[TS] Formula One Streamer - Chapter 12
Grrr! Vroom!
The corner is slow, but approach it quickly.
【 DRS Activation 】
Vroooom!!!
【 6 – 7th Gear ↑ 】
Click!
On the straight, I press full throttle, covering the distance at maximum speed.
In slight corners, I save the brakes as much as possible to maintain speed, while in deep corners, I feel the tire grip nearing its limit, reducing the deceleration period by even 0.1 seconds.
I was following Kang Ho-yun, who was driving a blue race car, maintaining about a 2-second gap behind him.
As if to say I could overtake him at any moment, I urged him on with my revving engine, challenging him to escape from me.
A wordless pressure.
If I let go of the tension for even a moment, the gap in F1, which cannot be reversed, will widen; it is both the thrill and the fear for drivers.
Name / Time / Lap
① Kang Ho-yun 1:25:301 15/20
② KING 1:25:507 +0.206 15/20
Thanks to me, whether Kang Ho-yun’s racing senses were maximized, or whether his efforts to enhance his technique to a higher level shone through.
In a short period, he achieved a lap time of 1 minute 25 seconds, reducing the unit to 1 second from his previous best.
KING: Okay. From now on, I won’t go easy on you?
Kang Ho-yun: Do as you please.
With only 5 laps left until the race ends, I gripped the steering wheel tightly and focused intensely.
Overtaking on the straight is not easy.
The best time to overtake is when entering a corner after running down the straight.
I confuse my opponent by faking my movement, making them choose whether to follow their racing line or block mine defensively.
In For One, where all vehicles have the same performance, the technical mastery is important, but so is the psychological warfare.
I closely followed behind him to utilize slipstream before entering the corner.
The speed gained through slipstream is about 15-20 km/h.
Moreover, since there were no restrictions on using DRS, I chased him with much faster acceleration.
The left turn at corner 1, which bends at a right angle.
Pretending to follow the out-in-out racing line, I lured him to the outside kerb, only to suddenly decelerate and dive in on the inside.
【 DRS Deactivation 】
Screeeech!!!
The hot carbon brakes screamed chillingly as I slowed down.
I kept the brakes at the limit of grip to avoid skidding while repeatedly releasing and applying them as I slithered out of the corner.
My race car exited smoothly and quickly, as if escaping from within.
Kang Ho-yun’s race car couldn’t keep up with my corner entry and exit speed and had completely lost my racing line.
KING: I’m going first!
【 DRS Activation 】
Boom!!
Catch me if you can.
It’ll be absolutely impossible, right?
Every time we reach a corner, the gap between us continues to widen.
I called it a boring ranking match, but did you really think I was slacking off?
I adapted to the rules of For One, which differ from F1, while racing to maintain my lead, calculating how to further reduce my lap time and optimize my record line.
As I got faster, I not only maintained the lead but also created a tremendous lap time gap, putting me at least 5 laps ahead of other users.
I don’t know how many times I overtook while staying in first place.
Anyway, I can confidently say I’ve grown one step further from being a champion through that entire process.
This isn’t something proved by shallow words; it’s demonstrated by unembellished lap times composed of numbers.
Name / Time
① KING 1:20:824 🏁
② Kang Ho-yun 1:25:231 +4.407
I shortened my record from the 22-second range to the 20s and added a checkered flag next to my time.
Although it was a practice run, I climbed the podium to celebrate my victory to tease Kang Ho-yun.
Wow!!!
The crowd AI set up in the grandstands cheered for me, and I winked at Kang Ho-yun who was following me up to the podium.
Kang Ho-yun chuckled and joined me in my celebration.
“Already updated your lap time again?”
“I’ve only been stacking data in ranking matches; today is the first time I drove seriously.”
“I thought 22 seconds was outrageous, but 20 seconds is truly… hard to believe.”
He looked up at me with genuine respect in his eyes.
His gaze was a window into how sincere he was about For One.
His intense passion and effort were vividly expressed through his eyes, making it hard not to admire him.
