Kim Hanbin wasn’t particularly fond of his reputation but he disliked even more that those Gangnam kids treated him like dirt.

In the Ring, this depraved outskirt of Seoul he was known as the Ringmaster’s favourite, a puppy jumping at every order. The rumours also said he ran away from home by stealing his father’s car at the fragile age of sixteen because that was when he first appeared on the horizon among the local gangs. People whispered behind his back that he not only dealt with drugs but lived on them too. They claimed he once beat someone half-dead because of a scratch on his car.

Lies. All of them. But nobody had to know.

Hanbin didn’t bother correcting those who were in the wrong. Now that he was both feared and admired most people at least let him be. They gushed about him when he was there and only talked behind his back. There was only a small circle of people whom he had trusted with his life and who know enough about him.

However, one thing was true out of all those gossips running around about him: he was the best driver in the Ring and undeniably one of the bests in all Seoul. Cops had only caught him once during his rookie years and never again since, he was too good, too fast for that. And as somebody who lived off his driving abilities, he had to be if he wanted to survive in this cold, harsh world. That much he has learned since he was on his own.

He had worked  hard to earn himself a title here in the Ring, so when that almighty Jeon Seungyeon waltzed in here as if he owned the place, as if it was his innate right to get bows from left and right, he was pissed to say the least. That rich guy thought he was better than anyone just because he had money and a fancy, expensive car that could break in two at the first scratch. He had probably never knew deprivation since he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

“Come again?” Hanbin slowly, unimpressed, borderline bored looked up at the big bulk of a man, taller and older than him. He didn’t care about all that as he shrugged that perfectly manicured hand off his shoulder. Guys like him always just act tough and badass until they run back to hide behind their mothers’ skirts. Hanbin has faced so much worse than him, so he won’t be intimidated by a glare and flashy words.

“Are you deaf?” Seungyeon huffed, anger building up in him slowly, the vein popping at his neck.

His little crew laughed at his poor joke from behind and Hanbin rolled his eyes and put a hand on Bobby’s chest stopping him in the middle of getting up to beat up the cool kids for messing in their territories. But Hanbin knew better than to make a scene, it would only benefit the politician’s son.

“No but you’re talking nonsense,” he answered coldly, eyes shooting daggers at the taller man.

Around them he heard the onlookers whispering, guessing the possible outcomes of this sudden encounter. There had been talks that the newly elected Gangnam mayor’s son goes around in the suburbs looking for trouble, picking on people and not a lot of them dared to say no. But Hanbin had not much to lose anyway besides his pride and beloved car.

“So you don’t want to race me? Ah are you afraid? What a coward,” the guy scoffed, his tone degrading as if he was talking to a stupid child. But if one of them was stupid, it was him with his ridiculous gelled hair, wearing a designer leather jacket and Rolex in a neighbourhood where people would have killed for there. And here he was, acting like a little prince so far from home, faway from his father’s surveillance challenging the best of the Ring.

“Afraid of you? Hardly but I’m not a fan of wasting my time on newbies who think just because they can drive their fancy little car, they can race, too,” Hanbin answered as dry as the sand in the Sahara and he turned back to his group of friends sitting by his cars, clinking their beers after the regular Friday night race. Hanbin didn’t even have a chance to celebrate today’s victory or gather the cash, his share of the Ringmaster’s profit from bets because Seungyeon butted into his business almost as soon as he got out of his car.

And now that annoying grabbed his shoulder yanking him back.

“What did you just say, short stuff?” he hollered like an attention-craving child and Hanbin swatted his hand away irritatedly. He had some anger management issues in the past but he knew well this guy wasn’t worth of starting a fight.

“Who’s the deaf now?” he snorted and standing up straight, eyes fierce and wild, he croaked a brow at the rich kid. “I don’t have to prove myself to you. Everyone here knows I’m the best. So if you want me to race with you,so you can get that glory you dream of, you have to offer something worthy of my time.”

