The Passive Skill Collector

"Son, since you are part of the family now, you still need to finish High school. Thus, I have already registered you for a highly prestigious school, so I expect you to be grateful and show some results." Bu Bujeo sounded quite serious, leaving no room for argument.

Since this is what Lu Jae-sung expected, he had long before tried to get ahead in terms of learning at his previous school. However, he might still have some trouble catching up with the lectures.

Lu Jae-sung looked at him with an assuring face, while worriedly thinking about it. Bullying and teachers' behavior crossed his mind wildly since he hadn't been treated well before. He forgot to force a grateful answer after he looked at his stepfather.

Bu Bujeo started to look mad and slammed his fist on the table out of rage. This startled

Lu Jae-sung, and immediately replied.

"I am sorry Father for not showing any appreciation, I thank you for this glorious opportunity you bestowed upon me."

He was a professional in making up polite sentences since that was his way to survive in his previous high school. This made his bullies leave him alone earlier out of boredom.

"I hope you won't show any sign of being a brat in the future." Bu Bujeo maintained a serious and tired face. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the thought of looking after his stepson.

"I am about to help you with your financial situation, but just until you graduate." He realized, that he couldn't abandon his son, so he stated this after a while of thinking about it. He gave him a silver credit card that was unmarked. The reason for it being unmarked was, that only he could manage his daily expenses online.

Lu Jae-sung held the card for a while in his hand. He turned it around and examined the engravings on the backside. It was a small sign of the imperial bank, which was mostly used by nobles. After examining it, he put it in his beat-up leather wallet.

He was already thinking about what furniture and accessories he should buy for his

micro-apartment. Although, he didn't need much. He just wanted to buy some cutlery, plates, cookware, a mirror inside his bedroom, some drawers, and a bedside table.

He also needed a laptop, so he could buy these online. Well, he could only pay by inserting the credit card into a terminal, which would probably make it harder to find a company, that allowed paying on delivery.

After thinking for a while, he noticed that Bu Hae-ryung was staring at him, but didn't look as hostile, as he would have thought. He didn't pay any attention to this and got up from his chair since he didn't have anything else to say.

While he was making his way through the door, the maids appeared next to him, getting ready to clean up the dining table. The step-sister of his was unnoticeably following him until they reached his room.

Lu Jae-sung was preparing to lock himself in his micro-apartment, but a slender foot suddenly appeared between the door and the frame, leaving a small gap. This startled him a bit. Before he could even say anything, the stepsister of his appeared beside him, closing and locking the door behind her.

He didn't know how she did that. It happened so suddenly and quickly. It took a half breath of time for her to do this all together. She then covered his mouth quickly, so he couldn't make any sound.

"Don't worry, I won't bite you." She reassured him with a soft and kind voice. It was unexpected that his first impression of her might have been wrong, but it didn't mean he could feel safe around her at the same time. It might be a playful act to make him fall into agony when the right time would come up.

He gently grabbed her hand and put it back to her side. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think about what to start with, since his mind was full of question marks, and didn't know what to ask her first.

"Your mind seems to be in a mess, but don't worry, I can help you with one of those questions you have in mind. For example, no, I don't plan to betray you. Yes, I act tough and unapproachable to you, while my father is around."

She said those sentences so quickly, that it took Lu Jae-sung a while to comprehend what had just happened.

"You can probably guess now, that my special ability, which I got after Awakening,

is mind reading." She showed a wide smile, that made her look even more gorgeous.

He wanted to weep but was afraid to show his fragile side of him. This interaction felt like a blessing that came straight from the heavens. Although he tried hard to hide it, he still had a glass layer on his eyes.

She slowly closed the distance between them even more and wiped his tears with her shirt sleeve. She gently pulled him closer to her chest, leaving a motherly impression on Lu Jae-sung.

He turned as red as a tomato. Even though he felt embarrassed, he let himself be hugged for a while, until she pulled away.

At that moment, he felt an unexpected sense of trust. He could never imagine being even a step relative to someone like her. This was something that any only child could only dream of.

Bu Hae-ryung then started to feel a little bit worried about something. After thinking for a second or two, she then said: "I apologize for invading your private thoughts, it is nearly impossible for me to suppress my special ability since I am still just an F Tier."

Lu Jae-sung had learned something about the system during his time in high school. The tiers ranged from F to S or maybe beyond that too. To advance through these tiers, one had to reach level 100. Well, not the only one. Every "Awakener" had to do something special to go through a "Tier up". It wasn't the same principle for everyone. Some had to kill a certain beast rank levels, in a certain quantity. Some had to practice with their special skills for weeks, months, or even years to tier up.

As he recalled all this information, he wondered about what level she exactly was at. Before he could think about it for too long, she responded to him:

"I am already about to tier up, but the task I have to do isn't that simple, so it is giving me a hard time." She looked down slowly, feeling a bit of despair, and then back at him.

"The criteria for tiering up is, that I have to successfully suppress my special ability, which is already complicated since I automatically start reading minds the moment I look at anyone."

She explained with an impression of frustration.

An idea sparked in Lu Jae-sung's mind, and since he didn't want her to read his mind, he quickly said what he was thinking about.

"What if I help you with that? I could voice whatever comes to mind, making you want to hold off the mind reading. You should focus on my speech more, so you could forget about mind reading during the process."

"I love this idea!" Excitement sparkled in her eyes. She couldn't wait to practice the technique with him. She smiled at him even more than before comforting him, radiating with even more warmth. She couldn't wait to advance to E tier.

They then started to practice for an hour, when suddenly a gale around Bu Hae-ryung whistled loudly. She was going through a "Tier up", which was quite unexpected. He initially thought it would take at least a few days, not just an hour.

Lu Jae-sung was thinking about, what he should do. He looked at her levitating figure in the middle of the kitchen, thinking about what to do. He quickly recalled that he had left his small unpacked box in the bedroom before he was led to his storage room.

He slowly put all his stuff next to the bed, since he didn't even have a bedside table. After grabbing the last piece of his clothes from the box, the door to the bedroom suddenly opened.

He looked over to see how it went. He was startled in a good way. Her red hair felt even more silky smooth than before. Her posture seemed even more appealing, with her skin giving off a slight reflection. Even her bosom seemed more fixed to her.

"Stop examining my body so much!" She shouted but didn't sound so mad. Her face showed a somewhat playful look, but he didn't notice it at all and apologized to her.

Lu Jae-sung was glad, that she didn't read his mind at the time of her appearance, since she would have probably slapped him and wouldn't talk to him for a few days, even if she was as kind as possible.

He sighed and said. "I am glad it went well for you, I hope you will assist me with this process too, when I Awaken, if I manage to do so of course." A complicated and sorrowful look appeared on his face, not wanting to face her.

She grabbed his hand gently and started to caress it.

"Even the worst of the worst get to Awaken. There is no way someone who went through thousands of miles of hell won't get to do it. You are smart, and deep inside of you can be found warmth and kindness. I pray for the gods to make you fortunate enough.

She reassured him, wanting to make him feel at least slightly better for himself.

"Although I would like to talk to you more, I probably should head back to my room, so I wouldn't leave any suspicion to my father."

Lu Jae-sung nodded and watched her leave before lying on the bed completely exhausted after this turn of events; he needed some time to recuperate.