SHC Chapter 7

7. The Ringmaster’s Quarters

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“Hey! Dog, dog. No, Ringmaster!”

I urgently shouted toward the ringmaster as he turned and walked away.

He looked back, his eyebrows twisting.

“Are you calling the dog, or calling me?”

“You, Ringmaster. The doghouse, where is Samdu’s place?”

“Samdu’s place?”

I said it in a hurry, but calling it Samdu’s place sounded kind of funny.

“You like this guy?”

‘What kind of ridiculous question is that?’ I’d been hit with fire attacks from the middle head again and again on the way here.

“Or do you just like dogs?”

“Ah, yes, well. I guess I like animals. So where is Samdu’s place?”

The ringmaster turned his body and told me to follow him. While I trailed after him, the middle head finally bared its teeth.

‘He’s looking at me like I’m below him in the hierarchy.’

“Here.”

“Oh.”

I looked at what he was pointing to. It was the cage I’d been locked in just yesterday.

“Is it really here?”

“Yeah. From now on.”

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ I hid my disbelief and muttered back.

“It looks too small for him to go in.”

I knew because I’d been inside. This cage would definitely be too small for Samdu. I was just saying that, but as soon as the ringmaster heard me, he immediately opened the door of another cage.

“We’ll switch to this one.”

Honestly, it didn’t matter to me where the doghouse was. He put Samdu into the slightly larger cage and quickly locked the latch.

“Then what about Samdu’s food?”

Walks are important for dogs, sure, but food is even more important.

“Follow me.”

The ringmaster headed toward a clean-looking container building set next to the circus tent. I hadn’t even known such a thing existed, so I looked around with curious eyes.

The circus itself looked like something out of a novel or movie, but the inside of the single-story container building was surprisingly modern.

“…Why is there a laptop?”

“For work.”

There was even a water purifier.

As I looked around in confusion, the ringmaster told me to sit on the sofa.

The space looked like a makeshift office, and it felt completely out of place.

“Um, is there a phone here?”

“No. But there’s a fax.”

‘…What?’

“Can I use the bathroom for a moment?”

My head was a mess, but aside from that, I hadn’t gone to the bathroom once since last night. While he searched for the dog food, I at least wanted to use the restroom.

“You have to go that way. First door you see if you walk straight.”

He pointed toward one of the interior doors. I got up from the sofa and headed that way.

“Don’t get lost.”

“Okay.”

‘What is he talking about? I’m not a kid. There’s no way I’d get lost in here.’

Ah.

The moment I opened the door, I had to instantly take back that thought.

‘Right. This place wasn’t normal.’

“…This is crazy.”

From outside, it looked like a small temporary container building barely ten meters long. So why. How.

“What is this now?”

When I stepped inside, the living room was big enough to fit at least fifty people.

“Wow, seriously.”

I ran a hand through my hair and stepped inside. Then, with the door left wide open, I turned back. The ringmaster, who had apparently already found the dog food, was sitting at the table, and our eyes met.

When my dirty shoes touched the red arabesque carpet spread across the floor, I felt bad and quickly took them off. Even unwashed feet felt better than tracking dirt from the mountain path all over the carpet.

‘If I knew it’d be like this, I should’ve at least worn socks.’

Carefully walking forward, I stared in shock at the central staircase that led up to a second floor.

‘It was definitely one story from the outside.’

Both the width and the number of floors were absurd.

‘Don’t think about it.’

I walked straight ahead, just like the ringmaster said, heading for the door in front of me. The door was brown wood, with an antique-looking curved handle carved with ornate patterns.

When I pulled it open, a clean, modern bathroom decorated in gold and white appeared inside.

I think I even let out a small, dumb laugh.

There was a bidet.

And it seemed to have a heating system, because when I lifted the seat, it was warm.

“The ceiling’s high.”

Only after appreciating the overly luxurious interior, so fancy it made doing my business feel burdensome, did I go to the sink. And when I washed my hands, I flinched in surprise.

‘It’s warm water.’

On this hot day, the inside of the building felt cool, almost like autumn. I hadn’t seen any air-conditioning units, either.

‘This place is way too comfortable.’

I cautiously stepped back out. At this point, I was planning to ask the ringmaster, somewhat apologetically, if I could wash up a little, just rinse my hair, at least.

But when I actually returned, the words that came out of my mouth were something else entirely.

“Do you need a housekeeper?”

I wanted to work in this house, not in the circus.

The ringmaster didn’t even act like it was worth responding to and instead handed me the container of dog food.

“Take it and go back.”

“Sorry, that was a joke. Anyway, would it be okay if I wash up a bit? I just want to wash my hair.”

This time, the ringmaster stared at me for a moment, then let out a quiet breath.

“Fine. Go wash.”

Then he rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes. As his bright blue eyes disappeared beneath his eyelids, my shoulders lowered without me noticing, and the tension drained from my body. I must have been on edge more than I realized.

I bowed slightly to him.

“Thank you.”

And this time, before even reaching the bathroom door, I took off my shoes and stepped inside, then turned and called back.

“Um, but what about a towel…!”

