For the first time in what felt like eons, the moon, slowly growing bleaker and bleaker through rare branches, reflected in her uncovered magenta eyes.

Waking up early never was HeeJin’s forte, neither at the best of times, nor now, after almost a week of dealing with challenge after challenge that were spat at her.

The branch HeeJin strapped herself to for this night dug into her back, but she stayed still. Once she makes the first move, then pain would hit her in full.

She wished to linger in this limbo for a bit longer.

As thought-provoking and peaceful it was, it was in times like these HeeJin yearned for an opportunity to wake up refreshed and safe on a normal bed again the most.

Being basically homeless for the last three months on top of being a runaway, she had to get used to occasionally sleeping under an open sky. Against all her previous experiences and luxurious hotels she rested in, half-decayed buildings and untraversed forests were something that slapped her with the weight of her choice better than anything else.

All the jewelry and savings and small stashes HeeJin placed years in advance were barely enough for food, transportation and lenses (of course, her lenses weren’t her worst expense, often replaced by simple sunglasses, but an expense that on a limited budget felt impactful all the same). 

Additionally, she had to move around the map much more than HeeJin anticipated.

Thankfully, she met many kind people who offered to give her a lift or to share their roof for almost free! At times she exchanged some manual labour for half-forgotten elderly in secluded villages for a meal and a night under a roof. She was young, nimble and stronger than her usual peers.

Still, it was too risky to stay for too long in one place, both for herself and all kind people who took pity on her pleading eyes.

HeeJin had to be on a run constantly, at all times.

Her family, efter all, was very much not a stranger to violent methods for getting a job done (she knew when her sister began learning by their father’s side - there was a distance slowly growing between the brilliant successor and her, youngest child of three, a hallucinating byproduct of nature that was only good for showing off on parties for her talents and beauty).

(At times she wanted to tell her that Reine can’t “taint” her, but she was too cowardly to breach the safe veil of smiles and kindness still fluttering between them.)

(She loved her sister and brother - despite them being active members of old, blood-soaked nobility of Franze.)

(She won’t have a chance to ever tell them that now.)

HeeJin sincerely hoped they were fine.

She took as many precautions as she could while stretching her funds thin.

It was the price for her freedom and her life.

…It was worth the trouble and danger.

HeeJin massaged fingertips over her calloused hands, previously tender and almost unblemished skin full of scratches and blisters - leftovers of the past few days.

Usually, the Hunter Exam had five to six phases.

This was the fourth one. HeeJin was over half done. 

Almost unbelievable.

She clenched her fists. From the force of her grip, white knuckles showed up, with some previously closed scratches tingling. 

Chuu was right. She could do it.

HeeJin would do it.

Her best and more. There was no way she had less worth or reason than other examinees to succeed, sans outliers like Hisoka. That what he was - an exception. Others?

She was ready.

Now, she only had to move. Come on, be brave, how hard could it be, really? One arm at a time…

Oh Lord above , was this hell ?!…

---

Previously, Chuu offered to tell HyunJin who her target was. After some thought, she declined, having a half-formed figure going with that number somewhere in her memory. 

Even if her guess was wrong, HyunJin wanted to face the challenge on her own.

She threw away the leftovers of her breakfast fish in the bushes and headed towards the cliffs. 

HyunJin was looking for a wide-shouldered tall man with a beige cloak and short green hair. His facial features were irrelevant in her search for him which was good, since she had zero idea what his face looked like. Probably somewhat unmemorable. It wasn’t the problem.

The real issue - HyunJin had no idea what weapon he used.

From her observations, most of the examinees who got to this point openly carried some sort of weapon. Those who weren’t either had them hidden under baggy clothes or preferred hands-on approach.

Her target's cloak had plenty of space to hide any sort of weapon underneath.

Troublesome. 

There was no point in any guessing. 

It was better to start her search.

---

Unexpectedly, HyunJin’s first encounter wasn’t with a stranger. She wasn’t sure whether to be glad or not.

She was carefully combing the island for her target when a strong scent of chemicals washed over her, making her jump back on reflex, body recognising faster than her brain. 

Was Ponzu after her? Was HyunJin her target?

Should she avoid the woman? 

No.

She needs to confirm or disprove that right away. There also was an opportunity to get an extra tag just in case HyunJin wouldn’t be able to find 124… but only if the woman decided to initiate a fight.

