I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Ella hurriedly ran out of the theater.

As the shimmer faded, the figures of two people appeared in that spot.

Distinctive personas in translucent forms with unique attire.

They were typical residents of this place.

Ella noticed that the light emanating from the two people’s skin was similar to her own.

The faces shimmering beyond the illusion were undoubtedly those of people she knew.

Just as Ella was about to call out their names, one of them approached her briskly.

She seemed to be holding back tears as she contorted her expression.

She paused for a moment upon facing her counterpart and then pulled her into a tight embrace.

Karen muttered, burying her head in Ella’s shoulder.

Momentarily taken aback by the sudden hug, Ella chuckled and patted her back.

Still as adorable as ever, Karen.

“Did you go through a lot?”

Among the six participants in the competition, Karen was the one who struggled the most with the group activities during the camp.

Despite her outgoing appearance, she was quite sensitive to others’ perceptions.

Growing up among boys, she found it challenging to fit in with the typical dynamics of female gatherings. She often stumbled over her words or awkwardly responded to jokes, feeling out of place.

And the more she experienced such situations, the more self-conscious she became.

The fact that she felt comfortable around Maya might be because Maya was indifferent to such things.

Ella understood Karen’s state better than anyone.

There was a girl like her at the school Ella attended. She was lively among her female friends, but she became shy and awkward when hanging out with boys.

A friend with little experience with the opposite sex.

Ella knew well how to integrate such a friend into a group.

“Pillow fight partner?”

Although Karen’s case involved bonding with same-sex individuals, the commonality among those who found it difficult to mingle was the pressure to present a different image from their true selves.

So Ella deliberately chose activities that Karen enjoyed for their nightly entertainment.

Through these activities, Ella actively engaged with Karen.

By immersing herself in the games, Karen gradually became accustomed to physical contact, easing her fear of intimacy with women compared to before.

Thanks to that, Karen’s fear of femininity had significantly eased since before.

They became fast friends faster than anyone else.

Maya watched the two embracing each other with a cold expression. She seemed to be observing them with a hint of disdain.

‘Our princess, look at this! Wally likes Daddy more!’

Why does something from her childhood come to mind now?

However, it was not Maya’s style to reveal her emotions through her expressions.

Instead, she turned her head and looked at the two people who had followed Ella out.

The persona wearing a straw hat among them greeted her.

“Hello! You are the Illusion magician… Maya, right? Just as I heard, you seem as cold as ice. Nice to meet you. I’m Oz!”

Maya felt a sense of familiarity emanating from his body.

If this was the surface world, she might have been able to see through the identity of the person.

But here in Wonderland, she couldn’t handle magic as proficiently as on the surface. It meant that not only using magic but also detecting it, her abilities were diminished.

So she didn’t recognize him, nor did she recognize Lumie standing beside him.

“Maya, aren’t you glad to see me?”

Ella asked Maya with an indifferent expression.

“Only not seeing each other for a few days… Who are those people?”

At Maya’s cold response, Ella scratched her head with a wry expression.

“They’re the ones who helped me. Come on, let’s go inside. There’s only us here.”

The five of them sat in the highest seats of the nest, overlooking the scenic view, and discussed what had happened.

The strategies taken by Maya and Karen were different from those of others. They found it challenging to achieve good results in the competition.

Maya couldn’t properly use her powers here, and Karen had trouble with her outfit.

Instead of the tights she had been wearing for over ten years, an elaborate and flashy skirt she had never worn before appeared as her persona.

It was the outfit she wore when she worked as a hostess at the Rosewind Cabaret.

“Wow, the circus must have been impressed by that. ‘Karen, the Smile of Papal!'”

“What’s even more impressive is that she managed to incorporate the pomegranate into her chest. Look at this.”

As Karen attempted to reveal her chest, Lumie was surprised and blocked her path.

“Hey… Guys, thats a man over there?”

“What’s it matter? There’s nothing to see anyway.”

Karen shrugged nonchalantly and continued talking.

It was impossible to perform acrobatics in such bulky clothes.

