[TS] Formula One Streamer - Chapter 102
“Director. I want to start working right away. Where should I go?”
After exchanging a formal yet brief greeting with Minoto, Won-jin looked around the busy laboratory and couldn’t help but blurt out his overwhelming emotions.
He was carrying a large suitcase and a backpack that seemed heavy for his small frame, appropriate for his young age. He had no intention of unpacking the loads he had brought.
Minoto glanced at the huge amount of luggage that seemed to swallow him whole and considered telling him to drop off his things at the accommodation, but he couldn’t do that.
Won-jin’s eyes were sparkling and there was an undeniable earnestness.
Minoto, sensing the age of the young man standing before him, nodded slightly and answered.
“Okay then. Just make sure not to be in the way with your luggage. Do you see that room at the very back?”
“You mean that room over there?”
“That’s right. Go find Logan. Just tell him I sent you, and ask him to assign you to a team. He’ll take care of it.”
Won-jin bowed deeply with a nod and then moved forward. His back reminded one of a waddling duck, burdened by heavy luggage.
“I wonder what will happen from now on…”
Minoto watched Won-jin’s retreating figure with a look more filled with concern than expectation.
Whether he would simply be a duckling or turn into a swan, no one, including Minoto, could know that. Isn’t it true that even the individual themselves does not know until they grow?
All one can do is stake everything on a slight possibility. By flailing those short legs and floating across the water’s surface, the answers will eventually come. Whether it ends as a duck or transforms into an elegant swan.
Until then, doing one’s best is what can be called the duty of one who has jumped into this world.
Whether or not he knew of Minoto’s complicated feelings, Won-jin just walked innocently.
‘So this is the Ferrari F1 Team Laboratory…’
Ferrari. The Ferrari F1 laboratory, which has transcended to become more than just a global company and has become a culture, was much larger than Won-jin had imagined.
Countless rooms, making it hard to guess their purpose. Hundreds of people moving hurriedly back and forth. Engines and various components like front wings being demonstrated in a central hall that reminded one of a wide plaza.
Even though it is a global corporation, it was hard to believe that a single company could invest such time and money for one goal.
“It’s like a machine…”
Won-jin exclaimed in pure admiration.
The purposefulness and organization seemed systematic to Won-jin, and he could not help but be sure that from above, it looked like large and small gears meshing together.
Although he had experienced something similar at the For One headquarters, the atmosphere at Ferrari was quite different.
If the For One headquarters sought to maximize efficiency through freedom, one might say that Ferrari felt like it was maximizing efficiency derived from its mission. He could not find even a single person from any department with a smile.
It could be said to be desperate. A frantic struggle to pull Ferrari, which had been experiencing stagnation for several years, from the shadows into the light. From the serious expressions of the employees devoid of laughter, Won-jin could feel a determination and resoluteness that would not back down.
Moreover, considering the rumors that a bloodbath would unfold within the F1 Ferrari team this season, this atmosphere was quite understandable.
While the sense of duty as a profession was, of course, important, it was still a job done to earn a living. There wouldn’t be a person in this world who wouldn’t be desperate if their position, which they had maintained for years, faced redundancy.
The entanglement of complex psychology and vested interests was showing Ferrari’s current agile organization.
However, the overly pure Won-jin could only take in the process of how the organization was formed in that same innocence.
‘Everyone’s risking their lives for this. Where else could there be such a passionate group?’
Though Won-jin had mistakenly taken the fragmentary view of the phenomenon as the whole, and while delusions were free, if those delusions had a positive impact, wasn’t that a good thing for everyone?
Since arriving at the laboratory, the word passion, which had been a small spark in Won-jin’s heart, was growing into a flame bright enough to replace the sun in the sky.
‘I want to make an engine soon…!’
It was a certain illusion that benefitted both Ferrari and Won-jin.
As Won-jin diligently absorbed the sights of the laboratory, he finally snapped out of it upon reaching Logan’s office.
