Pit Stop Chapter 1

The American Midwest, on the outskirts of Indiana.

Passing through a massive cornfield and entering the entrance of the town, Oliver Auto Repair came right into view.

The building was run-down and cracked in places, and junk car parts were piled up in the yard. Inside the wide-open entrance of the building sat a small desk, on top of which was a counter with a telephone and a cash register. Iron shelves lined the walls, displaying auto maintenance supplies. Beyond the thin wall of the counter, a large garage was also visible. The shutter was pulled up so that cars could enter the garage.

Although it looked like a building on the verge of going out of business, it was the pride—and only repair shop—of Hazelwood, a town with a population barely exceeding 1,000.

Even though it was Christmas Eve attached to the weekend, and everyone in town had finished their work and returned home to bright, twinkling colorful lights to spend time with their families, the lights at Oliver Auto Repair stayed on late into the evening.

This was because there were many towns nearby without a single auto shop, and even if there were, many shops were closed for Christmas, causing customers to flock here. The owner, Oliver, sat at the counter answering non-stop phone calls. In the garage, Min Yihyeon—an employee at Oliver Auto Repair and its one and only mechanic—was repairing a car. Oliver, who had been in the middle of taking a call, hung up the phone, sprang to his feet, and called out toward the garage.

“Minion, my beloved son~ give your dad a hand just this once!”

Oliver could not properly pronounce the Asian mechanic Yihyeon’s name, so he called him “Minion.”

“Creepy.”

Dressed in coveralls, Yihyeon, who had been repairing a car, set his tools on the floor and walked out of the garage. Twenty-six this year, Yihyeon was eight years younger than Oliver. Though they were boss and employee, the age gap was small, and thanks to Oliver’s gregarious personality, Yihyeon treated him casually.

“What’s going on?”

“Flat tire on a County Road.”

County Roads were small secondary roads attached to major heavily trafficked highways. Most were unpaved roads without even road numbers, leading to frequent accidents.

“Which County Road?”

“Number 3.”

Yihyeon and Oliver had assigned numbers—known only to the two of them—to the County Roads reachable within a two-hour drive from the shop. This was to convey destinations accurately and conveniently when they needed to head out in a hurry.

“That’s far.”

“Can you go right now?”

“…Right now?”

“Yeah.”

Oliver winked at Yihyeon, who had just stepped out of the garage looking disheveled. Unzipping the top half of his jumpsuit coveralls, Yihyeon asked back.

“Ten minutes before clock-out?”

“Can’t be helped. Everywhere else is probably already closed.”

And what about you, making your employee work normal hours on Christmas Eve and now giving him overtime? Arguments rose to the tip of his tongue, but Yihyeon swallowed his words as he always did. He owed Oliver a lot. Oliver was also the person who had readily offered a job to Yihyeon when he desperately needed money. As Yihyeon washed his hands, Oliver added behind him:

“Instead, I’ll let you go straight home after.”

“Taking Road 3 will take two to three hours even by taxi.”

Yihyeon gave Oliver a knowing look.

It was obvious that Oliver would take the shop’s service car when he went home. Realizing this, Oliver pointed toward the back of the repair shop.

“Take your pride and joy.”

“You know I’m quitting soon, right?”

“Of course, who do you think set up that spot for you? Bring the car back on Monday.”

“I fly out on Monday.”

“You’re leaving at night. I’ll take you to the airport in my car, so use it as much as you want over the weekend.”

Oliver said offhandedly. Yihyeon’s “pride and joy” was a car modified from Oliver’s old Japanese minivan. Its name was Aiba. Though it was said to be a car customized extensively by Yihyeon’s own hands, it strictly belonged to Oliver.

Aiba was a safe car, but it was an illegally modified one.

Because of that, Yihyeon had never driven Aiba outside the repair shop grounds. Yet now, he could keep his beloved ride all weekend long, including Christmas. Expecting that this single fact would make his weekend much more comfortable, Yihyeon accepted the overtime. When Yihyeon nodded, Oliver left the garage open and handed him the keys.

“Don’t forget to charge extra. And score plenty of tips.”

With that, he sped off in the repair shop’s car.

Ah—so he’s clocking out himself. Dissatisfaction piled up, but Yihyeon had zero intention of arguing with Oliver. Yihyeon climbed into Aiba, a compact vehicle packed with all sorts of custom options.

Aiba made a loud noise unfitting for its physical size. It was the sound of the engine turning on. Oliver habitually said that Aiba was the best portfolio Yihyeon could show off as a mechanic. That was how brilliantly tuned the car was. Satisfied with the slow but smoothly rolling vehicle, Yihyeon drove off slowly. Aiba was engineered so that even if an accident occurred, the passenger cabin would remain intact without fail. It also had a fail-safe feature so that if the brakes ever failed, the vehicle would automatically come to a safe stop on its own. Thanks to this, Aiba was exceptionally sturdy, but slow. Because so many devices had been added, the car accelerated sluggishly even when pressing the pedal all the way down. 80 km/h was its absolute maximum speed, and pushing past it would lock it up. However, Yihyeon always thought that was better than getting into an accident due to speeding.

The location where the current customer was waiting was far from the repair shop. Even though the streets were quiet with so many people spending time with their families, it would have been a toss-up whether he could arrive within an hour; driving Aiba extended the estimated time to two hours. Yihyeon pushed the speed as high as it would go. The scenery outside the car gradually lost its shape.

Yihyeon had lived in the United States since high school because of his parents’ work. Before moving to America, he thought they had lived without lacking anything, but once they actually arrived in the US, the situation changed. His father’s business was said to have failed. Yihyeon’s family moved from house to house repeatedly. With every move, the place grew smaller. However, Yihyeon’s dream, which he had held since elementary school, remained unchanged.

He loved cars. He studied next to a desk lined with a series of miniature cars that were already worn out, given to him as gifts when he was young. That was the only thing young Yihyeon could do.

Thanks to that, he was accepted into Purdue University Indianapolis, famous for automotive engineering. It was the Motorsports Engineering program, and he was on a full scholarship. Naturally, his parents were overjoyed. They even moved to the outskirts of Indianapolis. But there was a problem. The scholarship didn’t disburse immediately. Looking over the enrollment documents, Yihyeon fell into deep thought. Enrollment deposit, visa fees, dormitory deposit, health insurance… it easily required an amount exceeding ten million won. He couldn’t ask for more help from his parents, who had already taken out loans just for the move.

Left with no choice, Yihyeon deferred his admission. He sent a request to the admissions office stating that he had to fulfill his mandatory military service as a citizen of the Republic of Korea. Using their enrollment deferral policy, the university granted Yihyeon a two-year window. He went straight back to Korea and enlisted in the military. Feeling guilty toward Yihyeon, his parents scraped together money for his plane ticket. During his time in the military, Yihyeon never once took a leave of absence.