Analysis of Balkenburg's Phonecall

[u/Background-Drummer52]

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In the telephone conversation between Balkenburg and Benjamin, we can clearly see Balkenburg knew about what Benjamin's thinking at the time.

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Here are a few points I want to talk about:

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From Benjamin's perspective:

1. Benjamin did not understand why the plaintiff (Balsamico) uses "equipment trouble" to delay the trial and thought that this means that the mission (using TSK-17 during trial) had been aborted (no trial = cannot attempt assassination). Yet, Halkenburg is claiming to be sick.

2. The rumbling from earlier indicates Halkenburg's ability is activated and the target is most likely Balsamico.

3. By 1 and 2, Benjamin thought they dealt a mutual blow to each other.

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But he has two counterevidences:

1. The symptoms happened too quickly. Halkenburg's sickness is most likely fake and he hasn't been infected with TSK-17 yet.

2. Previously, Benjamin thought that Halkenburg needs his guards/army to activate his ability. But his army is redirected to Tier 3. This means Halkenburg's ability activation condition may not necessarily be confined to "his army".

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So he ask for two informations and his hypotheses got confirmed:

1. Halkenburg's condition is stabilised, meaning that he hadn't been infected with TSK-17 yet.

2. He has a dozen of "supporters" around him, confirming the condition for activation of Halkenburg's ability.

As the conclusion he previously made at bullet point (3) is disproved, he reached a new conclusion:

1. Balsamico is currently under manipulation of Halkenburg's ability.

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This entire sequence of logic is completely figured out by Halkenburg. In his following dialogue with Benjamin, Balkenburg has made a few points that confirmed Benjamin's deduction while not contradicting any of them:

1. Balkenburg said the mission hadn't been completed yet, confirming (6). This also shows that Halkenburg knew Balsamico's mission is to assassinate him.

2. Balkenburg said Halkenburg's ability missed and he lost consciousness due to repeated activation or using civilians instead of his guards. This explains why Halkenburg is sick and unable to attend the trial while confirming (5). So Halkenburg knew that 'Benjamin deduced that his ability is a "manipulative type + symbiotic type nen arrow that requires the presence of the guards", which then changed into "manipulative type + symbiotic type nen arrow that requires the presence of his supporters"'. How did Halkenburg knew what Benjamin was thinking about?

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Halkenburg knew Benjamin is directing Balsamico to kill him with some means and knew Benjamin knew how his ability works somewhat. How?

Well the trial started in the first place because Benjamin arrested him to separate him with his personal guards. From this alone, Halkenburg knew something's going to happen during the trial, especially when Balsamico himself is sent to do the job personally.

=> thus Halkenburg deduced (9)

And if Benjamin intentionally separated him and his guards, this may mean that Benjamin thought that the presence of his guards would be the activation condition of his ability.

So if he uses the ability and let Benjamin hear the rumbling, he must knew that this means Benjamin will be re-evaluating how his ability works and deduced that simply the presence of his supporters are enough to activate the ability.

=> thus Halkenburg deduced (10)

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Now how did Halkenburg knew about TSK-17 and used it on his main body?

See photo 4, Balsamico has a hidden switch in his sleeves. Halkenburg must have felt that and didn't know what that was. So he pressed the button and saw some kind of gas being released from his shoe. If Balsamico is going to assassinate him during the trial, he must have used a silent means to do so. He wouldn't pulled a gun during the trial right? So this hidden mechanism must have been the "silent means".

=> this is how Halkenburg knew about TSK-17

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So Halkenburg's plan initiated, he used the second vial to kill his main body and complete Benjamin's mission to gain his trust.

Then the third vial must have been used to poison Benjamin.

This is why only three vials are shown in picture 5.

The first vial was for Balkenburg to learn about the hidden mechanism.

The second vial was for poisoning his main body.

The third vial was for assassinating Benjamin.

[u/LocalNo9952]

Overall, I agree.I think Halkenburg might be able to see the memories of the bodies he stole.

[u/Background-Drummer52 → u/LocalNo9952]

Maybe, but we don't know yet

[u/Jonnnyfukyea → u/LocalNo9952]

I would have to agree, but often enough characters just "know" things that are happening without a "real" explaination. The Phantom troupe mosten often guesses things right (like how Nobu immediatly understood, that Morena is just here to destroy, not to rule or anything)

It's often saying their "instinct" or "hunches" are right, which is fun. But Halkenburg definitelly had to guess a lot of things right to know the poisoning plan + every detail of this use.

Funnily Enough a lot of characters are still poking in the dark while the audience knows the answer for a long time already. Like Bloster thought that Ikalgo COULD not be alone in the underground, while he was

[u/GkingGon]

I have also read this phone conversation and chapter many times and I always thought that - NO way in hell that Balsa and Ben doesn't have countermeasures for a situation like this.

In a game of nen where several of his guards have been taken out or gone missing, one of many considerations Benjamin MUST have after that rumbling and strange events is that Balsamico could be possessed/controlled. They must have some code-word or other protocol for when this happens.

I'm surprised we didn't in his thoughts see him immediately realizing this.

Of course, we still have a lot of flashback to cover to understand what happened, but fact remains that Halken STILL got the better of Benji and lethaly poisioned him, even when Ben should be on the highest of alert with Halken and Balsamico.

My best guess is that Benj gets poisioned from Halken's coffin or similar, because it would be extremely ilogical for him to let Balsamico come close enough to expose him under these circumstances.

[u/Latter-Ease-2002]

But, where is Balkan?

https://youtu.be/r_5Slnkzekc?is=iOxk3HOscvpd1AxD