[TS] Formula One Streamer - Chapter 29
🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴
The five red signal lights shining brightly through the rain were shining intensely.
The two race cars, ready to go, were poised to leap forward at any moment.
Amidst the strangely flowing tension, the lights soon went out.
⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫
Vroom!!!
The race starts now.
Yao-ming and I both started at the same time, but I, starting from the left, had the priority for entering the corner.
As the first corner bent like a “ㄱ”, if the right side didn’t take the advantage at the start, it was inevitable that I, on the left, would benefit.
As I barreled down the straight towards the corner, Yao-ming’s race car stuck close to mine as if testing my mettle, inducing a wheel-to-wheel situation.
“Look at that? How arrogant.”
Yao-ming is skilled enough to be ranked 389th, so he probably knows that this tussle is meaningless.
This was a kind of provocation.
An overt challenge of “Let’s see if you can pull out!”
The risk of an accident was high, but there was no reason for me to back down.
If I decelerated, I would be at a disadvantage, and even if an accident occurred, I was close to the wall, so it would be self-defense; the penalty would fall on Yao-ming.
As expected, when we reached the corner entry point, Yao-ming, stepping back, took the outer line.
Naturally, I took the lead as the real race began.
Vroom!!!
I sped past the buildings of the old city and the medieval walls of Baku City, thinking ahead.
A narrow gorge, challenging corners that bent at right angles, and a situation where I had to doubt the tire grip at every moment due to the rain.
There were too many variables.
The state of the road would change with each lap, and what that meant was that I had to adapt my driving style.
This was well beyond the realm of mere calculations; it was the domain of a superhuman.
If someone has reached the pinnacle in any field, they would understand my words.
A very small element resonates with the whole, overturning everything, and the whole resonates back with the elements, flipping the script.
Just like how an archer’s slight misalignment can separate a 10-point from a 1-point.
That means an element can be the whole, and the whole can be an element.
The road affects the tires, the tires affect the brakes, the brakes affect the corner entry point…
I had to find the optimal driving amidst the constantly interlinked and cycling basics and pinnacles, elements and wholes.
“I’m going to close the chat room.”
I closed the increasingly distracting chat window that cluttered my thoughts.
I turned off the function so that the viewers could share their opinions without it being visible to my eyes, and focused on the race.
Sector 2.
The track from corners 8 to 12 is dramatic and continuous.
It was the most difficult course on the Baku City Circuit, and with the rain, its difficulty had at least increased by two levels.
Click!
【 DRS Deactivation 】
Due to limited visibility, I couldn’t see all the puddles, so I slowed down and carefully entered the corner.
With each pass, I felt the tires sinking into the water on the left and right.
As the front and rear tires alternated getting submerged, even with wet tires, grip couldn’t be guaranteed.
In this situation, it was hard to even press the accelerator or brake.
I exited the corner not out of my intention but rather slipping out as if I had no choice.
“Ugh… This weather really sucks.”
This was my first time driving in such weather.
In 114 ranking matches, it had rained before, but never like this.
With this, the distinction of skill faded.
Looking at the mini-map below, I saw that Yao-ming was also struggling to exit that corner.
Fortunately, from Sector 3 onward, there were no difficult corners.
From the end of Sector 3, it was a straight line leading all the way to the first corner of Sector 1.
“Let’s go!”
Vroom!!!
I activated the previously deactivated DRS and pressed the accelerator as I approached the end of the first lap.
Boom!!!
Entering lap 8, at corner 2, my race car lost grip and slipped considerably, crashing into the wall.
The tires flew, and fragments of various components, starting with the front wing, scattered in all directions.
The engine seemed to have gone haywire and stopped operating.
It was my fault for making a poor judgment, but it wasn’t just my fault.
Unexpectedly wide puddles formed, causing all four tires to lose grip completely.
Though it was a game, the impact of the crash was less severe, but I let out a groan of instant pain.
“Ugh!”
[KING, you have crashed at corner 8 and a 10-second penalty is in effect.]
My race car was lifted and moved back to the corner entry point after repairs were completed.
With 10 seconds of unexpected downtime, I opened the chat room.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Just crash and burn]
[Then just crash while performing triple accelerator?]
[I can’t see the road conditions at all, yet you continue to push throughㅋㅋ]
[Those annoying bastards should be gathered and lynchedㅇㅇ]
[Yeah~ they’re so annoying, right?]
[The ones being annoying are your mother watching you type this chat]
[It’s amazing that until lap 8, there hadn’t been an accident. Same goes for Yao-ming]
[Ah, I’ve lost the lead;;]
The chat room was, as expected, chaotic.
Comments claiming my skills were inflated and others defending me mingled together to create a spectacle.
I personally didn’t think much of it.
The rain was intensifying, and it was truly becoming a dystopian race where seeing even a foot ahead was challenging.
If it weren’t for the tournament, I would have long since given up on this race.
Yao-ming quickly noticed my crash, and, completely decelerating before the entry, passed the corner like a turtle.
