SHC Chapter 3

3. Employment Contract

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How long had I been trapped in the cage? I stopped thrashing around in panic and forced myself to breathe.

‘When does the circus end?’

The cage was silent. There wasn’t a single sound you’d expect near a circus on a summer night… no rustling grass, no wind, no people talking, not even the buzzing of insects.

‘How is it this soundproof?’

Because that girl had covered the entrance of the shack with the tent cloth so neatly, I couldn’t even check what was happening outside.

Haa.

I was calmer than before, but the anxiety was still there.

At this point, I even wondered if I had let the wrong person go. And the red stain still left in front of the cage bothered me too. I’d tossed aside the flower the girl gave me, and the red liquid dripping from its skin-colored stem had formed a small puddle. I hesitantly sniffed at it.

‘Blood…?’

But the liquid smelled strongly of flowers.

‘Smells nice though. Maybe it’s perfume with red dye? Something to make the flower smell stronger.’

Thinking that made me feel a little better.

Then the nervousness crept right back in.

‘What do I do now, seriously.’

It would be humiliating if someone found me, and torture if they didn’t. Worst case, I’d be abandoned like this on the mountain while the circus members disappeared. Slightly less horrible was the scenario where they assumed the girl was still in the cage and carried me off instead.

‘Why doesn’t my phone get any signal?’

I shoved it back into my pocket and hugged my knees. I should’ve just slept at the pension. Or at least ignored the strange road when I first saw it.

As I kept chewing on my regrets, someone approached with slow, steady footsteps that pressed against the iron bars of the cage.

‘Someone’s coming?’

But the cry for help didn’t leave my mouth. Strange. I had planned to call for help right away if anyone showed up, but revealing myself to someone unknown gave me a weird sense of resistance.

The footsteps got closer, and I held my breath instead.

‘It’s not someone dangerous… right?’

It wasn’t the noisy kind of sound but a lone set of footsteps in complete silence, and that made me nervous. If a thief or robber snuck in while the circus members were performing, I’d be in trouble.

“Flower? You asleep?”

The footsteps stopped, and a bright, refreshing male voice called out.

“Your scent is weirdly strong today.”

With that, the tent cloth covering the entrance was lifted.

I quickly let go of the bars and pulled myself deeper inside the cage. It was deep enough that the person standing outside wouldn’t see me unless he bent down.

“I thought so. Did you cut your flowers?”

The man’s voice was soft and melodic as he walked closer. Through the lower part of the bars, I could see him from the hips down.

He wore white pants and white boots embroidered with gold that reached his knees.

Judging by his outfit, he was also a circus member.

“Why did you do something so pointless? Do you think that’ll make us let you go? Flower, you’re too dangerous for that.”

Flower… he was referring to the white girl with the blossom on her head.

I was almost certain now that I had messed up by freeing her. As I realized that, I saw the tip of his boot tapping lightly against the cage.

“If you had just finished your contract period, you could’ve left quietly and peacefully. Why did you break into the ringmaster’s quarters?”

Quarters? Ringmaster?

“What were you trying to do?”

His voice was sweet and calm like a lullaby. But I felt a chill. A coldness that didn’t belong to a summer night. It crept toward me from outside like a snake slithering in.

I shifted farther back until my spine hit the wall. Through the vertical bars, I saw the man bending his knees.

The man crouched down. Then he peeked inside. The eyes of the white-haired man gleamed yellow.

“Huh?”

“…Hello?”

“…Wh… what?”

He seemed extremely startled. With his eyes wide, he made a small telescope shape with his hands, pressed it right up against the bars, and stared inside at me. By blocking the shack’s lights behind him, he was trying to see into the dark cage more clearly.

“Wha…?!”

Genuinely shocked, he pushed his index finger through the bars and pointed straight at me.

“……”

As I sat there, lips tightly shut, he asked,

“How?”

It was a vague question, but I could answer right away.

