Rush: Mach

Rush: Mach 2

"Mom!" he calls out as soon as enters the house.

"Yes hone?" a voice comes from the living room. He hurries to his mother who is reading a magazine on the couch. "Mom, is dad home yet?"

She chuckles, "You wanted to see me just to ask about your father?" and looks at him playfully with slanted eyes. "He's in his man cave," she adds, her gaze returns to her magazine.

He rushes to the basement, where his father is holding a tiny pairs of tweezers, trying to insert a small piece of wood into a glass chamber, with his magnifying glass suspended in between his face and the container.

He slips silently onto the chair in front of his father's desk, legs shaking from all the excitement. "Is it done?" he asks the older man softly. He places the piece of wood precisely in a wedge between two bigger pieces of wood that makes up a miniature pirate ship, suspended in the glass bottle. He places the tweezers neatly into its case, and pushes the magnifying glass aside, "Now, it's done," he announces proudly, holding up the bottle to the desk lamp. He hands it to his son, which the boy receives with both hands, being careful not to tilt nor break it. He marvels at the detail of the tiny ship. "Will you teach me how to do it today?" he asks excitedly as he places the glass bottle carefully onto a stand.

"Of course!" he replies happily, pulling up a box containing the miniature blueprints of a supposedly majestic wooden ship from the Edwardian era. He arranges them on his desk, and the boy watches quietly from his seat, trying hard to stay calm. His father brings out a small tube of glue and his small tweezers, "Okay, now..."

Suddenly the ground starts to shake, furniture around the room starts to sway. Screaming was heard from above; it sounded like Kihyun's younger sister, Jihyun. Bottles upon bottles of his father's hard work trembles on their stands and crashes onto the floor, shattering into pieces. He squeezes his eyes shut...

And opens them; darkness fills his vision. He glances towards his nightstand, where his alarm was buzzing: 4.30am. He taps on the clock to stop the buzzing, and sits up, a hand holding his head. It was a dream, another dream of his father, one of the countless he's had ever since the older man's passing over a year ago. He looks at the photo frame on the nightstand, of a man carrying his son on his back, smiling widely at Kihyun.
He takes a quick shower, gets dressed and heads out on his bike. He arrives at the yoghurt store down the street from his house in no time and packs the cartons of milk and yoghurt drink into his basket and gets ready to head out for delivery around his neighbourhood.

"Drink your milk first before you work, boy!" the owner of the store tells him, shoving a carton of chocolate milk into his hands. He smiles, "Thank you, ahjumma," and gulps down the milk. The cool liquid tastes sweet and comforting in his mouth, sliding smoothly into his stomach, filling the void.

This has been his life for the past year: delivering milk at dawn, attend school, skip the last period to get to the cafe for his second job of the day. By the time he returns home, it's a quarter to midnight. He'd changed into his pajamas and head straight to bed, only to get up 4 hours later and repeats the routine all over again. His mother is no better, juggling a 12-hour shift job daily while taking care of his teenage sister and prepares meals for the family of three.

The sun just peeped over the horizon as he completes his delivery, and cycles towards the school. He greets the guards as he passes the school entrance and parks his bike at the bicycle shed.

Smack!

He holds the back of his neck from the stinging sensation, "Hey! How many times do I have to tell you to not do that, Minhyuk!" he scolds the mischievous boy, who's skipping away from him. He took off on a chase, prompting Minhyuk to start sprinting away from the angry boy. Albeit shorter than his friend, he still manages to grab Minhyuk's neck as they reach the second floor of the school building, pulling Minhyuk towards his torso and trapping him in a headlock. Minhyuk squeals in agony, begging Kihyun to let go of him, but the small boy chuckles, keeping his headlock firm around the poor boy's neck as he strides across the hallway towards their classroom, forcing a bent Minhyuk to keep up with his steps.

They plop down on their seats, Kihyun adjusting his backpack on the chair while Minhyuk massages his sore neck beside him, "Why are you so strong. You're unusually strong for someone so small."

