The happiest time of his day was always between five and seven in the morning.
That was when he took Evan out back, up into the hills, for training.
If Evan needed to train for an extra hour, that just meant more time together—and honestly, that made him even happier.
“So, from now on, we’ll train for an extra hour every night. Then you can head home, get cleaned up, and hit the sack.”
“Deal!” Evan grinned.
The two of them—one old, one young—agreed on their new plan, slipped on their face masks, and headed for the gym.
The place was buzzing with energy. Outside the gym, a bunch of people were streaming live on their phones.
Most of them were local influencers from Thyania, chattering away in rapid-fire Thai that neither Evan nor the old man could understand.
Since they couldn’t make out a word, they just ignored the fuss and strolled up to the entrance.
At the ticket booth out front, two burly Thyanian guys were on duty. With their thick arms and intimidating scowls, they looked like they could bench-press a truck.
When they spotted Evan and the old man, one of the bouncers wrinkled his nose and asked in choppy English, “This is a gym. What you want here?”
Evan held up his smartwatch and scrolled to his invitation. “We’re here for the match. See? Punikon sent me this. He invited us.”
The two guards glanced at the screen. “You are…?”
Evan said, “I’m Punikon’s classmate. And this is my great-grandpa.”
The guards exchanged a look, then waved them through—but not without tossing out a jab: “You Zhinorian folks, so skinny! You better watch from the balcony upstairs. If the crowd knocks you over, we’re not responsible!”
“Yeah, yeah, we got it,” Evan said, brushing off the sarcasm as he and his great-grandpa walked inside.
This was the biggest Thyanian gym in the country—at least a thousand square meters on the first floor alone. In the center was a raised boxing ring, where all the big matches went down.
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