Keep Going Crazy Chapter 7

Honestly, Ryeoun’s admiration for Aiden Carter had crumbled away. But people are three-dimensional animals, after all.

Alex’s answer regarding why Aiden might dislike him was also one of the guesses Ryeoun had already made himself.

He’d thought of a few other reasons Aiden might dislike him, but in the end, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You okay?”

Alex asked in a worried tone, peering at Ryeoun’s stiff expression. Ryeoun quickly relaxed his face and smiled. It was a habitual smile.

“I’m fine. Really.”

“Right. Time will solve it.”

Clinking glasses with Alex, Ryeoun snorted inwardly. Honestly, he didn’t even feel the need for it to be solved.

When you thought about it, how could he feel kindly toward someone who unilaterally disliked him without even having a proper conversation? No one would willingly approach someone who treated them like this, just because they were a work colleague.

‘So what, is he Buddha?’

Ryeoun sneered inwardly.

It was just a pity that his Western friends didn’t know much about Buddha.

He’d set up this meeting hoping to chew over the man called Aiden Carter as a drinking snack, but there hadn’t been much gain. He couldn’t even vent his frustrations properly, nor did he get any great solution.

‘Let’s just give up.’

Ryeoun coolly pushed Aiden out of his mind. He wasn’t good enough of a person to reach out and try to get along with someone who disliked him.

After weeks of deliberation, Ryeoun decided to give up on everything.

‘Going it alone is best.’

It wasn’t how he wanted to approach things as an F1 driver in a team sport, but what could he do? Aiden was the one who started it.

Who would end up regretting it remained to be seen.

∞ ∞ ∞

Late at night, in a hotel in Melbourne.

Sitting in a private lounge, Ryeoun was staring at his phone.

He’d received a message from the person he was waiting for, saying they were almost there.

‘I guess I’m a bit tipsy since I haven’t drunk in a while…’

Rubbing his heavy brow, Ryeoun let out a small sigh. The scent of alcohol lingered on his lips.

After practice, he’d stopped by a pub for a drink with Young-hoo. Young-hoo had gone back to his own lodging, but Ryeoun had someone waiting.

His vision seemed blurry, so he rubbed his eyes a couple of times. Only then did his sight clear a bit.

He was dressed simply—a white shirt with three buttons undone and straight-fit jeans—but his good physique naturally drew people’s attention. Tired of those glances, he’d had no choice but to settle in the private lounge.

Sinking deep into the plush chair, Ryeoun briefly recalled yesterday’s Media Day.

The Race Week schedule starts on Thursday.

Thursday is Media Day, Friday and Saturday morning are practice sessions, Saturday has Qualifying, and then the flow leads to Sunday’s race.

The start of Ryeoun’s first Media Day after transferring to Helix wasn’t bad.

The PR team had given him a heads-up to be careful with answers about the contract, and sure enough, contract-related questions came flying in right away.

But after he’d deflected them appropriately, there wasn’t much else he needed to be careful about. Most of the big questions directed at the drivers were cut off by Aiden anyway.

Of course, throughout Media Day, Aiden Carter hadn’t properly looked at Ryeoun even once, but it didn’t affect him much. Because he’d expected it. Once he’d decided to tune it out, it wasn’t shocking or difficult.

‘You ignore me? I’ll ignore you right back.’

That resolve helped quite a bit with Ryeoun’s mental management. Once he decided to ignore back, his mind actually felt calmer.

Honestly, becoming a teammate who was worse than a stranger wasn’t a positive thing. Still, this approach was clearly a million times better than spending the entire Grand Prix stressing over his attitude.

Compared to the racing suit with red as its main color, Helix’s team uniform featured silver more prominently. ‘The uniform is pretty, but the racing suit looks better…’ Well, he’d just spaced out thinking about that throughout the interviews.

Media Day passed smoothly overall.

From the obvious questions about the season’s ultimate goals and team improvement points, to questions about preferences regarding the changed racing car design and uniform design. It was close to a standard flow.

But one reporter’s question during the driver interviews snapped Ryeoun back to attention.