Her reasons for a peaceful approach to the woman stayed the same as before - chemicals, man.

She followed the scent trail until she was sure of the tree Ponzu hid in. 

HyunJin jumped up on the nearby tree, coming into view of a startled woman with wide, already analyzing eyes over a respirator-looking mask.

Ponzu was in the hollow of a tree, far above the ground, shielded from gusts of wind. Her backpack was open as she tinkered with some sort of kit spread out in front of her.

She stared for a moment, before her hand began slowly creeping to the open backpack sitting near her.

“You are not my target,” warned HyunJin before any hostile misunderstanding might occur. “But am I yours?”

Teal-haired girl squinted her eyes in confusion, then suspicion. A moment passed. “Prove it.”

HyunJin raised one of her hands as the other rummaged through her backpack’s side pocket, not looking away from the chemist’s hands. She held the prey-assigning card out. In the corner of her eye, HyunJin noticed it was facing the wrong side and flipped it over.

“Your turn.” HyunJin tensed, ready for an attack to fly at her. She was fine to show her goodwill first, since Ponzu was pretty much cornered in her hiding spot and was in a riskier position than her.

Ponzu slowly took out her target card.

103.

HyunJin breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Why did you track me?” asked Ponzu. “Were… Were you thinking I’m after you ?”

HyunJin nodded.

“Why?.. Oh, right. Just what is wrong with your sense of smell?!” incredulously said Ponzu. “Nevermind. I have no business with you. Or your insane nose.”

HyunJin paused for a second but then shook her head. ”I am not seeking an alliance, but since neither of us is after the other, do you mind answering a few questions? An exchange, maybe?”

“...Give me a minute.”

She watched as Ponzu moved her bag between HyunJin’s line of vision and the kit. The chemist nimbly moved her hands, doing something she couldn’t see and finished - or temporarily paused - her task before long.

Ponzu packed the kit and the vials in her backpack, getting out of the tree hollow and pulling the mask off. “Now, what do you need?”

“Tall man, square, beige cloak, short green hair. Rings any bells?”

Ponzu shook her head. ”No, I have not seen him.”

HyunJin’s eyebrows dipped into frowning for a moment before she seemed as calm-faced as before. Seemed like she saw someone already. Or just smarter than her with words. “By any chance, do you know what his weapon is?”

Ponzu chewed her lip for a moment. “I think he used a scimitar. Or some other sword. Was polishing it when you and the boys were distracting everyone.”

HyunJin smiled in gratitude, internally groaning. Wonderful. Then scolded herself. It wouldn’t be a good exam if everything was just easily given to her. “Thank you. Anything I might help you with?”

“No need,” Ponzu smirked. “My preparations are all in place.”

“Already?”

“Yes. I only need to track him. By any chance, have you?..”

“You are the first examinee I met,” interrupted her HyunJin. “Sorry. You are just easy to notice.”

“For you, maybe,” hummed Ponzu. After a second, she cocked her head and her eyes went into thoughtful focus. Ponzu’s hint of a smile slowly dropped off her face. “Your hunter will likely be ready to kill you. I can’t say I have much fondness for you, but I’d hate to remember you as a fool who stepped into the same trap twice.” 

HyunJin tilted her head forward, eyes reflecting the other’s warning. “There won’t be a need for that. You also better be careful too - don’t put yourself into the checkmate of your own design.”

Both of them stared at each other for a moment. Wind passed between them, blowing some of the goddamn smell away.

“I’m taking my leave, if there is nothing else,” announced HyunJin. “I never saw you.”

“Neither did I,” nodded Ponzu.

HyunJin dropped down, sprinting in the direction other than the one she was previously heading to, leaving the woman far behind her.

Swordsman, huh?

Three choices. She could team up with someone. She could try to non-lethally beat him up. Or she could wait till he fell asleep and ambush him with the goal of knocking him out with one hit.

The last one was even more dicey than the second, to be honest. HyunJin was fairly sure that there was an equal possibility of either getting a blade to her face or accidentally giving him some head trauma if she hit him harder than planned out of stress.

Should she have teamed up with Ponzu back then?.. No. Not a single chance with that woman.

That last experience also put her in a position hesitant to try searching for an ally of unknown goals.

Unless she finds one of the girls by accident, she would deal with her prey by herself.