“I’m sorry. A girl inside said she got trapped by accident and asked me to open it, so I opened it, but I ended up getting trapped instead. I’m sorry. I don’t know where she went. But…”

I slowly scooted closer on my butt, grabbed the bars with both hands, and looked up at him pleadingly.

“Could you please open this first…?”

I tried my hardest to look pathetic and harmless so I wouldn’t seem like a threat. Since it was an expression I’d never practiced before, my facial muscles trembled, while the man blinked down at me from a slightly higher angle.

Before he could mistake me for a weirdo who couldn’t speak, I hurried to continue talking.

“I know it sounds strange, but…”

“No, hold on. Let me think.”

He cut me off, waved his hand, and turned his head to the side. As he rubbed his forehead with his index finger, something obviously troubled him. His delicate features twisted like a finely drawn sketch. But only for a moment, he quickly brightened with a lovely smile and turned back toward me to ask,

“How did you get here?”

By here, did he mean the circus? Or the staff-only area behind it?

“Well, it just sort of… happened.”

When I mumbled the answer, he slowly shook his head.

“You don’t just happen to come here. And you’re not supposed to come here freely, either.”

He kept talking as he watched me clutching the bars and sitting obediently still.

“At the very least, unless Pink Bear or the ringmaster guided you, you couldn’t have gotten here. Did one of them tell you to come?”

His gentle tone made me relax my shoulders a little. I wet my lips, hesitated, then spoke carefully.

“Actually…”

“Actually?”

“I was lost and wandering around.”

“You were lost?”

I nodded to show that was exactly what I meant, while trying to guess why he hadn’t released me yet, why he was asking these questions, and how wary he was of me.

But his bright smile, something you’d expect on a stage, made him even harder to read.

Still, he was the only one who could free me right now.

And since I’d already said this earlier to the girl, there was no reason I couldn’t tell him too.

“I don’t know his exact face, but a man with blue eyes told me to come this way.”

“An eyepatch, by any chance?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Was it okay to call him that?

I rolled my eyes around awkwardly as I answered. The white-haired man then smiled with his eyes.

“So the ringmaster sent you?”

Ah. So he was the ringmaster?

I had suspected he was the eyepatched man from the circus show, and thinking back, the way he cracked his whip while performing made it easy to believe he was the ringmaster.

“But still, how did you end up in Small Hell…”

The man continued smiling, but with a strange air around him. After telling me to wait for a moment, he stepped out of the shack.

“Hey, excuse me?”

I shook the bars and shouted after him. I was flustered, but thankfully the man returned in about a minute.

He held something out to me and pushed it through the bars.

“Sign here.”

“Huh?”

“Your signature. On the very last parchment… ah, should I have brought normal paper instead?”

“Parchment? Wait. This is a contract, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The moment I unfolded it, the title jumped out at me: [Employment Contract].

[The individual (hereafter referred to as ‘Employee’) who wishes to work as a member of Small Hell (hereafter referred to as ‘Employer’)…]

“Hold on, wait a second. I’m not planning to work here.”

“Everyone says that at first. But once you’ve entered this place… well, anyway, if you want to get out of the cage, start by signing that.”

“I said no! Why would I? What even is this?”

“What do you mean what? It’s Small Hell’s employment contract. Read it or don’t, it doesn’t matter. Either way.”

He spewed nonsense while I stared at him, my mouth hanging open.

“It’s better than going to real hell.”

Then he shoved his hand through the bars and grabbed my wrist. His large hand was unbelievably strong.

“Wh…what the, let go!”

“What’s your name?”

Why would I tell you that!?

My resistance meant nothing as he dragged my hand toward the pen.

“Here, the pen. Hold it.”

He coaxed me with a gentle, childlike tone paired with a pretty smile. But his grip was so terrifyingly strong I couldn’t fight it.

“Y-you know this won’t be legally valid, right? I never agreed to anything!”

“And which law is that?”

“Korean law, obviously!”

“Ah, I see. So that’s how Korean law works. Okay then, your name?”

