Chapter 18

There was another meet that night. Han Sungmin managed to strongarm me into not running off to find another race right off the bat.

“That old junker of yours is going to fall apart in a week if you try to race her every night. Let it have a night off. Besides, she’s still running with those stolen plates,” he had said.

I refrained from snarkily replying that the only reason why it still had those plates was because despite his promise, he hadn’t actually made good on it yet. But apart from that, he had made some good points about the integrity of my Eclipse’s engine. It was old, and racing it night after night really would see it falling apart in no time at all.

So instead, I sulked on the hood of my old Eclipse, doing my best to follow Sungmin’s advice to learn the scene better. If I was going to be sticking around, I should probably start to get familiar with the people and their cars here. I had gotten lucky with my matchup with Sae Joohyuk yesterday, but I needed to know which people (or at least their cars) were beyond my capability to beat. One particularly rich guy had a neon yellow Lamborghini Huracan. I wondered if he actually ever raced it, or just brought it to the meet to show it off. If he did race though…

“Jaehyun! Hey! Come over here!” Sungmin called me over from a couple of groups down. I went over to see what it was that he wanted.

“I want to introduce you to someone,” he said. “This is my new guy, Baek Jaehyun. Jaehyun, this is Jung Hana-seonsaengnim.” The sudden use of a polite honorific surprised me. I had almost gotten used to the casual way Han Sungmin and the Blue Tigers spoke, rarely using honorifics. I was even more surprised to see that the person that Sungmin was speaking so politely to was a diminutive, mild looking woman.

She looked to be a little older than us, probably either late twenties or early thirties. Jung Hana had a small, gently rounded figure, and bobbed hair that accentuated her smallness. She barely came up to my chest. Unlike most of the other girls here, she was dressed quite utilitarian-ly, with baggy overalls and heavy looking workboots.

Because Sungmin had addressed her so formally, I bowed somewhat as I greeted her, eliciting a chorus of amused laughs from the rest of the group around. “Shut it,” Jung Hana said, “The rest of you could honestly stand to learn a few manners from this guy.”

She seemed pleased at my show of respect.

“Most of us work on our own cars,” Sungmin started, “but-”

“But when you can’t unfuck it up, you come to me,” Jung Hana interrupted Sungmin. She smirked confidently and gave me a small glare, daring me to say something about her being a female mechanic.

I didn’t have any preconceived notions of whether or not women could be mechanics. If even an uneducated teen like me learned how to do it, anyone could. “I’ll remember that,” I said, even though I hoped I wouldn’t be messing up my car beyond my own ability to fix any time soon.

“Jaehyun used to work as a mechanic too,” Sungmin explained. “But Jung Hana is also the one who can help you get those new plates and VIN number you need.”

“Ha! I would never have guessed this guy is a car thief,” Hana laughed. “Which one is ‘yours’?”

I didn’t appreciate the sarcastic emphasis she put on ‘yours’, but I pointed anyways.

“Of all the cars in Seoul, you steal that old thing?” she said incredulously. Before I could say anything, she had marched over, and popped open the hood.

She studied the engine for only a moment before she began speaking in a bright, animated tone. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” she remarked. “Brand new aftermarket fuel pressure regulator. Full induction kit with cold air feed, and you’ve got the right idea with that high flow air panel filter. Good choices all around, but definitely still a work in progress. Whoever you stole the car from was a tuner alright. And he or she knew what they were doing.”

“You should have seen it race yesterday,” Sungmin added. “Jaehyun’s new new, but it handled like a dream.”

“I love to get under her to take a look,” Hana said dreamily. “Bring it to my garage sometime.”

Despite my experience with fixing cars, the actual process of selecting upgrades and kits were mostly the domain of Do Hoon. I never knew that the cars he fixed up were so carefully upgraded under the hood. I felt a pang of guilt. I had honestly just thought it was an old car he was making run again.

But he had worked with the Blue Tigers before, didn’t he? I wondered what connection Do Hoon had with the underground racing scene. Even this revered Jung Hana seemed impressed by what he had done to the Eclipse already, even though it was unfinished.

“Either you lucked out, or you knew who you were stealing it from,” Hana chuckled at me.

