I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe - Chapter 546

EP.545 20. The Wandering Saint (12)

“I see. Yes. Please learn a lot. Are you saying you will come to cheer me on? Haha, there’s no need to do that. It’s not an important competition. Yes. I understand. Then, I’ll see you in a few days.”

Maya, who had decided to stay on the silver screen and learn from Arno, contacted Wonder Stein and officially received permission. However, since he was her teacher, she could not carelessly ask others to teach her.

As Wonder Stein, there was no reason to refuse the offer. In the original story, Arno had raised Maya to the level of a Grand Magician in two years. If the original history had continued, she might have already reached that point. He looked forward to seeing how much she would grow and return.

After finishing his conversation with Maya, Wonder Stein went out into the courtyard of the inn. The place he was headed to was the cages where Betty’s victims were staying.

As he approached the iron bars, the animals swarmed towards him. Lions, tigers, gorillas, elephants, leopards, horses, parrots. They looked at Wonder Stein with hopeful eyes.

“Kiruk has given me an answer.”

The ability he had gained as a reward for reaching 500 fame, ‘Director’s Room,’ originally had a ‘Report and Inquiries’ function where players could send feedback to the developers. Here, it functioned as a Q&A where he could ask Kiruk questions and receive answers, so it could be considered an appropriate substitution.

It took a lot of time and money to receive an answer. He had asked Kiruk yesterday, ‘What should I do to return Betty’s victims to their original bodies?’ and had just received the answer.

“To conclude, you can return to your original bodies.”

At his words, the animals expressed their emotions in their own ways. There were quite a few violent movements and cries. After a long and arduous time, they had finally found hope of returning to their original bodies, so they could not help but be excited.

Wonder Stein briefly explained the contents of the spell to them. First, he said that the priority was to advance to the finals of the Circus Grand Prix, go up on the Wonder Stage, and stand in front of Trill.

They nodded in agreement. Betty had used Trill’s fragments and Inspira to turn them into what they were now, so it was natural that they would need Kiruk’s power, which was greater than that, to undo it.

Wonder Stein felt a great weight lifted from his mind as he watched the animals express their gratitude to him. He had been worried that he was leading them around with false hope.

That had also been something that had pricked Wonder Stein’s conscience considerably. Hadn’t he also been deceived by the lies of the Omnipotent Church in his current life, losing all of his friends?

***

All-powerful religion was able to grow faster than anyone else thanks to the pastor’s healing by laying on of hands. When rumors spread that terminal illnesses were cured, severed nerves were reconnected, and missing limbs sprouted when he laid his hands on them, incurable patients and the disabled and their families from all over the country joined the all-powerful religion.

Of course, not everyone could receive treatment just because they wanted it. Only those who contributed greatly to the church could receive the grace of the pastor. Politicians, entertainers, and large donors were the main targets.

Originally, the children in the all-powerful church had no way to fill that contribution. That’s because it would require a huge sum of money that would be difficult to obtain even if they worked their entire lives.

However, some of them were able to get the opportunity in other ways. In the all-powerful church of Yegok-eup, Scarecrow, witch, and canister belonged there.

The year they turned 17, they were invited to the main church service. The pastor wanted to see the children of the all-powerful church who were performing all over the country.

The director told the three of them that if they succeeded in the performance, the pastor would show them his grace.

When he heard the story, Scarecrow felt his heart pounding. He thought he would never be able to receive it in his life, but the opportunity had finally come.

“It’s funny.”

However, his friend did not believe the director’s words.

When they were young, they might not have known, but they were 17 years old. They knew the world well enough. Healing by laying on of hands was a trick often used in other cults. It was impossible to heal someone’s body just by touching it.

“But what if? There must be something to it when so many people believe and follow it.”

“Oh, you idiot. Because fools like you follow them, other people follow them because they might be right.”

canister. He got that nickname because he played the role of the Tin Man in his first performance, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. He was full of distrust for the world.

Scarecrow thought his friend was too pessimistic about the world because he read newspapers and news so often. If what’s on TV is all there is to the world, where in the world is there a world worth living in?

There had been many things that had happened while he had been in the all-powerful church, but Scarecrow had not given up his faith in healing.

Caterpillars dreaming of becoming butterflies one day. Abbreviation: Caterpillar Festival.

It was the name of the stage they first went on, and it was also the name of the disabled children’s event they still participate in every year.

Scarecrow believed that he was that caterpillar. He is a caterpillar that will become a butterfly someday.

Scarecrow believed that he himself was the caterpillar. The caterpillar that would become a butterfly someday.

“Let’s hear a bit more of the story first. Mister, how could hundreds of people go missing and you not know about it until now?”

But Tin Man’s distrust of the Pastor wasn’t simply because he was a strange man. There was an uncle among the regular attendees of the Omnipresence Center that Tin Man was close to, and it was because of something that this uncle had told him that he distrusted the Pastor’s healing.

“You’ve been invited to attend the main church’s service?”

“Yes. Maybe I’ll grow arms and legs.”

Scarecrow replied excitedly to the uncle’s question, but the expressions on the faces of the man looking at him and Tin Man were grim. They didn’t believe in the Pastor’s healing.

“Aren’t you a believer in Omnipresence? Then why don’t you believe in the Pastor?”

“Ah, well, I… Yes. Okay. Since this child believes you, I suppose I should too. I mean, the truth is that I’m not a believer in Omnipresence. I’ve infiltrated Omnipresence to investigate it.”

The uncle that Tin Man was close to was an investigator dispatched by the prosecution. The reason he had entered Omnipresence and approached Tin Man was because he had expected that they might be called to the main church’s service.

“Sometimes Omnipresence selects children from all over the Omnipresence Centers and has them put on performances.”

“We know about that too. I’ve heard that children are coming from several different places besides us this time.”

