Chapter Text
The off-season arrives in a flurry of hugs, waves, carefully backed-up data from the season, and flights off around the world as everyone says their see-you-laters. Two months until testing begins - three until the first race of the new season. Kihyun could have gone gallivanting around Europe with Minhyuk or gone lazing around a beach in Mexico for a week with Changkyun.
Could have.
Instead, he’s at HQ, where it’s quieter now that the season has dimmed, but the absence of people only leaves air for the sounds the building makes when left alone. Simulations buzz in the background as weather models tick forward, old races on standby for dissection, improvements, optimizations. His second monitor holds race footage from this past year’s race in Suzuka, paused on what was supposed to be a nondescript pit stop if not for the atrociously timed safety car deployed right after Changkyun crossed the pit entry lane. Six positions lost just because the McLaren drivers decided to have a little spat that spun out of control.
Not Kihyun’s fault, nor the strategy engineer’s, either. Just awful, shitty timing and luck that felt like his fault, and Kihyun has never been great at absolving himself of that sort of blame.
Changkyun knew it, too, then. “Safety car? Really?”
“Yeah.”
A pause. “Damn. Okay.”
And that was that. And that was enough.
Kihyun was Changkyun’s race engineer for four years. That meant four seasons of shared shorthand, learned tones, half-sentences, and radio calls that just didn’t need explanation anymore. With Changkyun, Kihyun never had to worry about when or how to speak. He knew exactly what the driver needed to adjust for unexpected wind shears, how to articulate instructions to keep Changkyun’s driving clean, and - most of all - knew when he wanted warning well in advance.
After the race, Changkyun just gave him a hug and clapped a hand on his shoulder. No tension, no second-guessing.
Just…trust. And in the course of an F1 season, that familiarity is a relief.
The promotion for next season isn’t entirely unwelcome. On paper, it makes sense. Kihyun is the next most senior race engineer and has the consistent results to prove he could adapt well. Kihyun also isn’t the type to back down from challenges, and he isn’t planning on starting now. He hadn’t argued when the team principal told him when they were packing up the paddock in Abu Dhabi.
But god, lead race engineer means fewer mistakes allowed. It means scrutiny that doesn’t just dissipate after a bad race, but always follows him with questions that don’t just ask, “What happened?” but press into, “Why did you make that choice?” It means that his judgment, his timing, is going to be visible in a way it never has before.
Is he ready? Perhaps not.
But is anyone ever?
As easy as the promotion nerves flare, it dies down again, leaving Kihyun alone in the hum of the simulation room around him. No one’s ever ready, he thinks, for something like this. You either adapt or you fail. It really is that simple.
He peers down at his tablet as he scrolls through all the various pieces of data they have on their first driver. Hyunwoo’s driving style is efficient; where Changkyun might take some liberties, Hyunwoo is controlled. Conservative when he knows he needs to be, but opens up and borderline aggressive when he knows - with reassurance - when overtakes are possible. There’s no wasted motions with him, no obvious tells. Cool, calm, collected.
Hyungwon mentioned it to him, once, a few seasons ago. “Hyunwoo waits for the car to tell him what to do. I don’t know if he ever bothers to listen to the earpiece.”
He was exaggerating, of course. There’s no magic car whispering going on, no matter how good someone may be. But as far as Kihyun can tell from the countless footage they have of Hyunwoo’s drives, he implicitly trusts the system. So much so that the silence in his radio comms is overwhelming.
Silence during races isn’t just silence. It’s the ongoing consumption of all the noise a race generates - data streams, sensor feedback, rival strategies, the zip of cars rushing by you as they enter and exit the pit. All these signals feed into one culminating moment where Kihyun’s call can change the outcome of each race - for better or worse. If he waits too long, then the window for a potential advantage closes. If he speaks too soon, the driver or the car may not be ready to execute. And if he stays quiet, then the driver’s on his own in a vehicle going 220 mph.
High stakes, this job. Millions of dollars on the line. Racing prestige. Human safety.
Kihyun puts the tablet to sleep and gets up from his chair, stretching his arms above his head, and squares his shoulders.
He has a lot of work to do.
With Kihyun’s promotion, the team searched high and low for a new race engineer for their second driver.
Jooheon arrives with the energy and will of a newborn puppy - eager to learn and eager to prove himself. While an internal transfer from the performance team, Jooheon knew early on he wanted to become a race engineer and work with Changkyun and Kihyun, and so he dedicated free time to shadowing Kihyun as much as possible. So much so that when the team asked him for his input on potential candidates, Kihyun put Jooheon’s name forward. The rest was up to Jooheon to land.
And land he did.
It’s a month into the offseason and Kihyun’s in his usual spot in the simulation room when Jooheon plops into the seat next to him. The energy coming off of him is almost frenetic - an excitement that exudes a wanting to be there that was difficult to sense from the other candidates for the job.
There are only 20 race engineers in the world, after all. You have to want it, badly, with those odds.