I didn’t respond, but I could feel Han Sungmin looking at me, slowly connecting the dots. Luckily for me, Hana launched into a list of recommendations of what I should change or add, and pointed out the pieces that were in desperate need of replacement.

“I should be charging you a consultant fee,” she said cheerfully. I smiled at her. I could see just how passionate she was about cars and tuning.

“I’d love to learn from you sometime,” I said honestly. Jung Hana seemed to really know what she was doing, and it was inspiring to watch.

She clapped me on the back with surprisingly large force for such a small person. “Sungmin! I like this kid!” That was a first. Everyone else in this scene seemed to think I was some sort of clueless idiot. She excused herself, probably to look at other cars. I wanted to follow and listen, but I didn’t want to spoil her impression of me.

Sungmin stared at me. “Did you steal the car from Do Hoon-ssi?” By now he was getting used to reading my silences, so when I didn’t say anything, he just chuckled. “Bit of a dick move,” he commented.

Guilt flooded through me. I had felt so justified in the moment, and had really enjoyed driving it the last couple of days, but it was true. Do Hoon had done so much for me over the years, and this was how I repaid him when he made a small misstep. He had even gone out of his way to right that mistake, and instead of forgiving him I had just impulsively taken what I thought was a justifiable revenge.

Even Sungmin could see how much guilt his comment had awoken. Awkwardly, he added, “He… probably deserved it or something.”

I continued to be lost in my thoughts. There was no doubt that Do Hoon knew who had stolen the car. Only one of his employees would have known where to get the keys without tearing apart the place. And only one of his employees had just taken an unauthorized indefinite leave of absence.

“Hey! Seol-hee!” Sungmin waved at Lee Seol-hee, who was on the other side of the lot. She was surprisingly alone, probably looking for one of the Blue Tigers to attach to. She looked over, clearly saw us, but then turned on her heel and strutted off.

“What’s with her?” Sungmin asked in disbelief.

But before we could figure it out, LC and a small entourage were walking up to us. I put on the black cap and face mask I had gotten earlier and put it on hurriedly in case I got filmed.

“King Exotic,” Le Creuset crowed as he walked over. “Even though it was a bit obvious before, I think it’s about time you officially announced your newest guy to the channel! Er, why are you wearing all that?”

I winced as his drone whirled to face me. Now that I knew there were tons of people watching LC’s stream, I felt uncomfortably nervous in front of that camera. I didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of several thousand people. And besides, I was supposed to be keeping a low profile.

Han Sungmin clearly didn’t have that camera-shyness. He slung his arm over my shoulders like we were best friends. “Hey chat. King Exotic here. This is the newest member of the Blue Tigers, Jester J.” I winced at the nickname.

“Don’t mind his getup, I think he’s hiding from the feds or something,” he joked.

“Or he’s just camera shy in front of you all,” LC chirped. “Everyone’s surprised that you picked him up. He was total know-nothing jjorep.”

“He had a good race,” Sungmin chuckled. “He’s dumb, but he’s got guts.” He and LC continued to chat like they were having a tv interview. I guess it was. I was relieved that between the two of them, they had it handled. Uncomfortable under the camera, I looked around, hoping to see where Jung Hana was. Instead I saw what looked to be some people approaching us quite purposefully.

In a few more moments, Sungmin and LC had noticed too. LC spun around to welcome them. “Hey everyone! It’s Ice Comet.”

The guy in front who I guess was Ice Comet grinned at LC. “LC, my man. What’s on the roster tonight?”

“Nothing yet,” LC said. He laughed, a weirdly smug little laugh. “But Comet, I see that glint in your eye. We don’t call you the Rookie Hazer for nothing. I know exactly why you’re here!” This guy had two nicknames. Terrible. I think I would rather die.

Comet smirked over to Sungmin. “King Exotic,” he said. “I’d like to challenge your new guy, whatever you’re calling him.”

“Jester J.” Every time I was referred to as that I just wanted to slide into the ground.

“Ok, whatever.” Comet, or whatever, looked at me. I didn’t know if he expected me to be intimidated, but I wasn’t. “I don’t got time to play Cat and Mouse today. Let’s settle it quick with a straight drag race.”