What is happening.

I was bewildered and scared. Was I being sold into the circus? Was this that human trafficking people talked about?

“You really don’t know anything. This place is much better.”

He sighed when I still didn’t tell him my name, then tapped the bars lightly with his fingertips. For someone dressed entirely in white, his fingernails were pitch black.

“Hm… what should I do.”

He let go of my wrist, reached inside, grabbed the flower, and tossed it out.

“That smell is distracting me, so I’m getting rid of it. Ugh.”

It was just a strong floral scent, but he acted like it was disgusting. Once the scent faded, he rested his chin on his hand, looking at me much more comfortably. Being stared at in silence like that was starting to get uncomfortable.

“Um… can’t you just let me out?”

“Where are you planning to run? If you get caught, you’ll really go to hell. Small Hell is better.”

“No, I just want to go back to where I was…”

“You can’t go back anymore. Wherever that was.”

Why wouldn’t I be able to go back to the pension?

“Hey, boy?”

“I’m not really at the age to be called a boy.”

Being called that startled me, so I responded quickly. He snickered.

“You still look like you’ve got some boyishness left.”

“…Ah. Is that so. Anyway, can you let me out first?”

“You won’t run, right?”

“I won’t. So please let me out.”

But he rejected it instantly.

“No. How am I supposed to trust someone who entered Small Hell?”

Oh, come on… just let me out…

After the same back-and-forth dragged on and on, I finally grabbed my head in frustration.

“You’re so stubborn. If it’s really uncomfortable for you, how about starting with a one-month contract? As a probationary assistant.”

“…What?”

I glared up at him while holding my head, but he didn’t care at all. He just smiled brightly and kept talking.

“After that you can switch to full-time! You seem confused right now, and if I leave you like this you might get dragged to hell, so I’ll use my authority and make it just one month.”

“One month or not, why would I go to hell!?”

“See? You’re still all confused. Your memory doesn’t seem organized either.”

The man muttered something I couldn’t understand, then took the parchment and began scribbling on it with his finger. After that, he held it out to me. A quick glance showed new sections that hadn’t been there before: details about the ‘employment period’ and ‘duties.’

[The Employee’s period of work shall be (1 month), and may be extended by mutual agreement depending on the Employer’s judgment.]

[The Employee shall work as an (assistant) for the above duration.]

He shook the contract at me.

“I made it really convenient for you! So? How is it? Manageable now?”

“I said I’m not doing it.”

“Then I’m not letting you out.”

I grabbed my head. Talking to this guy any longer was going to drive me insane. Eventually, as if waving a white flag, I sighed and opened my mouth.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Then how much are you going to pay me?”

It was a question born of resignation in a situation that seemed endless.

Besides, it was summer break anyway. If it was just for a month, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to treat it like a part-time job.

‘Unbelievable…’

Even though I had slept earlier, this was way past the time I’d normally be awake. I could feel that my rational thinking was running lower than usual.

And although I knew this whole thing was suspicious, my numbed, sluggish brain just accepted the contract he handed me.

When I glanced up at him, forcing down my anxiety, the white-haired man was grinning so wide his face almost split.

“Will you at least pay minimum wage?”

“Ha!”

This time he actually laughed. As if watching a hilarious comedy, the man even rolled on the floor. He was having the time of his life.

“Minimum wage? Minimum wage?! We give something way better than that, what minimum wage?”

Wiping away tears of laughter, he crawled toward me again. Then he planted his hands on the ground and slowly sat down in front of me.

“If you’re actually willing, just sign already.”

The dates were written clearly, exactly one month from today, with the full year, month, and day recorded.

“Still, the most important thing is the pay.”

I wanted to get out of this cramped cage immediately. But even so, I wasn’t going to let my labor be undervalued, so I waved the parchment at him boldly. The man hummed thoughtfully and nodded.

“True. Since your assistant work won’t reduce your sentence time anyway, it makes sense to give you compensation. Sure, let’s just treat it as travel money.”

