It was 11:30 p.m. on July 9, 1985.
Mario and his brother Luigi have just closed the doors of their car repair shop. It was the old garage they had inherited from their grandfather, their only valuable possession. It did not bring them much profit, but they did not even have the opportunity to look for other work. Most of the factories and businesses in their city were either bankrupt or close to bankruptcy.
They went towards the house, if that's what you can call a room with a kitchen, two by three meters, and a piece of the hall, connected with the possibility of using a common toilet for the residents of the block. They hardly spoke the whole way.
Because what were they going to talk about? They had known each other since birth, they grew up in the same poverty and hopelessness of their block of flats. And even now, when Mario was already 25 years old, neither he nor Luigi managed to break out of this poverty and hopelessness. Every day they spent 10, sometimes even 12 hours in the workshop, and still barely enough to maintain their cubicle.
They entered the stairwell. Mario instinctively looked at the bulletin board. Nothing new, someone's water is cut off, someone's electricity. He looked at the mailbox to. It contained several leaflets and bills. He was about to throw away the colored slippery paper, but something caught his attention.
"Win $100,000"
One of the leaflets read. Mario looked at her for a moment. According to the leaflet, the prize could be won by participating in a car race. You had to apply in two-person teams, one person was supposed to be the driver, the other the mechanic. The race could be won by going through 5 stages. Each subsequent stage was supposed to be more difficult than the previous one, and anyone who did not complete a stage increased the jackpot by $1,000. Cars were provided by the organizers, but a deposit had to be paid, which neither Mario nor Luigi, nor even both of them together, could afford.
- Too bad. - thought Mario, and threw away the flyers.
A week has passed
Mario has just completed the last scheduled repair for the day. He looked around the workshop. His brother was nowhere to be found.
- What is he doing again?! - he thought. For the past few days, Luigi had been sneaking out of the workshop, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes for several hours. The fact that he was leaving didn't annoy Mario, but the fact that he was trying to do it secretly, without telling him anything, did. He was afraid that his brother would get in trouble.
He was just closing the workshop door when he heard Luigi's scream behind him.
- MARIOOOO
"Dammit, you don't have to scream like that, do you?"
- We'll win 100 grand! Luigi looked like he ate mushrooms
- That I'm sorry?
- We'll win 100 grand, I'm telling you - Luigi definitely had too much blood pressure for himself - Do you remember that racing flyer you threw away? I found some guys who'll give us money for an advance. In return, they want the driver to agree to take their mushrooms.
- MUSHROOM? Luigi, can you hear yourself?!
- I can hear and understand perfectly. Listen Mario, I've eaten those mushrooms before, believe me, I wouldn't tell you if it was dangerous. Just think, we'll need that kind of money.
Here Luigi was absolutely right. 100 tiles is not a trivial prize. But Mario couldn't put Luigi in danger. He had to be the driver.
- Agreement. But I am the driver.
And that's how Mario started racing. His first starts were very promising, he won this award and several others. He also discovered two properties of mushrooms. First, they acted as boosters for him, but without the side effects, which was very helpful in racing. Second, they spread easily. So easily that they led to the annihilation of humanity.