"So that people like you can stop bullying me and stay the hell away from me," he replies as he takes out his notebook and pencil case, placing them neatly on his desk, ready for the first lesson of the day. In 10 minutes, the teacher enters the class and starts her lesson after greeting the students and taking their attendances. By the end of the third period, Minhyuk was already sound asleep beside him, as Kihyun finishes his homework that is meant to be handed in in the 6th period.

The bell rings at precisely 11.25 am, signifying break time. Naturally, Minhyuk springs up from his nap, ready to munch on some buns and chips. He gets up from his seat, turning to Kihyun before he leaves to the cafeteria, "You're not coming again?" he asks. Kihyun shakes his head, scribbling down notes from the lesson before the information slips from his mind. He tries to keep himself busy, so he won't focus on the fact that he's hungry. 'I'll get something to eat at the cafe later,' he comforts himself in his head.

10 minutes later, he’s still jotting down notes and completing his assignments, when a bag slides in front of his face, and lands on his table. It's the bag from the bakery section of the school's cafeteria. He opens it and sees three different buns and pastries in the bag.

"Don't be greedy, just pick one," Minhyuk says as he sits back down on his seat, holding a packet of chips in his hand, mouth munching on the crunchy potato crisps. Kihyun pulls out a sausage bun and returns the bag to his friend. "Thanks," he utters as he sinks his teeth into the soft bun, savouring the first bite of solid food of the day.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself. You're gonna die, either from exhaustion, or from hunger."

Kihyun sighs, "I'll be fine. I just need to keep this up until the final exams."

"If you can keep yourself alive till then, and how are you going to keep this up during the exams? Not study? Not sleep between sitting for your papers and working? Then what? Fail your exams? Give up on your dreams?"

He closes his book, chewing on his bun silently. They've had this conversation at least 10 times since a few months ago, when Minhyuk notices his friend sneaking off from school early just to get to work on time. "You're gonna tell me to join your racing club again? You don't even drive, how are you even a part of the club?"

"That you don't have to worry about. I have my ways. Just give it a try, can't you? What do you have to lose?"

"My license... my driver's credit... my savings... my life..."

"I've told you already! Don't worry about these things, I've got it covered! Get it through your thick head why don't ya!" Minhyuk exclaims, annoyed at Kihyun. "This Saturday, 8pm, pick me up at my house. No questions, no debates, no discussions. Just shut up and turn up."

He snorts, "Whatever."

"DO IT," Minhyuk emphasizes.

Weekend comes and a reluctant Kihyun pulls up at Minhyuk's apartment building. He honks, and in a short while a slim figure bounces out of one of the doors on the third floor. Kihyun sits back and fiddles with his phone while waiting for his friend. The car door swings open and Minhyuk hops into the passenger seat, "Okay let's go!"

"Go where, exactly."

"I'll navigate, you drive."

Kihyun grunts, and puts the car into gear and swerves out onto the busy street.
The venue is packed with cars, wherever Minhyuk brought him. Expensive super cars, custom-made cars, medium-range cars, down to the second-handed fixer-uppers. The boy feels out of place standing in the middle of all that horse-power. Minhyuk smacks him behind his neck, earning himself a death-stare from Kihyun. Minhyuk chuckles, and motions with his head, "C'mon, this way."

Following behind Minhyuk, the boys beeline to the end of the location, where a single road extends into the darkness beyond. Minhyuk greets a few of his friends, and introduces them to Kihyun.

"Ahh nice! You got us a new racer, Minhyuk?" Taec, one of his friends asks, looking at Kihyun.

"I don't know, hyung," Minhyuk replies, then smirks at Kihyun, "Are you?"

"Oh hell no," Kihyun blurted.

"Oh c'mooon! We're here already, why not give it a go? It's a once in a lifetime experience," Minhyuk nudges him. Kihyun shakes his head and walks away. His friend skips after him and wraps his arm around Kihyun's shoulder.

"Hey, why so gloomy."

"Because I don't want to be here. All this noise, and smoke."

