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

Chapter 224

"Anutara, if you need your teacher, we will bring him back. He surely hasn't even crossed half the desert."

"That's right. Since desert nights are dangerous, we'll track him down before the sun sets-"

"-Enough."

"Anutara."

"What are you saying when you couldn't move a single step because of a few scorpions? ...Enough."

"Do you no longer wish for Yesung to stay in Shambhala? This is the safest place in the desert. Surely when your teacher realizes this fact-"

"Didn't I tell you? That person saw the world before I did and knows mysteries I don't know. How dare someone like me stand in his way? Could a human dare extinguish the sun's fire?"

"Anutara."

"He left of his own will. So even if we forcibly bring him back, his heart wouldn't be completely present."

"It's not Anutara's fault. That person surely had other thoughts.""...I was weak."

"What?"

"I thought weakly. It was my mistake to think I could hold him with this small village built in a sand pit. It was my error to think Yesung hadn't changed. Yes, I'm changing too. I've changed this much, so of course Yesung has changed too."

"Anu...tara?"

"What should I do? Use that small brain and think. What exactly should I do to hold onto him? Was it insufficient to bewitch him with talk of family? Should I have put visible shackles on him? Should I have gone into the mud pond in his place? If I cut off my arms and legs here and rolled naked to his feet, would he pity me?"

"Anutara! Your thoughts are going too far!"

"My thoughts are going too far?"

"Yesung will return. Since Anutara is here, he will surely come. If not, we'll go find him after a hundred years. So please don't think such thoughts!"

"You're the ones with shallow thoughts. ...I'm sick of it all. It has no meaning, no purpose. This village is no longer useful to me. All of you die quietly here."

*

"Ah, now that it's daylight, I finally feel alive."

"You slept just fine at night, yet you say such things."

"But no matter how much we light campfires at night, it's dark and scary!"

"Both of you stop arguing. The desert is completely over. Do you see up ahead? Plants that don't grow in the desert are starting to appear little by little."

At those words, Tika and Shan, who had been poking each other's sides with their elbows, turned their heads.

As soon as Tika discovered the new land, she excitedly hopped and skipped away.

"Wow! Farewell to sand forever! Look at this, Yesung! The ground is solid!"

"If you keep jumping like that, you'll surely fall... Ah, before I even finish speaking, your clothes got caught in the bushes. Tika rarely does anything unexpected. That's good about her, though."

"...I'll go help her get unstuck."

Shan spoke quietly and approached Tika, who was struggling with her caught clothes.

He watched the two with the corners of his mouth slightly raised without realizing it as Shan hit Tika.

More precisely, it was because his understanding of the two had increased, making him feel friendly toward them.

He hadn't expected to be able to share sincere stories with each other while staying up all night in the desert with Shan.

Of course, it was difficult to mention things like the fact that he was regressing or that the owner of this body was actually someone else.

So he had appropriately glossed over and summarized what he had experienced so far.

Anyway, he needed to convey that this world was very scary and that he had something he must do for someone.

Fortunately, Shan listened well to his words without objecting even to parts that were difficult to understand.

After his story ended, Shan told him about himself and Tika.

Himself and Tika, and people who had never left Shambhala since birth.

Most Shambhala people were content with the desert, but only Tika wanted to go beyond the desert.

She vowed that someday, like Yurik, she would see the wider world and unknown spaces with her own eyes.

Shan, who was safety-first and disliked change, considered his childhood friend who spoke of such fanciful things a troublemaker.

But even so, he was helplessly bewitched by Tika's dreams.

-I can't help but dream together when you keep talking to me while looking at me with those eyes. Anyone would think that way after hearing imaginings about the wonderful things that might exist beyond the desert.

The reason Shan had come on the journey was not only because he couldn't let Tika and him go alone,

But also because he said he wanted to see Tika's expression when she achieved her dream.

-So tell me. What's beyond the desert? What are the things Yesung has seen?

Shan's eyes when he asked him were serious.

If he had said 'There's nothing beyond the desert,' it seemed like Shan would immediately take Tika back to Shambhala.

But of course, there was no way he would answer like that.

He had answered Shan, who asked while clenching his fists.

-How about seeing it with your own eyes? Just as you're curious about Tika's expression, I've become curious about what expression Shan will make.

It was natural that he had become closer to Shan after the conversation.

While he was thinking that,

He saw Shan check Tika's tattered clothes from afar and hit her once more.

Even though he had become friends with Shan, shouldn't he stop this...

After soothing Tika, who cried that it was unfair, and Shan, who covered his ears and wouldn't listen,

They continued forward, stepping on the much fresher air and easier-to-walk soil.

