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

Living in Theem'dra was quite good.

Honestly, for him who had become accustomed to sleeping rough in wind and rain, there could be no greater luxury than this.

The wooden house they had all built together was better than a hut.

But it firmly blocked the cool wind and they could also boil warm food in the space where they lit fires.

Since he didn't eat meals, there wasn't much merit regarding food for him,

But he really liked the bed made from wood shavings and leaves that the two had made for him.

It might seem strange for someone who had slept in a duke's bed to be moved by just a crude wooden bed.

But after repeating the daily routine of sleeping rough, being soaked in black mud, then sleeping rough again,

He would be moved to tears by even such trivial furniture.

Moreover, this was a bed made solely for him, which made it even more special. Recently, when he had mentioned in passing that he didn't sleep well,

Shan and Tika had been curious about how many hours per day he slept.

Since he couldn't say he couldn't sleep at all, when he said he slept about one or two hours, both their expressions had twisted.

And what he received a week later was this very bed.

They had probably devised it thinking that if his sleeping place was even a little more comfortable, he might be able to sleep longer.

Since lying down and resting actually improved his efficiency, he felt nothing but gratitude toward the two.

About a year had passed since arriving at the seaside.

Peaceful, and peaceful again.

When Shan went out to the river, they would go foraging in the nearby forest.

There were plants that grew regardless of season, while others grew only at specific times.

They carefully selected fruits and plants, gathering only what they needed for that day.

"But Yesung doesn't look like he'd be good at this sort of thing, yet you're incredibly skilled? How can you pick just the stem base so precisely? I try every time but can't do it!"

"This is all what you call experience."

He couldn't possibly tell them it was because he had experience picking azalea flowers from roadsides as a child.

They picked only fruits that showed signs of being eaten by insects,

And on the way back, they were lucky enough to discover fungi similar to mushrooms.

They decided to pick them later and returned, where they trimmed the gathered fruits and washed the plant roots.

And if they waited a bit, when the sun was setting slightly, Shan would return with fish he had caught using traps set in the river and hunting.

Fish was a new food ingredient they had discovered here.

When he first saw the large fish that seemed like they would have existed in the Cretaceous period, he had been startled by their bizarre appearance,

But Shan and Tika, who had never seen fish before in their lives, initially wouldn't even put them in their mouths.

However, after his persistent persuasion and realizing that the taste improved when dipped in seawater once before grilling, they had gradually adapted and were eating them.

"You know, I still can't accept the fact that these things called fish have so much to throw away inside their small bodies."

"Me neither."

"What are you both talking about? You have to remove all the innards before grilling."

"But then the fish's belly becomes hollow. It gets lighter, right? Actually, can't we eat the innards too?"

"No, that's just how it is. You can't eat the innards."

He was the one who cleaned the fish, but Shan and Tika were the ones who peered at the large fish from the side and offered advice.

After somehow cooking and feeding the two, today's tasks were finished.

In the remaining time, they could each wander around or just rest in Theem'dra.

After finishing his meal, Shan looked at the white, large fish bones and suddenly said as if remembering something.

"By the way, come to think of it, I saw something interesting on my way back from the river earlier."

"Something interesting?"

"A gray child wearing a red leaf on its head."

A gray child wearing red leaves?

He wondered if it might be a Shambhala person, but Shambhala people weren't gray.

At least as far as he knew.

Tika said with surprise.

"What's that? When you say child, do you mean as big as me?"

"It was smaller than you. It probably came up to your knee. I saw it from far away so I wasn't certain."

"There aren't such small kids anywhere. And gray too."

"It's true. It looked exactly like it was made of stone. It was wearing a red leaf on its head. I was about to come back after catching fish when I noticed it over there under a tree. I don't know why, but it was digging the ground very earnestly."

"Didn't you try talking to it?"

"It didn't seem dangerous, but just in case, I shouted from far away asking what it was doing."

Shan said that much and scratched his head.

