"How's it going?"
"It's the same as always. He told me to leave it in front of the door."
A towering giant, over 2 meters tall, scratched his head.
Rough, reddish skin and well-developed muscles.
Sharp horns protruding and tusks reaching down to his neck.
He looked like a demon straight out of hell.
But the girl sitting cross-legged in front of him showed no fear whatsoever.
In fact, her expression remained unchanged, making the massive monster unsure of what to do.
"What's that guy up to anyway? He's been holed up for days."
The girl propped her chin up with one hand and tapped the table with the other.
The ringmaster's behavior had been strange these past few days.
Not only did he avoid encountering the other performers, but he also refused to leave his carriage.
"Hmm, what are you doing there? The ringmaster used to pop up out of nowhere and startle the performers."
He had always been so careless in his actions, so this cautious behavior was peculiar.
Ella was bothered by it.
"What wicked scheme is he planning now?"
No description suited him better than "Devil."
The image of people dying at his slightest gesture still haunted her.
Knights clad in armour turned into piles of flesh and gore in an instant, rolling across the field.
Twisted bones, spilled entrails, clinging flesh,
"Ugh, let's not think about it... Let's not think about it..."
Not only his unbelievable power but also the nonchalant smile he wore while committing such acts was astonishing!
He was truly a devil in human form.
Slish...
"Hmm?"
A sound of snorting.
The monstrous being with red skin was eyeing the food on the table, salivating.
He desperately wanted to dig in, but he held back because the girl hadn't given permission.
"Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment. You did a great job today. Sit down and have breakfast."
"Yes."
The monster, in an incongruous manner, chuckled and sat down across from the girl.
Then, he slowly began to eat his food.
Chewing loudly.
His razor-sharp teeth glistened as he tore into the pork, bone and all.
Even in the face of his terrifying appearance, the girl didn't flinch.
She knew.
She knew that the "monster" in front of her was just a child, barely ten years old.
A child with a tender heart who wouldn't harm a single bug.
Womon.
To the girl, he was merely the cute youngest member of the circus.
"I'm sorry for making you work every morning. I can do it myself, but I make you do it..."
The girl said, and Womon wiped the seasoning from his mouth with a grin.
"It's okay, sis. This is what the youngest member is supposed to do."
"Aren't you scared?"
"What's there to be scared of? I'm just bringing food."
Womon thumped his chest confidently.
The girl glanced over at another corner of the campsite.
It was the table where the other performers were eating.
Some of them had been watching her and Womon.
They averted their gazes with uneasy expressions.
Are they embarrassed?
They're pushing all the hard work onto the youngest.
It's not a big deal to me, but...
"Others can't do what you do, you know. They're all too scared to even get close to the carriage. Silly big brothers and sisters, aren't they?"
"Hehe, I like it. I get to eat delicious side dishes every meal."
Womon picked up a whole rib and chewed on it.
For the past few days, he had been having meals like the ringmaster and assistant ringmaster in exchange for running errands.
Approaching the carriage where the ringmaster was alone.
Even if they offered them multiple servings of food, the others would hesitate.
"To be honest, I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of the ringmaster. He's kind to us, doesn't hit us, and takes good care of us, you know."
The girl frowned at Womon's words, as if she couldn't believe her ears.
How naive can you be?
"It's been about three weeks since you joined, right?"
"Two weeks."
"Two weeks... Well, nothing much has happened during that time. You're lucky you haven't seen the crazy things he does. Don't trust that man. Don't even think of him as a fellow human. The vile intentions he harbors..." [AN: Well human here doesn't mean human in literal sense. I guess a better term would be fellow humanoid but that just sounds peculiar.]
Womon's eyes rolled around in the sockets in the face of Ella's angry voice.
"Ella, here we go again..."
It was a well-known fact among the circus members that Assistant Ringmaster Ella despised the ringmaster.
Defending the ringmaster in front of her was like pouring oil into a burning house.
There were three attitudes towards the ringmaster within the circus.
Expressions of anger like Ella's.
Indifference, like Womon.
And fear, which was the attitude of everyone else towards the ringmaster.