“Someone’s excited,” Kihyun remarks, smiling, as he gives Jooheon a sidelong glance.
“I needed the season to start, like, yesterday,” Jooheon laments, logging onto his laptop.
“Is Changkyun here yet?”
“In the gym with Hyunwoo. Said he’ll be here after he showers.” Jooheon pauses. “Have you worked with Hyunwoo before?”
Kihyun shakes his head. They existed in each other’s orbit, but there was never a reason for them to interact much. Changkyun was his priority, then. “Think the most I’ve ever said to him was seeing if he wanted a piece of birthday cake when Minhyuk bought me one last year.”
“So we’re both going in blind, huh?” Jooheon grins and Kihyun laughs. Leave it to him to view that as fun, rather than a challenge.
“Looks like it.”
They’re going over some of Kihyun’s race calls from Zandvoort when the doors creak open. Changkyun walks in first, hair damp, dressed in joggers and a quarter-zip sweater. His skin is sun-kissed, remnants of his vacation in Mexico, no doubt, and he looks rested, refreshed, and ready to get started.
Before Kihyun can say anything, another figure follows closely behind.
Hyunwoo.
He doesn’t look all that different from Changkyun - freshly showered, simulation-ready. But it’s different, though in an understated way. First drivers know they’re the priority. Hyunwoo walks with an understanding of that fact, supported by his stature. But there’s something else at play, too - a quiet calm that suffocates ego, making him feel approachable but not overtly familiar.
Like he’s just a guy who happens to find himself in an F1 car every weekend.
Kihyun just watches, his greeting for Changkyun dying on his lips as the pair draw closer. He watches Hyunwoo scan the room even though it’s sparsely populated, and, when his gaze falls on him, Kihyun ducks his head toward Jooheon instead, hoping for a distraction as he settles his nerves.
Changkyun smiles at the engineers as the drivers approach. “Good break?” he asks, dragging two chairs over to them for he and Hyunwoo to sit.
“What break?” Jooheon jokes, all smiles. “I started coming in maybe three days after Abu Dhabi.”
“Overachiever,” Kihyun deadpans.
“You emailed me your list of ‘Changkyunisms’ on your flight home a day later!”
This draws laughs from the others, while Kihyun just closes his eyes and sighs, a faint flush creeping up his neck.
“Sorry, what are ‘Changkyunisms’?” Hyunwoo asks, voice confused while expression light.
“Oh, sorry, it’s this dossier that Kihyun keeps of Changkyun’s driving and communication habits,” Jooheon explains and for some reason, it makes Kihyun want to disappear into the floor.
“You make it sound like I’m a spy!” he protests.
Jooheon laughs. “If you are, you’re not a very good one. This hasn’t been updated in two years.”
Changkyun, thankfully, cuts in. “Probably because there was nothing new to add. We knew each other pretty well by then.”
Thank you, Changkyun.
Hyunwoo just looks thoughtful. “You take notes?”
A pregnant pause. Even Jooheon looks flustered, like he didn’t realize the easy banter could be read as anything other than light teasing.
Kihyun bristles, willing the flush to stay where it is and not creep any further. “It helps me do my job until it’s second nature.”
Hyunwoo pauses and looks like he wants to follow up but ends up just nodding instead. “Well, I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Kihyun nods after a short moment, wondering if this promotion is worth it after all. “You too.”
Each year, the car goes through a series of upgrades. While drivers and race engineers spend the season coaxing the best out of the car, the mechanical engineers work behind the scenes to design and implement new parts and pieces that will give them an advantage, any advantage. In a sport where tenths of seconds matter, no recalculation is a waste.
Kihyun spends the next week going over all the various changes to Hyunwoo’s car with him. They can’t test it - not yet, not for another month - but the conversation is helpful to understand Hyunwoo’s preferences.
So they run simulation drills with a model of the upgraded car, and the most annoying thing Kihyun can see so far is that Hyunwoo doesn’t have any particulars. Drivers usually have some sort of tick, something like a pet peeve or a specific part of the drive that they hyperfixate on, but Hyunwoo doesn’t mention anything at all. It doesn’t make Kihyun feel any better about how best to communicate with him, but he’ll keep trying - because he has to.
Hyunwoo’s been nice, though. At least there’s that.
He’s muttering under his breath about tire degradation one day when a familiar presence looms over him. Kihyun can tell who it is without even looking, thanks to the shape of the shadow that falls over him.
“About time you showed up.”
Hyungwon just shrugs, peering over Kihyun’s shoulder. “New front design?”
“That’s going to cause the tires to degrade faster,” Kihyun sighs.
“You don’t know that yet,” Hyungwon points out.
Kihyun blanks at that because Hyungwon’s technically right, he doesn’t actually know that for sure yet. “Guess you’ll see for yourself in a few weeks.”
Hyungwon looks a little surprised. “I thought I was on sim duty?”
“Both Hyunwoo and Changkyun want you to log miles so you have a baseline on what to expect, just in case. I agreed as long as you show up on time.” Kihyun grins, Hyungwon’s tendency to be late a thing preordained, as he finally looks up at him.