That didn’t bode well for me. My Eclipse had some power and was nimble, but it definitely couldn’t compete with most other cars in a straight launch. “What are you driving?” I asked.

“GTR,” he smirked. Oh yeah. Definitely couldn’t take that.

“No.” Even though it stung my pride to back down, my Eclipse had no chance. I wasn’t willing to risk serious damage to its engine on a fight I couldn’t possibly win.

“Ooooh!” LC jeered. “You were so gung-ho about racing yesterday. What happened?”

“Wait a minute,” said Sungmin. “You should do it.” I looked at him like he was insane, but he continued. “But I say you should up the stakes. Throw in the pinks too, and he’ll do it.”

I wanted to protest, but Sungmin gave me a little smirk. What in the hell was this guy trying to do? Even if he was trying to save face by making Comet back down from the higher stakes, with such a sure victory at hand, there was no way he would back down.

“Psh! Right on,” Comet laughed. “Though, I’ll probably just need to scrap that old clunker when this is all done. LC! I’m counting on you for a nice pot!”

He swaggered off. LC, delighted again that there would be a race, started up his pitch to his stream. I turned to Sungmin with a sullen look. “Are you trying to get rid of my car?” I griped. It seemed everyone loved to hate on that Eclipse.

“Nah. But you’re right, your old gal has no chance.” Despite saying so, Sungmin still seemed pleased with himself.

“Then why?” He himself had told me not to go looking around for races. Now he was completely 180ing on his word.

“Because Comet’s an idiot. He challenged you, not your car.”

“I didn’t realize that was separate,” I said. Not that I had any other cars to race with.

“Heheh. Unless they actually specify which car of yours they want to race against, there’s nothing stopping you from using another car. Some guys have multiple cars, so then the challenger picks which they want to try. Comet probably just assumed you just have the one. But us Blue Tigers, we don’t mind borrowing each other’s cars,” Sungmin said. He was becoming positively gleeful. “Ryusuke’s still on the way, but he’s bringing his new car.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Hamada Tsunami R Series.”

Now it was my turn to grin.

Chat must have been apprehensive about my chances again, because LC called me up to talk on his stream to try to convince people to bet on me to even the pot. Despite our plan, Sungmin told me to keep it secret until the race start so Comet wouldn’t catch wind of it and back out. But without it, I had nothing to convince chat either.

Disappointed, LC waved over Lee Seol-hee. She cast me a dirty look (what in the world did I do?!) as she walked over. “Chanel, help out the chat. You picked Jester yesterday, and he won! Think you’ll pick him out as the winner again tonight? Give him your special good luck kiss?”

Seol-hee huffed haughtily. “This minchin-nom? Hell no!” She stormed off.

LC looked at me in awe. “What did you do to piss her off like that?”

“I honestly have no idea.” I was just as surprised as Le Creuset at her reaction.

“What did you say to her last night?” asked Sungmin, who knew I had walked her home.

“I don’t know..? Nothing bad happened. She even asked me to come up for ramyun at the end.”

LC choked with laughter. “Did you go? Please tell me you did, and that’s why she’s mad.”

“No? Who eats ramyun at 2 am?”

Everyone burst into uproarious laughter. I knew it was at my expense, and I was glad that the mask covered up most of my face turning red. What’s so funny now?

“Chat! Someone PLEASE clip this idiot! I-I…” LC’s words died out into his laughs.

Sungmin was rubbing his eyes as though he had been tearing up. “Dude, do you even know what that means? Heol! Fucking Chanel Cat, THE Chanel Cat, makes a pass at this guy… and he … HAHA.. he… tells her it's.. HAHAHA 2 fucking AM… HAHA!”

I really wanted to sink into the ground and die now. My face was burning and I didn’t know how to respond. I’d never heard that slang before. I turned away from the drone camera, wishing I could just disappear forever.

LC was recovering somewhat now. “Come on chat. Help out this poor guy. Let’s crowdfund a pity pot for him!”

The pity pot tactic must have worked after all, because we did end up settling a pot. When Ryusuke showed up with his shiny, sky blue Tsunami, Sungmin and I snuck over and let him know what was happening. To my surprise, he immediately burst into a grin and agreed to loan his car to the cause.

