Chapter 227
That day they unpacked their luggage at a place at an appropriate distance from the ocean.
Shan looked at him with contemptuous eyes for the first time since the Mi-Go incident,
And Tika dragged Shan away, saying that no matter what, he shouldn't treat Yesung like that.
And now they were sleeping embraced together in the distance over there.
Leaning against a tree and writing about what had happened that day, he felt inexplicably melancholy.
It wasn't as if he wanted to be like this either.
In an era without clocks, it was already a miracle that he was properly counting the days at all.
Yet Shan had fired accusations at him, saying he had no sense of time just like Yurik.
Of course, he wasn't unable to understand.
They thought he was similar to them, but in reality, Yurik and he were similar, and they were the completely different life forms. The time given to each of them had been different from the start.
So naturally, what they perceived had to be different too.
Naturally, there was no way the Shambhala people could endure 10 million years with him.
They would die before him. Or leave him.
Damn. There was no one in this world who would help him.
He glared at the primitive sky studded with stars like jewels for a long time,
And quietly resented the person whose name he could no longer call.
But since nothing changed even so, he had to rack his brain to somehow think of another move.
*
The next morning.
After waking up, eating, and returning from a walk, Yesung spoke with a resolute face in front of Shan and Tika.
"Five years."
"Suddenly five years?"
"That's right. The 10 million years I mentioned yesterday was too extreme. So I'll somehow try to solve it in five years."
"You're going to reduce something that takes 10 million years to five years? Are you serious, Yesung? Is that even possible?"
"I have to make it possible. More than that, would five years be time you could sufficiently endure? That's more important to me."
Shan looked over the man before him with fresh eyes.
Just looking at his appearance, he was so thin and pale that he didn't seem reliable at all,
But anyway, he had a track record of running to save him and Tika when they were in danger.
So he thought he could trust him.
"Is it really possible within five years?"
"I won't know until I try, but for now, that's my goal."
He had no plan whatsoever.
How should he put it, Anutara, who wasn't here now, always had an atmosphere of seeing one step ahead of others.
But the man called Yesung, despite being Anutara's teacher, acted quite impromptu.
Coming all this way and then saying he had 'miscalculated the time,'
Or 'I'll try to accomplish in five years what would take 10 million years.'
If it were Anutara, he surely would have at least explained how that was possible.
Yesung had an atmosphere of 'Ah, really? Then I'll just try it for now!' so he didn't know what basis there was.
No, was that why he was Anutara's teacher?
Was he actually so great that ordinary Shambhala people's thoughts couldn't catch up to him?
Shan glared at Yesung while thinking of the slim possibility.
Yesung flinched even at that trivial gaze and carefully asked.
"...Do you think five years is too long after all? Then, then three years."
Ah! What kind of great teacher was a man who shrank at one person's gaze!
Perhaps Anutara's eyes had gone bad pitifully!
Maybe all of this was Anutara's scheme to bring the worthless red-haired stranger into Shambhala!
While Shan was seriously looking back at the past, Tika grabbed his arm.
"Yesung, Yesung. Is it okay if we talk among ourselves for a moment? We have something to discuss!"
"Of course. I'll go somewhere else. There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous around here, but just in case, I'll be in that tree shade over there."
"Good!"
Yesung walked slowly and very quietly into the shade.
This was far enough that their conversation wouldn't be heard by Yesung.
Shan looked down at Tika as if asking why.
"Suddenly? Did we have something to talk about?"
"Shan, what do you think about what Yesung said?"
"Regardless of what I think, living here is strange. How can we live in an unfamiliar place with so much water?"
"But Shan likes water too. You ran around with me when that thing called rain fell."
"...Water falling from the sky is fascinating."
Shan muttered sullenly.
At that sight, Tika giggled and laughed.
"Really? But I like this big, salty water too. Don't you like it much, Shan?"
"I don't dislike the ocean either. But Tika, you said you wanted to see the world first. That's why we left Shambhala, right? If we live here, we might not be able to do what we've been doing anymore. Is that still okay?"
The path they had taken so far had been arduous and difficult, but at the same time there had been many things they hadn't seen.
The flowers were like that, and the vegetation that bloomed freshly everywhere was too.
The unknown insects visible when lifting rocks,
The very small creatures that lived by digging in the ground only in damp shade,
The small flying species that occasionally whooshed past their noses.
The desert sky and the world's sky were the same yet different at the same time,
And he had seen for the first time that sunsets could gently embrace the earth and sink down, rather than being red enough to burn people.
Shan wanted Tika to see more of these things.
Only then would there be meaning to him and Tika following Yesung all the way here.
But Tika shook her head.
"No."
"No? What's not?"
