I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

The air inside the banquet hall quieted down as if it had solidified.

People gazed at Maya as if they were enchanted by something.

Her aura exuded an unfathomable mystique.

Even those who knew her well felt as if they were seeing her for the first time.

Normally, she showed no interest in dressing up.

It was her daily routine to simply pick up yesterday’s wrinkled clothes and put them on with dishevelled hair.

She didn’t even bother with simple creams or lotions.

Yet, after cleaning up and styling her hair with waves, she even put on makeup.

Her appearance outshone everyone else present.

With eyes as white as snow, waves of silvery hair, sparkling crimson irises, and lips with a pinkish sheen, along with perfectly chiseled features.

If there was such a thing as a doll maker putting in every effort to create perfect beauty, it would be her.

If there was one flaw in the masterpiece called Maya, it was that she didn’t smile.

Maya surveyed the hall with an expressionless face.

Those who met her gaze blushed, regardless of gender.

They didn’t even feel jealousy; they were overwhelmed by the aura surrounding her.

Even though her attire wasn’t flashy, just wearing a silver cloak with a hood made her outshine everyone present.

Yet, Maya showed little interest in their reactions.

Except for one person.

It was easy to spot him.

His appearance also stood out among the crowd.

His eyes sparkled as if he had found a treasure, and his lips trembled with uncontrollable joy.

It was clearly euphoria.

Maya’s pupils flickered with a sense of triumph.

She clenched her fist secretly.

She succeeded!

Her partner, who noticed her subtle change, whispered quietly, “Not yet. We have to wait until the man is restless.”

“…Understood.”

Maya acted according to the plan she had prepared.

She handed her cloak to the staff at the entrance and leaned slightly against Arno next to her.

The Director’s mouth slightly opened as if sighing sadly.

Maya felt a shiver running through her body.

She had seduced the boss!

A thrilling sensation she had never felt before surged through her.

The state she saw in him was accurate.

Wonderstein was swallowing screams of joy at the sight of Maya as she was now.

His calm demeanour from the Smiling Man didn’t work when he was truly smiling.

Dressed in a silver cloak given to circus performers, with her hair styled and makeup applied, Maya looked just like someone he knew from the game.

She was the ‘Wizard Maya’ of TT1.

In TT1, except for swimsuits, maid outfits, and martial arts costumes aimed at a specific audience, the default costumes that appeared in TT1 were consistently popular.

He never expected to see her in that form.

He believed he wouldn’t be able to see that appearance of her until he returned to reality.

But the fantasy he had been drawing suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The 17-year-old’s charm she had was supplemented by makeup.

Draped in a silver robe, Maya was exactly as she appeared in the game.

Wonderstein couldn’t hide his proud smile.

It felt like achieving another feat as a gamer.

Of course, the moment he could see her like that was short-lived.

As she entered the hall, she handed her cloak to the attendant beside her.

Wonderstein let out a disappointed sigh.

Even Ella was surprised by Maya’s transformation.

It seemed she had put in at least a few hours on her hair and makeup.

She must have left early for that reason.

Wonderstein muttered next to her, “I thought I’d have to wait two years, but it seems unnecessary, hehe.”

Ella’s expression stiffened at his muttering.

She could sense the ulterior motive behind his words.

This guy.

He was looking at the girl who considered herself his disciple with those eyes, wasn’t he?

Suppressing her anger, Ella muttered to herself, “With a 10-year age difference…”

In fact, she knew that criticism didn’t make sense.

She herself had quite a difference compared to him.

It was just jealousy.

He rejected her confession in such a way, but he was eyeing Maya.

That’s why her anger flared up even more.

She couldn’t lose.

She admitted that the opponent had the upper hand in appearance.

But this side had its own weapons.

All she had to do was use them to fight back.

Ella noticed that Maya was peeking at their direction.

She quickly linked arms with Wonderstein and leaned her face on his shoulder.

“Maya, she looks really pretty, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.”

When he gave such a superficial answer, Ella felt a surge of anger, but she exaggeratedly laughed as if having a very enjoyable conversation.

Maya’s eyebrows twitched as she watched them.

See? No matter what you do, the person standing next to me right now is my partner.

Ella pressed herself closer to him.

“It looks like Maya invited her ‘favorite person’ as her partner. Surprising, isn’t it? Maybe she was infatuated with the leader of another circus troupe.”

“Mr. Arno deserves to be the idol of every illusionist.”

Ella perked up her ears.

There seemed to be a self-deprecating tone in his words.

Wonderstein recalled Maya, who had been keeping her distance from the troupe for the past few days.

Perhaps she felt some doubt about the path she had chosen after receiving a zero score in acrobatics practice.

If she had joined the Silver Veil Circus, she would have flourished among the magicians, demonstrating her genius abilities, instead of struggling unnecessarily in the Monster Circus.

He hadn’t properly nurtured her, nor supported her.

Naturally, she should have been taught the magic she needed to develop, and he had only given her a couple of magic tools through the system.

Instead, she had to suffer dangers from demons here that she had not faced in the original work.

Moreover, it was partly his fault that she had been embarrassed by trying to learn acrobatics that didn’t suit her.

He had inadvertently encouraged her to seek approval from him.

“Maya must be happier to be his apprentice than she is now, right?”

