If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 80

【Scuderia Ferrari】.

The oldest team in the Formula 1 world and a prestigious powerhouse holding the most wins and championship titles. The team with the largest capital and infrastructure among all motorsport teams worldwide.

F1 legend Michael Schumacher once said:

[Every driver has two dreams. To become a champion, and to become a Ferrari driver.]

In Italy, it’s a religion; for drivers, it’s a dream and a sacred ground.

Befitting the red empire with the world’s most fanatical fans, Ferrari was famous for managing their prospects with an iron fist.

24-hour close care (surveillance) was natural, and keeping young prospects tied up near the circuit like this to prevent them from doing anything else was part of that.

They were even more ruthless with prospects like Rampa Lim, who they were grooming as the team’s future and core.

If Rampa Lim hadn’t opposed it, they probably would have included checking the color of his urine every morning in their monitoring range.

They disliked their drivers having outside contact so much that Rampa Lim had to run to a distant payphone booth every time he wanted to call Sing-a.

Otherwise, this Mario brigade would have shamelessly stuck by his side and eavesdropped on the entire phone conversation.

Despite knowing all this, he signed with Ferrari again because… there was nowhere else that would promote him as quickly as Ferrari.

That was all.

The loyalty and devotion commonly shown by Ferrari drivers – Rampa Lim had none of that.

‘There’s no seat available anyway.’

Ferrari was currently at its peak.

With the Emperor and the best wingman adequately filling the first and second seats, even a genius of the century had no room to squeeze in.

By the time he moved up to F1, he would probably debut on loan at Red Bull or Renault. As always.

Whether he would return to Ferrari after that?

‘Who knows. I’m always dead by then anyway.’

Lying diagonally on the sofa, Rampa Lim turned a cube with one hand, clicking and clacking. His hands, having entered his second growth spurt, were already similar in size to an adult’s.

“That was a long call, Rampa. You left half your dinner tonight too. Are you planning to manage your condition?”

The physio who had been observing him from one side interjected with a gentle but warning tone.

The crew’s laughter died down.

About a week until mid-season entry into the F3 series.

Rampa Lim’s debut day was approaching.

Considering that drivers usually move up to F3 around ages 18-21, the promotion of 15-year-old (14 in international age) Rampa Lim, whose skeletal growth wasn’t even complete, wasn’t just what you’d call skipping a grade.

It was still a divisive issue within Ferrari, so you can imagine how controversial it was.

Therefore, they hadn’t stuck him in this Fiorano just to collect simple data.

This was the period for building overall muscle so that Rampa Lim’s immature body could withstand the machine’s G-forces.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this was the most important period in an athlete’s career.

The engineer who had been tapping on his laptop also pushed up his glasses.

“Right. Speaking of which, Rim. You know your driving data has been erratic lately? Your overall times aren’t bad, but your braking points are too aggressive. I don’t know if you remember how dangerous Belgium is. You don’t want to turn your debut race into a retirement race, do you?”

“Whoa~ That’s a bit harsh, friend?”

“What did I do? When Rim wasn’t here earlier, everyone was grumbling about how irritable Rim’s been lately? Saying we should report it to headquarters?”

“Ah, that bastard really.”

“That’s why nerds are no good.”

The Marios bickered about something, but it didn’t even graze Rampa Lim’s ears.

When he slammed down the cube he’d been turning, the living room fell quiet.

‘This won’t do.’

How important could building his body be?

If this continued, he might get distracted and crash somewhere during racing, dying without anyone knowing.

Rampa Lim rubbed his nose bridge and announced:

“Before worrying about data or my body, take care of my mental state first. I want to take some time off.”

♧

The second team that arrived in Italy on last night’s red-eye flight.

It was a long overseas location shoot.

The team was inevitably split into two.

Il-wol Film’s CEO Noh Man-yeong arranged for Team 1 with Bae Seo-nyeok and me to arrive first, considering production cost efficiency and the actors’ schedules, with Team 2 including supporting actors arriving a week later.

