that Brent’s mind blew up hearing that Rob was working for LWC, one of the premier wrestling promotions in Longham City.

"Man, tell me, you are not pulling my leg here right?" Brent asked excitedly.

"No, no, I really work for LWC. I met with your uncle regarding the contract they offered me. If you don’t trust me, you can check with your uncle," Rob replied.

"No way! You are for fucking real! I can’t believe this! Tell me, do you meet a lot of wrestlers daily? Can you get me some autographs? I would really love to have Dacey Surestone’s autograph. She is way too sexy man!!! Did you see her last week?" Brent began to prattle on excitedly as he led Rob to the place he usually hung out with his friends doing their stuff.

Rob, for the first time in his both lives, felt suffocated dealing with a fan like Brent. He couldn’t even interject much as Brent always went off on one tangent or another.

So, he did the smart thing. He shut his mouth and nodded along to whatever Brent said. Brent prattled all the way from his apartment to the place he was taking Rob to.

During that time, Rob hardly spoke. It was an entire fifteen-minute walk. And Brent spent the entire duration talking Rob’s ears off. He went on to list his favorite wrestlers, favorite moves, and even some favorite moments of his.

Rob listened patiently, but inwardly he was feeling way too uncomfortable to interrupt Brent. Brent’s monologue continued until they reached the place his uncle had arranged for him.

It was a small commercial space that had two floors. The first floor was occupied by a comic store and the ground floor had its door closed. Rob looked around to see that there was a lot of traffic in this area.

He realized that Mr. Walker should have pulled a lot of strings to get his nephew a place in such a prime location. Brent was obviously oblivious to that and he looked like he didn’t take the amount of effort his uncle put in for him that seriously.

"We occupy the entire ground floor," Brent said a little pridefully. "What do you think cool, right?"

Rob could only nod at that.

"What’s the rent for this building?" Rob asked curiously.

"I don’t know man. My uncle is taking care of all that shit. This shop belonged to a friend of his. He got me the entire ground floor," Brent said waving off.

Rob could only inwardly wince seeing Brent’s behavior. But, he didn’t begrudge him much. While Brent was a nice guy, he wasn’t exactly the most responsible one. He had his head up in the clouds and had no clue as to what reality was really like.

Rob figured that he was sheltered a lot by Mr. Walker and his family, leaving Brent to grow up like this. It would be very hard for him if one day his uncle decided that enough was enough.

"Come on in, the guys are already in here," Brent said waving Rob in. "I will introduce you to them."

"Hey, guys!!!" Brent shouted loudly causing the few young men mingling in front of the computers to turn and look at them both. "This is Rob. I met him today. He is interested in computers but doesn’t know much about them actually. But, here’s the thing, guess where he works."

Rob smiled at the young men looking at him waiting for Brent to be done with his introduction. He kinda felt that Brent didn’t value his opinions much when it came to computers. His introduction was a dead giveaway regarding it.

"You will not believe this. He is working at LWC. Freaking LWC guys!!!" Brent shouted excitedly causing whispers to occur amongst the young men present.

"Wait! Did you just say LWC? LWC as in the LWC wrestling promotion?" one of the young men with glasses asked disbelievingly.

"Duh! Which other LWC is there, you dufus?" Brent replied proudly.

"No Way!!!" the young man with glasses cried out rushing towards them. "You are not joking, right? Brent, I swear to god, if you are pulling my leg on this, I will never forgive you."

"You better believe it," Brent said proudly.

The young man looked at Rob for confirmation. Rob resignedly nodded to confirm his status as an employee of LWC. It caused a commotion among the guys as they all rushed towards him leaving their work unattended.

Rob had to try very hard not to freak out seeing the interest in all these young men surrounding him. He had never experienced such a thing before. It was him who was always rushing at people when this kind of situation happened.

To be on the other side now felt surreal for Rob. While he knew that LWC had some following, he never knew that LWC had such a fanbase in Longham City. He had to try very hard not to be weirded out by these guys as they rushed him.

"Whoa! Guys, guys, calm down. He is not going anywhere. Give the man some space," luckily Brent came to his rescue before Rob did something uncomfortable.

The young men backed off but still were crowding around Rob as they watched him with avid interest. Rob had to take a deep breath to make sure that he didn’t do something stupid.

There was a weird moment of silence. And the moment it shattered it was like being under a waterfall. A lot of questions were thrown at him at the same time as they all wanted to know something or the other.

Rob tried hard not to lose patience with them. He tried to answer as many questions as possible. And pretty soon the uncomfortable feeling passed away, leaving Rob with a familiar feeling.

He was used to discussing wrestling with his friends like this. After all, he was once a fanboy just like this. And once the attention shifted away from him, Rob became more comfortable talking shop with the young men surrounding him.

"Anyway, I always meant to ask," Brent said cutting in after some time. "You said you were offered a contract, right? That’s why you came to Uncle Walker’s office. So, does that mean you are going to be a new wrestler for LWC?"

That question brought everyone’s attention to Rob again. They looked at him eagerly for an answer.

"Umm, not exactly. I am not going to be a wrestler. But, I am going to be on the commentary team," Rob decided that this was a safe way to go.

He didn’t have the patience to explain the stuff about backstage work or booker work. Being a commentator was a visible work and it would invite fewer questions regarding it.

"No way!!!" several young men exclaimed.

"There hasn’t been anyone on commentary this young!!!"

"Yeah, LWC is trying out something new and they brought me in for that," Rob said hedging a little.

"Way to go man!!!"

"Hang on, does that mean we will be seeing you live on TV next week?"

"Yeah, I am scheduled to appear next week," Rob said causing the young men to exclaim.

"Cool!"

"You definitely need to get us some autographs!!!" the young men began hollering once more.

"I will see, I don’t want to annoy the veterans just yet!" Rob laughed awkwardly trying to get out of the situation. "Anyway, what are you guys working on? Brent said you are working on some cool stuff."

Rob shamelessly tried to change the topic.

And it worked!

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

Make sure to add this book to your collection and vote with your power stones to show your appreciation for this work.

You can also check out my other book [Demon Immortal] and see if it is to your liking.

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