Damn. Someone stronger than me? Who the hell could that be? Unless they’ve been hiding under the radar…

I pushed the thought aside, activating Telepathy to lock onto Kan’s presence.

Found you, I thought with a grin.

Kan’s mind jolted with shock, and I could feel his irritation through the connection as he spun around. Stop it, you idiot! If you’re gonna mess with my head, at least warn me.

I chuckled. No point knocking on the door of an abandoned house, I shot back, amused.

Kan’s irritation hit like a damn storm. How about I break every bone in your damn body? he snapped, venom dripping from his words.

Relax, it’s not that serious, I taunted. Just get down to the gym. Now. Sensing his hesitation, I sent him a mental image of the directions, leaving him zero excuses.

A few minutes later, Kan stomped through the gym doors, looking both annoyed and curious. “What the hell do you want?” he demanded, crossing his arms.

“Read me your abilities,” I ordered, crossing my own arms, daring him to defy me.

He huffed but relented, pulling up his stats and reading each one like he was chewing on glass. “Soul Sight: Sees the purity of souls of others. Risk Accrual: Absorbs risks faced by others, converting them into advantages for himself. Risk Transfer: Shifts the consequences of a gamble onto another party. Fortune’s Gamble: A gamble with potential for either significant improvement or severe consequences. Soul Harvest: Absorbs souls to temporarily enhance physical or mental attributes.”

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Then he hit his blessings and curses, and his face twisted with barely controlled rage. “King of Gambling: Luck seems to love you. Blessing of Favor: All favors are unbreakable. Curse of Mistrustfulness: Everything you say sounds suspicious. Curse of Repulsiveness: You give off a repulsive aura to anyone who finds you attractive…”

I could practically feel his fury boiling. “What the hell is this? There’s no way this is real. I refuse to believe it.” His glare turned deadly as he looked at me. “Lee, we need to destroy everything that even hints at this bullshit!”

“Calm down, Kan,” I said, my patience already wearing thin.

“Calm down?” he snarled. “Are you out of your damn mind, Lee? These curses are a nightmare!”

I couldn’t resist smirking. “Honestly? They suit you perfectly.”

His eyes narrowed to slits. “Oh, really? How about I make that ‘repulsive curse’ your problem, then?”

Ignoring his threat, I got straight to the point. “Kan, I want to fight you.”

He blinked, caught off guard. “What? Have you hit your head, Jun?”

Gritting my teeth, I tossed a training stick his way. “I mean it. I want to knock that stupid nickname out of your mouth.”

He looked at the stick in his hand, then back at me, as if I’d lost my damn mind. But he lifted it, assuming a defensive stance that was barely worth a damn. His reaction time was passable, but everything else was laughable—shaky stance, weak grip, crap posture. I sighed. This was going to take a lot of work.

I broke through his flimsy guard with ease, landing a solid hit on his head. He stumbled back, wincing, but kept his mouth shut.

“That was pathetic. A toddler could do better,” I said, crossing my arms.

Kan looked like he wanted to argue but bit his tongue. “For now, you’re doing four thousand downward strikes. I’ll show you the first ten. After that, you’re on your own.”

His eyes widened. “You’re out of your damn mind. I’m not doing four thousand.”

When he turned to leave, I grabbed his collar and yanked him back. “Listen, Kan,” I said, voice cold as ice. “This is the damn apocalypse. This bunker won’t feed us forever, and things are about to get a hell of a lot worse—monsters, humans, maybe worse than both. So get to work, or die. Because I’m not here to babysit anyone.”

He clenched his jaw, then picked up the training stick again, lifting it with begrudging determination. Around strike twenty, his form started to smooth out, his swings less erratic.

Satisfied, I asked, “Hey, Kan, where’s your dad?”

Without stopping, he answered, “Fourth floor, kitchen.”

“Thanks,” I replied, leaving him to it. “Oh, and no cheating. I’ll know.”

Leaving the gym, I headed to the elevator, pressing the button for the fourth floor. As it descended, my thoughts wandered. Why did this place have everything except a damn garden? Not that it mattered—Kan’s mother could probably fix that.

The doors opened, and I stepped out, making my way down the hall and into the kitchen, where Kan’s father was cooking. He raised an eyebrow as I approached. “Lee, what do you need?”

Swallowing my nerves—I knew he could crush me like a damn bug—I forced myself to sound steady. “Can you teach me how to shoot a gun?”