The Passive Skill Collector

Some people don't want to associate or get in trouble with someone. As for how it is with Lu Jae-sung, he wants to socialize, but even if he is handsome, his luck and talent are greatly lacking. Not only that, but his origin somewhat correlates to this issue too. While he is half Chinese and Korean, others' attitudes towards him were always bad, when they recognized that he is biracial.

This wasn't the only thing he cared about. He wanted to get stronger, otherwise, he wouldn't want to face his father, who had taught him many things relating to clearing out so-called towers, how to take care of himself if anything bad happened, and mainly how to handle weapons like swords, spears, daggers, and his fists.

After he turned fifteen, his parents paid for a gym permit, so he could gain muscles and become more attractive this way. They also paid for hairdressers and products that helped with skin and hair. It took him quite a while to get fit since he had never done any muscle training activity.

This luxurious treatment didn't last for long, after a year his dad, Lu Wei, suddenly disappeared in a mission to clear out an overflowing tower of significantly high difficulty, which was filled with beasts of Spectral and Legendary beasts.

Hearing this information from his mother felt unimaginably painful, leading to further enclosure, making him less talkative, since the only one he felt close to, was his father. His situation had yet to get worse because, after his father's disappearance, he hoped that his mother would take care of him, until he got lucky with his Awakening, not knowing his luck would be so bad, that after 4 tries visiting The Awakening association, he would still be without a unique ability and the leveling up system, that everyone gets when they Awaken.

Since he was out of luck for 2 years at that time, his mother married a high-standing noble In the Haneulguk. This event made him and his mother, which is now called Bu Areum, instead of Lu Areum, move out to the capital city, Gongchun.

He was somewhat grateful for the idea of moving out since the people he had to bear at school had always bullied him. When his father disappeared it even got worse, since after that they said stuff like "It was time for your Chinese father to go to where he came from." He had also heard one lame joke many times. Anyone could guess which one, after just mentioning milk in the sentence.

The main idea behind getting remarried was that his mother didn't like the feeling of being lonely with her half-Chinese son in Haneulguk, which became quite obvious. As a result, Lu Jae-sung started to receive less attention from his mother, leading him to feel increasingly disdainful.

After arriving before a huge tower-like building, that had an area of over 900m² and height of over hundreds of meters, he felt flabbergasted. He had never seen such a huge building, where multiple nobles lived.

"That's a nice-looking place," he ironically had thought while forcing himself to look grateful.

Since most of his belongings were thrown away by his mother, the process of moving out was simple. All he carried in his hand was a small box full of clothes, photos, and memento pendants of his dad. The photos also had torn-out corners, where his mother's head was before.

While moving inside the building, he looked at his mother's back, which was talking to Bu Bujeo, his new father. His name is quite hilarious since it means "rich rich man". Lu Jae-sung almost couldn't hold his laughter, when he had heard of his name the first time. Even while he walked behind them, he felt like giggling a bit. He looked around the huge hall, which was decorated with 3 huge golden chandeliers filled with brilliant diamonds, multiple exotic plants, decorative vines, and rugs that filled the entire floor.

Multiple tall, muscular guards were also present at the two entrances, which were located on opposite sides of the building. They mainly looked over the golden cards, which had imprints of identity and the sign of the High-rise complex. The sign resembled a howling wolf with a half-moon in the background.

After moving beside one of the many elevators by the sides, Bu Bujeo attached his golden card to the panel beside it. The elevator took about 30 seconds to get to the ground floor, and everyone got in, even Lu Jae-sung with his small box. Every belonging his mother had, was going to be delivered by a different elevator, which was a lot bigger than the other ones.

They took the elevator and got out. Lu Jaesung's mother was in shock. Her golden hair spread when she covered her beautiful face with her teal eyes. Her new husband even uncovered her face, being quite flirtatious. She felt even more flustered than before, because he did it elegantly, maintaining his posture, while looking at her small figure.