If it was something related to ground skills, it might have been worth trying, but the cancellation ticket was not something that came out as easily as one could pick something they liked.

“So we got a job at the theatre. Being a illusion magician seems to be quite valuable here.”

The souls of illusion magicians entering Wonderland by chance were only a few in a year.

Fairies’ illusion skills were excellent, but they were often prone to quitting their jobs, lacking the communication skills required to fulfil requests.

So when Maya offered to help with the performance, the theater gladly welcomed her.

In return for lending her power, she made a few modifications to the author’s rights.

“Ah, so that’s how we were able to insert the tag?”

“Yeah. While we were working at the theatre, the Ticketer appeared and informed us that a new performance had been added to the tagged alarms. So we used our tickets to come here. Haha, I’ve explained everything as if I’m so smart, but actually, Maya thought of it all.”

Ella nodded.

Both Clara-senpai and Maya were smart. More than anything, their quick adaptation to a new environment without succumbing to panic was admirable.

Maybe pairing up in twos was helpful.

Thinking about it that way, there was someone she worried about.

Reyna.

She would be wandering somewhere in Wonderland alone right now.

She knew because she had been in that position herself.

It was hard to maintain composure amidst anxiety, confusion, fear, and worry.

Is she doing okay?

Reyna was quite different from what she seemed.

At first glance, she seemed endlessly cold and indifferent like Maya.

But after spending a few days together, she realized that Reyna had many thoughtful and meticulous qualities.

Sometimes her seriousness bordered on innocence to the point of being ridiculed.

Can she reach this place alone?

Then, there was another flash of light near the theatre entrance.

Ella found herself jumping up involuntarily.

Rushing outside first, she smiled brightly when she saw who appeared in front of the theatre.

“Reyna.”

“Ella, was it you?”

Finally, Reyna had made it here.

With that, the first stage of the plan had been successfully completed.

The next day, Ella gathered Clara and Rulle at the dormitory. Clara immediately ran to the scarecrow and cuddled up to him, showing her affection.

“Master, I was so bored locked up in the room!”

“Why is that senior acting like that again?”

Reyna frowned as she watched Clara cuddle up to the scarecrow and playfully slapped her cheek.

Reyna and Clara had the least amicable relationship among the six of them.

It was because of what they had experienced earlier.

All the incidents during the field trip were allegedly orchestrated by Clara.

Huh, even though she claimed to be the top-ranked, she seemed to be trying to suppress her.

If there’s ever a confrontation again, just trample her completely.

Clara.

Appearing affectionate on the surface but possibly scheming something behind the back.

Both her father’s advice and Reyna’s own observations confirmed this.

So when she heard that Clara had become Wonderstein’s secretary, she was more surprised and wary than anyone else.

Even though they were staying together, she was cautious of her.

“Uh, Clara lost a bet with a fairy and got hypnotized……”

Ruelle glanced at Reyna as she spoke.

Reyna understood her feelings and gently stroked Clara’s head.

“Sorry. I might have been a bit sharp.”

At that moment, Lumie entered the dressing room.

“Now that everyone’s here, shall we explain the second stage of the plan?”

They had to wait one more day before moving on to the next step since Maya had taken charge of the illusion performance.

Here, the principle of “the show must go on” was heavier than any other rule. Once the tickets were sold, the performance had to be completed no matter what.

Otherwise, the security guards would inevitably come and take them away.

Oz explained the structure of their target using the fantasy provided by Lumie.

Currently, three leaders were trapped in the basement of the judiciary theatre.

There were two ways to get there. One was to go directly to the judiciary theatre, and the other was to use the passage in the lower north area.

The lower north area was an area opposite to the Card Sun, where the oldest theatres in the Sun Card were located and where residents were prohibited from entering due to the danger of collapse.

There was a hidden passage connecting that area to the basement of the judiciary theatre.

In the original story, the players defeated the monsters occupying the judiciary theatre and rescued a disciple who had been taken hostage.

