I really couldn't understand how the profession of hunters could be turned into a manga.
But then again, even an obscure sports manga like Hikaru no Go had managed to become a nationwide hit, so a manga centered on professional hunters probably wouldn't be a problem at all.
On May 19, the first-week sales figures for Volume Eleven of the Hikaru no Go collected edition were released.
4.25 million copies sold in the first week.
That single number instantly silenced many of Rei's peers in the Japanese manga industry.
Who was it that said once Hikaru no Go ended, especially with such an ambiguous conclusion, its popularity would inevitably plummet?
The manga had already concluded nearly two months earlier, yet sales of the collected editions continued to rise month after month.Volume Eleven even set a new first-week sales record for the series, surpassing figures achieved during active serialization.
It was nothing short of outrageous.
The only pity was that Hikaru no Go was a Go manga.
At most, it could be adapted into animation or a television drama. Further large-scale copyright expansion was virtually impossible.
Otherwise, Rei's name would almost certainly have appeared in the Top Ten Richest Manga Artists in Japan this year.
On May 20, after more than a week of preparation, Illumination successfully assembled the full animation production team.
Thanks to the exceptionally high budget and Himari's extensive industry connections, several well-known talents were successfully recruited into the One-Punch Man project.
Because Rei was decisive and never changed requirements midway, production moved at remarkable speed.
That didn't mean Rei had no demands.
On the contrary, he laid out all expectations from the very beginning.
For One-Punch Man, Rei provided: detailed storyboard frameworks for classic scenes, character designs and visual references, clear musical direction, specific expectations for animation impact and rhythm.
The director and art team were free to innovate, but only within that framework.
Trying to redraw One-Punch Man in a flamboyant JOJO-style aesthetic based purely on personal taste?
That was completely off the table.
May 31.
Hunter × Hunter was less than twenty days away from serialization.
Rei's college entrance examination was just seven days away.
Naturally, Hoshimori Group refused to miss this promotional opportunity.
Despite Rei resting at home, the Group insisted he come in to participate in a live online Q&A, framed as a celebration of both the college entrance exam and the upcoming serialization of Hunter × Hunter.
Under the host's guidance, Rei answered questions such as:
Would manga creation affect his university admission?
Which school and major was he aiming for?
Of course, these were just pretexts.
The real goal was simple: Promote Hunter × Hunter.
And during the broadcast, Rei delivered exactly what fans wanted to hear.
"Hunter × Hunter is a hot-blooded shonen manga. Its performance will definitely surpass Hikaru no Go."
"This is a work meant to ignite excitement. It will change the existing landscape of hot-blooded shonen manga in Japan."
"This time, my goal isn't just to top Hoshimori Group."
"During its serialization, Hunter × Hunter will be the most popular manga in all of Japan."
May ended.
June arrived.
The next morning, Rei's statements from the livestream exploded across major manga forums and news platforms throughout Japan.
Media outlets amplified the quotes, and curious onlookers flooded the Hoshimori Group official website.
"So this is where the future number-one manga artist in Japan serializes his work? Marking this place."
"I know Hikaru no Go. My dad is obsessed with the TV drama. I don't hate Shirogane, but listen to what he said last night. Defining shonen manga? Ranking first nationwide during serialization? Has this guy completely lost his mind?"
"Same here. I laughed out loud."
"It's just marketing. Talking big costs nothing.
Look, now everyone knows a manga called Hunter × Hunter exists. Mission accomplished."
"But if you talk big and fail to deliver, you'll be humiliated."
"Who says he'll fail? Has Teacher Shirogane ever gone back on his word?"
"His manga topped Dream Comic at seventeen. Is it a crime for him to hope that his work becomes the most popular manga in Japan at eighteen?
Having dreams is better than you useless people who do nothing but criticize, isn't it? You're obviously dying of jealousy, envying Teacher Shirogane's genius but too ashamed to admit it, so you finally latched onto the excuse of him being 'immodest' just to mock him. You really put in a lot of effort for that, huh?"
"The poster above has terrifying attack power, these people are getting completely obliterated."
"Haha, sure, I curse Shirogane all the time for making the plot too painful, but that's because I love Hikaru no Go. Where did these mutts come from to mock him?"
"I'll make a post right now. In one or two years, I'll come back to dig it up and see whether Shirogane's Hunter × Hunter can become the most popular manga in Japan.
Forget number one, let's say top three. If he achieves that, everyone is welcome to save this post and remind me. I'll record a video kneeling down and apologizing to Shirogane and all his fans."
"A manga about hunting wants to become the most popular manga in Japan? That's ridiculous. Japan is a civilized society, not some savage wilderness. A hunting manga has no audience here."
For the entire day, the Japanese manga industry was thrown into turmoil by Rei's statements.
Whether people liked it or not, Rei was currently the number-one genius among young manga artists in Japan.
His achievements were undeniable.
For someone like him to say such things openly, right before the serialization of his new work, was indeed excessive, even if it was partially marketing.
After all, if Hunter × Hunter failed to deliver after serialization, the anti-fans who had long disliked Shirogane would celebrate like it was a festival.
Naturally, Rei was aware of all the online discussion.
But he didn't care.
Half of those statements were marketing. The other half were his genuine thoughts.
For years, whenever Shirogane was mentioned in the Japanese manga industry, someone would always jump out and say:
"A manga artist who doesn't draw hot-blooded shonen can never become top-tier, at best, they'll be A-list."
Now, Rei intended to show the entire Japanese manga industry exactly what a top-tier shonen manga looked like.
A few days passed.
With Hunter × Hunter still more than a week away from serialization, tension within Rei's fanbase began to rise.
Every day, large numbers of fans flooded the official website, posting speculation after speculation about Hunter × Hunter.
Combined with Rei's bold statements, the expectation threshold for this manga climbed higher and higher.
Even industry peers could feel the pressure.
They understood very well that this level of attention was a double-edged sword.
June 7.
The College Entrance Examination for high school students across Japan officially began.
Rei, who had not rested or stopped drawing manga since transmigrating, finally slowed down for these two days, dedicating all his focus to the exam.
Although most of his energy over the past year had gone into manga, Rei had still attended classes regularly.
His academic abilities had long recovered, and even surpassed, his previous life's high school level.
He was confident.
The Japanese language exam in the morning went smoothly.
But after finishing the mathematics exam in the afternoon, Rei frowned deeply.
Several questions were so difficult that he had to forcibly apply university-level knowledge to solve them.
By evening, the internet was flooded with students angrily cursing the person who wrote the math exam.
"Haha… it's the same in every world," Rei laughed after seeing it.
That night, he checked answers with Miyu.
Though he still had a few mistakes, overall, Rei was satisfied.
The remaining subjects the next day posed no real difficulty.
Three years of high school. Two days of exams.
That was the College Entrance Examination.
And with it, Rei's identity as a high school student finally came to an end.
After the exams, what awaited Rei was a brief vacation, and the release of the first chapter of Hunter × Hunter in the upcoming issue of Dream Comic.
In the days leading up to the exam, manga readers' attention had been elsewhere, so Rei's creator account seemed relatively quiet.
But now, as the release of the latest issue of Dream Comic approached…
A manga for which not even a single character design image had been revealed;
Hunter × Hunter had already surged into the top ten trending topics on major Japanese manga websites,
Standing shoulder to shoulder with the most popular A-list serialized manga in Japan.