8. The Losers' Wild Ride, and 9th Silver (2)
One hour ago.
"Fuckin' hell, anyone who's late is payin' up 500,000 won each," Kim Ji-hyun grumbled, eyeing the members who were dragging their asses past the meetup time. Han Dae-jin had jokingly posted in the chat that latecomers owed 500k.
"Fuck, does this Pada turn into a goddamn pumpkin parade at midnight like Cinderella or some shit?" Kim Ji-hyun said.
"Looks like it. Oh, there— that Exige with 500hp's rollin' in," Han Dae-jin replied, pointing somewhere off. A white Exige roared into view, its Lambda 3.3T engine thumping with vibrations that could shatter the 63 Building's glass.
The white Exige's owner spotted Kim Ji-hyun and waved enthusiastically, then asked Han Dae-jin if he knew her. "Uh, yeah... that lawyer..." Han Dae-jin mumbled, and both Kim Ji-hyun and the Exige guy burst out laughing.
"Nah, man, this is Kim Ji-hyun noona, pro racer. Blue Motorsports. Google it."
At the guy's words, Han Dae-jin quickly searched her again. Punching in "racer Kim Ji-hyun" pulled up her full record: active with Blue Motorsports in the Hyundai N Festival N1 class, EN1 class, and Super Grand Prix Super6000 class. His face flushed beet red in an instant. How the fuck had he not known this, car guy that he was?
"Happens. The South Korean circuit scene's just a tiny circle-jerk anyway," Kim Ji-hyun said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up.
Meanwhile, the Exige owner showed Han Dae-jin some of her onboard videos. She was one of the most successful female racers ever, even if not the absolute top.
"That's why you joined, right?" Han Dae-jin said.
"Hell yeah, a pro racer runnin' the group chat? Rare as fuck. Word's spread like wildfire." The Exige guy was buzzing with excitement as more members pulled into Pada. Han Dae-jin greeted the newcomers and introduced the admins, Kim Ji-hyun and Jin Na-hee.
Once everyone had trickled in, the chatter turned to Kim Ji-hyun's career and Han Dae-jin's missing Avante 3 (Science 3rd Unit). Why? Because his car wasn't there today.
"Aw, man, was hopin' the boss would show off the Science 3rd Unit."
"Ah, well..." Han Dae-jin trailed off.
"This fucker's ride's shit and slow as hell, so I told him not to bring it. Had to crawl all the way from Osan with his ass in my car, fuckin' dogshit," Kim Ji-hyun jumped in while he hesitated. Everyone cracked up.
Yeah, she'd seen the other cars rolling up and told him flat-out not to bother bringing his.
"Boss, upgrade that thing. Slap an Avante N setup with a fuel turbine—boom, 400hp easy."
"Nah, get an Exige or 7th-gen and turbo it to 600hp straight."
"Fuck that, buy an F8 M3 with the cash."
As the members debated his next ride, Han Dae-jin daydreamed about his ideal: the Lotus Elise from his childhood games, the one car he'd mastered to pro-gamer levels. To him, it was purity itself. But he didn't have a prayer of affording one. Hell, even the Avante N was a stretch.
Kim Ji-hyun's clap snapped him out of it. "Alright, we're all here. Time to roll. Where to?"
"Cheongto, noona!" one member shouted.
"Cheongto? It's good, but..." Jin Na-hee said.
"Deokseon-ri!" another yelled.
They put it to a hand vote. Cheongto won. Everyone piled into their cars, and Han Dae-jin hopped into Kim Ji-hyun's passenger seat. He'd DM'd the Cheongto Star account to warn them about the group convoy.
Members peeled out first; as Kim Ji-hyun brought up the rear, a jam formed at the parking exit. Horns blared—beep-beep-bebop-beep-beep in rhythm, answered by beep-beep-beep beep-beep.
Clearing the tollbooth and hitting Olympic Boulevard, Han Dae-jin spotted her on the shoulder. "9THSILVER! In the back!"