‘I have a question for Mr. Carter. What was your first impression of your new teammate, Mr. Han?’

Hearing the question, Aiden finally turned to look at Ryeoun. That was the first time that day the two of them had faced each other. A brief silence followed.

It was a very short moment, but there was no way the hyena-eyed reporters missed the current flowing between them during that instant.

In Korean, ‘eosa.’ Meaning an awkward relationship. That’s exactly what Aiden and Ryeoun’s relationship was. Perfect prey for the reporters, wasn’t it?

‘My first impression was good. His smiling face caught my eye. I thought he’d be a good teammate.’

Aiden gave a canned answer as if nothing was wrong, but the reporters, who had already bitten into the prey, started firing questions excitedly.

‘Jamie Hawkins was a good teammate for you. Haven’t you felt his absence significantly?’

‘Aiden, Jamie was your biggest helper in achieving your World Championships. Do you think a new rookie can fill that spot?’

‘Do you expect Mr. Han to score points at the Melbourne Grand Prix?’

‘Have the two of you trained together at all?’

‘As the first driver, do you feel a sense of responsibility toward the rookie?’

Difficult questions for Aiden to answer poured in. Just as Ryeoun was clicking his tongue inwardly, some questions also came his way.

‘Now that you’re on the same team as a three-time consecutive World Champion, do you think you can compete with him personally?’

‘Is internal team competition allowed?’

‘Alex Howell of Horizon Motorsport has been a good mentor to you. Do you expect the same from Aiden?’

The interview area quickly turned into a mess. In the end, Aiden, unable to take it anymore, raised his hand and gave a long, drawn-out bland answer like ‘We’re both trying to adapt to each other. I’m sure we’ll be good teammates,’ and only then did things calm down.

Even thinking about it again was exhausting.

“Is this really right…”

Wondering if this was really the right way to go, whether he should try to improve their relationship, whether he was unnecessarily inconveniencing the Helix team members… all sorts of thoughts were still tormenting Ryeoun even today.

The director, Rowan, had finally noticed that the two were awkwardly probing each other.

Before FP1, Rowan called the two of them in.

‘It’s natural that you two don’t know each other well yet. I understand you’re being cautious. But don’t show it in official settings. It damages the team members’ morale.’

It was a cold, rational observation.

‘I haven’t done a single thing wrong?!’

Suppressing the urge to shout that out, Ryeoun grudgingly nodded.

Aiden, in a gentle tone, reassured Rowan, telling him not to worry. It was an absolutely infuriating and suffocating moment. The cause of this whole situation was Aiden Carter!

Anyway, throughout the practice session, Ryeoun couldn’t help but feel conscious of the team members’ gazes. It seemed like the team members, while pretending not to, were also paying attention to the relationship between the two drivers.

He hated this kind of atmosphere. He figured he’d have to grab Aiden sooner or later and have a proper, thorough talk.

“…Tired.”

Ryeoun murmured with his eyes closed. At that moment, a reply came from across.

“Tired? Should I just head back?”

Ryeoun slowly opened his eyes. A face he hadn’t seen in a while was sitting across from him.

Smiling playfully, he raised the corners of his mouth and gave Ryeoun a light wave.

“Long time no see.”

“…Ah. Long time no see.”

“Slow reaction. Have you been drinking?”

“A little?”

“Doesn’t seem like just a little. Sorry I’m late. The meeting at the office ran long today.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Should we go up? You’ve got a room, right? Dinner? You didn’t just drink on an empty stomach again, did you?”

“You’re not my dad, with all that nagging…”

Though he was being sarcastic, Ryeoun smiled and took his hand. Tall and well-built. A man who looked like the quintessential handsome Australian. For Ryeoun, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, he’d even worn a tie that Ryeoun liked.

That thoughtfulness made Ryeoun smile.

He laughed and tugged Ryeoun’s hand.

“Let’s go up. We’ll eat with room service.”

“Yeah.”

His name was Noah.

He was Ryeoun’s sexual partner, someone he met whenever he came to Australia.