Death Cast

01.7 | Grecia Bella Theatre

The sound of the shrieking rooster jolted Jaerim awake. He cracked open his bleary eyes and stared at the colorless ceiling. A pull-down circular lamp string hung motionless in the air, indicating no signs of wind. His dark irises flashed a dull glimmer as he gazed at it for a while. He raised his hand to his face, covering his dead eyes.

No, that's wrong.

He wasn't dead.

Alive. Jaerim is alive. He made it through the day alive. He woke up.

Jaerim sat up from his bed and took a look around. He didn't have the chance to examine the place last night since he immediately fell asleep the moment his head touched the bed. He didn't even had the chance to change his clothes.

A glance is all it takes to see the entire room. It is tiny, decent-looking room, that is devoid of any decorations. The room is sparsely furnished, with only a single bed, a tiny bureau on the bedside accompanied with a short lamp and a small glass cup of scented candle, a closet with a full body mirror installed, and a custom study table with neatly stacked papers and a capped ink fountain pen.

Everything looks normal - strangely normal.

Jaerim noticed longer mulled over the state of the room and walked straight to the closet. He hadn't changed his clothes since the night before, so the flamboyant blouse and high waisted pants were still on him. Fortunately, the items in the closet were normal and in good condition. It might not have the same modern design of a t-shirt but it is passable enough.

After getting dressed, he exited the room. It was still early, so there weren't many people from the performing troupes in the dining room. There are servants cleaning around the rooms and some tending the kitchen preparing breakfast. He looked around the table and saw that it was only occupied by one person.

The individual had his head dropped, revealing his black tuft of slightly curled hair. His sea-gem-like eyes, which were wrapped know phoenix-shaped eyelids, gleamed beautifully under the shadows. His daunting red lips complimented his thick brows, which suited his aquiline nose quite well.

Jaerim has a good memory for people, especially those with distinguishing characteristics. He had never seen this person before, who possesses a particularly attractive face. Even by just eating gruel, the person already gave off the lonely feeling of being a prince.

When the person noticed someone approaching, his blue deep-seated eyes, which showed an undulating calm seas, looked up. Jaerim immediately averted his gaze, pretending that he wasn't looking. He immediately strode past the table and headed back to his room escape the watching eyes.

Anyways, his acquaintances are still not there. He could use the spare time to think of some things while waiting for someone to call him.

He returned to the bed that he had left intact and decided to fold the sheets. As he was gathering for pillows, he discovered a strip of paper buried underneath. The paper wasn't here before, or at least he didn't take notice of it when he woke up earlier. Jaerim took the piece of paper and examined it.

The paper is ordinary and has some scratch marks left on the edges as if it had been torn from a section of a book. It has a rough texture, a bit yellowish to coffee brown in color, and smells moldy. He flipped the paper in one side and found a string of words scrawled on it in cursive.

It says, 「deux ex machina」

"What is this?" He asked.

He's familiar with the terminology; after all, it's a well-known phrase. It had been used in several video games and had even appeared in some of the most well-known films of all time. Since the term directly translates to "God from the machine," it's simple to figure out how it works.

Deux ex machina is a literary device in which a godly character or a godly element appears in an intractable circumstances to rectify it. It appears illogically, taking a certain difficult situation for granted, ignoring any inconveniences in order to attain a happy ending. Since it is a "god", anything will become possible.

Jaerim was puzzled as to why the paper had appeared on his bed. It's impossible for anyone to access his room since had locked it when he went out. It could have been implanted on his bed before he came to occupy the room, but the creases on the paper indicated that it had been recently placed. He sat there staring at the paper for a long time, only moving when a knock came to the door.

Noel's clear voice immediately called out, "Hello? Jae? Jaerim? You awake?"

He did not respond quickly so the young man banged the door once again.

"Uh, I hate to disturb your sleep but you should wake up now. That clown, that white-faced clown had been waking up people starting from the corner of the hallway. All the people on those rooms had been drenched with ice cold water! Such a cruel man! Lucky I woke from the noise."

Their rooms were located on opposite sides of the hallway, with Noel on the west side and Jaerim on the right edge. The arrangement of residence was determined by drawing lots. If not, they would have opted to live next to each other.

Noel became concerned after receiving no response from Jaerim. He moved his have from the west side of the corridor, where the jester tyrannically roused the people, to the room where Jaerim lived.

Perhaps...

Maybe Jaerim didn't make it and died there on the spot?

He was about to knock the door down when it unexpectedly opens. Jaerim's ordinary appearance resurfaced, half of his face still obscured by the gauze. Noel gave him a blank expression at first, then a wide grin appeared across his face. He sighed and touched his heart softly, as though relived seeing Jaerim awake.

"I thought something happened to you," Noel said, quite sadly.

He observed Jaerim's clothing that didn't seem like someone who just woke up. He pointed at Jaerim's clothes and asked, "You changed clothes so quickly?"

Jaerim shook his head. "I already woke up early."

"Then, why didn't you go out or answer me?"

Jaerim shrugged his shoulder. "I didn't like to talk early in the morning."

The jester finally arrived on their area and found the two 'problematic' crew just chatting with each other. While everyone is busy preparing for their performance, these two people to whom be considered as his mascots, have been doing nothing but sitting around all day. It immediately fueled Elias' temper as he dashed towards the two people.

"What are you standing about?" His loud thunderous voice called out.

Noel almost covered his ears, enduring the irritating voice of the clown. Jaerim only looked at the approaching figure with eyes filled nothing but void. Elias looked at the people interchangeably, like his mood that had been changing from good to bad rapidly.

"Why are you still here?" He asked sternly. "You will be performing today!"

"Today?" Noel exclaimed, catching the important phrase. He looked at Jaerim, and asked in low voice, "Do you know what we are performing?"

Jaerim gave Noel a funny look. They arrived in this place together, how is he supposed to know it?

"Still standing around? Go to work!" The jester could not believe that the two of them are just standing around.

The two Autumns know the extent of Elias' rage so they no longer dawdled around and ran to the dining room. The jester did not follow them as he continued on waking up people by throwing ice cold water to them.

"Is he our employer?" Noel chattered, as they made their way to the table, looking for empty spots. There are already many people occupying the long table, greeting them good morning, eating quite a feast. Jaerim's eyes subconsciously moved towards the corner of the table where he found the handsome stranger he met earlier.

Noel didn't notice Jaerim flying away so he continued his complaints. "I heard that Autumns will have their human rights opted out. Is this the reason why we are treated this way? Should we not file a petition to the management to change their treatment?"

"The person is no longer there," Jaerim suddenly voiced out.

"Right? We are already their contracted workers-" Noel stopped. "Who?"

He looked at Jaerim and found him looking over at the edge of the long table. He found nothing.

"Is someone supposed to be there?"

Jaerim stared for a little while before shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" It made Noel interested, his gossipmonger mode activated. He squeezed closer to Jaerim, planning to pry the answer. "Who is it? A man? A woman?"

Jaerim shook his head. "I don't really know, ah."

He ignored Noel's nagging and sat down to start eating. They still have a long day ahead. Better to stuff their stomach full.