“I hate that Comet guy,” he enthused. “That asshole took my first car.”

I was more curious how a kid like him was driving around a Hamada that supposedly wasn’t even his first car. “How did you afford a Tsunami?”

“His dad is the Northeast Asia Chief Branch Manager for Hamada Motors,” Sungmin bragged for him.

“That’s actually insane,” I said in awe. Look at me now, Taejun. I’m hanging out with the upper crust, just like you. Ryusuke grinned proudly at me.

“Do you know how to use launch control?” he asked.

“I’ve never even touched a car with one,” I admitted.

“I’ll show you.”

The face that Comet made when I drove up to the line with a Tsunami was legendary. LC caught on immediately, and for a few glorious minutes, ribbed Comet for his reaction. With both of us at the line already, he couldn’t possibly back out. I spotted Ryusuke looking on, beaming with sheer vindictive satisfaction.

As for myself, I was more pleased to be behind the wheel of a Hamada. The dark, velvety leather finish screamed luxury, and I had almost hesitated going in my grungy old clothes. Almost. The engine purred like a giant, satisfied wildcat even as we were waiting, and I could feel it reverberating through my sternum. As much as I’d love to have tried out a manual launch with the Tsunami, with my inexperience with such expensive cars, the launch control was probably the better option for a drag race with so much on the line.

Only the fact that this was Ryusuke’s car kept me from kissing the wheel the moment I laid my hands on it.

“This is bullshit,” Comet growled one last time, as he slunk back into his car. I just grinned toothily at him. He thought he was going to clip my wings tonight. But I was pretty sure I’d be driving away with his precious GTR tonight. Only four other cars could beat out the Tsunami’s quarter mile time, and the GTR was not one of them.

I was disappointed that a different girl was chosen to be the flag girl this time. I would have liked to see Seol-hee’s reaction to me behind the wheel of the Tsunami. I couldn’t find her in the crowd.

At least this time I wasn’t distracted. As instructed, I kept my foot on the brake. I had tested the launch control process with Ryusuke (without actually launching), so I knew exactly the timing I needed. As the flag girl’s arm dropped, I stepped on the throttle. The Tsunami broke out an angry snarl like a caged beast. The moment the tachometer read 4000 RPM aligned perfectly with the moment the flag dropped.

[ Thrust mode available. ]

I yanked my foot off the brake and immediately jerked backwards against the driver's seat as the Tsunami took me away. I noted with wild delight the RPM shooting up into the red. Every heartbeat we gained another 30 km in speed. In three seconds it breached 100 km/hour. The sheer force of the acceleration kept me pinned against the seat back behind me. I wasn’t driving this car. It was driving me.

The moment I regained my breath, I couldn’t help letting out a whoop of exhilaration. I’d never felt anything like this before. The entire outside world was a blur. Comet could have been anywhere. I no longer cared. All I could feel in this moment was speed. It was all I could do to hold on, but it was like trying to hold back a storm with my bare hands.

I just let it take me.

The speedometer continued to fly upwards, blasting through 200 km/h. Go for 250, I urged it devilishly. I doubted we could make it in the one fourth mile designated stop, but drunk off exhilaration, I didn’t care. I wanted to see it.

The Tsunami rumbled its enthusiastic assent. I felt like I was truly surfing its namesake, crashing through our surroundings with equally devastating power. Only when we reached 250 did I let off the throttle. I had gone well past the one-fourth mile marker now, but I never wanted this joyride to end.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t my car, and as heartless as I had been to steal Do Hoon’s car, I couldn’t do the same to Sato Ryusuke, who had so generously lent me the Tsunami. All good things had to end, but at least I also enjoyed the return to the finish line I had left behind. I had been so enthralled in the launch that I hadn’t even been checking to see if I was actually winning against Comet and his GTR.

I must have, because he was skulking next to his GTR, and the moment I stepped out of the Tsunami, he accosted me.

“You used launch control, didn’t you,” he growled accusingly.