Ella cast a sharp look towards the ringmaster's carriage. It was true that she despised him, but she wasn't without fear. She just forced herself to appear strong in front of him.
Frank Wonderstein.
The ringmaster of the Monster Circus.
A devil cloaked in human skin.
"Sigh."
Regardless of his motives for staying in the carriage, she couldn't just leave things as they were. After all, helping him properly fulfil his role as the "ringmaster" was her duty as the "assistant ringmaster."
Ella made her way across the campsite to the ringmaster's carriage. Since everyone in the circus wanted to keep their distance from him, the ringmaster's carriage occupied a secluded corner of the campsite all by itself.
As she got closer to the carriage, Ella felt a chilling aura. There was no real change in temperature, but her uneasy emotions made her shiver.
Thump, thump.
She knocked on the carriage door, and she could feel a reluctant response. However, there was no answer.
Ella reached out and placed her hand on the carriage, letting out a deep sigh.
"They'll probably send someone from Vergsong soon. Surely you haven't forgotten our agreement with the Vergsong?"
"Hehe, has it been four days already?"
A voice that tried to sound lively, but it was the same as the usual ringmaster.
His laughter and expressions were awkwardly imitated from humans, creating an unsettling valley of discomfort.
Even the devil who could do anything struggled with that.
"You are still the same. I don't know what you are planning inside, but come out soon. Do your role as the ringmaster. That's part of the 'contract.'"
"I understand. I'll be out soon."
"...Hurry up. People from the Jajak side will be arriving soon."
With that, she left without saying more.
***
I watched Ella's retreating figure through the carriage window and let out a sigh. I could manage as long as things went smoothly, but how long could I keep this up?
I leaned against the hard backrest of the carriage seat. Currently, I was inside a game called "Tril Trilo."
The Tril Trilo series was an action RPG where three characters formed a team to conquer dungeons. It had the classic setup of a melee-focused knight, an agile rogue specializing in ranged combat, and a magician unravelling mysteries and creating variables with their magic.
Each character had unique abilities, and there were dozens of support characters with distinct abilities. The game featured vast stages with hidden secrets, unique enemy patterns, and distinctive bosses. The series consisted of three parts, and it was known as "Tril Trilo Trilogy" or TTT for short.
It was my favorite game, and it was the main content of my YouTube channel. So, when I heard that Tril Trilo 4 was going to be released, I was genuinely thrilled. However, could I really return and play TT4?
Frank Wonderstein.
The ringmaster of the Monster Circus.
The ultimate villain throughout Tril Trilo 1, 2, and 3, appearing as the "final boss" in each instalment.
More famous by the alias "Black Magician."
I was, indeed, occupying the role of that Wonderstein.
Thud...
I summoned a screen into the empty space.
"Welcome to Tril Trilo Zero's world! You are now playing the past of Frank Wonderstein, the final boss of the Tril Trilo series. The clear condition is simple: Survive until the beginning of Tril Trilo 1!"
I had read this message repeatedly over the past ten days. I could recite its contents even with my eyes closed.
Main Quest - Prequel:
Prequel must lead to the main story.
Objective:
Survive until the beginning of Tril Trilo 1.
Success Reward:
Return to reality.
Failure Penalty:
Death in reality.
When I was eagerly anticipating Tril Trilo 4 after watching its teaser, I received a proposal from the game developer. It was common in the gaming industry to release a prequel when launching a new title. I was the most famous Tril Trilo YouTuber, so I readily accepted the offer. And this was the result: I had been transported into the game.
However, I couldn't possibly think of it as a game. Everything I saw and felt was incredibly vivid, to a horrifying extent. Just looking at that monster who brought me food every day was enough to prove it. With his terrifying size, crimson skin, sharp teeth, and horns, it was undoubtedly "Vampire" Womon from TT1 Stage 3.
Crunch, fresh human!
With his insane defense and health, he was a nightmare for beginners in TT, who would rush in without a strategy and be defeated instantly. Seeing warriors who charged recklessly and fell in an instant was an experience that any TT player could relate to.