"You know I only want to help you, and this is one of the best ways I know how to. Look at those cars," he pulls him close and points at a row of luxury cars, "look at their owners. They've got everything they ever wanted in life simply by breathing, while we have to bust our asses to get through one month after another. On a typical day, they're untouchable, we're dirt. But here, we are equals. This is where we earn the respect we deserve from these good-for-nothing snobs. Come," he pulls Kihyun towards one of the cars getting ready at the starting line.

"Hey Jaebum, mind if my friend here join you on the race tonight?"

A head pops out from under the hood, his double-moled eyes narrows in deep thought, scanning Kihyun up and down, making him uncomfortable. "He doesn't look like he weighs anything more than a melon. Sure," Jaebum replies nonchalantly.

"Hey watch your manners, boy. He's small, but he's a hyung to you," Minhyuk says sternly.

"Pfft, whatever man," Jaebum scoffs, retracts back under the hood.

"He's rude sometimes, but he's a good kid, and a fantastic driver. You'll be in good hands, okay? Just watch what he does later," Minhyuk reassures Kihyun.
When Taec gives the signal, six racers get into their cars, and start their engines. Kihyun quickly follow suit as Jaebum enter his and revs up his engine. The six cars come forward onto the starting line in twos.

The engines roared like a pride of lions when another one of Minhyuk's friend, Hyeri struts to the middle of the road with a bandana in her hands. She positions herself in the front middle of the two rows of cars. When Taec gives her a nod, she grins and raises the bandana.

"All racers ready?" she rallies the cars and the crowd cheers. Sounds of the engines revving thunder through the whole venue.

"Three..." she glances toward the car of her left.

"Two..." she winks at the car on her right.

"One..." she look straight down the middle of the two rows of roaring cars, her light brown eyes sparkle from the headlights.

"GO!!!" she swings her arm and the bandana downwards, ducking low as six cars screech past her, casting a whirlwind that pulls her hair in all directions.

Kihyun holds on the door handle and his seatbelt for dear life, as Jaebum flies past three cars consecutively before swerving into the lane beside the forth. He slams on the accelerator gaining lead from the Lamborghini currently in second place. The other car match up to his speed, unwilling to surrender the position. Jaebum persists, keeping his foot on the pedal. Kihyun watches the young racer, his eyes bounce from his side mirror, to the rear-view, and to his rival on the other lane. He grabs the steering tightly, as if waiting for something.

Just then his rival jerks to the front, gaining back his lead, "Yyyes!" Jaebum exclaims and shifts his gearstick immediately and propels him and Kihyun forward, robbing the runner-up of his title.

The cross the finishing line only seconds before the sports car. They step out of the car, one feeling proud of himself, the other still a little shaken from the speed, but strangely excited about Jaebum's achievement. Minhyuk locates Kihyun a while later, "So... how was it?" he grins his toothy grin at his friend.

"It's alright...but I still don't see how this can help me," Kihyun says to Minhyuk, to which the cheeky boy pulls out two thick rolls of money.

"What's that for?!" Kihyun asks, shocked to see so much cash packed so neatly.

"Reward, for Jaebum," Minhyuk answers, handing the racer the two rolls.

"Thanks," Jaebum says as he walks away.

"The only time he's remotely nice: when he receives his prize money," Minhyuk comments.

"How much was that?" Kihyun asks, eyes wide.

"10k, for second place. That dude right there?" he points at a young man with slit eyes and deep dimpled smile, "he's going home with 30k for coming in first."

"This is crazy!" It takes Kihyun four months of hard work and starving himself to make the amount Jaebum currently has in his pockets. Minhyuk's grin gets wider, knowing that his friend is finally interested in joining the club.

"And that Lambo that you guys overtook earlier, that guy is going home 5k richer tonight."

"But...what happens to the losers? There must be a catch, right?"

"Man, you're sharp," Minhyuk says to him, "The prize money is sponsored by the losers, and if they can't fork out the cash, we take their cars."

Kihyun swallows hard. "This means, if I participate, my only option is to win."
Minhyuk grabs his shoulders and gives him a shake, "Don't worry, I know just who to bring you to. And when he's done with you, winning is about the only thing you can do behind wheels."

That night, Kihyun sits by his father on top of a hill, looking up towards the stars.