“Logan…”
Logan. He is the renowned head engineer at Ferrari, with his hands touching not only F1 race cars but also mass-production sports cars. His reputation has endured since the days of the champion Michael Shumi, who has won the most titles and continues to be a champion.
Though Ferrari has been underperforming recently, that alone couldn’t negate Logan’s past achievements. He was still a legendary figure with an undeniable reputation as the greatest engineer in history.
Having mentally recounted his achievements through the years, Won-jin set down his luggage and looked up. He reverently gazed at the nameplate that read ‘Logan’ on the door and cautiously knocked.
Knock-knock! Though he tried to knock softly, it seemed unnecessarily loud due to his nerves, and soon, there was a response from within.
“Come in.”
A small yet powerful voice that echoed in his ears. As the door opened, the heavy silence from the office seemed to press down on him as it poured out into the outer world.
And in the middle of that, there was Logan.
“Ah, hello. I’m Won-jin; I came because the Director sent me…”
“What? Who? Minoto sent you?”
Thus, the glorious meeting that he was so eagerly anticipating…
“Won-jin… no, Barcode Nick from the KiwiChi Championship…”
“Oh, that core geek? Is that you? They said you were just a kid. Guess it’s true.”
It was not as glorious as Won-jin had imagined.
*
*
*
“I’ve reflected a lot since then. I visited the victims and offered my apologies…”
“Well, if you’ve done wrong, it’s natural to reflect. What’s so praiseworthy about that?”
Despite Won-jin bending deeply to show politeness, Logan’s attitude was unyieldingly stiff. It was understandable; having lived as an engineer for decades, he had become an unavoidably principled person, and what he disliked the most were cheating, tricks, and loopholes.
By his standards, Won-jin was equivalent to a level one d*ath row inmate who had committed the most heinous crime.
“Um, it wasn’t meant that way…”
“Whether it was meant that way or not, those words just sound like excuses. If you’ve done something socially condemned, you must bear even greater misunderstandings and gazes. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I understand well.”
Won-jin wasn’t foolish enough not to comprehend Logan’s meaning. Hanging his head in shame, he responded in a barely audible voice.
“If you want to work under me, at Ferrari, let’s do it honestly.”
This was a sort of warning given to Won-jin, who was about to become a member of Ferrari. It was a warning with a strong intent not to think about foolish actions in the future, as well as advice.
From now on, his actions would not just be as Wen-jin the individual but as Won-jin from the group Ferrari. He should feel a heavy sense of responsibility for speaking and acting under that huge name.
By this point, he had said enough. Having already heard every insult and advice one could hear from Michael Nantz at For One, Logan thought dragging this out further would only repeat the past. He clicked his tongue once and changed the subject.
“Why do you want to become an engineer? What made you choose Ferrari? Is there something you want to achieve separately? Like a lifelong goal or something?”
A fundamental question. Why did you choose this job? What do you want to do here? What are your dreams going forward? It was a simple question, but that’s why it clearly revealed the respondent’s sincerity.
This was a question that Logan inevitably asked every new hire.
However, despite having asked this countless times and hearing countless answers, Logan found himself at a loss for words at Won-jin’s response.
“I don’t have any grand reasons. I just wanted to.”
“Just… wanted to?”
Just. Depending on the interpretation, it could sound unpleasant. It might seem irresponsible or like someone without much thought.
Logan flinched and narrowed his brows, asking again, while Won-jin responded with an innocent expression, not understanding what was wrong.
“I want to make the best engine, I want to compete in the best team, I want to reach the highest position… If I think about it, I can come up with countless reasons. But all of those are simply stems that arise from the desire to do this job.”
Right. The desire to achieve something is the competitive spirit that only arises when one truly enters that work.
One must want to live as a driver to genuinely desire to be a champion, and one must want to live as an engineer to genuinely want to create the best engine.
The instinctive reason of ‘just wanting to’ always precedes any reason.
“So, simply put, I can only say that I want to do it.”
The word ‘just’ sometimes carries a meaning more grand than any reason.