I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

The last street lamp designated by the city had just turned off.

As the night sky approached the earth, the colors of objects became darker.

Although everyone was asleep, it was not completely quiet; at least not for the soldiers guarding the old building inside the pastry factory.

The shouts of revelers and the machinery noise of the factory at night did not reach inside the premises. Nevertheless, this was clearly the noisiest place in Yeterinpuurk.

Thump, thud.

From the basement of the building where the acrobats stayed, a constant roar echoed. The basement of this building, which used to be the bakery’s kitchen, had several ducts that protruded outward like organ pipes, spreading the noise outside.

The screams that echoed from the basement of the old building at night.

It was a story that was perfect for horror stories, but the truth was more ridiculous.

The soldiers who heard this sound for the first time were surprised and rushed into the building.

The building had been moved once decades ago, all the way down to the ground. Since then, it had only been sporadically cleaned, and no one had ever lived in it.

But suddenly, about ten people went in and practiced acrobatics, jumping around all day, so it wasn’t strange that something strange happened.

The building could collapse.

In fact, when the soldiers went in, the acrobats were also surprised and were all running out to the first-floor entrance.

Except for one person.

Ruelle was still in Ella’s arms.

She soon realized why people had run out while they were asleep and covered her face, bowing deeply.

“My dad… is snoring…”

Minova the Rooster.

Known as a singer and a cartographer, he was said to have the best voice in the world.

The rumble shaking the building was caused by him.

That day, Minova’s bedroom was moved to the basement.

It was a good choice for those sleeping in the same building. Their bedrooms were on the 3rd and 4th floors.

However, for the soldiers on night duty, it was a taste of death. Perhaps they didn’t even realize that they were the ones who most welcomed the news that the performance had been decided for tomorrow.

As Arno descended, the snoring noise, which grew louder as he went down, made him smile quietly.

“The Satbyeol Circus troupe must have suffered too.”

She opened the door and went outside.

The soldiers guarding the building were standing watch beyond the fence.

None of them noticed that she had come out of the building.

They didn’t even notice as she passed by them.

She was using an invisibility spell.

That was why she could undress in front of people without hesitation.

The white cloth flew in the wind. It disappeared like snow melting. It was an illusion she created.

Inside the cloth was a chubby little witch.

Byeonsa, the sub-leader of the Silver Veil Circus. It was also another form of Arno.

She, too, threw off the cloth surrounding her body. It also flew silently through the air and disappeared into the darkness.

Her appearance, revealed by removing layer after layer of illusion, was so mysterious that it seemed to be real rather than an illusion.

Her skin, sparkling like gloss paint, was infinitely dreamy.

But more surprising was her appearance.

Although she was clearly in the form of a human, her form was slightly different from that of a human.

Her short stature of less than 1m and her slender arms and legs could be forgiven, but her smooth body, which showed no characteristics of either a woman or a man, was alien. The pointed ears, twice the length of a normal person’s, and the antennae sticking out between her silver hair showed that she was not human.

Byeonsa would always touch her back whenever she revealed her true form. There was something attached to her back that couldn’t be found in a human body.

It was four protrusions with a translucent membrane attached to the end.

Where once there were wings, now only traces remained.

She sighed as she looked up at the moon.

Even though 20 years had passed, she felt regret every time she touched it. She felt more regret about the cause of losing her wings than losing them.

Perhaps it was because she saw her children every day.

The area where her wings had fallen off throbbed more than usual.

She stood under the moonlight, frozen.

There was a figure waiting for her in front of the entrance.

If it was anyone else, she would have just thrown a simple greeting and passed by. But because the other person was Wonderstein, that couldn’t be done.

“What… is happening?”

Regaining her composure, she spoke in Arno’s voice.

Wonderstein, as always, smiled broadly and nodded.

“I woke up in the middle of the night. I came out for a walk.”

Byeonsa noticed his curious gaze.

In the direction he was looking, she could see the garden where she had been frolicking naked earlier.

“Did you just… see me?”

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t see you. I just noticed someone was there.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course. I knew it was Director Arno the moment you entered the building.”

With his words, Byeonsa breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t see me. It’s not a sight worth seeing.”

“Was it your true form?”

His question left Byeonsa speechless for a moment.

She debated whether to be honest or not and finally spoke up.

“Yes.”

“Why do you hide it?”

“Because I don’t like my true form.”

“Is that so? I asked something unnecessary.”

“Forget it. Don’t worry about it.”

She realized she had responded too sharply.

“Sorry. I reacted sharply for no reason.”

“It’s okay. I can understand how you feel.”

Wonderstein gave her a tender smile and nodded.

Byeonsa felt like she had gone back 20 years in an instant.

Maya’s father was like that too. Pretending to accept her, pretending to understand her.

She fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Every little action, every smile, stole her heart. She gave him everything she had to give.

But he chose Maya’s mother.

He confessed to the stone-like, emotionless woman.

Thinking of Wonderstein’s tender pleading, she thought of him.

Wandering around like this. Men like you are the problem.

Anger welled up inside her.

“Forget the comfort. You’ve never seen my true form, so what do you know?”

With a resentful voice, she stomped up the stairs.

Hope was futile.

The pain of losing her wings was enough once.

Wonderstein realized he had made a mistake as he watched Arno go up.

In his true form, he would have persuaded her by saying he understood her feelings, but in this form, it would be unconvincing.

Anyway, how strange must her true form be for her to react like that?

Even the original Arno hid her.

Even the disciple Maya had never seen her master’s face.

Wonderstein shook his head and put aside his thoughts about Arno.

He had something to do secretly tonight. The excuse of coming down for a walk was a lie.

He took out a vial containing sparkling powder from his pocket.

The last experiment using starlight.

Tomorrow would be a good opportunity for that.

The Tril was nicknamed the “Eye of the Circus” because people believed that Kirku watched the performance through it. It emitted a red light when an interesting performance was being watched.

The main quest was to make it completely red and then swallow it. It said that as a reward, he could manipulate the unique characteristics.

So, what about this starlight?

How would it react to tomorrow’s performance?

When watching a street performer’s mediocre talent or a cheap theatre play, it hadn’t even blinked.

He looked closely, and his palm reflected the colour of blood.

But tomorrow’s performance was different from anything he had seen before.

Based on a never-before-revealed work by the best playwright, it was a performance by the best acrobats.

There was a high probability of a reaction.

He headed towards the stage where they had been practicing earlier.

He would observe whether the vial containing starlight would turn red when placed in the seat where the countess would sit.

The stage was directly above Minova’s bedroom.

As he approached, the sound of his nose sniffing became louder. However, amid that, another sound could be heard.

It was a musical sound with rhythm, unlike the ignorant noise pollution. Someone was playing an instrument in the hall.

Wonderstein cautiously opened the door to the hall.

At the same time, the sound of singing became clear in his ears. The owner of that voice was Reyna. She was sitting on the stage in her nightgown, plucking at a string instrument. It looked similar to a guitar but different. If the body of a guitar resembled an hourglass, its body was a perfect circle.

Not wanting to disturb her performance, he sat in the audience and quietly enjoyed her singing. Listening to the lyrics, it seemed to be a lullaby, like a mother singing to her baby.

When the performance ended, he applauded loudly.

“Director?”

She opened her eyes wide and looked at him.

“Um, what are you doing here?”

“I came out for a walk in the early morning and heard the sound, so I came to see.”

“Did, did you hear a lot? I came here to play on purpose…”

“No. I was walking this way and happened to hear it.”

The two of them sat together on the stage and talked. Occasionally, she played or sang a song he requested.

“This is a benjo, an instrument my mother used to play. She used to sing lullabies with it.”

Wonderstein nodded, then seemed to recall something.

“Come to think of it, you said that when you had something frustrating, you would go out alone and perform on the street. Is that why you’re here today?”

She lightly plucked at the strings, smiling unexpectedly unlike her usual self.

“No. It’s different. I’m a bit nervous today.”

“Because of the performance tomorrow?”

“Yes. Originally, I just did performances because I was told to, but I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

“You liked the script?”

“That too, but…”

She hesitated, looking at his expression, then spoke.

“Before the rehearsal this morning… my… father called me and told me I did well. He said he’s proud of me for being his daughter.”

Reyna said, then couldn’t contain her joy, and smiled again.

“I’m glad.”

Wonderstein nodded in agreement with her joy.

But at the same time, he remembered the conversation he had with Lord Fantastic last night. While listening to his impressions as an audience and organizing them, he would suddenly mutter something to himself.

At that time, he commented on Reyna’s performance in one scene like this.

“It’s all good, but, hmm, it’s all good… but… The way she tries so hard to be acknowledged… it’s annoying. She must have been well-loved and raised by her master… it’s like she’s lacking in affection…”

He stopped himself from saying more.

Wonderstein guessed the reason he had suddenly become affectionate towards her. Everything was for the completeness of the performance.

In fact, Reyna’s performance today had changed noticeably from the scene he had pointed out. But she didn’t know there might be such a reason behind it.

“If I continue like this in the future, everything will be fine, right? My father…”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her not to harbor useless hope.

He had nothing else to offer but to smile and nod.

She smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Director. I can’t play around like before, but… can I come and see you like this sometimes?”

“Of course, anytime.”

Shortly after, she went back to sleep, and he stayed, using the excuse of taking a walk, to place the vial containing starlight under the countess’s seat.

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Chapter 212: Wonderland – 14