I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe - Chapter 545
EP.544 20. Wandering Saint (11)
Lumi first cast invisibility on herself and Maya. From now on, they were going to snoop around as the magicians of the silver screen prepared for their performance.
Maya couldn’t understand her behavior. Why would she want to spy on her own troupe members as they practiced? Lumi explained her reasons to her.
“Isn’t it mortifying to have your ‘heart’ seen by others? You’ve been creating illusions through polygon calculations up until now, so this is probably your first time experiencing something like this. However, magicians who embody the mysteries of imagination all harbor delusions in their heads. It’s important to control them properly. If you’re not careful, you might end up revealing the depths of your own mind in front of others. It’s a process that all illusion magicians go through, but you haven’t had the opportunity to do so until now. Now, watch our troupe members. Even someone like you has nothing to be ashamed of.”
Lumi’s words weren’t a lie. In fact, as soon as they entered the first room, Maya gasped without realizing it. There, several magicians were arguing in front of a naked woman.
“When our senior makes them, all the female characters end up being muscular!”
“Muscular? Where can you find more perfect proportions than this? Do you know what my previous senior was like?”
“Ah, that old man. All his women had ant waists and watermelons for breasts.”
“Can’t you add a little variety? Don’t they all have the same body type? That character over there is supposed to have been in prison for 10 years, so how is she maintaining a body like that?”
Illusion magicians tended to regard the appearance of things as something that could be changed at any time. Faithful to that philosophy, the magicians of the silver screen circus wrapped their entire bodies in cloth, giving them the appearance of monks and making them seem quite pious.
However, the only thing they weren’t interested in was the physical reality of flesh and blood. Once they entered an illusion, they all stubbornly insisted on their own ideals and preferences.
“Wait a minute, who’s this! The person who didn’t implement panties under the skirt and just made it all black!”
“Don’t waste resources on useless things! Is there any point in showing what’s under the skirt in this play?”
“There’s a scene where a carriage passes by. The wind will blow up the skirt then!”
“Did you even read the script properly? The carriage is slowly making its way through the streets, and the main characters are admiring the scenery. How would the wind blow up the skirt then? That’s why you got yelled at last time too! You kept flipping up the skirts in every scene!”
The script that the silver screen circus had chosen as their test piece was a play titled ‘Avril’, which told the story of young female dancers. As a result, there were quite a few scenes that were a bit too spicy. That was because the original script had been written for adults.
“Change our team members! No, how are we supposed to implement a bed scene with someone who’s never even slept with the opposite sex?”
“Change our team members! No, how can you expect us to implement a bed scene with someone who’s never slept with the opposite sex?”
The magician was startled by Rumi’s sudden appearance and quickly hid the doll behind his back. However, as soon as Rumi snapped her fingers, a whip appeared out of thin air and snatched the doll from his hand.
“What? When they’re writhing their hips, it’s a man thrusting into a woman’s belly?”
“Wait, considering the character of the protagonist, it would make more sense for the woman to be on top here….”
The content of their chatter was both vulgar and enthusiastic. Maya watched them, reminded of the time when she had created and manipulated illusions all by herself.
She had been the same back then. What she had done was not much different from what they were doing now. It was ‘ordinary’ by the standards of illusion magicians.
Rumi smiled as she watched Maya’s magical power gradually stabilize.
The psychological trauma that Maya had experienced was something that illusion magicians who worked in the entertainment industry often suffered from. As they repeatedly created humans and manipulated them according to scripts, they became intoxicated with the illusion of omnipotence, believing that they could control humans.
Illusion magicians working in other fields also suffered from similar occupational hazards, albeit with different symptoms. Those who worked in war or military training became desensitized to killing, while those who primarily handled memory disks risked ruining their mental health by becoming too immersed in the lives of others.
Illusion magicians were more likely than anyone else to become trapped in their own worlds, and they easily ended up as isolated loners. Rumi, who had led them for over 20 years, knew this better than anyone.
Rumi had let Maya watch the team members’ work in order to relieve her of the guilt and shame she had about her ‘delusions’. It was similar to the process of sex education for adolescents. First, they had to accept that the desires they had were ordinary desires that everyone had.
There were some slightly embarrassing scenes. Was this how it felt when porn was played during sex education classes? Maya would startle every time and either cover her eyes or peek at it through her fingers.
She’s so cute. Rumi looked at her friend’s daughter with a warm gaze.
However, Rumi’s margin composure didn’t last long. It crumbled as soon as she met the people in charge of setting up the characters’ skeletons.
“Senior, why do people keep developing reverse joints in their lower bodies?”
“My totem is broken, that’s why! I can’t implement human joints properly without this.”
A totem was a tool used by illusion magicians to help them establish a ‘reference point’ in reality. For example, if they carried around a doll shaped like a human, it would become easier for them to implement humans.
However, if they became too reliant on totems, they would become passive and unable to create illusions without them. This was the case now.
“Huh…?”
“Just a moment. That’s…?”
But that wasn’t what surprised Maya and Rumi. The two of them gaped at the object the magician, who was grumbling about his broken totem, was holding in his hand. It was shaped like someone very familiar.
