A Night at the Circus
During the day, the streets had felt like a place people visited out of necessity. But at night, the avenue seemed filled with those drawn purely by curiosity and excitement.
It wasn’t a bad thing.
Going to see the circus with Seia was a form of entertainment too, after all.
Just like last time, Jungwoo wrote their names in the visitor log. The staff member on duty recognized both him and Seia immediately.
“You’re Mr. Jungwoo and Miss Seia, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Hello!”
“Haha. Hello. Actually, I was told to let them know as soon as you arrived. Please wait just a moment.”
“Of course.”
The employee made a call somewhere, and before long, the manager from the administrative office appeared.
“Oh, you’ve arrived. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Ah, did we keep you waiting long?”
“Not at all. And there’s little Seia too. Nice to see you again.”
“Mr. Joeun! Hello!”
At the name “Mr. Joeun,” the manager’s expression brightened noticeably.
Yes. It was a good name no matter how many times you heard it, and it always carried a pleasant ring.
“The registration is all taken care of, I assume?”
“Yes, sir. All procedures are complete.”
“Good. Thank you for your work. Shall we go?”
The Night Street they entered with the manager was livelier than Jungwoo had expected, yet it wasn’t noisy or chaotic.
He had wondered if it would be rowdy since it was after drinking hours, but it was surprisingly quiet.
And there weren’t that many people either.
He had assumed the transition from evening to night would be the busiest time.
“The Night Street feels both cold and warm at the same time.”
“Does it?”
The manager swallowed the rest of his words.
As long as you didn’t venture too deep, you wouldn’t feel the chill.
“We still have a little over thirty minutes until the circus begins. Would you like me to show you around the street?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful.”
“Seia, Uncle will show you something fun.”
“Mr. Joeun’s stuff?”
“That’s right. There are lots of interesting things.”
With a mischievous smile, the manager led them to an area that resembled a night market.
Because it was a street used by hunters, the atmosphere was quite different from a typical night market.
In an ordinary night market, you’d see plenty of games like shooting air rifles at prizes, but of course there was none of that here.
If hunters used those, there wouldn’t be any prizes left.
Perhaps for that reason, this street had developed far more around food than anything else.
“Goblin skewers for sale!”
“Steamed orc hind leg meat here!”
Stalls selling dishes made from magic beasts like goblins and orcs.
Having never set foot in this kind of world and never even considered it, Jungwoo felt as if he had stepped into an entirely different realm.
He was curious.
What would something like that even taste like?
What was the texture like? What about the aroma?
From what Jungwoo knew, most dishes made from magic beast meat focused more on satiety than flavor.
Since they were ingredients from low-grade gates, they were also much cheaper.
Of course, the higher the grade, the more expensive and delicious they became, but those kinds of premium ingredients weren’t found in a casual street night market like this.
“Orc meat?”
Seia, who was hearing names like goblin and orc for the first time, showed clear curiosity.
The smell didn’t seem bad, at least.
“Is it more yummy than steku?”
“Hmm… Daddy doesn’t really know. I’ve never tried it. Oh, have you had any, sir?”
“I have tried some. But they’re not really something you eat for the taste. They’re quite polarizing.”
From the manager’s words, it seemed true that unless it was something truly rare, the meat didn’t taste particularly good.
And at the mention that it wasn’t very tasty, Seia quickly lost interest.
“Still, there are more people here than I expected.”
“That’s because it’s food you can bring inside the gate with you.”
“Ah, so that’s possible.”
“There are also some superstitions. Like, if you throw away food made from magic beasts inside a gate, you won’t die. That sort of thing.”
Besides that, there were people who had just returned from subjugation and others who were about to head in.
It really was fascinating.
Even though it was the same street, the difference between day and night was so distinct.
They walked along, enjoying the fun of spotting all the changes, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the circus venue.
As expected, the atmosphere was quite different from a typical circus entrance.
There were no dazzling lights or people in cute mascot costumes.
But in Seia’s eyes, only the circus tent stood out.
Everything else felt mismatched with the usual image of a circus, but that one massive tent in red and blue was unmistakably something that evoked the circus.
“Next.”
It was finally Jungwoo and Seia’s turn to enter.
The troupe member, who had been looking bored, suddenly flinched when he spotted the manager from the administrative office.
“Three people.”
“Ah, yes. We have a guide…”
“It’s fine. Let them in.”
“Understood.”
Seating was first-come, first-served, so the people who had arrived earlier had taken all the front rows.
They ended up near the very back, but Seia didn’t mind in the slightest.
She was perfectly content just knowing she would get to see the circus.
The interior of the circus tent wasn’t all that different from what people usually imagined.
“Attention please. The show will begin in five minutes.”
A voice rang out at just the right moment.
