105. The Hypercar Ride Experience
105. The Hypercar Ride Experience
***
*
————
How to get close to someone.
1. Decent looks.
Check.
2. Compliment the other person's appearance casually.
Check.
3. Actively show that you're interested in them.
Check.
4. But don't be too self-conscious about it. Treat them lightly so they don't feel pressured.
This one... not being self-conscious seems like it'll be hard.
......
————
*
Eunha had spent the past few days studying ways to get close to people, and she had checked that list so many times—even before meeting Serin today—that a few of the checklists now came to mind naturally.
Slide.
As Eunha settled into the hypercar seat, she mentally went through the checklist and took stock of the current situation.
Things seemed to be progressing smoothly overall.
Even while she occasionally caught herself overthinking as she spoke, wondering if she was doing this right, as time passed, being around Serin no longer made her as nervous as it had at first. On top of that, now that Serin seemed to be treating her more comfortably, Eunha even felt a growing confidence that she was doing well.
"Serin, is there anywhere you want to go, or somewhere you had in mind?"
Eunha, who had been operating the hypercar and starting the engine, was now striking up conversation with Serin quite naturally. Right after, the hypercar's distinctive heavy engine note rumbled.
"No. Not really... I just came to spend the day with you, Eunha. If you have somewhere in mind, I don't mind wherever we go. But how do I do the seatbelt?"
From the way Serin spoke, as if the situation felt a little awkward, and from her asking about the seatbelt, Eunha figured this was probably her first time in a hypercar, and she naturally leaned over toward her.
—7. Be as kind as possible to the other person and show consideration for even the smallest details.
One of the checklists she had confirmed earlier came to mind naturally, and Eunha was trying to put it into practice.
Besides, if it was Serin's first time in a hypercar, she was bound to be confused about the button positions, so Eunha intended to show her directly.
"Oh..."
Eunha had approached so unhesitatingly that Serin instinctively pulled her body back. Eunha flinched slightly at the way Serin seemed to avoid her for a moment, but then she carefully pointed to a button beside Serin's waist and spoke.
"For the seatbelt, you press this button here."
As Eunha pressed the button with a soft click, a pure white belt smoothly emerged from near the waist area of the seat and began slowly wrapping around Serin.
Serin watched the belt envelop her as if seeping into her, marveling at it.
"Wow."
At the sight of Serin's admiration, Eunha's gaze lingered quietly on her.
Seeing her up close like this, her appearance really was unreal.
A flawless, snow-white face, and silver hair as white as snow, striking enough to command attention. It looked so soft it seemed it would slip through your fingers if touched, enough to make you want to run a hand through it at least once.
But that remained only a thought; Eunha didn't act on it.
After a few seconds, Serin gave Eunha a puzzled look. She wondered what other features this first-time hypercar might have.
"Eunha? Is there something else you need to do here?"
When she asked why Eunha was still in front of her, Eunha smiled awkwardly and reached toward a button near Serin.
"Ah, just... you seemed a little uncomfortable."
With that, the seat reclined smoothly, and Serin's body slowly tilted back along with it.
As it did, Eunha, who had been bracing herself against the seat, let her jet-black hair fall downward, the long strands touching Serin's upper body.
But that brief contact disappeared as Eunha pulled away a moment later.
"If you adjust the button I just pressed, you can control the angle yourself."
She said it to cover her embarrassment, feeling as though she had been staring at Serin again.
"That's really neat."
Serin had briefly wondered what was happening when her body suddenly reclined, but she soon nodded at how comfortable the seat felt.
The sensation of the seat reclining so naturally, as if gliding, was something else entirely.
Afterward, Eunha returned to her own seat, fastened her own belt, and looked at Serin, her lips parting slightly.
"Serin, then I'll drive for a bit and take us somewhere I have in mind, if that's okay?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
Then Eunha pressed the hypercar's accelerator, and soon the car, emitting a heavy yet smooth engine note and a faint blue glow, began cruising through the city.
......
Vrrrm...
The ride in the hypercar as it traveled through the sprawling city with such a low engine note was...
"...Wow."
For Serin, it was another shock in and of itself.
Serin, whose memories of riding in cars and even driving were now faint, had never even thought about driving after first landing in this world.
