A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 137

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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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Younger Brother… that’s what he is.
Only useful when I send him to the convenience store to buy snacks on the way home.
Less valuable than the stray hairs scattered across my bedroom floor.
No matter how handsome that shell of his might be, all I feel toward Younger Brother is a dismissive ‘ugh’.
But despite that, I do possess eyesight.
So I could say with absolute certainty that in this Casino’s mysterious competition, my pathetic sibling would be selected as the top priority—beauty ascending first, as they say.
‘Even a hopeless gambling addict is still handsome, after all.’
Cyprus, who also knew my Younger Brother’s face, seemed to share the same thought.
Cyprus’s expression turned grave in an instant as he spoke.
“It’s almost miraculous that the young Grand Duke has survived this long.”
“Yes. It’s annoying to admit, but his face…”
“He looks exactly like the Grand Duchess.”
“That’s not quite right.”
Why is he suddenly insulting me like that?
“Shall we go now?”
Mocha, who had exchanged a light kiss with the Priest, guided us toward the Warehouse. I asked Mocha, who was skipping ahead of us.
“Is my brother being held in this Underground Warehouse we’re going to?”
“Yes. Everyone who goes into debt and goes bankrupt at the gambling tables ends up locked in this Warehouse. All the Casinos in Sodom share a single Warehouse.”
“He’s still alive, right? He hasn’t already been sent to compete or anything…?”
“The last time I saw him, he was alive.”
“When was that?”
“Well, about three weeks ago?”
“Three weeks?! He could have died in that time!”
This is driving me insane!
When I first learned that my brother had gone to Sodom, I’d already half-given up, assuming he’d become a zombie.
‘But now that I’ve confirmed there are no zombies in Sodom, and I know my family is being held here…’
I can’t help but feel anxious.
I should be indifferent to whether that hopeless gambling addict brother lives or dies!
‘As a commemoration of my regression, I’ll save him just this once. Not twice.’
The moment I get him out of that Underground Warehouse, I’m throwing him into some treatment center. If there’s no treatment center, I’ll throw him into a monastery.
That is, if he’s lucky enough to still be alive.
“Ah, he’s probably not dead. As far as I know, there haven’t been any competitions held recently.”
“Isn’t this illegal kidnapping?!”
“Kidnapping is always illegal.”
“Exactly!”
“But in Sodom, enjoying something without the ability to handle it is considered the greater crime.”
Mocha giggled, explaining that everyone sitting at those tables had signed body forfeiture agreements before taking their seats.
I want to burn down this entire Mansion right now.
I want to turn everyone here into pillars of salt!
“Now, shh. We’ll pass through that iron door and go down.”
Mocha smudged her makeup further by rubbing her eyes. She needed to look sufficiently intoxicated to avoid suspicion.
The Guard standing before the iron door recognized the approaching Mocha and grinned, opening it for her.
The burly Guard wore the uniform of the Sodom Security Force.
Even as she stumbled forward, she grabbed Cyprus’s elbow and gestured toward the uniform with her eyes.
“Did you see?”
“Yes. He’s one of the Local Lord’s men.”
“This Mansion must be under the Local Lord’s control.”
“It seems we’ve found evidence of human trafficking.”
“Since all the Casinos share a single Warehouse, essentially all of Sodom is complicit.”
It was infuriating.
“Aren’t you cold? We’ll have to descend quite far.”
Mocha raised the torch she’d received from the Guard, speaking as she stepped onto the Staircase leading downward. I followed her lead and descended.
“I’m annoyed, so I’m hot!”
“The further down we go, the colder it will become. What about you, handsome?”
“…I’m cold.”
Right. He’s from the Southern Region, and he’s barely dressed.
Cyprus looked at me, saying he felt goosebumps rising on his skin, and rubbed his neck once.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we embraced each other as we go? I’ll hold you from behind.”
Such shameless flirtation.
“If we’re not careful, we’ll tumble down together. Let’s avoid such dangerous behavior on the Staircase.”
“But I’m so cold I feel like all my muscles are wasting away…”
“Muscles don’t waste away easily.”
“If muscles that don’t waste away easily are wasting away, then it must be this cold…”
“Think of the nation and its people. Let us overcome this cold with burning passion.”
I spoke coolly while draping one of Cyprus’s arms across my shoulders.
Carrying him would be awkward, but staying close like this would be better.
Mocha, who had been leading the way, laughed at the sight of us.
“You look like a cicada clinging to a dead tree.”
“It’s the dead tree clinging to the cicada.”
After that came silence.
The Staircase was truly endless.
By the time I was wondering if we should be riding an escalator instead, if I should really be wasting my precious knees like this, and what on earth could be down there to warrant such a descent—
“…Good heavens.”
