Tagenpaku

Tagenpaku
Kana	タゲンパク
Rōmaji	Tagenpaku
Debuts
Manga Debut	Chapter 375
Characteristics
Gender	Male
State	Deceased [presumably]
General Status
Affiliation	Kakin Empire Halkenburg Hui Guo Rou
Occupation	Personal Soldier for Prince Halkenburg
Nen
Type	Unknown

Tagenpaku (タゲンパク, Tagenpaku) is a personal soldier for 9^th Prince Halkenburg.

It is revealed that with the goal of investigating his ability, Halkenburg had the body of the person on his side who had possessed Benjamin's soldier Vict killed, while Vict's body was alive. Since Tagenpaku does not appear as one of Halkenburg's pallbearers, it is likely that he is the one to have possessed Vict and have his body killed. Because of how Halkenburg's ability works, if Tagenpaku is indeed the one to have been swapped into Vict, his soul currently coinhabits Vict's body together with Vict's soul, with priority of consciousness going to Vict.

Appearance

Tagenpaku is a relatively tall man with short, dark-colored hair parted above his left eye and a rectangular face. He has small eyes, a thin nose, and a small mouth with thin lips. Like the rest of Halkenburg's personal guards, Tagenpaku wears a suit while acting in his capacity as a guard.

Personality

Tagenpaku has not been seen speaking or doing anything in the story besides occasionally being seen around Halkenburg, and so not much can be said about his personality.

Plot

Succession Contest arc

On the third day of the voyage, Halkenburg leads his men in a moment of silence for 12^th Prince Momoze. His men, including Tagenpaku, stand in a semicircle surrounding Halkenburg. The unison of Halkenburg's men in action generates a massive amount of aura, strong enough for 1^st Prince Benjamin to feel from four rooms away in Room 1001 and contact a terrified Shikaku, a personal elite soldier of his who had been sent to guard and spy on Halkenburg on the first day, for an immediate report of the situation.

After the moment of silence ends, Halkenburg begins walking toward Room 1009's entrance. Nikoraurusu makes an attempt to stop Halkenburg from making an appeal to his father, King Nasubi, but drops the matter when he sees how upset Halkenburg is. Halkenburg leaves with Tagenpaku, four more of his men, and Shikaku, and instructs the rest of them to continue carrying out their duties.

Halkenburg makes his way to Nasubi's residence where he asks to see Nasubi. Tagenpaku and two other guards watch over Halkenburg as he speaks with the guards at the VVIP gate, but Halkenburg is ultimately not allowed to enter, and settles for leaving the guards at the VVIP gate a letter with instructions to pass it to Nasubi. Halkenburg continues trying this for the next few days, and on the sixth day, forces the guards at the VVIP gate to let him in at gunpoint. Halkenburg speaks to Nasubi, and after failing to appeal to Nasubi, to assassinate Nasubi, and to commit suicide, returns to his room, awakened and resolved to win, and equipped with a new ability. Halkenburg returns to Room 1009 and powers up his ability with his men; Tagenpaku stands directly on Halkenburg's left. Halkenburg uses his Grimmal: The Dissonance to force the soul of his guard Sumidori into Shikaku's body.

On the seventh day of the voyage, Halkenburg and his men stand around a deeply-sleeping Sumidori, with a machine hooked up to him to monitor his brainwaves. The men wonder what happened to Shikaku's soul, and Halkenburg gives them four possibilities. After some discussion about the difficulties in proving or disproving any of the theories, Halkenburg calls for his men's attention, and explains his understanding of why he was given the ability, and the implications that the reason he was given the ability has on what the ability itself can do. Tagenpaku stands near the middle of the group, between Gihoruto and Guerimori, and the men listen closely to Halkenburg.

On the ninth day, Halkenburg's men gather again, to collectively review their investigation and to be briefed on the next steps to take. "Shikaku" walks over to Room 1007, and presses its doorbell. When one of 7^th Prince Luzurus' guards speaks to him over the intercom, "Shikaku" proclaims Benjamin, and promptly shoots himself in the head. While Benjamin and Luzurus' teams scramble to make sense of the situation, Halkenburg has his men surround "Sumidori", prepared to identify who is inside Sumidori's body and progress their investigation. "Sumidori" wakes up, and identifies Halkenburg in front of him.