Her garbage body had consumed most of her time just sleeping, and even after waking, she had been too busy handling what each day threw at her to pay attention to anything else.
More importantly, Serin simply wasn't very interested in cars, which made the hypercar's ride all the more striking.
Eunha glanced sidelong at Serin, smiled faintly, and began slowly leaving the city center.
Afterward, on a road with a higher speed limit, Eunha accelerated slightly, but the hypercar still felt so solid and stable that there was hardly any noticeable change, not even much of a rise in the engine note.
It was only by watching the cars they passed that Serin could tell they had sped up.
"Eunha, what's this car called?"
I knew it sounded a little ignorant, but I couldn't help asking. I was too clueless about cars to guess the brand or model from the exterior alone. But even so, the ride felt so good that my curiosity naturally stirred.
I wasn't even driving—just riding along while Eunha drove—but that alone made me feel like I'd come to a different world.
From the subtle exterior design emitting a faint blue glow to the interior, everything looked so luxurious that it gave me a novel feeling.
"Bugatti Chiron Pure Sport... I think that's probably it."
Eunha answered Serin's question about the car's name with a slight hesitation. She was worried Serin might feel a sense of distance.
But Serin, ignorant about cars to begin with, simply thought it must be a really nice car from the name alone; she didn't feel any distance.
After all, Eunha was famous even among pro players. Serin was simply curious how much someone had to earn to buy a car like this.
Then, suddenly wondering just how much a car like this cost, Serin spoke up.
"It sounds like a really nice car just from the name... how much does a car like this usually cost?"
It obviously looked incredibly expensive, but she asked the price anyway.
People who indulged in this kind of luxury surely had some desire to show off to others.
And asking the price seemed like something Eunha might appreciate.
Eunha found it a little unexpected that Serin asked so casually, then slowly gathered her thoughts.
The Bugatti Chiron smoothly curved out of its lane and into another,
but strangely, no other cars approached the Bugatti Chiron Eunha was driving.
She continued slowly.
"The price... hmm? It was sponsored, so I don't actually know the exact price range."
"Sponsorship...?"
For a moment, Serin wondered if she had misheard.
'She got a car like this sponsored?'
Even at the lowest estimate, it had to be worth hundreds of millions of won.
Could there really be someone who would sponsor a car like this?
As the thought crossed her mind, Serin recalled the videos of Eunha she'd looked up.
In those videos, Eunha was consistently cool and beautiful.
Her movements during matches carried a certain grace.
It almost felt like the swordsmanship the nobles had wielded in the world of Black Ark.
So she wondered if some tycoon had been charmed by that side of Eunha and sponsored her, but honestly, it was a little hard to believe.
Looking back through her memories, there had been no pro player who received this kind of sponsorship... or so she thought.
She had seen famous brands sponsor specific pro teams, but she couldn't remember ever seeing a car like this given to an individual player as sponsorship.
So she continued without thinking.
"Do pro players usually get cars like this sponsored?"
She wondered if pros in this world received more special treatment.
"No...? I don't know the details either, but I've heard I'm the first in the industry to receive a car like this as sponsorship."
Eunha, who answered with a slight hesitation, glanced sidelong at Serin.
'I hope Serin doesn't feel a sense of distance...'
Eunha wondered if she had given a strange answer.
But contrary to Eunha's thoughts, Serin let out a small sound of admiration and actually smiled.
"Let's be good friends from now on, Eunha."
Casually donating a million won at a time.
A pro player sponsored with a car that looked like it would go for hundreds of millions.
And from meeting her in person, she was a woman with a kind personality and a great deal of consideration.
'I don't know why, but she seems to have a favorable impression of me.'
No matter how little Serin cared about money, when an opportunity to get close to a celebrity like this came along, it seemed right to seize it.
"Ah..."
The words were so unexpected that Eunha paused in surprise for a moment, but at Serin's suggestion to be friends, Eunha found herself smiling without realizing it.
"Ah, I'd like that too."
Having answered that, Eunha even felt buoyed by Serin's words.
She still had plenty of knowledge left from studying formulas for getting close to someone, but she hadn't expected Serin to say she wanted to get close so directly.