Battle with Lee Hyun-woo... And Yoon Ha-rin's Arrival
"Phew... This ain't easy."
Han Dae-jin had just parked at Dongmak Beach alongside Kim Ji-hyun and climbed out. His Avante N's brake discs were glowing a fierce, bright red.
Lee Hyun-woo stepped out of his own car, stretching lazily. Unlike Han Dae-jin, who was drenched in sweat, he seemed oddly relaxed.
"You're not even using half of that E-LSD yet. Why not just rip it out?" Kim Ji-hyun teased, smacking Han Dae-jin on the arm as he chugged a bottle of water, grinning.
"Nah, the labor costs would kill me," Han Dae-jin shot back.
"Still, you're keeping up pretty well. But that speed range difference has you all tense," Kim Ji-hyun said, turning serious. Han Dae-jin listened quietly, absorbing it.
"Let's rest up a bit, then head toward Seoul next?" Lee Hyun-woo suggested.
"Sounds good," Han Dae-jin agreed.
As he fiddled with his still-scorching Pirelli P Zero 4S tires, lost in thought, the two soon fired up their engines and headed toward Seoul. Kim Ji-hyun rode shotgun in Han Dae-jin's car, filming on her phone.
The first hairpin. To make full use of the E-LSD, Han Dae-jin ramped up the throttle right as he set his line. But his lingering unease with full-throttle FF cornering made the curve as smooth and linear as high tide rolling in.
"You can floor it more," Kim Ji-hyun urged. As they hit the straight, he punched the accelerator harder—but the steering alignment faltered, and the car twitched!
Han Dae-jin snapped into a countersteer, steadying it and charging ahead.
"You crazy fuck!" Kim Ji-hyun barked, punching his head.
Shaking it off, Han Dae-jin refocused on tailing Lee Hyun-woo, who'd pulled a bit ahead. He upped his speed and closed the gap. At the left corner, Lee Hyun-woo hugged the shoulder-to-center line to the absolute limit. Han Dae-jin mirrored it at near-identical pace.
Two motorcycles blasted past in the adjacent lane, but Han Dae-jin stayed locked in, barely noticing.
Next came the right corner. Lee Hyun-woo grazed the guardrail in a razor-edge clip; Han Dae-jin pushed to follow but shied outward, intimidated by the barrier. Kim Ji-hyun glanced at the gap through her camera—wider than Lee Hyun-woo's.
Then the Dongmak chicane hit. Lee Hyun-woo braked smoothly with heel-toe and a downshift. Han Dae-jin double-clutched his downshift too, but skipped the heel-toe, relying on rev-matching.
They powered out of the chicane like a moose test—then a purple Avante 3 Sport flashed by in the oncoming lane.
Han Dae-jin flinched, eyes snapping to where it passed.
"Yoon Ha-rin...!!"
"Snap out of it, asshole! Focus!" Kim Ji-hyun roared.
Under her command, Han Dae-jin surged through the high-speed corners, closing on Lee Hyun-woo faster. Lee Hyun-woo glanced back, inwardly pleased at the pursuit.
The promised three-way junction bridge approached. They braked, looped around nearby, then Lee Hyun-woo rolled down his window and waved Han Dae-jin ahead.
Han Dae-jin launched, blasting the following left high-speed corner at unprecedented velocity. A touch too hot—he veered into the incoming right-turn lane from the junction.
Lee Hyun-woo matched it effortlessly, of course.
Route 66 Cafe whipped by, unleashing the high-speed S-bends. Han Dae-jin used the parked campervan as a marker, clipping right perilously close before diving to the center line. Lee Hyun-woo did the same.
The next right corner had both putting their right tires fully up on the pedestrian path.
Left corner after, using the convenience store as the apex—Han Dae-jin's Avante N understeered outward for the first time. Fearing the curb spelled doom, he eased off; it tucked back in. He re-applied throttle, but Lee Hyun-woo reeled closer.
