Parallel world Manga Artist-Chapter 217: Komugi
As July arrived, the plot of Hunter × Hunter during May and June had largely focused on the birth of the Ant King, the emergence of the Royal Guards, and the migration of Chimera Ants born from various queens to seize control of the isolationist nation.
Within this closed-off country, the Chimera Ants began enforcing their so-called superior rule over humanity.
Humans were initially treated as food and rations, and the Chimera Ants’ ultimate plan, to evolve into the dominant species of the world and exterminate humanity, was gradually revealed to the audience.
Meanwhile, Gon and Killua were informed by Chairman Netero that they would not be permitted to participate in the Chimera Ant extermination operation unless they met strict strength requirements.
Although Rei did his best to compress this portion of the story, the serialization over these two months still primarily depicted Gon and Killua’s struggles against powerful new characters, Knuckle Bine and Shoot McMahon, following their special training.
Thanks to Rei’s handling, fans across Japan praised this section far more than they criticized it.
After all, following Kite’s death, the mindset of Hunter × Hunter readers had become nearly unanimous:
Gon and Killua need to hurry up and smash the Ant King into the ground.
Whether they could actually win was another matter, but if the story dragged on with too many safe-zone training arcs, many impatient readers simply wouldn’t tolerate it.
At least, when Rei recalled this portion of the story from his previous life, it had been pure torture.
During the original serialization of the Ant Arc, Yoshihiro Togashi frequently went on hiatus for months. When a new Chapter finally appeared after a long wait, only for it to depict yet another training session with almost zero main-plot advancement, the sense of despair was overwhelming.
This time, Rei made a deliberate choice.
He completely omitted the Phantom Troupe vs. Chimera Ant subplot from the main serialization.
Instead, he planned to include it as a side story after the tankōbon release.
After all, it had little relevance to the core narrative.
In his previous life, Rei had once expected Hisoka and the Phantom Troupe to appear in the final battle, but in reality, they never did.
And thinking about it logically, even if the entire Phantom Troupe fought together, they likely wouldn’t last ten minutes against Royal Guard Neferpitou before being wiped out.
Since the subplot didn’t meaningfully affect the main story, there was no reason to interrupt the already high-tension serialization.
As a result, Japanese readers found this portion of the story extremely coherent.
From Gon and Killua’s training, to encounters with Chimera Ant elites in the forest; from Killua tearfully resisting the Nen needle implanted by his brother Illumi, choosing to stop running away and finally pulling it out for Gon’s sake; to Gon showcasing his growth and reckless passion.
The advantage of a fast-paced, tightly focused plot was clear: Reader engagement remained exceptionally high.
And as the arc progressed, a significant number of fans began drawing comparisons:
"I feel like the Ant Arc might be the most interesting arc in the entire series!"
"Hard to say. Greed Island is still my favorite, but this is already better than Yorknew City. Mostly because the Ant King’s sense of oppression is dozens of times stronger than Chrollo Lucilfer’s."
"Based on what we’ve seen so far, even dozens of Chrollos couldn’t beat the Ant King!"
"Chairman Netero said defeating the Ant King might require sacrificing five million civilians... Isn’t that insane?"
"Given the setting, if the Chimera Ants can be stopped at that cost, it’s actually a bargain."
"The tone has become so dark. Watching humans get eaten is brutal."
"I just feel bad for Gon. If he finds out Kite is dead... who knows how he’ll react."
"Honestly? I find the Ant King incredibly charismatic. I thought he’d be a brainless villain, but he’s frighteningly intelligent."
"His learning ability is ridiculous. He masters everything in days, even Nen, just by observing. He can even devour powerful Nen users to strengthen himself. Compared to that, Chrollo’s ability theft feels trivial."
"At this point, it’s a race. Either the Ant King grows faster, or Netero and the others kill him first. If they don’t stop him within a month, it feels like human society has no chance at all."