“Of course I did,” I laughed. Just like yesterday, I felt wonderfully alive and exhilarant after the race, and Comet’s angry face couldn’t even begin to dampen it.

Before he could say anything else, my team surrounded me. Ryusuke threw himself at me, laughing just as enthusiastically as I was.

“I thought you were never coming back!” he cheered, whacking me on the back.

“I sure as hell didn’t want to!” I laughed back. I felt lightheaded with joy and the unexpected physical contact only made me feel extremely close to Ryusuke, who had been a stranger two days ago.

“You like my car?” he grinned.

“I fucking love it,” I exclaimed with another whoop. I felt grateful that he had allowed me to drive it, even if it were only for a minute. I don’t know if I would have been able to trust someone I barely knew with my supercar if I had one.

“Even with launch control, that was-” Eunsoo made a chef’s kiss motion. “You just fucking left!”

To my surprise, Seol-hee, who had been so cold to me earlier, also flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I just grinned idiotically, still high from my ride.

“Heol!!! That was insane! Next time, Jae, take me with you,” she said breathlessly.

“Oi, that’s my car! I’ve taken you before!”

“You’re too safe with it,” she laughed at Ryusuke. “I want to sit in it while Jae’s driving!”

I met Sungmin’s eyes. Both of us grinned conspiratorially. He was just as pleased as I at this turn of events. “You’re a goddamn genius,” I babbled.

“Told you. Team perks.” He clasped my hand. “Let’s go get Comet’s, actually, your GTR.”

Comet certainly wasn’t sharing my team’s enthusiasm. It should have been an easy win for him, but he was the one sitting humiliated and unhappy. Serves him right for being a bully, I thought with malicious glee.

“Look,” he said miserably as I approached with Sungmin. “I’ve done a lot of work on my GTR.”

“You trying to back out?” Sungmin grinned. Comet looked so miserable I actually felt bad for him. Luckily LC wasn’t around to broadcast Comet’s misery. He was back with Ryusuke, chattering over the Tsunami.

“Yes,” he snapped unabashedly. “That GTR’s my lovechild. I’ve had it for years. I’ve put literal blood, sweat, and tears into it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sungmin smirked. “I see it at Hana’s shop every weekend.”

Comet glared at him, then turned to me. “Don’t be heartless, dude,” he beseeched me. I really was starting to feel bad. I hadn’t even beaten him with my own car. “You can feel me, right? How about this. I’ve got another car that I worked on a little. You can have that instead.”

“What kind of car is it?” I asked curiously.

“Nissan Z,” Comet said hopefully.

I held out my hand to him with a reconciling smile. “Done.”

The Nissan Z was so gorgeous it took my breath away. The mix of retro and modern styling was perfectly balanced. It didn’t have the same vicious angles as the supercar Tsunami, but it was sleek and aerodynamic. Clearly, Comet had opted for upgrading the aesthetic first, as it had a custom, low trim, and a special half-matte black wrap that shimmered iridescently green and purple.

It was love at first sight the moment Comet and his mate sent it over to the Tiger’s garage. Even if he hadn’t done much to it internally, it was an excellent car stock. I couldn’t wait to crack it open to see what was inside.

We celebrated the victory over drinks. I toasted Ryusuke, without whose car we would have never won. It was as much my victory as his. And Sungmin, too, for his devious plan.

Seol-hee proposed her own toast. “To Jaehyun-a finally getting a proper car!” Everyone except me toasted heartily to that.

I was insulted. “What was wrong with the Eclipse?” I was partial to it. I had won my first race on it, and even though it wasn’t anywhere near a high end sports car, there was a certain retro and classic charm to it. It was Brian O’Connor’s car!

“It’s old as hell,” Seol-hee groaned. “And ugly.”

“It’s not ugly-”

“Ok, but Jaehyun, even you have to admit. The Nissan Z is eons better.”

It was, but I still felt grumpy that they had insulted my precious Eclipse.

“Let’s take it out for a spin,” Seol-hee said suddenly.

The words, ‘right now? It’s 2 AM’, flashed through my head. But then so did my complete and utter humiliation on LC’s stream. I was a few drinks in already, so I was feeling pleasantly buzzed. And I couldn’t deny that I did want to try it out. “Alright,” I said, with alcoholic confidence.

