Author's Note: Is the humor here? I hope it is. Thank you, Amy & Mackan!

Miwaku: I don't own Hunter x Hunter.

CHAPTER 5

Ging was having a nice dream. He was celebrating with his special group of allies for completing another restoration of ruins. He felt the same happiness he felt back in the Kongo Gold Vein. It filled his whole being and left him imagining that he was lying on a soft cloud, surrounded by the joyful cheers and cries of his group.

His eyebrow twitched. 'So why are the voices getting louder then?'

The voices got louder and louder until a loud knock broke him out of his trance. His eyes opened wide and stared at the door in bewilderment.

'So it was all a dream.' Ging glanced at the calendar at the closet door. 'And only a few days passed since we finished the restoration of the Kongo Gold Vein.' Then, there was another knock, which sounded more insistent than before.

"Alright, I'm coming, geez." Ging grumbled out and stood up from the bed.

He was currently in the inn he had been staying at for the last weeks. It was located in a small village close to the ruins. After the complete restoration, he decided to stay longer in order to get some rest (there were days where he and his group worked overnight either because they did not notice the time pass or because it was necessary for the work). He figured that the villagers would not bother him even if he just stayed inside his room like a hermit crab.

Apparently, he spoke too soon.

"Hey, kid! Are you okay in there?!"

"You've been there for so long!"

"Hello?! Is anybody there?!"

Ging could only blink in shock as he opened the door. The people who were outside his door screamed at his sudden appearance. He just said, "What the hell?"

"We were so worried about you." The elderly woman, whom Ging recognized as the innkeeper, told him. The other people beside her also added their own statements.

"We thought you were cursed by the ruins or something."

"You are that kid who was fixing it, right? The Hunter?"

"Uh, yes?" Ging said hesitantly, slowly backing away when the villagers smiled brightly.

"That's amazing!"

"Who would've thought that you could do it?"

"It looks so beautiful, we saw it!"

"Though we are wondering why we couldn't get close to it."

'Phew, it worked.' Ging inwardly sighed in relief. Another factor that contributed to his fatigue, which led to him extending his stay, was the Nen barriers. During the restoration, he focused his aura to form conditional barriers around the whole Kongo Gold Vein in order for it to stay as it is and for others to not tamper it. He was not sure if it really worked when he finally made those but his questions were just answered.

"But really, you're so amazing and so kind to do that!"

"It's really beautiful!"

"You should be proud!"

"All of the villagers are so proud of you!"

Ging gulped and grimaced as the comments kept coming at him. He was getting uncomfortable with all of the cheers and praises. "Um, sure, thanks."

"Let's go celebrate!"

"You've been cooped up in your room for so long!"

"You need some air and sunlight."

"What am I, a plant?" Ging muttered and kept backing away until he reached for his small satchel and his back hit the window. Looking out of it, his jaw dropped at the sight of even more villagers shouting and cheering.

"Thank you, kid!"

"You're great!"

"What you did was awesome!"

"Join us for some food!"

Ging was getting a headache from all the yelling everywhere. He did not want this - any of the praises and compliments. He did not need them. He could do without them. It was suffocating him so he did the next best thing.

He ran. So quickly that all the villagers could only blink at the empty space which was occupied just a second ago.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ging breathed in and out, trying to calm his panting from the run. He was not sure where he was but he was definitely miles away from the village. He only stopped when he noticed he was in a dense forest with no sight of any other living beings except for the foliage and the occasional wild animal.

'Whoa, it's like I freaked out there.' He thought with a small smirk which quickly dropped into a frown.

It was not supposed to be a new experience for him - getting all those cheers. He had times like those back in Whale Island. Hell, just before he left the island, he had garnered a lot of awed expressions from catching the Master of the Swamp.

So, what was so different?

The people? Maybe, because Ging did not know any of those villagers who suddenly came knocking to his room, yelling out that he did great with the Kongo Gold Vein.

The compliments? They were pretty much what his allies said to him when they completed the restoration. He did not mind them; he even appreciated them. There were only variations in the words used by the villagers but essentially, they had the same meaning.