"Dad, you'd never believe where I've been tonight."

"Oh? Where did you go?"

"I went to a place with many, many cars. Fast cars… and I sat in one of those fast cars."

"Oooooohh, how was it? Was it exciting?"

He nods.

"Did you enjoy your time there?"

He nods again.

The older man smiles, "That's nice."

"Dad..."

"Yes?"

"If one day, I become one of those racers, will you be upset?"

His father's thick brows furrows, "Why would I be upset, son?"

"Because... it's illegal, and you've always taught us to be law-abiding citizens."

"Then, what makes you want to become a racer, since it’s illegal?"

"I just...I want to win, so I can use the reward money to pay our bills, and Jihyun's school fees, so mom can stay home and rest more."

The older man nods, "Even though it's dangerous?"

"I'll be really careful, and I'll pick my battles according to my capabilities."
He nods again, "Well, you seem to have a solid and admirable reason to race. I can't be upset for that," he says, gazing lovingly at his son, and pats him on his back.

The next day, Kihyun drives over to Minhyuk's building again. Except, this time Minhyuk is already waiting for him downstairs when he arrives at the residence.

"We gotta stop by my storage unit first."

"Alright."

As the previous night, Minhyuk doesn't tell him the address, instead he navigates Kihyun. When they arrive at the storage building, Minhyuk motions for Kihyun to park at a shaded slot. They proceed to Minhyuk's unit. He unlocks a hefty, industrial quality padlock and by a push of a button on his remote, the door the size of a garage door flips up gradually, revealing a shiny, baby blue Porsche. Kihyun's jaw dropped, not believing what he's seeing.

"You're using this to practice," Minhyuk says, grabbing Kihyun's hand and presses the keys into his hand. "Just make sure to wipe it clean after every use, and lock the storage unit before you leave, okay?"

"I-I can't use this. I already have a car..."

Minhyuk chuckles, "That old thing outside? You're gonna lose it 2 minutes into the race! Just use mine."

He looks at the sophisticated set of car keys in his hand, "How do you even afford this?"

Minhyuk grins, "I have my ways. Now, let's go. He's waiting for you over at the tracks," he ushers his friend towards the car. They get in and Kihyun inserts the key into the ignition, and turns it. The powerful machine growls and purrs to life, sturdy and intimidating. He wraps his fingers around the steering wheel, nervous, but giddy at the opportunity to drive this monster. He presses on the pedal lightly with his foot and the Porsche shoots out of the garage.

"Whoa! Be gentle Kihyun-ah, Portia's delicate."

"O-okay, okay."

Minhyuk brings him to an abandoned airport at the edge of the town, where a man waits for them as they roll onto the runway through the side door of the old airport. Minhyuk waves to him as the two boys exit the car; he smiles and waves back.

"Kihyun-ah, this is Yunho hyung. He's a legend in the underground racing scene. Hyung, this is my childhood friend, Kihyun," Minhyuk introduces them.
"Nice to meet you, Kihyun," he smiles and extends an arm, which Kihyun receives with a bow. "Minhyuk told me briefly about your story. So, are you ready to learn?"

He nods, "Yes, hyung."

The three men enter the car, and fasten their seatbelts. The driver can feel cold sweat forming on his scalp; he grabs the steering wheel tightly, waiting for instructions from his passenger.

"Okay, Kihyun. Drive," Yunho tells him.
He puts on the gear and steps on the accelerator. Portia rolls on the wide asphalt surface smoothly.

"Faster, Kihyun."

He nods, shifts the gear and presses harder on the pedal. The car accelerates.

"Faster."

He slams his foot on the pedal, pushing it as deep as it can go, sending the car almost gliding on the road, heading towards a dead end up front. Kihyun lifts his foot off the pedal. "Not yet! Keep your foot on the pedal!" Yunho commands, making Kihyun even more nervous than before.

He keeps accelerating, travelling at 210kmh now, aiming straight for a brick wall. Minhyuk, on the backseat, becomes nervous as well. "Hyung…"

"Wait."