For a long minute of two, they were staring at each other’s eyes, unwavering, like two predators showing off dominance. It was a wordless battle and their audience of dozens of thugs, rascals or just young adults wanting to have fun hold their breath back waiting for something to happen. And Hanbin had never been one for backing off, for giving up, so it wasn’t even a surprise when the big mouth Seungyeon sighed deeply in the end.

“Fine,” he shrugged and looked around, eyes searching for something, someone in the crowd. When he found what he was looking for, he flipped his arm towards a certain direction while his gaze settled on the current best of the Ring. “You can have my fierce little sister for tonight.”

First, there was silence, an awkward laughter and then a few people started whistling when it turned out he wasn’t kidding by the stern look on his face.

“Why would I want anything fro-” from your little sister? Hanbin wanted to ask shaking his head but the words froze onto his throat when a girl, tearing herself apart from a barely adult guy, lunged at Seungyeon from behind.

“I’m not an asset, you !” She spit on him furiously, long, black hair swirling in the air around her and Hanbin would have been a liar to claim his breath didn’t hitch for a moment there. She looked like a beautiful, wild amazon, almost unreal but unlike her brother she didn’t seem too outstanding, too Gangnam-like. She looked like someone who could get mixed up in their crowd. She wasn’t too young, probably only a few years younger than Hanbin himself but still.

“Shut up, ,” her brother growled at her unapologetically and one of his friends yanked her back. The brutal way he treated her gave one more reason to Hanbin to hate this guy. “He won’t win anyway, so you don’t have to worry that he will dirty you.”

The crowd laughed, a few eww-d and for a moment Hanbin’s eyes met with the girl’s in the middle of this chaos. Her dark orbs were full of fire, pride and the kind of yearning for freedom that he has known well. HIs gaze slowly wandered downwards from the cupid bow of her plump, carmine red mouth, through the slim neck to her curvy body covered only in a crop top, jeans shorts and leather jacket. It was indeed a gorgeous sight but Hanbin didn’t consider the offer because of her looks.

He wasn’t that unattractive to not get laid if he didn’t want to, a lot of girls were actually pretty willing just because of his mysterious bad boy reputation too, But offering his sister as a reward was far too big of a face of this guy. He was beyond confident, to the point it would be called arrogance and cockiness. Or else he wouldn’t have offered his sister, right? And oh how Hanbin wished to wipe that confident grin off his face, to see him dancing back on his words, so he grinned wide at the last remark.

“Oh but it’s not fun if you don’t get your hands dirty,” he played with the word and tapped his fingers on his chin thinking before agreeing. “You know what? If you’re that impatient to humiliate yourself today, in that case, we can start. Till the water tower over there and back.”

The triumphant smile on Seungyeon’s face was ridiculous. Nobody has heard about his skills, so he couldn’t have been good no matter how much his monkeys hyped him up. A good car didn’t make the good driver, it was the other way around: a good driver could make a good race with any car. So it didn’t matter that rich kid had the newest model of a car with a fabric roof that could be folded down and Hanbin still drove his black Nissan that had too many years and repairs in it. It didn’t matter because unlike the other guy, he knew his car in and out and he was reborn on these streets, so he knew every corner and every traffic light.

“I will show you who should be humiliated, you pawn. If I win, you’ll admit that I’m better in front of everyone,” Seungyeon grimaced as if he was disgusted just by looking at a ragged guy like Hanbin but the fact that he wanted to prove to be better told enough about his insecurity problems. Hanbin didn’t say a word, just let him make a show, turning to the onlookers for applause while he got in the car. “Everybody heard the conditions, right?”

The audience cheered loudly and on cue every soul left the road to stand by the side and not in the way. Hanbin’s friends patted him on the shoulder as they cleared from the hoof of his car. As he sat in the driver’s seat, securing the safety belt, Bobby leaned over the window from outside and smacked him playfully.

“Are you out of your mind? Racing to get into a girl’s pants? Are you that desperate, man? At least you should have asked for his Rolex.”

