Inje Circuit Blues (2)
#29
"I'm gonna sing the shit out of this! Spit it all out!"
"I'm doing it! Doing it! Doing it!"
Late at night. Kim Ji-hyun had dragged Han Dae-jin to a karaoke bar, belting out a British song with her own savage Korean parody lyrics. The original track was already brutal—a dumped lover getting chewed up and spat out—but Kim Ji-hyun's version blew it out of the water.
As the song ended, she handed the mic to Han Dae-jin and watched him with a grin.
The song he picked was "Wings."
"With this unbearable thrill, waiting for an unknown tomorrow..."
Han Dae-jin poured his heart into it, and Kim Ji-hyun clapped with a strange smile on her face.
When it finished, she draped her leg over his thigh and looked at him.
"Hey. That song reminds me of my little bro."
"Your little bro? Oh... you mean the one who passed away. At the track."
Han Dae-jin hesitated before responding to her words.
"Yeah, that's right. He loved that song. But do you dream of soaring too? Or just jerking off all the time."
Han Dae-jin grinned at her jab.
"Sometimes I wanna fly. That's why my channel's KiwiBird—it's a bird, but one that can't fly."
Kim Ji-hyun gave an awkward smile at his explanation.
"Huh. So that's what it meant."
"But what was that song earlier? You translated it into some raw-as-fuck Korean."
"My ex-husband. What, why the look? Staring at me like I scammed you on a used car? Fuckin' asshole, you think a family like mine would do an arranged marriage? That prick cheated, so I divorced his ass, and my parents told me to live my life however. Why? Jealous?"
"N-no, not that."
"You should be grateful a guy who fucks married women with kids even gets a shot with someone like me, huh?"
Han Dae-jin burst out laughing at her words.
"What, you retard."
"We haven't even dated."
"I jerked you off, retard."
"Foreplay-before-love type?"
"Gotta see how well you perform before deciding if you're worthy, right?"
Kim Ji-hyun lit a cigarette as she said it.
"That's wild."
"That's what internships are for."
"That analogy?"
"Kinda. Love, sex, whatever. C'mon, get up. We sang our asses off, time to drink ours off too."
She stood first, and Han Dae-jin followed her out of the room. In the hallway, singing voices from other rooms echoed over. Some were Blue Motorsports crew, but she'd told them after dinner and karaoke round one to do their own thing, so she ignored it.
Back out on Inje's night streets, she led him to a nearby chicken joint.
They grabbed a table inside. Kim Ji-hyun ordered two 1000cc pitchers of draft beer and boneless chicken without asking.
"Figured your bones can't handle the mess. Right?"
"How'd you know?"
"See? We match there too."
She smirked at his response. Beer arrived, and with a buzz going, they toasted.
"To this fucker's casual fucks."
They downed two gulps each and set the glasses down.
"Casual fucks sound great."
"Hey. Be real—how'd you see me all this time? Total airhead bimbo? Or some crazy psycho?"
Kim Ji-hyun fired off the loaded question.
"Kinda... your eyes looked like you wanted to cry but forced a smile to hold it back."
She let out a short laugh, then tears welled up.
"Yeah..."
"Why cry?"
"Dunno. Feels like you're someone I can cry in front of now?"
She wiped her eyes and proposed another toast. This one silent—they clinked and drank.
Chicken and salad hit the table meanwhile.
"Ugh, buzzed already. Why am I like this?"
She cleared her throat and lit another smoke.
"First time I've seen it."
"One more question. Why do you drive?"
"It's the only time I feel whole as myself."
"And? Nothing else you wanna achieve?"
"Now I wanna win at this. Winning would give me confidence I can win. I wanna know what that feels like. I've always lost since I was a kid."
Kim Ji-hyun gazed at him with a faint smile.
"Who do you wanna beat?"
"Everyone in front of me."
"Too broad. No start, no end."
"Endless challenges are what drive infinite growth."
Her eyes shifted subtly at his words. They ate chicken, chased with more booze, then headed back to the dorm on foot.
"Dae-jin."
"Yeah?"
"Do I seem like a woman to you? Or something else? You've got plenty of girls—you know."
She stopped him, facing him directly.
"Sometimes woman. Sometimes mom. Sometimes dad. Sometimes big sis."
She smiled, then—for whatever reason—kissed him.
Han Dae-jin froze at the sudden kiss but soon tangled tongues with her.
They broke apart. His face flushed, he looked at her, then pulled her into a hug.
"Why the kiss?"
"Dunno..."
She mumbled in his arms, voice breaking.
He held her a while longer before walking back to the dorm.
On the way to the rooms, he was supposed to drop her at the one shared with the Blue Motorsports female manager.
At her door, they paused. She kissed him again.
"That's it for tonight. Go crash."
He nodded and quietly headed to his solo room.
Meanwhile, Gu Eun-jae had just wrapped shooting and was ripping down the inner loop in her Porsche 966 Turbo with her manager.
Tires screamed through every corner, slicing through traffic like a scalpel—her driving was surgical. The manager sighed, numb to it by now.
They finally pulled into Pada Parking under Wonhyo Bridge, catching their breath.
Gu Eun-jae grabbed chicken skewers with her manager, washing them down with water.
"Eun-jae unnie. Why do you even drive?"
"Told you, I don't know. Same answer every time. If I did, I'd have sold the car ages ago."
"Weirder to drive without knowing."
"Gotta find more possibilities that way."
The manager laughed.
"So how long you gonna keep it up?"
"Drop you home, then go fuck my brains out."
Her manager gawked.
"For real? Boss is already riding my ass about your personal life—if you go and—"
"Kidding. Gonna sleep."
"Promise?"
"Yeah."
She tossed the skewer stick in a trash bin and led the manager back to the car.
Pada was busier than usual tonight. She dropped the manager at her place in Gaepo, then headed to her Cheongdam-dong home.
Home, she changed and perched on the bed. Her eyes landed on a nude photo from her 40th birthday shoot.
"Maybe swap this pic too..."
She studied it closely. After a while, she flopped on the living room sofa and flipped on the TV—late-night adult flicks and reruns only.
Next day. Gu Eun-jae picked up her manager in the light kei car she used for work, heading to a rural shoot site.
She was filming a modern historical drama, so constant trips to set.
"Unnie, time to upgrade the work car, no? Porsche's old and you're dumping over 100 mil a year into it."
"It's fine as is. Embarrassed?"
She chuckled.
"Not that, but..."
"I'll snag some sponsor collab next time, like an Inspur."
She kept driving.
Meanwhile, Han Dae-jin stared blankly at the scenic Inje Nae-ri Stream from Kim Ji-hyun's passenger seat en route to the track.
"Jerk off a ton last night and crash?"
"Tough past 30. Used to do seven a day as a kid."
"Bone-rotting retard."
"But why the kiss yesterday?"
"Dunno. Like I said before, you make my heart roll like dice. Yesterday you were a man, today back to little bro."
He gave a wry smile. At a light, he leaned over and kissed her.
She startled briefly, then kissed back, tongues dancing.
Light changed; he settled back.
"Fuck, try that again today and you're dead."
She grinned, smacking his head.
And so the day began anew.