He certainly couldn’t miss such an opportunity that arose after lap 8.
However, seizing first place by making use of all situations is a driver’s job.
Moreover, given the unpredictable road conditions, driving passively like Yao-ming seemed to be the right choice.
Vroom! Vroom!!!
After the 10-second penalty ended, I deliberately drove my race car slowly.
The rain showed no sign of stopping. Even if it did, the puddles wouldn’t dry up.
So I memorized all the key points.
I intended to memorize all the spots on the circuit where threatening puddles existed.
Though the situation might change, the puddles that had already pooled would remain in their places until the end.
It was a loss for the moment, but I needed to drive slowly and reimagine the circuit in my head for the remaining laps.
The gap between me and Yao-ming had now reached 9.5 seconds.
Even with the 10-second penalty, it hadn’t exceeded that distance thanks to the lead I had built up.
Swish! Swish!
The slowly passing scenery.
The new racing line began to gradually reveal itself in my mind, adjusted to the altered circuit.
“Wait. I’ll be there soon…”
Yao-ming, enjoy your first place while you can for just a few laps.
The moment the line became clear, first place would be mine.
*
*
*
It was quiet.
Except for the two race cars rushing past through the heavy raindrops, nothing made a sound.
Vroooooom!!!
Swoosh!!
The tires splashed water everywhere, and the splattered raindrops spread out like the wings of a bird, forming a mist.
Swoosh!!!
The fence of the old city, dangerously close to the wall of the track at a distance of 0.1 cm, creating a driving performance that resembled acrobatics.
KING raced clearly without showing any signs of panic, regardless of various corners or tracks.
While viewer concentration usually wanes with repeated laps, the viewers watching KING’s race were not bored but were drawn into his ghost-like driving.
[Is this the game we were playing…?]
[This is really f***ed up…]
[Wow…]
[How do you deal with it all when the road conditions are this bad?]
[This can’t be done through memorization. It’s raining like crazy and the track keeps changing.]
[You mean you’re driving based on split-second reactions? That’s even more absurd.]
[This is the real KING.]
As the rain increased, the race introduced numerous variables.
Even while repeating the same track, the puddles multiplied, and their depths changed, making each lap a fresh challenge for KING and TIA.
The Baku City Circuit during lap 10 was different from the one during lap 11. The same went for laps 12 and 13.
Only the shape of the track remained unchanged. The drivers were challenged by a chameleon-like road condition, constantly altering their limits.
Lap 14.
Mr. Yooihyun checked his tires.
Considering the poor track conditions, they should have been worn out from vigorous driving, but the wet tires, slow yet robust, were holding up against the engine’s power.
Moreover, with the rain pouring down, the tire temperatures had not risen above a certain level and remained in good condition.
That was also true for the carbon brakes, which should be heating up.
Rather, due to the rain, they had cooled too effectively and were not performing at their best, needing their temperatures raised.
The remaining laps were 37.
Unless the weather changed drastically and the sun started to shine, I judged that a one-stop strategy was sufficient.
“I just have to time my pit stop.”
Mr. Yooihyun muttered as he cleared the straight course past the starting point.
Every time a thick raindrop hit his helmet, his vision blurred, and while he wiped away the water with one hand, it was only temporary.
His sight was continuously blocked, and he couldn’t see even 10 meters ahead.
In truth, it was a stormy weather condition that should have halted the race.
Yet, For One never stops.
Mr. Yooihyun and KING were the same.
In the dangerously wet driving, both Mr. Yooihyun and KING closed their eyes, losing the meaning of their existence.
At that moment, the broadcast being transmitted also went dark.
[Huh? Why are you closing your eyes, teacher?]
[Have you given up?]
[But isn’t racing in this situation meaningless? You need to see something to either drive or not drive.]
[To finish, you’d need to crawl like a snail.]
[Ugh… Why is the weather set up like this for the first race? It was the race I was looking forward to the most.]
[Please open your eyes, teacher!]
Mr. Yooihyun checked his current position and visualized the circuit in his mind.
Not just a blurred shape, but a detailed 3D visualization of the circuit’s intricacies began to take form as he started image training.
Virtual reality training in a virtual reality.
After all, this was a circuit he had raced on hundreds of times.
He knew exactly when and where corners and straights appeared, how hard to press the brakes and accelerator for how many seconds.
He knew all of it down to the unit of 1, 0.1, and 0.01.
No, to be precise, his body knew.
For her, who had become one with the race car, the embodiment of the circuit had long been complete.
This oddly intentional vision-blocking driving could only be described as driving possessed by the gods.
Woosh!!!
Swoosh!!
Click!
【 DRS Activation 】
Click!
【 5th gear – 6th gear ↑ 】
Vroom!!!
【 320 km/h 】
Roar!!!
The sound of the engine screaming, the steering wheel’s adjustments, tires cutting through the water, and the race car tearing through the air.
From that point on, her broadcast had transformed into racing ASMR.