Chapter 21 – Never give up

Editor: Sammy

Proofreader: Bubbles

“Huh? What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Hunter started playing and even increased the volume while the man beside him silently smoked his cigarette.  

As Hunter played for a while, Winston unhurriedly asked, “Do you want a puff?”

“Oh… ok…” Hunter didn’t even raise his sight, he just shifted over with his mouth slightly ajar and his head leaning towards the other, all while his eyes stared at the phone. 

He felt a shadow approach, yet the cigarette still wasn’t placed in his mouth after a long time. He then finally raised his eyes.

His train of thought was instantly stunned by something at that moment— by Winston’s eyes.

He wanted to step back subconsciously, but was unable to move, as if he was locked into that pair of eyes, incapable of escape.

Winston exhaled the smoke in his mouth which just happened to enter Hunter’s mouth and swirled between his teeth, but it didn’t waft further in.

Right as Hunter was on the brink of coughing, Winston straightened his back and looked at him coolly. 

“You… What the hell are you smoking?! You being like this…”

This isn’t right! What the fuck are you leaning in so close to me for? Scared me!

Winston pinched the cigarette and threw it into a trash can at the side. “Didn’t you want to drive an F1 car over my head?”

After finishing, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and left. 

Hunter’s throat choked up, even his tears were about to fall.

He then realised that Winston had never wanted to give him a smoke, he was simply retaliating against him.

“The hell… what gentleman? So vindictive!” Hunter drank a mouthful of water, stood up, and headed back to the team.

Regardless of everything, his previously depressed mood was swept away. 

The race would take place the next evening at 8 o’clock. Within this period, Hunter needed to adjust his condition while also communicating with the team. 

It’d been a long time since Hunter earnestly participated in the team’s strategic analysis. His focused attitude satisfied the technical director.

McGrady’s ankle had almost healed, and his unsteady heart was increasingly apparent due to his absence in the British Grand Prix. 

When Hunter was about to stand up to leave, McGrady abruptly commented, “This is your normal standard after all.”

Hunter lifted the corners of his mouth and smirked as he closed into the side of McGrady’s ears and said, “To satisfy your ardent desire, in the future, I’ll make sure to perform superbly.” 

McGrady wanted to respond, however, Hunter stuffed his hands into his pockets and left.

“McGrady… Hunter’s just a kid, what’s the point in bickering with him?” Luke patted McGrady’s shoulders.

“Just a kid? Do you know what he did to me?”

“What did he do?” Luke became curious. 

McGrady opened his mouth but ended up keeping silent in the end.

All the cars got into position.

Hunter’s palm was sweating and his own heartbeat felt foreign to him. 

He knew he was nervous.

He was very clear that from now on, he wouldn’t miss out on any fleeting opportunities. 

Winston was just in front.

This time, he was the closest to the finishing line amongst all the racers, yet Hunter was even further away from him than the previous round. 

“I’ll wait for you at the next curve.”

When that sentence flashed in his mind, Hunter rushed out. 

The first curve was the closest to the starting point but also the most dangerous… Don’t be anxious Hunter, don’t be anxious…

Just as speculated before the race, his car was almost squeezed out of the track. Hunter was seemingly walking on the tip of a blade and could crash at any moment.

Marcus nervously clenched his fist for Luke had finished his first lap smoothly, but Hunter was still in the middle of the last sector. 

“It’s going to be tough for Hunter to rise above the others.” The technical director frowned.

It was the second lap, three cars were nearly passing the curve side by side. Hunter decisively entered the corner, and being the first to rush out of it, he gradually pulled away from the other cars. 

“Very good… he’s very smooth… I think Hunter may still have a possibility of gaining points.” Marcus squinted his eyes.

After five rounds, Hunter started battling with the racer in front of him.

His state of mind was extremely tight, but he told himself that it needed to be tighter, much tighter! By the time he releases, he’d be unstoppable!

What happened afterwards left Marcus, as well as the crowd, astonished.

When the two drivers from Williams were fighting against each other, Hunter took advantage of the thrilling interval of their fight to zip past them, shocking Marcus enough to break out in a cold sweat; though Hunter’s rank instantly rose to 11th. 

Afterwards, he relentlessly pursued the racer from Caterham, following for about five laps. Although he tried overtaking, his opponent defended all attempts. 

“This kid has enough patience to make others fed up,” the technical director remarked as he squinted his eyes while rubbing his chin.

“Are you praising that brat?” Marcus questioned.

“I just suddenly feel that whichever rival he chases after is very pitiable.”

Lap after lap, it was evident that Caterham’s driver was unable to handle Hunter’s attack which seemingly may or may not appear, and at this left corner, Hunter rose to tenth place in one fell swoop with his beautiful racing line.

“Well done—” Marcus couldn’t help but get excited.

Previously, he was the least optimistic about Hunter, however, who knew why, but he felt that this fellow was about to amaze everyone.

