Starting With SSS-rank: I Get A New Skill Every Livestream-Chapter 78: Wounds

"Please, father... I promise I’ll do better next time. Please... father."

Kyle had learned to beg before he learned to hope.

It never worked.

Not once. Not the tears. Not the trembling voice. Not the way his small hands clutched at his father’s sleeve as if he could anchor himself to mercy that simply didn’t exist.

Failure always ended the same way.

*Click.*

"Ah—!"

The cry tore out of him as he was shoved forward. His shoulder slammed against something hard, the impact rattling through his fragile frame before he could steady himself.

He stumbled.

The man behind him didn’t move to help.

"There is no excuse for incompetence." His father’s voice was cold like a verdict already carved in stone. "Stay there. Repent. And make sure you never repeat this mistake again."

The door shut.

*Click.*

Darkness swallowed everything.

It wasn’t just the absence of light; it was thick, suffocating, pressing in from all sides like something alive. Kyle froze, his breath catching halfway in his throat as if the air itself had turned solid.

"...Fa...ther?"

No answer.

Not even an echo.

The silence was worse than shouting. It rang in his ears, sharp and hollow, until his own breathing became too loud for his ears.

He took a step.

His foot caught on something.

He lurched forward, hands flying out instinctively, only to slam into a wall that felt far too close. The impact shot pain up his arms. He gasped, but even that felt stolen...like there wasn’t enough air to fill his lungs properly.

The room was too small.

The smell hit him next; damp, stale, choking. Rotting wood, wet cloth, the sour stench of mops and forgotten corners. It clung to his nose, seeped into his throat, made every breath heavier than the last.

Something brushed his ankle.

Kyle jerked violently, a broken sound escaping his lips as he scrambled backward...only to hit another wall almost instantly.

No space.

There was no space.

His hands shot out blindly, fingers clawing at the darkness, searching for anything—an edge, a door, a crack of light—but there was nothing. Just rough walls that closed in on him from every direction.

Can’t breath...

His chest tightened.

A crushing weight settled over him, pressing down, squeezing, stealing the rhythm of his breathing. He tried to inhale—

—but the air wouldn’t come.

His breaths turned sharp and shallow. Each one taking effort to be released.

"...No... no..." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

His voice trembled, cracking as panic seeped in, and tears trailed down. His heart pounded violently against his ribs.

Something was watching him.

He couldn’t see it...but he felt it.

From the corners.

From the walls.

From right behind him.

Kyle spun around, his back slamming into the wall again as his hands flew to his chest, clutching at his shirt as if that could force his lungs to work.

"I’ll be better—I promise—I’ll—!"

His words collapsed into ragged gasps.

Tears blurred what little his eyes could perceive in the darkness, but it didn’t matter.

There was nothing to see.

Only the feeling.

The walls closing in.

The air thinning.

The silence pressing harder and harder until even his thoughts began to fracture.

Kyle slid down against the wall, his small body curling in on itself, knees pulled tightly to his chest as if he could make himself smaller...small enough to survive this space.

Just do anything but survive this darkness.

....

"Huuh..." Kyle let out a slow breath as he opened his eyes and stared out the window.

The bus was already moving. The students had settled into their seats.

There was a reason Kyle had never truly felt alive during all those years under his parents’ guardianship.

They always expected perfection from him. As a child of Astortia, even being second was never an option.

And if he ever failed to meet their expectations, all that awaited him was fear and pain.

Blake had always been the brilliant one in the house.

Even if Kyle spent years mastering something through sheer grit and effort, Blake would surpass him effortlessly, carried by natural talent.

And that only made things worse.

Kyle knew it was unfair, the way he sometimes looked at his brother with resentment. He never wanted to harm him. If anything, Blake had saved him on more than one occasion.

But when one child became a monster in every field he touched, the other was bound to become a symbol of disappointment.

Today... what Ethan did to him brought all of that rushing back.

It reminded Kyle of what he had escaped.

He had developed a deep fear of enclosed, dark spaces, all thanks to his loving father, who chose the cruelest method to punish a child.

Honestly, a few slaps or extra work would have been far better than being locked away and left to rot in a place where not even rats could survive.

Not many things he had learned from his father, but there was one lesson he carried clearly.

How not to be one.

Kyle knew that if he ever had a child, he would never let them go through anything even remotely similar to what he had endured.

"Kyle..."

His thoughts broke as someone called from his left.

He turned to see Amanda. The entire back row was empty except for her.

"What did he do to you, Kyle? You don’t usually lose your cool like this," she asked softly, holding his hand.

Kyle gave a light, teasing smile. "Are you going to hate me now?"

Amanda frowned. "You know that’s not possible. I just want to know what Ethan did that made you that angry."

Amanda knew Kyle better than anyone.

She had seen how he handled things.

People had tried to bully him before, some out of jealousy, others because he refused to support them financially.

Kyle came from a wealthy family, so there were always those who tried to become his ’friends’ just to leech off him. But he never entertained such people, and that made him a target for many.

Even then, Kyle never let anyone overwhelm him.

The way he handled things was simple. He would say something so sharp and embarrassing that it shut the other person down before things could escalate.

And even when it did turn into a fight, he was never the one to throw the first punch.

So what happened today naturally surprised her.

Kyle let out a slow sigh and leaned back in his seat.

Looking out the window, he said, "He just reopened a few wounds I never wanted anyone to even glance at."

Amanda’s heart grew heavy. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Kyle gave a faint smile before turning to her. "Oh? Didn’t we break up? Why should I share my sob story with a random girl?"

Amanda’s shoulders relaxed slightly, but the concern in her eyes didn’t fade. "Didn’t we start the same way? Two strangers finding comfort in each other? The difference is, back then I was the one relying on you... but this time, please rely on me, Kyle."

Kyle looked into her deep eyes in silence.

If his father had been the curse of his life... then Amanda was the blessing he never deserved.

With a quiet sigh, he decided to tell her.