CHAPTER 58: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

"Haaaa..." Mehmet released a long, disappointed sigh as he placed the phone back in its cradle.

It had only been half an hour since he had ended his previous, difficult conversation with the academy owner. He had been in the midst of strategizing how to best relay the news to Fatih’s mother in a way that would minimize the potential fallout. But before he could even decide when to contact her, he had received another call from the owner, his voice now laced with a fresh layer of frustration.

"It seems he realizes that he has the upper hand in this situation and now wants more concessions from our side regarding Fatih," the academy owner had said, his tone dripping with displeasure.

"What additional things did Aslan want?" Mehmet had asked, bracing himself for the demands.

"When he realized that we were trying to keep Fatih by offering to pay for his karts from our own pockets, he said he would allow us to keep Fatih, but in return, he wants us to terminate the scholarship agreement we have with him," the owner had explained, his voice rising in anger as he recounted the conversation.

"It looks like he wants to fully crush Fatih," Mehmet had mused, pinching the bridge of his nose as he realized the situation was moving from bad to worse. "He wants them to come back to him, begging. Or, he wants to clear a major obstacle for his son now that the situation has come to this. Ending Fatih’s scholarship will mean that if his mother wants to keep competing for this championship, she will have to be the one paying for the kart and all the services, which will be an enormous financial burden. That is, if she can even stomach remaining in the academy after this. What has gotten into him? He looked like someone who was very passionate about motorsport, even going so far as to sponsor his son’s main competitor."

"....." His words were met with silence from the owner which was no different that acknowledgement to his statement and answer to his questions.

"So, did you agree to his demands?" Mehmet had asked, praying that the academy owner had denied them.

"Me calling him in the first place was no different than a surrender," the owner had replied, his voice now flat and resigned. "And although I wanted to keep Fatih at all costs, there is no need to do that now that Aslan has shown his true colors, wanting to smother a talented driver. So, inform his parents. Tell them that we unfortunately have to end the scholarship due to ’financial reasons.’ And if she decides to remain, which is nearly impossible, she will have to pay for all of the services that her son will be benefiting from, both in training and during the competition, including the rental of the kart, or if she buys a new one for her son herself." He had already made the decision; this call was just to inform Mehmet. "We can cancel the scholarship without any problems, right?"

"Yes, we can do that from our side without having to pay anything," Mehmet had said, resigning himself to the unfairness of it all.

"If you turn a blind eye this time, this too will pass," the academy owner had said, his voice a hollow attempt at reassurance. "We can then see if we can make amends with him later. But for now, we need to take into consideration the other drivers on our hands who have already shown promise." It felt as if he was trying to justify the decision to himself, to feel less shitty about the situation.

"Yes, sir," Mehmet had replied, knowing that it was a white lie. The chances of them mending their relationship with Fatih’s family were lower than Fatih’s chances of reaching Formula 1, which, in itself, was near zero, as there had never been a Turkish driver in Formula 1 since the start of the competition.

........

Monday evening.

"Fatih, Mom wants to talk to you about something important," Rümeysa said, entering his room. She found him sitting in front of the computer, watching a video related to racing.

Hearing his mother, he pressed pause and got out of the chair, moving to the bed where she was already sitting. He became silent, waiting to hear what she wanted to talk to him about, though he could already guess what it was most likely going to be.

Rümeysa took a moment, a deep breath, before she began to speak. "The academy has called and informed us of their decision. They will not be punishing Selçuk, because it is something they say they have no jurisdiction over. They will abide by the decision made by TOSFED, which has just been announced to be a warning. He will only be punished if he does something like that again."

She paused, letting the weight of the words sink in. "It means that Selçuk will continue driving like he did, and the academy will not do anything about it. What do you want to do? If you don’t want to continue, I can withdraw you from the academy, and we can pay for you to race somewhere else, but that will have to wait until next year due to the regulations. However, if you want to continue with the championship, we will need to remain in the academy until the end of the season before we leave."

She gave him a simplified summary, trying to use simple words and sentence structures to make sure he understood at least a portion of the situation. She didn’t tell him about the full extent of the academy’s betrayal, that they were now completely siding with Selçuk, or that if they were to remain, she would be the one shouldering all of the monetary requirements.

The moment she had received the call, her first instinct had been to immediately unenroll Fatih from the academy. But the academy director had made sure to remind her that doing so would mean Fatih would have to be withdrawn from the championship, and would have to wait until next year’s season. It would mean all of her son’s hard work and effort would be thrown out the window, and might even risk him starting to hate the sport that he loved so dearly.

Fatih, though not having the full picture, immediately understood the implications of what she had said. With the academy siding with Selçuk, it meant he would be in a disadvantageous position for the rest of the championship.

"Will the academy still continue to provide a scholarship to me?" he asked, his voice still that of a child, but the question itself sharp and direct, cutting through any pretense of childhood innocence.

Rümeysa looked surprised at the question, but she answered honestly. "No," she said, rubbing her son’s back. "They have also informed me that they have terminated the contract, under the reason that they don’t have enough funding. So, if you continue this season, I will have to cover the costs. But you don’t have to worry about that."

"I want to continue competing this season," he said, a look of fierce conviction on his face that made Rümeysa wonder what had gone through his mind for him to make such a decision so quickly.

What she didn’t know was that Fatih was already thinking ahead. He knew that if they were to wait until next season, she would have to fund the full season on her own. But if they continued now, then only the second half of the season would fall upon her, halving the costs. And should he win, they could use that as leverage when they moved to a new academy. Although they could do that now by withdrawing, it would both reduce their leverage and remove the chances of him earning additional SP, which would slow his speed of upgrading his abilities.

But the main reason was the screen that was now hovering in front of him that he had already pressed [ACCEPT]

as it was a too good of a deal to miss.

[Urgent Mission!!]

[A MOUNTAIN TO CARVE]

Though very early in your career, your journey to becoming the greatest of all time has been met with an obstacle, as an individual is trying to derail your career. But the mark of a great driver isn’t determined by the politics of motorsport, but by what he does on the track. And although you have shown promise as a very young driver, you have yet to leave enough of a mark to shield you from the politics, but also to provide you with additional leverage for your future opportunities and to reduce the chances of you facing a similar problem.

OBJECTIVE: Continue and go on to win the championship despite the obstacles in your way.

REWARDS: Doubling of all the System Points you have by that point.

PUNISHMENT: A permanent downgrade of a random ability.

[ACCEPT] [DENY]

"So, you want to continue?" Rümeysa asked, her voice soft. "If it is because you are worried about not winning and me not buying you the camera I promised, you don’t have to worry about that. I will buy it for you no matter what."

"No," Fatih said, looking at his mother with a look that showed he fully believed what he was about to say. "I want to continue because I want to win. I know I can win the championship."

"If that is what you want, then you don’t have to worry about anything else," she said, her voice filled with a fierce, protective love. "Just focus on the competition, okay?" She caressed his cheek before Fatih moved to hug her.

"Thank you, Mom," he said, knowing that his decision was going to be expensive, but he promised himself that he would repay all of the sacrifices his mother was going to make for him.

"It’s alright," Rümeysa said, holding him tight. "Mom will do anything for you." She was not happy about the situation at all. And despite choosing the lesser of two evils the one where she didn’t have to go and beg Aslan, while also making it possible for her son to continue doing what he loved, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth. The experience was slowly triggering her protective instincts, slowly changing her way of making decisions when it came to Fatih. From the look of it, she would be very averse to trusting others with things related to her son in the future.