NAPE - 86

At the restaurant in Cheongdam-dong, Namwon’s mood softened unsteadily in front of freshly grilled steak and wine.

“Congratulations on passing! It feels like just yesterday you were snarling like a wildcat in a cage... I’m so proud of you! So proud!”

While Namwon was noisily making a fuss, Doyoon smiled faintly at Bibi. Bibi fixed her gaze on the plate on the table, pretending to be engrossed in eating her meat.

“So, these days, do they still do the T-shaped course practice in the driving skills test?”

“No.”

“Really? Hmm... It’s gotten a lot easier then. No wonder they say everyone passes unless they’re utterly hopeless. There’s even talk of elementary school students passing.”

Namwon went on about how things were back in his day and how it was a problem that things were too easy now. Easier... Did that mean she had failed the easy part? Bibi tried to hide her gloomy feelings.

“Still, passing is a good thing. Very good. You’re finally earning your keep!”

“Alright, enough about the license. Let’s just eat.”

Doyoon, who had been observing their conversation, served them steak. Fortunately, he didn’t seem very interested in the driver’s license. Bibi wished he would be even more indifferent to this matter.

“Why stop talking? It’s a celebration! Ah, then I’ll make a toast?”

Namwon cleared his throat loudly and stood up.

“Hey, Wildcat. You did well. I honestly thought you couldn’t do it. But seeing you pass all by yourself, I’m really proud.”

“Oh? Oh...”

Bibi’s conscience pricked her with the repeated compliments. Bibi desperately resisted the urge to get up and run away. She was anxious that Doyoon, sitting next to her, might notice her sweating. Her mind became complicated.

“But don’t get too arrogant just because you passed on the first try, okay? Be careful, very careful when you drive a car. If there are casualties, it’ll be a headache. Understand? Back in my day, it was really hard, but these days it’s too easy. Everyone passes unless they’re brain-dead. If you fail that, you might as well drown yourself in a bowl of water, seriously.”

Namwon unleashed a barrage of words at Bibi. Bibi’s mood sank to the point where she could no longer control her expression. Her hand gripping the fork trembled. The piece of meat in her mouth absolutely refused to go down her throat. She could barely tell if she was eating beef or leather.

“Stop it, you brat.”

Perhaps bored by Namwon’s lengthy speech, Doyoon’s expression turned serious. A thud sounded from under the table.

“Alright, alright. Cheers!”

Despite the rebuke, Namwon continued to laugh heartily, raising his wine glass high like a soju glass. Doyoon also sighed and raised his glass. However, Bibi’s hand couldn’t rise. Namwon and Doyoon’s gazes turned to Bibi, who had her head bowed deeply.

“Bibi?”

“Sniff... Sob...”

A sniffle was heard. At the same time, her small shoulders began to tremble.

“I, I actually failed...”

Bibi finally confessed. When she looked up, her red eyes were brimming like glass marbles full of tears. Seeing her, both their hearts simultaneously dropped.

“What?”

Namwon’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“Today, during the road test, the examiner... picked up something from the floor. And it burst.... The gunpowder smell startled me so much for a moment.... I punched the examiner and knocked him out. And I crashed into all the cars next to us...”

Bibi felt like she wanted to die. If the accident had only ended there, it might have been better, but it wasn’t over yet.

“In my panic, I momentarily... confused the accelerator and the brake. I swerved the wheel entirely to avoid hitting the human kids in front, but the car flipped over. That’s why I was late.... People told me, they told me not to drive...”

The restaurant was filled with Bibi’s sniffles. Namwon, greatly flustered, swallowed hard. He pieced together everything he had just blurted out and turned even paler.

“Hey... You should have told me earlier.”

“You tactless idiot. I stepped on your foot how many times?”

Doyoon sighed and glared at Namwon. In truth, he had noticed Bibi’s dark expression since she got into the car and guessed the result was bad. He had tried to pretend not to notice because Bibi seemed to want to hide it... but this stupid Namwon kept being tactless and messed it up.

“Senior, you usually step on my foot by mistake often and don’t apologize. I just thought it was like normal.”

Namwon scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression. Doyoon clicked his tongue and patted Bibi’s shoulder, who was still pouting beside him.

“It’s okay, Bibi. Everyone makes those mistakes. That’s just how it is. If you don’t wreck the car during a driving test, that’s the truly unusual thing.”

“...Really?”

“Of course. We actually knocked out the examiner too. I’ll start giving you driving lessons tomorrow. Then there won’t be any problem.”

“Yeah, kid. Why are you bawling over something like that? It’s fine as long as no humans were hurt.”

With Doyoon and Namwon’s comfort, Bibi’s mood somewhat improved. Before taking the retest, the three decided to go for driving practice right away.

________________________________________

The day they chose for driving practice happened to be a weekend. Under the clear summer sky, the roads were bustling with cars. Despite a 50 km/h speed limit, cars happily sped and raced along. Bibi, having tasted the bitter cup of failure, gripped the steering wheel even more cautiously than when she took the test.