"What does she even feel in this pale-looking skeleton?" Asked Lu Jae-sung in his mind. it was no wonder he felt like it. Bu Bujeo was tall and skinny. his brown hair was messy and was covered with a tall hat. His eyes were brown and far from each other, in contrast with his big nose, it didn't look handsome. He also constantly looked tired and had bags under his eyes.

There were also multiple maids waiting beside a 4-meter-wide rug, leading up to a staircase.

Since the apartment had 2 floors, it led to corridors like the ones on the 1st floor. The staircase led to "rooms" where everyone from the family lived, while the bottom part was used for staff. There were rooms for maintenance, maids, kitchen, and dressing.

There was also a common dining room, with a long, disassemblable dining table, that had 14 chairs beside it. Why could it be disassembled? Not only for moving purposes but the room could be used for banquets.

The new father took them on a tour of the entire apartment, showing them the layout and where his "room" was located, along with the others. They should technically be called micro-apartments, but the nobility might see something more majestic in this term, that's why he had called them simply "rooms." During the tour, they also met the other resident: his child.

It was a woman named Bu Hae-ryung, who was tall and beautiful. Her face looked perfect with her sharp chin and big-looking red eyes, which suited her red long hair, reaching her thigh. her other features were perfect too. Her long and strong-looking legs suited her not-too-big and not-too-small bosom. Before he knew her age, he had assumed she was around 25, but he couldn't have been more wrong. She was 20 but gave off an adult vibe to her appearance. Her room was before her father's and newly her mother's.

She also exuded energy and warmth, particularly towards Lu Jae-sung, at least until he mentioned that he was half-Chinese detail his mother had instructed him to share with everyone in the household. After that, her demeanor changed, and she began to ignore him. He had long before foreseen this reaction and didn't pay much attention to her behavior.

While smiling, he thought of, what his life would be like, if his father was still alive.

They continued the tour to his micro-apartment which was on the other side of the stairway. They had also missed a door with the sign "Bu Hwan-kyu". He had correctly assumed it was probably his stepbrother's, since after seconds of his thought, Bu Bujeo mentioned he was at his high school. He also mentioned, that his daughter was home on Friday morning, because she was exhausted, and her prestigious college allowed students on Friday to be elsewhere.

They had finally arrived in front of Lu-Jaesung's room. It looked quite plain, with the rooms being filled with essentialities. His micro-apartment consisted of 4 rooms. They first checked over the kitchen, which also served as a dining room. There was just a table with 4 chairs in the right far corner and a kitchen unit in the close right corner. There were 2 doors on the left side and 1 door right in front of them.

The front door leads to a bedroom with a quite luxurious bed and a simple wardrobe. They then checked the other 2 doors. They walked over to the living room, which had a simple, black leather couch facing the huge TV with speakers beside it. The last room was the restroom. It was spacious, leaving space for a wash basin, which was as wide as the room, a drier, and a washing machine. Not only that but there was a luxurious bidet and on the opposite side to it a shower cubicle, where could at least 5 people fit comfortably.

After leaving the room, They were also led to a storage room, that belonged to

Lu Jae-sung. His stepfather gave him a key and said "This is your personal storage room, no one will go through your stuff, since I will give you this access card to it." He wasn't willing to give him the card at first, but Lu Jae-sung would probably question him about the rooms, that were built for each micro-apartment, so he gave it to him with a complicated look.

After everything was shown, Bu Bujeo started leading them to the common dining room, since he had long before ordered one maid, that they make a feast for the new family members. after arriving at the room, he sat on the far head chair, while his wife sat on the opposite one. Lu Jae-sung sat closer to his mother, but also not on the first chair next to her since he didn't want to be close to her right now.

After sitting down, they saw that Bu Hwan-kyu had arrived too, sitting close to her father. The maids had also come with carts full of plates covered by golden cloches, serving them to each other and uncovering the food. The strong fragrance filled the room, making Lu Jae-sung want to dig in as soon as he was served.

He maintained his cool and cold face in front of the family since he didn't want to look like an animal to them, even if he didn't care about the relationship with them. Everyone finished their food at a different pace. After that, his stepfather suddenly looked at him, showing a serious and also tired face.