Benjamin Hui Guo Rou has spent the entire Succession Contest looking untouchable. So when Hunter x Hunter confirmed he’s dying, fans immediately wanted to know what could actually kill the Kakin Empire’s most dangerous prince.
The answer isn’t a rival’s Nen ability or a battlefield mistake. It’s TSK-17, a biological weapon Benjamin’s own advisor initially deployed to assassinate Halkenburg, now turned back on Benjamin by Prince Halkenburg, who used his Nen possession ability to hijack the body of a trusted captain Benjamin completely relied upon.
What Exactly Is TSK-17?
TSK-17 is a biological weapon that Benjamin’s faction kept in reserve; his captain, Balsamilco, initially prepared to deploy it against Prince Halkenburg, but it was ultimately turned back on Benjamin and later used by Benjamin against Prince Camilla.
It spreads quickly, has a short incubation period before symptoms hit, and has been described as dangerous even to the person handling it because of how easily it can spread by accident.
By Chapter 416, Benjamin is told he has roughly twelve hours before TSK-17 kills him, with mobility failing even sooner than that. He recognizes the symptoms in himself, checks his own stockpile to rule out an accident, and realizes only one person was close enough during the incubation period to have infected him deliberately: his own soldier, Furykov.
How Furykov’s Curse Ties Into Benjamin’s Death
Furykov remains completely loyal to Benjamin and did not infect him with TSK-17. However, he is harboring a dark secret: he is actually the biological son of Beyond Netero.
Beyond implanted a complex Nen curse within Furykov at birth that grows with him. The moment Furykov dies, this post-mortem curse will trigger to eliminate a specific prince, engineered by Beyond to clear the path for Benjamin to win the Succession War.
Unma had threatened to activate that curse and kill Furykov unless he used TSK-17 on Benjamin within 48 hours. Furykov chose to comply, but for his own reasons. If Benjamin dies from the poison, the curse is set to reflect back onto Furykov instead, and through his Guardian Spirit Beast, that reflection could make him something far more powerful than he currently is.
Benjamin isn’t the only one running the math here, either. He immediately grasps what Furykov is actually chasing, and the two end up on the same page about what happens if the curse rebounds. It’s not a simple assassination attempt. It’s a play for godhood, with Benjamin’s death as the trigger.
Benjamin isn’t going quietly. Rather than trying to find a cure, he’s spent his remaining hours pushing Special Martial Law to its limit, confronting rivals directly and even infecting more of his own brothers with TSK-17 before his time runs out. He believes he’s already killed Tserriednich, though Parallel Future leaves that outcome in serious doubt.
On top of the poison and Furykov’s curse, Benjamin is also dealing with a third threat: a curse from Camilla’s Have-Not guards, cast through her own sacrifice. Three separate death sentences are stacked on him at once, and his own Guardian Spirit Beast may be the only thing standing between him and all of them.
Hunter x Hunter Chapter 417 pushed this storyline even further, with Benjamin racing to secure Kakin’s future before TSK-17 finishes what Furykov started.