What lay before us was neither a Warehouse nor a Prison.
It was a City.
A vast space awaited us—so enormous that even if they had hollowed out the entire Underground Dungeon beneath Sodom and connected it all, it would be believable. It dwarfed even Lord Promé’s Underground Dungeon.
Artificial lights hung from the ceiling in place of the sun, and alcohol and meat were scattered everywhere.
A space saturated with a peculiar, intoxicating fragrance.
People wearing restraints around their necks moved about freely.
The restraints appeared to be merely ornamental, serving only to distinguish the captive from the free, and they imposed no actual restrictions on anyone’s movements.
And the people….
None of them were frustrated or angry.
None of them were attempting to escape.
They simply gathered in small groups.
“That’s right!”
“Ah! Like this!”
They were gambling here too.
“Surely, these people….”
“Yes. They were all dragged here while gambling.”
Mocha, who had hung the torch he brought near the entrance wall, spoke.
“Now then, hurry and find your younger brother. We don’t have much time.”
…How was I supposed to find my younger brother among these hundreds of people?
* * *
Fortunately, I found the bastard quickly.
First, his tall stature stood out, and his skin looked like he’d turned on a fluorescent light by himself….
“Yesssss!”
He was roaring with both arms raised high, claiming he’d won big.
I gazed with troubled eyes at the stones scattered on the floor—apparently what the underground dwellers used instead of betting chips—before calling out my younger brother’s name.
“Hey….”
Had I ever told him what his name was?
Unfortunately, unlike me, my younger brother was a beloved child, so his name came from food.
Whenever I felt hurt by how Mother discriminated between me and my brother, remembering his name brought some small comfort.
‘At least I don’t have a name like that.’ I’d think.
So what was his name?
Was it something like ‘Yusara’s Spicy Chicken’?
Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad.
“Aspara!”
“S-Sister…?!”
Tall frame. Small head. Long, spindly limbs. Lanky body with bones stretching out at right angles. Pale skin. Eyes with upturned corners. Red lips.
A personality and intellect that made women who approached him captivated by his face retreat in dismay after just ten minutes of conversation.
A flower without fragrance itself.
Allow me to introduce my younger brother, Aspara.
I’m seeing him for the first time in several months—or rather, if I count the years before regression, several decades—yet I feel no emotion resembling sentiment or joy whatsoever.
“Sister, how did you get here…?”
My younger brother, frozen in his roaring pose, stammered as he looked at me, while constantly glancing down in fear that someone might swap out his cards.
A shirt wrinkled and stained with food, as if he’d carelessly crumpled his hand.
Vacant eyes.
A typical gambling addict.
Without thinking, I glanced at Cyprus beside me.
‘Thank goodness I’m not a sensitive teenager.’
Showing this side of my family to someone would have been utterly mortifying for a teenager.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly something to be proud of even now.
Cyprus wore his usual smile.
I’d expected his handsome eyes and lips to be dripping with contempt, but fortunately, they weren’t.
If anything, he looked utterly vacant.
“Ugh, my hands are freezing.”
I brushed off Cyprus as he tried to slip his fingers into my sleeve and turned to Aspara.
“What are you doing here?”
“I, I was….”
“Where are all the friends you came with?”
“…Huh? I don’t know… But sister, what are you doing here? The man next to you… Don’t tell me you did this too?!”
“Would I?”
Mocha interjected from beside me.
“We’re running out of time. In about 10 minutes, people will be coming down to select participants for the match.”
“…Let’s get out of here first.”
I grabbed Aspara’s wrist, saying we’d talk outside.
But this bastard wouldn’t budge.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
“S-sister… the thing is… I don’t really want to leave.”
“What?”
“It’s not as bad here as I thought. Meals and drinks come regularly, people treat me well, and there aren’t any parasites pestering me for money….”
“Hey, do you even know what day it is? Mom is so…!”
“W-well…?”
The words that came to mind as I looked at my younger brother’s face—cringing and gauging my reaction—were.
‘I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.’
His mind already half-gone, he kept his gaze downward and shook off my hand. My brother spoke to me in a placating tone.
“Sister, let’s just finish this round first and talk. My hand is really good, you know? If I win this time, I can make back everything I’ve lost. Just… just let me finish this one….”
That’s when a commotion erupted from the direction of the Staircase we’d descended.
At the same moment, Mocha, who had been grinning the whole time, spoke.
“Oh no, I miscalculated.”
….
“We only have 3 minutes, not 10.”
….
“It looks like we’re about to be discovered. What do we do?”
[Underground Gambling Den]
-Yusara, Cyprus, Mocha, Aspara (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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