SHC Chapter 4

4. Kiss

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The inside of the tent grew heavy with silence after the two of them left. I took my eyes off the entrance and looked around.

Under the dim light, the place was crowded with all sorts of items. From the outside, it hadn’t looked that big, but inside it was wider than I expected.

Behind the small cage I’d been trapped in, I could see piles of junk. Next to them were large cages. Big enough for a bear or tiger. Maybe even bigger creatures.

Treasure chest–shaped boxes were stacked shut, and over there I could see costumes and masks.

‘It’s dim. Is that mood lighting?’

The long shadows cast by the masks looked eerie, so I glanced upward.

“…?”

But there wasn’t a single light fixture anywhere. I tried to see if it was indirect lighting, but I couldn’t find any device that might be creating the light.

‘Even the shadows point in all different directions.’

I thought I could at least figure out the light source from the way the shadows fell, but even that failed.

‘What is this place?’

Instead of being curious, I felt chilled to the bone. Only now did it sink in that I was in the backstage of a circus where nothing—not the show, not the audience—had anything normal about it.

‘How long am I supposed to wait?’

I sat carefully on a chair that had been left nearby.

There wasn’t a single sound from outside, so I couldn’t tell if the ringmaster and the man called Kiss were just outside the entrance or if they had gone farther away.

‘Should I peek outside?’

I’d probably get scolded if I walked out through the door, so I decided to lift the edge of the tent instead. I grabbed the closest part of the fabric and gently lifted it.

As soon as I did, outside air seeped in, and I heard footsteps running over grass toward this way.

“Ringmaster!”

Someone called urgently for him.

I leaned forward in my chair and strained my ears, when suddenly, whoosh… the lights went out.

“!”

The inside went dark in an instant, and I dropped the tent flap in shock.

‘Why did the lights go out?’

Frozen in the dark and silent tent, I held my breath for a while before lifting the fabric again. Immediately, sound returned to the tent.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, so you need to go quickly!”

I must have missed some part of their conversation in the moment I let go of the cloth, but it sounded serious.

“Tell everyone not to go back to their rooms. Have them wait outside. And you… lead the way.”

Then I heard their footsteps rapidly fading away. Right after that, I sensed a crowd gathering. The air grew restless in seconds.

“Alright, alright! Everyone, wait right here!”

Kiss’s voice came first. He seemed to be gathering people, probably the circus members, on behalf of the ringmaster.

“Kiss, what’s going on?”

“Mmm… I’ll tell you when everyone’s assembled. Explaining it multiple times is annoying.”

“Hurry up and just say it! Waiting is annoying!”

This time it wasn’t the person who asked the previous question—it was someone else yelling with a rough voice.

“Who just yelled at me? It’s too dark to tell.”

Even so, Kiss replied in an easygoing, slippery tone, followed by a snapping sound.

Snap!

Then the outside brightened. The lights had turned on.

‘…What is that.’

Blinking, I stared at the countless shadows cast on the tent fabric. Because of the lights outside, they were projected across the ivory-colored canvas, so many of them that it was overwhelming.

Most of the silhouettes looked human, but here and there were shapes of animals or something else entirely.

Some moved quietly on their own, while others clustered together.

One silhouette, shaped like a long-haired woman, suddenly raised her hand high.

“Question!”

A sharp, high-pitched voice rang out.

“When do we get to rest? My melted skin hurts so much I want to stop early!”

It was so high-pitched that my ears rang.

“Talk to the snake first. His bones got crushed.”

With Kiss’s voice, I saw a tall man’s arm stretch out to the side.

So that one is Kiss.

And looking in the direction he pointed, I spotted something squirming low to the ground.

‘Snake…?’

I remembered the man who had been smashed to pulp by the mace during the show.

I hoped it wasn’t him.

I shook my head hard to clear away the unpleasant image. Meanwhile, the woman’s voice spoke again.

“He’s worse than me. So of course.”

“That’s true. He is worse. But you’re no saint either, are you?”

At Kiss’s words, someone else snorted.

“Is there anyone here who’s actually good?”

Then a large teddy bear–shaped shadow swayed. The thin cloth tied around its waist made me think it was that pink teddy bear.

“Hey, Pink Bear.”

“Oh, right. That one came voluntarily because of her brother.”

“And old man Knife is… well, his case is kind of sad too.”

After that, several voices overlapped so much it was impossible to tell who was who. Most of them were complaining that they were tired and wanted to be sent back to their rooms, asking what was going on, and demanding to know where the ringmaster went.

In between, I faintly heard lines like the flower smell is strong again or did she pick more flowers?

There wasn’t much worth listening to anymore, so I let the tent flap fall and was getting ready to rest alone inside the shack.

“The ringmaster’s here!”

Someone shouted, and the entire crowd outside suddenly grew quiet.

One shadow moved across the side of the tent and stopped in front of the cluster of silhouettes. Another shadow followed, running ahead to join the group.

“Is everyone here?”

Despite the low tone, Kiss responded in a cheerfully loud voice.

“Yep! Even the dwarves just arrived, so everyone’s here!”

I stared at the mass of shadows, now even more crowded than before. Then my gaze naturally shifted to the ringmaster’s silhouette standing before them.

His mouth opened and closed.

The shadows were so clear it felt like I was watching a literal shadow play.

“Call out the ones who went on break after Part One.”

Several voices shouted their names. The rest were told they could return to their rooms, and immediately, a shrill complaint rang out. It was that same woman from earlier.

“So performing in Part One is a crime now? Why only them…?”

She continued to protest loudly before her voice gradually lowered and then fell silent.

‘What’s happening out there?’

I held my breath and kept watching. Then an elderly-sounding voice spoke.

“What is going on?”

