Chapter 229
"I'm going to try going to the river today."
"What?"
Shan, who had just been about to leave the house, turned to look at him with a bewildered expression.
He half-forcibly dragged Shan back and made him lie down again.
"It seemed like you were suffering alone every early morning, so I was concerned. So I'll do the fishing for a while."
"If that's the case, it would be better to send Tika than Yesung."
"Wouldn't it be nice if just the two of you could be together for once? Today seems like it will be very nice weather. Go out far with Tika and return leisurely."
Even in the dim darkness, he could see Shan looking slightly embarrassed.
Shan eventually pulled back the blanket he had set aside in one place and muttered.
"Thank you for your consideration, Yesung." Shan, who had closed his eyes, soon fell asleep.
He stayed by his side until his movements stopped, then quietly went outside.
Dawn was slowly breaking over the sea.
Normally he would take the fishing net and go to the river like this.
"This can't be used anymore..."
The fishing net that had been hung right next to the door was lying on the ground, torn to shreds.
He wondered if he could find traces of the culprit and searched through the remains of the destroyed fishing net, but failed.
After catching fish, the fishing net was soaking wet, so if left as is, it would get moldy or the wood and vines that made up the net would rot quickly.
So they had been hanging it next to the door to dry while using it,
But to destroy something left outside like this.
Moreover, since he had heard something like a death threat during the night, he didn't know what might happen if he sent Shan out like this.
It couldn't have been done by a person.
It couldn't have been Shambhala people who had come following Yurik's orders.
But he couldn't remember any suitable person who would do such a thing either.
Moreover, naturally evolved 'humans' didn't exist in this era yet.
Then what could it be?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out the culprit right now, so first he needed to go see if there were any suspicious creatures around the river.
And while he was at it, he also needed to weave a new fishing net.
It took about 20 minutes to walk from the house to the river.
From there to where they placed the fishing net was another 20 minutes or so.
He leisurely enjoyed his alone time.
Plants that no one had touched grew lushly and were bizarrely large.
Trees and long-stemmed plants that grew in the salty wind from the seaside and had deeply rooted themselves in the ground.
Leaving behind the white-carved stones and rocks and going upstream against the river water,
A small forest tucked to the side and the curved waterway finally narrowed, revealing a place suitable for fishing.
He sat down on a rock by the riverside and began weaving a new fishing net with tree branches and tough flower stems he had casually broken while walking.
He split the stems with his fingernails to weave the net, connected them with other lines, and tied the ends to tree branches.
Unexpectedly, the repetitive work calmed his mind peacefully.
Even after completing the fishing net in a state of no-mind, he remained sitting there.
He dragged out time watching the flowing water and thinking various thoughts until the sun was setting,
And only got up around the time dusk was falling.
On the way home carrying the fishing net that hadn't touched a drop of water, he deliberately took a detour route through the forest.
He should call it 'territory patrol' - during this similar activity, he didn't see anything like gray children, so he felt somewhat relieved.
He wondered if there would be no trouble today.
But the moment he returned home and opened the door,
A black shadow attacked him, causing him to fall backward.
-Thud!
"Ugh!"
"Yesung! Yesung! I saw it, I saw it! Just like Shan told me! It really existed. It wasn't a lie! They chased us at incredible speed!"
"What, what? What chased you?"
Because Tika poured out words without rest, he missed the timing to respond.
After barely sitting up and looking at Tika, who was hugging his waist desperately, then looking at Shan,
He too had a somewhat pale face and was looking at him.
He intuitively felt that something bad had happened.
"...What happened?"
"We tried to be careful too, but those things. Those things."
Shan stammered and said.
"They chased us. Right up to the front of the house."
"What?"
"Don't be angry! We didn't mean to do it on purpose. We just went too far and couldn't come back by sunset! So we didn't even know those things were nearby. We didn't intend to lead them to the house!"
"Wait. Just calm down for a moment."
Where had things gone wrong?
He had just returned after confirming safety, but Tika was burying her face in his chest, and Shan was all stiff, asking him not to be angry.
Even though he had no intention of being angry at all.
Did he look angry?
"Shan, I don't know why you thought that, but I'm not angry. I'm just surprised."
"But Yesung's face always... You're really not angry?"
"I said so. More than that, what was that story just now? They chased you to the house?"
Shan closed his mouth and looked at him anxiously.
After hesitating for a moment, he barely managed to say.
"On the way back with Tika, we encountered gray children, Yesung. And the moment those things saw us, they chased us. We couldn't shake them off at all, so we came to the house, and until just now they were scratching at the door outside."
*
Summarizing what he heard from Shan and Tika, the content was like this:
The two seemed to have gone out together amicably as he had recommended.
They had been looking for things to accompany their meal as usual,
But being together, they got distracted by each other and went too far, straying from their usual path.
Still, they knew the way up to that point, so they felt at ease,
But unfortunately, they discovered a bush full of fruit there and were delayed for a long time.
After picking a lot, the sun was already setting, so they tried to return quickly, but this time Tika seemed to have spotted 'them' first.
'They' were forming a circle, singing and spinning around.
The two, remembering his warning, tried to slip out as quietly as possible,
But those things spotted Shan and Tika first and started chasing them immediately, shouting something and pointing fingers.
Despite being small, their running speed was incredibly fast.
They barely avoided being caught and arrived home, but those things were scratching at the door outside and screaming.
While they were causing trouble outside for a while, the sound suddenly cut off completely, which they thought was strange, but they couldn't go outside in case those things were still nearby,
And while the two were trembling and unable to do anything, he had returned.
