Perhaps, to Gon now, Hisoka was both an enemy he wanted to kill and a tool he could use to grow stronger.
Looking at Gon, who was even more eager to fight than before,
Cordis couldn't help worrying.
He reached out to stroke Gon's head and said,
"You'd better stay away from Hisoka. I hear he's incredibly sly and treacherous."
"It's good that you want to get stronger, but you still need to be careful."
Gon obediently nodded.
But Cordis knew Gon's personality. Those words would pass through him like a breeze, gone as soon as it blew by.
Speak of the devil.
Cordis had been planning to take the opportunity to say a few more things about Hisoka,
to get Gon and Killua to stay away from him.
But before he could say much more, an arm silently settled across his shoulders.
Then he heard Hisoka's lilting voice, dripping with flirtation.
"Long time no see, Pai Pai~♥"
Hisoka did everything without a sound, and Cordis startled easily.
This time, he nearly scared Cordis into passing out on the spot.
Hisoka had concealed his presence very well.
So Gon and the others only noticed him once his arm was already resting on Cordis's shoulders.
Gon looked at Hisoka leaning against Cordis's shoulder.
In an instant, the urge to fight flared up inside him again.
Without caring about the gap in their strength, he raised his fist and charged straight at Hisoka.
Fortunately, Cordis stopped him in time.
Once Cordis had calmed himself down,
he looked at Hisoka standing before him, smiling with his hands on his hips, and knew he was up to no good again.
"Hisoka... did you need something from me?"
Hisoka put on a sorrowful expression and leaned toward Cordis.
"Honestly~ You went off to play with Chrollo without even taking me along~"
Chrollo? Was Hisoka talking about the Febola Stone incident? How was that playing? That was work!
Cordis pushed away Hisoka, who kept crowding closer, and said,
"I was working! How was that playing?"
The mention of work piqued Hisoka's interest again. He held out his hand toward Cordis, asking for something.
Cordis stared at Hisoka's outstretched hand, apparently not understanding what he meant, his face full of confusion.
Hisoka helplessly pointed at Cordis's clothes and the glove on his right hand.
"That outfit and glove were all charged to my card, you know~ How are you planning to pay me back?~"
That left Cordis embarrassed. Put that way, Hisoka really was his creditor.
Didn't everyone say Hisoka didn't care about money? I thought he'd forgotten about it.
Just as Cordis was wondering how to resolve this,
Killua, standing beside him, angrily pointed at Hisoka.
"You idiot! You're the one who tore off Cordis's arm! You should be grateful he hasn't made you pay compensation!"
Hisoka rubbed his chin and considered it seriously for a while before saying,
"In that case, I suppose I won't charge you for the glove~"
Only then did Killua nod in satisfaction.
Gon, whom Cordis had been holding back in his arms the whole time, suddenly looked up and asked,
"Cordis, how much did your outfit cost?"
The question made Cordis rather embarrassed. Right now, he felt like a drunkard father who had gambled away the family fortune.
Facing his children's innocent question: "Dad, how much did you lose gambling today?"
But no matter what, he would have to face this moment eventually.
He simply hadn't expected it to come so soon.
Now Cordis didn't even dare look into Gon and Killua's bright eyes.
He stammered,
"Only... three hundred million JN... I think."
"Wait, how much did you say? Three hundred million? Your clothes cost three hundred million?!"
Killua questioned him in disbelief. The two of them had worked hard for almost two or three weeks just to scrape together four hundred million.
And Cordis had spent three hundred million on a single outfit.
Were those pants made of gold, or was the shirt made of gold?
Although Gon had little concept of money, even he was visibly startled when he heard three hundred million.
Killua tried his best to calm down. Hadn't Cordis said he'd been working?
It certainly wouldn't be as much as three hundred million, but every little bit he could repay helped.
"Then how much did you earn from that job?"
That question only made Cordis even more afraid to meet Killua's eyes.
He instinctively averted his gaze, not daring to speak.
Seeing Cordis's expression, Killua had a bad feeling, though he only assumed the job hadn't paid much.
Under the assault of Gon and Killua's stares, Cordis finally lowered his head in shame and said,
"Seven hundred thousand JN."
Killua nodded. That was a reasonably decent wage.
"I spent it all."
"Huh?!"
Spent it? All of it? All seven hundred thousand JN?
"Did you spend it on prostitutes?! You spent all of it?"
Cordis had originally wanted to lie and bluff his way past Killua, but he abandoned the idea when he saw the murderous look in Killua's eyes.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to tell the truth.
"I just bought a brooch."
Cordis would have been better off not explaining. His explanation only made Killua angrier.
Killua looked at Cordis with exasperated disappointment. If there hadn't been so many people around, he might have punched him.
After hearing Cordis's explanation, Hisoka, who was standing nearby,
also shook his head helplessly.
Spreading his hands, he walked over to Cordis, leaned close to his ear, and whispered,
"How about this~ Do me a favor~ Then you won't have to repay that three hundred million~ In fact, I'll give you another five hundred thousand JN~"
Cordis gave him a wary look.
"As long as it's nothing too outrageous, I could do that."
But seeing the triumphant look on Hisoka's face, Cordis couldn't shake a bad feeling.
Still, when he thought of the three hundred million in debt and the five hundred thousand JN reward, Cordis ultimately chose to take the risk.
How difficult could it possibly be?
I'd survived the hardest things in my life. Why should I be afraid of one measly Hisoka?
At that thought, an inexplicable confidence rose within Cordis.
Hisoka leaned close to Cordis's face and murmured,
"I'll need to borrow your body~❤"
That truly startled Cordis. He'd known Hisoka was a pervert, but he'd never imagined he was this much of one!
A twenty-seven-year-old old man, and he still wanted to fool around with a nineteen-year-old boy!
Just as Cordis was considering punching Hisoka when he wasn't looking,
Gon, still in his arms, lost his patience first.
He struggled free of Cordis's embrace, clenched his fist, and swung straight at Hisoka.
Unfortunately, Hisoka sidestepped and dodged the punch.
Stop rushing me, stop rushing me.
Even a donkey on a production team needs rest.
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