It was so rough that I couldn’t tell if it belonged to a man or a woman.

“Another incident happened.”

Even in response to the elder, the ringmaster spoke in casual speech.

‘How rude.’

I frowned but focused on what followed.

“This makes number six. If you don’t overlap with the previous five alibis, raise your hand.”

A murmur rose as no one raised their hand.

Then, crack!… something struck the ground. The whip hit so hard the floor shook.

“Hand.”

Only then did about ten people lift their hands.

“Do I have to raise mine too?”

Kiss was among them.

“Obviously.”

“But if I have to raise mine, shouldn’t you raise yours too?”

Kiss stepped forward confidently. His shadow popped out from the cluster, showing a clean side profile.

“You skipped Part Two, too. What did you do?”

“Checked the surroundings for a moment.”

Kiss’s shoulder rose and fell in a big shrug.

“Then you don’t have an alibi either.”

At that moment, the teddy bear–shaped shadow hurriedly ran forward. It grabbed Kiss’s arm and shook its head left and right.

“Hm? Why, my cutie Pink? Huh? You’re saying you were on patrol with him?”

This time, the teddy bear’s head shook up and down.

“Sigh.”

Kiss patted the teddy bear’s head and stepped back. The scattered shadows merged again into a single large mass.

It was the same arrangement as earlier, the ringmaster standing before the crowd of shadows.

“If these disgraceful incidents keep happening, not only will your sentences increase,”

The ringmaster’s voice boomed,

“But Small Hell itself may disappear.”

No one spoke after that. No one even moved.

“Then you’ll have only one place left to go.”

Only the ringmaster made a sound. Even the rustling leaves that had been blowing earlier now fell silent.

After a brief pause, the ringmaster lifted the coiled whip and warned the performers.

“If you dislike hell, then watch each other.”

The teddy bear hugged the rabbit doll tightly.

“Dismissed.”

At the ringmaster’s command, the shadows scattered and vanished in different directions. But one person remained standing upright.

“You too. Go.”

“No, I just want to check on the cute little rookie inside first.”

Taking the ringmaster’s words lightly, Kiss… judging by his gesture, pointed toward the tent I was in.

“I’ll take care of it. Go back.”

“……”

Kiss put a hand on his hip and stretched his mouth into a huge smile. Literally stretched, his silhouette showed his mouth curving upward like something out of a cartoon, so wide it was unbelievable a shadow could depict it.

But there was no laughing sound. No shaking shoulders. Nothing.

“You look like you’ve got plenty of complaints.”

Even though the shadow looked like it was smiling, the ringmaster’s voice sounded annoyed. At that same moment… crackle… the lights outside went out. The shadows vanished.

As soon as the outside darkened, the shack’s interior lit up.

“!”

I quickly dropped the tent flap and stood up. My arm tingled from holding it up so long, so I rubbed it and moved toward the center of the room.

Now I understood. Just as I could see the bright outside shadows from the dark interior, if it was dark outside and bright inside, my silhouette would be visible too.

“……”

What kind of incident had happened out there?

Turning thoughts over in my head, I paced slowly around the inside of the shack, walking in a lopsided circle. While I was doing that, the tent flap at the entrance suddenly flipped open.

“Ah…”

It was unexpected, but not surprising.

It was the ringmaster.

He walked in with the same displeased expression from earlier. It looked like the wrinkles between his brows were permanently set.

“Wh… what…”

But he walked straight toward me, closing the distance so fast I panicked and stepped back. Even then, he followed and grabbed my arm tightly.

“Why…”

But the look in his eyes told me to shut up, so I couldn’t say anything more.

Why is this guy always angry? It’s scary. Was he making this face back in the bushes, too?

“Ugh!”

While I was distracted, he grabbed my chin hard enough to hurt.

Startled, I shook my head, but he didn’t budge. Heat rose in my face from panic, yet a chill spread down my back. It was because of a certain feeling.

‘No way.’

Earlier, too… earlier he did the same thing…

“Open your mouth.”

“No, I… mph.”

The moment my suspicion that he was going to kiss me again became reality, everything happened at once.

I stupidly said no and opened my mouth, and at that exact moment, the ringmaster’s parted lips pressed against mine, cutting off my words.

Shock made me let out a strange noise as I pushed him and even kicked, but he didn’t move an inch.

The only small relief was that, unlike before, he wasn’t moving his tongue. Instead, through the tightly sealed lips, I felt my breath being pulled out.

He was sucking on my mouth… no, sucking out my breath.

‘Is he insane? Why does he keep doing this to me…!’

And I was a man.

He was a man. I was a man.

I punched his face and body hard enough to make thudding sounds, but he didn’t even flinch. Then, when I forced my eyes open, I saw the irritated glare of his blue eye staring straight at me.

‘Why does he look like he’s the one annoyed?’

I tried to pull my head back, but his grip on my chin was so strong, it only brought tears to my eyes. Out of pure frustration, tears actually spilled while our eyes met.

His single visible eye narrowed, and he separated our lips slightly.

“Endure it. If you want to live, I need to get rid of the smell.”

Even with that bit of space, he was still too close, so every word he spoke made his lips brush against mine. It felt even stranger than being unable to breathe.

I tried to tilt my head back again, but he only stared down at me, not loosening his grip at all, as if he had no intention of giving me any mercy.

“Wh-why… why are you doing this to me?”

Even as I spoke, my lips brushed his. It was maddening.

I curled my lips inward to keep from touching him anymore.

He snorted like he found that pathetic.

“I don’t want to be doing this while looking at your ridiculous face, either.”

Ridiculous face?

“There’s a maneater outside.”

A maneater?

But before I could question it, he pressed his lips to mine again. This time deeper, as if digging in.