A Horror Novel’s Supporting Character Wants to Live as a Human

Chapter 215

"Can you make water come out from the ground with a bang?"

"I can't."

"Then can you make rumbling storm clouds gather?"

"I can't."

"Then when scorpions appear, can you break their shells and tear out their hearts to kill them? You can't do that either?"

"Wh, what did you say?"

The Shambhala people returned to their homeland.

Even while preparing to go back, Yurik persuaded him several times, explaining how cruel the snake-people were,

But it wasn't logical enough to convince someone who had torn through Ig's belly and emerged.

Thus the migration plan fizzled out,And he blended in among the Shambhala people who had followed Yurik.

But since Yurik introduced him as his 'teacher,' attention immediately focused on him.

He had to bear all the aftermath alone.

"Then what amazing things can you do? If you can't make rain or kill scorpions."

The girl who had stuck to his side asked with a genuinely curious face.

But he couldn't answer that.

Well, all he had taught Yurik was how to speak!

But he couldn't say that straightforwardly either.

Even if he spoke honestly.

-I taught Yurik how to speak. I showed him the difference between stones and dirt and helped him pronounce water.

-What? Are you his father? What did you teach Anutara?

...That would be the only reaction he'd get.

In the end, he could only give vague answers to her curious questions.

"Just, this and that."

"What's that! When we get to Shambhala, will you also take Arahan as disciples like Anutara does?"

"That... probably won't be necessary? I doubt the Arahan want to learn anything from me."

Unless the people called Arahan had delayed language development.

The girl seemed dissatisfied with his answer and was pouting before opening her mouth again,

But before that, a boy following behind covered her mouth.

"Why do you have so many questions? If Anutara respects this person, you should think the same."

"Mmph! Mmph!"

"I'm called Shan. I'll apologize on her behalf, Anutara's teacher. Tika is very curious and bothers everyone around her every day."

So the girl's name was Tika and the boy was Shan.

Watching Tika struggle with her mouth covered by Shan and glare at him was somewhat amusing, so he decided to forgive her.

"It's fine. I wasn't upset enough to need an apology."

"That's a relief then. But... what should I call Anutara's teacher? Would just calling you teacher be comfortable?"

"My name is Yu Yesung. Please call me Yesung."

Shan had a relaxed, languid expressionless face, making it difficult to read what he thought about him.

His strangely drawling speech and polite attitude were ordinary, but he also seemed to be trying to keep distance.

Then Tika shook off Shan's hand and shouted.

"I'm Tika! You just heard, right!"

"U, uh."

"Why aren't you introducing yourself to me?"

"...I'm Yu Yesung. Please feel free to call me Yesung too."

"Hehe! I became friends with Anutara's teacher!"

She bounced away from her spot and started introducing him to other Shambhala people.

This energy. He couldn't get a handle on her either.

When he looked blankly at Shan, Shan shook his head.

"She's only forty-three years old. She's quite young, so please understand generously."

Right. Tika was only forty-three, so she was very young... what?

What had he just heard?

"Fo, forty-three years old?"

"Yes. Ah, you thought that was too dangerous an age to follow here, right? I think so too. Usually kids who turn forty don't leave the desert. Because they're too young."

"How old is Shan?"

"I turned fifty-seven this year. I've only been living alone since last year."

His standards for age completely crumbled.

Shan, who was close to sixty, speaking as if he had just become an adult,

And forty-three-year-old Tika being treated like a child.

"Then, how old is the oldest person in the village?"

"Hmm. Let's see. I believe the oldest person passed one thousand two hundred years the year before last. Usually people close their eyes around a thousand years old, so it was exceptional."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, how old are Shan's parents?"

"I think my mother is two hundred and sixty, something like that."

Wow, damn.

Did this even make sense?

What kind of world setting allowed people to live over a thousand years?

As someone who had just separated from Yog-Sothoth, this was an incomprehensible setting.

Wasn't that side more monster-like?

"Yesung, are you alright? You don't look well."

"I, I'm fine. I was just a bit surprised."

"If you're Anutara's teacher... Yesung must have lived longer than Anutara. Anutara has been here since Shambhala was founded."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. So sometimes when I look at Anutara, I'm seized by a strange feeling. I sometimes think that person doesn't seem alive like us."

Shan's gaze turned toward the front of the procession.

Yurik, who had lowered his robe and revealed his face, was beautiful enough to befit being the parent of all Shambhala people.

He who had lived longer than anyone, was more aesthetic than anyone, and knew more than anyone.

It was natural for the Shambhala people to feel awe beyond respect.

That would probably be the case.

"I had such thoughts when I first saw him too."

No matter how many times he had regressed,

Yurik had already spent 7,000 years alone from the beginning of the story.

At first, even he had perceived him as 'something not human.'

But ultimately, Yurik was also a creature with emotions,

There had been times when he learned the single word 'rock' and couldn't sleep all night from excitement.

Though he armed himself with inhuman aspects in front of the Shambhala people, in his eyes, Yurik still looked like the child who used to roll around in dirt pits and sniffle.

