Third Person POV: Leorio Paradinight

287th Hunter Association Exam,

Kukanyu Kingdom, 40+km away from Zaban City,

Somewhere in the sewers, Hunter Exam Phase One,

Underground Marathon,

Four hours and seventeen minutes in,

Leading runner: Satotz, Distance run: 54km,

Distance remaining: 26km

“It’s been about four hours since the exam began.” Leorio thought, out of breath. He was definitely out of shape compared to the rest of the participants. “I can’t even see that kid!” The man thought in frustration. “Why did I have to agree to that silly bet?”

All he wanted to do now was to go home, relax, and resume studying. But every time he remembered how useless his studiousness would be without money, he recalled that he couldn’t give up. He had trained for the exam. He was sure he could run this distance; he just couldn’t do it at this abnormal pace.

“Damn, I must look like a jester now, dead last.” Leorio did his best to clear his head and catch up to Gon and Kurapika. Nonetheless, each time he looked at Gon, he felt depressed. The boy had yet even to sweat, but that wasn’t the ludicrous thing... He was running backward! Yes, backward...and also cheering him on.

“You can do it, Leorio, only twenty kilometers left!”

“Shut up, you monster!” Leorio thought and smiled stiffly. He didn’t even want to talk right now, that’s how exhausted he was. His sides were sore, and his stomach was burning. If it weren’t for the kid’s eyes, he would have put his hand inside his painfully and uncomfortably moistened underwear.

He knew he had already lost that bet. That white-haired kid was most likely as energetic and even more fraudulent than the lad nearby.

“Shit, I can’t quit!” Leorio sensed his pain threshold. Used to run, he knew that everything from this point on would be willpower only.

He tried to forget about his weighty legs and composed himself. “According to what Gon has said, we must have traveled at least sixty kilometers.”

“Shit...Only one rookie passes the exam every three years. With those three mutants alone, my chances are limited.

For an average human like me, it isn’t even worth dreaming about. Damn it; I underestimated the Hunter association!” He reflected negatively. As he did so, he relinquished to the pain and let go of his briefcase.

Leorio was angry at himself, his weakness more accurately. He knew it was the chance of a lifetime, but he still wasn’t gifted sufficiently.

Realizing he didn't expand the numbers in the uncommon gene pool, his miserable efforts would only take him so far. It was only Phase One, yet his body had already sustained a beating.

He stopped in his steps and refueled his breath, his back bent, as he held on his legs. “All I wanted is money...Money to make them smile.” The late teenager recalled the face of several children playing barefooted under the blazing sun. That place was his home, but it was also theirs.

He couldn’t picture, no...He didn’t want them to endure that lifestyle. Before they died from poverty, street life and gangs would win them over. Leorio himself only survived through sheer luck, a good friend, and countless ordeals.

His dream of becoming a doctor had stemmed from that day. Knocking at countless doors, yet being told the same thing...Get lost if you don’t have any money kid.

If only he didn’t stink so much, had a good pair of shoes or nice clothes that day...maybe his best buddy would have survived.

“Sigh.” Leorio lifted his head. The mob of examinees had left him in the dust for a while. He immersed in his thoughts for too long.

As he shook his head and chuckled, he prepared to light a cigarette. He could still try next year, and it wasn’t a complete bust after all. It would teach him to misjudge the competition. It probably wasn’t due to a lack of talent alone, most of these fellows should have lived under dire conditions as well.

As the cigarette touched his lips, what he saw, however, left him out sorts. The boy was behind him!

“How did you…” He was about to ask, but the words couldn’t come out after he looked in those eyes. That kid’s eyes...they were the same.

Gon didn’t speak at that moment. He only resolutely stared at him for several seconds.

“These eyes…” Leorio was transfixed. What did that boy see? It was as if he had lived through hell and come back, but that wasn’t the concerning thing. He was reminded of that time again. There was no mistake, that guy looked at him the same way even on his death bed.

Those years, Leorio would have gone through war and hellfire if he was enabled to follow him. That gaze which told him that he could accomplish anything they set their minds upon.

“Pietro!” That fire once again inhabited him. In no time, the harmful heat his body felt was replaced by that soothing and nearly holy flame.

“Let’s go.” The boy smirked as he suddenly said and picked up the pace. Leorio instantly snapped out of his daze.

“Screw that!” The man threw the cigarette on the ground and followed. At that moment, he couldn’t care less about his bag either.

“I’m going to become a hunter! Damn it all!” The man screamed dementedly. As he psyched himself up, he understood that he had acquired a new goal.

He knew that the difficulty level was tremendously raised, but he couldn’t care less. If Gon was someone like Pietro, he had to witness the world of hunters with him...It didn’t matter how hard it would be.

For that to happen, he would need to catch up, however. Failing this year’s exam was not on the menu.

“I’ll become a freak too, look at me, Pietro!” Leorio thought between strides.

As he ran, what he could not discover was that something dark was creeping behind. Shadow-like limbs came out of the ground. It then proceeded to lace itself around the forgotten belongings before enveloping them completely.

When the uncanny forms returned to the ground, nothing was left. Everything had mysteriously vanished as if nothing was there before.

If anyone else like Leorio were here, they would have barely noticed how the objects got sucked into the ground. They would instead marvel at the hidden mysticism.

Somewhere in the future, after a few torturous spars and thrashings, the man wearing sunglasses would, though, come to examine his motivations for befriending the critical individual called ‘Gon Freecs.’