A few seconds went by, "Now?" he asks.
"No...NOW!" Yunho grabs the boy's hand on the handbrake and pulls them up, "hard left!" he commands as Kihyun reacts quickly to it, sending the car gliding towards the right.

As the car is still sliding, the older boy adds, "Now, pedal." Kihyun steps on the accelerator once again and readjusts the steering as the car speeds up toward their starting point. He pulls on the handbrake and the three of them sit the car in silence.

"Hyung, what do you think?" Minhyuk asks.

The older boy caresses his chin, "We've got a lot of work to do." Kihyun sighs, making Yunho chuckle, "Don't worry, we'll get through this."

Over the next three months he spent his weekends at the old airstrip, practicing his driving and drifting. With Minhyuk's keys entrusted to him, he made sure to wipe the car clean before he locks the door, as requested by his friend, and double checks the door before he leaves the storage unit.

"So, are you ready to pop your racer cherry?" Minhyuk teases him one afternoon in school.

He sighs, "I don't know...I hope so..."
His friend elbows his arm, "You gotta have more confident in yourself! Yunho hyung told me that you were impressive on the airstrip yesterday."
"Really?"

"Yeah really! He never lies."

He scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed, not knowing what to say.

"There's a race coming up this Saturday, wanna give it a go?" Minhyuk asks next.
Kihyun’s face wrinkles, trying to make a decision.

"Silence means consent! And you're driving me to the venue! Done!" Minhyuk announces, just as the final bell goes off, signifying the end of the school session.
As usual, he spends most of his Saturday going round and round the abandoned airport; At this point Yunho doesn't even watch him do his laps anymore, since he's shown the older man his progress over the months. When evening comes, he goes home for a quick dinner and heads out swiftly after to pick Minhyuk up from his house.

And as usual, the venue is crowded with cars and car enthusiasts as they enter the venue with Minhyuk's baby blue Porsche. Those who have seen the car before waves at it, and Minhyuk rolls down the passenger window and greets them back. As Kihyun parks and exits the car, he starts to feel anxious.

'What if I lost? What if I'm not careful enough and bump into someone? What if I got into an accident? How will I pay for all these things?' A thousand questions crosses his mind, and he starts to consider pulling out from the competition.

A hand grabs his shoulder, "Stop thinking. You can do this," Minhyuk tells him, squeezing his shoulder before he lets go of it, slipping away with a clipboard in his hand: the itinerary for the evening. Kihyun turns to head back to the car, and meets Yunho on the way.

"Hey Kihyun!"

"Ah hi, hyung! What a surprise to see you here!"

"Why would that be, it's your first race! I need to see it!" he says excitedly, making the younger boy nervous again. As if knowing what Kihyun is thinking, Yunho adds, "Just keep calm, you can do it. Have faith in yourself. I've seen you on the tracks, you'll do just fine," he smiles a warmly at Kihyun. Taec's voice is heard over the megaphone, calling the racers for the first competition to take their position on the starting line. He bids Yunho goodbye, and returns to the car.
He positions himself right in the middle of the lot; there are 5 racers in the first race of the night, all lined up in twos. Tonight, a girl named Hwasa is assigned to send the drivers off. Just like Hyeri previously, she struts to the middle of the two lanes, holding a bandana.

"Ready boys?" she announces with her raspy voice, and the crowd goes wild along with the cars. She smiles
seductively, and raises the bandana into the air.

"Three..." the cars start revving.

"Two..." Kihyun takes a deep breath.

"One..." His grip tightens around the wheel, his foot trembles, eager to push on the pedal it's currently resting on.

'This is it,' he tells himself.

"GO!!!" the bandana swings down and the five cars zoom past the attractive woman into the night, illuminating their way with their headlights.

A car drives past his own immediately, putting him in fourth place 700m into the 20km race. He tenses up, 'I can’t lag behind so early in the competition,' and shifts his gear, follow by a hefty push on the pedal. He swerves out of the line of cars he was in and takes over his immediate competition...then another...and another after a short battle of the horse-powers. 'Second place now,' he tells himself. Strangely, the leader of the pack is nowhere to be seen, but as a Ferrari is catching up to him from behind, he decided to focus on gaining some distance between Portia and the Ferrari for now. He slams on the accelerator and speeds up ahead, watching the pair of headlights minimize in his rear-view mirror. He relaxes, a smile forms on his face, 'Dad, I'm doing it. I can make life better for our family,' he says in his head.

