I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

“Baang.”

Hopps sounded the trumpet.

It was a signal to finish resting and start training.

The members of Papal Circus headed to their respective positions.

Only Hopps and Karen remained in the lounge.

Both had individual schedules for the day.

They started changing into their outdoor clothes.

Even as they undressed, they didn’t turn their heads or cover their bodies.

Seeing each other naked or being seen was trivial to them.

“What are you doing today?” Karen asked.

Adjusting the buttons of his shirt, Hopps replied, “Since I haven’t been to school in a while, I need to greet the professors.”

He was an alumni of this place.

If he visited the city without showing his face even once, the professors would be disappointed.

Besides, he needed to register for exams, so he had to visit the school at least once.

Wearing a suit, he wore the pendant of the 7th generation graduate around his neck and looked back.

There, his younger sister was wearing black full-body tights clinging tightly to her body.

He sighed unintentionally.

“Do you really plan to go out like that?”

“Of course not.”

She picked up a half-torn pair of pants from the floor and put them on, covering only the chest with a short vest.

Then, she completed her outing preparation by wearing worn-out sneakers.

With a dubious expression, Karen looked up at her brother and replied in a sulky voice, “Why are you suddenly like this? You know I always dress like this.”

“That’s true, but… You used to have short hair, so people thought you were a boy. Now that you’ve grown your hair long, it’s obvious you’re a girl.”

“What’s the big deal.”

Hopps inwardly sighed at her indifferent response.

Following the Rose Windmill confrontation, he had tried several times to dress her more like a typical girl.

However, she always insisted on wearing tights because they were comfortable.

Hopps didn’t consider himself strict regarding gender roles.

This wasn’t about gender issues.

If he told the young male members to dress like that and go out, they would all panic.

When she was in her early teens, she was treated as a strange boy, but now that was impossible.

Although her hair was messy and her gait was awkward, her beauty couldn’t be hidden.

Her beauty had developed rapidly over the past year.

And now that she had grown her hair long, she was clearly a girl.

People might understand if her tights were thick and black, like a gymnast’s, but what she usually wore was thin and revealing.

Adults who had seen her since she was a child accepted it, but younger members blushed with embarrassment.

But even if they protested, she responded with logic like, “I’ve seen those uncles staring at me since I was five.”

Hopps tried hard to maintain a bold and charismatic demeanour in front of the members.

But regarding his sister, it was hard to keep that up.

Originally, they had a policy of not interfering in each other’s affairs.

But after their father passed away, Hopps felt a sense of responsibility towards her.

So lately, his concern for his sister’s future had deepened.

She had just turned 17.

There could be much better opportunities for her than being a wandering acrobat.

Should he continue letting her follow him around?

Among the group of uncles staring at her?

He couldn’t be sure if he could raise his sister like this.

So today, taking her out was also about exploring new possibilities.

“While I take care of something at school, you’re going to get dressed in your school uniform,” he said.

“Oh, that’s annoying. Why do I have to go to school?”

Hopps threw her a perplexed look at her grumbling.

“Is it not good? When do you ever complain about wanting to hang out with the kids?”

“Ugh, when have I ever said such things…”

“If you want, I can get you enrolled in Lekachep School. I can also get you into other schools, not just the circus. Or, I can ask the sponsor to explore other options…”

Hopps stopped speaking.

It was because his sister was looking at him with a frown.

“What did I do wrong? Suddenly acting out of character? Didnt you used to exploit people with contracts?”

At the mention of contracts, Hopps wore a troubled expression.

The contract he had drawn up when she was four years old was akin to a slave contract.

It contained all sorts of unfair provisions, such as obeying the ringmaster’s orders unconditionally and receiving compensation only as much as the ringmaster saw fit.

Of course, Hopps didn’t really exploit her like a slave.

He just needed a means to control her during the challenging process of building the circus troupe.

But as she often said lately, his behaviour, whining about the contract in front of the children, while struggling, must have seemed so malicious. He often found himself crying a lot behind her back due to the betrayal.

So whenever the topic of contracts came up, Hopps had nothing to say to her.

“Don’t you suddenly ask me to do something else now? All I’ve learned here is sticking my head between the smelly armpits of the old men.”

“Ahem.”

A cough from the driver was heard.

The carriage they were riding in was a regular passenger carriage, so the soundproofing was poor.

“Hey, don’t misunderstand.”

Karen chuckled as she watched Hopps perplexed expression.

“Anyway, this time’s performance is happening, so don’t worry. It’s what the sponsor requested. Wasn’t it good that it became a hot topic? Let’s finish this and see. I’m off.”

Karen grabbed a lollipop from inside the carriage, hastily got out of the carriage.

“Wow, miss!”

The driver shouted in surprise, but she consumed the momentum energy of rotation as she moved backward, rotating a full circle, and landed lightly on the ground.

For someone of her skill level, this was an easy task.

She signaled to the driver that she was okay.

She rolled the candy in her mouth and watched as the carriage entered the school parking lot.

