I'm Really Not A Nen Exorcist (HxH Fanfic)

As time passed-

No one had yet brought a dish for Menchi to judge.

When there was only one hour remaining, someone finally brought out a pot of fish soup and walked briskly towards Menchi, who had been waiting for a long time.

This examinee is none other than Pokkle.

His actions immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

"It's that kid..."

"Tch."

"Look at him, all smug—I'd love to wipe that look off his face."

The examinees looked at Pokkle, who took the lead, with disdain and murmured to each other in front of their respective kitchen counters.

As early as twenty minutes earlier, they had seen Pokkle return to the warehouse carrying blood-stained fish meat.

From this, they understood that Pokkle knew about the tiger-striped puffer, and in order to keep the advantage to himself, he had processed the fish outside before bringing it in.

This was why he was rubbing some examinees the wrong way.

At one of the kitchen counters.

Moses was taking his time, slowly removing the spines from the tiger-striped puffer, while looking at Pokkle, who was serving the fish soup.

Just now, he also noticed when Pokkle brought back the pre-prepared fish meat.

The way Pokkle handled the tiger-striped puffer outside showed how scheming and meticulous Pokkle was.

Yet it remained unclear…

Was the blood on the fish an oversight or intentional?

If it was done deliberately, then Pokkle had a rather deep sense of strategy, understanding how to both conceal information and set traps for his competitors.

Under the intense gaze of everyone present, Pokkle placed his freshly cooked fish soup on Menchi's table.

"Finally, a dish."

Menchi glanced at Pokkle, who was full of confidence, with a look of mild interest.

She had briefly observed the process of Pokkle cooking the fish soup.

When she saw Pokkle carefully wash off the blood from the fish meat and specially remove the fish meat with a little blood, she knew that Pokkle knew how to handle tiger-striped puffer correctly.

This raised her expectations somewhat.

She picked up her chopsticks and lifted a small piece of fish.

The moment the chopsticks touched the fish, Menchi realized it had been overcooked. She put the piece in her mouth, chewed a few times, and her brow furrowed slightly.

"Unqualified, redo it."

Menchi declared without hesitation.

"Ah?"

Pokkle was stunned.

Menchi put down her chopsticks and said expressionlessly: "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"N-No, that won't be necessary."

In the face of Menchi's fierce aura, Pokkle didn't dare to argue and slunk back to his kitchen counter.

The examinees, who had been watching, snickered as Pokkle's attempt flopped.

Over the next ten minutes, more examinees presented their dishes, but none could satisfy Menchi.

"This is not a tiger-striped puffer. Take it away."

"Are you an idiot? You don't even know how to handle the innards?!"

"The flavor's off, redo it."

Menchi rejected the examinees who presented their dishes one after another with a quick, merciless critique.

Even Hanzo's carefully crafted pufferfish sushi was rejected due to the taste.

Standing nearby, Buhara watched with a cold sweat. From an examiner's perspective, the ultimate goal of the test wasn't merely about creating something delicious but rather evaluating candidates' observational skills and adaptability when dealing with unknown elements.

However, Menchi seemed solely focused on culinary excellence, looking at the test from Gourmet Hunter's perspective.

In this case-

Unless the examinee possessed above-average cooking skills, they wouldn't stand a chance of passing Menchi's judgment.

There was still half an hour left before the end of the test, and not a single examinee had produced a dish Menchi deemed acceptable.

At this time, Moses finally finished processing the tiger-striped puffer. After discarding most parts, he was left with a single, palm-sized piece of fish meat.

He picked up his knife and sliced the fish into paper-thin pieces, then arranged them on a chilled platter.

Since Menchi had already prepared her own dipping sauce, Moses was spared some effort and he directly served the pufferfish sashimi to Menchi.

Suppressing the urge to greet her master more warmly, Menchi picked up a slice of fish and placed it in her mouth.

'Hmm... I think this is the first time I've tasted something prepared by Master.'

Feeling the texture and natural sweetness of the sashimi, Menchi slowly closed her eyes, her expression melting into one of sheer enjoyment.

Inside the venue…

The examinees who noticed this scene all stared in astonishment.

'We racked our brains, tried every cooking technique imaginable, and all we got was scorn from the examiner! Yet here she is, relishing a simple, unseasoned slice of fish?!'

'What a farce!'

The examinees' eyes widened in disbelief.

