Illumi first gave Hisoka a murderous look, warning him not to attack his elder brother.
Then he took out a newspaper and handed it to Hiro.
A news item with the headline:
"The richest man in Balalil committed suicide, and his family members fought over the inheritance in the mourning hall"
occupied the largest page.
There was a lot of text in it, and the general gist was that the richest man in Balalil had become obsessed in recent years with finding the way to immortality, spending vast sums of money on his quest.
Earlier this month, he suddenly left a suicide note and jumped from the top of his own company's headquarters.
Although the contents of the suicide note had not been made public, the media speculated that the reason was his failure to achieve immortality, coupled with his worsening health, leading to despair.
His wives and children reportedly even fought fiercely in the mourning hall over his fortune, a scene that was secretly captured by paparazzi and splashed across tabloids.
Hiro read through the article silently, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze fell on a particular figure in one of the pictures
In the chaotic mourning hall, as family members shouted accusations at each other, only a single young man stood silently at the coffin's side, head lowered.
"…Illumi, this young man is the client this time, isn't he?"
Hiro asked suddenly, his voice calm.
"As expected of you, Big Brother," Illumi replied immediately, admiration flashing in his eyes. "You guessed it right away. That young man is the client of this mission Terry Robert."
Illumi, who had been locked in a wordless, hostile exchange of stares with Hisoka, broke it off at Hiro's words and turned fully to him, his voice softening.
"He is the youngest son of the Robert family. Allegedly, he is the illegitimate son of the deceased Robert and his mistress. He's not well-liked by his half-siblings or their mothers."
"Originally, the client's request was straightforward: kill all the high-ranking figures of the Spiritual Practice Society including their so-called 'Master.'
"After my investigation, I confirmed their identities and determined I could complete the commission as early as yesterday.
"But the client suddenly changed his requirements dramatically. He raised the price tenfold to ten billion jenny."
Illumi paused here, glancing at the newspaper again.
"According to the documents he provided, he does indeed have the ability to pay that sum. But his revised requirements go beyond my means."
He looked up, meeting Hiro's eyes with rare solemnity.
"His exact words were: divine punishment.
"The 'Master' must appear to willingly confess all his crimes and sins in front of everyone present, and then die in the most horrific torture imaginable, along with the other high-ranking members of the society."
Illumi's voice grew colder as he added, "My needles can only compel obedience. I can make someone speak and act, but it's stiff and unnatural. It can't produce a genuine, believable confession that aligns with the client's 'divine punishment' fantasy."
At that moment, Hisoka, leaning casually by the window and stacking cards into a teetering tower, snorted.
"Why not just corner the guy beforehand and make him rehearse the confession? Then, after his little performance, have him die painfully easy."
Illumi turned his head and gave Hisoka a withering stare, as though he was a particularly stupid child.
"…If it were that simple, would I have needed to call Hiro?" Illumi's tone was razor sharp. "You underestimate how fragile such situations are. If he even suspects something in advance, he might choose suicide on his own terms, or his guards might intervene and ruin the show."
Illumi folded his arms and continued, voice low.
"The key point is that the client demanded the entire process appear to the public as divine retribution.
"He plans to record everything, upload it to the net, and use it to publicly destroy the reputation of the Spiritual Practice Society once and for all.
"That means I cannot touch anyone outside the highest leadership of the society.
"If even one of the low-ranking members or guests present is hurt, the whole performance loses credibility. It must appear that God struck down only the guilty."
Illumi's expression hardened as he added,
"And that's not all. According to my intelligence, the 'Master' is surrounded by a covert security team of Nen users posing as ordinary members. They will protect him at all costs and are trained to detect manipulation techniques like mine. I can't take direct action without exposing myself."
At that, he fell silent, waiting for Hiro's response.
Hiro, sitting on the bed, crossed one leg over the other, his fingers drumming lightly on his knee as he smiled faintly.
"…Now it's starting to sound a little interesting."
He glanced up at Illumi.
"So in other words… you need someone who can make them believe their own lies, confess their sins from their own mouths, and die horribly in front of everyone without ever realizing they've been manipulated."
Illumi simply nodded.
Hisoka, meanwhile, licked his lips in delight and muttered to himself:
"Ahh, divine punishment… what a delicious idea."
But Hiro ignored Hisoka entirely, his faint smile turning sharper as he spoke:
"Fine, little brother. Leave it to me. If it's divine punishment you want… I'll paint them a masterpiece."
"And my attack was discovered, which does not meet the requirement that it cannot appear to be homicide."
After saying this, Illumi fell silent.
Across the room, Hisoka merely rolled his eyes and resumed stacking his playing cards, his expression clearly saying: "Not my problem. Go figure it out yourself."
