Gelman Awakens Before the Bell Tower

Caw, caw, caw—

The restless cawing of crows startled the black-haired young man from his hazy slumber. He sat up, feeling drowsy, and let out a yawn, looking around at his unfamiliar surroundings in a daze.

Once he regained his senses, he couldn't help but look surprised.

Where is this? How did I get here?

He tilted his head, his gaze passing through the tangled branches to look upward, where a grey, full moon hung in the night sky.

Ah... I see. Is it because I spent the whole night playing Bloodborne that my dream has turned into this?

Bloodborne is truly a bane; this must be a conspiracy by Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Not only that, but it's a lucid dream... I really shouldn't have pulled an all-nighter.

"Gehrman, Chrollo wants to see you. Follow me."

Suddenly, a cold female voice drifted out from the shadows of the dilapidated courtyard.

Hm?!

The black-haired young man was startled by the sudden voice, only then noticing a petite female silhouette in the shadows.

When he heard what the woman said clearly, he pointed at himself in confusion.

"Are... are you calling me?"

Gehrman? Or, to use the other translation—Gelman—isn't that the name of the first hunter in history who wielded a giant scythe?

The young woman sighed as if she had no other choice.

"I saw you dozing off just now... are you still not awake? Is there anyone else here named 'Gehrman'?"

The petite woman stepped out from the shadows, revealing a messy, pink ponytail. Her eyes gazed at Gehrman with indifference.

"I had a premonition before that you and I wouldn't get along. I didn't expect it to be proven so quickly."

She turned around and, regardless of Gehrman's reaction, walked straight toward a long-abandoned bell tower.

Watching the young woman's figure grow smaller in the distance, Gehrman suddenly felt a chill wash over him, making his hair stand on end.

He pressed his thumb and forefinger together and pinched his arm hard; a sharp, real pain followed.

This doesn't seem like a dream.

Yes, I have arrived in another world. This is not a lucid dream, and it is certainly not the dreamscape from Bloodborne.

After the initial few seconds of shock, Gehrman regained his composure.

He was someone who had to deal with emergencies every day; it was his professional instinct.

In short, the top priority right now was to go along with the situation and avoid giving himself away.

This isn't a game; people only have one life. I need to think carefully about how to proceed.

He slowly rose from the stone bench where he had been sitting and followed the young woman at a steady, unhurried pace.

With fair skin and a nimble gait, it seems I possess a body as young as the one I had before.

Passing a reflective glass window, he took the opportunity to check his appearance.

He looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, handsome, especially his eyes—pure and bright like agate, yet deep and vast like the cosmos.

He wore a triangular black hat and a rustic, worn black overcoat.

The starting image isn't bad at all.

Once his train of thought opened up, fragments of incomplete memories flooded his mind, piecing together the past of the man named Gehrman.

The good news is that this is definitely not Bloodborne.

The bad news is that this is the world of Hunter x Hunter.

A world where you might take your wife out of the city, eat hot pot, and sing songs, only to be inexplicably slaughtered.

The line between justice and evil here is extremely thin; one cannot view this world through the lens of a modern Earthling.

The original Gehrman was a man who committed evil for his own benefit.

He hailed from Meteor City. His parents had both died when he was young, so he survived by stealing and plundering.

People often joke that "Gotham City is full of simple folk, and Arkham is full of talent."

Meteor City is equally deserving of the label "full of talent."

Because the living environment there was so harsh, those who worshipped the law of the jungle were everywhere, cultivating a group of extreme villains.

Gehrman was one of them.

In his youth, to survive, he was forced to awaken his "Nen"—a concept in the Hunter x Hunter universe that allows one to generate and use life energy known as "Aura."

Later, Gehrman's Nen gradually evolved into a "Nen ability"—"Enhancer type - Hunter Badge."

The Hunter Badge took the form of a rusted, broken fragment the size of a palm, and its ability was simple.

Using the manifested item, Gehrman could participate in the process of ending a life within a short period and absorb the lingering "grudge" of that life.

As long as the accumulated "amount of resentment" reaches a certain level, it can condense into a "Grudge Bestowal."

Theoretically, the higher the "quality of resentment," the higher the quality of the condensed Grudge Bestowal.

Having awakened his Nen ability, Gelman used his Hunter Badge to slit the throat of a merchant in Meteor City who held a monopoly on prices.

The resentment of the merchant, who died after bleeding uncontrollably, condensed into the "Meat Saw"—a rather handy, transformable killing weapon.

Relying on the Meat Saw, Gelman rose from the blood-soaked streets of Meteor City, successfully made his way into the outside world, and became a professional assassin.

Later, he used this same Meat Saw to hack the gang leader who had always looked down on and exploited him into pieces of meat.

The gang leader's resentment condensed into the "Short-barreled Hand Cannon"—a firearm capable of functioning like a shotgun.

A Meat Saw, a hand cannon, and a clean, efficient way of doing things allowed Gelman to make a name for himself among professional assassins.

Not long ago, he also killed his partner of many years, an intermediary who had developed evil intentions and wanted to hoard the money for himself.

The intermediary's resentment condensed into the "Lantern"—a purple light source that almost never goes out, which also possesses the ability to teleport to a specific location.

However, when the original owner saw the only available Teleport Location, he permanently refused to use this item.

This was the original Gelman, and these were the three items of resentment he had obtained through his Hunter Badge.

With this, the current Gelman had an intuitive understanding of his situation.

This Nen ability was likely a reflection of the Bloodborne Curse setting within the Hunter x Hunter world.

Having solved the question of "who am I," the subsequent questions of "where am I" and "what should I do" also became clear.

The key figure was the young pink-haired woman currently leading Gelman toward the dilapidated Bell Tower.

Her name was Machi.

Machi's story began between 1986 and 1987.

At that time, Gelman was still in Meteor City, having just awakened his Nen.

Meanwhile, several individuals in Meteor City who shared a common will had already come together to form an organization called the "Phantom Troupe," and had purged the order of Meteor City.

The Phantom Troupe was a group of extremely united evildoers.

Machi was one of the original Phantom Troupe members.

And the Leader of the Phantom Troupe was the "Chrollo" she had just mentioned.

They had left Meteor City earlier than Gelman and had gone on a rampage in the outside world, looting, stealing, killing, and committing every evil imaginable.

By 1994, when Gelman was a moderately famous professional assassin in the world outside Meteor City, the Phantom Troupe had already committed even more horrific crimes.

It is rumored that in order to obtain the "Scarlet Eyes of the Kurta Clan," one of the "Seven Great Beauties of the World," they did not hesitate to slaughter the Kurta Clan and gouge out their eyes one by one.

The organization formed by such a group of extreme murderers and robbers reached its peak in 1996.

If you are interested in this novel, please follow the updates during the new book period (the first month after publication). Following helps the novel gain recommendations from the site. Thank you very much!

This novel contains elements of Bloodborne and Darkest Dungeon, but it is primarily based on the Hunter x Hunter worldview with modifications. It is a single-female-lead story with minimal romance; the relationship is currently planned to come to fruition in the middle to late stages.