A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 138
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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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“That Priest earlier said he’d give me one of the people trapped in the Basement. I can’t take them with me?”
“You can take them. But you have to pay for it.”
“….”
“You have money, sister?”
I didn’t.
I looked helplessly between my Younger Brother and Mocha.
My Younger Brother was only worried about whether his hand at the gambling table would be invalidated, fidgeting anxiously, while I didn’t have even ten won to my name.
Rather than smacking some sense into my idiot brother, I’d have to gamble myself.
Cyprus, seeing me lost in thought, stepped forward.
“I’ll pay.”
Cyprus strode over and grabbed the restraint collar around Aspara’s neck. He tilted his head slightly, then tore it off with a single burst of strength.
The severed collar clattered to the ground with a metallic ring.
Cyprus turned to Mocha and asked.
“So how much is it?”
Mocha laughed.
“Why pay? We can just take them and run.”
“….”
“Follow me.”
Mocha hurried us toward the opposite direction.
“Wait, my hand! I still have bets on the table! Sister!”
“Shut up!”
I grabbed my Younger Brother by the collar as he planted his feet stubbornly and dragged him along by force.
Don’t you understand the situation?
If you’re so attached to that stupid rock, go bash your head against the wall outside! Then some pebbles will fall from that thick skull of yours! You can have those instead!
“But I really had a good feeling this time! A really good feeling!”
As I dragged him along, Aspara kept glancing back without letting go of his regrets, oblivious to me seething with rage, to my mother whom I hadn’t seen in months, and to Cyprus the royal who was witnessing this entire spectacle.
The thought of not embarrassing my sister in front of her acquaintance? Obviously nonexistent.
“You’ve been missing for months now, get your head straight!”
“Missing? I just didn’t contact anyone!”
I felt self-conscious about Cyprus watching us with those inscrutable eyes.
What must he be thinking seeing this mess.
He probably thinks we’re a completely dysfunctional family.
Yet Cyprus, who usually couldn’t stop running his mouth unnecessarily, said nothing now.
He came from behind and silently subdued Aspara, dragging him along.
Soon another Staircase similar to the one we’d descended appeared ahead.
The man who’d been dragged away upstairs earlier was there.
With dried tear stains on his cheeks, he was already grinning foolishly, joining another game.
Even as Mocha openly opened the door and left, no one paid attention.
“Why….”
“Why else? They have no intention of leaving.”
Mocha chuckled softly.
With my unpredictable younger brother wedged between Cyprus and me, Mocha took the lead.
As we passed the restroom, he grabbed a discarded cloak and threw it over Aspara’s head.
‘If I just walk out like this, get the kid to escape beyond Sodom, hand him some coin, and tell him to head straight home… will he go?’
Probably not.
Can he even make it outside in the first place?
And I don’t even have a few coins to give him.
Our house is already ruined anyway.
“…This is absolutely pathetic.”
Regardless of everything else, I haven’t done a single thing wrong in this situation. So why am I the one left holding the bag for all of this, and why is there no way out?
What kind of disgrace is this?
If this happened at work, I’d be so embarrassed I’d quit on the spot.
“I want to disappear into the ground.”
Cyprus, who heard my inadvertent mutter, looked down at me.
Our eyes met before I could even compose my rigid expression.
“….”
“….”
“…Why are you suddenly winking?”
“Charming, isn’t it? I practice in the mirror every night.”
“…That’s ridiculous….”
I turned my head away with a deflated expression.
Mocha led us toward a side door on the opposite side from where we’d entered the Mansion.
My grumbling younger brother fell silent once escape actually seemed possible, and all I wanted was to get outside and breathe fresh air.
Mocha went first, then me.
That’s when the Guard leaning against the wall, exchanging obscene gestures with a colleague across the way, blocked my path.
“Hold on.”
?! Why?!
“You’re a legitimate guest leaving properly, right? Take off your hood.”
“…We came with that Priest over there.”
I calmly pointed to Mocha.
The Guard, glancing back at Mocha who had already stepped outside, spoke.
