Death Cast

01.12 | Grecia Bella Theatre

The jester was pleased with the outcome of the costume and makeup rehearsals. His smile almost reached the tip of each ears, stretching his face as if it is made of rubber. The Autumns watching the jester approach could not help but to swallow their gasp. The ghastly face with two panda eyes is really frightening!

Noel, who is the most fearful of the clown, sucked in cold breath. He almost fainted, just barely standing. If not from Jaerim who then become a lamp post to lean on, he would have fallen to the ground in shock.

"I've never seen such a great smile before," Noel shakily said. "I don't need one."

The jester had seen Noel's exaggerated reaction and was amused. He decided to approach them in the ruse of checking their faces. He wanted to see closely how the makeup affected their looks.

Although Noel and the other male player didn't have the same effect as Jaerim due to their body shape and features, it could still be considered as a success. At least, they look better than the panda-like Gothic appearance of the jester.

"Not bad," Elias commented, scrutinizing the faces of men that were painted with powder. His eyes landed on Jaerim who had the greatest change of them all.

"See? didn't I say you're beautiful? Look at yourself, you are a natural stunner!"

Jaerim almost rolled his eyes. The jester ignored the arrogance and generously praised them one by one while pointing out their redeeming features. It seems that in the eyes of this jester, everything is good as long it showed the proper stance of a performer.

Performers doesn't need to have pretty faces; what is important is their skills and performance. Though, having a good and pretty face is also an advantage.

After all, who hates looking at beautiful people?

"Now we are done with the costume rehearsals, it's time for you to learn the dance."

The jester made a comprehensive routine that could make people learn the steps without worry. It is something he and the other to tinkling dancers planned while they waited for the rest to finish their make up. There is not enough time to cover a difficult dance and just opted to the easiest methods.

Tinikling is not necessarily a difficult dance but it deals a lot of footwork. It requires the dancers to traverse in between the clapping bamboos, which are quite dangerous if not executed properly. Jaerim experienced the pain firsthand when he almost got his leg cut by these bamboos.

The easiest way to crack this dance is to follow the rhythm. The clapping of the bamboo against the floor creates a percussive beat that helps the dancer to know if the bamboo will close or not. They are not allowed to look down to check on their footing that made it easy to get injured. But if they had the proper grasp on the beat, they could cross the bamboo without worry.

Thus, they have to memorize all the steps without breaking from the beat.

To maximize the time, they first studied the footworks. There are about three to five steps in tinikling, and these steps were mixed to create a complicated routine. The male and female steps were the same so they all practiced together, doing skipping steps, turning around in waltz, and jumping in two feet. It only took them an hour to get all the steps correctly.

Fortunately, everyone seem to have good dancing skills as they were able to understand the stepping after executing it a few times. After seeing that they're doing well by ghost-dancing, the jester suggested go move on dancing using real poles. He wanted to see if they could retain the same performance.

"The dance variation we will be doing is done by pair. You guys go and choose your partner yourself," the jester said.

Everyone immediately searched for their partners. The two players on their group who had gone to different already formed a two man group. Noel and Jaerim wanted to team up but given with the circumstances, they could only look for someone else. At the end, three people did not get to have a partner - Jaerim, Noel, and the other female Autumn named Sandra. They stood in the center of everyone while looking at each other with calculating eyes.

"How could there be an odd number of dancers?" Noel suddenly commented. He scanned the performers from the jester's group and counted them. "They're even?"

"Apparently," Jaerim replied after a long time of silence. "The number of dancers in each troupe had been decided beforehand. It is us, the surplus, who made it odd."

The world simulation already have everything predestined. The course of events only changes when brought by the addition of new people but it could not change the trajectory of the ending. They have to follow the rules to continue living.

"What should we do now?" Noel asked, eyeing Sandra beside them. The girl who only looked a bit older by twenty cowered, trying to hide her presence from the two impressive men. It is now up to her to decision to whom she should choose as her partner.

Noel become listless as he looked at Sandra and Jaerim. If he will be given a chance to choose, he would go with Jaerim. He is more familiar with Jaerim than to go hand in hand with this stranger.

Jaerim only frowned. Although the numbers of the dancers is enough, the main players of the game would be the Autumn. Nobody wanted to get paired with the staff since who know what they will do to bait the Autumns.

The jester, who seem to understand the situation, watched the trio in delight. He had seen these people playing around so carelessly so maybe it is time to show them how dangerous the world is.

Noel took the courage to stand up and asked the jester, "Sir, the dance does not necessarily have to be done by pair. Maybe we could do that?"

The jester shook his head. "We will be dancing the one with pairs so obviously it will be done by twos."

"But..." Noel muttered lowly. "What will happen if we didn't get a pair?"

"Simple, you won't be able to dance on the stage."

And if they could not dance on the stage, they won't be able to leave the world. Such premise is very easy to understand. Noel and Jaerim looked at each other then gazed at the girl. They won't be able to do anything and just let Sandra choose his partner.

Sandra, who was suddenly become the center of attention, become anxious. He looked at Jaerim and Noel and thought who would be the best partner. They will be playing against death so she have to choose someone who could hold her up in the end.

She looked at the two of them before he walked towards Noel. Her reason is because Noel looks more reliable than Jaerim. Noel looks stronger and big, he should be able to carry her around. As for Jaerim, he looks too delicate to become a teammate. Who knows if he would be able to last in the game long.

Noel wanted to protest but there's nothing he could do. He also wanted to live. Since the opportunity is given to him, he should grasp it. Luck and chances is still part of surviving in these worlds. It's just that Jaerim's luck is not that good.

The jester smiled deeply, " Seems like you are the only one left without a partner. Would you like to choose from the crew?"

Choose from the crew?

Jaerim contemplated on this idea. The dance requires a partner to be executed. If he doesn't have it, he could only go warm the benches and watch the people running around. That also means he lost the game by default.

Then, which is better?

Choosing a stranger as a partner and probably would give him a high chance of failing the world due to biases or to not dance and take the risk of looking for methods to escape the world without depending on the main objective?

While he was balancing the pros and cons, a person suddenly appeared beside him. The person didn't make a sound, just simply reaching out Jaerim's hand and slipped their fingers in between his. Jaerim jolted, immediately pulling his hand by reflex. But the person's hold unto him is tight. He didn't have the chance to escape.

Jaerim looked at Silvester blankly when the person suddenly grasped his hand. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jaerim reacted. He stared at their linked hands, and to the gentleman beside him. Silvester pushed his eyeglasses up using his other free hand.

"This..." Jaerim wanted to move his hand from the grip but Silvester did not allow him. "It's alright to do this?"

Silvester asked. "Didn't you need a partner, no?"

"I do, but..."

"Then stop worrying. You only have to follow the plot, anything else, just ignore it."

Jaerim has no problem ignoring it but isn't this cheating? Although he is not that close with Silvester, he is sure that this grim reaper will save him in case danger arises. This kind of set-up gave Jaerim an advantage. After all, getting saved by a grim reaper means saving his life.

He is not the only one surprised. The other Autumns too looked at them with wide eyes. They don't know who Silvester is, but they could tell that he is also a grim reaper. If not having a pair in this dance will get them a life saving grace then they should not have ignored Jaerim and volunteered!

The jester only scoffed and let things pass by. He didn't question about Silvester's identity, and how he is willing to get paired with Jaerim. He beckoned the people to get into formation because the rehearsals is about to start.