We study the k-NN hard-core lattice gas model in which the first k next-nearest-neighbor sites of a particle are excluded from occupation by other particles on a two-dimensional square lattice. This model is the lattice version of the hard-disk system with increasing k corresponding to decreasing lattice spacing. While the hard-disk system is known to undergo a two-step freezing process with increasing density, the lattice model has been known to show only one transition. Here, based on Monte Carlo simulations and high-density expansions of the free energy and density, we argue that for k = 4,10,11,14,⋯, the lattice model undergoes multiple transitions with increasing density. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we confirm the same for k = 4,...,11. This, in turn, resolves an existing puzzle as to why the 4-NN model has a continuous transition against the expectation of a first-order transition.