The Racing Track of Madness
Sunday night, 11:50 PM.
The university's main building parking lot was swallowed by darkness.
Two vehicles sat side by side in the deep, quiet gloom.
One was a gleaming vintage Grandeur, parked neatly within the white lines.
The other was a gray van hidden in the shadows behind a flowerbed across from it, its body heavily wrapped in duct tape and various junk.
Inside the van, we held our breath, keeping our eyes glued to the Grandeur.
"Hyung... *whew*... I'm incredibly nervous for some reason."
"M-me too."
Minhye, sitting in the driver's seat, began to tremble as she checked the rearview mirror.
Instead of her usual baggy hoodie, she wore comfortable athletic wear and even had gloves on. She looked every bit the determined lead driver for tonight, but she couldn't hide her shaking.
"It's okay. Don't overthink it. If we're lucky, we can stop him the moment he starts."
I pointed to the laptop connected to the wiretapping equipment.
"Alright... looks like it's about to start."
The audio waveform on the screen began to twitch.
11:55 PM.
The main building's entrance doors opened, and the motion-sensor lights flickered on.
"He's coming out!"
Seyeon's whisper made us all tense up.
Here he comes.
Professor Park Jinchul was walking out.
He held a briefcase in one hand and his jacket in the other.
But.
What is that...?
Normally, he would have walked with a straight back and a meticulous, rigid stride.
Now, however, the professor looked like a marionette being dragged along by invisible strings.
His shoulders slumped, his feet dragging.
"Why is he walking like that?"
Deokhu muttered, looking through a pair of binoculars.
"Is he drunk?"
"No, that's not it... That is..."
I focused on the audio coming through the wiretap.
"...Must go... must go..."
The murmur spilled from the professor's lips.
His voice sounded like the sleepwalking chant of someone under deep hypnosis.
The professor stumbled toward the Grandeur.
Clack.
The driver's side door opened, and he slumped into the seat.
In that instant.
Bzzzz.
The smartphone in my pocket vibrated.
It's starting.
There was no need to check the time.
12:00 AM.
The scenario has begun.
Scenario Name:
The moment the notification popped up, the Grandeur's headlights flashed to life.
The light flickered unsteadily, glowing with a blood-red hue like a pair of bloodshot eyes.
Whew...
I took a short breath to calm my nerves.
Then.
Vroooom!
The engine roared to life. The distinct exhaust note of an old car echoed through the parking lot.
"It's started. Minhye, start the engine."
"Yes!"
Minhye turned the key.
The sputtering rumble of our van's engine was completely drowned out by the Grandeur's roar.
We buckled our seatbelts tight and grabbed the handles, bracing ourselves for the Grandeur to bolt.
Now, where are you going? A cliff? Or the Han River?
I steeled myself as much as possible.
If that thing accelerated suddenly, we would have to step on the gas until our tires burned.
But.
Sliiiide...
The Grandeur began to glide out of the parking lot incredibly smoothly.
Its speed was barely twenty kilometers per hour.
It even politely tapped the brakes before rolling over a speed bump.
"...Huh?"
Deokhu wore a dumbfounded expression.
"What the? Why is it being so well-behaved?"
"Just follow it for now. Keep your distance."
I couldn't shake my suspicion either, but I focused on tailing the Grandeur.
The car exited the school's main gate and merged onto the main road.
The road was deserted past midnight.
Yet, the Grandeur continued to cruise at a perfectly legal speed.
In a sixty-kilometer-per-hour zone, it maintained exactly sixty. It even used its turn signals diligently whenever it changed lanes.
It even stopped gently before the white line at a red light.
"Is this... really the road rage ghost we know?"
Seyeon tilted her head, tapping away on her tablet.
"Maybe... it hasn't possessed him yet, or the ghost hasn't shown up? Or maybe the salt and talismans we prepared worked too well, and the ghost can't use its power..."
"That could be it. Minhye-nuna packed those salt pouches to the brim."
Deokhu offered a hopeful theory, but I couldn't let my guard down.
If anything, my lips felt drier by the second.
No. There's no way. No matter how I look at it, this isn't normal.
The ghost in the script I wrote was "wrath" itself.
An entity completely devoid of patience.
And yet, it was driving like a model citizen?
There's definitely something going on.
I listened closely to the wiretap.
Inside the car, all was quiet. No radio, no muttering from the professor. Only the rhythmic hum of the engine and the friction of the tires against the asphalt.
"Where is it going?"
The Grandeur was leaving the city center, heading toward the outskirts.
Judging by the navigation route, it seemed to be heading toward Ilsan or Paju.
Then.
"The Jayuro."
Minhye chimed in.
"If we keep going this way, we'll hit the Jayuro. It's a straight, wide-open highway with barely any cars at night."
"...Ah."
Only then did the bastard's intention finally click.