5km towards the end of the race, he starts to see a small image of the back of a red car. "30k," he says out loud, and smirks. He shifts his gear and accelerates towards it. Upon approaching it, the red car swerves towards the middle of the road, making it impossible for Kihyun to overtake it. Kihyun swerves towards the left, and the car follows suit. He swerves right, and the red car does the same. He can see the bright lights of the finishing point in front of them, not far away now. He swerves Portia to the left one more time and watches the car in front copies him. Suddenly an idea comes to mind, and his nose wrinkles in excitement. He swerves his car slightly to the right, and as his opponent attempts to do the same, Kihyun quickly changes his direction and drives past the red car from its left. He shifts the gear one last time and accelerates with everything the baby blue car has to offer towards the finishing line. He gets out of the car and catches an ecstatic Minhyuk hopping onto him.

"YOU DID IT!! YOU MADE IT!! YOU WON KIHYUN-AH!!!"

They look at each other, tears gathering in their eyes, understanding what this win means to Kihyun. He pulls Minhyuk into a tight hug, "Thank you," to which Minhyuk replied with an equally tight hug on the boy. Even Yunho came by to congratulate his achievement, impressed with his skills in his first ever race.
Minhyuk brings Kihyun towards Taec to claim his reward, and bumps into an upset boy, ranting about his loss to his friends. "Suck it up Jooheon, you still get second place, you know," Minhyuk tells him off.

The boy turns around, "Hyung! I haven't loss any race for months now, why you gotta break my streak man?!"

Minhyuk chuckles, "It's not me! It was this guy here!" he clarifies and points at Kihyun, "Meet Kihyun, my classmate from school."

"What the hell man,’ he turns to Kihyun, “You don't even have your own car?!" he complains, but extends his arm to shake Kihyun's hand.

Minhyuk giggles at the younger boy's antics, while Taec comes over to the group, pulling out two rolls of cash from a small bag and hands it to Jooheon. He then gives the bag to Kihyun. The boy receives it with wide eyes. Taec smiles and pats him on his back as he walks away, "Good job, kid."

That night, he sits with legs wide open on the icy surface, looking up towards the green waves of light in the night sky, with the same older man he's been meeting almost every night in his dreams for over a year now.

"Dad," Kihyun calls him, his warm breath materializes into small, momentary clouds in front of his lips.

"Yes son?"

"I did it tonight. I won."

“Well that's great son! I'm so proud of you!" He pats the boy's head, the weight of his hand feels so familiar to Kihyun.
Kihyun smiles, meeting his father's eyes, "You don't have to worry about us anymore."

His father grins, "I never worried, Kihyun-ah. I always knew you'd find a way to take care of our family. I just wanted to witness it first hand when you do, before I go."

The boy's smile slips off, replaced by tears welling up in his eyes, "I'm not going to see you anymore, aren’t I?" he asks, almost unwilling to hear his father's answer.

The older man shakes his head, "It's time for me to go for real now." A tear escapes his son's downcast eyes. He wraps his arms around Kihyun, ushering him into his warm embrace, and pats the boy's back, "Thank you, my son, for all you’ve done for our family. And I’m sorry, it has been hard on you. I hope you will forgive me," he says softly, almost whispering, his voice lined with pain and reluctance. Kihyun holds the older man tightly in his arms, sobbing into his father's thick jacket. The warmth around his body slowly dissipates into the cool artic air, and the moment before he couldn't feel him anymore, he hears his father's last words.

"I love you, my son."

He opens his eyes, the bright sunlight fills his vision. He turns to his nightstand and looks at his alarm clock: 9.30am. It's a Monday. He can hear his mother busy making breakfast downstairs, as she usually does in the morning. He smiles, and rests his head on his pillow, enjoying the sounds of the morning that he'd missed for over a year.