“Be back later, I guess,” as I stood up. Most everyone else was grinning at me. Hoojin shot me death lasers.

“Don’t worry Hoojin, he’ll take you next,” Sungmin cackled.

I had thought my Eclipse had great handling, but the Nissan Z seemed to know exactly what I wanted to do the moment I did. Seol-hee had wasted no time in familiarizing herself to the interface, and had already connected her phone wirelessly to it to put her music at full blast. Happily numb from the events of the night, it didn’t even hurt. As we prowled the near empty night streets, she rolled the window out to let the wind whip her hair into a frenzy.

She looked so beautiful like that, hovering between the lines of poised, delicate beauty and free spirited wildness. Even though I knew she was beyond me, I couldn’t help feeling my heart ache to be with her.

“Let’s see how fast she can go,” Seol-hee said. I couldn’t resist that charming, imploring smile of hers. We were on a long, straight road, and I didn’t see the lights of any other cars.

I shot her a grin. Blessedly, this Nissan was a six gear manual. I downshifted and stepped hard on the throttle. We shot forwards. Of course, it couldn’t compare to the launch control of a Tsunami, but with the windows open, the howling winds lashing us made it feel just as wild.

Seol-hee whooped in delight, and so did I. I continued to let the Z accelerate, loving the heavy rumbling of its powerful twin turbos as it worked. We slashed down the road without a damn care in the world.

But in a few moments, I saw we were rapidly approaching red tail lights. I braked hard. The tires screamed as they burned, and smoke carried the hot smell of burning rubber into the car. Seol-hee continued to whoop as we slammed into a stop along the side of the road. The car which we had snuck up on fled the scene in a panic.

I just laughed, happy that we hadn’t crashed into anything and wrecked the car. The sudden panic at the end had really gotten my heart racing. I lived for this thrill. Seol-hee was a tangle of long, bare limbs after being flung forward from the deceleration. “Jae!” she cried in girlish indignation as she straightened herself out.

I just grinned at her apologetically. Every time I drove fast, I was just overcome with giddy joy at my reckless abandon, and no other emotion could truly touch me then. Seol-hee leaned over towards me and grasped my face with both hands. This time I managed to close my eyes in time to savor the kiss she gave me so freely.

Despite my inexperience, she was an incredible kisser, and she expertly ran her hands through my hair to direct my movements. By the time she let me go, I was breathless with thrill and excitement.

“You’re so different when you drive,” she said, just as breathlessly as I was. “You’re usually so quiet and sad, but behind the wheel… it’s like you’re a different person.” Seol-hee leaned forward again, but she only gave me a quick kiss. I found myself leaning towards her, wishing it had been more. “I like this Jae better,” she murmured against my mouth.

My heart trembled like a caged bird at her words. In my half-drunken haze I suddenly felt the need to apologize for not picking on her hint yesterday. “Seol-hee… I’m sorry about yesterday, I didn’t know-”

“Jae!” she exclaimed, interrupting me. She climbed across the center console. It had been an awkward approach, but I didn’t even notice, because she was settling herself into my lap. My heart was absolutely pounding now. “Babo! You’re so oblivious,” she scolded me peevishly. “How obvious do I have to be!”

It was pretty obvious what she wanted now. With her body pressed so close to mine, I’m sure she could feel the heat of how bad I wanted her as well. I was finding it hard to focus on any one aspect of Seol-hee, she just seemed so utterly perfect in this moment.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to mumble, a bit pathetically. Seol-hee laughed lightly (god how I loved that laugh) at me. She shifted her hips suggestively against me, and I choked out a sharp breath at the sensation that seemed to shoot through me to clutch my already thrilled heart. I spontaneously reached for her. Whatever bonds of shyness or formality that had held me back before was totally and utterly expelled with that one movement of hers.

She was pleased to feel me responding to her advances at last. Seol-he rocked against me again and before I could stop myself, I found myself grasping her hips to hold her tight against me.

Seol-he leaned in, but past my lips to my ear. I shivered at the ticklish feeling of her breath, so close. She whispered, low and seductive.

“Ever do it in a car?”