Driving License Boot Camp
Gokado Hanako ended the call, brushing off her boyfriend Honjo Tokiatsu’s needless worrying with a light laugh. It was honestly kind of cute how anxious he got. Honjo Tokiatsu, her boyfriend since their childhood-friend days, had always been overly protective. Because they’d grown up together, he couldn’t stand the thought of the stunningly beautiful Gokado Hanako going anywhere without him. While she found his clinginess adorable, it could also feel a little suffocating. That was probably why she’d decided to come to the intensive driving course with her friend Kagawa Umi instead of him.
In front of the sign that read Edo River Driving License Boot Camp, her friend Kagawa Umi was already waiting. But standing beside Umi were two men Hanako had never seen before. One was a massive black-Japanese hybrid with dreadlocks. The other was a tall, well-built handsome man who looked at least 185 centimeters. The three of them were chatting and laughing like old friends.
Oh my, what an ikemen! Hanako muttered to herself without thinking. He really was incredibly good-looking.
Kagawa Umi spotted her and waved enthusiastically.
“Hanako-chan! Over here!”
Before I was possessed, Jin Yong-tae had a weird friend his own age who insisted on calling him “hyung-nim.”
His name was Smith Kazuhiro. A black-Japanese hybrid with an American soldier father. He’d been bullied a lot as a kid for his mixed blood, but as his body grew stronger, so did his temper. The harassment turned him into a total delinquent. That changed in his third year of middle school when he picked a fight with me—Jin Yong-tae, who had already started learning martial arts. I beat him senseless, and after that he completely turned over a new leaf. From then on he followed me everywhere, calling me “hyung-nim” nonstop.
Kazuhiro used his natural athleticism to pursue soccer. Now he was a promising player on the second team of Tokyo FC. Starting this new season at the end of February, he was set to be promoted to the first team. Of course, as a fresh high-school graduate on the reserve squad, it would depend on the coach’s decision, but the club had high hopes for him.
“Hyung-nim! Why haven’t you been answering your phone? I was worried sick!”
The call came the day after my wild night with Fitzgerald Alice. Thanks to the original owner’s memories, talking to him felt completely natural.
“A lot’s happened. Want to grab a drink and catch up?”
“Hyung-nim, I’m a pro player now. I’m staying sober until I win the league scoring title.”
“You crazy bastard. Then let’s just get coffee. You’re going to lose your mind when you hear what’s going on.”
I told Kazuhiro to meet me in the neighborhood. Since he lived close by, he showed up right away. He was a huge guy with dreadlocks who looked more like a heavyweight MMA fighter than a soccer player.
“Weren’t you supposed to be at preseason training? You done already?”
“Got back yesterday~! By the way, hyung-nim, when did you get so jacked? You’re bigger than me now!”
We naturally wandered into the local family restaurant that had an all-you-can-drink bar—the kind where the neighborhood slackers always gathered. A cute part-timer greeted us cheerfully and asked what we wanted. We’d never ordered anything but the drink bar before, but this time I asked for a hambagu steak to go with it. Kazuhiro, watching his diet, stuck to just the drink bar.
He filled a glass with melon soda for me from the machine, set it down with a loud clack, and asked,
“So what happened?”
“About nine days ago, my dad died.”
“Huh? You had a dad, hyung-nim?”
It wasn’t a diss. Kazuhiro genuinely thought I didn’t have a father, so he was shocked.
“Idiot. Of course I had a dad. Someone had to knock my mom up.”
“Come on, hyung-nim, you know that’s not what I meant.”
“Haha. Anyway, want to know who my dad was? Taira Saburo.”
“Taira Saburo? Who the hell is that?”
“Look it up.”
Of course a normal person wouldn’t know the name of a chaebol family’s third son. Kazuhiro pulled out his phone and started searching. Exactly thirty seconds later he shot up from his seat with a classic Japanese “Ehh?!” reaction. Even though he looked more like a black guy than Japanese and I half-expected a “What the fuck?!” it was still funny hearing him say “Ehh?!” like that.
“Hyung-nim… you were the son of the Taira Group?”
“Apparently so.”
“No way… you’re lying, right?”
It was only natural he wouldn’t believe it. A poor neighborhood friend suddenly claiming his dad was actually a conglomerate heir? Of course he’d be skeptical. I showed him the Taira Group employee ID that Taira Danzo had thrown at me.
“It’s real? I thought you got a job at Edogawa Industries…”
“Grandpa canceled that and told me to report here instead.”
“Whoa~! That’s insane!”
Once he saw the proof, Kazuhiro was completely floored. He kept exclaiming “Whoa!” over and over while staring at the employee ID.
“By the way, why are you so huge now? You’re taller than me.”
Kazuhiro was a muscular giant over 180 centimeters, but now I stood at nearly 188, making him the shorter one. I told him the same story I’d given the relatives at the funeral—that I’d eaten some special herbs while traveling in Korea.
“Heh~! So many weird things keep happening to you, hyung-nim. You still have about a week before you start work, right? What are you gonna do until then?”
“I was thinking about going to a driving license boot camp. They changed the law recently so you can get your license in just one week.”
Kazuhiro clapped his hands together like it was the best idea ever.
“Ooh~! Can I come too?”
“Don’t you have training?”
“Second-team guys like me get four days off after preseason, not counting weekends. I can easily add a day or two. Plus my house is super far from the stadium, so the club told me to get my license anyway.”
Tokyo FC, the club Kazuhiro played for, used Ajinomoto Stadium. It was quite a distance from Edogawa Ward where he lived. Edogawa was on Tokyo’s east side, while Chofu City—home of Ajinomoto Stadium—was on the west. Basically complete opposites.
“Yeah, that would be rough without a car. Can’t you just commute from the team dorm?”
“The dorms are under construction this season, so they want everyone to drive in.”
“Then want to go together? We can shoot the shit for a whole week. You won’t be drinking since you’re on management duty.”
“Hell yeah! I’ll check with the club first. Hyung-nim, find us a decent driving boot camp in the meantime.”
“Got it.”
“And make sure it’s somewhere with lots of girls~!”
Ah, right. This guy was a total womanizer. He had that stereotypical black-guy-from-Japanese-porn vibe—couldn’t control his libido and went through girls like tissue paper. Thankfully our tastes were so different that we never went after the same women. Otherwise we probably would’ve fought like crazy back in school.
“Stop talking nonsense and call the club already.”
While Kazuhiro was on the phone with the team, I searched for driving license boot camps. Hmm… there it is. Edogawa Driving License Boot Camp? It was close by. Should we go with this one?
“Yes, yes. Understood. I’ll contact you again after I register.”
“They said it’s okay to go to boot camp?”
“They’re focusing on the first team for early matches, so they’re fine with it. Damn coach. He should’ve just said, ‘Since you’re a starter, forget about driving school, you bastard!’”
“Stop with the weird voice impressions. How about this place? Classes start tomorrow.”
When I showed him the result, Kazuhiro nodded. I called right then and reserved for two guys.
“I booked two spots. Meet me in front of the school at 8 a.m. tomorrow. I’ll send you the address.”
“Otsu!”
I started eating the freshly served hambagu steak while Kazuhiro showed me pictures of his new girlfriend. Hmm… as usual, he had questionable taste. To put it nicely, he dated plain girls. To put it harshly, they were stuck somewhere between average and unattractive. He claimed it was trauma from elementary school—his bullies had all been pretty girls. Because of that, he said his dick simply wouldn’t react to beautiful women anymore.
To me, whose standards had skyrocketed after meeting Han Yugyeong and Alice back-to-back, he was the perfect City Hunter partner.