SHC Chapter 8

8. Assistant Choi

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“Leave those clothes here with me.”

“My clothes?”

“Yes. Put them over there.”

I put the dirty clothes I had worn into the cabinet the ringmaster pointed to. They hadn’t even been washed. By the time I take them out a month from now, they might be rotten.

“Um, here’s the cleansing foam.”

I tried to return the cleansing foam he had given me, but he waved it away.

“Keep it.”

Then he immediately asked a question.

“Not wearing your shoes?”

“Oh, right.”

I had followed him out absentmindedly and forgotten to put them on.

I set down the black shoes that looked sort of like rubber slip-ons and slipped my feet in.

“They really are comfortable.”

It felt like walking barefoot on clouds. Watching me walk around in those black slip-ons, the ringmaster pushed Samdu’s food bucket toward me.

“After feeding him, go back and get more sleep. Preparations start at nine tonight.”

“Yes.”

When I lifted the bucket, it was surprisingly heavy. I didn’t know if it was dog food or something else inside, but there was a lot.

The moment I opened the office door, the heat outside hit me, and I turned back briefly. I didn’t really want to leave the cool interior, but the ringmaster didn’t even glance at me now, as if everything involving me was done for the moment, so I slipped out without a word.

The container box I saw outside did not look like something that could possibly contain multiple floors and such a huge space inside.

‘Stop thinking about it and just keep your head down.’

Suppressing my sense of normalcy, I turned back toward the shed where Samdu’s place was.

“Woof, woof!”

A deep bark characteristic of a large dog echoed out. But between the barks, I also heard a young whining sound. The chest cavity was big, but he was still a pup, so that youthful tone slipped out.

“Let’s eat, let’s eat.”

No matter how fierce they were, the cage doors were locked, so I wasn’t scared. Besides, the ones on the left and right had gentle faces. Only the middle head was glaring at me with a nasty temper.

“Here, tasty food—whoa.”

The moment I opened the lid, I hurriedly set the food bucket down and closed the lid again.

‘What did I just see?’

I covered my eyes with my palm, rubbing around the corners.

This was food?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I opened the lid again, and inside was a bright red, thick, sticky mass.

At first, I thought it was blood and tilted my head.

‘Is it not blood?’

There was no fishy or metallic smell. Instead, it had a sweet, fragrant scent.

‘What is this? It’s like jelly?’

Recovering from my shock, I looked around for something that could serve as bowls. Luckily, right next to the cage I had been locked in, the one that would’ve been Samdu’s original home, I found three stacked bowls. Cute red, yellow, and blue plastic bowls.

“From the left, red, yellow, blue.”

They each needed an assigned bowl.

So I picked one for each color and gave each head of Samdu a nickname to match.

“Red bowl is for Red, yellow bowl for Yellow, blue bowl for Blue.”

I didn’t want a fight to break out by feeding only one first, so I planned to fill all three bowls at once.

“……”

But once I finished filling them, I realized I didn’t know how to get the bowls into the cage.

After hesitating a moment, I placed my hand on the latch of the iron door. It seemed I really had to open it to give them the food.

“Don’t bite.”

But Red wasn’t the only problem. In the next moment, I felt heat in the growling breaths coming from Yellow’s mouth, and the second I dodged to the side, flames burst out right where I had been standing.

“Why are you really doing this to me?”

I pressed a hand to my chest and steadied my pounding heart as I slowly approached again. Maybe because of the flames, part of the iron bars had turned slightly red, and if my hand touched that, my skin would probably melt right off.

“Good grief.”

Sighing, I crouched down at a safe distance. Then, to my left… well, to Samdu’s right, Red whimpered, sticking out his tongue. His muzzle kept pointing toward the bowls. Clearly hungry. Blue soon copied Red, starting to whine as well.

Even Yellow, despite his temper, eventually stopped blowing smoke and sharply turned his head to the side.

Watching Yellow carefully, I unlatched the still-warm lock and shoved the bowls inside quickly.

The moment I shut the cage door again, all three heads were already bent forward, crowns showing as they munched and licked their food. Even the temperamental Yellow seemed to be starving; he ate eagerly. When they licked the bowls clean and looked back at me, I glanced at the remaining food in the bucket.

‘Should I give them one more bowl?’

I hadn’t asked how much or how often they were supposed to eat.

With Red and Blue still whining that they were hungry, I finally put my hand back on the bars.

Samdu was calm. Especially Blue… his white eyes sparkled. His muzzle was open, tongue hanging out, panting softly like he was smiling.

“Alright, I’ll give you more.”

I filled the bowls again, but thinking they might beg for even more if I kept the bucket close, I shut the lid and set it in the corner before quickly slipping out of the shed.

Outside, the sun was blazing.

When I went back into the circus tent, it was quiet; everyone was fast asleep. I checked the time on my phone; it was only 2 p.m.

‘They said preparations start at nine.’

I still had seven hours.

The moment I lay down in my area, thinking why am I sleeping again after waking up, I passed out instantly.

* * *

“…Hey!”

“Move those crates!”

“What’s that?”

“Who’s that?”

“Is that the new guy?”

“Everyone up! It’s time to get ready!”

“Shut up!”

“You’re louder, you old geezer!”

What’s with all this noise?

I frowned and pulled the blanket over my head, then jolted upright like I’d been struck by lightning.

This wasn’t my home.

“You awake?”

Outside, my space looked busy, and in the doorway stood a tall man dressed entirely in white, with white hair and a face so pale it looked like he was wearing a mask.

The bright lighting inside the circus made his white face and yellow eyes stand out sharply.

He said,

“You wiped off your makeup?”

“What?”

“Well, since you’re the one helping on the side, I guess you won’t need it.”

I blinked, and only after a beat did I realize the man was Kiss.

“But those clothes, did the Ringmaster give them to you?”

“Yes. Ah… yes.”

“He gave you some pretty nice clothes. Same with the shoes.”

I got up and started neatly folding the cloth he had handed me yesterday. Looked like it was time to get up.

“But I gave it to you to block the door, and you slept under it? Do you need a blanket? Should I get one?”

I was listening to Kiss when suddenly a face popped through the entrance and startled me.

It was Balbari.

“Alright, newbie! Our Assistant Choi!”

Balbari cheerfully stuck his head boldly into my space and said with a big laugh,

“Come on out! But first, we need to get you something to cover the entrance. Like this, you can’t tell if someone comes in at all.”

If anything, having nothing to cover it should make it easier to know if someone came in.

“At the very least, you need something that says this is a door. Otherwise, anyone can walk right in.”

Then he demonstrated by sticking his front paw in and out.

“No, no. Absolutely not. Definitely not.”

Balbari even shook his head sternly, then pointed at the cloth I had been folding.

“What the… There was a curtain here! Why didn’t you hang it? Did you sleep under it?”

When I nodded, he shook his head again in disbelief.

“Even if you sleep naked, at least cover the door. Our bodies are fake anyway, so it doesn’t matter if they rot a little, right?”

Another thing I really didn’t need to know.

Fake bodies?

What were they?

“Yes.”

My voice came out faint, like I was intimidated.

“Hurry up and come out. It’s wake-up time.”

“Yes.”

I came out after Balbari, thinking I didn’t even remember when I fell asleep. As I stepped out, I met Kiss’s eyes. He had stepped aside quietly, and he gave me a small, polite smile. I returned it, and he smiled brightly in response. His already gorgeous, elegant face became even more dazzling.

But that wasn’t the end, Kiss suddenly hooked his arm around mine.

“?”

Startled, I tried to pull my arm free, but he held me with snake-like strength that didn’t budge an inch.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I’m happy to see you.”

“So you two know each other already?”

Balbari, who had been watching us, asked the question. Kiss nodded.

“Yup! Jealous?”

“You’re a funny guy, hahaha!”

Balbari burst into laughter at what sounded like nonsense, then started explaining how to disassemble the wooden panels. He said he was glad to see someone who could listen once and immediately do the work well.

While he enjoyed himself beside me, Kiss stood next to us grinning from ear to ear.

Two bright people… no, two bright… ah, whatever. Two bright beings chattering on both sides of me was a bit overwhelming, but the atmosphere was so light that I found myself smiling at their conversation.

“Who’s this?”

When the disassembly was done, someone suddenly cut in. A man whose thin body was completely wrapped in bandages, he looked like a mummy.

“This is the new recruit. His name is Assistant Choi.”

“Assistant Choi? Assistant? Then is the job different from a grunt worker?”

“Of course it’s different! He’s an assistant, not a grunt!”

Balbari declared this loudly, and several members around us turned to look. Among them were things with an eye planted in their foreheads, and creatures that looked like chimeras rather than humans.

But isn’t an assistant basically the same as a grunt worker?

I looked at Balbari with the same question.

But the answer didn’t come from him; it came from Kiss.

“Balbari’s right! An assistant helps our show!”

…What?

“A show? A show, you said?”

“A show? You mean backstage stuff? That’s for the grunt workers.”

“He said it’s different. He helps with the show.”

“Then how? Moving the big cauldron they use to boil me is grunt work, so what’s different?”

More performers had gathered, murmuring loudly.

Their attention should’ve been overwhelming, but Kiss’s explanation was what froze me.

What was he saying?

“Of course it’s different! He’ll be the assistant to our lovely magician, then the helper for the beast tamer, then he’ll help me manage guests, and sometimes he’ll do promotion with Pink Bear!”

That’s a grunt job!

“…That is grunt work.”

Someone voiced exactly what I was thinking.

“No. It’s not doing messy chores, it’s supporting the show. Like spinning the wheel, the old man stands on while getting stabbed with knives. Stuff like that.”

“Ohh, so he’s not doing random tasks, he’s a stage assistant who goes on stage with us?”

As I listened, the blood drained from my face. What? Excuse me?

“That’s right, he’s the stage assistant meant to support us.”

I quickly asked,

“I’m going on stage? Me?”

“If necessary.”

While I just opened and closed my mouth soundlessly, Balbari shouted,

“Alright, everyone, say hello! This is Assistant Choi, who’ll be working with us starting today!”

He should’ve just said assistant. Adding my surname made it sound even weirder.

Introduced as Assistant Choi, I bowed, enduring the raw, unfiltered stares of the performers, none of whom looked exactly human.

A few even bowed back to me. One of them bowed so low his head fell off.

When his head rolled across the ground, and our eyes met, I panicked and shot upright.

“Okay! Time to check all performers scheduled for today’s show! And let us know if you need an assistant this time or not! Hey, beautiful magician! Didn’t you say you needed a helper last time?”

“Yes! I need someone to climb into the magic box so I can saw him in half.”

“Assistant Choi, that’s your job today.”

Stunned, I stared without blinking as Balbari checked something off on the A4-printed timetable.

“Anyone else need an assistant?”

“Me! Me! I need someone to stand beside me! Just stand there smiling and clapping to help with audience reactions!”

“I’ll use him for that too!”

“Me too!”

“I want someone to hold the leash of the hellhound in my place!”

In the middle of the loud chaos, Kiss leaned close and whispered softly in my ear,

“Popular, aren’t you? Makes me jealous.”

“……”

Then take all this popularity, please.

As the noisy crowd shouted about wanting to use me, I quietly let out a sigh.