Chapter 239

Foolish Survivor!! (バカサバイバー！！) is the two hundred and thirty-ninth chapter of Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
While the jujutsu sorcerers are focused on the showdown in Shinjuku with Sukuna, Kenjaku hunts down the remaining Culling Game players. Everything continues according to his plan until he runs into a comedian primed to steal the show.

Plot Details
In the Lake Gosho Colony in the Iwate Prefecture, an incarnated female Culling Game player worries about the new rules added to the battle royal. As she runs into the forest, she wonders out loud, calling Kenjaku cruel for giving incarnated players like her a second chance at life only to take it away. A slime-like curse then falls on her head, suffocating her.

Kenjaku appears, sitting on a nearby tree. He tells the player that he has no emotional attachment towards the incarnated players, comparing them to seasoning and water. The woman attacks him by twisting her hair into a drill and firing it towards him, though he disappears before the projectile hits, causing it to strike the tree.

The curse on the player's head then solidifies, weighing her down and causing her to drop to the ground. As she desperately tries to remove the curse, Kenjaku walks towards her while commenting about how he detests needlessly waste nonetheless before flicking the curse with his finger, transferring a shockwave through it that kills the sorcerer.

Standing over the woman's corpse, Kenjaku talks to himself, explaining how he is able to track incarnated players through their cursed objects and awakened players through their cursed seals. He adds that the incarnated players were also reluctant to leave their colonies since adapting to society and getting hunted down were both unattractive options.

Kenjaku is then approached by Iori Hazenoki, who notes that the woman is already dead and mockingly asks if Kenjaku talks to himself due to his longevity. Kenjaku explains that it is due to him not having many friends left and offers friendship to Hazenoki, who sarcastically accepts. Kenjaku then says that Hazenoki must fulfil two conditions to be his friend: he must never bore him, and he must be his equal. Realizing that Kenjaku thought he was serious, Hazenoki reveals that he was joking earlier, much to Kenjaku's disappointment.

Kenjaku then takes out his phone and watches the conclusion to Satoru Gojo's battle against Sukuna. He commends Sukuna after noticing that the King of Curses killed Satoru by extending the target of his cursed technique. Hazenoki, who also watched the finale of the fight on his phone, is disappointed that Satoru lost since now he has no backup against Kenjaku. Kenjaku retorts him, revealing that he used barrier techniques to conceal cursed spirits around himself and Shinjuku, which act as surveillance for the total cursed energy volume of all the sorcerers in the city. This allows him to monitor the sorcerers and know when even one of them leaves, especially Yuta Okkotsu. Additionally, since he also shares vision with the cursed spirits, he can track Maki Zenin who possesses no cursed energy, and Ui Ui who he speculates possesses a cursed technique that allows him to teleport.

Hazenoki makes fun of Kenjaku's preparedness, asking if he lacks confidence in his abilities to fight him. Kenjaku instead states that it means the two are alone. A swarm of cursed spirits then rush out of the forest and charge Hazenoki as Kenjaku asks if the incarnated sorcerer really thought he could hold him off until help arrived. Hazenoki removes a tooth and detonates it, causing a massive explosion in the forest that destroys the curses. A large curse then appears to his side, causing him to remove his eye and throw it into the curse's stomach before exploding it. While he is regenerating his eye with Reverse Cursed Technique, a distracted Hazenoki is attacked by small flying curses.

Kenjaku walks towards Hazenoki and explains that he was aware of Hazenoki's ability to use Reverse Cursed Technique, which is why he targeted his head. As he mocks Hazenoki's shoddiness despite being a reincarnated player, it is revealed that the small curses stabbed their proboscis-like appendages through Hazenoki's neck, preventing him from healing his body from the neck down.

Resentfully, Hazenoki asks Kenjaku why he is killing players. Kenjaku explains that he needs to kill all the players to end the Culling Game due to a binding vow. By ending the Culling Game, he would be able to merge the people of Japan with Tengen. Hazenoki is unable to understand Kenjaku's motives, who reveals that he believes life is about seeing what one hasn't seen, and confirming what one thinks is interesting in imagination is interesting in real life. Still unable to understand, Hazenoki insults Kenjaku one last time before being killed.

Some time later, Kenjaku notices a sorcerer leaving Shinjuku. Fumihiko Takaba is then seen running down the road towards Kenjaku while expressing his relief for finally arriving in Iwate, mistakingly calling it Hakodate. Kenjaku corrects him before summoning curses to attack Takaba, all the while wondering why the sorcerers sent the comedian of all people to fight him alone. As the curses seemingly kill Takaba, Kenjaku laments the boringness of awakened players, who he only used to fill out the roster. Hiromi Higuruma is the sole exception in his opinion.

However, as the smoke clears, Takaba is revealed to be alive. Angered about the attack, he threatens to have Kenjaku imprisoned. Kenjaku is perplexed by the unknown feeling of his attack having no effect despite hitting Takaba. Takaba then states that the most thrilling thing in the world is when comedians who are only there to pad out the cast ends up stealing the show, which Kenjaku agrees with.

Character in Order of Appearances

 * Unnamed Female Culling Game Player
 * Kenjaku
 * Iori Hazenoki
 * Satoru Gojo $(Image)$
 * Sukuna $(Image)$
 * Yuta Okkotsu $(Mentioned)$
 * Maki Zenin $(Mentioned)$
 * Mei Mei $(Mentioned)$
 * Ui Ui $(Mentioned)$
 * Fumihiko Takaba

Battles & Events

 * Kenjaku vs. Iori Hazenoki
 * Fumihiko Takaba vs. Kenjaku

Locations

 * Lake Gosho Colony, Iwate Prefecture

Jujutsu
Fumihiko Takaba's Techniques
 * Comedian

Iori Hazenoki 's Techniques
 * Exploding Flesh*

Kenjaku's Techniques
 * Cursed Spirit Manipulation