“Isn’t that me?”
It was a doll that looked just like Rumi.
“What are you doing!?”
“Huh, huh? W, well, Boss?”
“Huh, huh-huh? D-director?”
In the past few months, the atmosphere of Eunmak had greatly changed. Those directly involved hadn’t noticed much, but Maya, who had visited them after a few months, felt dizzy.
The magician was surprised when Rumi suddenly jumped out and quickly hid the doll behind his back. But when Rumi snapped her fingers, a whip appeared out of thin air and snatched the doll from his hand.
“Wh-what is this!”
Rumi examined the doll and couldn’t help but be amazed. Its skin was made of synthetic resin, making it very realistic. In addition, the skeleton was also delicately crafted, and the joints moved smoothly. She could even move each finger as she wished.
What amazed her even more was that she could put clothes on and take them off the doll. The doll she was holding was wearing a maid’s uniform, white stockings, and shoes.
“H-how did this h-happen……”
“Ah, I made the doll clothes myself. Besides the maid uniform, there are many others……”
“That’s not what I asked!”
Hearing Rumi’s scream, the magicians in the other room came running in surprise. They wondered what was going on, but when they saw what Rumi was holding, they shut their mouths.
“Explain.”
At Rumi’s chilling momentum, one of the members stepped forward and explained the situation. A while ago, when they passed by a wax doll workshop, they decided to make a wax doll of the director, and they each made one.
With dozens of illusion magicians, copying her was nothing. The craftsmen in the doll workshop were amazed to see such a detailed prototype and used their utmost abilities to create Rumi’s doll.
“The strange thing is that when you wear the director’s doll, your illusion skills increase.”
“That’s right. Somehow, I can do things that I couldn’t do before.”
“Look. I can’t speak as freely as the director, but I can make an illusionary voice.”
One of the members showed Rumi a doll wearing a swimsuit and used magic.
“Hello. I am your director, Rumi On. Let’s go to the land of fairies!”
The exact same voice as Rumi’s came out of the doll’s mouth.
Maya shivered as she watched them. They were all perverts. Only now could she understand how her friends felt when they looked at her.
“Don’t be so angry.”
“The director is the totem of our hearts.”
“We were going to tell you, but they say that if you tell others about your totem, you will lose its power, so we all kept our mouths shut.”
When the members said that, Rumi gave up on getting angry. She sighed as if there was nothing she could do.
“Okay. I understand. This body is that kind of existence to you? An idol of your heart? Hmm……”
Rumi puffed out her cheeks a little. She was trying to hold back her laughter. The members of Eunmak looked at her and nodded with silly smiles.
‘She’s cute.’
‘How cute.’
Lumi decided to take a closer look at Maya while she was still on screen.
The atmosphere of the silver screen had changed considerably over the past few months. Those who were directly involved didn’t notice it much, but Maya, who had visited them after a few months, felt dizzy.
How did that mysterious charismatic Arnò of the silver screen end up like this?
Lumi received a gift of unopened dolls from the members. Since they had ordered in bulk, there was still quite a lot of stock left.
“It’s well-made.”
Lumi smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the box containing the dolls. There were various parts in the box. Among them were translucent wings that could be attached to the back.
The size of the winged fairies was originally about this size. Looking at the dolls, Lumi felt as if she had returned to the time when she had wings.
In fact, the creation of wax dolls was originally started by members who remembered Lumi’s old appearance and wanted to restore her winged days to commemorate her revealing her identity to the members. However, as the work progressed, some members felt the efficacy of the items made as samples as totems and ended up having one each.
“So, how do you feel now? Are you still ashamed of what you did?”
“No.”
Although the ending was a bit absurd, Lumi was able to achieve what she intended. Maya’s heart was much more cheerful compared to before. Her magic power began to flow normally again.
Of course, this was just putting out the fire that had fallen on her instep. The fundamental problem still remained.
That was ‘fear’.
She was afraid to accept in her heart a being who might disappear and leave someday. It was because of the memory of losing her mother.
Paradoxically, only the object that had given her such a strong psychological shock could leave a trace on her canvas. It was Wally and Wonder Stein.
Some might express that condition as love, but Lumi didn’t think so. If the condition contained on the canvas was love, why couldn’t she put her mom and dad on the canvas?
As for her mother, it could be said that she was too young to have enough information in her mind. However, that was not the case with her father.
It could also be explained that it was because she didn’t love her father, but in reality, it was probably this. Her father was always so annoyingly clingy and gave her the same love, so it was hard to feel the fear of losing him.
The canvas in her mind could be said to be white tissue paper created to prevent her heart from getting hurt.
There were two ways to remove that tissue paper. One was for her to train her mind and remove the paper herself, and the other was to make her feel the fear of losing all the people she was opening her heart to, including Wonder Stein, all at once and tearing the tissue paper at once.
The latter seemed impossible no matter how you looked at it. No, in fact, it would be a problem if such a thing happened. In the end, the only way left was the former.
Lumi decided to take a closer look at Maya while she was in the silver screen.