“Hunter’s about to come in! Quick!”

The technicians started to run.

Hunter completed a perfect stop, exiting the pit with no scruples, and rapidly sped up to effortlessly overtake his teammate Luke and enter eighth position. 

“This kid… he really won’t give up till he gets sixth place!”

“But from this point on, ahead of him are all elite drivers.”

At this moment, Hunter was pursuing Enzo from the Lotus team.  

Taking a breath, Hunter knew he could finally set himself free.

He overtook Enzo after three consecutive attempts, daring yet sharp. Enzo, who was placed fifth in the tallied rankings last year, felt a sharp blade behind him, ready to pierce at any time.

Enzo held his breath, he still remembered his talk with Donald from Sauber at the end of the previous race; that guy had angrily exclaimed to not look down on Hunter Evan from Marcus’ team. Being chased by him felt akin to being shoulder to shoulder with the God of Death whose sickle was right atop his head. 

At that time, Enzo had only smiled, thinking that Donald was merely trying to save his face after being surpassed by a kid. But this time around, he could finally comprehend Donald’s feelings when the kid was pursuing him and could possibly strike at any given moment.

At last, Hunter carried out the battle with Enzo just as he entered the heart of the curve. Enzo didn’t know how Hunter controlled his racing line, only that at a certain heart splitting moment, this kid had already aggressively passed by him and progressed to the front!

“Well done—” Marcus was about to cry tears of joy.

McGrady, who was observing the scene, couldn’t utter a word.

After ten or so seconds later, Donald found out that the opponent behind him switched from Enzo to Hunter and he gnashed his teeth. Shit! Why’s it this kid again?! I hate him! 

Hunter locked onto Donald, the corner of his lips lifted in a smile. I wasn’t able to overtake you in the previous race, so we’ll play till the end in this chase!

Hunter was in hot pursuit of Donald, even much of the staff from Marcus’ crew felt nervous.

“Overtake him! Hunter! Overtake him!”

“Oh, stinky kid! If you overtake Donald, I’ll take you to see pole dancing at night!”

“Overtake him! We’ll pole dance for you!”

The audience was inexplicably affected by Hunter’s state of mind as they watched him patiently circle round and round, still aggressively overtaking cars. 

When Hunter fought wheel to wheel against Donald, many people stood up to cheer for him.

But at that moment when they came out from the corner, Hunter’s right rear tire burst!

“Shit—” Marcus’ eyeballs were about to fall out!

The staff members all raised their hands to cover their eyes.

They thought that this time Hunter would not only overtake Donald from Sauber, but also the several drivers lined up at the front. He’d achieve what they believed a small team like themselves wouldn’t be able to do.

“In the end… does God still feel that we’re too greedy?”

The audience was in an uproar, in these two seconds, the sound of rebuke and regret went on and on. 

Hunter’s heart in that moment was as light as a feather, every inch of his awareness seemed to be leaving his brain. 

It was the end…

He was done for…

All of his previous efforts were in vain…

He felt car after car pass by his side, including Enzo who’d been overtaken by him.

Winston had said before that he’d wait for him at this curve.

Just like this, helplessly staring at himself getting further and further away… He wasn’t satisfied, really not satisfied!

Absolutely not satisfied!

Hunter’s teeth clenched.

“Let him return… it’s only a competition. As long as we maintain this condition, next time we can…” After Marcus felt regretful, he thought that the one more upset might be Hunter. 

“Mr. Marcus! Hunter’s coming into the pit! He wants to continue on!”

They saw Hunter driving towards the pits with three wheels.

“He said he wants to continue?” Marcus was a little surprised.

Even if he continued, his placement would only decline since it was hardly possible to gain any points within the remaining laps.

“Let him continue,” another staff member spoke in unison. 

“Ok! Let those waiting to see us dejected know how good we really are!”

When Hunter once again set off from the pits, his rank had already fallen to 14th place, however, the audience gave him a warm applause. 

When people assumed that he only wanted to finish the race, he began to frantically overtake cars again. 

He overtook two opponents in the same lap, causing the audience to applaud once more.

As Hunter completed his third stop of the race, his attitude of pursuing on without hesitation persisted after exiting the pit, as if he were on a suicide mission. Marcus, as a spectator, could feel Hunter’s heartfelt dedication.

He didn’t know what exactly caused this kid to refuse to yield.

–

The author has something to say:

When frying eggs:

Winston: No matter what the outcome is, I’ll carefully console or encourage you.

Hunter: How would you console? How would you encourage?

Winston: Comfort your front, encourage your back.

Hunter: … 

Notes:

nura: thank you for waiting and apologies for the awfully late chapter, I’m currently looking for a co-translator to ensure that there’s still updates when i’m being whipped by work (cries). If you’re interested, please feel free to apply here! If you have any questions, please feel free to ping me on discord!

this chapter just reminded me of this: