Aesthetics are not an absolute objective matter with fixed scoring criteria; they often rely on the viewer's personal subjective feelings, and one must consider the other person's age, race, skin color, hair color, eye color, height, weight, and so on. Different people may arrive at vastly different conclusions.
To put it in a common saying, it's "to each their own."
A type that conforms to most people's aesthetic preferences can be called "beautiful."
"Am I beautiful?" the Kuchisake-onna, a character from a urban legend, likes to ask passersby.
If the answer is yes, she'll remove her mask and scare you to death. If the answer is no, she'll kill you directly. In any case, she's an unreasonable monster who will kill you no matter what you say.
The Kuchisake-onna conducts on-site questionnaires on the street as an excuse to kill people. After asking, the victim dies, leaving no worries. If I were to conduct on-site questionnaires on the street to verify my character's charm, asking everyone "Am I beautiful?" afterward, the other person might think I have psychological problems, complain about it online, and if it coincidentally reached the Zoldyck family, I would be extremely embarrassed. That would be more than just social death.
Asking people around me is naturally out of the question.
If I were to ask any elder around me, they would definitely not say I'm ugly due to their love for their juniors.
If I were to ask any younger brother around me (except Illumi), they would likely not say I'm ugly out of respect for their elder sister.
If I were to ask any butler around me, due to their subordinate status, they would have to lie and say I'm beautiful, even if I looked like a gorilla.
Ah, isn't this the story of "King Zowen's Admonishment of His Ministers" that I read during my school days in the "real world"?
From this, it can be seen that the king's perception is greatly obscured!
Open up channels of speech and adopt everyone's opinions. Ordinary people can post their photos online and accept comments from netizens, thus further understanding their character's charm.
...But I can't!
Not only because of my special profession, but also because of the "Zoldyck" name, my photo, worth a hundred million, cannot be casually posted online!
[Takes out] a mirror and admires myself for a while.
Sigh, actually, I think I could completely make a living with my looks!
By the way, could it be that I'm looking in the mirror too frequently, causing perceptual breakdown, neural fatigue, affecting my sensory functions, leading to cognitive dissonance, and thus I'm unable to objectively evaluate my own appearance?
If this continues, I might truly become a narcissist.
What should I do? Besides conducting on-site questionnaires on the street, how can I get evaluations of my character's charm from multiple strangers?
Oh, I can judge based on strangers' attitudes and reactions towards me!
For the past decade or so, like in the "real world," I've been too honest and well-behaved, living a monotonous life of commuting between Kukuroo Mountain and my workplace. I've had almost no contact with strangers except when buying souvenirs, and merchants generally greet customers with smiles, making it difficult to discern any significant difference in their attitudes.
Due to my professional characteristics, I usually pay attention to concealing my aura and minimizing my presence. People on the street don't proactively strike up conversations with me, except for telemarketing salespeople who use area-of-effect attacks.
Ah! Despite being so beautiful and having deposits in the hundreds of millions, my life is so barren and unbearable!
Sitting in front of the computer, I hesitated for a moment. Thinking that what I wanted to search was not something illicit, I decided to use the Zoldyck family's network and boldly typed "What is it like to be beautiful?" and then clicked "Search."
"A netizen's answer: It's not easy to have too many friends. Women are lonely because they are excellent, and men are excellent because they are lonely."
Although that might be the case, people are lonely even without being excellent. Rather, it's easier to be lonely. No, let's not talk about it.
"A netizen's answer: If you are good-looking and fall asleep on a bus or subway, resting your head on the shoulder of the person next to you, that person will stay with you until you wake up. If you are ugly, and rest your head on the shoulder of the person next to you, they will immediately wake you up and kindly remind you to take care of your belongings."
Oh! This is good! It applies to most people, except Illumi. He would definitely wake me up... No, he wouldn't let a stranger lean on him casually, would he? No, maybe, who knows if he'll abandon his principles for looks? I don't know his private life situation! I haven't even figured out whether he likes men or women!
"A netizen's answer: Unless you are extremely beautiful, no matter how beautiful you are, you will always feel that you are not beautiful enough. As for those who are extremely beautiful, most of them don't even realize how beautiful they are."
Extremely beautiful! D-does this refer to me?! Cough, skip, skip.
So many people posting photos, damn it. If it weren't for my professional and family background, I'd want to post photos too!
"A netizen's answer: It's easy to encounter perverts, degenerates, people who take secret photos, stalkers, intimidators, and threats."
Due to my professional and family background, apart from several NPCs in the Meteor City dungeon several years ago, I haven't encountered any others. My safety level is too high!
So many people posting photos, all sorts of styles, making my eyes dizzy. Damn it, I also want to post photos and satisfy my vanity with tens of thousands of likes!
"A netizen's answer: Only the opposite sex is the touchstone for charm. You will be the focus of the crowd, with the eyes of those of the opposite sex attracted to you. You will have a constant stream of suitors, receive so many love letters that your hands will go numb, and people will constantly show you favor."
Yes!
Truly beautiful women don't need to conduct on-site questionnaires; they attract attention just by standing on the street!
If I don't restrain my aura and minimize my presence, and instead become more high-profile, just walking on the street, I can judge my character's charm based on people's gazes!
But if I do that, there might be many people secretly taking photos of me! How can my photo, worth a hundred million, be casually taken secretly by someone? Then, that person posts my photo online, and because of my peerless appearance, it attracts a lot of attention, making me an internet celebrity overnight, recognized by many people. Then, when I carry out my profession as a professional killer in the future, I might be recognized by passionate fans, harassed endlessly, and it will hinder my work! kuAiδugg
Ah, Silva said before that one of the Zoldyck family's rules is "low profile." If I become an internet celebrity and choose to make a living with my looks, I'll definitely be looked down upon by the Zoldycks who value technical skills. I won't be able to survive in the Zoldyck family anymore. Being removed from the Zoldyck household register is still considered good; the worst is being "shelved" by them, forbidden from going out in public and embarrassing them.
To summarize, in order to verify my character's charm accurately and without future repercussions, I need:
1. At least ten strangers of the opposite sex as survey samples.
2. My personal information must not be leaked during the survey.
3. The surveyed individuals must maintain confidentiality regarding the survey content.
The first and second points are not difficult to achieve. The key is the third point. I believe a one-on-one private approach can be used, and after the survey, force can be used to threaten them into keeping quiet. Using "Nen" to intimidate ordinary people is at least ten times more effective than holding a knife to their throat. Even Killua is terrified of it, so it should be foolproof.
...That was my original plan.
After thinking about it again a day later, I still feel it's too crude and not secure enough.
Ordinary people will indeed shut up immediately when their lives are threatened, but it's not impossible for some people to choose to report to the police afterward, right?
Rather, it's precisely because of extreme fear that people are more likely to act irrationally. No, reporting to the police is actually the most rational behavior, isn't it? Isn't it normal for ordinary people to seek help from the police when their lives and property are threatened?
I just want to conduct a survey, and I hope the surveyed individuals will strictly maintain confidentiality. I don't want to harm anyone, so let's not escalate this to a criminal case!
This is too troublesome. Should I just kill them after the survey?
A corpse will not speak, so the confidentiality level is max.
No, no, no! The title of a serial killer will put what I'm doing on the front page of newspapers and news headlines. Won't that make things even bigger?!
After days of deep thought, during a routine electrotherapy session, I suddenly came up with a brilliant method that ordinary people wouldn't think of or be able to execute!
According to my plan, this method has the following advantages:
1. Extremely high accuracy. Compared to verbal questionnaires, physical reactions are more honest.
2. Extremely high concealment. Sneaking into the surveyed person's bedroom in the early morning guarantees a one-on-one environment.
3. Minimal follow-up impact. While the surveyed person is half-asleep in the early morning, it's easy to mistake unrealistic things for dreams, and even if they talk about it, no one will believe them.
A world where no one is hurt is complete! I am so kind!
After repeatedly pondering the action plan in my mind for several days, I felt there was nothing more to adjust, so I took on a Zoldyck mission before going out. After all, going out without reason would attract unnecessary attention from Kikyo, which is troublesome.
Before starting the Zoldyck mission dungeon, I went to an institution that conducts paternity tests to test if Killua and I have the same father using our hair samples. The people at the institution said that without the father's sample, and only with sibling samples, it would be more difficult to perform such a test and would require more time, and so on.
Nonsense! Don't I know that the father's sample is more convenient and faster? Naturally shed hair can't be used. There are few people in this world capable of plucking a few hairs from Lion's head! As for other types of samples, such as blood, oral swabs, semen, nails, etc., those are even more unthinkable.
In short, all it takes is more money. With [Money Power], the testing time was shortened to three days.
Silva! I've been worrying so much about your family!
[Independently completes Zoldyck mission (41/999)]
Phew, finally completed another one. Speaking of which, it seems that every time I go out to complete a Zoldyck mission, it's secondary, and the main focus is carrying out my personal agenda? No, as long as I successfully complete the mission, it's fine! I haven't done anything that would affect the Zoldyck family's reputation! If I have, it's been done secretly without anyone knowing!
Upon receiving the test report, which confirmed that Killua and I indeed have the same father, I breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed. I had imagined tens of chapters of melodramatic novel plots, but this is all there is?!
Silva! I've tested the purity of your family for you! Your family is complete, you can rest assured!