Finally, the chicane. Han Dae-jin braked hard enough to fishtail the rear—but in a flash, Lee Hyun-woo crossed into the oncoming lane, overtook, then carved a continuous line back to repass.
Han Dae-jin tried late to follow, but...
"You fucking lunatic!"
Despite Kim Ji-hyun's yell, Han Dae-jin overcooked the steering, spinning into a reverse and slamming the Avante N to a halt. He wrenched the side brake and main brake, avoiding a crash.
Panting, he restarted, straightened out, and limped back to Dongmak Beach. Lee Hyun-woo waited. Han Dae-jin barely stepped out before Kim Ji-hyun slapped him hard.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, you retarded shit? You lost your goddamn mind? Why the hell chase that there?!"
"Sorry... sorry..." Han Dae-jin muttered repeatedly.
"Well... ballsy, at least. Needs more countersteer practice. Hyun-woo, wanna go again?" Kim Ji-hyun asked.
"Uh... up to you guys. What happened?" Lee Hyun-woo replied.
"This idiot reverse-spun in the chicane."
"Aigoo... Can't do that there. You've got more to learn."
But Han Dae-jin fixated less on his spin than on Yoon Ha-rin. She should've shown at Dongmak Beach by now—no sign of her purple ride in the lot. Unease gnawed as Kim Ji-hyun thumped his shoulder.
"I'll take Hyun-woo and show you how it's done."
She loaded Lee Hyun-woo in back. Han Dae-jin climbed into the passenger seat, filming silently.
Kim Ji-hyun trail-braked the first hairpin so viciously the belt tensioner yanked tight. She carved it at impossible speed, line ballooning near the guardrail on exit.
In high-speed corners, she danced with the violent steering inputs, stabilizing flawlessly. The screeching skid from outside amplified their shared terror—Han Dae-jin and Lee Hyun-woo felt it viscerally.
Chicane: She crossed oncoming first, clipped the left apex, flicked mid for the right—perfect.
"That's what Hyun-woo did, Dae-jin. Gotta have the balls to cross lanes."
Course nearly done, she hit the junction with a Scandinavian flick into a 180 side-brake turn.
Even en route to Dongmak, she refused to ease off. One corner entry was so hot the Avante N slid toward the retaining wall—countersteer and throttle modulation saved it clean.
"Whoa..." Han Dae-jin filmed, awestruck.
She aced the final deep high-speed corners, deep out-in-out clipping the hairpin, then braked.
Back at Dongmak Beach—Yoon Ha-rin's car now parked. Han Dae-jin's gut twisted. Kim Ji-hyun, sensing it, patted his head.
The trio disembarked. Yoon Ha-rin spotted them and strode to Han Dae-jin.
"How's the new ride?"
"Good..." His voice flat, drained.
"Why so down? It's an Avante N—faster than mine, right? Man up and come at me."
Han Dae-jin cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Ha-rin, long time no see," Kim Ji-hyun said.
"Oh, yeah, sunbae. Hi."
"Since Paju, huh? He's not ready yet. Head out today."
"Well, we're both just street punks with no licenses, right?"
"You picking a fight with me?"
"Not joking. Dae-jin—if you win, fuck me all night. Get me pregnant or whatever."
Lee Hyun-woo froze too; the air iced over.
"Enough, Ha-rin. Last warning as your senior."
Kim Ji-hyun's low growl made Yoon Ha-rin smirk, hop in her car, rev up, and vanish.
"Fucking psycho bitch..." Kim Ji-hyun clawed her hair, shaking her head.
"What's her deal?" Han Dae-jin asked.
"Long story. Let's go."
Lee Hyun-woo headed to his car first, firing it up. Han Dae-jin and Kim Ji-hyun climbed into the Avante N and did the same.
Meanwhile, Yoon Ha-rin peeled out of Dongmak, veered into a pension side road, hazard lights on, parked. Spotting the two Avante Ns approaching afar, she revved her RPMs high—then rocketed after them the instant they passed.