Chapter 32

The first thing we did the next day was go to Jung Hana. We’d gone this far without modifying my car too much, but after the test drive last night Ryu wanted to make some changes to the car.

I didn’t really mind. Anything that would give Ryusuke an edge just meant I’d be able to keep my car. We’d already agreed that he’d foot the bill today but that I’d eventually pay him back if I decided to keep the upgraded parts.

“Aish! What happened to you?” lamented Jung Hana when she saw my eye. Despite icing it on and off constantly, it had continued to swell, and had become a pretty terrific shade of red-purple.

“Got in a fight,” I muttered.

“Wrecked your car last week, and decided to wreck your face this week, eh? Must be nice being young and stupid,” Hana said.

I felt well reprimanded by her sharp tongue. Thankfully, Ryu stepped forward to greet Hana.

“Sato-kun, good to see you,” Jung Hana said. “I don’t usually open shop on Sundays. But I made a special exception when Han Sungmin called to say you needed to make some last minute changes to Baek Jaehyun’s car. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Ryu gave her one of his shy, awkward smiles.

“Never thought you’d race again,” she said. “So, we’ve only got one day. What did you need?”

“New tires,” Ryusuke answered. “I’d also like to take a look at what suspension kits you have.”

“Well, not sure if I’ll have the kind of tires you’re looking for,” Jung Hana frowned. I wondered why Jung Hana thought she wouldn’t even though Ryu hadn’t said what he was looking for.

“I know it’s short notice, so really anything high performance will do. High grip and soft compound.”

“I can do that. Let’s go have a look.”

I hadn’t doubted that Ryusuke knew what he was doing in choosing parts, but he and Hana seemed to spend ages debating the pros and cons of each kit he looked at. I listened in as much as I could to learn. I was surprised at how much Ryu knew, considering he drove a stock Tsunami.

I wondered about the car that Ryu had lost to Comet. The 370Z was the previous generation of the Nissan Z-series line to my current Z. My car probably felt quite familiar to Ryu.

He certainly had a lot of opinions on what he wanted for it and we were just talking about the wheel mods. He had probably tuned his old car quite a bit. If it was true that Comet had gutted out his old car and sold it down, maybe that’s why he hadn’t really gotten back into tuning. It must have been crushing to lose his car.

I wish I could say that it took almost as long for them to pick out the parts than to install it but that would be a lie. I just remembered Ryu being excruciatingly picky over the tires, particularly over the treads. And then just when I thought we were done with that, we then spent another hour looking at suspension kits. I didn’t want to look like a jjorep, so I just stood off to the side with a bag of ice to my eye pretending I knew what I was looking at. There were obvious visual differences, such as the shock diameters and mounting tab thicknesses, but I wasn’t as aware of what changes those things made to the drive. I was very glad when we finally got to work on it.

Several hours later, we had finally swapped out all the tires and shocks. Jung Hana had also taken a welder to the spider gears of the rear wheel’s differentials to lock them. She caught my slack jawed look of horror and laughed. “You’ll be replacing that stock differential eventually,” she said.

That had never been in my plans. Until now.

As we stood back to examine the Z, I just felt a little confused and incredulous. “That suspension kit is ridiculous,” I said.

Jung Hana clapped me on the back. That seemed to be something she liked to do when amused, but she was unexpectedly powerful, and the blow expelled the air out of my lungs every time. “If Ryu’s doing a time attack, I guarantee you that car needs it,” she said confidently.

That was incredibly concerning to hear.

We bid our goodbyes to Hana after settling the bill. As we got into the car, I smacked my head into the doorframe. I wasn’t used to just how much lower we had made the suspension.

Ryusuke was looking at me dumbfoundedly as I rubbed my head and cursed.

“It’s because I can only see out of one eye right now,” I complained.

I don’t think Ryu bought my excuse.

In the end, LC had decided to take over the choice of track. Though we hadn’t seen the streamer at any of the meets since the tournament started, he had insisted on running the grudge match between Ryusuke and Comet the moment he caught wind of it.

Instead of New Banpo Bridge, we had again driven out to the outskirts of Seoul to a rural mountain road.

