ALL NOVEL Chapter 218: Wonderland – 21
“Dancer-nim, the victory torch dance on top of the opponent’s body!”
“Oh, I can’t stand this! LOL”
“Nice acting, paying attention to details LOL”
The scarecrow thoroughly portrayed the character of Torch Dancer provided by the company.
No matter what game he played, he showed top-tier skills. Some people attributed his skills to his equipment.
However, among them, no one could achieve even the basic controls after practicing for weeks if asked to do everything just by looking at it.
He not only had skills but also a strong mentality. He didn’t mind jokes about his disability. He never showed anger or wavering.
Honestly, considering what he had experienced in the orphanage, it was nothing.
Rather, he used his body as a source of jokes.
“Huh? What didn’t sync?”
“Oh? Uh, uh! Uh, it’s a mistake!”
LOL
Is another controversy being added?
“Domestic famous streamer, mocking disabled person live, shocking.”
In a way, what he did in the broadcast was not much different from what he did in the monster circus.
“Torch Dancer-nim, 100,000 won donation! Let’s roll!”
“Wow, is this Dancer-nim’s personal talent?”
“Wait, does laughing make us bad guys?”
“Rolling! Rolling!”
People liked to see minorities trying to assimilate into the majority.
People worshiped the victorious outsider.
People were proud to support such a person.
His character strategy was successful.
Although he followed the producer’s instructions well, there was one thing he didn’t compromise on.
That was the TTT series.
TTT was the first game he poured his love into and uploaded videos of since he was born.
Unlike other content, he created videos with only in-game elements, without showing his face or voice, just as originally conceptualized.
[Greetings, dance, provocation? Avoid all “Thorns and Barbed Wire” only with expressions without moving!]
[“What is this…a rogue’s trick…? ‘Cardboard Box’ is an Easter egg that monsters can’t see through if you cover yourself!]
[Starting the new year with disgrace! Final boss humiliation by pushing buttocks!]
The company supported him with video editing and account management, but he came up with ideas and wrote the scripts all by himself.
While the TTT videos didn’t have as many views as Torch Dancer’s popularity, the scarecrow enjoyed this work more than streaming broadcasts.
He anonymously donated the income he earned to orphanages nationwide.
Although the cult that oppressed them had been disbanded, many orphanages managed by their foundation still remained scattered around.
Although there was no direct connection other than being under the same cult, he couldn’t ignore them.
“Hey. How long are you going to do this? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
At Arno’s shout, the scarecrow snapped out of his reverie.
It had been a long time since he had worn the mask of Torch Dancer, so old memories came flooding back.
He had lived only as Wonderstein for the past six months.
“I got lost in my thoughts for a moment.”
Arno chuckled as she looked at his stupid face.
His eyes and mouth, roughly sewn together, looked as ridiculous as a doll made by an unskilled seamstress.
He got up from his seat and said in a polite, affected voice.
“Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe! Wait, but is this Arno’s true form? You were a fairy?”
The scarecrow recalled the fairies who had teased him earlier.
She resembled them in many ways.
The stick standing on her head, the pointed ears, the sparkling skin, and even the smooth body with almost no visible gender characteristics, as a man or a woman.
The only difference was that she was several times bigger than them, and she had no wings on her back.
Of course, being bigger was just in comparison to fairy standards, and in human terms, she was like a child. She was even smaller than Ruelle.
“Is the place to talk?”
She said, looking at the gnomes nearby who were trying to drink while using their conversation as background noise. When she spoke, they clammed up and started chatting among themselves again.
The two of them went up to the rooftop of the building together. Sitting side by side, they talked about what had happened.
“So you ran away immediately?”
“I had no choice. It’s hard for fairies, demons, and even other deities to exert their powers within this Realm.”
Suddenly thrown into a different world.
Arno realized that she had become visible when all the illusions were dispelled, so she quickly used invisibility.
And as soon as she concealed herself, the guards of Wonderland rushed over.
“Intruders!”
“Arrest them!”
Confused and not knowing what was happening, the acrobats ended up being caught. They couldn’t even muster the courage to resist.
“Of course, they soon realized that they had come to Wonderland.”
The scarecrow thought they must have been terrified.
Unlike him, who had clearly seen the true identity of this place in the game, this place was the afterlife they had only heard about.
“Were they very agitated?”
“No, they were jumping for joy, actually.”
“….”
Arno confirmed the expression on his face and quickly added, “Oh, of course, since the guards kept calling them ‘mountain people’ and ‘intruders,’ they must have known they weren’t dead.”
The scarecrow nodded in understanding.
“How did they feel about the situation”
“Lord Fantastic said it was like a ‘ritual.’ Performing the debut of a work by someone as famous as Christian acted as a kind of ‘ritual’ and accidentally opened a passage to the Abyss. And he explained that only the ‘actors’ on stage received the invitation. And you’re just a labourer, and I just lent my voice to Maya and there were no lines in the prologue, right? He was so convinced and explained it so confidently that everyone understood.”