---

“You would not believe how much grief I got when I said I wanted it! He was all like, “But Choerry, why would you need it?”, “Why would you choose to clutter your vaults?” And I was, “Why, you never know what might await you at a Hunter Exam!” He laughed at me back then but look who's laughing now!” 

Empathetically bugging her eyes out, Choerry ignored the fact that the audience was in no condition to make a response. A man with a crow tattoo was a fine listener as he was, silent and motionless. His tattoo was a genuinely cool one too and it covered his whole neck! She snapped a couple of photos after knocking the guy out. 

“I do. Ha! Ha! A shame you can’t laugh with me, to be honest,” Choerry addressed the man directly, “but you wouldn’t get the joke even if you were conscious. And don’t take it personally, by the way, you were just conveniently going at me.” 

After all, it wasn’t like she hounded anyone specific. 

Whoever came close enough to her was it.

Choerry put her hand in the compartment for the laptop and thought how weird it might look for their observers. Well, unless they knew nen. Then it would make complete sense to them. She passed the solid surface hidden inside and continued pushing until Choerry’s whole arm was buried up to her shoulder in the compartment. She angled the backpack specifically so that observers would not see what was inside, expecting them to be typically nosy - as were everyone working closely under the Hunter Association - but they respectfully never moved to try to peek inside. 

Choerry was suitably impressed - what nice folks! It is always so pleasant when people respect other people’s hatsus boundaries!

She moved her arm around, careful not to knock anything else as she rummaged through shelves of her “most necessary necessities”. Yes, metal!.. No, it's a gun. No, not that either, it was a magazine… Another one… Why did she even have multiple of those, anyway?.. Oh! Here it was!

She pulled her arm out, and grasped in her hand was the end of the chain. She hummed happily, tugging more out. Choerry stopped on around four meters and tore out the needed length from the coil, shoving the rest back inside. She wouldn't want to have angry folks attempting to get their tags back. Admittedly, her first victim was not tied up, but oh well. He did not see her face. 

Neither did this one but it wasn’t the point!

…She actually just simply forgot she had that chain coil sitting around, waiting its time.

Choerry decided to tie him to a tree to foolproof his removal from the competition.

She gets a free tag of her hunter and doesn’t distress her new friends! He gets to keep his life and whatever. Likely also won’t get attacked further by others as he was clearly out of the competition.

Win-win!

---

HeeJin was slowly making her way through the forest, staying quiet to the best of her abilities, when she caught a glimpse of a green starkly different from foliage, far ahead to the left of her. 

She momentarily froze in her steps. 

HeeJin carefully shifted, moving behind the tree. It was the first person she saw since the start of the phase. Either an island was massive enough for them to wander around for days not meeting another applicant, or there were not many people in this specific region or she was massively screwed.

The figure would move past her, closing the distance for now, but his pathing bypassing her hiding position by a wide enough margin.

None of the Amori brothers wore green.

She circled the tree, barely breathing as the man got closer and around her position, seemingly without noticing her.

HeeJin waited until the examinee disappeared fully before hurriedly leaving in another direction.

---

She prided herself on her instincts, so when HyunJin felt an urgency to dodge, she dived to the right. 

Two knives whistled by, securely burying themselves in the trunk a few meters ahead with loud thunks. There they go. 

She spun around, jumping backward and behind the nearest tree. That person clearly went for the kill, judging how deep knives lodged themselves in the wood. The attacker wasn’t underestimating her or holding back.

(Would she have had a chance to stand up and haunt him later if she didn’t dodge?..)

HyunJin felt a spark of excitement light up in her lungs. 

There was a movement nine meters behind her. 

“Am I your target?” inquired loudly HyunJin and carefully inhaled, focusing on smells around. 

She doubted anyone who knew about her abnormal smelling abilities would stand downwind, unlike her attacker and... Assuming that the second smell was another observer giving off a similar scent of syntheticity, this was a one-on-one ambush.

“Take a guess,” drawled a masculine voice.

HyunJin mentally shrugged. It did not matter too much to her, really. 

She quietly crouched and darted to the closest tree. Another knife whistled by, spinning, uncomfortably close. She crouched behind her new cover and glanced in the direction where the knife flew from. No glimpse of the attacker.

HyunJin heard the hilt pathetically bounce off the bark, not landing the expected hit closer. 

Craning her neck the other way, she saw that it - sharp on one edge for the whole length, not only a tip, with a clearly defined handle. He had loads of them, and was ready to use them in close combat, judging by the shape.

to be him. 

