Chapter 512

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 512: Racetrack (2)

Audi—encountered at an alien racetrack.

Yeongwoo couldn’t help but feel both shocked and glad.

“No way…”

He kept muttering “no way” as his feet unconsciously moved toward the Audi.

It was hard to believe.

To see an Audi—manufactured on Earth—again in a racetrack located in the far reaches of the universe?

Then he remembered again where he was—a racetrack.

‘Wait a minute, this is a racetrack. And this section is…’

The entire area was painted red.

And the square space where the Audi stood was also red—worth 300 million karma.

Meaning someone brought this Audi here to enter the race.

‘…No matter how you look at it, this is a horse race. Is it really okay to have a car in the race? It’s not even an animal.’

It was then that Yeongwoo noticed a flag planted next to the nearby tent near the Audi.

“…Huh?”

It looked familiar.

It wasn’t an exact match to Dogo’s insignia, but it definitely had a wedge symbol on it.

Only, there was a circle on each side of the wedge, making it look oddly like—

‘Huh? Isn’t that supposed to be a knockoff of the Audi logo?’

Of course, the real Audi logo is made of four circles representing the merger of four companies, but these aliens probably didn’t know that.

So instead, they’d just used two circles to frame the wedge in the center.

‘So what, this is a new logo? Like a Dogo subsidiary or something?’

As Yeongwoo stared blankly at the unfamiliar emblem, a scrawny alien with robotic arms emerged from the tent.

—May I help you?

The alien had navy-blue skin and three round eyes—and was wearing a racing uniform with the Dogo emblem on it.

“What… is this?”

Yeongwoo pointed at the flag’s emblem and asked.

The three-eyed alien blinked all three eyes one after another.

—That’s the new emblem of Dogo Dallim.

“Dogo Dallim…?”

Yeongwoo tilted his head, and the three-eyed alien glanced over at Negwig.

When he saw the Dogo insignia wrapped around Negwig’s entire body, his eyes widened.

—You ride one of Dogo’s warhorses and you don’t know Dogo Dallim?

‘You’re driving an Earth-made car and you don’t recognize a human, huh?’

Yeongwoo barely held back the retort rising in his throat and instead asked calmly,

“I genuinely don’t know. Is Dogo Dallim a subsidiary of Dogo?”

—Yes. A Dogo-owned passenger vehicle development company.

“But this isn’t… something Dogo developed.”

He could say that with certainty—he knew exactly where that Audi had come from.

But the three-eyed alien just gave him a confused look.

—It may be a prototype, but it was directly developed by Dogo Dallim.

“No, this car is…”

Yeongwoo started to explain but closed his mouth again.

Clearly, this guy hadn’t been around when the car was “offered” back on Earth.

How could he even begin to explain it?

Besides, this was a 300 million karma zone full of elite and arrogant race owners.

Being able to even hold a conversation here was probably something to be grateful for.

“So today you’ve come to test that prototype in the race?”

—A powerful product needs to be tested against powerful opponents to prove its worth.

The alien laughed, blinking all three eyes in succession.

Yeongwoo, however, was still staring at the Audi in disbelief.

‘What the hell did they do to our car?’

At a glance, it looked like a typical Audi—but that couldn’t possibly be true.

Just look at the other contestants.

Even that prince he saw at the entrance made it obvious this was no ordinary racetrack.

A regular Audi wouldn’t even be able to run alongside the others.

‘So Dogo has a passenger vehicle division now, huh? Seems like it’s a separate legal entity.’

That would explain why the person bringing the Audi didn’t recognize him, one of Dogo’s infamous marketing mascots—and more importantly, the logo was different.

That alone proved this was a separate company.

Meaning, if he participated in this race today, he’d be competing not just against that annoying prince—but also against a Dogo affiliate.

‘The universe really is small… who would've thought I’d run into a sibling company out here.’

On the flip side, it also showed just how big Dogo was.

“Anyway, thank you. You’ve been very kind.”

Yeongwoo bowed his head politely to the three-eyed alien, who shrugged in response.

—I’m not completely clueless, you know. Aren’t you from another subsidiary?

Then the alien pointed at Yeongwoo’s right shoulder with one of his eyes.

“Ah.”

Only now did he realize the alien had been looking at the Dogo logo tattooed there as an ad.

“Well… yeah. Something like that.”

—Then let’s not overdo it. We’re both company assets, right?

“What do you mean by ‘not overdo it’…”

—Let’s not kill each other.

“…!”

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened, and the alien grinned again.

—Just joking. Not like you’ll even catch a glimpse of my tail anyway. It’s not like we can hit each other.

‘Wait, so we can kill each other during the race??’

As Yeongwoo gaped, a giant number appeared in the air above the racetrack.

Piiing!

≪100≫

Then it immediately ticked down by one.

≪99≫

It was a countdown.

—Looks like it’s about to start. Best of luck to you.

With those words, the alien climbed into the Audi.

Realizing he still hadn’t found his own place, Yeongwoo quickly turned around.

‘I’ve been zoning out way too long. I need to find my staging area first.’

His race token still pointed forward, so Yeongwoo left the Dogo Dallim tent and began wandering the plaza again.

Soon, he started spotting tents big and small all around, and even more vehicles that looked nothing like horses.

Gigantic mechanical insects, four-armed gorillas—completely absurd stuff.

‘Still, the only lunatics who brought a literal car to this race are from Dogo Dallim.’

After several dozen seconds of searching, he finally found his assigned staging area—on the edge of the plaza.

[03-7]

Unsurprisingly, there was no tent—just a simple sign with the race token number stuck in the ground.