Of course, this only applied to Yurik from this worldline.

Shan turned his gaze from Yurik to look at him and suddenly said.

"But Yesung doesn't give that feeling at all. That's strange."

"What do you mean?"

"You must be around the same age as Anutara, but I'd believe it if someone said Yesung was a same-age Shambhala person living next door."

"......"

So he was saying he didn't have Yurik's dignity.

Should he be happy about this or angry?

With mixed feelings as he looked at Shan, Shan asked with his characteristic blank expression.

"Yesung isn't the same type as Anutara, is he?"

"......I don't understand your intention. As they say, I was Anutara's teacher. The only remaining person from the same era in this world. How do you guess that I'm not the same type as him?"

"Well."

Shan opened his mouth, but the procession slowly stopped.

Yurik was pushing through people from the front and coming this way.

Shan saw this and whispered quietly.

"I hope we can talk again later."

Then Shan stepped back and began watching Tika make a fuss.

What had he been about to say? Was it something Yurik shouldn't hear?

But before he could ask Shan again, Yurik arrived in front of him.

"Is something wrong? You don't look well."

"Do I look bad?"

"Yes. Pale."

"Nothing happened. Though walking is tiring."

It wasn't a lie.

Everyone except him was healthy and didn't mind marching for hours without rest.

But he was different.

His knee joints made creaking sounds and his feet had blisters. His back hurt from walking in poor posture due to lack of muscle.

To exaggerate a bit, he wanted to lie down right there.

Yurik looked him over from head to toe and made a hmm sound.

"That... I didn't know."

"You wouldn't know."

He was the one buried in mud, not you.

Yurik glanced over the people and asked in a kind tone.

"Want to walk at the front with me?"

"Me? Why?"

"Well, if Yesung is in the back, it takes time to check your condition. I won't be able to notice right away if your condition gets worse. Besides, we have to keep walking like this, but we can't keep resting every few minutes to match Yesung's pace."

"That's true."

"Rather than repeatedly walking a little and resting, it's better to walk slowly but for a long time to match your condition. That way we'll arrive at Shambhala even a few seconds earlier."

"That's also true..."

"Right, isn't it? Then let's go."

Yurik, who had made a simple decision, pulled him to the front of the group.

Behind him, he could hear Tika saying 'Where is Yesung going? What! Anutara took him! Why! Leaving only me out! I want to be friends with Yesung too!'

Tika was good at making things up. Should he visit her once before sleeping later?

*

Walking at the front with Yurik was more comfortable than expected.

Not only did the procession's pace slow to match him,

But when he was about to collapse and die on difficult paths, Yurik would carry him instead.

That wasn't all.

He would ask if he was too hot or cold, check if he needed to rinse his mouth.

It was such devoted care that it naturally reminded him of Arndt.

The fact that Yurik, who used to stab him like a Takeshi's Castle game before regression, was now taking care of him in this world was sometimes awkward,

But since he thought of this Yurik as still 'filial son Yurik,' it was fine.

Several days passed like this,

When the moisture of the damp earth evaporated and the wind felt stinging.

When the broad-leafed plants around them disappeared and were replaced by those with hard stems and narrow leaves.

The Shambhala people felt relieved at returning to their land and were completely relaxed.

Was the rustling sand and warming air really that good?

Unlike the smiling Shambhala people, he just wanted to rest in a space with air conditioning.

But there couldn't be air conditioning in this era,

And he had to walk helplessly, being scorched by the sun and dripping with sweat.

In the middle, Yurik poured water over his head,

But the Arahan following behind were horrified saying 'we can't waste Anutara's drinking water,' so that couldn't last long either.

After enduring such torture while walking through the desert and sleeping in sand pits, he was driven to just one step before going insane.

"Yesung. Do you see over there?"

"I don't see it."

"If you have eyes, you can see it. That tiny dot over there."

"I said I don't see it. Don't poke my side. Don't talk to me either. I have no energy."

"Yesung's speech gets rough when your body feels bad."

"I'm in energy-saving mode right now and you keep making me use energy. Ah, I said don't poke me?"

"Mode? Energy? What do you mean?"

"......Let's not talk."

Since Yurik kept pestering him, he lifted his heavy head to look beyond the desert,

But all that entered his vision was an endless sea of sand.

What exactly was he supposed to see?

Just as he was about to threaten that if Yurik talked to him one more time about such things, he wouldn't let it slide, while wiping his dry lips.

Yurik stopped walking.

Why suddenly?

"Anutara."

"Yes. I know."

"May we hurry ahead first?"

The Arahan asked anxiously.

Not knowing what was happening, he could only look back and forth between the Arahan and Yurik.

Yurik opened his mouth with an indifferent expression, then suddenly closed it and looked at him.

"Yesung. You want to arrive at Shambhala quickly and rest, right?"

"I suppose... that's the case?"

Yurik smiled.

For some reason, he got goosebumps.

"Then want to come with me? I'll show you something interesting too."