“, you’re right,” Hanbin laughed and they exchanged a knowing look with his best friend. Then Bobby gave him thumbs up with a huge grin and jogged off the road to join the others.

“Good luck, oppa!” One of the girls shrieked and the driver scoffed.

“I don’t need luck.”

It had been a while since he hadn’t believed in such things as luck or fate. He only believed in hard work that would pay its price. He started up the engine that growled like a hungry predator and he drove his car parallel to the white expensive one. Seungyeon grinned at him from behind his wheel with probably leather driver gloves on his hands and Hanbin almost laughed. The show-off! But he just glared at him coldly before looking ahead.

A girl was walking in front of their buzzing cars ready to take off her top to signal the beginning of the race when someone’s shouting stopped her movement:

“Soyeon baby, you should go!” The guy from earlier who treated the girl - Soyeon apparently - like a ragdoll, now kept pushing her towards the road with a eating grin on his face.

Hanbin rolled his eyes and came to the conclusion that the girl couldn’t have been any better than her brother as she was just there letting him do this. She must have lived for the show, especially with how quickly she agreed. The other girl left the field with a pout on as Soyeon stopped on the middle, separating line. She gave each driver a glare that would have killed them if it could. It was impossible to tell whom she wanted to win as she shrugged off her leather jacket slowly.

With his hand on the gear shift, Hanbin’s Adam apple bobbed at the sight of the newly exposed skin and his eyes travelled down the beautiful tanned skin as the girl lifted the piece of clothing high. He shook his head slightly to get composed. He couldn’t have let to get distracted, not now. It was a race for his pride after all. Not for the girl, he reminded himself.

The moment the jacket shot down, he stepped on the gas pedal and enjoyed the acceleration of the car. He switched between the clutch, shift, gas again and again with coordination movements and soon he went way beyond the speed limit. His dark car became one with shadows, going forward as relentless as one dark horse of the apocalypse.

In the rear mirror he saw Seungyeon not much behind, not enough to switch lanes before they reached the first traffic lights. Since Hanbin’s lane was originally for the opposite direction, if anyone wanted to turn right when they reach the crossing, they could collide. And as they approached the corner, he noticed the huge truck just in time to step on the break, pull the wheel aside and get in the lane barely behind Seungyeon. He could almost hear the other guy’s laughter. Stupid, if it was for him, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop the collision. As the truck passed them by, Hanbin went back to the other lane and sped up until he was in line with the white car. Meter by meter they were getting closer to the water tower and Hanbin knew well he had to drift if he didn’t want to run into the fence around it. But since he was pretty good at that, he let the rich kid ahead with a smile as he slowed down a bit and while the guy struggled with a Y-turn, he pulled the handbrake into on position and let the car’s back-wheels back out, turning the car completely around in lightning speed. But just as it reached 180 degrees, he switched the handbrake off and stepped on the gas pedal again shooting out in the right direction, toward the finish line. It was funny, watching Seungyeon trying to catch up with the dirt his car left behind but he had no chance. Hanbin arrived back to their original place six whole seconds earlier.

He let out a victory yell and as soon as he got out of the car, his friends and strangers alike surrounded him congratulating for another great win.

“As expected from our best,” Bobby hollered, girls screamed, guys were whooping and Hanbin took it all with a satisfied smirk.

“It was a piece of cake,” he claimed adrenaline still running wild in his veins as he got those high fives and congratulatory slaps on his arms and back. He enjoyed the joy and the attention, but his eyes were searching for his opponent, the rich guy with big mouth and even bigger ego. He wanted to see him walking away ashamed with his tail between his legs like the lapdog he was but it wasn’t him whom his eyes found over the up and down jumping crowd.

Jeon Soyeon looked at him like one looks at a mystery waiting to be solved. She wasn’t one of those shy girls who looked away immediately when their eyes met, she wasn’t flirting either. She just merely stared back as if waiting what would be his next step.

Kim Hanbin wasn’t particularly fond of his reputation and yet, sometimes he was ought to do something to keep it. So with a cold smile, he started walking towards her.