Travel money. Hell, travel money, all this weird terminology, maybe it was just a circus thing.

I ignored his nonsense and mentally erased the word travel money.

The man hummed a few more times, thinking hard. Then he finally decided on my wage, smacking his palm with his fist.

“I’ll give you twenty don of pure gold.”

“…What? Pure gold?”

How much even is twenty don?

“That should be enough, right?”

“How much is that?”

“I don’t know in Korean currency.”

Ah right, this was some global circus.

Sure, just because he spoke Korean well didn’t mean he’d know Korean economics… Wait, actually, why does he speak Korean this well?

The white-haired man didn’t look like a native Korean. If anything, he looked like a mix of Western and Eastern features, a perfectly blended handsome face.

Maybe it was just makeup. I’d have to see him without those tiny sparkling gems stuck to his cheek to know, but the foundation underneath actually looked good.

“Anyway, that’s probably more than the average monthly salary.”

“Is that enough for a job where I’m on call 24/7 with no days off?”

“We take Tuesdays off.”

“Then write that in the contract too.”

“Picky.”

But if I signed wrong and ended up working every single day with no break, I’d be screwed.

More than anything, I just wanted out of this cage so I could stand up straight. I wanted to sleep too.

“And write down the wage as well.”

“Yes. Pure gold, twenty don… There. Now satisfied?”

I looked over the contract again, confirming the clearly written holiday and the words pure gold twenty don, then nodded. I picked up the pen.

The man spoke in an excited voice.

“So we’ll be working together now.”

“Huh? Ah, yeah, sure.”

The pen tip touched the signature line on the parchment.

It glided smoothly as it drew my name. The white-haired man watched the whole thing intently. I glanced at his yellow eyes, almost ready to snap at him for staring, but instead I handed him the contract.

“Here.”

“No, you keep the contract and show it to the ringmaster later.”

So I held the contract in my hand and looked straight up at him.

“Now open the door.”

“Alright.”

The man gladly placed his hand on the bars and unlocked the door with a clang.

“You can come out now.”

With a friendlier tone than before, he held out his hand to me. I hesitated for a moment, then placed my hand in his. He gripped it firmly and pulled me up. His strength lifted me easily, but since I’d been tense in a confined space for so long, my knees buckled and I almost collapsed. At that moment, he caught me and held me steady.

“Thank you.”

Even while flustered, I tried to regain my balance, but my body wouldn’t cooperate and I fell against him again. The man laughed and held my waist.

“Shall we dance?”

“…What?”

Then he suddenly wrapped an arm around my waist and began spinning me around.

Has he lost it?

“H-hey, stop, my feet…”

Before I could properly plant my feet on the ground, he kept spinning me, and now I felt dizzy.

“Your steps are terrible.”

Teasing me, he smiled so brightly his yellow eyes practically disappeared.

Then he stared at me with an intrigued expression.

“You smell like something.”

“…What?”

Still standing close, he dipped his head, pressing his nose along my hair, my temple, my ear, and down to my nape as he sniffed.

“H-hey?”

I pushed at his shoulders and chest, trying to pry off the arm wrapped around my waist. But as I’d learned many times already, he was unbelievably strong. I couldn’t shake him off.

“It’s faint… but did you meet someone? That forest path, maybe?”

“…What?”

Come to think of it, I had met someone on the narrow path before reaching the circus.

“It’s a guy’s scent.”

He kept leaning closer toward my neck. His nose and lips brushed against the skin there. Feeling his breath on my skin sent goosebumps running down my arms.

His lips grazed the skin of my neck as he spoke.

“And yet you smell nice…”

“Ki…!”

That moment, someone yanked open the tent flap and barged inside.

It was a man with deep black hair and a black eyepatch. His skin was slightly dark, and combined with his sharp features, he looked strikingly exotic.

But what caught my eye the most was his remaining eye.