“Forget about me, look at your senior’s record. You’ve nearly reduced it by 2 seconds. Cutting it down this much in such a short time is really impressive.”
It wasn’t flattery. I might have been born a genius driver, but him cutting down his lap time by 2 seconds in just a few days is an astonishing improvement.
Seeing his growth, I couldn’t help but think—had he met me sooner or had a deeper opportunity to learn about F1, Kang Ho-yun would have achieved much higher accomplishments.
“Maybe it’s time for me to return to streaming?”
“Is that really okay? I still feel like I’m lacking.”
He replied, unable to take his eyes off my driving video.
“Aren’t you setting your goals too high? I’m KING, after all.”
“Who doesn’t know that?”
“By the way, when are you thinking of returning? Since you said you’d participate in the championship next week?”
“I was thinking about that, but I’m worried that if I start streaming, I won’t be able to focus entirely on the tournament.”
That’s true.
The concentration of F1 drivers, who pour their entire focus into racing, seems solid yet fragile; they can easily be distracted by even the smallest things.
If a brief communication with the racing director is distracting, how would handling viewer interactions, like donations or chat, during a broadcast feel?
Moreover, if Kang Ho-yun himself isn’t satisfied yet, then he should postpone his return.
For streamers, the timing of a comeback is crucial, and since I’m not well-versed in the profession of being a streamer, it’s best to let him decide.
However, I do know how to make a return efficiently and spectacularly.
“Senior, you can return to streaming whenever you want, but I have a good idea. Do you want to hear it?”
“What ridiculous idea are you coming up with now… what is it?”
Everything I’m about to say is hypothetical. However, it’s a high-probability assumption.
“I’ll win the KiwiChi Championship, so please feature me as a guest on your stream that day.”
“… Are you saying that now?”
“Why, don’t you believe me?”
“I do. I have to, but… every ranked player in For One is participating, so it won’t be easy.”
If you knew me during my Jin Hyun-woo days, you wouldn’t even say such things.
I replied with smugness.
“You don’t know, but I’m actually, no, very good at this. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely win and be a guest on your comeback day.”
This is the kind of statement you make when you’ve been in first place before.
I don’t know how Kang Ho-yun perceives my words, but this isn’t arrogance, it’s certainty.
In addition to appearing as a guest, there’s also one more unseen gift that could blow up his stream.
I’ll keep that a surprise.
“I’m tired, so let’s wrap it up for today. I have a date tomorrow.”
“A date….”
“Oh, did you manage to find a handsome friend?”
“Uh, well… I found one.”
“Thank goodness. I hope Ji-hyun likes him.”
“Ji-hyun?”
Kang Ho-yun’s face brightened up suddenly.
“Yeah. My friend is going with me tomorrow. Didn’t I mention? She’s my friend named Ji-hyun.”
“Then the ‘find a handsome friend’ remark means….”
“I was going to introduce you to Ji-hyun… What? Did you think I would date her? Me, a guy?”
Just the thought of holding hands with a guy is nauseating.
My mind is Jin Hyun-woo, so I’m sorry to all the men in this world, but the truly ultimate beauty, Yoo Ihyun, is destined to live her life as a lifelong single.
Suddenly, Kang Ho-yun’s face brightens.
Is he bipolar or something?
When it comes to For One, he really is quite a simple person.
It’s hard to understand him sometimes.
*
*
*
“Are you really going to wear that?”
“Why? Is it strange? Don’t we all wear outfits like this?”
It’s already the weekend.
I dug through Yoo Ihyun’s wardrobe to find a simple, monochromatic outfit.
So I’m just wearing jeans and a white t-shirt…
“No, it’s not strange… No. Whatever you wear looks pretty, so it’s none of my business.”
Her words made me wonder if my attire was too careless, but when I looked in the mirror, all those thoughts vanished.
Even if F1 and For One just vanished from this world, I feel like I could manage to live somehow with this face and body.
Seeing this, being born pretty and handsome truly is a great blessing.
“Are you ready? Let’s go.”