After Arcane concluded, nearly all of Rei’s fans shifted their attention to Hunter × Hunter.
Over these few weeks, its popularity surged dramatically.
The anime’s viewership climbed to around 6.4%, firmly securing the number-one spot in the Japanese animation market
However, in early July, the auto-chess mobile game Teamfight Tactics Mobile, adapted from Arcane, officially launched.
Thanks to Arcane’s overwhelming popularity, the game naturally attracted massive attention from the moment it went live.
Japan’s local game developers were highly capable. Rei only needed to outline the core appeal of the auto-chess genre, the strategic depth, randomness, and long-term progression, for them to immediately grasp what made such games addictive.
Although it was impossible for the game to be completely identical to the version from Rei’s previous life, it still achieved roughly 70–80% similarity, which was more than enough.
As a result, the game received excellent reviews after launch.
Of course, matching the long-term popularity of its previous-life counterpart would take time. Like all such games, it would need to rely on sustained gameplay quality, word of mouth, and community discussion to gradually draw in players beyond the core fanbase.
As for Rei himself, he barely intervened.
Aside from matters of principle, such as regulating the pricing and limits of microtransactions to ensure the Arcane IP wasn’t overexploited, he left operations entirely to the professionals and simply collected dividends as a shareholder.
At the same time, more and more promotional material for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was being released.
Shirogane’s fans had already confirmed several key points: The anime and manga would be serialized simultaneously
Shirogane would retain full copyright ownership
His relationship with Hoshimori Group would be a true partnership, not subordination
When this news broke, fan circles were stirred, but the reaction within the animation industry was far more intense.
Everyone knew Shirogane was no longer who he used to be.
But for an independent creator to force Hoshimori Group into such concessions was something no one had ever seen before.
As these reports surfaced again and again, attention toward Demon Slayer surged, not just in Japan, but globally.
Even though the anime’s broadcast was still months away, marketing had already begun in earnest.
Promotional posters appeared across ACG hubs, online forums, and offline conventions.
There were even rumors circulating online that the Japan Film Administration was reviewing a script for a Demon Slayer theatrical film.
What kind of work would this IP, one that Shirogane was promoting with such scale, cost, and confidence, ultimately become?
The unknown only heightened anticipation.
Time soon reached late July.
That week, the latest Chapter of Hunter × Hunter quietly introduced what seemed, at first glance, to be a minor subplot.
The Ant King’s plan was ruthless and methodical:
He would seize control of leadership, gather the nation’s citizens in the capital under false pretenses, and then screen them, modifying those useful to him, while killing and consuming the rest.
The process would claim millions of lives.
But such a plan required time.
And so, while waiting, the Ant King sought amusement.
He summoned champions of various board and puzzle games from across country to challenge him.
In an atmosphere of unimaginable pressure, where the Ant King needed only a few hours to learn each game, defeat its world champion, and then kill and eat them, the final challenger appeared.
A blind girl.
The world champion of Gungi.
Komugi.
In this Japanese version, Rei subtly refined Komugi’s appearance.
He couldn’t help it, he liked aesthetically pleasing characters.
Komugi had always been cute in the original work, but Yoshihiro Togashi had deliberately made her look awkward: messy hair, a constantly running nose, watery eyes when she cried, intentionally unpolished.
In Rei’s adaptation, her facial features were softened slightly, and her hairstyle was changed to long hair instead of the straw-bundle look.
Her personality, however, was preserved perfectly.
The result was immediate.
After reading the Chapter, Japanese fans flooded the internet with a single plea:
"Please don’t let the Ant King kill her!"
Humans are, at heart, visual creatures.
When elderly men and middle-aged champions were defeated and devoured, readers felt pity, but little more.
When Komugi appeared, they felt pain.
Yet at this point, Hunter × Hunter fans had no idea, just how this blind girl would change the Ant Arc.
Or how she would come to shape the fate of a being as terrifyingly intelligent and brutal as the Ant King himself.
...
STONES??
