The rest of the Zodiacs, except for Ging, rushed to the Hunter Association headquarters.
Upon arrival, they found Netero calmly drinking tea, looking as relaxed as ever. His secretary, Beans, was nowhere to be seen.
"There are people from V5, and Beans is handling their reception~"
Sensing the unspoken questions in everyone's eyes, Netero explained casually before taking another sip of tea and closing his eyes in satisfaction.
"I suppose they want to ask about Jed. Let Beans handle it. He watched most of the incident unfold on TV, so he should have a general understanding."
...Should?
The others were speechless. Looking at Netero's indifferent demeanor, they really didn't know what to say.
They hadn't rushed over just to have tea with him.
V5 had taken action, and the Hunter Association couldn't afford to be used as a scapegoat. It needed to issue an official statement; otherwise, next year's Hunter Exam could be affected.
What they didn't know was that, after Beyond Netero announced the Dark Continent expedition in September, nobody would be paying much attention to the Hunter Exam anyway.
After gathering Netero, the Zodiacs immediately began their postponed meeting, addressing unresolved issues from their last canceled session.
When they arrived at the conference room, they were met with an unusual sight—Pariston was already there, waiting. The ever-tardy Vice Chairman sat with a kind smile, documents neatly arranged in front of him.
"Ah, everyone's here. Long time no see. I really missed you all~"
Like hell you did!
The group's collective expression twitched, their lips pressed together as they silently took their seats.
Netero took his usual place at the head of the table, but without Beans standing beside him to record the meeting, it felt... oddly unfamiliar.
"Alright, I assume the main reason we're gathered here today is to discuss how to handle the fallout from this incident."
As soon as everyone settled in, Pariston took the initiative to speak.
No one paid any attention to the vacant, dust-covered Haizhu seat. They were used to its emptiness and had long since stopped acknowledging it.
Pariston was, as always, well-prepared. Say what you will about him, but when it came to work, there was nothing to criticize.
He quickly laid out several plans and countermeasures, and even Kanzai and Ginta, who were usually the most difficult to convince, gave reluctant nods.
With some additional input from Saccho, they finalized their approach, and the meeting progressed smoothly.
As it neared its conclusion, Pariston tapped the stack of documents in front of him and smiled at the Zodiacs.
"Now that we've settled on a response, shouldn't we discuss rewards and consequences for those involved in this incident?"
"Rewards and consequences?" Kanzai propped his feet on the table and picked his nose. "Who else needs to be punished?"
He flicked whatever he had extracted onto the floor, wiped his fingers on his sleeve, and continued,
"It's not like we're going to hold the people who carried out the mission all those years ago accountable, right? It's been decades. Even if mistakes were made back then, most of them are probably long dead. What are we supposed to do, dig up their graves?"
The thought made Kanzai chuckle to himself.
"That old bastard is finally gone. I never liked him. Really, we should be thanking Jed—"
Ahem!
Netero cleared his throat, a little heavier than usual.
"...Sorry, Chairman, I didn't mean to insinuate anything."
Kanzai immediately clamped his mouth shut. The others rolled their eyes.
"It's nothing~" Netero chuckled. He knew Kanzai's blunt personality well. It didn't bother him. That beastly man had indeed been a nuisance.
"At the root of it, I failed to handle things cleanly. Jed's grudge was able to fester, and when he returned, I was in Heavens Arena, leading him there and endangering the audience. The primary responsibility lies with me."
"Chairman, that's not fair!!" Saiyu, ever the passionate and straightforward one, immediately objected.
"How can this be your fault? You were just following orders. If anything, V5 should be blamed—"
Saccho nudged him with his elbow.
Saiyu finally realized what he had just said. He swallowed his words and let out a sheepish laugh, scratching his head.
If no V5 representatives were present, saying that wouldn't be a problem.
But Beans was still entertaining them. If any of them had Nen abilities that allowed them to eavesdrop, this could turn into a mess.
They all understood the dangers of careless speech. While they weren't afraid of V5's retaliation, having the Association subtly sabotaged through bureaucratic means would be a major headache.
"Chairman, let's not dwell on that. This all happened so suddenly. Who could have predicted that Jed would return from the dead?"
Cheadle adjusted her glasses, defending Netero while subtly glancing at Pariston.
That bastard was obviously trying to turn this into an attack on the Chairman.
Perhaps for him, this was just another way to entertain himself. That must be why he had arrived early—he couldn't wait~
"Then, let's put the punishment discussion aside and move on to the rewards."
Mizaistom spoke up, swiftly steering the conversation away from disciplinary action.
"Agreed." Pyon nodded firmly.
Not only Cheadle but the other Zodiacs also saw through Pariston's game. None of them were foolish enough to let him manipulate the meeting.
The discussion moved forward, leaving Pariston to simply smile, his true thoughts hidden behind that ever-present grin.
------------
Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (799 chapters in total)