He seemed somehow dejected.

"It ran away."

"It suddenly ran away? Shan, you weren't trying to hit it, were you?"

"As if I would do that. I was far away. It looked at me, then shouted something while jumping around frantically. Then it disappeared between the trees... I couldn't chase after it either. It seemed like it would get too dark."

Listening to Shan's story was somewhat amusing.

It wasn't even a fairy tale, but he spoke as if he had seen a fairy or something, which made it even more so.

He said while cleaning up the two's dining area.

"Sometimes you have strange experiences. It was fortunate you didn't chase after it. Who knows, you might have gone and not been able to return."

"Gasp. Hearing Yesung say that makes me realize. Shan, be careful from now on."

"What? Is it something I need to be that careful about?"

"Well, I'm not saying to be on guard like when we met the pink insect. But you don't know what might be around Theem'dra. So I'm saying it's better to move around as safely as possible."

"Then... I'll be careful."

"It would be nice if we could all see the gray child together next time. We could also talk about what its identity might be."

Shan smiled awkwardly like a teenager who had just been scolded by his father.

"If Yesung had seen it, you would have known what it was."

"I might not know either. It's the first time I'm hearing about it."

"So there are things even Yesung doesn't know..."

"Why are you looking at me like that? What's with that expression, Tika?"

Time passed quickly just from having small talk.

When it got dark, everyone went to bed, and he also finished writing his diary, then covered the fire with ashes and lay on the bed with his eyes closed.

How much time had passed like that?

Around the time dawn was faintly breaking, there was a rustling sound nearby.

Since there was no way Tika would get up at this time, it was definitely Shan.

He organized his place without making noise and left the house.

It seemed he planned to hunt fish early in the morning.

Shan seemed to have a particularly hard time, so when he returned, he thought about picking those mushrooms he had seen yesterday to make a meal.

While he was thinking such thoughts,

"Ugh!"

A short sound came from outside.

Upon hearing it, he reflexively jumped up and rushed out of the house.

"What's wrong- Ah."

The house they had built, Theem'dra, was located on somewhat high ground because the river and ocean were nearby.

This was because on days when it poured rain, both the river and ocean would certainly become dangerous factors.

It was good in that respect, but no matter how gentle the hill was, they still had to pick out small stones and grass that caught their feet to make a path.

They had put tremendous effort into creating a comfortable walking path.

Eventually, they had succeeded in paving a perfect path without a single small pebble.

"...Shan, did you trip here?"

"Something caught my foot! It's still dawn so I couldn't see below clearly."

As Shan said, there was a stone at his feet.

He thought it was just a pebble, but when he tried to push it with his foot to move it, it didn't roll.

What was this again?

Sitting in that spot and digging the soil under the pebble, he found a fairly large stone buried there.

Part of the stone had protruded outside the soil, making it look like a pebble.

That's why Shan had tripped over it.

After getting up and seeing the ground he had dug and the stone hidden inside, Shan sighed.

"So something like this was left."

"I thought we had pulled them all out when making the path, but I guess not."

"Maybe during the time we've been walking here, the soil washed away and it's only now been exposed."

"That's possible too."

Shan dusted off his knees and sighed.

He seemed startled from suddenly tripping on a path he always used.

He was young after all.

"I'll clear this out and fill it in with Tika. You were on your way fishing, right? It would be better to watch your step properly on the way there. It's still dark."

"Mm... I should. Thank you, Yesung. Then I'll be going."

When Shan went down, he dug out the stone and threw it to the side of the path.

He hadn't known something like this was still there.

*

"Shan tripped this morning?"

"It wasn't a big deal. He wasn't hurt anywhere either. There was a stone we hadn't managed to pick out, and it seems he tripped over it. I did clear it away."

"I thought so. While sleeping, it seemed like you two were having a conversation outside. So that's what it was."

"If you were conscious enough to hear conversation, shouldn't you have just gotten up?"