Arno and Maya.

Originally, they were supposed to be teacher and disciple in history.

That had been disrupted because of his clumsy intervention.

If Maya had a heart for him, she could now properly follow the original work.

At his words, Ella’s expression stiffened.

“That’s not true.”

She knew how much Maya admired Wonderstein.

She had always been grateful to him.

She forgot about trying to restrain Maya and defended her.

“Maya doesn’t consider anyone else as her mentor besides you. To you, that’s all…”

Ella stopped herself from saying more and swallowed her words.

She couldn’t bring herself to say, “It seems like she is trying to provoke your jealousy.”

At that moment, the banquet hall darkened.

Spotlights descended onto the stage.

There, Professor Pyrene, in a dress, stood as the host of today’s event.

She briefly explained the purpose and schedule of today’s event and then introduced the band in charge of the congratulatory performance.

The hall briefly darkened, and four silhouettes with distinctive forms appeared along with the haze on the floor.

Students recognized them just by their shadows.

“The Famous Four!”

“Wow! Did they invite those people?”

“Since when did the professors…!”

The Famous Four was a quartet made up of four different acrobats gathered together.

While those in the traditional performance industry wondered why they were so popular, young people idolized them to the point of worship.

They were so popular among the students that there was even a club that imitated them within Lekachep.

“Look at everyone’s excitement! Is this really a prestigious school?”

“Everyone, stand up!”

The figure of a human holding a bass guitar and a reptilian holding a guitar was the first to appear.

In front, a fairy flew around holding a microphone, and at the back, a rat man stood surrounded by a drum set.

“Wowww!”

“It’s really the Famous Four, the Famous Four!”

“Hooray!”

With the students’ cheers, the performance began.

The freshman welcome event at Lekachep proceeded at a level appropriate for the Circus Grand Prix season.

Starting with the renowned performance of the ‘Famous Four’, there was time to solve circus quizzes with partners, followed by dancing together to the main theme of Yeterinpuurk City’s municipal orchestra, and even a simple acrobatic competition.

The lineup was so entertaining that everyone put aside their worries from outside and enjoyed themselves.

Even Ella and Maya, who had been at odds, danced happily holding hands during the main theme, following each other’s lead.

The only ones who didn’t enjoy themselves were the two people.

Lord Fantastic and his daughter, Reyna.

When Simon solemnly rectified his posture from the moment Reyna’s mistake caused them to miss a question in the circus quiz, and then displayed barely restrained irritation at the acrobatic challenge, he abruptly left the banquet hall in a fit of anger at the combination of Wonderstein and Ella.

Seeing Reyna sitting alone in a gloomy corner of the banquet hall, Wonderstein took her outside to comfort her.

Ella reluctantly accepted this as well.

Reyna looked so pitiful.

Anyway, that trash of a person.

Well, there are fathers like that.

There was a reason why Simon was so obsessed with winning.

Based on the scores obtained, today’s party king and queen were to be selected.

Of course, there was still one final step remaining.

That was the popularity vote.

The reason Simon gave up and left before it began was because the result of the vote was too obvious.

Half of the people’s attention today was drawn to the Famous Four, while the other half was taken by a certain girl.

As he expected, based on the overall scores and the popularity vote, the couple selected was Arno and Maya.

Although their scores were in the middle, they made up for it with the popularity vote.

“Maya! Maya! Maya!”

It was all thanks to Maya’s appearance.

Pyrene looked at Clara and Merren who had become friendly with each other from a distance with a fierce gaze and then stepped onto the stage.

There, standing side by side as today’s party king and queen were Arno and Maya.

Pyrene smiled wickedly and said, “Then, would the queen honour the king with a kiss on the cheek?”

At her words, Maya’s body, which had been moving smoothly according to Arno’s guidance until now, stiffened.

‘What?’

Whether she knew her intentions or not, the people below the stage cheered enthusiastically at the party’s excitement.

“Wow, a kiss!”

“Kiss! Kiss!”

Kissing someone’s cheek in a public place when you’re not even lovers is considered quite rude and vulgar in other cultures.

But not in Kiev.

It was a bit embarrassing, but it was only a gesture of friendship.

However, there were limits to just saying that, so it was demanded as a sort of penalty in such situations.

Maya hesitated as she looked at Arno.

It was her lips that had never touched even the Director’s cheek.

But now, in front of the Director, on another man’s cheek?

A sense of rejection surged in her chest.

She had gone along with everything today according to Arno’s plan, but she didn’t want to do this one thing.

Maya surveyed the banquet hall.

She was looking for the Director.

But she couldn’t see inside the banquet hall because of the backlight from the stage.

What should she do?

Arno looked at Maya with affection.

The girl who still bore traces of the person he loved and the person he had been jealous of.

He had decided to help her because both of them were his colleagues.

The plan to make her recover her magic by arousing jealousy in him by showing her with another man, and thereby filling her self-esteem, was a simple idea but an effective one.

“Now, quickly! Hurry! If not, let the king at least do it to the queen!”

Huh?

At Pyrene’s words, Maya was momentarily taken aback, and in that moment, Arno firmly pulled her towards him.

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Chapter 189: Demon in the Bottle – 28

Chapter 191: Demon in the Bottle – 30