“Ugh, this is too slow. You can break my car, just step on it.”

Namwon grumbled from the back. As an apology for unintentionally bombarding her with his words today, he had readily offered one of his cars. It was an old domestic sedan, good for driving practice. Bibi, feeling a bit self-conscious, pressed the accelerator a little harder.

“You’re doing well. Don’t mind him, go at your own pace.”

Doyoon, sitting beside her, continued to offer positive encouragement.

Honk! Honk!

Perhaps frustrated by Bibi’s slow driving, the car behind them overtook and then cut back in front. Bibi, startled, opened her eyes wide and slammed on the brakes. Screech! The car stopped abruptly. Namwon’s head hit the window with a thud.

“Ah, what the hell is this son of a...! It says ‘Driving Practice’ right there, and they still drive like that? Ah, I should have let you practice with Senior’s car instead of mine.”

Namwon cursed and for the first time, praised her for reacting well. Bibi secretly glanced at Doyoon. She hoped he would smile gently and console her for being startled.

“That bastard...”

However, Doyoon’s expression was quite grim. He glared at the car that had cut them off with an incredibly cold look.

“Bibi. Change lanes. Overtake that bastard and block him in front. How dare he...”

“Senior, that’s road rage...”

“Show him a lesson. Don’t worry about the aftermath.”

As Doyoon ordered, Bibi tried to change lanes. But Namwon absolutely dissuaded her, so she just kept going straight. The car that had cut them off turned left and soon disappeared from sight.

“Bibi. Later, when you’re driving, if someone’s being annoying, just hit them. If a motorcycle keeps hovering around? You can subtly change lanes as if to threaten them. You can even push them just enough so they don’t die. Oh, this is an advanced skill...”

“What are you teaching her! Hah... I forgot. Senior’s driving is terrible.”

Doyoon was giving what he thought was vital advice, but Namwon kept interrupting him. He warned Bibi that learning to drive from Kwon Doyoon would be a disaster, that he was the number one anti-role model and she should always do the opposite.

“Let’s switch seats. I’ll teach her.”

Eventually, Doyoon and Namwon, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, swapped places. Having the nagging king beside her was displeasing, but she reluctantly kept her mouth shut and resumed driving.

“Hey, why are you speeding up on a speed bump?”

“Because you need to speed up to get over an incline.”

Bibi offered a reasonably plausible explanation.

“Oh, really? Do you want to wreck my old car?”

“Lee Namwon. Why are you discouraging her? She’s doing fine.”

When Namwon retorted sharply, Doyoon, who was in the back seat, kicked the passenger seat. Namwon turned around and argued that he shouldn’t teach driving like that, and that because Doyoon was always so soft on her, she was picking up bad habits.

“...Hey, pull over first... Uh, uh, why did we get on the highway?”

“I don’t know. We just drove and ended up here.”

“Damn it, pull over, turn the car around!”

Namwon yelled frantically, but the car had already entered the highway. The speed limit was 100 km/h, not 50 km/h. Bibi pressed the accelerator, matching the speed of the surrounding vehicles.

“Bibi, take the first lane. Speed up to about... 190. It’ll feel amazing.”

Doyoon suggested with a joyful voice. Bibi, as he requested, changed to the first lane and increased her speed. Namwon looked like he was about to faint. He checked if his seatbelt was securely fastened and if the airbag was in place, then gripped the passenger grab handle tightly, muttering,

“Someone knock me out and wake me up, please. Should I just jump out... Would that be better?”

Although she increased her speed, Bibi drove very carefully. Yet, Namwon shrieked convulsively every time Bibi pressed the accelerator. It was the first time she had seen him so anxious. It seemed he had become more fearful after becoming a vampire. Was it because he had experienced death once?

In any case, thanks to completing the highway drive, Bibi became more proficient in driving.

She took the retest a week later, and this time, she achieved the triumph of passing. On the day she received her driver’s license, she felt like she was floating. Bibi barely managed to restrain herself from jumping up and down and headed for the taxi stand to go home.

Honk! Honk!

A loud honk echoed from somewhere. She turned her head and saw a glittering luxury car parked not far away. Whirrr, the car’s roof slowly retracted.

“Doyoon!”

Bibi jumped with delight and ran to him. Doyoon got out of the driver’s seat, smiled brightly, lifted Bibi, and placed her into the driver’s seat.

“Let’s go for a spin right away.”

The newly delivered luxury car was a gift for Bibi. Actually, Bibi’s dream car was a small, cute minivan called ‘Daxus,’ but this wasn’t bad either. With a large ‘Beginner Driver’ sign attached to the rear window, she drove Doyoon in the passenger seat and immediately sped down Hangang-daero.

Driving was now completely easy. Occasionally, cars next to them would honk inexplicably, but Doyoon smiled and told her not to worry about it.