Under their incredulous stares, Menchi announced that Moses was the first examinee to pass the second phase of the test.

"You've got to be kidding… I put so much effort into perfectly seasoning my grilled fish, and he gets through just by slicing a raw fish? What's the deal?!"

A tall samurai with a sword hanging from his waist had a cold look on his face. He was obviously not convinced by Menchi's decision.

"Yeah, what's the deal?!"

"So there's actually a backdoor for the Hunter Exam?"

Many examinees echoed his sentiments, while others observed quietly.

Facing the protests of these examinees, Menchi replied with a stony expression: "If you have any brains, you should find out the problem from the difference between the two, instead of whining about your own incompetence here."

"Hm?"

There was a hint of killing intent in the samurai's eyes.

The other examinees, who were watching the show, picked up on Menchi's hint and began trying to emulate Moses's sashimi making method.

In less than half a minute, the samurai looked on in shock as the bald ninja, Hanzo, sped up to Menchi with his own sashimi platter.

Menchi first finished the sashimi that Moses had served, and then tasted a piece of sashimi made by Hanzo.

"Pass."

Putting down her chopsticks, Menchi announced that Hanzo was the second examinee to pass.

Upon seeing this, the other examinees abandoned any notion of complaining about backdoor dealings and quickly sped up their efforts.

"Pass."

"Pass..."

After Moses served the sashimi, Menchi seemed like a different person, giving every examinee who followed his example a ticket to the next phase of the test.

Buhara looked at Menchi in surprise. Seeing her sudden huge change, he had no idea what was going on.

In fact, Menchi took Moses's sashimi presentation as a signal and lowered her qualification standards accordingly.

Before long, the second part of the test concluded smoothly.

"Twenty-four of you have passed. Congratulations."

Menchi said, crossing her arms and surveying the twenty-five people before her, thinking to herself, 'If it weren't out of respect for Master, none of them would be passing today!'

Pokkle hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Wait, aren't there twenty-five of us?"

When the other examinees heard Pokkle's question, they all looked toward Menchi.

Menchi, however, remained silent.

"That's because I'm not an examinee."

Moses spoke up at the right time to help Menchi answer Baokuer's question.

His words instantly attracted the attention of all examinees.

Facing everyone's gaze, Moses calmly removed his silicone mask and said, "I am the examiner for the third phase of the test, Moses Isaac."

"What!?"

Aside from Hisoka and a few others, all the other candidates present, including Ponzu and Pokkle, were shocked, struggling to process the sudden, game-changing revelation.

Hanzo's mouth dropped open in disbelief for a split second, but he quickly assumed a 'I knew it a long time ago' look.

"What? You all didn't realize?"

Hanzo crossed his arms, his composed, smug expression formed a stark contrast with the stunned faces around him, including Ponzu and Pokkle.

"…"

Everyone in the venue looked at Hanzo and suddenly fell silent.

Just then, a man with heavy dark circles under his eyes walked out.

"I just caught this on camera. No need for thanks."

The man announced as he holds up a photograph.

In the photograph, everyone's faces were frozen in shock, with Hanzo's wide-mouthed expression front and center.

"…"

There was silence again, but now, the examinees looked at Hanzo with strange glances.

Hanzo's mouth twitched at this moment.

'Why would an examinee bring a camera to the test, and who was bored enough to snap photos in a moment like that?'

Under the peculiar looks coming from every angle, Hanzo wished he could dig a hole and hide.

"It seems that you discovered Moses's identity as an examiner 'five seconds ago'."

Killua's voice floated out from the crowd, each word like a dagger driving straight into Hanzo's dignity.

Regret washed over Hanzo.

'If I had known, I wouldn't have tried to act cool!'

He looked in the direction of the sound and happened to receive contemptuous looks from Kurapika and others.

"…"

In the silence that followed, Hanzo vowed internally to keep a low profile from now on!

Moses glanced at Hanzo, who was visibly embarrassed, and shook his head with an amused smile.

'Twenty-four people?'

'In terms of numbers, it's not that high.'

'So, should I adopt the scoring system to eliminate half of them directly?'

'This way, the third phase can be completed at the speed of light.'

Moses's eyes showed a thoughtful look.

Buzz-

Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated, interrupting Moses's thoughts.

Moses took out his phone and saw that it was a text message from Netero.

"No."

"…"