Arin Walker's eyes flicked open.
"Where… am I?"
He sat up with effort,
Everything felt real.
"It is not a dream..." he said to himself.
And yet, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten here.
"I don't remember what happened,"
He closed his eyes again, trying to summon anything more concrete.
Images surfaced; he'd been alone, somewhere remote.
He'd climbed a hill and reached a small restaurant built right into the rock.
He remembered sitting at the edge, a cold beer in hand.
That part was clear.
He could almost taste the bitterness of the drink.
And then… nothing.
Until now.
He opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet.
Arin inhaled deeply.
"…The air's different," he said aloud, pausing mid-breath.
Something was off.
He turned slowly, taking in the forest around him.
Towering trees he couldn't identify rose high into the sky.
"I am not sure; I remember these kinds of trees."
"Either I am tripping, or my knowledge of trees is not that great."
"There is also a chance of something else," he concluded his thoughts and gulped.
"This isn't Earth."
A mechanical voice then spoke to him.
"You are now in the world of Hunter x Hunter."
Arin froze.
His breath caught, and he scanned the forest again, heart quickening.
"What the hell?"
"Hunter x Hunter?"
"The anime?"
The voice didn't return.
His questions were left unanswered.
"That is not great."
"The voice, the system, or whatever it is says that I am in 'Hunter x Hunter,' and then it vanishes."
"That is not what happened to people who got transmigrated..." Arin said to himself.
"Hunter x Hunter."
He'd watched the anime and read the manga.
Nen, Hunters, the Chimera Ants are world-class danger.
"This can't be real…" he thought with a grin.
"I consider myself a creative and open guy."
"But..."
"Accepting that I am transmigrated is something that even I would not think of."
He wasn't dreaming.
He wasn't hallucinating.
"Alright," he exhaled, glancing up at the trees.
He needed to figure out where he was, who or what was nearby, and whether they were friendly.
But most importantly: don't die.
"Don't die," he said quietly.
"I am transmigrated or not."
"The reality shows that I am in a forest that I don't know."
"Common sense tells me that every forest is a dangerous place to be alone without tools or people to help you out."
"I need to take this slow."
Then, a grin tugged at the edge of his lips despite himself.
It was absurd.
"I was bored..."
he said to himself as he looked at his surroundings, this time in a different light.
"I…"
"I was not a good person there, just a killer..."
Yes...
Arin Walker was not an ordinary human and did not live an ordinary life.
One thing he started doing after living without any family and someone to look after him is killing people to live another day.
It could be said that he was an individual from Earth that lived in an alternate version of Meteor City.
This world was brutal, sure, but it was also beautiful.
"I'll need to learn Nen if the 'system' or 'the voice' tells the truth about Hunter x Hunter."
"But that's far off. First, get out of this forest."
"Back then, one of the only things that I liked to research and read was Hunter x Hunter, especially Nen."
He smiled to himself as he thought about it.
He reached down, picking up a long, sturdy branch from the ground, his first makeshift weapon.
His stomach growled.
"Great," he said dryly.
"One hour in and I already miss that beer."