“Yes. That’s why we approached the children who frequently go to external events from the Omnipresence Centers in advance. And after observing them carefully and deciding that we could get their cooperation, we made contact with them like this. I’ve already spoken to Tin Man about it, but what I’d like to ask you to do is to wear a recorder and camera that we’ll provide when you attend the performance. Strangely, this service that you’ve been invited to is the only one that hasn’t been easy to get close to. Fortunately, they say that they never touch the costumes or props of the children who go on stage, so I’d like to entrust this task to you.”

When the uncle had spoken this far, Tin Man looked at Scarecrow with a disapproving expression.

“I opposed that suggestion.”

“Why?”

“Because this uncle said something really unlucky. He said that the children who went inside there all disappeared without a trace. Hundreds of people!”

“Hu, hundreds?”

Scarecrow trembled in fear. Then the Witch, who had been listening to the story quietly until now, stepped forward. She pulled the trembling Scarecrow into her arms and soothed him.

“It’s okay. You haven’t said that you’ll go yet, have you?”

As soon as he heard her voice, Scarecrow’s fear quickly subsided. Despite the fact that she frightened people because her entire body, except for her jaw and mouth, was covered in green warts, he felt at ease whenever he saw her.

“Let’s hear a little more of the story first. Sir, how could hundreds of people go missing and you not know about it until now?”

The man sighed at the witch’s question and began to tell the story he had been hiding.

“They’re severely disabled orphans, so no one was looking for them. It was easy to hide them. Who would care if a dozen or so out of thousands of disabled children disappeared each year? After all, if the Omnipotence Church didn’t take care of them, ten times that number would die each year in obscurity. This time, the prosecution’s full-scale investigation of the Omnipotence Church finally brought it to light.”

“In any case, that’s why I refused your offer, sir. Huh. How could I go to such a dangerous place?”

“Then why are you telling us this story…?”

“Because no matter how much you talk, you won’t understand! You keep threatening to go for treatment. I have to tell you things like this to bring you to your senses.”

“I’m not trying to persuade you.”

The witch sounded a little disappointed, and Tin Can snorted.

“You’re going to do whatever Scarecrow tells you to do anyway.”

“What?”

“Am I blind or deaf? I can’t believe you don’t know that. We’ve been together for years. Both of you are really easy to figure out. Of course, I don’t understand why you do what you do for this idiot…”

“Ah…”

The witch laughed sheepishly, embarrassed that her feelings had been discovered. However, Scarecrow tilted his head, unable to read the subtext in the conversation between the two.

“Anyway, if I go, the witch will go too?”

“Yes. Do you want to send your friend to a place where she might die? I don’t know if you want your girlfriend to be even prettier…”

“G, girlfriend! No, no! How could I possibly…”

“See? That’s one of the reasons I call her an idiot.”

“Definitely…”

The witch nodded. Scarecrow was a little hurt to see her looking at him with pity, but on the other hand, he thought her angry expression was pretty.

“More importantly… the witch is already pretty. No matter how powerful the bishop is, it would be impossible for him to make her any prettier.”

His words silenced the group. Tin Can shook his head as if he was fed up, and the witch laughed out loud as if she was pleased.

“See? That’s my reason.”

“Definitely…”

Tin Can shrugged at the investigator.

“You see. Since it’s come to this, why don’t you just give up, investigator, sir?”

The man scratched the back of his head with a small sigh. He had told the story to provoke their anger at the injustice, but it had backfired.

“Why don’t you accept? I promise nothing bad will happen. On the day of the rally, we will be outside with the police, watching the footage from the camera, and as soon as we have evidence, we will go straight in and make the arrests. It’s not a bad thing for you either. If you help us from the inside, you will be a whistleblower and receive a reward. If you leave here penniless, you’ll end up in the gutter wherever you go. And you need it the most, don’t you? Do you think they will look after you if you go out there?”

The investigator provoked Scarecrow slightly. He thought Scarecrow, who seemed most desperate to be healed, would be the easiest to persuade.

However, the moment he said that, Tin Can and Witch’s expressions hardened.

“Aren’t you being a little harsh, mister?”

“We made a promise in the past. To live together even after we leave this place.”

“No, I mean…”

“Tch, and here I thought you were doing a good thing.”

“Do whatever you want as an investigator or whatever. We’re not going.”

Tin Can and Witch were about to take Scarecrow away. However, instead of following them, Scarecrow tensed his body and resisted.

“Hey, hey.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to go.”

“What?”

Scarecrow thought long and hard. Whether the Shaman’s treatment was real or not, he had to go and find out. He regretted being so scared to give up when there was a chance he could be healed.

And even if the Shaman’s treatment turned out to be a scam, that was fine. In that case, he could receive a reward for the footage on the camera and recorder he was taking with him.

The investigator’s provocative words had gotten to Scarecrow.

Of course, he trusted his friends, but the thought of what could happen scared him. To be honest, he was more afraid of his friends abandoning him than of not being able to heal his body. If he had some money, he thought he could feel less sorry towards his friends.

“Instead, I’ll go alone. If anything dangerous happens, it will be better if only one of us is hurt.”

“Hey, what should we do with this idiot?”

“What a jerk.”

Bam. Witch’s fist hit Scarecrow on the top of the head. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes as if he had been wronged.

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

“If only one of us is hurt, it will be better? What are you talking about?”

“We live together and die together. Didn’t we promise that?”

“That, that’s…”

Tin Can and Witch looked at each other. Because of this stubborn friend, they had no choice.

“We’ll join you.”

“But you have to give us three times the reward money.”

“Okay. If the footage is good, I’ll try my best to get you ten times the amount, not three times.”

And so, the three of them decided to attend the rally at the main church of the Omnipotent Church.