Jihyun, wearing a blouse that reflects the freshness of a nineteen-year-old girl along with a short skirt, looked just as pretty as I did.
While Yoo Ihyun has a lofty, elegant cat-like beauty, Jihyun’s face and demeanor were vibrant and cute, making her the perfect puppy-like girl.
Surely, Jihyun would be more popular among boys.
I also prefer Jihyun over Yoo Ihyun.
Yet, looking in the mirror, I would switch back to Yoo Ihyun again.
If I had to date one of the two… who would I choose…
As I pondered these pointless thoughts, I reached the front gate before I knew it.
“Here!”
At the front gate, Kang Ho-yun and his friend were waiting for us.
Seeing their attire, it seems they too had similar trifling thoughts.
Well, not Jihyun, at least.
Waving at them, Jihyun lightly nudged my arm.
“Wait, are you going with Ho-yun Sunbae and that senior next to him?”
“I heard Ho-yun Sunbae was going out on the weekend, and as we talked, it just happened that way. Is that okay?”
“Uh, uh. That’s fine. You should’ve told me earlier.”
Jihyun hurriedly fixed her hair and adjusted her outfit.
Kang Ho-yun definitely kept his word.
His friend was quite handsome.
We exchanged brief greetings and got into Kang Ho-yun’s car.
Since we were both students at the same academy, I had assumed we would be using public transport, but I had forgotten that Kang Ho-yun is twenty-one years old and, being a famous streamer, has plenty of money.
“You have a car?”
“I find it convenient to have one for various things.”
“Yeah. You seem to suit the public road better than the circuit.”
“Do you want to get out?”
Kang Ho-yun, with his straightforward personality, has a knack for subtly roasting.
As we engaged in light banter, we soon arrived at our destination.
Our destination was a department store.
We came to the department store based on Kang Ho-yun’s logic that spending money relieves stress.
Living on this Earth for 31 years doesn’t differ significantly.
The outfit, the way people live, and how society operates don’t change easily.
“I guess this is the first outing since becoming Yoo Ihyun…”
Now that I think about it, I hadn’t gone out of the academy since embodying Yoo Ihyun.
I had been immersed in the elaborate virtual reality known as For One, so there was no reason to go out.
Being with them definitely felt more alive.
Enjoying what I couldn’t as Jin Hyun-woo.
A regular day of walking around, chatting, and having delicious meals with friends.
“Isn’t this pretty, Hyun-a?”
“Yeah, it is pretty.”
Although I’m not a girl, being a girl seems less interesting, yet I loved this peace and warmth.
I decided to actively experience the happiness that Yoo Ihyun missed out on.
We wandered around the luxury brands, doing some window shopping.
Well, to be precise, it was just me and Jihyun doing that.
Kang Ho-yun, being aware of his wealth, and that friend of his who likely was born with a silver spoon, spent money easily.
Having been an F1 champion, spending money like water doesn’t quite awe me, but Jihyun looked a bit awkward.
After all, people our age rarely have much money.
“I’m hungry; let’s go eat.”
The whole outing was originally for Jihyun, and my legs were starting to feel a bit sore, so I suggested we go eat.
Only then did Jihyun’s expression seem to lighten.
While we were eating, the friend who introduced himself as Park Ha-jin spoke up.
“Kang Ho-yun, didn’t you say you were participating in the KiwiChi Championship?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do you know KING? That guy became famous after being on Mr. Sre’s stream. I heard he’s participating too. I’m curious about his face. He seems very manly.”
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
Precisely three times. Ho-yun, me, and Jihyun all coughed simultaneously.
“Why did you guys cough at the same time?”
“Uh, nothing. Just got a tickle in my throat suddenly.”
It’s me, Yoo Ihyun.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment about him seeming manly.
If it’s this fun before the stream, how much more entertaining will it be once we go live?
“Seems like you’re a KING fan, too, Ji-hyun?”
“Of course. I can’t not be a fan of someone that talented.”
I sense the disdainful glances from Ho-yun and Jihyun.