A deep, vivid blue that almost seemed to glow. Unlike the left eye hidden under the eyepatch, the right eye was exposed, and the way it stared at me felt like a laser running straight through me.

Because of that, I froze stiff in fear.

“What the hell.”

His face twisted instantly, as if he recognized me.

I hastily shoved away the man hugging my waist and burying his face in my neck, stumbling back. Thankfully, this time he let go easily.

“H-hello.”

Habit took over, and I greeted him even though I was panicking.

I couldn’t look away from the eyepatched man and fidgeted nervously.

The white-haired man wasn’t someone to ignore, but somehow my attention was completely drawn to the black-haired man instead.

‘Is he the man from before?’

I had seen that blue eye before, the only one visible because of the eyepatch. Maybe that’s why he felt strangely familiar.

‘The one who kissed me…’

Was it because of that unexpected kiss, or the memory of being grabbed by the collar and dragged into the forest? My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard.

Wait.

As I thought about it, if that man really was the same one from earlier, didn’t that mean he basically harassed me? Seriously. He suddenly kissed me! And that flower girl with the blossom on her head warned me to be careful of kisses too. Right, I didn’t have any reason to be scared.

“You’re greeting him. He’s not going to respond?”

The white-haired man spoke to the black-haired one in a friendly tone while standing in front of me.

Casual speech? I thought he was the ringmaster… or maybe not?

At that word ringmaster, my hand tightened around the parchment contract without thinking.

Ah… maybe I should just run while holding this contract?

I was out of the cage anyway, and now that my rationality had returned, I was about to try to undo the contract. But the man with the eyepatch moved much faster than me.

“That’s… don’t tell me.”

He must have recognized the parchment in my hand. He snatched it from me like a pirate and began reading it with a deeply scowling face.

Then he pressed a hand to his forehead.

“You signed this?”

“Huh? Yes… oh! If I’m not good enough, you can cancel it. It’s okay!”

“On parchment? Not even on normal paper?”

“…?”

With a face full of anger, he glared… not at me, but at the white-haired man. I followed his gaze and looked at him too.

“What?”

“What do you mean what? Don’t you know parchment takes effect immediately?”

“I was going to use paper, but I didn’t feel like going back to get it.”

“And more importantly, this guy…!”

The man with the eyepatch pointed straight at me. I jerked back in surprise, and the white-haired man steadied my back with his hand. The black-haired man stared at that hand.

“……”

He looked like he had plenty to say, but instead he shut his mouth tightly and looked back down at the parchment again. He read the contract carefully, then closed his eyes and exhaled.

“One month?”

“Y-yes!”

Caught up in the moment, I replied with unnecessary confidence.

The corners of his eyes twitched, and then he started glaring at me with terrifying intensity.

“Why didn’t you do as you were told?”

“S-sorry.”

I apologized first, overwhelmed by his anger, even though I didn’t know why. I only thought about the reason afterward.

Do as he said? … Was he talking about when I got distracted and turned left at the circus entrance? How would he even know that? And why did it matter?

“……”

Watching him stare silently at the parchment made my fingertips tremble.

Thinking that I might really end up working here filled me with an inexplicable dread. But when his blue eye turned back to me, the fear faded. Instead, a vague thought crossed my mind.

‘His commitment to the character is intense.’

That let me brush the anxiety aside.

“For now, stay here and don’t go anywhere.”

The black-haired man rolled up the contract he took from me as he gave the order. Then he unrolled it again. Now there were two sheets. He tucked one into the waistband of his pants and handed me the remaining one.

“One is yours. And…”

And?

But the words that followed weren’t directed at me.

“Kiss. You. Come here.”

It was for the white-haired man.

“Yes, ringmaster.”

He answered playfully, winked at me, and followed the ringmaster out of the tent.

Left alone, I repeated the man’s name to myself.

‘Kiss…?’

Ah. I think I’m screwed again.

If the thing the flower girl warned me about wasn’t the act of kissing, but that guy Kiss… then yeah. This was bad.