Through him, they found out that Wonderstein had entered the basement of the judiciary theatre, but the passage had already been blocked by him.

So, they went north and entered the basement of the judiciary theater through the secret passage.

That was where Scarecrow intended to go.

He thoroughly explained the process, hidden rooms, passages, and precautions to them.

“Don’t worry about not memorizing everything. I’ll lead the way.”

His smooth explanation amazed the group.

“He’s amazing. Where did you find such people?”

Even Maya, who was rarely surprised, asked such a question, causing Ella to shrug her shoulders proudly.

“I didn’t find him. He found me first……”

She said that and then clammed up.

Come to think of it, there was one unresolved question from the beginning.

How did these people find her?

At that moment, someone knocked on the dressing room door.

The group looked nervously toward the door.

Who else would come here?

Oz gestured for them to get dressed, then cautiously opened the door to confirm the visitor.

“Uh, Mr. Hawk?”

The person standing outside was Chen Hawk, the owner of the theatre.

“Weren’t you supposed to be asleep until tomorrow?”

At his question, Hawk gave a nonchalant smile.

“Oh, sorry, but I woke up a bit early. My friends came to see me. Why is my theatre tagged as closed?”

“Ah.”

Oz sighed.

He hadn’t thought about that.

They quickly got ready for the next step.

“However, because you blocked ticket sales, friends ended up walking all the way up to this top floor. They came to my accommodation and woke me up.”

Hawk glanced through the gap in the door to the scenery inside the waiting room.

Fortunately, the people there didn’t seem suspicious, so the group greeted him.

“Nice to meet you. Are these the actors who will be performing?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

Hawk hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking up.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you show a short performance? Even if it’s not fully prepared, it’s fine. I feel bad just sending away friends who came worried about me.”

“…Alright. Please wait a moment.”

Given their situation of renting the theater, it was hard to refuse his suggestion.

So they decided to show a few parts of their play.

The stage equipment of the nest of gulls was in the form of a lift.

Stepping out from the lower level waiting room onto the stage, they operated the pulleys from the upper floors to raise the stage up to where the audience would be seated.

Lumie manipulated the tongs to replace what was hanging from the lift with a round, wide floor made of logs.

“Wow, if you fell from here, it would be really dangerous.”

Karen shivered once, hearing the sound of the wind rising from below, before standing on the stage.

Fortunately, the floor seemed solid, likely well-fixed.

“Sir, please raise it now!”

When Ella shouted, accompanied by the sound of chains winding, the stage ascended.

“Does everyone remember this part?”

“Of course. We practiced it so much.”

“Wait, what about Clara senior?”

“She seems fine, doesn’t she?”

Ella nodded towards Clara.

Just a moment ago, she was sticking close to Oz, shaking like a puppy, but now she stood where she should be, preparing for acrobatics with a serious expression.

“Oh, is it like a subconscious thing brought on by practice?”

“Then everyone, take your places.”

“Was I supposed to stand here?”

Amidst everyone bustling around, Maya stood still alone.

“Uh, Maya? Why are you over there?”

“I… can’t do it.”

“What?”

Karen looked puzzled, while Ella smacked her forehead.

“Oh, right. Maya can’t act.”

Reyna also nodded, as if remembering.

“Yeah. Father took care of physical acting, and Director Arno handled voice acting.”

“Wow, then what do we do?”

As they were making excuses, the stage had already risen to the front of the audience.

Ella was about to shout at Oz to stop the pulley, but as the view from the upper floor revealed itself,

She froze in shock right where she was.

Maya quickly realized the situation and looked back.

But there was no other way there. There was only a dark abyss hundreds of meters high.

Ella checked the area where the stage machinery was operated.

There, scarecrow was kneeling on the floor, tightly bound with ropes.

From downstairs came Lumie’s screams and cries.

Hundreds of stone seats surrounded the stage.

There, Hawk’s ‘friends’ were all gathered.

Their expressions as they looked at the stage were full of vigilance.

Hundreds of guards aimed their weapons at them.

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Chapter 230: Wonderland – 33