But before I even finished speaking, I jumped in surprise. The ringmaster was suddenly standing right behind me.

“Uh, the towel… towel.”

While I stammered like an idiot, the ringmaster looked down at me with those blue eyes.

“I’ll bring it. And the bath is next to the bathroom on the left.”

“…Okay.”

He was standing so close, his chest almost brushed my back, and the discomfort made me hurry inside the room.

The ringmaster followed me to the doorway and asked,

“Why did you take off your shoes?”

“I didn’t want to dirty the floor.”

Then I quickly ducked into the bath. The bath was even bigger and nicer than the bathroom. The bathtub was ornate enough to steal my attention for a moment.

Knock, knock.

I opened the door at the sound of knocking, and the ringmaster was standing there.

“Towel. Clothes to change into.”

The clothes he handed me were a black three-quarter-sleeve shirt and equally black pants. They looked a bit short, my ankles would probably show.

“And shoes.”

The shoes he gave me were black rubber slip-ons.

Was this really all they had?

“Do I really wear these?”

“Or walk around barefoot.”

“My regular shoes are fine too.”

My white slip-ons probably looked better.

“If you don’t need shoes that relieve foot fatigue.”

“Wow! I’ll wear them gladly!”

I didn’t know if they actually had some foot-relieving effect, but they definitely weren’t normal shoes, so I snatched them up immediately.

“Go bathe.”

While I gathered the clothes and shoes he’d given me, the ringmaster said only that, then closed the door.

Bathe, he said.

I’d only planned to wash my hair, but since I had the owner’s permission, I threw off my clothes at once. I still had some shame, so I didn’t fill the bathtub and instead went into the shower booth.

The shower booth was spacious, too.

Inside were bottles of shampoo and body wash.

‘Feels like a hotel.’

It reminded me of the place we stayed at on that family trip abroad. Actually, this looked even better.

When I turned on the water, it came out at the perfect temperature with just the right pressure.

Even though I was just washing, the fatigue in my body seemed to melt away along with my mental stress.

Then suddenly, another thought hit me.

‘Am I being too complacent?’

I didn’t think I’d be this calm in a situation like this. But maybe it made sense, since it was obvious the ringmaster didn’t really want to use me anyway, I felt like I would be able to go home safely after a month. The contract clearly stated it was only for one month.

The only problem was that the circus was bizarre, and the performers and guests were anything but normal.

‘That pink bear. The pink teddy bear was okay, though.’

It was kind of cute.

Who was inside it?

‘Kiss or whoever was weird, too. Oh.’

It felt like the warm water suddenly turned cold.

‘I was told to be careful of Kiss.’

The girl with the flower in her hair had told me that earlier, and only now did the memory return to me.

‘What does that even mean?’

I blinked under the water.

Suddenly, I felt cold.

‘Was she talking about a person named Kiss, or the act of kissing?’

There was no clear answer, but the image of the ringmaster pressing his mouth to mine yesterday also came to mind.

‘I really must be out of my mind.’

I quickly shampooed my hair and washed my body. After scrubbing my face with the small bar of soap, I stepped out, dried myself off with a towel, and hurried to put on my clothes.

‘Naked showering in the house of the man who kissed me.’

But once I was fully dressed, the memory of him glaring at me in irritation popped up.

‘…But it didn’t feel like he had any intention of doing something to me. There must be some other reason.’

I shook my head, whipping my wet hair inside the towel.

‘Reason? For what? Why on earth did he even do that?’

He had sucked on my lips with ridiculous strength.

“……”

Every movement stopped.

Without thinking, I stuck the tip of my tongue out to my lips, then recoiled in shock and pulled it back in. Even though the sensation on my lips came from my own tongue, it felt foreign and unfamiliar.

I eventually leaned close to the mirror and touched my now-clean face and lips. I hadn’t noticed in the chaos of everything, but they seemed a little swollen. When I lightly pressed my lips, they felt fuller than usual. But the difference was so slight, maybe it wasn’t real.

Honestly, I had no idea.

‘This ridiculously fast-healing body of mine.’

Even so, the sensations from yesterday were becoming clearer and clearer.

“Wow…”

We’d kept our mouths pressed together for quite a long time, so how was I able to talk to him so casually outside this morning?

Am I a birdbrain?

Probably, yeah.

After a brief round of self-reflection, I grabbed the clothes I had originally been wearing and stepped toward the door.

But the moment I opened it, I froze at the silhouette waiting outside.

“You washed quickly.”

“Why are you here?”

The ringmaster had been standing three steps away from the bathroom door, arms crossed, but when I came out, he uncrossed them and straightened his posture.

I felt a bit pressured and couldn’t immediately step out of the bathroom.

“Have you been standing here this whole time?”

“No. Just now.”

“Why?”

Was he trying to listen to me shower? Planning to come in?

Wild scenarios swirled in my head as the ringmaster held something out to me.

“This.”

“What is it?”

“Cleansing foam.”

“……”

The answer was so unexpected that I just took the tube from him.

“There was soap, though.”

At my comment, he silently turned around. So I followed him, the cleansing foam still in my hand, and we returned to the office.