"I've been thinking continuously since leaving Shambhala and the desert. About the reason I wanted to leave the desert."
"You had a reason for wanting to leave Shambhala?"
"When Anutara took us outside Shambhala, I wasn't this excited then. There were many familiar people and many Arahan, so it was safer than now, but it wasn't this enjoyable."
"......"
"Why is that? Why do Anutara's journey and Yesung's journey feel different? I was continuously curious, but seeing the ocean, I realized it right now."
"What did you realize?"
"I wanted freedom."
Freedom.
At the suddenly appearing word, Shan blinked.
But Tika was unusually seriously speaking.
"Being in Shambhala is happy. It's very comfortable, and when Anutara is there, there are no worries. Even if scorpions appear, the Arahan and Anutara defeat them all. We drink water from fresh springs and sleep in houses built by our ancestors. We fill our bellies with crops we raise or pick ourselves and try to share everything with neighbors. Quarrels and fights are rare. We're always kind and affectionate to each other."
"Yeah."
"But that's all. Sand always changes its appearance according to the wind, but only we don't change. Someone is born, dies, and Shambhala is always peaceful. Only we remain unchanged. Shan, remember? Those red flower buds."
"I remember. The ones we saw right after leaving the desert."
"Yesung said they would turn into flowers when the time came. Plants and sand change their appearance, so why don't we change? Why is there no difference between a thousand years ago and now? I wanted to change anew when I wanted to."
"Tika."
Shan liked Shambhala.
But that didn't mean he couldn't understand Tika's words.
She turned her head toward the ocean while holding Shan's hand.
The ocean he had seen yesterday was different from today's ocean. The ocean seemed to symbolize change to Tika.
"So I understood. The reason it was enjoyable to come here with Yesung was because I chose to leave the desert myself. It wasn't enjoyable because I saw many fascinating scenery or interesting things. It was enjoyable because I, by my own will, could come this far. Because I was free."
"So you're saying you'll choose for yourself."
"Right! I like the ocean. We're still young. Whether it's five years or ten years, if we want to see the ocean, we can stay here. It depends on our will. No one will say anything. Isn't it interesting that we can do as we please?"
"Then it's okay to live here?"
"Of course. Even if we live here, if we want to, we can go to other places."
"If we get tired of the ocean, we go somewhere else?"
"We can go to places we like, places where we can see many things until we get tired of them."
Shan couldn't completely accept Tika's words as his own opinion,
But he could ruminate on what she had said.
Freedom. Freedom, huh.
If what Tika had wanted wasn't seeing new things but 'seeing what she wanted to see,'
That wasn't bad in its own way.
What she considered important was freedom.
The freedom to come when she wanted and leave when she wanted.
Shan gripped Tika's clasped hand more firmly.
"What if, Tika."
"Yeah?"
"What if we don't return to Shambhala and you, me, and Yesung live here."
"Yeah."
"The Shambhala people... aren't here, right? Even if they came, it would take an enormous amount of time."
"Right? It would just be the three of us."
"...Then what number husband do you think I could be?"
At the surprise question, Tika whipped her head around to look at Shan.
Shan was desperately pretending not to know Tika, but sweat had already started forming on his palms.
His neck, face, and ears gradually turning red.
His Adam's apple bobbing in the quiet silence.
His expression was thoroughly frowning as if he had seen something he shouldn't have, but only his tightly closed lips showed boyish stubbornness.
Tika stared blankly at the boy, who was only about twenty years older than her, having fallen in love, then began laughing tremendously loudly.
"Ahaha, hahahaha! Ahahahahaha!"
"...Why are you laughing?"
"What number, no, more than that, Yesung isn't a husband but someone we should serve and live with, right, right, ahahahahaha!"
"...Then am I first?"
At the serious answer, Tika couldn't hold back anymore and collapsed on the spot, starting to laugh.
With the boy whose face was just turning red and blue with sweat beside her,
The red-haired young man who was supposed to be served came running hurriedly from afar with a surprised face, shouting 'What happened? What's wrong?'
In the end, the two decided to live by the ocean.
It should have been difficult to adapt because of the completely different climate from the desert, but it was okay.
The ocean was always there,
And Yesung was always with them too.
Walking along the ocean, they encountered a huge estuary where a river flowed into the sea.
They all worked together to build a house, refined hunting and gathering methods through countless failures.
After exploring the surroundings and organizing the topography, they reduced dangerous elements as much as possible.
Tika and Shan wanted to name their new home after leaving the desert.
If someday a Shambhala person who wanted freedom like themselves gathered courage and left the desert,
They needed the name of a sanctuary they could tell them about, saying they weren't alone, that there were people here too.
Theem'dra.
It was the first place name on this planet after Shambhala.