But his infamy wasn't limited to the game difficulty. The sight of skinned and hanging male and female corpses, human bodies roasting on a metal plate, and the bloody apron and cleaver were all part of TT1 Stage 3 – a true horror movie.
Did that stage deserve to be classified as a horror game genre?
However, when I observed them over the past few days, they were merely superficially similar to their game counterparts. The monstrous behavior from the game was absent.
They talked and acted like regular people. Should I feel safe around them?
Come to think of it, there was no reason for me to fear them. In fact, they were afraid of me.
"Ri-Ringmaster!!"
"S-Sorry!"
They jumped in fright and moved away whenever I approached. When I looked at them, they lowered their heads and broke out in a cold sweat.
This was a crucial moment for me to learn how Wonderstein had treated them. But I was just superficially Wonderstein; the core was a regular person. I had stayed inside the carriage, not wanting to be discovered by acting awkwardly.
As days passed, I became accustomed to my new body and my mind grew calmer. I could accept the situation I was in. Yes, I had entered the world of TTT.
Although I didn't understand the details, it had already happened. I had my pride too. I was the world's best TTT YouTuber, with over a million subscribers. Given that, I would clear the game, no doubt about it.
First, let's check my abilities again.
I confidently shouted at the empty space, "Status screen."
Name: Frank Wonderstein
Age: 27
Occupation: Biomancer
Debulroots: 10/10
Muscle Strength: 1.0 (Weak)
Tissue Hardness: 1.0 (Naked)
Cell Regeneration: 1.0 (Sluggish)
Traits:
[The Smiling Man]
[Biomancer]
I had the same abilities as Wonderstein had in the game, specializing in manipulating genes to transform bodies. I could absorb the genes of various creatures, gather Debulroots, and modify my own physique.
Wonderstein's abilities were just as they appeared in the game - the power to manipulate bodies, whether his own or others. In the game, he used this ability to create monsters and even modify himself into a monstrous form. However, at this moment, nothing had been modified. My body was nothing more than an empty vessel, just like an ordinary human.
"Well, it's like any other RPG," I thought.
Even the characters I controlled in the game, the knight, the rogue, and the mage, were similar in this regard. Despite their impressive backgrounds and traits, they all started with basic level 1 abilities when actually playing.
Being the final boss didn't change that fact. Based on the reactions of the circus members, it was clear that until yesterday, Wonderstein had been wielding demonic powers, but overnight, he had become powerless.
Debulroots: (10/10)
That was the basic capital I had been given. Debulroots were the resources needed by a Biomancer to modify the physique, equivalent to basic stats in the game.
But what could I accomplish with just ten Debulroots? At best, I could add another arm to my back.
Trait: Extra Arms
Applied Area: Shoulder.
Effect: Adds one extra arm identical to your own. No fingerprints on the extra arm.
Required Resources: Debulroots x10
Even this required removing two fingers and their fingerprints to barely meet the cost.
What use would I have for something like this? It might be somewhat helpful for someone without arms, but it had little practicality.
As an experiment, I input the powerful abilities that appeared in the original work. They required several times more resources than this, and the path ahead seemed bleak.
But there were the initial abilities to consider, too. Displayed on my status screen was the "Smiling Man" trait. Maybe these basic abilities were quite useful?
I checked the contents of "The Smiling Man."
Trait: The Smiling Man
Applied Area: Facial Muscles
Effect: Always wears a smile. Maintains composure even in the face of fear, astonishment, or sadness.
Cost: Unique trait. Cannot be removed.
Smiling was considered an ability? Having a smile as a unique trait? Wow. Seriously?
Of course, the original Wonderstein was such a character. He smiled even when his limbs were cut off, when his belly had holes, when he spouted venomous words, and when he committed cruel deeds.
But to consider this a superpower... Wasn't that a bit much?
"Hey, a guest has arrived!" Ella's voice called out.
Well, whatever. Game on.
I looked into the mirror. A handsome man with short, dark hair and a fake yet exquisite smile. I was The Smiling Man.
In a different way, I would have to approach this new Wonderstein. I smiled at my reflection while donning a hat.