She wasn’t completely oblivious to her brother’s worries, but she didn’t understand why he suddenly wanted to take on the role of a parent.

She muttered with a complicated expression.

He would be in his forties the day after tomorrow, after all.

She walked down the alley.

There weren’t many people paying attention to her than she expected.

If it was a bustling place, her attire would attract attention, but this was the alley in front of Lekachep.

Most of the people here were either students of the circus school or external acrobats.

There were many people with more noisy and bizarre attire than her.

Thanks to this, she could roam the streets more freely than usual.

She spotted a school uniform store and naturally tried to enter the building.

However, a young employee spotted her and shouted.

“The girl’s school uniforms are on the other side!”

Oh.

Karen looked around.

Except for a few adults, most of them were boys.

Since she was used to mingling with boys, she ended up coming here.

She did leave the store, but she couldn’t easily enter the girls’ store.

Despite being a girl herself, she had grown up among boys since she was young.

So while she had no problem socializing with boys, dealing with girls was very awkward for her.

Especially when she saw pretty girls, she couldn’t find where to look and stumbled over her words.

Her fierce mouth and rough attitude only showed strength in front of men.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you going in?” High school girls who seemed to be seniors were sticking closely behind her.

Karen was startled and stepped aside.

She froze as she met the eyes of the senior girls staring at her.

“Um, please go in first.”

Seeing her tense, they smirked.

“Is she a freshman?”

“Well, didn’t see her during the entrance exam? Maybe a transfer student?”

“Could be a recommended admission student.”

“Leaving that aside, her outfit is unusual.”

Karen twitched her ears.

With every remark they made about her, her heart pounded.

But they didn’t particularly care about her.

They exchanged a few words and then went inside the store.

Karen felt dizzy from the scent of perfume and sweat left behind by the girls.

She wanted to tear her hair out.

Why am I so weak against girls?

Ah, I should’ve brought a few of the kids from the circus.

Then it happened.

A shout came from down the alley.

“She’s Reyna Maguire!”

“What?”

“She’s the Golden Libra!”

“If she’s the Golden Libra….”

“Lord Fantastic’s daughter!”

Reyna’s name was familiar to Karen.

She was that famous.

It seemed she was also here to prepare for enrolment at Lekachep.

Karen watched as Reyna passed through the crowd.

Her golden, glossy hair revealed a dazzling face, as if carved from ice. Karen was struck by her model-like height and mature figure.

What’s with the ‘Papal’s Smiling Acrobat’ thing?

It’s just because she’s among all those old dudes.

Ah, she should’ve not read my article.

Annoying.

Karen noticed some students from Lekachep walking nearby, sneering at Reyna.

“Why isn’t she walking properly?”

“Maybe she’s wearing diapers, haha.”

Even if Reyna heard, she just gave a cold smile, showed no other reaction, and confidently continued on her way.

“Wow, she’s amazing. She seems to have really high self-esteem. Definitely the type who doesn’t rely on others.”

In terms of appearance, physique, skill, and mental strength, she was superior to Karen in every aspect.

Karen hoped she wouldn’t run into Reyna inside the school.

So she lingered a little longer in the alley.

As the afternoon passed, the number of kids dwindled.

She had thought about going into a clothing store as numbers decreased.

She felt embarrassed at the thought of seeing each other’s naked bodies in the bustling dressing room.

Especially showing her frail body was even more embarrassing.

Then, there was a commotion on one side of the alley.

“Ella!”

“Who’s that?”

“You know. The one who competed with Reyna at the entrance exam.”

“Wow, is she coming to Lekachep too?”

People’s attention shifted to one place again.

There was a girl with black hair walking with a man who seemed to be her guardian.

Her steps were confident in a different way from Reyna’s.

While Reyna emitted an aura that made it impossible for anyone to approach her, she displayed the confidence that anyone could come and meet her.

Karen vaguely recalled hearing news about her from the morning paper today.

Although the members didn’t pay much attention to the contents, they certainly said she was on par with Reyna.

Elda skillfully responded to those who spoke to her and lightly joked as she navigated her way through the crowd.

Her skill in dealing with the public was extraordinary.

Of course, the atmosphere surrounding her was also warm and affectionate.

‘The happy bluebird family. Envious. Raised with lots of love from her parents and never experienced anything difficult.’

Other girls noticed the guy following behind Ella.

However, she had no particular interest in him. The thoughts that came to her mind after seeing Wonderstein were similar to those of the men.

‘Oh, he’s handsome. Envious.’

After two storms passed, the alley became quite deserted.

Looking inside the store, there were considerably fewer customers.

One employee was sitting in a chair, taking a break.

Karen saw it as an opportunity and went into the store.

Then, someone followed her inside.

Karen felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at the girl next to her.

‘Cute. She’s like a doll.’

White hair with fair skin.

Facial features crafted meticulously by God.

Large eyes and calmly sparkling red irises.

Karen unconsciously spoke to her.

“Oh, hi?”

Maya looked at the girl suddenly greeting her with a puzzled expression.

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Chapter 167: Demon in the Bottle – 6