The scarecrow nodded.
Of course, even if they had performed a legendary performance in the middle of a big city, it was unlikely that they would fly to the Abyss like this.
Three more conditions had to be met for this to happen.
First was the space.
The space where they performed was a building where no one had lived for decades. Considering that the barrier between the material world and the Abyss was the spiritual traces of intelligent beings, the place was practically like an abandoned house.
Second was the audience.
The reason why the performance, or rather, the ritual toward the circus, was less threatening was because there were spectators. The emotional energy they emitted significantly reduced the danger of the ritual.
However, this time, despite the tremendous name of Christian’s posthumous work, there was only one spectator. Moreover, he was a person who couldn’t even see. Naturally, the counteracting effect was quite low.
Up to this point, it was as Lord Fantastic had guessed.
And the scarecrow knew the third factor that they didn’t know.
It was the starlight he had placed under the seats. It was undoubtedly acting as the entrance fee for crossing over to Wonderland.
“Anyway, when the guards’ mood seemed hostile, they tried to escape. Some ran away, and some were caught.”
“Who was caught?”
“Three people. Fantastic, Hopps, and Minova.”
“Only the leaders were caught.”
“They blocked the guards and told the kids to run away.”
“What about Simon?”
“He didn’t fit in. But he did that too. Now, tell me what happened. Why were you there?”
The scarecrow briefly recounted what had happened to him.
“There was someone who was caught but escaped?”
“Yes. While looking for that person, I happened to see Arno. So now, please answer. Is Arno a fairy?”
The scarecrow’s eyes sparkled as he faced her true identity, which could never be known in the original.
She pretended not to notice his friendly gaze and muttered, “Y-yes. My wings fell off, but…I’m a fairy.”
She quickly added, “Isn’t it strange? Not human, not a fairy…”
“Ha-ha, no. You’re very pretty, though?”
At his words, Arno choked up.
“You’re just saying that. You don’t mean it at all.”
“Really…”
“Well, I was just being polite. You know how it is with men like you. No matter how sweet you are, there’s always another woman beside you.”
“Beside me?”
“Don’t twist my words!”
The scarecrow scratched his head, looking puzzled at her outburst.
‘What did he do wrong?’
Arno, who had thrown away the illusion, looked completely like a child. Like those fairies from earlier.
He couldn’t understand why she was angry.
“Okay, forget that. Tell me about yourself. You have a clear persona like a dead person. What happened?”
The scarecrow shook his head awkwardly at her question.
“Is it really that strange?”
“Yeah. Everyone else looked normal, with just some changes in their clothes. Except for Lord Fantastic, whose beard had grown several times longer, it was all pretty ordinary.”
The scarecrow’s mind was in turmoil.
Until now, he had considered it enough to explain that he had come to Wonderland and became a persona, but if he had changed like this alone, it was not something that could be easily dismissed.
If Arno had been able to use magic, he might have asked her to cover up the illusion, but she was not in a position to do so either. She had said that the illusion she could create was for one person only and could only last a few hours at most.
“It seems like you have something to hide?”
“….Yes.”
She nodded.
“I do too. I don’t want anyone to know that I’m a fairy. So, what do you think about…not being here at all?”
The scarecrow understood what she was trying to say.
“Hiding our identities?”
“Yes. You pretend to be a resident here, and I pretend to be a fairy who came out to play. And when people leave, we quietly follow them….”
The scarecrow carefully considered her proposal.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
“Is it okay?”
As he positively responded to her plan, an alert popped up in his status window.
*Sub Quest – Masked Drama
: In Wonderland, you are the Torch Dancer.
Achievement Conditions
: Do not reveal your true identity to your companions until everyone except Arno leaves Wonderland.
Rewards for Success
: You can take the Persona 1st Generation out of Wonderland.
Penalties for Failure
: None.
He can take the Persona out?
The content of the reward was intriguing, but it was difficult to understand exactly what it meant.
Then, Arno clapped her hands.
“Alright. Then let’s decide to hide our identities! But what about names? Do you have any thoughts?”
The scarecrow nodded.
“You can call me Oz. And you? Oh, come to think of it, is Byeonsa the name you used as a deputy your real name? Or, is it Arno…?”
“Both are correct. The former is my name in the fairy world, and the latter is my name in the human world. So here….”
Arno taught him a nickname that she had only allowed two people to use until now.
“Call me Lumie.”
“Ha-ha, okay then. Yes. Understood, Lumie. Please take care of me until we leave this place.”
“I should be the one saying that, Oz.”
The scarecrow and the wingless fairy smiled at each other and exchanged a light handshake.
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Chapter 217: Wonderland – 20