Kim Ji-hyun, cruising casually with a smoke, flicked the butt out and floored it. Han Dae-jin whipped out his phone to film.
Sure enough, 9THSILVER effortlessly overtook Kim Ji-hyun's full-throttle chase, the moment captured on video. She sliced through traffic with centimeter-perfect passes. The killer was threading between a truck pulling into the end lane and a sedan already there—pure insanity, peak skill.
She gap-passed, then slid briefly; Kim Ji-hyun pushed ahead, but 9THSILVER recovered and slotted back in front. Kim Ji-hyun matched her traffic-weaving rhythm but couldn't keep up with the raw power.
"Goddamn... even with 800hp in this F-body..." Kim Ji-hyun finally growled through gritted teeth.
"How much hp she got?" Han Dae-jin asked.
"Looks like about 1000hp."
The battle pack blasted through Olympic Boulevard in seconds, merging onto the Seoul-Sejong Expressway. They hammered the IC ramp with G-forces that blurred Han Dae-jin's vision, then hit the Geodeok Tunnel and punched the gas.
"Second gear to third... acceleration's..." Kim Ji-hyun mashed the pedal to the floor, but the Porsche 966 Turbo pulled away. It vanished from sight as her F82 topped 330km/h on the dash.
Spotting Han Dae-jin filming the speedo, she snorted and flipped the camera the bird.
Section enforcement ahead; the 966 reappeared near Yongin. She'd been crawling the end lane, waiting it out. Spotting the F8, she smoked the rears and launched. At Buk Yongin IC, she proved the massive 9FX rear wing's downforce, kissing the ground through the corner.
Kim Ji-hyun's F8 M3, plastered with AP1R and Vers Aero, hung close in the turns despite rear-wheel limits. She counter-steered the twitchy tail through the hi-pass lane.
Onto Route 57, the 996 rocketed away again. The F8 slipstreamed, dodging a speed cam on the shoulder. A bump jolted them airborne, then down, stable. In the following right-hander, 9THSILVER rail-rode the guardrail at insane speed.
Kim Ji-hyun's F8 drifted wide. Out of the corner, acceleration resumed—the 966 gapped again. They hit the Cheongto ramp; Kim Ji-hyun lane-swapped fast. The 966 blew past it.
She arrived at Cheongto alone; the group wasn't there yet. Finally, they trickled in. She rounded them up to order.
Then—
"Yo, it's 9th Silver!"
"Holy shit, 9th Silver at Cheongto?!"
The crowd outside gawked at the 966 pulling up. The owner sis dashed out to snap pics. Driver's window down, but Han Dae-jin couldn't see inside clearly. Just her eyes: hollow, lonely. Like staring into his own mirror sometimes.
"Woooah!" She flipped Kim Ji-hyun off, burnout, and vanished like a bullet.
"You see that? 9th Silver's a chick!"
"No way?"
"Nails and fingers—total girl. Fuck, so badass."
As Cheongto erupted, Kim Ji-hyun sighed and hung her head.
Back to Osan post-battle in her car. City pop droned at 100kph constant.
"You seem wiped," Han Dae-jin said.
"Eh... just age, maybe."
"What's the deal with 9th Silver?"
"What to call it? Too tangled now—can't pin it down. Pisses me off sometimes, other times I just feel bad."
He nodded silently.
"Mind if I crash at yours a bit?"
"Uh... sure."
"Fuck off, no strength left to fuck ya anyway—just borrowin' your bed."
She punched his shoulder lightly. "Saw you filming. Usin' it?"
"Ten million views easy."
"Lucky bastard... yeah, use it."
At his place, she was surprised by the tidy setup but borrowed toiletries and showered. In his borrowed PJs, she crashed on the bed. Han Dae-jin, stunned by the lawyer's haggard look, edited till dawn.
As he nodded off at his desk, Kim Ji-hyun was gone.