“Nice. Real VIP treatment here.”

Yeongwoo sighed as he stepped into the staging zone.

Negwig followed him into the red square, shaking his head.

—Screeeech!

And right around then…

≪10≫

The timer in the sky dropped to 10 seconds.

Then rapidly: 9, 8, 7… until the time ran out and the numbers vanished.

BEEEEEEP!

A long tone rang out.

「Thank you for visiting the Poso Racetrack.」

‘Ah, orientation time.’

「We will now explain the race participants and the basic rules.」

Then, in the sky, numbers filled with green, yellow, and red appeared.

‘50… 100 million… 300 million. Got it.’

There were 16 participants in both green and yellow, but exactly 12 in red, which represented the 300 million karma tier.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

‘Wait, you’re telling me there are twelve lunatics who paid 300 million to enter a deadly horse race??’

While Yeongwoo stood with his mouth agape, looking around, the system continued with the next announcement.

「The racecourse to be used for this derby is as follows.」

Then, a massive map was projected into the air.

Flaaash!

It was a simple track shaped like a large "S", but based on the various icons moving around the map, it seemed like there was more to it.

「The rules for winning the derby are simple. Rankings will be determined by the order in which participants reach the topmost point of the racecourse, starting from the bottom.」

Then, the numbers 1 to 3 appeared in the air.

「There will be three winners per betting tier. If a participant crosses the finish line deceased, the prize money will be delivered to their affiliated family.」

“….”

It was an announcement blatantly implying a death race.

Next, the prize amounts per betting tier were revealed.

Flash flash flash!

In Yeongwoo’s case, he was in the 300 million tier.

The prizes were 1.5 billion for first place, 600 million for second, and 300 million for third.

In other words, if you didn’t place in the top three, you’d lose your entry fee entirely.

‘Wait a minute. So all the leftover money just goes straight to the race organizers? That’s an insane profit margin.’

As Yeongwoo was marveling at the unknown owner of the racecourse, the next announcement continued.

「Winners will receive trophies based on their rank. These trophies grant placement priority in future races held by Posso Racecourse and its affiliated tracks.」

"Placement priority? You mean starting position?"

That was probably it.

Winners from previous rounds would be assigned more advantageous starting spots in the next race.

‘Shit… That means I’ll be starting all the way in the back.’

He had no previous accolades, nor did he come from a prestigious family, so it was obvious he’d get the worst position.

And finally—

BOOOOM!

With a thunderous noise, the starting placements for each betting tier were revealed above each zone.

‘Goddamn it.’

As expected, Yeongwoo was shoved into the very back of the layout.

But something odd caught his eye.

‘…What the? Is the back row a mud pit or something?’

The horses weren’t spaced out evenly — instead, there were three up front, then two right behind them, a big empty gap in the middle, and then seven crammed tightly together in the very rear.

Yeongwoo had been assigned to one of the seven tightly packed rear positions.

‘At this rate, the ones in the back will just end up fighting amongst themselves and not even be able to run the race.’

Clearly, this was the race organizers’ intention from the beginning.

The rear starters were essentially cannon fodder.

‘Why would they design the placement like this? Don’t tell me the real bettors are in a separate category or something?’

Come to think of it, even at Korea’s horse parks, it was the audience who bet on the horses, not the jockeys on themselves.

「You will now be transported to the racecourse. All jockeys, please mount your steeds.」

The next instruction asked everyone to mount their horses, and Yeongwoo climbed onto Negwig’s back.

"I’ve got a bad feeling about this. You can run, right?"

–Screeeeeee!

At Yeongwoo’s question, Negwig lifted his front legs and let out a long shriek.

And then, right on cue—

Fwoooosh!

The red teleportation stone beneath Yeongwoo’s feet began to glow brightly.

"Time to go."

As announced earlier, teleportation had begun.

Whirrrrrr!

Strange mechanical sounds whirred from beneath the ground, and in an instant, Yeongwoo’s surroundings were engulfed in a strange light.

“…Urgh.”

He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them again.

Flaaash!

Suddenly, everything lit up, and the roar of a massive crowd echoed from all directions.

"WAAAAAAAH!!"

"Crush them all…!"

"YAAAAAAH!!"

As expected, there were spectators watching this race.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Yeongwoo found himself standing on a racecourse about 30 meters wide, astride Negwig.

Beyond the track, the stands towered like a massive mountain — and every seat was filled to capacity.

‘How many people are even here? It’s gotta be at least hundreds of thousands.’

But he couldn’t forget — the racecourse was shaped like a giant "S".

If this kind of stadium surrounded the entire track, then it wasn’t just hundreds of thousands — it could be tens of millions watching.

"YAAAAAH!"

"Number 6!!"

"I bet everything on number 3! You have to win!"

"Dude, it’s number 4! Get your head on straight!"

As expected, the crowd had all placed bets and were shouting their chosen numbers, cheering in their own aggressive way.

Among them—

"Number 7! I’m counting on you!"

"Just place in the top three, number 7! I bet on you to make it!"

There weren’t many, but a few spectators were yelling out “Number 7.”

Some of them had made daring bets on the underdog.

‘These lunatics… Are they serious?’

Yeongwoo scanned the crowd, trying to locate whoever had bet on him.

But with so many alien spectators, there was no way to tell who it was.

And finally, a sharp signal rang out.

BEEEEEEP!

「The race will begin shortly. All riders, please proceed to the center of your assigned zone and greet your fellow racers.」

“…What?”

「While exchanging greetings, choose in your mind the first opponent you intend to attack. Do not say it out loud. Good luck to all participants.」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]