The track was a 17 km long race uphill. It seemed long, almost three times that of the first Team Time Attack race, but that was just how the solo battles (apart from a straight drag race) were. A prolonged Cat and Mouse race was easily just as long, and often went for more.

Ryusuke and Eunsoo were just now returning from their drive through of the track. To my surprise the usually chipper duo seemed tense.

Eunsoo was not happy. “Are you sure you won’t need a co-driver for this track?”

“Comet’s not driving with a co-driver. I’m not driving with a co-driver, either,” Ryu snapped at him. “Besides, who would be my co-driver? You? We don’t have route notes and you’re not even trained for it. You’d just be a distraction.”

Eunsoo threw up his hands in resignation. Though they bantered often, I’d never seen the two of them actually at odds with each other, and that was a bit concerning.

“Is there a problem?” Sungmin asked.

“The track that LC chose is fucking nightmare,” Eunsoo said. “Is he trying to kill them both?!”

“It’s not any more dangerous than playing Cat and Mouse in the city,” Ryu said.

“He’s right,” said Sungmin.

Before any of us could say anything else, LC accosted us. Fireball and Comet were with him, and my hackles raised. I still wanted to bust Comet’s trash talking mouth, but doing so right before a race would probably just be unsportsmanly. We settled for glaring at each other. Even then I felt a reduced efficiency due to one of my eyes being swollen and useless.

“What do you think of the track?” LC asked Ryu gleefully. His drone was whirring away already.

“It’s awful,” said Eunsoo miserably.

“You’re not driving. I want to hear it from Konchu.”

Despite his indignation just now, Ryusuke seemed to be even more camera shy than me. When the drone faced him, he just went pale and blank. His mouth opened but nothing came out but an awkward, enduring silence.

“Are you going to eventually say something or…?” LC asked.

“It’s fine,” Ryusuke said weakly.

“There, there, you’re doing great,” LC drawled sarcastically. “The more you talk, the easier it gets. Konchu, you haven’t raced in a long, long time. It’s hard to believe that a grudge match is what finally brought you back out. I hear White Comet said some pretty nasty things to you the other day.”

“And look at what he did to Jester!” The camera panned over to my face. I put a hand over my shiner and glared at LC out of my one good eye. “This is a two for one whammy for Comet. Some of you were upset at the trick the Blue Tigers played on him last time. But now he’s turned the tables on them. He’s challenged Jester’s car, the one Jester took off of him actually, but Konchu’s driving! It’s the exact opposite scenario of last time!”

“Now why’d you go and do that, Comet?” Finally, the camera turned back to the Sunchasers. “Both of the cars going into the race today have been crucial in the tournament. And we all know how much you love that GTR of yours.”

“It’s not a gamble. My victory is assured. I’ve raced him before. And I won. I can do it again,” Comet said. A bit of shit talking before a race was normal, but after his taunts yesterday, the Tigers bristled at it.

“Heheheh,” LC snickered. It sounded positively villainous. “The old timers in the chat might think a little differently. Last time you won on a bit of technicality, eh? Konchu didn’t finish the game.”

“Because he crashed,” Comet countered.

“The footage is long gone now, but some of the conspiracy theorists in chat say Konchu only crashed because you hit his car first.”

Comet only shrugged in return. Ryu was looking stormy again, but Eunsoo was there for him. I should have asked Ryu about the story. I was hating hearing it like this live on LC’s stream through Comet’s mouth.

“You’re not playing Cat and Mouse today. It’s a Time Attack. Think you can still pull a victory?”

“Doesn’t matter. That’s my Nissan Z, and I know what’s under its hood. And what’s under there simply doesn’t have the power to beat my ride.”

“It’s not always about power,” said Sungmin.

“That’s right. In fact, Doms1970Charger just paid 300 coins for me to tell you,” LC cleared his throat dramatically, and continued in his best impression of a deep, gravelly voice, “It’s not the ride, it’s the rider. Thanks for the coins, Dom!”

“LC… it’s not Dom who said that,” Eunsoo said in a strained voice. “It’s that midwest kid Shawn. Tokyo Drift dude, the best one in the series. Come on!”