[Takes out] a lighter, burns the test report, and it's time for my character charm value questionnaire.
In order to step on my mortal enemy Illumi, trample on him, and figure out whether he or I has a problem, the sampling scope for my questionnaire is naturally male high school students of the same age as Illumi, and specifically good-looking male high school students, because ugly samples are worthless and just a waste of time.
Sneaking into the office of an ordinary high school campus and obtaining all student registration data is a piece of cake for me, a professional killer with years of experience. The realism depicted in the original manga dictates that the proportion of individuals based on appearance is similar to the "real world." There are no more than five good-looking samples in a school, but perhaps my standards are too high? Whatever, I'll just infiltrate more high schools. I can't shortchange myself, who possesses peak beauty!
Based on the student registration photos, after preliminarily selecting twenty samples, I then [take out] the city map, mark the home address of each sample on the map, and consider the cost-effectiveness of the route and appearance. Then, I eliminate ten samples, leaving ten quasi-campus heartthrobs and campus heartthrobs, and then I can set off to conduct the questionnaire!
It's early summer, and dawn breaks around 4 AM.
The light level between 3:30 AM and 4:30 AM is just enough to vaguely see my appearance, but not so clear that one is fully awake, which is perfect for creating a sense of unreality beyond reality, as if in a dream, liberating human nature and eliciting the most genuine reactions, thus completing my questionnaire.
Opening the game inventory, selecting the "Fashion" category, and arriving at the first target's bedroom, I instantly change my outfit, altering my hair color, eye color, and clothing. Transformed, I am no longer "Meroz Zoldyck," but a mythical creature that best evokes worldly desires: a seductive fairy!
...It feels a bit embarrassing.
Ah, whatever, without some flimsy clothes and fake demon wings, I can't create the illusion of "you are dreaming."
Besides, this is just a game world, so wearing something extravagant is fine, right!
Meroz, it's time to test your acting skills!
Lifting the target's quilt, straddling the target, covering the target's mouth and nose with my hand, causing the target to wake up from the pain of suffocation and open their eyes.
Here it comes. Based on the worldly resources I've seen, I gently stroke the target's face, then lean over the target, nuzzle their neck, and whisper in their ear.
The effect is extraordinary, and the target exhibits the expected physiological response.
Alright, the survey is complete.
With a karate chop, I knock the target unconscious, cover them with the quilt, change back into my normal attire, and head to the next target.
The next target's bedroom is empty; the target is not at home at all. I missed, alright, next one.
Huh?!!! There's already another woman in the bed!
I was too naive. I forgot that good-looking samples easily have richer private lives than ordinary people. Thanks to this survey, I've realized a blind spot in my previous thinking. Besides the possibility of Illumi being gay, does he already have someone he likes? Or does he not like the same type of people of the opposite sex as me, which is why he doesn't react much to me?
If Illumi already has someone he likes, that would be the best. I'll kill that person, place that person's head on Illumi's desk, and make Illumi experience the pain of losing something important!
If Illumi likes a different type of person of the opposite sex than me, then it's a bit troublesome. I'll have to find someone who fits his preferences, make them "accidentally" meet, get them together, and then I'll kill that person, place that person's head on Illumi's desk, and make Illumi experience the pain of losing something important!
Out of the ten survey samples, one was absent, two had women in their beds, and the bodies of the remaining seven all behaved very honestly. It seems my character's charm is still acceptable, there are no major issues, the real problem lies with Illumi.
Do I have to resort to that? Going deep into the tiger's den or something.
After years of persistent effort, I am at least an average Nen user capable of maintaining "Ken" for 4 hours. Confronting Illumi at his current stage should not be too much of a disadvantage. Besides, the Zoldycks strictly prohibit killing family members. As long as I don't accidentally cripple or kill Illumi, no matter what I do to him, Illumi cannot kill me, unless he wants to be kicked out of the Zoldyck household register... probably.
There are no cameras near Illumi's room; he voluntarily requested to adjust the surveillance range when he was 8 years old, saying that the camera's "gaze" made him uncomfortable. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have known such a thing was possible! I used the same reason to tell Kikyo, and she said my situation was different from Illumi's, that I was her only daughter, and she couldn't rest assured, requiring constant monitoring of my condition.
"..." At 9 years old, I was too weak and chose to obey.
As the saying goes, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise. Who knew that Illumi's choice back then would inadvertently enable me to successfully break into his room undetected today!
As for personal privacy? Humph, it doesn't exist! Scum like Illumi doesn't need privacy!
Moreover, Illumi is currently working outside and won't be back for a month, so it's perfect timing, with heaven, earth, and human harmony!
I'm going to turn his room upside down!
Let's see how dark his heart truly is!
And let's research his sexual preferences.