The experience itself? 'Bingo.' Ging huffed out a breath. He was shy, stubborn, and sometimes cocky. Those words were what he thought of as the traits of his personality. They made him who and what he is. Not in a definite manner, of course, but then, who was questioning it?

'Anyway, it shouldn't be that much of a big deal, but I made it like that.' Ging remembered that he did not want or need those praise and cheers. 'But...what about the others?' His special non-profit organization, a group that he formed for the sake of gaining truths and discoveries. He was not alone in the restoration. He did not do it all by himself. Was that it? He was feeling guilty for getting the attention while his allies were not even known to be even a part of the work?

It was part of the answer, Ging was sure of that. However, guilty was not the right word. It was more of uneasiness to him that he was getting the sort-of special treatment of acknowledgement without a single mention of the others who helped him. 'It sucks how unfair the world is.'

Just because he was the one who initiated it all, who started to work on it before he even formed the group and who tried and tried until he succeeded, did not mean that he should get all the credit. Technically, he would give credit to the authors of the works he researched, to the government and the other people that helped him get to where he was, and even to the Chairman who was the very first one who told him about the ruins.

It was not all about him. He did not need the glory and the fame of being the one to discover and do shit about it. He was not like the other Hunters that were fame-whores and glory-hogs about every little thing connected to them with their titles as 'Hunter'. He could do without it. He was okay at the behind-the-scenes, just being acknowledged that 'Oh, that guy did this to that. Nice.'

'The definition of perfect for me.' Ging smiled wryly. 'Such an impossibility.'

He realized that the world he was in was full of humans that have too much of the negatives (like selfishness, arrogance, pride) than the positives (like modestly, humility, kindness). It was there that he also realized that human nature is like that; hell, even he is like that - he could not deny that.

The next question was...

'What now, then?' Ging looked up at the small patch of sky in between the leaves of the trees. 'Where do I go from here?' Then, he snorted.

"Why the hell am I thinking about all this depressing stuff?" He muttered as a smile formed on his lips. "I'll just go where I want to go. I'll go do whatever I want to. Fuck whatever people think of me. And I had to cuss, don't I?" He sounded like an idiot, talking to himself like that, but really, who cared again?

'But first, a change of attire.' If there was one thing Ging learned in his travels, it was clothing and the meanings behind it. Clothes practically say what you really are as much as facial expressions. If he wanted to give off a vibe of 'I don't want to talk to anyone unless I do talk to them', he would go with baggy clothes. His current shirt and pants were just not going to cut it. 'So, that's what I'm going to do in the next town. Clothes shopping.' With a plan made, he started walking.

But suddenly, a scroll dropped in front of him. It made him jump back, wary of the innocent-looking rolled-up paper. He noticed though that there was a thin film of Nen covering it...and it was familiar to him.

'It's the old man's!' Ging thought of Netero and wondered why a scroll from the Chairman would appear. He went closer to the scroll, picked it up, and subconsciously let his Nen flow out.

The scroll opened by itself, much to Ging's surprise and amazement. He was always astonished with how versatile Nen is. Once he read the scroll, he gawked.

'How the hell did he know so fast?! It was only a few days ago!'

The scroll read:

Ging Freecss, Archaeological Hunter,

You are now eligible to apply for a Single-Star rank for completely restoring the Kongo Gold Vein ruins and, at the same time, finding more information about its past, culture, and traditions. Hunters Association is proud to call you one of its own.

I, Chairman Isaac Netero, cordially invite you to the awarding ceremony, to be held in the Hunters Association building in Swaldani City, on the upcoming Friday.

You need not to reply if you are going or not going. It is up to you if you will take the rank.

Thank you and have a good day.

Sincerely, Isaac Netero, Chairman of the Hunters Association

(P.S. You better show up, brat! I want to have some fun! Damn formalities, I swear...)

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: Oh wow, so much monologue. I love it!

Expect in the next chapter: Elevator, Double, Short

See you next time!