There was no choice since there were no maps or people other than the Shambhala people yet on this land.

Until they reached where he wanted to go, they could only move forward.

There was no other method.

Still, the journey wasn't boring.

Shan and Tika still knew more things they didn't know than things they did about the world, so they found everything interesting.

"It's the same plant I saw when I went with Anutara before! Shan, look at this. But this one has fruit-like things growing on it."

"Really. Can we eat this?"

"Those are flower buds, so you probably can't eat them. They gradually grow bigger and redder according to the season before blooming."

"Then what happens?"

"They become beautiful to look at. When wind or small insects carry the powder inside the flowers to other flowers, seeds form. If you plant the seeds in the ground, new plants grow."

"I know about seeds. Those things we scatter in furrows in the desert, right? Do these also need to be shaded from sunlight during the day?"

"They probably don't. The desert might have needed that because the sun is strong there."

Unfamiliar flowers, unfamiliar soil, unfamiliar air, unfamiliar clouds.

It was an unfamiliar sight even to him, who only remembered Seoul's light pollution,

But it was undoubtedly a more special landscape to Shan and Tika than to anyone else.

They proceeded like that, observing everything around them while simultaneously being wary of any pursuit that might follow.

When sudden rain fell, both of them ran around excitedly in the pouring rain.

When they encountered small ponds, they watched the aquatic creatures and insects swimming inside.

They distinguished directions by where the sun rose and set,

And checked the time by the length of shadows tilting at their feet.

When night came, they rested their legs under the shade of old, giant trees.

Shan and Tika had stuck close to him right after leaving the desert,

But due to the fascinating scenery and absolute trust in him, they gradually began acting independently more often.

This was despite his warnings that they didn't know what might be around.

At first, he was somewhat worried, but seeing them return and chatter about what they had seen, he thought about just leaving them be since they seemed so happy.

Seeing the two excited and elated reminded him of young Yurik, making him unconsciously relax.

So it became a habit for him to send just the two of them off while he rested and recorded the day's events in his book.

But.

"Over there! Over there!"

"Tika? Where did you leave Shan? Didn't you two definitely go together earlier?"

"Right now over there, it's dangerous...! Quickly, quickly come!"

A small figure as small as Tika was jumping and shouting from afar.

As if mocking his relaxed attitude,

This world didn't come out only accommodatingly.

*

How did it come to this?

Shan tried hard to think rationally and retraced the circumstances so far.

He and Tika had tried to look around while Yesung was resting.

It was because Tika said there were yellow flowers near here.

Tika had made collecting colorful flowers her new hobby,

And she had coaxed Shan, saying wouldn't it be very pretty if she mixed them with the red flowers she had collected before and crushed them.

Shan eventually had to follow Tika and help her pick yellow flowers.

How long had they been picking? When the two had plucked flowers to fill both hands,

Just as he was about to say they should go back, Tika screamed sharply first.

Not far from the flower field stood a disgusting pink creature.

It was similar in size to Tika while simultaneously having a streamlined, round body. Thin membrane-like wings trembled and twitched on its dully shining shell.

Its segmented legs were disgustingly as thick as legs, and claw-like things at the ends of the legs made clicking sounds.

Above all, that head.

The oval head had holes drilled in it, and countless antennae protruded from the holes.

Looking at the shell, it seemed similar to desert scorpions,

But instinctively, they could tell that it and the being before their eyes were different.

Tika called him.

The bouquet she had been holding had long since been dropped.

As it spread its wings and charged at them, the two turned and ran without anyone going first.

The sweet air of flowers flew behind them, and instead only the fierce buzzing of wing beats followed.

Shan ran with gritted teeth without even being able to scream.

But they couldn't escape the forest surrounding the flower field,

And after being chased by the unidentifiable disgusting being, they barely managed to hide behind a large tree.

Buried in the shadows, Shan clutched his chest while making no breathing sounds.

His heart was pounding. Cold sweat flowed down his back.

He had to go to Anutara, no, to Yesung right away. Yesung would know the identity of that thing.

Then surely, just as Anutara chased away scorpions, Yesung would chase that thing away too.

Because Yesung was Anutara's teacher.

But to tell Yesung this story, he first had to get out without being caught by that thing.

Shan carefully stuck just his face out from behind the tree.

The buzzing sound had disappeared at some point, and the surroundings were quiet.

Had they lost it? Or had it gone somewhere else?

Shan swallowed dry saliva and looked to the side.

"Tika. Let's go out carefully without making noise."

Next to him, Tika, who had been just as frightened as Shan, was nodding her head.

Shan had never let go of Tika's hand since they started running from the flower field.