Was it moving to a place where it could actually run?
It couldn't unleash its madness on congested city streets with endless traffic lights. It needed a place where it could enjoy pure speed without obstacles.
The Jayuro.
What if that was the racing track it had chosen?
"Minhye, pull up next to it."
"What?"
"Now's our chance. We have to end this while it's still behaving, before the real game starts."
It was possible right now.
Since it isn't going fast, we can pull up right beside it, use Casting, and force it to stop.
There was no need to engage in a dangerous high-speed chase; neutralizing it here was our best option.
"Got it!"
Minhye stepped on the gas.
Perhaps because we had emptied the cargo area, the van surged forward quite lightly.
Vroooom!
We cut into the lane to the left of the Grandeur.
The distance closed rapidly. Ten meters, five meters.
"Roll down the window!"
I rolled down the passenger window.
Whoosh! Cold wind whipped against my face.
The Grandeur was right beside us.
Although the dark tint made it hard to see inside, it wouldn't be a problem to use Casting and activate our plan.
I squinted, trying to peer inside.
Then.
"...Professor?"
My heart sank.
Professor Park Jinchul wasn't holding the steering wheel.
His hands were resting neatly on his lap. His head was rigidly fixed forward, his unblinking eyes wide open, exposing bloodshot whites.
The steering wheel... is turning on its own!
As if held by invisible hands, it twitched slightly left and right, keeping the car perfectly in its lane.
"Gasp...!"
Beside me, Deokhu gasped and covered his mouth.
It wasn't autonomous driving; it was ghost driving.
I said quickly,
"Minhye! Get closer! I have to use Casting right now!"
And then,
"Professor! Can you hear me? Professor!"
I leaned out the window and shouted.
To cast the skill on the professor, his consciousness had to return, even if just a little.
"Professor Park Jinchul!!"
Did my shout reach him?
The professor's stiffly frozen head turned mechanically toward us.
His eyes locked onto mine.
In that instant.
A bizarre sound erupted from the speakers. It was the navigation voice.
"Terminating... route guidance."
It was the exact moment the Grandeur entered the ramp onto the Jayuro.
"Speed limit... has been lifted."
Simultaneously, the corners of the professor's mouth tore upward into a grotesque grin.
Pro... Professor?
"Shall we run?"
Black smoke erupted from the Grandeur's exhaust pipe like an explosion.
ROOOOOOOOAR!!!
A deafening, ear-splitting roar.
The car that had been cruising so politely at sixty kilometers per hour shot forward in the blink of an eye, as if its previous behavior had been a lie.
"Whoa?!"
Minhye screamed.
In a split second, the Grandeur was already far ahead.
Its acceleration was terrifying, easily reaching zero to sixty in under three seconds.
"Don't lose him! Step on it!"
I yelled.
"Aaaah! If we die, it's on you!"
Minhye downshifted and slammed the accelerator to the floor.
VROOOOOM!
Our modified van surged forward in response.
The straight stretch of the Jayuro.
The streetlights whipped past, blurring into a single, continuous line of light.
The speedometer needle climbed rapidly, and our van began to rattle violently.
The chassis shook like crazy.
The mattress pieces we had taped on fluttered wildly in the wind, threatening to fly off at any second.
Deokhu gripped the grab handle and wailed,
"Hyung! I think the car is going to fall apart!"
"Ugh..."
The Grandeur was pulling further and further ahead.
The bastard was weaving wildly across two lanes, cutting off other cars.
It was a mad, acrobatic display of driving, threading the needle with paper-thin margins between the occasional cargo trucks traveling late at night.
"Crazy... Is that a car or a missile?"
Seyeon muttered, her face pale.
"We have to catch up. I need to get right next to him so my voice can reach him!"
I grabbed the HMI lighting switch.
"Minhye, tail him closely. I'm going to blind him with the high beams to force him to slow down."
"Got it! Hold on tight!"
Minhye's eyes took on the sharp focus of a professional racer as she pushed the van even faster.
Screeech!
The stench of burning rubber began to fill the air.
SCREEECH!
The sound of tires scraping against the asphalt echoed.
Soon, the acrid smell of burning rubber drifted in through the open window.
"Aaaah! Hyung! If we go any faster, this thing is seriously going to shatter! We're all going to die!"
Deokhu screamed, gripping the passenger handle with both hands. His words were no exaggeration.
The inside of the van was absolute chaos.
The roar of the engine battered the cabin unfiltered, and every vibration from the road traveled up our hips and spines straight to our brains. The rattling of the taped-up chassis created a terrifying sensation, as if the screws would shake loose at any moment and send us flying apart in midair.
But I had no choice but to yell.
"Go faster! Don't lose him!"
Minhye cried out in response, on the verge of tears.
"I am! I'm stepping on it so hard I'm about to punch a hole through the floor!"