“Ah, so I am on sim duty.”
“Or you could just show up on time.”
Hyungwon puts his bag down next to Kihyun before getting comfortable in the simulation setup. “I’m not paid enough for that.”
Kihyun laughs as he clicks around on his computer, pulling up a track for Hyungwon to run through. “Honestly? Neither am I.”
They run through several sim races with the anticipated upgrades. Hyungwon’s position as reserve driver is invaluable for mechanics and race engineers alike. Reserve drivers are able to take races slower so they can focus on pulling together the various parts of the car, pinpointing cause and effect outside of immensely pressurized races. Hyungwon’s history as an F1 driver makes his intel comparative, not hypothetical, and that is a huge help.
After the fourth run, where Hyungwon begrudgingly admits that yes, Kihyun is likely right about the new front, the doors to the sim room open and Hyunwoo walks in with Minhyuk in tow.
“Smile for the camera, please!” Minhyuk positively crows, his phone already held up as he taps repeatedly at the screen, then flips through the bunch of photos he just took. “Kihyun, you look terrible.”
“Thanks,” Kihyun deadpans, rolling his eyes.
“Definitely can’t post these. I’ll come find you tomorrow morning, we still have to announce your promotion,” Minhyuk says, pocketing his phone and finally going to drape himself over the race engineer. “Hi.”
And try as he might, the weight of Minhyuk on top of him is settling instead of annoying, the familiarity welcome. “Need us for anything?” Kihyun asks, leaning against the other a little bit, though he never takes his eyes off the tablet in his hands.
“Just thought some candids would be nice. You know, show that we’re back at work, already with next season in mind,” Minhyuk shrugs, glancing around at the others. “But you all look too serious for that right now.”
“Isn’t that the kind of picture you want to post?” Kihyun asks, looking up from his tablet to try and look at Minhyuk over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Hyunwoo has wordlessly gone over to Hyungwon and the sim setup, poking around.
“Mind if I have a go?” he asks, not bothering to look up, though Kihyun figures he’s talking to him.
“Uh, no, go for it. What track?” Kihyun asks, gently prying Minhyuk off of him a little so he can set up the simulation.
“Any street track. Surprise me.”
Kihyun wordlessly pulls up Vegas, and Hyunwoo’s off to the proverbial races.
Minhyuk glances at the drivers, Hyungwon offering some intel as Hyunwoo drives. “How’s working with him so far?”
“It’s…fine,” Kihyun replies, not wanting to give away too much, but Minhyuk knows him too well for that.
“Oh. That bad?”
“It’s not bad,” Kihyun says, voice hushed in case the other can hear. “It’s different. He’s not at all like Changkyun and it’s just taking me a little to get used to.”
“Can’t contingency plan your way out of this one, huh?” Minhyuk says, nodding, like he understands everything in the world.
“Not even. I don’t know him well enough to begin to think of potential contingency plans,” Kihyun grumbles as his fingers plod against the keyboard, adding in rain at Hyunwoo’s request.
“He seems to think differently, though.”
Kihyun looks up at that. “What do you mean?”
“He had nice things to say about you yesterday while we were doing some preliminary media shooting. You haven’t seen it?” Minhyuk tilts his head to the side and, when he registers Kihyun’s confusion, gets his phone out. After tapping through some menus, he hands it to him. “Here, watch.”
Kihyun takes the phone, eyes glued to the screen. Changkyun and Hyunwoo are sitting next to each other, relaxed, and answering questions about the upcoming season - expectations, goals, desires. For the most part, it’s a standard interview, until Minhyuk asks about the simultaneous changes in race engineers for both of them.
Changkyun is pragmatic about it. He says that while he’ll miss working with Kihyun personally, he’s excited for fresh perspectives and Jooheon certainly brings that to the role. The mix of Jooheon being new but also having shadowed Kihyun for years feels like Changkyun’s going to get the best of both worlds this season.
It’s Hyunwoo’s interjection that knocks Kihyun a little off-kilter.
“While I just get the best now,” he jokes, eyes crinkling.
Changkyun laughs, nodding. “You really do.”
“So you and Kihyun are getting along well?” Minhyuk asks in the background.
“I think so,” Hyunwoo nods, face melting back into a press-friendly facade. “He’s very knowledgeable, very prepared. We’ve only run simulations for now so it’s obviously different from a real race setting, but I can tell his judgment is sound.”
Kihyun presses pause, a little bewildered. He had no idea that that was what Hyunwoo thought of him because Hyunwoo never gave anything away. In fact, Kihyun thought he was rambling most of the time he was around Hyunwoo, trying to prove that he belonged in this position when the quiet was stifling.
He hands the phone back to Minhyuk.
“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Minhyuk asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I just didn’t know any of this.”
Minhyuk blinks. “Then shouldn’t you be happy?”
Kihyun should be.
But he feels more lost than ever.