Her mom adored knives.

HyunJin carefully leaned towards it, extending her hand and grabbing it.

Her nostrils twitched as she brought the edge of the knife to her nose and closed her eyes. Hm. Nothin but the steel - likely not poisoned then. 

Well. In that case, HyunJin could take a few hits.

She checked where her hunter was again, glancing in the direction, but couldn't see him from the current position. HyunJin bet he was still in the same area. It didn’t sound nor smelled as if he moved. 

She knew why he ambushed now - she was heading towards an area with a new and competitively dense forest, a young one with many short leafy trees obscuring the view and messing up the trajectory. 

But why the hurry? If he was a true hunter, there would be none. It was only day two, plenty of time to stalk her and get a better moment.

Either he wasn’t confident he was able to follow her well or he was overconfident in his chances against her.

HyunJin twirled the knife idly a few times and passed it to the left hand, her non-dominant one, gripping the handle gently, in line with her relaxed forearm. 

She leaped to the next tree waiting for the next attack - knife whistle absent. 

HyunJin stepped behind her cover and immediately darted to a tree much daringly closer to the examinee- 

Glimpse of a knife.

She twisted in her steps to take cover and press her back against the closest tree, a bit further than her original option was. A dense pain bloomed along her left arm, where she got caught by one of the knives. A trickle of blood instantly soaked the partially cut sleeve of her shirt and began slowly making its way down her arm. HyunJin eyed for wound - the knife got stuck in the muscle, scewering through her shoulder and tugging painfully down with its weight. She ought to leave it in for the time being.

A soft curse from behind, only audible because of her being an exceptionally wild human. 

She found herself smiling. This was fun.

HyunJin expected him to change his positions since she was getting closer and listened with bated breath.

Neither of them moved for a minute. A tip of his nose peaked from behind the tree, revealing his exact location. It was one crooked nose. 

HyunJin glanced up at the branch above her and looked around, gazing at the canopy closer to the man.

Was the possibility of getting a surprise angle worth the risk of having limited dodging option or being vulnerable due to jumping from above? 

They stood like that for another minute. 

And another. 

She bent her knees slightly, eyes trained on the branches above and waited until he got tired of the silence.

“Girl,” the voice was somewhat hushed - it was aimed in the other direction. HyunJin leaped, getting on the branch in one fluid motion from the side opposite from the crooked nose, just in case, “I have places to be.”

She kept silent, consealing her changed position.

A corner of ticked down. Like she was just bumbling around before almost getting backfull of knives!

HyunJin waited four seconds and leaped from branch to branch towards the man, at her quietest. 

Unfortunately, he either grew restless or had good instincts and carefully got from behind the tree, on the opposite side of her. His head jerked in different directions, looking for her.  In his hand, a knife was held in anticipation.

He noticed her.

Before the man could fully turn around, his right arm raising for a throw, HyunJin flicked her knife-holding arm in the general direction of his head, from below, not expecting much from a knife she never threw before from an angle she was not used to. As soon as the knife left her fingers, before the hand finished the full swing, HyunJin pushed off a branch, aiming at a spot right in front of the man. 

He tensed and jerked into a somewhat defensible stance, turned sideways, his free arm rising to shield his head. Unexpectedly, her throw didn’t fly past him, even if only to safely bounce off of his arm, the handle hitting the man after spinning a quarter of a circle. 

But HyunJin was already on the ground, landing in a low crouch, momentum coiled in her legs.

His knees began bending, readying to get out of dodge. The man’s eyes widened only a fraction, neither fully caught off-guard by her speed, nor expecting it. But his body was already moving, shifting from a purely defencive to a an anticipating form.

HyunJin let her body continue movement, full force going into her leaping into the roundhouse kick to the man’s back. His other arm shot to block it, partially succeding, pushing him a couple steps. He caught his footing faster than she was able to, and shot out his knife-gripping hand to her face.

She leaned back, following her still-hovering leg, falling back with it until she was standing on two again. The knife approached where her head previously was and was angling down, trying to pursue her, but lagging a step behind.

HyunJin was unstable, limbs itching to catch her balance, but she grit her teeth and grabbed the forearm above her with both hands twisted at wrists. Her lip curled further as she spun on heels, knees half-bent, bringing the grasped attacker down and over her back. A short shot of pain in her shoulder spasmed her muscles but she pushed through. HyunJin followed momentum further, easily lifting him off his feet and pushing herself on straight legs, releasing him from the grasp.

