Kai woke up in great spirits.
The morning felt fresh, his body felt energized, and overall he thought it would be a good day.
That's until a crashing sound broke his mood.
"That's right." He sighed, a bit dejected before putting on a deadpan expression.
"Mom and Dad are home during this time." He said as he stretched his fingers.
With the same look, he went into the bathroom to tidy himself. When he was out, he was in his school's uniform looking neat and tidy.
His pretty face shined brightly for all to see.
If you just put on a smile you could win over any girl... Ryker's obnoxious voice rang in his head with a lazy yawn.
"Enough with that." Kai looked at himself in the mirror and nodded.
"You took 3 seconds extra to wake up compared to yesterday by the way."
What are you? My personal health watch? Ryker scoffed.
They soon headed downstairs. Well, Kai went downstairs.
The sight he saw made his neutral look deepen.
The nice breakfast made by the maids of the house was thrown into disarray.
Broken plates and well-prepared food lay on the ground, creating an incredible mess.
Kai ignored it all and sat at his usual seat around the dining table.
On his side was a well-made meal that was left untouched.
He started digging into his food when he heard the screams of his mother across the table.
"You useless trash!" She shouted as she threw plates after plates at a rather robust man.
The plates crashed at him and broke on impact, and yet all he did was stand there and take it in.
Surprisingly, not a single scratch was on his body.
That didn't stop the mad woman; instead, it made her even more pissed.
"Your stupidity made me lose face at the event!" Furious, she said, not forgetting to throw more plates.
"Is that all you care about? Face... you can't even take care of our own child." The man raised his voice and mocked, "how can you talk about face when you're such a worthless mother?"
"Mother?" The woman raised an eyebrow.
"That child is the devil. I, Lucy Goldberg, did not give birth to a devil." The woman by the name Lucy shook her head.
She did not care that Kai heard what she said.
The man chuckled; he did not care either.
Kai chose to ignore her comment as he continued eating.
Devil... I quite like that title honestly. On the inside he nodded his head at his own mother's words as if he approved what she said.
Heh, we're Daredevils now after all! Ryker laughed, approving the title as well.
These two are Kai's parents. The woman with a vile temper was his mother, Lucy Flemings.
She is a worldwide model, actress, and artist known for her amazing looks in her early 40s and her pure personality.
Nobody knows how she is in private. If I could release some of the videos and recordings I have, I could completely ruin her image. Kai thought with the same deadpan look.
A pity though. I can't get rid of her just yet. He said, turning to look at his father.
She's the main reason that madman doesn't torture me to death every day after all.
His father, Robert Flemings is a global-winning wrestler and businessman through his family connections.
On the outside, he's a serious and righteous individual, but when at home he becomes a ruthless, uncaring bully.
Whenever he gets the opportunity, he would chase Kai across the entire house and beat the living daylight out of him.
Unfortunately for Kai, there's nothing he can do but take the beating.
Even the maids turn a blind eye to his father's actions.
Before I joined The Pack Games and became a Handler, I would've definitely struggled to beat him without having to rely on Ryker's strength. He thought while observing all of Robert's weak points but barely saw any he could exploit.
Even with Ryker's strength, it would be difficult to defeat him. He's not just extremely strong for a human but also very cunning and smart.
I inherited my smarts from him after all. That's why I don't dare to touch him. I bet he even knows I have bad intentions towards him but is just waiting patiently so he could play with me.
With the king cards though... He said, hiding a cold smile.
One thing he forgot to mention was the king's card.
The king's card increases the drop rate of cards from the games. Not just that, but it also boosts the holder's card abilities.
Unfortunately, being the King of Diamonds and Spades doesn't double the effect. In fact, to get the boost from the Scientist card I cannot activate King of Spades, it has to be King of Diamonds.
Kai thought it was a pity but was confident if he used Two of Spades: Daredevil, his overall physical prowess wouldn't just be the equivalent of the best athletes on Earth.
It would likely surpass that. He exclaimed to himself.
That wasn't all, if he activated Two of Diamonds: Scientist alongside Parallel Madness, he was sure he could predict his father's moves.
And that's without using King of Diamonds. He shivered at the thought. If using Parallel Madness and the Scientist card together was making him feel as fast as a train and as slow as a turtle on land, what would happen if he were to use the King of Diamonds card?
Then there was the last thing that gave him confidence in winning against his father.
Every win counts as 3 stats I can distribute.
There are four main stats in the games.
Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, and Speed.
For now, his stats look something like this:
Strength: 0.1
Dexterity: 0.7
Intellect: 1
Speed: 1
His Intellect and Speed are maxed out due to the games not recognizing humans as a superior race or even an inferior race.
So all humans stats max limit are sadly one point.
As for his strength, it didn't come as a surprise to him.
Then there was his dexterity; he has been training his reflexes to avoid his father for many years so he was quite disappointed when he saw it wasn't maxed out by the game's standard for humans.
There are also stats that remain locked, such as Defense and Vitality. He came to conclude that the games saw humans as so insignificant that they weren't qualified to have such stats.
With these, I don't have to willingly take his beating.
I also don't have to worry about being kicked out if I beat him up. After all, this is mother's house. I bet she would be pleased if I gave him a good beating...
As Kai was thinking of all of this, his father, Robert, turned to look at him with a smile.
"What are you thinking so deeply about?" He asked as if sensing Kai looking at him.
Kai put on a determined look and said, "I plan to ace today's exam."
Lucy immediately turned to look at him and sneered. "Ace your exam? When was the last time you even got anything above zero?"
Kai shook his head, and Lucy mocked, "you worthless devil..."
Robert, on the other hand, laughed. "So you plan to finally reveal your true self?"
This guy! Ryker, who was finding the current situation fun, felt goosebumps appear all over himself.
"..." Kai, on the other hand, didn't say anything. However, on the inside he was going crazy, his calm and composed persona nearly shattered.
He quickly finished his food and got up.
"I'm leaving." He rushed before grabbing his bag and leaving the house.
Robert burst into laughter seeing this, but he had to stop as Lucy began getting angry at him again.
.
Back in his comfortable chair around his desk at school, Kai let out a sigh of relief, glad he was able to escape that hornet nest of a home.
So he knew you were just faking everything... Ryker also sighed at how things turned out.
I should've expected as much. Even I would have started making guesses as to why my child who inherited my smarts would do so poorly in school. Kai stated, putting his hand on his chin.
Do you think he's been monitoring our activities? Ryker wondered.
I doubt so. If he did, then wouldn't he have asked where I went when we joined The Pack Games? Kai asked as he watched someone approach him.
That's true... Ryker nodded in agreement as a smirk appeared on his face.
Look who just arrived! It's your one and only true lover~
Shut up. Kai scolded, his eyes landing on the person who just came up to him.
"Good morning, Kai~" Abigail waved at him with a gentle smile.
"Morning." Kai replied.
Abigail's cheeks became puffed as she angrily said, "That's it? A simple morning? You really might be... sigh! You don't have any idea how many guys would go crazy from me just telling them good morning."
"Should I be sad that I am not one of those guys?"
"Yes! But I guess it's part of your charm." Abigail stated while appreciating his pretty face.
"If you were just like those guys, I wouldn't have been so easily charmed by you..." She blushed, flustered by his looks.
Kai, not knowing she was having wild thoughts about him in her head, shook his head.
"So you like boring guys? That's a bit lame." He remarked, a bit of contempt shown in his eyes.
"Ah! Lame?! You—" She was about to reprimand him when the classroom door was opened wide.
Bang!
"Abigail, the girl who filled my poor heart, your prince— Who the hell are you?!"