In the dead silence, the two examiners who were still standing finally moved.
"It was our mistake, so you should receive a passing grade," Bindo said through gritted teeth, his voice full of reluctance.
"I'll give you a passing grade too," Rogov added in an even tone.
Everyone's eyes settled on the White-haired boy, wondering: Would he accept the examiners' apology?
The blue-eyed White-haired boy ground his foot down harder on the head beneath it and smiled maliciously. "No. I don't feel any sincerity from you at all."
"When you've done something wrong, you have to put more effort into your apology."
"At least try harder and make me happy."
He bent down and grabbed the other man by the hair with one hand, forcing him to look up.
His words struck the examinees and examiners alike as strangely familiar.
Thinking back, they realized that this so-called sincerity was exactly the same as the examiners' words when they'd judged them not long ago.
"...We are... very... sorry. Our earlier verdict was too hasty. Please let Hutori go," Bindo apologized one word at a time, his face so dark it looked as if his entire family had been murdered.
"...We've felt the sincerity in your cooking," Rogov added, though he clearly didn't mean it.
To be honest, being forced to eat food that had already been knocked onto the ground hadn't made him feel anyone's sincerity. He'd only tasted dirt and grass.
"How does my cooking taste?" Su Wu pressed on.
"...Very... delicious." After saying this, Bindo seemed to lose most of his energy in an instant.
"Mmm, very delicious," Rogov replied in a low voice.
"Pfft—" Su Wu snickered and looked down at the man embedded in the pit. "What do you think?"
"You—" Hutori spat out a mouthful of dirt, his expression clenched with rage.
"Watch your tone. That's no way to apologize, Examiner." Su Wu tightened his grip and slammed the other man's face back into the pit with a bang, irritably reminding him.
He was already barely tolerating his constant headache and had run out of patience. How could these guys not read the room?
Three seconds later, he hauled the man's head up again.
"...It's... delicious." Covered in dirt, Hutori spoke stiffly, one word at a time.
"Then we're all set. I've passed the cooking section, right?" Su Wu let go and stood up, dusting off his hands as if they were dirty.
The three examiners said nothing. Su Wu looked from one to the next.
"Of course. You've passed," Bindo admitted with a grim expression.
"Good." The blue-eyed White-haired boy spoke as though he were relieved.
"Cooking for people isn't something I should be doing at all. I'm definitely not doing it again." He headed toward the depths of the forest, but his keen ears picked up a string of laughter behind him.
It was excited, feverish laughter, almost breathless—the kind of laugh that, in an anime, immediately told you the character was a pervert.
And the only pervert here was—
Su Wu remained expressionless and didn't look back at Hisoka.
He didn't need to look to know that Hisoka had probably set his sights on him.
After all, Hisoka had entered the Hunter Exam to find opponents—and promising young sprouts who might become powerful opponents in the future.
After what Su Wu had just shown, there was no reason for Hisoka not to take an interest in him.
Besides, even without turning around, he could sense the other man's surging battle lust.
The examinees still there were in for a rough time...
Well, it had nothing to do with him anyway.
The White-haired boy gradually vanished from everyone's sight, and the blond figure hurried after him.
Everyone turned their attention back to the exam.
"Failed!" "Terrible!"
"Is this feed, or is it supposed to be for people?"
"I'd rather eat a plate of mud scooped out of a ditch!"
The three examiners seemed to vent their anger on the other examinees, and their comments were even more ruthless than before.
"Heh heh heh—" When the red-haired man received the examiners' scathing criticism, he merely licked the playing card in his hand, a muffled, twisted laugh rising from his throat.
"I..." His face flushed, and his voice grew breathy.
"Can't hold back any longer..." Before he'd even finished speaking, the cards in his hand shot out, reaping the lives of everyone present.
Sensing several lives disappear at once behind him, Su Wu didn't look back. "You'd better split off from me now."
He spoke to Maro, who was following behind him.
"Is something wrong?" Maro froze for a moment, then immediately asked with concern.
"A battle maniac will come looking for me before long. I'm not going out of my way to protect you." Su Wu clicked his tongue and waved his hand casually.
If those three examiners hadn't been so annoying, he wouldn't have had to act.
Seriously.
"With your strength, if you keep following me, you'll die for sure." Knowing that Hisoka had set his sights on him, he wasn't the least bit worried. He even had time to mock Maro's abilities.
"I understand. If I keep following you, I'll only hold you back." Maro nodded solemnly and turned to leave.
"Please be careful, sir." There was no worry in his voice, as if he firmly believed that the boy before him would definitely win.
He left without the slightest hesitation.
Maro's nearly blind confidence in him made Su Wu rub his chin.
He really should be a little more careful. Hisoka was a difficult opponent, after all.
Without having fought him, Su Wu couldn't say for certain which of them was stronger.
It was hard to compare fighters from different worlds, after all.
Su Wu figured his current strength was roughly equivalent to four or five of Sukuna's Fingers. As for Hisoka, it was hard to tell. His life energy was extremely vigorous, but with a power system like Nen, how much strength someone could bring to bear depended on how thoroughly they'd developed their ability.
Judging by the way Hisoka used abilities like Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise, he'd clearly developed his powers very well. He might even have other uses for them.
Thinking about it, he really was troublesome.
Other people's Nen abilities were so useful, while his own was completely unpredictable.
Well... once he'd figured out what the cards could generally do, he'd be able to get a better handle on his Nen ability.
"Seriously, shouldn't Hisoka's attention have been drawn to those two nonhumans..." Su Wu lowered his eyes. Just then, a spotless little lamb darted out of the grass, ran into his foot as if trying to stage an accident, and flopped to the ground with a splat.
If he remembered right, it was the pet the younger sister of those two nonhuman siblings had been carrying.
How had it ended up over here? Those two nonhumans were—
He closed his eyes and searched for the two beings who stood out vividly to his Six Eyes.
After a moment, he found that the pair weren't very close.
Then he might as well go find them. There was something he wanted to ask them anyway.
"Trying to frame me? Should I turn you into a whole roast lamb?" Su Wu picked up the lamb that had tried to stage an accident and gave it a shake, speaking with gleeful malice.
The lamb seemed not to understand him and bleated repeatedly.
Still shaking it, Su Wu headed toward the two nonhumans.
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