Election

P.S.: Rolling around begging for votes, QAQ----------

"Ha ha ha, you Chimera Ants did exceptionally well this time. Not only did you take down the bandit leader Jed, but you also wiped out all the evil remnants of the Shadow Clan."

"You Chimera Ants really handled things cleanly and efficiently. You saved us quite a bit of trouble."

"Well done. Keep it up." "Chief Meruem, would the Chimera Ants be interested in working within my territory?"

"Not at all. This was simply my duty. Resolving troubles for all of you is part of my responsibility."

"The young man is very humble." "Neither arrogant nor impatient—he's a promising one."

That was the conversation when Meruem reported back to the leaders. Having witnessed Meruem's strength, quite a few big shots extended olive branches to him. However, Meruem politely declined them. His occupation of the East Gorteau Republic had not yet been exposed. After all, aside from the royal palace, the entire country was still functioning normally. Moreover, that Digo was merely the real Digo's double. Simply put, no matter what the fake Digo did, the country would continue operating as usual. No matter what became of the royal palace, the outside world would never know. Ordinary citizens would never go to the palace in the first place, and Meruem's growing church was also in that country. It had to be said that the East Gorteau Republic and NGL were both rather bizarre countries: one could function normally without a leader, while the other had no electronic products at all. Then there was the country of Nasubi Hui Guo Rou from the Dark Continent arc—Hunter World's national leaders truly were all quite distinctive.

Besides that, the Hunter Association headquarters being struck by a nuclear missile for unknown reasons became the second major incident after Chairman Netero's death. The Hunter Association had suffered many terrorist attacks before, but this was the most devastating one. Fortunately, the Association's Hunters were usually out on assignments rather than staying at headquarters. Only some administrative staff, documents, and a small number of Association members had died. Documents and facilities were secondary; the Association could not bear heavy personnel losses. After all, there were only around six to seven hundred active Hunters still alive.

"The only regret is that old man Netero left that videotape behind so early. I originally thought the headquarters suffering such a devastating blow, coupled with the Hunter Association Chairman's death, would inflict considerable losses on the Hunter Association. Looks like I was still too young. The Hunter Association truly deserves to be called a major organization that has existed for centuries. They actually announced that Netero's own negligence had caused Heaven's Arena to be destroyed and the Hunter Association to be attacked, pinning both incidents on Netero and saying he resigned and retired out of guilt. But without Netero, let's see who would dare lead a team into my territory to cause trouble." Listening to his subordinates' reports, Meruem leaned against his throne, casually pinching a game piece in one hand.

"Now that they need to elect a new Chairman, the Hunter Association should be too busy to worry about anything else. Gon and Killua alone, even with Knuckle, Shoot, and Palm added in, pose no threat to me at all. Even Portwhite Gigante and the Zodiac Twelve would not be enough."

Hunter Association Temporary conference hall

"I object! At a time like this, you still have the mood to elect a new Chairman? Headquarters was attacked! Headquarters! This is an open provocation against our Hunter Association!" Bucida Dots, a flashy young man dressed like the delinquent boss from a Japanese high school anime, with even his art style resembling JOJO's, slammed his hand heavily against the table.

"My, my. Even if we intend to retaliate, shouldn't we at least investigate who the enemy is first? And without a Chairman, there would be no one to lead us in doing so, right?" Pariston maintained his usual smile. Though Bucida Dots was only a one-star Hunter, he had considerable prestige within the Hunter Association. He was like the Association's disciplinary committee, often standing up against things he disliked. He was the sort of Hunter with a powerful presence. Since his strength was not too poor, he was qualified to attend the Hunter Association's high-level meetings. However, his strength was nowhere near that of Morel, who was also a one-star Hunter.

"Do we even need to investigate? Anyone with eyes can see that the monster calling himself the King of the Chimera Ants was the one who killed Chairman Netero, right? And why are you sitting in the real Chairman's seat?" Bucida Dots pointed at Pariston, who sat in the middle. At the same time, his spit flew continuously toward Pariston's perpetually smug smiling face, yet Pariston was not drowned by the army of saliva. Just imagine it: everyone was seated along both sides of the table, while Pariston alone sat at the center. Normally, only the leader would sit there.

"But the higher-ups of every country have already forbidden us from taking action against those ants, and we have no proof that the Chairman's death was related to those people." At least, they could not act openly and on a large scale, Pariston silently added. As for the remark about sitting in the real Chairman's seat, Pariston naturally avoided that subject.

"Calm down, Bucida Dots. Vice Chairman Pariston is right. Electing a leader now truly is of vital importance." Traisein, a two-star Brain Hunter skilled at cultivating talent, looked like a middle-aged politician. Though his combat ability was not strong, he was highly respected within the Hunter Association. After all, he had trained quite a few younger Hunters, though none of them were particularly outstanding and were mostly mediocre.