LC had to fend off his presumably angry chat for a few moments while the rest of us just watched him awkwardly. “Sorry Dom, no coin refunds. But back to the subject.” He whirled back to Ryusuke.

“Chat, I wish I could tell you about our rider here. But I can’t say anything without doxxing him. But I think Comet might be in for a bit of a shock today. Anyways, why talk about it when we can just watch? Let’s get set up! Konchu, sorry but you drew the first straw today, so you’re going first.”

As LC ushered Ryu away to his start line, I felt very concerned about how uncomfortable and pale Ryu was looking. Hopefully it was just jitters from the camera.

Comet was looking annoyed after LC’s last comment. “What is he talking about?” he complained.

Sungmin snorted. “That’s right, you Sunchasers are pretty new to the circuit, so maybe you haven’t heard.”

I hadn’t even heard. Now I was just as curious.

“It’s actually pretty ironic you keep saying Ryu is a shitty driver,” Eunsoo grinned. “Our boy Ryu is a WRC Champion.”

Comet still looked a bit confused, but at least Fireball had the graces to look thunderstruck, at least for a moment.

“This isn’t a rally,” he said.

“What the hell do you think a rally is?” Sungmin said. I wasn’t familiar with the sport, but even I knew that a rally circuit was basically an extended Time Attack with multiple stages.

“That’s not a rally car,” Fireball snapped back.

“You lot would be the villains in a Fast and Furious movie,” Eunsoo said gleefully. The villains of Fast and Furious always talked a big game about their car, only to be beat by a supposedly better driver. “Hate to break it to you, but WRC rally cars are all modified production cars. Which is what we’re all driving here.”

“I think he’s about to start,” I said. As fun as it was to tear down the cocky Sunchasers, I was definitely more focused on the race being broadcast on Eunsoo’s tablet.

Today LC had set up a camera that seemed to be mounted on the shoulder of the driver’s seat, giving us a view of Ryu’s hands on the wheel and the levers. So LC had taken up the idea I off-handedly mentioned. It even had audio. Having it inset to the overhead video from the high speed drone made for an excellent viewing experience.

I held my breath as the flag girl took her place. With the camera at this angle I could almost imagine myself behind the wheel. The Z revved to life as the flag girl raised her arm. And the moment she dropped it, Ryu launched like a bat out of hell.

The one lane, one way road was insanely narrow. There was no way you’d be able to pass another car on that road. LC had had his team put down some fake road closure signs for the drivers’ safety. But other drivers wouldn’t be the main concern on a road like this.

Ryu hadn’t begun the ascent yet, but trees hugged both sides of the road tightly. It would have been a beautiful scenic drive at a normal speed, but at the speed Ryu was going, the trees were barely more than dangerous blurs. The high speed drone view occasionally lost him under a particularly thick section of canopy, but Ryu was going max attack.

At high gear and full throttle, the car was accelerating hard and fast. From the in car cam we could see just how unstable the camber of the road was. The car wobbled wildy. To keep it steady, Ryu was jerking the wheel back and forth sharply. It looked like he was almost overcorrecting, but the car kept straight.

We could see from the overhead camera just how wavy the road was, but at the speed Ryu was going, you could hardly tell the road was twisting and turning. He had one hand almost constantly on the shift, swapping gears up and down with lightning speed.

“I can’t believe he’s doing that without a paddle shift,” Sungmin said. I couldn’t either. Balancing the timing of the clutch and the revs on the car as well as keeping on steady on the road was a hell of a juggling act.

“We should have given him an earpiece,” Eunsoo said nervously.

“None of us know the track. I guarantee you he can react faster than you can call it out,” Sungmin said. “Let him run his own race.”

The road was ascending the mountain side now. The claustrophobic trees from the start of the trail gave way, but that didn’t make the trail any less terrifying at high speed. Now Ryu had a mountainside to one side. The other side was nearly a sheer drop off.

“Here comes the first hairpin,” Eunsoo said.

“Isn’t he coming in too fast for that?” I said in alarm.