It didn’t seem like there were any speakers, yet the voice echoed throughout the entire tent.
“Five minutes! Five minutes is one!”
“Hmm?”
Five minutes is one.
Jungwoo wondered what that meant, then realized it was about the clock reading lesson she had been studying so hard earlier.
That’s right. One is five minutes.
Seia had barely taken her eyes off the clock while learning how to tell time.
Thanks to that, she instinctively knew how long five minutes was.
“Five minutes— five minutes—”
She had waited for hours before without complaint.
Waiting just five minutes was something she could do with pure joy.
"...Is that her?"
"Yes, Leader."
⟨ Just Before the Show ⟩
Right before the circus began—precisely when Jungwoo, Seia, and the administrative manager had entered the tent—the leader of the circus troupe had already noticed the three of them.
“Hah, then we’ll need to change the program a bit.”
His expression wasn’t particularly pleased.
When planned performances went off script, it wasn’t something everyone could accept cheerfully.
“What should we do?”
“…As you know, we must not be discovered. Under any circumstances.”
“Yes, I understand. Should I go borrow someone from next door?”
Borrow.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
“We only need to block one person properly. Right?”
“Yes. Just one person.”
There was no need to deceive everyone’s eyes and ears.
Since they were together, it would be enough to subtly manipulate the senses of just one of the three.
“Then I’ll go.”
“No. Since you’re first on stage anyway, I’ll go myself.”
“Understood, Leader.”
With little time left, the leader hurried to the neighboring circus troupe.
If the Fire Circus used a red tent, the Ice Circus naturally used a blue one.
“Huh? What’s going on? Isn’t the show about to start?”
“It is. We’ve run into a small problem.”
“Small problem?”
“There’s no time to explain in detail…”
After a quick explanation of the issue, the leader of the Ice Circus nodded as if he understood.
“So you want to borrow a hunter with illusion abilities for a bit.”
“That’s right. Is it possible?”
“We’re in the same industry. Of course I can do that much.”
“Mm, thank you.”
“Buy me a drink later. Hey! Go get him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Following the Ice Circus leader’s orders, a hunter soon arrived.
“I’ll explain on the way. What you need to do.”
The two tents were practically next door to each other, and the task wasn’t complicated, so the explanation was finished quickly.
When they returned to the Fire Circus tent, the voice announcing the start of the show was already filling the venue.
“Leader. You’re back.”
“Yeah. I brought him properly. You remember where that kid is sitting, right?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Wait in the empty spot below and use your ability at the right moment. This friend will tell you when.”
Perhaps because they were from an ice-manipulating circus troupe, most of the members were blunt and quiet.
“Go on. If you mess up… it won’t end well, so stay focused.”
The two members answered with a nod instead of words and promptly vanished into the shadows.
Since this was a place that handled fire, at this hour the Fire Circus tent was the brightest spot in the area.
Except for the lounge, that is.
On the other hand, it also created the deepest shadows.
The brightest place simultaneously held the deepest darkness.
Then, a series of popping sounds began to echo from inside the circus tent.
The real signal that the show was starting.
In a fire-based circus, launching colorful fireworks into the air was the traditional way to open the performance.
“Whoa…!”
And with just that signal, Seia’s eyes were already wide as saucers.
She had heard there was something called fireworks.
She had never seen them in person, but she wondered if this was what they were like.
The inside of the circus tent, which had felt a little chilly, gradually grew warmer as it filled with the brilliant, multicolored flames.
“Hello everyone! I am C-rank hunter Kim Jeong-hyuk, and I will be opening tonight’s show!”
As if the fireworks from earlier had been his doing, Kim Jeong-hyuk’s flames continued to ignite one after another in the air.
They were literally igniting.
The flames began to bloom in flower-like shapes, and soon each petal displayed a different color and form.
Fire changes color depending on its temperature.
The fact that every petal had a different shape and color was the clearest proof of just how skillfully he could manipulate flames.
“So pretty…”
Of course, there was one person who had zero interest in any of that technical detail.
To Seia’s eyes, the flames were pure magic.
The dazzling beauty of the fire was almost enchanting, and as the number of flames slowly increased, they drew pure gasps of wonder from her.
Thank goodness.
Seia’s eyes, which had always sparkled, now shone even brighter as they reflected the colorful lights created by the flames filling the tent.
What words could possibly be needed?
No matter how many exclamations Seia knew, none of them could express the emotion and awe she felt right now.
All she could do was smile a smile that shone far brighter than her eyes.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“…Yes… It’s so, so pretty!”
Even to Jungwoo, it was beautiful.
How much more so for Seia?
The important thing was that this was only the beginning.
The hunter who had created flowers of fire in the air disappeared behind the stage amid the audience’s applause.
The darkened surroundings and quiet stillness only heightened the strong sense of anticipation for what would come next.