Real and Fake Examiners

Leorio instantly tensed up, but Kurapika grabbed hold of him.

Satotz kept walking without any reaction.

Kurapika whispered, "It's an Imitation Bird. Don't go over there."

Gon bent down, picked up a rock, and threw it toward the sound.

"Caw—" A strange cry rang out. A huge bird flapped into the air, still making a woman's cries for help through its beak. The voice grew fainter as it flew away.

Leorio collapsed weakly. "It really was a bird..."

Gon patted the dirt from his hands. "The direction of the voice was wrong. If it were a real person, the sound should've come from the ground."

Killua whistled. "Not bad, hedgehog head."

Screams began to echo through the thick fog.

One scream. Then another. Then the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

The examinees began looking around uneasily. No one could see what was happening, but the screams kept getting closer. Satotz never stopped walking, and the clacking of his wooden sandals never changed.

A voice came from the fog. Low, hoarse, and tinged with laughter.

"Failed. Next."

Another scream rang out.

Killua clicked his tongue. "That guy's playing examiner. He thinks the exam's too boring, so he made himself an examiner and is eliminating anyone he thinks doesn't qualify."

The screams came faster and faster. The examinees around them began to flee—some ran left, some ran right, and some crouched on the ground, trembling. Shadows swayed in the fog like a herd of frightened animals.

Leorio's forehead was covered in sweat. "That guy... just how many people has he killed...?"

Gon clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Kurapika's face had gone pale, but his steps remained steady. Tonpa huddled at the very edge of the group, the smile completely gone from his face.

An Imitation Bird swooped down from a dead tree. Its wings folded in, its pointed beak aimed at the back of Saitama's head.

Saitama didn't turn around.

The Imitation Bird suddenly slammed on the brakes about half a meter above his head. Its wings snapped open, and it came to an abrupt halt in midair as if it had hit an invisible wall. It let out a short, strange cry, veered away on its own, and frantically flapped off.

Saitama never stopped walking, as though nothing had happened.

In the fog, an examinee fled blindly and ran straight into Hisoka.

Hisoka stepped aside. A playing card spun once between his fingers.

The examinee fell to the ground. When he looked up and saw Hisoka's face, his entire body froze.

Hisoka looked down at him and tilted his head.

"You were trembling just now."

The examinee opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Hisoka smiled. "Failed."

The playing card fell. The examinee collapsed to the ground.

Hisoka continued forward. There were already very few examinees still running through the fog.

His gaze swept over the few figures still moving ahead—the hedgehog-headed kid, the silver-haired kid, the blond one, the one in sunglasses.

And one bald man.

Saitama was walking at the back of the group. In the fog, he sensed someone blocking his path.

He stopped.

Hisoka stood two steps away. He held a playing card in his hand, and his makeup stood out sharply in the mist—a star and a teardrop.

He stared at Saitama. From head to toe, then from toe to head.

Saitama stared back at him.

This guy had been staring at him on the ship. Back then, he'd shoved his hand into his pocket and gripped a playing card so hard his knuckles had turned white. Now he was directly blocking the way.

What are you looking at?

But this guy seemed like an important character. That big guy on the ship had been one thing—he'd hit him, and that was that. But this was different. Saitama remembered that this guy had a lot more scenes later in the anime. Would killing him mess up the plot?

Whatever.

Saitama spoke. "Need something?"

Hisoka fell silent for a moment. There was nothing about this man that was "worth killing"—no fighting spirit, no fear, no intent to battle. He didn't even have Nen. He was like a rock.

A bald man in a discounted T-shirt bought from a supermarket, with a gray stain on it. Not a Nen user, not a battle maniac, not prey. He wasn't even a qualified toy.

But.

That Imitation Bird had clearly dived at him, only to turn away in midair on its own.

Hisoka had seen it.

He couldn't have been mistaken.

This man...

Forget it. Not worth it. Killing him wouldn't even be fun. Too boring.

Hisoka stepped aside and cleared the way.

Saitama walked past him. His pace was neither fast nor slow, as if he were taking a stroll.

Hisoka watched him leave. The playing card spun once in his hand before he tucked it back into his pocket.

Suddenly, he wanted another look. Hisoka turned back and looked at Saitama again.

The bald man was walking away, still neither fast nor slow. Just like he was taking a stroll.

He really did look like an ordinary person.

No.

Something was off.

An ordinary person wouldn't make an Imitation Bird fly away. An ordinary person wouldn't keep his breathing steady in such thick fog. An ordinary person wouldn't make him—Hisoka—decide that killing him would be too boring.

There had to be something wrong with this man. But Hisoka couldn't see what it was.

That feeling irritated Hisoka a little. But it didn't matter. If this guy was really interesting, they would meet again sooner or later. Killing him then wouldn't be too late.

Hisoka turned around and continued his examiner game. There were still a few unqualified examinees in the fog that he hadn't dealt with.

Meanwhile, Saitama had no idea that a pervert had taken an interest in him. He was thinking about something else—whether there was a supermarket in this marshland.

After walking for so long, he was a little thirsty. He wanted a canned fruit juice. Not the kind Tonpa had tampered with. Just a normal one. Grape flavor would be best.

Forget it. Like there'd be one here. I'll just follow Gon for now. We'll talk after we get out.

After Saitama had walked away, another figure appeared in the fog.

He wore the exact same black suit as Satotz, with the same gait and the same build. He hurried up to a group of examinees and blocked their path.

"Stop! I'm the real examiner! The person ahead is a Man-faced Ape in disguise. It'll lead you into a magical beast nest and eat you!"

The examinees stopped and exchanged uneasy looks.

Gon frowned. Leorio blurted, "What?!" Kurapika calmly watched the two "Satotzes"—one leading the way up ahead, the other standing in front of them.

The fake examiner continued shouting, "Don't believe it! Follow me, I know a safe route—"

He turned and headed in another direction. Several examinees hesitated, preparing to follow him.

A playing card flew out of the fog.

It sliced precisely into the fake examiner's neck.

The fake examiner stopped. His body swayed, and he fell to the ground.

Hisoka emerged from the mist, two more cards still pinched between his fingers.

He looked at the fake examiner lying on the ground. "A real examiner wouldn't stop in a place like this to talk to you."

The "Satotz" on the ground began to transform—his face twisted, fur sprouted across his body, and his mouth protruded forward. A Man-faced Ape. It struggled to run.

The second playing card flew over and embedded itself in the back of its head.

The Man-faced Ape stopped moving completely.

Hisoka put away his remaining cards and glanced at the examinees around him.

"Keep running."

He turned and walked into the fog.

Satotz never stopped walking. From beginning to end, he never looked back even once.

The thick fog began to thin. First, they could see figures five meters away, then ten, then twenty. The mist seemed to be sucked away by something, rapidly dispersing.

An open clearing appeared ahead. At the far end stood a massive iron gate, with a wooden sign hanging above it—Visca Forest Park.

The examinees emerged from the fog one after another. Nearly half as many remained as had entered the marshland.

Satotz stopped and turned around.

"We've arrived. The first test is over."

He pressed the timer.

"Those who pass through this gate will enter the second test."

After saying that, he stood beside the gate without another word.

The iron gates slowly opened. Beyond them lay a vast forest park—towering trees, sunlight filtering down through the branches and leaves. It was a completely different world from the gloom of the marshland.

Two examiners stood at the entrance. A man and a woman.

The woman crossed her arms and swept her gaze over the crowd with a frown. Menchi.

The man had an enormous belly and stood there like a wall of flesh. Buhara.

Menchi spoke, her tone impatient. "The second test is—cooking."