Ryu barely slowed coming into the curve last minute. He shot right into the curve at a reckless speed on the far edge.

I barely even saw it. Ryu jerked the gear back down and I heard the engine rev hard on the throttle.

Ryu cut sharply through the apex of the turn. Unlike Tofu, he hadn’t stuck to the inner curve at all. In fact, he was out in the middle of the track. He’d go off the road in that trajectory, I thought in a panic. And if he did… that road didn’t have a guard rail.

The back end whipped out and the Z seemed to glide sideways for a moment, and suddenly the trajectory angle of the car tilted sharply even as it continued to accelerate. The Z flew out into the straight having lost no speed at all. I think Ryu had actually gained some. With two quick successive tugs on the stick shift, he was back to high gear.

“Good turn,” said Eunsoo.

“I thought you said handbraking was the fastest way through a hairpin.” Ryu hadn’t drifted at all, unless you counted the tiny little trajectory altering slide on the exit.

“That’s for us casuals who don’t know how to trail brake and powerslide,” he replied.

“Powerslide?”

Eunsoo shushed me. “There’s a tight S curve coming up. Watch the overhead, not inside.”

I didn’t have time to argue with Eunsoo. As the Z hit the apex of the first curve, Ryu yanked the gear back down and the engine roared. He snapped the wheel hard and – I was supposed to be watching the overhead.

The back of the Z stepped out, but the tail had gone out the wrong way! The nose of his car should have been at the inner corner!

It seemed I was wrong.

My skin prickled into goosebumps as the wheels of the Z wailed as the car slid sideways through billowing tire smoke and dirt. Effortlessly as a skater on ice, it cut straight through the S curve sideways at a blurring speed.

At that speed, it looked like the car was sliding completely out of control, but just before the nose of the car aligned with the exit of the last curve, the engine faded to a hum and its sideways momentum seemed to suddenly disappear. Ryu kicked the throttle and the car screamed out of the curve straight forward with almost no transition between the directional changes.

“What the hell,” I said under my breath.

“That’s a powerslide,” Eunsoo said in satisfaction.

“That’s showy. He could have just trail-braked it,” said Sungmin.

“Nah. Very slippery ground there, and it tilts downhill.”

Despite how effortless it had looked, we could hear Ryu exhale in relief in the driver cam feed.

There was no one racing him, yet Ryu had only ever let off the throttle slightly for the bigger turns this entire time on the treacherous trail. Just watching the car shivering through the dips and shifting cambers of the road had the skin on the back of my neck crawling. At times the car even jumped somewhat over the little crests in the road.

“I see why we needed that suspension kit now.” I winced.

It had been extremely satisfying to watch the cars drifting and sliding through hairpin turns in the last tournament race, but Ryu didn’t seem to want to waste any time sliding. Each corner he turned with almost surgical precision, cutting just across the apex and only skidding ever so slightly on the exit.

Though it wasn’t as stylish as the drifts, there must be considerable skill required for a turn at that speed. Watching those instantaneous turns had their own kind of thrill. I couldn’t imagine how Ryu must be feeling in there.

“Why doesn’t he race?” I asked in awe.

“He got into a bad accident,” Sungmin said shortly.

“In the race against Comet?”

“That was nothing,” Eunsoo muttered.

It seemed like that was a story for later, if ever. Now Ryu was approaching a hard hairpin. The sheer speed at which he was approaching it seemed reckless as hell.

“Pray for those brakes,” said Eunsoo tensely.

“Pray for that clutch,” Sungmin added.

Moments before entering the hairpin, Ryu clutch kicked the car hard and its speed dropped sharply. The car spun hard into the curve as the engine choked angrily. The front wheels sunk in hard as Ryu yanked the handbrake sharply, and the tail stepped out.

I and someone else shouted in alarm. Unlike the previous turns where Ryu hadn’t wasted any time drifting, the front wheels of the car had lost their grip. A hair’s breadth before the Z slammed into the wall, it caught itself and jerked forward.

But it wasn’t out of the clear yet. The car serpentined dangerously on that narrow road as Ryu struggled to regain control of it after that near miss.

