Chapter 45: The Face Ape (Part 2)
Gon glanced left and right, eyes wide with curiosity. Two examiners? That was new — and frankly, kind of exciting. But deep down, his instincts were already whispering the truth to him.
"Judging from how things look," Osren murmured, "someone here's trying to pull a con."
"Trying to trick us?" Leorio scratched his head, looking puzzled. "Well… yeah, I guess one of them's gotta be fake. Makes sense when you put it that way."
The tension thickened — but so did the intrigue.
The two "examiners" faced each other in silence, their stares locked. Neither spoke first, as though opening one's mouth would be an admission of guilt. Their demeanors, however, couldn't have been more different.
Satotz, dressed in his trademark violet suit, stood motionless and calm. There was no anger, no fear — not even annoyance. Just quiet composure, like he was above it all.
The bloodied man, by contrast, hunched forward menacingly. He gripped a cloth sack in his clawed hands — humanoid claws, oddly enough — and glared at Satotz with eyes full of hatred, his mouth twisted into a feral snarl. He looked less like a man and more like a beast ready to strike.
The air grew heavy. The other examinees shifted uneasily, whispers filling the silence.
"This isn't good," Kurapika muttered, scanning the crowd. "After that seven-hour marathon, everyone's exhausted. Their nerves are shot. They're starting to doubt what they see."
He leaned toward Osren, lowering his voice. "Should we intervene?"
"Not yet," Osren mouthed silently, shaking his head ever so slightly. It's not time.
But expecting Leorio to keep his cool was wishful thinking. A situation like this was tailor-made to set him off.
"Hey, old man!" Leorio barked, stepping forward. "If you say he's the fake, then prove it! Show us some kind of evidence!"
He wasn't wrong — words alone didn't mean much. Anyone could claim to be the real examiner. Only proof could settle it.
"Yeah!" someone else shouted. "Let's see your evidence!"
"Right — show us proof!"
The crowd began to echo Leorio's demand, the tension loosening as their focus shifted from fear to frustration.
The wounded man seized the moment. His eyes flashed with savage satisfaction. "Fine! You want proof? Look at this!"
With a violent swing, he hurled the sack to the ground. It landed in the center of the group with a sickening thud.
Everyone recoiled instinctively.
"What the hell is that?"
"Some kind of monster?"
Gasps rippled through the crowd as the sack unfurled — revealing a grotesque creature.
It had the body of an ape… but its face—
Its face was unmistakably human.
The dead, glassy eyes stared up at them, eerily lifelike. The mouth hung open in a soundless scream.
Someone whispered, trembling, "L-look at its face… it's a person's face!"
And in that moment, the murmuring turned to panic.
The real problem lay in that grotesque, almost human face.
"It… it looks exactly like the examiner!" one examinee in a light brown jacket gasped, his expression twisted in shock. "What the hell's going on here?" The situation, already strange, had now taken a turn into the surreal.
"That's right," the bloodied man in green shouted, his voice trembling with rage. "That thing is a Human-Faced Ape—a creature native to the Numere Wetlands! They mimic humans, using charm and deception to lure in prey. That man"—he jabbed a trembling finger at Satotz—"is one of them! They planned to trick all of you and devour every last examinee!"
"What?!" Leorio leapt up instantly, muscles tense, eyes blazing. "Eat us?!" He clenched his fists and squared off against Satotz. Like hell I'm getting eaten today.
"I don't know…" Hanzo scratched his shiny bald head, frowning. "But what he said makes sense. The real examiner could have been replaced. It fits the story."
"Yeah, now that you mention it…" Leorio muttered, his nerves fraying. "That guy's speed underground—no normal person runs like that. It's not human!"
Their doubt spread like wildfire. Several other examinees began to close in around Satotz, forming a loose circle. Fear and exhaustion made them easy prey to suggestion — no one could stay calm after hearing they might be the next meal.
Of course, a few sharp ones hung back — Hisoka, lazily flicking his playing cards at the edge of the crowd; Gittarackur, lurking unseen in the shadows; and even Tonpa, wisely staying far behind, pretending to be "watching over" the others.
Those, Osren noted, were the truly clever ones.
Leorio, however, was clearly gearing up to charge in.
"Leorio, wait." Osren's voice cut through the noise, calm but firm.
Leorio froze mid-step. He'd learned to trust that tone — if Osren said "wait," it meant something important. "What's wrong?" he asked, glancing back.
"Just observe for now," Osren said quietly. "Guesswork, no matter how convincing, is still guesswork. There's no proof yet."
Truth be told, he was tempted to expose the Human-Faced Ape's ruse right away — but that would spoil something far more valuable. Watching Hisoka's deadly card strike up close? That was a rare opportunity. This was data collection — not heroics.
"Got it." Leorio hesitated for a moment, then stepped back. His trust in Osren outweighed his urge to act. He folded his arms, jaw tight, and watched the scene unfold.
The number of examinees surrounding Satotz kept growing — two, then five, then more than a dozen. The crowd's energy thickened with hostility.
"This is herd mentality," Kurapika murmured, his analytical instinct kicking in even now. "They survived the first test together, which created a false sense of camaraderie. Now that fear's in the mix, they're following the loudest voice instead of thinking clearly."
Osren's eyes flickered with amusement. "Exactly. And that's also part of the exam."
He raised his voice just enough for everyone to hear. "Think about it — what if this is another test? Maybe the real goal is to see who can stay calm when things turn chaotic."
Gon immediately nodded. "Yeah! That makes sense — the whole Hunter Exam's been weird so far. This could totally be another challenge!"
"Another… test?"
The crowd's aggression faltered. One by one, the examinees hesitated, the fire in their eyes dimming as doubt replaced anger.
"Good job, Osren," Kurapika said softly, relief washing over his face. "That one sentence just defused the whole situation."
Leorio leaned close to Gon and whispered, "Hey, can't you tell? Like how you spotted that beast earlier?"
Gon shook his head. "Nope. Totally different. There's no scent at all — someone's masking it perfectly. But…" His brows furrowed. "My gut says something's off."
"Yeah, thanks for nothing," Leorio grumbled, slumping in defeat. He'd hoped to show off, but that plan had gone straight out the window.
Then it hit him — Osren.
That guy could tell apart things no one else could. He'd done it before with the fox-beast, and somehow always knew the right answer.
Leorio sidled up next to him, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Hey, Osren… can you tell who's real?"
Osren's lips curved into a faint, knowing smile — the kind that promised he already knew far more than he was letting on.