Bab 74: Chapter 74: Calculator
"When it comes to people you really love, you don't care about your self."
- Kurosawa Yamato (Say I Love You)
...
As the number of people heading towards Dean's side grew, the noise grew louder.
Students from other places were also interested and surprised to learn that the magician was Dean Thurston, one of the most famous students on campus.
This has never happened before!
Even though they were students from the same school as Dean, they couldn't easily watch his magic tricks.
After all, Dean is popular among young people, and there are a lot of people who want to see his great performances.
This could wear Dean down in the long run.
And for the past two years, Dean has been trying to keep a low profile, slowly fading from people's sight.
Dean only used his magic when there was a big school event, like today.
At first, most students thought Dean would perform on the big stage on the lawn, but they were surprised to see him performing... street magic outside the venue.
There was nothing more to say, so they hurriedly ran over.
If they were late, they would definitely not be able to squeeze into the front row and miss the best view. That would be a huge loss.
Even many students who were dancing in the area or watching the performance on the stage quickly left their original spots and went to see Dean's magic show.
The majority of them were girls.
So many students left that the audience below the stage suddenly decreased by half, leaving Patrick, who was singing and dancing on stage, confused.
"You're beautiful, it's true..."
Hearing the instrumental playing on the speakers, Patrick suddenly lost his confidence to continue singing.
Meanwhile, the audience around Dean suddenly multiplied by tens or even hundreds, with Dean at the center.
Lucy and the other girls had never experienced being surrounded by so many people before, and their faces showed a mix of nervousness and excitement.
Dean, on the other hand, was calm and unaffected by what was happening.
But for some reason, Dick, who had been standing next to them, was nowhere to be found.
It was unclear whether he had left on his own or had vanished into the crowd.
Lucy still had pigeons flying out of the hat she held, but the gap between the two pigeons flying out had noticeably increased.
It seemed that in a while, there would be no more pigeons flying out.
A flock of pigeons flew onto Dean's hands, appearing endless until his arms and shoulders were completely covered with pigeons.
"Is this even possible?"
Lucy couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the pigeons on Dean's arms and the fact that there wasn't a single feather in the top hat she was holding.
How could so many pigeons fit in such a small space?
She had checked the hat before, and there was nothing inside, and Dean hadn't even touched the hat since Lucy took it from him.
As unbelievable as it sounds, she truly felt like those pigeons appeared out of thin air.
'Could this really be magic?'
Lucy's eyes filled with endless wonder as her heart raced.
No one in the room was more shocked than her because she was holding the top hat of dozens of pigeons that flew out of the sky, and she was the one who saw what had just happened and everything up close.
Especially because she was sure it wasn't a trick.
Lucy couldn't think of any other explanation for Dean's magic except magic itself.
"It's incredible, isn't it?"
Dean opened his outstretched hands and smiled at Lucy.
"The reason you find it hard to believe what you see is because you're looking too closely."
Dean quickly threw his open hands downward as he spoke, startling the flock of pigeons on his arms.
The pigeons flew everywhere and covered Dean's body in the process. When the pigeons finally scattered, Dean disappeared from the scene.
Lucy was shocked and turned her head to look for Dean.
"The closer you look, the less you'll see."
Just then, Dean's voice echoed from behind Lucy.
Turning around, Dean somehow appeared behind her.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Lucy. Did you enjoy my performance just now?"
Dean respectfully bowed and lightly kissed the back of Lucy's right hand before straightening up.
"Oh, by the way, Ms. Lucy, I haven't returned what I borrowed from you earlier."
As if remembering something, Dean reached out his hands, snapped his fingers, and then reached for something behind Lucy's ear.
A fresh red rose suddenly appeared in Dean's hand.
"Ah! This rose is still here!"
Lucy put her hands over her mouth and looked around in surprise.
The magic trick just now was so good that she couldn't even pay attention to anything else.
If Dean hadn't mentioned it, she might have completely forgotten about the rose.
After returning the rose to Lucy, Dean returned to the center and looked around at the countless students who had gathered.
"My dear fellow students, you only saw the final part of the magic performance earlier, which isn't fair to all of you."
"But I also know that you all gathered here to watch the magic show, so I decided to perform the magic that was originally prepared for the big stage right here for everyone to see!"
Dean raised his voice a bit to make sure the people in the back could also hear it.
When everyone heard what Dean said, they started cheering.
"That's great! Dean, you're the second-best magician in the world! Although it's a bit disrespectful to say this, the best is Phantom Thief!"
"Don't praise me too much, there are many other magicians in the world who are better than me. I also hope you get to see more amazing magician performances."
Dean waved his hand casually.
"Now, let's focus our attention on the next magic trick, and remember, don't blink your eyes."
...
Meanwhile, in the East End, Gotham
This is the most common and chaotic area of Gotham City's underworld, where every person living here has blood on their hands.
Kidnappings, extortion, disappearances, robberies—as soon as someone enters the East End from any street corner, they are bound to see at least one type of crime at first glance.
However, when Ignatius stepped into the Eastern District alone, no one dared approach him and even took the initiative to look away when they saw him.
Everyone knows that Ignatius is Penguin's most valuable subordinate. If someone is brave enough to touch him, it's like slapping Penguin in the face.
Ignatius walked into an alley, at the end of which was a small house that was barely ten square meters in size.
The lock on the door was horrible. It didn't have a keyhole or a combination, so there was no way to open it from the outside.
There wasn't even a doorbell.
Fortunately, Ignatius seemed to have anticipated this situation and calmly knocked on the door and asked.
"Is anyone there? I'm looking for the Calculator."
...
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