Even worse, there was another turn rapidly approaching.

The far edge of this turn was a sheer drop off.

Still weaving uncontrollably from side to side, the nose of the car jutted out over the very edge of the road.

“For fuck’s sake, just full brake,” Eunsoo shouted at the screen, even though Ryu couldn’t hear him.

But he did brake. The tires squealed. He stepped off the throttle and the jet-like roar of the engine died into a faint hum. The car’s tail flicked sharply out just before Ryu entered the turn, almost putting the nose of the car into the wall.

And then the engine growled viciously back to life as Ryu gave it full throttle.

The back of the car swept out in a graceful arc. The sheer momentum of the whip-around carried the car through the turn’s curve. For a moment the dirt wall of the mountainside was all that we could see through the windshield. From the feed above the car looked like it was scraping along it. It had to be mere centimeters away. Ryu turned hard back into the curve.

The angular momentum of the car took it into a blazingly fast 4 wheel drift that carried it to the cliff’s edge. Smoke poured off the tires into the valley below as the rear tires fought for purchase on the road.

With inches, or centimeters to spare, the tail of the car arced along that razer’s edge to completion.

Desperate not to lose any more momentum, Ryu whipped the car around hard and the nose snapped back to the proper exit angle. He clutched up and the Z surged forward.

“He made it,” Eunsoo gasped in relief.

It wasn’t a perfect turn, but Ryusuke had somehow converted the angle of the car’s swaying to gain momentum for a last minute drift. Like a pendulum, I thought.

It was the final stretch now, and mostly straight. Ryu had full control of the car again, at max throttle, he blurred through the last stretch and past us waiting at the finish line.

I was relieved at his safety, but I didn’t appreciate the taste of the dirt cloud of Ryu’s wake.

“The time is 481.9 seconds,” LC said in awe. Eight minutes to drive seventeen treacherous kilometers filled with hard turns. “That’s almost an average speed of 130 km. Now that’s a fucking sprint!”

“I bet you’ve never seen anything like that, chat!”

I had never seen driving anything like that either. On a track like this, 130 km/h average speed was insanity. Sure, we’d pushed our cars to their limits on straight drag race tracks, but outside of a drag race, there was hardly any opportunity for full throttle at max gear. By comparison, the teams had averaged a speed of 60-70 km/h on the toge track last tournament race. You had to maintain a speed that was safe to turn and correct for obstacles at.

Apparently safety didn’t fit in Ryu’s agenda.

Ryu seemed dizzy as he stood up out of the car. Readjusting to a normal speed after having to have near instantaneous awareness of his surroundings must have done a number on him. He smiled wanly at the crowd cheering his successful return and awe inspiring performance. Various compliments rained down on him, and hands reached out for daps and shakes.

Even Tofu came up and said something to Ryu. It was in Japanese, so I didn’t understand what they said. But whatever it was made Ryu embarrassed.

Comet didn’t appreciate the celebrations around Ryu. “He hasn’t won yet,” he complained.

I don’t know who Comet thought he was fooling. His race was over before it began. Ryu started to say something but Sungmin cut in.

“A word of advice to you, Comet,” he said. Sungmin’s voice was low so as not to attract the attention of the crowd.

Comet gave him an unimpressed look. “I don’t need your advice.”

Sungmin’s tone was surprisingly serious. “Don’t even try to match Ryu’s time.”

Comet blustered angrily but Sungmin continued. “It’s for your own safety. Ryusuke’s a two-time champion rally driver.”

“Er, no I’m not. One of those titles is just a Junior WRC title–”

Sungmin continued. “You don’t have the safety equipment or the training to do what he just did now. If you try, you won’t lose just your car tonight. You could lose your life.”

“Fuck you, Sungmin,” Comet hissed. But before he could say anymore, LC was calling him to get set up for his leg of the race.

I don't think Ryu enjoyed the spotlight much. As the crowd dispersed to watch Comet’s race, Ryu sighed with relief. He looked pale (more than usual) and shrunken.

“You ok?” asked Eunsoo.

Ryusuke nodded.