Father came rushing in with Team 2. Along with my little shadow Seo Cheong-song, who entered elementary school this year.

Originally, as a child actor’s guardian, he should have accompanied from the beginning, but household affairs were that busy.

‘Who knew Mother would become a first-generation online shopping mall CEO…!’

Two years ago, Madam Bang Suk-yeong opened an online personal shopping mall website called 【4S Style】.

It was a bit shaky at first, but once she really started using Cyworld pretty girls as models, as I had mentioned in passing, it became a huge hit.

Thanks to that, they were always short-handed, so martial arts novelist Mr. Seo was handling Seo Cheong-song’s childcare full-time.

「Daughter~ Mother is so sorry, what should I do? There was a problem at the factory so I sent Father, but it looks like he’ll be a bit late.」

「It’s okay. I’ll go ahead, so take your time. Seo Neok Samchon is here. Actually, he’s more reliable than Mother and Father.」

「Sob… I can’t deny it! Agreed!」

Wasn’t the Pangyo New Town plan announced?

Between the golden couple who divided up the massive project of Pangyo land (hah…) (whew…) and Bae Seo-nyeok, there was a Great Wall of friendship built with money.

They could trust and entrust their only daughter to him.

Besides, I wasn’t exactly a real child either.

There were adults around, and I had grown up enough, so there were no problems.

“Wow, Rampa Lim is amazing too. Always in the newspapers.”

“He’s Korean, right?”

The southern Italian sun was blazing today as well.

Shielding my eyes from the glare, I looked at the sunlight streaming through my fingers.

Sorrento, day 8, morning.

Currently inside a large ferry heading to Capri.

The ferry from Sorrento to Capri Island takes about 40 minutes, but being Europe, the sailing intervals are long and the boats stop running around evening.

With the second team having arrived, the entire film crew packed their bags and boarded the boat straight away for the seaside scenes.

We were scheduled to stay in Capri for 2 nights and 3 days.

“I heard he’s some kind of race car driver. Like Fast and Furious?”

“Hey, don’t you know Schumacher? My brother says this gets better ratings than the World Cup in Europe.”

“Really? Well, it seems like everyone here knows him. He’s on TV every time you turn it on.”

Inside the ferry’s cafeteria.

I glanced toward the newsstand where the staff were chattering.

Newspapers plastered with Rampa Lim’s handsome face, as always.

Rampa Lim’s joke about calling himself the baby Jesus of this place no longer felt like just a joke.

Without exaggeration, his face was everywhere we set foot.

I heard it wasn’t this enthusiastic from the beginning…

In a country more sensitive to Ferrari’s performance than soccer results, when news spread that they had signed a contract with a 14-year-old, 13 in international age, mixed-race Asian player last year, there were quite a few racist comments.

But when Rampa Lim literally ‘massacred’ competitors bigger than him and broke world records, public opinion quickly switched sides.

Moreover, Rampa Lim had all the good traits of Asians while not looking Asian at all, didn’t he?

‘No wonder he’s popular.’

I felt Rampa Lim gradually approaching the status of Rampa Lim in my memories. It felt somewhat strange.

“Seosing-a. Who do you talk to on the phone every night like that?”

“…Huh?”

I was thinking about Rampa Lim when I felt guilty for no reason and turned around.

Bae Seo-nyeok, who was stuffing sugar-covered croissants into his stomach from morning due to the director’s weight gain demands, spoke in a casual tone.

“It’s lucky the accommodation is large with multiple phone lines. Otherwise, you would have gotten some complaints. A little kid hogging the phone every night.”

“…I can talk a bit. The cell phone doesn’t even work here.”

“So. Who is it?”

Bae Seo-nyeok lazily opened his eyes from behind his sunglasses.

He looked me over with sleepy eyes. His thin linen shirt fluttered in the salty Mediterranean breeze.

“Madam Bang Suk-yeong? No way. There’s a time difference, and she’s not the type to stay up until dawn just to talk with her daughter.”

…Is it okay for him to have such an accurate character analysis of someone else’s family’s ajumma?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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