If you want to read the first 5 chapters, you can go to my P@treon and become a free member. If you want me to continue this fanfic, please support it with powerstones and reviews. 💭 Thank you so much!!!
[Start of the chapter]
It was late at night, when countless windows still glowed with lamplight.
Deep into the night was supposed to be the start of a wonderful nightlife—when all the workers, finally done with their exhausting daytime jobs, could relax and enjoy themselves.
And yet, plenty of people were still staying up, grinding away without a moment's rest.
Like manga artists.
And people even more miserable than manga artists—manga assistants.
Roy was one of those assistants. Right now, he was rushing deadlines like a man possessed.
In the real world, Roy was already in his thirties, still pulling all-nighters and working overtime as a male manga assistant. He hadn't even held a pretty girl's hand once—an archmage who had mastered the art of being single. As a classic example of romantic failure, he was honestly too successful.
And then, on January 11th, 2019, at 11:45:56 p.m., while Roy was seriously working on pages, he casually cursed under his breath about why that old troll Togashi-sensei still wasn't updating the Dark Continent arc.
Then the ceiling light above him started flickering—bright, dim, bright, dim—and then…
Bang!
"Seriously? Even these days, you can't complain about someone who delays chapters? If I ever become a manga artist, I'll delay—delay—and delay some more…"
That was Roy's last thought. Before the thought even finished, his mind went blank, his vision went black, and he knew nothing at all.
He had no idea how much time passed.
Gradually, Roy regained a trace of awareness. He felt something new inside his mind—something that hadn't been there before.
A treasure chest, glowing with brilliant gold light.
Before Roy could open it—
"Hss—!"
A wave of bone-chilling pain snapped him fully awake.
His eyes flew open.
When Roy came to, he was so shocked by what he saw that his jaw dropped—and stayed that way.
A windowsill coated in dust.
A desk piled with clutter, everything tossed around in chaos.
And sitting on the desk: an old-fashioned, big-headed desktop computer tower.
The whole place screamed 1990s vibes.
Besides that bulky computer, the desktop was scattered with all kinds of manuscript sheets.
Ink, pencils, rulers—tools of the trade—were strewn everywhere in a mess.
As a manga assistant, Roy's first instinctive thought was:
This is a manga worker's desk.
His head turned unconsciously as he surveyed the surroundings.
A room that looked old and worn. The sunlight didn't reach in, leaving it dim and gloomy.
Empty instant noodle cups, used paper, and other trash were piled in the corners.
"Where… am I…?"
While Roy was still stunned, a flood of memories suddenly surged up in his mind.
After a long while, he finally came back to himself. He couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
"So I actually ended up in the world of Hunter x Hunter."
According to the memories that had just poured in, the body Roy had possessed also belonged to someone named Roy.
This sixteen-year-old Roy was a fairly well-known manga artist's junior assistant.
In this world, Roy had loved manga since he was little—loved it to the point of obsession.
So even though he was an orphan—raised in an orphanage, bullied and beaten through his childhood—he never gave up on his dream of becoming a manga artist.
If you understood how this world worked, you'd know how unlikely it was for truly compassionate orphan care to exist on a wide scale. Most of it was just for appearances.
So, after his parents died, Roy was forcibly sent into an orphanage.
When Roy was small, whenever the orphanage director and nurses treated him violently, it was those stacks of manga volumes that soothed his fragile heart. That was why he developed an intense fixation on manga.
And on top of that, he genuinely had talent and aptitude in the field.
So when he was fourteen, he took the drafts he'd secretly drawn and sought out a manga artist with some reputation.
That manga artist was also the owner of a magazine company.
Because he loved manga as well—and wanted more people to love manga too—he had established the magazine company specifically to publish excellent works.
They were both manga fanatics, and the original Roy's feverish passion hit the boss right in the heart.
After looking through some of Roy's drafts—and confirming his identity and that nothing seemed suspicious—the boss decided on the spot to take Roy in as his manga assistant.
He'd taken a liking to talent.
So Roy became a junior assistant, thrilled beyond words.
Of course, because he'd never studied manga in any systematic way, Roy started out doing nothing but errands—bringing tea and water, running small tasks.
But Roy was still happy. Truly happy.
He had escaped that torment-filled orphanage and reached the side of the person he had always admired: a real manga artist.
To become a great manga artist—that was his dream.
And Roy's talent was genuinely dazzling.
In just two short years, he absorbed knowledge like a starving sponge.
He didn't waste a single moment. Even when he went to the bathroom, he'd clutch a book on manga theory and read it carefully.
So his skills improved at a terrifying pace.
Finally, his effort and excellence moved the manga artist he worked under—the magazine boss.
And it just so happened that a serialized manga in their magazine was about to end.
In situations like this, the boss would usually draw one or two short stories personally, or recruit other manga artists to start new serializations.
But recently, none of the manga artists they had good relationships with had suitable new works.
And the boss himself had no inspiration for the time being.
So he thought it over and simply handed the opportunity to Roy.
If Roy succeeded, that would be perfect.
A new excellent manga would be born, and the magazine company would profit.
If Roy failed, it wouldn't hurt anything. They could just say the boss was training a newcomer—earning a reputation for nurturing the next generation.
Either way, the boss had given Roy this opportunity. Whether Roy succeeded or not, Roy would still be grateful—and would be willing to keep working for him wholeheartedly.
This boss was sharp as a knife.
(End of Chapter)
If I see that this fanfic has support, I will upload 20+ chapters to Patreon!!
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]