"I also think the Vice Chairman's proposal is good." A thick-lipped Black Hunter spoke. Lube, a Lost Item Hunter, was one of the reformists in the original election arc who wanted to amend the Hunter Ten Articles, as well as one of the trio who stopped Illumi.

Because the Hunter Association had suffered a major incident, it did not decide on the Chairman election with only the Zodiac Twelve as it had in the original work. Instead, it gathered "higher-ups" from the Hunter Association who had great prestige and numerous supporters to make the decision together. Aside from the three mentioned above, there were also the Hunter Association's oldest Hunter, two-star Gourmet Hunter Linnet Ordevre; the Hunter Association's mom—cough, cough, older sister—two-star Gem Hunter Biscuit; the Hunter Association's flower, one-star Virus Hunter Sampika; the Hunter Association's mascot, the one-star Cute Hunter Cute*Beauty, who looked like Smoochum; and the eternally shut-in one-star Hacker Hunter Ickshonpe, who claimed to be a resident of the computer world.

Bucida Dots, Lube, and Traisein belonged to the faction opposed to the Chairman. Biscuit and Linnet Ordevre belonged to the Chairman's faction. Biscuit was a master of the Heart Source Style, which Netero had created, while Linnet Ordevre had an extraordinary relationship with the Chairman. Sampika, Ickshonpe, and Cute*Beauty represented the ordinary members of the Hunter Association. Of course, even the Zodiac Twelve, who had been loyal to Chairman Netero, were divided into many factions. For instance, the reformist hawks were Monkey, Rabbit, and Chicken; the liberals were Horse, Tiger, and Snake; the conservative moderates were Dragon, Ox, Dog, and Sheep. Then there were two who stood outside those factions: one fool, Ging, and one idiot, Pariston. Thus, the relationships among these Hunter Association "higher-ups" were incredibly—complicated.

Of course, those people were not the Hunter Association's highest combat power. They were merely the "higher-ups" responsible for normal operations and commissions, generally in charge of convening or announcing matters. Several of the strongest Hunters were not in the Association, and sometimes even Netero could not contact them. Those with great strength tended to have strange personalities. Not everyone possessed an overwhelming desire for power. Experts who had reached their level generally did not obsess over authority and simply acted as they pleased. Naturally, the Hunter Association also had many powerful people, such as Morel, but they generally kept a low profile and did not flaunt themselves. Yet their actual abilities and overall strength were extremely formidable. Incidentally, without the achievements from the Chimera Ant arc, Morel was not known to the public and remained the same low-key one-star Hunter as before.

"Now then, everyone, I have a proposal!" Pariston flashed a mouthful of white teeth and raised his right index finger.

"I don't want to hear it."

"Seconded!"

"Seconded! +1"

"Seconded! +10086"

"Ah ha ha ha, the motion to second is invalid. Everyone knows that, after all, I'm the Vice Chairman, so my official position is slightly above yours. I imagine everyone wants this to end quickly, right? How about this? I'll take the loss and shoulder the burden by nominating myself as a Chairman candidate. Then could everyone refrain from participating in the election?" As though he had not heard anyone's complaints, Pariston continued speaking to himself.

Then he felt the "kind" gazes of everyone present.

"I'll kill you! You little bastard who doesn't know the meaning of death!" Wei Yang, who had previously been sobbing like a dead sissy over the Chairman's death, instantly transformed into a wrathful guardian deity.

"Do you want to die?" Though Kanzai had no intention of making a move because of his injuries, the sharp claws he exposed suggested that he might very well take a swipe at Pariston amid the chaos.

"You damned bastard! I've found you irritating from the very start!" With a slap, followed by another slap against the innocent table, Bucida Dots pointed at Pariston's nose and began roaring wildly. This time, even Traisein and Lube did not stop Bucida Dots. Naturally, some people did not care at all, such as Ging, whose wrapped-up hairstyle resembled Afanti's head; Ickshonpe, who was still typing away on his computer; Linnet Ordevre, who held a cup and drank its tea; and the soft-looking girl Sampika. These people were indifferent about who became Hunter Association Chairman.

"My, my, everyone, don't get so worked up. How frightening. Aren't you just wasting everyone's time? The voting result is already obvious at a glance." Pariston continued, seemingly unafraid of death.

This once again provoked public outrage.

"No one here will vote for you!"

"Sixteen people. There are only sixteen people here in total. Do you know how many people the Hunter Association has altogether?"

"..."

Just as everyone continued endlessly arguing over the issue of the Hunter Association Chairman,

Ging suddenly spoke.

But once he spoke, it was truly earth-shattering.

"I'll nominate myself. I'll inherit that old man's will."

"...I don't want to vote for either of those two."

This time, everyone reached a consensus.