"But how good does it feel to drift off to sleep like that? Yesung wouldn't know since you can't sleep well."

"You keep stabbing at painful spots, Tika. Your tongue is already at Arahan level."

"Hehehe. Since this happened, shall we go pick those mushrooms we saw yesterday? To comfort Shan."

"I was thinking the same thing. We're of the same mind."

Getting up at a similar time as yesterday and going out foraging, they discovered and picked new fruits.

The fruits with smooth exteriors and firm interiors that tasted slightly sour had quite a lot of juice.

And on the way back, they didn't forget to pick the mushrooms either.

"These aren't inedible, right?"

"There are traces here of insects eating them. They're probably fine. And I remember eating similar mushrooms before."

"Even then, didn't Yesung collapse a few times from identifying mushrooms by yourself? Are you okay?"

"...That time was unavoidable... But now I can distinguish them to some extent..."

Trying to feed Shan and Tika by testing mushrooms and dying three times had been a truly extraordinary experience.

Fortunately, since dying from poisonous mushrooms didn't show external injuries, it just looked like he had eaten and briefly collapsed.

He had told the two that he had fainted, but since then, he didn't attempt mushroom identification in front of Shan and Tika.

As they returned while talking and carefully carrying today's harvest,

Shan was already back home.

"Shan! What, why did you come back so early? We picked mushrooms to give you!"

"...It's not the mushrooms that made Yesung collapse, right?"

"Of course not. Yesung said these are fine."

"If you're really worried, I could try eating them first."

"No, no. I was just asking. You don't need to go that far."

"Then that's settled."

While leaving Shan waving his hands dismissively and shaking off the dirt from fruits and mushrooms,

He noticed that Shan's expression while showing Tika the fish he had caught today didn't look normal.

What was wrong? Had something not gone well?

He was curious but felt awkward asking carelessly, so he stayed quiet.

While the three of them were watching the fish grill, Shan spoke up first.

"I saw the gray child again today."

"Shan, again today? Doesn't it live around here? Did you try chasing it today?"

"No... Since Yesung told me to be careful, I didn't chase it. But today, I got to see it from a bit closer."

"Wow. How close?"

"You know there's a section where the waterway narrows if you go further up from the river mouth? I went there today, and it was throwing stones into the river."

Stones? Into the river?

He and Tika briefly looked at each other.

"And then?"

"That would make the fish run away. So today I shouted at it not to do that, but it looked at me and started jumping around again, then ran off shouting something."

"What did it say?"

"I don't know. Incomprehensible sounds... I didn't know how to respond so I just stood there, then it ran away somewhere again. But I keep thinking about it because I'm bothered whether it said something bad."

What was really going on?

The gray child seemed to be a literal description of its appearance,

But its behavior itself was too mischievous.

The fact that it made incomprehensible sounds to Shan might have been a type of curse.

Since there were no Shambhala people here but other species like snake-people could live here, he might have encountered them.

"Don't worry about it too much. Even if it cursed, you didn't understand it."

"That's positive."

"Anyway, it seems like a strange person, so don't get close."

"I didn't get close today either."

Shan said grumpily.

He patted Shan's head and focused on grilling the meat.

He thought he should look around the area by himself later.

After comforting the anxious Shan, feeding them, and having conversations,

In the early dawn when everyone had fallen asleep as usual,

After putting the children to sleep, while he was alone recording the day's events in his book by the light of the remaining fire, he suddenly looked toward the door.

-Scratch, rustle, scratch, rustle.

...He felt a presence.

Footsteps that wandered near the house, moved away, then approached again.

Was it Yurik? Or Shambhala's Arahan?

He approached the door while muffling his footsteps and quietly listened.

-Scratch, scratch, thud.

What was that sound?

What was it doing outside the house?

While tracking the source of the sound with all his nerves on edge,

Very close by,

Someone whispered to him from beyond the wooden door.

[If, if you look, look one more time, I'll, I'll kill you, I'll kill you...]