The Monster’s Room - Chapter 58

With tears streaming down, the ringmaster took Boy’s vocal cords, cut out his tongue, and sewed his mouth shut. Boy endured it all without a flinch, then stood up as the ringmaster wept uncontrollably.

“You’ll come back to me,” the ringmaster declared through his sobs. “We are monsters!”

When Boy returned to the theater, it was deserted. There were no dancers, no orchestra, no people. He wandered, avoiding those who screamed at the sight of his sewn mouth, searching for where the dancers had gone.

Eventually, he found the dance troupe, but they were in ruins.

“So now everyone is out looking for patrons.”

“……”

“We are very good at using our bodies.”

The dancers sold their bodies, either to survive or in hopes of one day returning to the stage. Some, despairing over their circumstances, took their own lives. Some…

“I told you, Boy.”

“……”

“You will come back to me eventually.”

They had sold him back to the ringmaster in exchange for enough money to reopen the theater. But Boy knew many things. Just because he had been confined to a box didn’t mean his ears had been.

For example, he knew that the ringmaster had deliberately reassembled his body in a way that left it dysfunctional. Modified to fit in a box, his body couldn’t even sit properly, and he had quietly endured this until the dancers rescued him and he fixed himself.

For example, he knew that his box falling into the hands of the dancers was no accident. The ringmaster had hoped Boy would be hurt by the disdain of others and return, becoming more dependent on him than ever.

Instead, Boy was taken in and thrived, causing the ringmaster to grow anxious.

For example, he knew the ringmaster had a hand in the troupe’s downfall.

For example, he knew…

“Look, I placed your vocal cords in this gramophone! How about it? You can speak again!”

“What?”

Boy knew why the ringmaster pretended to care for him, yet also harbored deep-seated hatred and an inability to let him go.

The ringmaster’s face went blank.

A commotion broke out around them.

They were in an old theater, where the ringmaster intended to demonstrate how thoroughly Boy had been exploited through the dazzling performances of the dancers. However, the focus of the show shifted from the dancers to the grotesque clown, the man with a sewn mouth, and the talking gramophone.

Boy laughed at the clown.

It was a common tale.

A story that began when a wealthy man, dying of illness, begged a creature—known variously as a demon, a god, a dark magician, a fairy, a witch, a treasure, or a curse—to revive him.

The creature, who could animate the dead, mistakenly gave too much of its power to its first human creation, gradually learning emotions but knowing desire before love, because it was not truly human.

“You… you…!”

“Boy!”

<So, I am taking it.>

Such a chilling story. Boy, or rather the being who had discarded that name, tapped the ringmaster. Just that slight touch made his body burst like a balloon, scattering everywhere.

The theater filled with screams, and the creature, which initially couldn’t even walk, now easily decapitated everyone in the theater.

<Hmm. So this is how it’s done.>

Absorbing the ringmaster’s remains, his voice began to resemble the ringmaster’s. He picked up the hat from the floor, placed it on his head, and hummed through the phonograph.

The closest member of the orchestra stood up first. Creak. Twisting this way and that, a smooth, wooden head grew above the empty neck.

A marionette.

For the first time, a faceless, emotionless puppet debuted in the world as the creature shouted,

The creature danced, stepping on the ringmaster’s clothes. It was almost an accident.

The monster, once only eyes and hands, had no emotions. However, after reviving the circus ringmaster and losing much of its power in the process, it began to slowly awaken to feelings.

It experienced fear, dread, frustration, despair, and hopelessness while trapped in the box. It also felt the affection and betrayal from the dancers. Emotions it never knew stormed fiercely.

In the end, the ringmaster succeeded. He made the monster yearn for grand performances, unintentionally led it to admire humans only to be disappointed, and ingrained the belief that only a monster could understand another monster.

<I’m tired of the circus♪ We’ve kept it going for 300 years♬♪ Now, the circus is closing♬ But what will we do next? Oh, don’t worry. A new show will begin!>

As he danced through the theater, marionettes began to rise.

<Astonishing, Delightful, Chilling!>

Finally, the ‘Marionette Troupe Leader,’ having turned everyone in the theater into puppets, made his debut.

In the once silent theater, the creaking sound of music began to play. The dancers, standing awkwardly, started to strike stiff poses.