With bared teeth, she threw him over the shoulder with force enough to land him a few steps ahead. 

The examinee's body hit the ground back-first and HyunJin felt the adrenaline shoot the pleasure up her veins. The way he opened his mouth at the impact tipped into a grin with a feel of superiority.

She had no skills, sure, she knew nothing aside of self-defence taught her by her mom, but her raw capabilities were uncontested. Each fight left an aftertaste of excitement and dominance over her opponent.  

But that wasn't the end of it. He had enough wits to group up and roll despite the grunt that wheezed past his clenched teeth. He tensed, bringing his ankles and knees beneath him-

HyunJin pounced right after, ardor flaming in her eyes.

A leg high in the air - and she dropped an axe kick on his back before he could raise up and get any ideas, sending the man back to the ground with a thud . 

The forest was silent.

The man stayed limp, breath laboured through pain and an uncomfortable position. Unconscious.

HyunJin smirked in satisfaction. 

A glance on her wound reminded of the pain, but it wasn't time yet to get that out. She kicked the knife that he gripped in his fingers until he lost consciousness, sending it out of his reach, before busying herself with spoils of her victory.

She turned the man over, immediately taking off his harness for knives, putting it to the side. Her rummaging through his clothes and small pouch on the small of his back yielded her more knives, his tag and a prey card. HyunJin stared at the latter. 301. 

Well, this cleared the question of the accidentality of this ambush.

She slanted eyes at her hunter, standing up.

Too bad.

She abided only by the laws of nature, no matter of what the surrounding her thought of it.

And if her unpolished inborn abilities were enough to overpower him - his tag was rightfully hers to keep.

It clicked in her mind that she not once actually looked him in the face. HyunJin stared at it, noting the nose that previously poked out… But then scornfully sighed, averting eyes. The man’s face was immediately forgotten before it could be committed to memory.

She eyed his belt. Yeah, she could use it. HyunJin yanked the knfe out of her wound and immediately tightened the belt above it. Later, when she gets out of her, she'll need to take care of it properly. Does this kind of wound warrant stitches?..

After hiding a one-point tag and the card, HyunJin went around, gathering his knives into harness, lazily throwing it over her shoulder for the time being. 

She picked up one non-throwing knife she found on him too. It looked like what she had imagined a punching dagger would look like, so she guessed it was. HyunJin tried it, slicing air a couple of times, before shrugging and putting it away in her backpack along with its sheath. 

She promised a souvenir as a joke, but it seemed she really was bringing one home.

HyunJin dug through her backpack until she found a pen. She took the man’s arm.

“Were yours weapons - became mine. Have a slice day!” HyunJin patted his shoulder, a smug smile tugging at her lips.

On a tree twenty meters to the side, on the highest branching that would hide the harness with its width and leaves, HyunJin nailed it down with a couple of knives. 

Observers for sure caught where she left that examinee’s weapons.

She left the scene with three things: one single-point tag, a wound, a souvenir and a question, whether the man was just lucky to find her on the second day or if she was doing something wrong.

---

Chuu gazed at the sea, huddled in a small cave in the cliffs. 

With knees to her chest, she idly played with her target’s tag. It was the second night on the island and she was torn up between her patient professional self and the facet that was trying to treat this as a vacation.

She brushed over the closest three Guardian Angel tags.

(early pain in the morning, determination, some faint anxiety throughout the day, light disappointment as HeeJin got to sleep, uninjured; fairly close-by, on a tree again, judging by the angle)

(relaxed with a small focused tension in the morning and a short spike of joy and battle thirst later in the day, but uninjured; good healthy sleep on some solid surface)

(somewhat creepy enjoyment at some point followed by one hatsu use, but, overall, Choerry went on a light and relaxed stroll today; half-asleep, a “ready for an ambush but would get the beauty Zs” that was familiar to the point of irreplaceable for Chuu) 

On one hand, it would be a better plan if she stayed here and waited. Her success was already established. 

On the other hand, Yves’ words rang in her ears.

Vacation. Get destressed. Have fun.

Chuu couldn’t in good faith go against Yves’ wishes.

She ate some stolen food and closed eyes, slipping away in half-awareness, waiting the night away.