His impression after hearing all that was something like 'What is all this about?'
As he rubbed his forehead and organized the story he had just heard, Shan and Tika seemed to think he was getting angry again and said urgently.
"We're really sorry. We weren't supposed to go that far. We won't do it again."
"No, I'm the one who told Shan to go far, so Shan had no choice! It's my fault, so don't be angry at Shan!"
"You're both greatly misunderstanding. I said I've never been angry. You just needed to return safely, I don't know why you're both shrinking back like this."
"Still..."
"But."
"Both of you really stop now."
Perhaps because of the previous Mi-Go incident, Shan and Tika seemed to have become very timid.
Leaving behind the two who were kneeling and apologizing earnestly, he went outside and examined the door first.
At first he didn't notice, but when he lowered his gaze, clear scratch marks were left at about the height of his shins.
Seeing that there were several deep marks rather than just one, it seemed quite a few 'gray children' had swarmed over.
This house didn't have a separate locking mechanism, so if they wanted to, they could easily break in.
Yet they had only scratched at the door from outside.
He thought it was probably because they couldn't open it.
They were too short to reach the handle that served as the doorknob.
That was why the option of Shan and Tika returning home had been valid.
The two had probably returned home instinctively out of fear,
But fortunately, because the handle was positioned high, those things couldn't enter the house.
If Shan and Tika had chosen to flee elsewhere instead of returning home...
It was obvious what would have happened to them by now.
The marks 'they' had left on the door were as deep and sharp as those left by wild beasts.
He crouched in front of the door and touched the tattered door.
Though the traces were right before his eyes, it was difficult to identify 'their' true nature from this alone.
They were gray, small, and possessed high aggression, but there were plenty of such creatures in this world.
After wracking his brain for a while without finding an answer, he eventually sighed and went inside,
Where Shan and Tika carefully watched his mood and stood up.
"Did you figure out what that was?"
"No. I'm not sure. I might know if I saw them directly. For now, let's put this problem aside - have you two eaten?"
"No."
"We haven't."
"You must have been very frightened, so sit down. I'll make something to eat."
"I'll help you. We were just staying home anyway."
"Me too!"
When Shan got up, Tika also hurriedly stood up.
But the way Shan was getting up seemed strange.
He seemed to be slightly limping on one leg.
"Shan, did you hurt your leg?"
"What? Ah, this. When we were running away earlier, I almost got caught. Fortunately, I just got scratched a little... It doesn't hurt."
"Let me see."
On the back of Shan's ankle, four long scratches stood out red.
Even when he poked them with his finger, Shan didn't flinch, so it didn't seem to be seriously gouged.
Shan, who had entrusted his foot to him, glanced at Tika and said.
"Tika got scratched too."
"Tika too? Is it on her ankle?"
When Shan and he looked at her, Tika smiled sheepishly as if caught in a secret and showed her elbow.
There, a wound similar to Shan's was drawn long from above to below her elbow.
Just looking at the size, this one seemed more painful.
"They were really good at jumping around frantically."
"Doesn't it hurt? How did you get here with that arm?"
"It doesn't hurt! Even when I press it, it's not very stinging. Isn't this a scab? It doesn't seem deep enough to bleed, right?"
"Really?"
Hearing Tika's words, he examined Shan's ankle again.
As she said, it really wasn't dried blood.
Was it just swollen skin that made it look serious? Could he treat this...?
Looking at the wound, something came to mind.
"Looking at it like this, it's like a bear's territorial marking."
"Bear? What's that?"
"There's one terrifying creature you can't see here."
It was natural that Tika didn't know.
It was an animal that hadn't appeared in this era yet.
But seeing this wound and the marks left on that door, he naturally thought of a mountain hiking documentary he had seen on YouTube.
The content was that if you saw scratch marks made by claws on trees while hiking, it meant that was a bear's main territory, so you should hurry to get away from there.
Of course, there would be huge differences between 'them' and ordinary bears, but still, this marking had some similarities...
"...Marking."
"Yesung? What's wrong?"
What if those creatures' goal wasn't to catch Shan and Tika but failed?
What if leaving these traces was the goal itself?
Tika had seen them for the first time this time,
But Shan had encountered them for the third time.
The first two times they had fled avoiding Shan, but when they met for the third time, they chased him desperately.
Wasn't something strange?
-If, if you look, look one more time, I'll, I'll kill you, I'll kill you...
It hadn't been directed at him.
The ominous threat muttering about killing,
The sudden stone protrusion in front of the door,
The fishing net that only Shan used being torn to shreds.
Everything was a warning aimed at Shan, who had seen 'them' twice.
And this was the third time.
So those things had desperately chased Shan, who had ignored the warning, and left a 'mark' on the back of his ankle.
Tika hadn't seen them three times, but assuming she had accidentally gotten involved while being by Shan's side, it roughly made sense.
If his guess was correct, what he needed to do from now on was...
"Why are you suddenly spacing out? Shan, Yesung must be shocked seeing the wound!"
"Yesung, are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"Ah."
When he suddenly came to his senses, Tika and Shan's worried faces were right in front of him.
How should he tell them this?
After pondering, he placed his hands on each of their shoulders and spoke seriously.
"Shan, Tika. From now on, both of you listen carefully to what I say."
"Yesung?"
"You two."
He looked into two pairs of blue eyes that resembled Yurik's but were much gentler, then spoke firmly.
"You two will soon be killed by 'them.'"