A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Crown Prince’s ancestor struck the window beside the staircase.
Crash!
With a deafening roar, the glass composing the window collapsed. The entire rectangular window stretching from ceiling to floor crumbled as though the earth itself had given way beneath it.
The heads of the wandering zombies snapped toward the sound in unison.
“Grrgh!”
“Kyaaah!”
Thud-thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud.
Soon the zombies shambling through the Corridor began rushing toward the window.
I held my breath, watching the spectacle from behind the curtain.
One zombie, dragging a grotesquely twisted ankle, stumbled directly in front of the curtain where I was hiding.
“Grrgh….”
The moment I thought our eyes met.
Splat!
Another zombie charging from behind stomped on the fallen one’s temple, bursting its eye socket.
“Kieeeek!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
As though competing with each other, all the zombies rushed toward the shattered window.
Their speed was absolutely terrifying.
‘These zombies are fast as express trains. Did they run this well when they were alive?’
Was this a cheetah’s kingdom? Or did their leg muscles develop after becoming zombies?
Blood-soaked corpses charged recklessly, overwhelming the window.
The sound of bone striking glass reached me even here.
“Grrgh….”
Some zombies leaped through the window, others became tangled in the frame and tumbled forward. More piled on top. And on top. And on top. And on top. Unable to see, they simply crunched whatever shards of broken glass entered their mouths. Blood streamed from their lips and bellies.
Even as their cheeks and necks were slashed by the jagged glass protruding everywhere, they paid no mind.
“Kiek….”
Rotten blood pooled beneath the zombies piled atop the window. It was blood from the one crushed at the bottom, whose belly had been pierced deeply by glass shards.
‘Does a window normally shatter and collapse like that?’
How on earth had he thrown it to cause such destruction?
I was just peeking out to witness the carnage when a low voice suddenly dropped from above my head, making me jump.
“What were you thinking, carelessly extending your arm like that? What if you had been bitten?”
My hair stood on end at the monotone, low-pitched voice. Without turning around, I replied.
“Your Highness could have been bitten just as easily.”
“I handle such matters. Not a guest.”
“Why?”
I asked in genuine confusion. Why should you do it?
“Because you are my guest.”
“Let’s be honest. Your Highness didn’t invite me—I forced my way here.”
“….”
“Neither of us wants to do this anyway, right? So let’s just have whoever do it.”
Ignoring the Crown Prince as he tried to say something else, I leaned further out toward the window.
The Crown Prince sighed and rested his chin on top of my head. I flinched, then realized in the next moment that he was trying to look outside just like I was.
The sound of the massive crash seemed to have had quite the effect.
All the zombies visible in the immediate area had crowded in front of the window, leaving the Central Corridor we needed to traverse completely clear.
‘My ancestor is truly remarkable.’
An ancestor who bestowed such a tremendous favor certainly deserved proper ancestral rites.
I spoke to the Crown Prince, who still had his chin resting on my head.
“The food for the ancestral altar…”
“Yes?”
“The more, the better, wouldn’t you say?”
“…Yes. I shall do my utmost.”
Good. Do your best.
The Crown Prince, who had been surveying the surroundings, gestured inward. Seeing this, the Grand Duke and Dazling pushed themselves off from the wall they’d been leaning against.
“Shall we make our move?”
The Grand Duke asked with a wry smile to Yujein, who was struggling to walk on her own.
“Since I need to use my arms, I cannot carry you or hold you. Would it be acceptable if I had you ride on my shoulders instead?”
“No, I can…”
“You’ll mount up right now? Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Your Grace…”
“Yujein, in situations like this, accepting help actively is how you help others.”
Right. That’s correct. Stop arguing and get on.
We reformed our formation and carefully made our way into the corridor.
With the horde of zombies at our backs and the compulsion to remain silent so as not to be discovered, our group’s pace was glacial. Mascarpone and Supporting Character 2 had both clamped their hands over their own mouths.
Dazling, standing beside me, asked silently with the shape of his lips.
‘Are you alright?’
‘No!’
It felt as though the zombies stacked against the window could discover us fleeing at any moment.
If I glanced back even slightly, a zombie with its mouth agape would surely be right behind me, and my scream would alert every zombie in this building…
‘Don’t waste energy on illogical imaginings. This is not the time for that.’
Fortunately, the Kitchen appeared soon after.
* * *
The Crown Prince solved the locked Kitchen door by slicing through the handle.
While the Crown Prince guarded the rear, Dazling entered first and signaled. The moment we received that signal, the anxious people standing in the corridor rushed inside en masse.
Once everyone had entered, the Crown Prince closed the door and picked up several pieces of firewood nearby, wedging them horizontally across it.
“Huff…”
“Gasp…”
The people who had entered collapsed directly onto the filthy bare floor.
The Crown Prince and the other combat personnel remained standing, while only the non-combatants…
‘Such pathetic stamina.’
The Grand Duke, who had spread his jacket on the floor and seated the women upon it, looked around and spoke.
“It appears they were attacked while preparing a meal.”
Her assessment was accurate.
The entire Kitchen emanated the rich, warm aroma of food. A cast-iron pot hanging on one wall still bubbled with a fatty meat broth, and on a silver cart near the door sat a bottle of fruit wine nestled in a bowl of melted ice.
A grand sugar sculpture, apparently crafted for the evening dinner, lay in ruins amid the chaos.
The entire room was coated in sugar.
One might have thought someone had wandered through the space deliberately pouring sugar everywhere.
‘Even if the sugar storage had been attacked, it wouldn’t look like this.’