Illumi turned back toward Hiro, his tone quiet yet expectant:
"This is the difficulty of this mission… What do you think, Brother?"
Hiro, however, didn't answer directly. He looked down at the newspaper in his lap, and instead murmured:
"As I thought… the client's father was also just another victim of this so-called Spiritual Training Society."
"A perfectly good family, torn apart and ruined like this… No wonder the boy changed the commission requirements at the last minute. It's understandable."
Hiro's eyes narrowed slightly as he folded the paper. His faint smile returned.
"Well then… It's time to get things done."
Illumi's eyes instantly brightened at that.
"Brother… then… you've already thought of a solution?"
Hisoka, still pretending to focus on his cards, subtly turned his head and perked up his ears, clearly curious as well.
Hiro glanced at Illumi's eager expression, then gave a thin, sharp smile.
"Yes… there's a way. But when the job is done, Illumi… you'll give me half the payment."
"No problem."
"Good." Hiro leaned back, fingers steepled. "Now then… Illumi, repeat every single detail of the intelligence you've collected, from start to finish. I'll head to the site tonight to make my preparations. Tomorrow, you find a good place nearby to watch from. Bring your surveillance equipment, take the recordings when it's over."
Illumi hesitated slightly, then asked:
"Brother… you don't want me present at the scene tomorrow?"
His voice held just a hint of disappointment.
Hiro chuckled softly at that.
"Don't overthink it, Illumi. No one needs to be there tomorrow. Your brother still has an art exhibition to attend, you know."
Illumi blinked, visibly stunned. His brain struggled to catch up.
An art exhibition? And yet… divine punishment…? If I'm not there, how can this possibly succeed? No Brother must have some secret he isn't telling me…
Meanwhile, Hisoka was watching Hiro now with undisguised fascination, a sly grin spreading across his face as he licked his lips.
Interesting… very interesting.
Seeing his little brother's puzzled look, Hiro finally added a short explanation:
"It just so happens I've developed a brand-new ability… and it's perfect for a situation like this."
He rose to his feet, brushing off his jacket.
"You really are lucky, Illumi. Just sit back tomorrow and see how your big brother wins this one."
...
That night 12:30 AM.
After completing his daily assassination run in the Assassination Space, Hiro quietly made his way to the manor of the Spiritual Practice Society.
Thanks to the thorough reconnaissance and intelligence Illumi had already gathered, Hiro bypassed every surveillance camera and patrolling guard with ease.
Not a single sensor detected him as he moved like a shadow.
He finally reached the main hall of the spiritual practice society. The tall double doors were locked.
Without hesitation, Hiro crouched slightly, pressed two fingers to the keyhole, and sent a thread of focused Nen into it.
click
The lock disengaged instantly.
He pushed the door open and slipped inside.
The interior was completely dark, but Hiro didn't so much as flinch.
For him, the darkness was no hindrance his sharpened senses and his aura control let him see every inch of the room as clearly as daylight.
This was not only because Hiro had undergone night vision training since childhood, but also thanks to a talent he had once drawn during the Assassination Space: the God-level Vision.
In addition to seeing farther and sharper than ordinary people, one of its most valuable effects was the tremendous enhancement of night vision.
Even in pitch darkness, Hiro could see as if it were broad daylight.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Miji.
Miji replied almost instantly, confirming that all the original surveillance cameras in the hall had already been hacked from this moment on, no matter what Hiro did inside, there would be no video evidence left behind.
Armed with Illumi's detailed intelligence, Hiro already knew the exact locations of each of the spiritual practice association's senior leaders.
At every gathering, each one of them sat in a fixed spot on their exclusive cushion.
What Hiro needed to do tonight was simple: replace those exclusive cushions with his own Painter's Fear Model.
Hiro had absolute confidence in his god-level painting skills he wasn't worried in the slightest about them noticing that the cushions had been swapped.
What's more, these models were fully materialized objects. As long as they weren't triggered, even a Nen user deliberately focusing with Gyo or In would see nothing unusual.
By setting the condition to trigger only when the master has confessed, each of the models would play horrific scenes directly into their minds, breaking their spirits and filling them with despair right before the deadly blade struck through their hearts.
Finally, the so-called "divine punishment" the client demanded would unfold exactly as requested.
"Yes. This is it. Simple."
In the darkness, Hiro smiled faintly to himself as he sketched on a cushion with pen and paper.
If any master painter were to witness this scene, they would have been utterly horrified.
Because even in such darkness, Hiro could perfectly reproduce the minute details of each cushion on his drawing paper every pattern, every fray of fabric, every speck of wear flawlessly and at speed.
This level of skill was already beyond the realm of genius.
It was nothing short of… unbelievable.