On the tenth day of the voyage, Benjamin and Balsamilco Might, his Captain of the Guards, hear Vict, another of their men, struggle in battle again Halkenburg. Following this, Balsamilco has Halkenburg arrested under suspicion of premediated murder, evidenced by Benjamin's soldiers continually experiencing anomalies. IPA members Steiner and Peuckert, temporarily on loan to Kakin's Justice Bureau Investigation Department, turn up in a team of five at Room 1009 to effect the arrest. Halkenburg and his men are unable to do anything, and Halkenburg is led away by the Justice Bureau team.

On the eleventh day of the voyage, Balsamilco turns up at the Justice Bureau in preparation for his trial against Halkenburg, not expecting any resistance since Halkenburg had been separated from his guards. However, after passing through security, Balsamilco notices Vict and is distracted by his presence, leading to him falling victim to Halkenburg's ability and swapping souls with Halkenburg himself. Halkenburg lets his body get infected with TSK-17 found on Balsamilco's body and, very early in the morning on the twelfth day, die. In a monologue, Halkenburg notes that he and his team experimented with Vict in advance before Halkenburg let his own body die; their experiment with Vict involved testing what happened if the body on their side dies first. Through Balsamilco's body, Halkenburg conveys three final wishes to Benjamin: a ship-wide announcement, a send-off by his supporters, and his personal guards to transport his casket. Benjamin grants them, wanting to be able to show that he honored Halkenburg's final wishes.

At noon on the twelfth day of the voyage, twelve of Halkenburg's men act as pallbearers for Halkenburg's casket; Tagenpaku is noticably absent from this. They begin the funeral procession from the Tier 3 General Hospital, where Halkenburg had been rushed to when he initially collapsed, and are seen making their way up the central staircase connecting Tiers 2 and 3.

Abilities & Powers

Nen

Given that Halkenburg sent his men Shedule and Yuhirai to Kurapika's Nen lessons on the second day with instructions to learn all they can about Nen beasts, it is likely that none of Halkenburg's men, including Tagenpaku, know anything about Nen beyond what was mentioned by Kurapika over the emergency channel.

It is worth noting that Tagenpaku is seen powering Halkenburg's Grimmal: The Dissonance in his attack on Shikaku, which is a sign that Tagenpaku has been marked by Halkenburg's Guardian Spirit Beast; Kurapika notes that those with the mark of Halkenburg's Guardian Spirit Beast are half-awakened to Nen.

Manga Appearances

Succession Contest arc
340. Special Mission	Absent
341. Threats	Absent
342. Challenge	Absent
343. Invitation	Absent
344. Author	Absent
345. Signature	Absent
346. Options	Absent
347. Inauguration	Absent
348. Resolve	Absent
349. Worm Toxin	Absent
350. Prince	Absent
351. Battle to the Death	Absent
352. Troublesome	Absent
353. Cold-Blooded	Absent
354. Heat	Absent
355. Detonation	Absent
356. Unfortunate: Part 1	Absent
357. Unfortunate: Part 2	Absent
358. Eve	Absent
359. Departure	Absent
360. Parasite	Absent
361. Withdraw	Absent
362. Resolve	Absent
363. Nen Beast	Absent
364. Speculation	Absent
365. Choice	Absent
366. To Each His Own	Absent
367. Synchronization	Absent
368. Foul Play	Absent
369. Limits	Absent
370. Observation	Absent
371. Mission	Absent
372. Disappearance	Absent
373. Inheritance	Absent
374. Ability	Absent
375. Persuasion	Debut
376. Determination	Appears
377. Scheme	Absent
378. Balance	Absent
379. Collaboration	Absent
380. Alarm	Absent
381. Predation	Absent
382. Awakening	Appears
383. Escape	Absent
384. War	Absent
385. Warning	Absent
386. Hypothesis	Appears
387. Recreation	Absent
388. Reflection	Absent
389. Curse	Absent
390. Clash: Part 1	Absent
391. Clash: Part 2	Absent
392. Information	Absent
393. Plea	Absent
394. Hypothesis	Absent
395. Founding: Part 1	Absent
396. Founding: Part 2	Absent
397. Founding: Part 3	Absent
398. Search	Absent
399. Expulsion	Absent
400. Secrecy	Absent
401. Moonlight	Absent
402. Letter	Absent
403. Results	Absent
404. Speculation	Absent
405. Performance	Absent
406. Regalia	Absent
407. Negotiation	Absent
408. Negotiation: Part 2	Absent
409. Negotiation: Part 3	Absent
410. Negotiation: Part 4	Absent

Trivia

• Although Tagenpaku has black hair, he is drawn without his hair shaded in Chapter 376.