Sugar covered every surface—the countertops, the floor, everywhere.
Sugar sacks lay scattered in every direction.
Beneath the heaped sugar, barely visible, lay blood and flesh—as though someone had been struck down and dragged across the ground.
Supporting Character 2, who had approached the simmering broth, let out a small scream. When asked what was wrong, she said there was a half-melted human hand floating inside.
“The head chef’s corpse is here. There are no bite marks—it appears to be a self-inflicted wound to the throat. Shall I remove the head?”
Dazling, who had been examining behind the counter, spoke. The Crown Prince nodded, and without hesitation, Dazling raised his blade.
A sharp whistle. A dull thud.
Meanwhile, the others huddled together, deliberately ignoring the sound.
Mascarpone, who had been lying face-down, murmured.
“I can’t take another step… Please, let me rest.”
“I understand you’re exhausted, but wouldn’t it be better to rest once we return to the Imperial Palace? We only need to use the portal now.”
“But we don’t know what condition the Imperial Palace is in right now. If we return and find it in a state like this… I’ll be captured and killed immediately. Please, let me rest first.”
No, let’s go rest there! The Imperial Palace is fine!
Unable to voice my true thoughts, my mouth fell open in shock.
‘We’re so close to the finish line and she wants to rest here!’
We already rested! We just rested in the Gallery!
There are zombies wandering outside and she wants to rest here!
All we need to do is use the portal like the Grand Duke said!
Yet regardless of what anyone said, Mascarpone showed no signs of getting up. Supporting Character 2, though silent, appeared to be in much the same state.
The Grand Duke, troubled, looked at the Crown Prince’s face. The Crown Prince nodded.
“We’ll need to locate the portal anyway.”
“What? Isn’t it here?”
“It is, but I don’t know exactly where in this Kitchen it’s located.”
“Ah, I see. They wouldn’t have left the portal to the Imperial Palace sitting carelessly in the middle of the Kitchen.”
“Correct. I’ll search for it, so please rest in the meantime.”
“I wish there was something to eat. I’m hungry…”
Now that I caught the scent of food, hunger stirred within me as well.
Supporting Character 2 gazed longingly at the counter, but fear of seeing another corpse made her quickly abandon the idea.
Supporting Character 2 asked anxiously.
“Where do you think everyone went?”
“Indeed. The Kitchen must have had the most staff working here.”
“Don’t you think they escaped using the portal first?”
“Then wouldn’t they have sent a rescue team by now?”
“I have no idea. The Imperial Palace might not even be in a position to send a rescue team right now.”
“Then… could they all be dead? When the window shattered earlier, didn’t everyone rush over there?”
The Crown Prince shook his head at those words.
“The Kitchen door was locked from the inside.”
In the meantime, the Grand Duke—who had resourcefully procured clean cloth and salve from somewhere—knelt before Yujein.
“I found some salve for sprains. Let me examine your ankle.”
Yujein’s face flushed crimson as she waved her hands in protest.
“I can do it myself, Your Highness.”
“It will be faster if I do it.”
“But…”
“Are you going to make this difficult for me?”
The Grand Duke carefully lifted the hem of Yujein’s dress as she hesitated, then worked with practiced efficiency—scooping generous amounts of salve and wrapping it with the cloth with remarkable skill.
‘Is it like tiger balm?’
I was watching curiously, wondering why people working in a Kitchen would have salve for sprained ankles rather than burn ointment.
Mascarpone, who had been watching me from her prone position, spoke to me. Her tone was dripping with mockery.
“If you’re envious, just say so.”
“Pardon?”
She’s talking to me?
I looked at her in confusion, and she smirked, raising one corner of her mouth.
“You got hurt too, didn’t you? When you fell with Yujein earlier. I saw your ankle twist. So why are you staying quiet? You have been since earlier.”
“Ah.”
She saw that?
“You’ve decided to act virtuous and change your attitude, but no one here is going to appreciate you for staying silent and enduring it alone.”
“…”
“Stop hiding your injury and pretending to suffer in silence—there’s no one here who’ll be moved by that. Just speak up instead of glaring at her like that from behind.”
Mascarpone added, “You’re going to bore a hole through Yujein’s face.”
The Grand Duke’s expression flickered with alarm as he heard the exchange.
“Did you injure your ankle?”
“…No.”
It wasn’t perfectly fine, but I could walk and run well enough. It certainly wasn’t bad enough to whine about sharing a single application of salve.
“I was just curious. Curious about what they use for sprained ankles. I’m perfectly fine.”
I quickly turned and stood, heading toward the cupboard. I didn’t need to see to know that everyone’s eyes were fixed on my back as I walked.
The back of my head tingled with embarrassment.
‘I endure without complaining, and they still find fault with me…’
Being possessed in this body, I just keep accumulating emotional wounds. Do I get a free drink after collecting ten?
What a cursed life this is…
“You said you were hungry earlier, didn’t you? There are almonds here.”
I grunted as I pulled down a jar of nuts from the cupboard. Dazling, who had been watching, quickly came over to help. When I turned back to face the group, my expression was composed.
“Let’s just eat these. We need to eat to survive anyway.”
‘Besides, once I step through that portal, I’m out of here.’
Let’s go home! Please!
But whether at work or here, trouble always erupts in the most unexpected ways.
[Imperial Villa 1st Floor Kitchen]
– Yusara, Yujein, Crown Prince, Grand Duke, Dazling, Mascarpone, Supporting Character 2, Troublemaker (Alive)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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