The driver was as professional as they came. When Hiro had asked him to take it slow, he'd nodded without complaint and kept the car steady and safe.
It would still be about ten more minutes before they reached the Padokea MegaMart, so Hiro decided to make good use of the time.
"Organize the past. Plan the future."
In Hiro's mind, this wasn't just good advice — it was a killer's creed.
That habit of reflection and preparation had saved his life countless times in his previous one. It was a big part of why he'd become a god-tier assassin back on Blue Star.
With a faint smile, Hiro snapped his fingers.
As if by magic, a plain black notebook appeared in his hand. Its cover was unremarkable — matte black, with a single white kanji printed squarely in the center:
Home.
He flipped it open, and on the very first page, in his own neat handwriting, he read:
[In 1973, I became Hiro Zoldyck — gaining a surname, and for the first time… a home.]
Hiro couldn't help but smile softly at the words.
Twenty-five years had passed since that day.
The virtual characters he'd once watched on a screen — these strange, dangerous people called the Zoldycks — had since become his family. His real, flesh-and-blood family.
Many fans of Hunter × Hunter back in his previous life would probably laugh at that idea.They'd say: "The Zoldycks? A family? Please. Other than Killua, every one of them is a selfish, twisted freak."They'd scoff: "All they care about is killing, money, deceit. How is that a family?"
But Hiro… he understood them better than anyone.
Because he was a killer too.
"If you strip away the word 'family,' what are the Zoldycks, really?"
A professional assassination organization.
That's all they were. And in many ways, they weren't much different from the syndicate that had raised him back on Blue Star.
Like all such organizations, their survival depended on one thing above all: putting the mission first.The interests of the organization always came before any individual's feelings. That was how they grew. That was how they endured.
If you wanted to create the greatest killers in the world, you couldn't coddle them.You couldn't tell them bedtime stories and tuck them in at night.
You had to raise them in fire and blood.You had to make them understand from birth: "You belong to the family. You exist for the family."
That was the Zoldyck way.And in that way… they weren't so different from him.
Even now, thinking about it, Hiro could see it clearly.Killua. Illumi. Even Silva and Zeno.All of them were victims of the same cruel system.Born into a family that loved them… but only in the way a craftsman "loves" his tools.
So to outsiders, it all looked grotesque.The way they treated each other.The way they spoke to one another like colleagues instead of siblings or parents.The way they broke each other down, over and over, to make sure only the strongest survived.
To outsiders, it looked twisted.But to Hiro…
It was home.
To the Zoldycks, this way of life — cold, ruthless, mechanical — was perfectly normal.In their eyes, this was simply how things were.
But…
Was it really normal?
Killua had been the first to question it.He was the one who refused to blindly accept the fate of living and dying in the shadows.He was the one who broke free.
And maybe, Hiro thought, that was exactly why Killua became the most beloved character in all of Hunter × Hunter.
At least… in Hiro's heart, as a lifelong, die-hard Killua fan, that was definitely why.
Of course, right now, Killua was just one of his five younger brothers.
The thought made Hiro smile to himself, enough that the taxi driver glanced back at him a few times in the rearview mirror, confused by the sudden grin.
Hiro quickly reined it in, clearing his throat and settling back in his seat, though his mind was still turning.
As a transmigrator — and as someone who spent his previous life yearning for family — I decided from the moment I woke up as Hiro Zoldyck: I'm going to change this family.
Who said an assassin family couldn't also be a loving family?
In his past life, he'd sat in front of a screen, watching the anime, feeling nothing but envy for Killua — the boy who managed to escape that darkness and find himself a home, a friend, a future.Now, in this life, Hiro was Killua's big brother.He was the eldest son of the Zoldycks.
He couldn't waste this chance.If the family was going to change, it had to start with him.He had to step forward, take the lead, and break the rules.
Of course… if you wanted to be a reformer in a family like this, there was one thing you absolutely needed.
Strength.
Overwhelming, undeniable strength.Only then could you protect your family — and lead them somewhere better.
And Hiro believed he had it.
After all, he was a transmigrator — and a natural-born Specialist Nen user.From birth, he'd awakened a unique ability:
Nen Ability: [Killer's Fate]
Type: Specialist
Effect: Each time an assassination mission is completed, the user receives a reward.
Rewards include — but are not limited to — skills, techniques, talents, rare items, and more.
Restriction: Rewards are random. They may be incredibly powerful and practical… or utterly useless.
It wasn't flawless.But in a world like this, it was absolutely a top-tier ability.
Still… to Hiro, it wasn't enough.
So, at the age of three, he took it even further.He made an Oath and Restriction on himself — one of the most dangerous ways to amplify a Nen ability.
In the Hunter World, Oaths and Restrictions were a way to dramatically boost your power.The harsher the condition you set, the greater the strength you could unlock.If ordinary Nen was addition…Nen under a Restriction was multiplication.
Hiro's vow was as simple as it was radical:
"So long as my family is spared from all unnatural deaths… I'll kill even the strongest person in this world to keep them safe."
In Hiro's mind, it made perfect sense.The wish — to keep his entire family alive and safe — was incredibly difficult in a world as dangerous as this. So the Restriction had to be equally brutal.
But he wasn't about to sacrifice his own life to fulfill that wish.That would defeat the whole point.
Instead, he gambled:
If Killer's Fate demands I keep killing to stay alive anyway… then fine. I'll kill whoever I have to — even the strongest person alive, if that's what it takes. Prove to me, Nen, that the Oath and Restriction really works.
And he'd never doubted it for a second.
Because as long as he was alive, as long as his experience and instincts as a god-tier assassin still guided him…He didn't believe there was anyone in the world he couldn't kill.
After all, assassins don't win by fighting fair.They don't rely on brute strength or flashy techniques.
They watch.They wait.They strike where it hurts most, when no one's looking.
No matter how strong you are… if you slip, even for a second, you die.
And so, just as Hiro had expected —
His Oath and Restriction succeeded.
Hiro was alive.
But the price of his Oath far exceeded anything he'd imagined.
His ability, Killer's Fate, had evolved the moment he made his vow — becoming something new.A darker, harsher version:
[True Killer's Fate]
The rewards were still there — random techniques, skills, talents, items — after each mission.But now… the cost was much steeper.
Every single day, at exactly midnight, Hiro's consciousness was forcibly pulled into an alternate dimension: the Assassination Space.
There, he was given a single mission. One kill.
Only by completing it could his consciousness return to reality.
And if he died in the Assassination Space?
He'd resurrect.Again.And again.And again.
But each mission was brutal.Every target was either an overwhelming powerhouse or guarded by the most airtight security imaginable.
And the space itself changed every time he failed — like some kind of cruel, endless roguelike game.The objective never changed. But the details?Randomized.Unpredictable.
If he kept failing… if he couldn't adapt fast enough… he'd be trapped in that hellscape forever. And that was no different from death.
So every night at 00:00, Hiro had to give everything he had.Every drop of his wisdom, his willpower, his instincts.There was no room for laziness, no space for hesitation.
He had to push beyond his limits.Again. And again.
Burning through his mental focus.
Breaking through bottlenecks he didn't even know he had.
Exploiting every opportunity, every flaw in his opponent.
Crafting precise, airtight plans in moments.
Executing each move with perfect patience and precision.
Only then — and only then — could he land that final, perfect, killing blow…And claw his way out of the shadow of infinite death.
Some people might scoff at it.
"It can't be that bad. Just die a few times. Eventually you'll figure it out and get lucky, right?"
No.
That was the arrogance of people who'd never faced it.Survivorship bias.
It was like fighting games: if you didn't have the talent, it didn't matter how many hours you practiced — the masters would still crush you.It was like exams: if you didn't have the aptitude, you could take it again and again and still fail when a tough question showed up.
Talent… was everything.Talent was what let you stand at the peak.
And Hiro?
If nothing else, he had talent. The kind only a killer could have.
From the age of three, he had lived this way. Every midnight — just another passing moment for everyone else — became, for him, a battle for his very soul.
Every night, Hiro had to fight.To break free of that cycle of death.To step into a new day.
This was the price he paid to protect his family.
And to Hiro…
It was worth every drop of blood.