“Who asked you that? I said take off your hood.”
“….”
I stretched out my arm to block Cyprus from stepping forward behind me.
I dug through my pocket and found the chip.
“Taking off the hood is difficult. How about this instead?”
A Casino entry token that had belonged to the dead Promae Lord’s Son.
Someone fleeing in debt wouldn’t still be carrying this chip, which could be exchanged for currency within the Casino.
“Oh, you had this? Why didn’t you say so from the start?”
The Guard took the chip and tossed it up once, catching it again.
I was about to drag my Younger Brother out of there when I let out an internal sigh.
Tap.
The Guard blocked my path once more.
A woman roughly my height spoke with a smirk.
“You’ll need to take the chip back with you, customer.”
“….”
“We hope to see you again next time.”
* * *
“Sister, where did you get that chip?”
“Just walk.”
“No, you don’t understand, sister. With just that, I can play almost unlimited games! They give ten revival tokens!”
“I said walk.”
“This time I can win back all the money I lost and more!”
“Get a grip on yourself!”
I finally exploded.
I’m going to lose my mind.
This pathetic creature is my Younger Brother.
If I passed him on the street, I’d tsk and wouldn’t even want to share a table with this addict—and he’s my Younger Brother.
And Cyprus is watching all of this.
I put Cyprus through all this suffering just to save this wretch.
I’m so ashamed, so mortified, so full of remorse that I can’t even lift my head.
I dragged my Younger Brother into a nearby Alley.
My expression must have been terrifying—Cyprus, and even Mocha who’d been snickering behind us the whole time, shut their mouths and followed obediently.
I shoved my Younger Brother against the Stone Wall beside a ditch where some construction had been abandoned.
“You insane bastard, can’t you read the situation? What revival tokens? You’re wearing a collar around your neck and you still spout that nonsense?!”
“You’re the one who can’t read the situation! There’s an opportunity right in front of you—why throw it away? Should we just take the loss and call it done? I’m telling you, just one more game and I can win it all!”
“And that’s exactly what got you trapped down there! You almost got dragged away! You nearly died!”
“….”
“Wake up. If you were alone here, I wouldn’t have come to save you. I would’ve left a gambling addict with no family, no nothing to die or live as he pleased.”
If I hadn’t known about the people dragged away as slaves to Sodom, if I hadn’t known they were dying miserably—
someone like Aspara who walked into hell of his own volition would’ve ranked far lower on my priorities.
Aspara’s lips curled into a sneer at those words.
“Then you shouldn’t have come.”
“What?”
“Did I ask you to get me out? I never even said I was here—you figured it out yourself and dragged me out.”
“….”
“Don’t try to teach me. Just focus on yourself, Yusara. Anyone listening would think you’re some brilliant person. You, the Empire’s official public nuisance.”
“….”
“Showing up out of nowhere and acting all high and mighty. It’s annoying.”
Aspara, irritated, suddenly shoved me into the ditch beside us.
I never imagined my own Younger Brother would use force against me—not an enemy. In that moment of shock, I couldn’t even resist and was shoved forward.
My ankle twisted sharply as I tumbled headfirst into the drainage ditch.
“Yusara!”
Cyprus rushed toward me like a bird in flight and caught me. One of his feet plunged deep into the filthy water flowing through the ditch as he held me close.
As we both struggled to regain our footing, Aspara snatched the chip from my hand and bolted.
“That bastard…”
Cyprus, rarely uttering such crude language, immediately tried to chase after him.
But there was no time.
The Mansion’s lights blazed to life as someone noticed a prisoner had escaped.
“We need to get out of here.”
“…Yes, we do.”
“Getting used to this by now?”
Cyprus whispered for me to hold on tight, then lifted me into his arms.
* * *
“Because of you two, I’m being hunted now!”
Mocha, who had shoved Cyprus and me into some unknown tent, gasped for breath as he knelt down, supporting himself with his hands.
He told us to wait here for a moment, then graciously brought two chairs before disappearing.
“Are you hurt?”
Cyprus seated me in a chair and tore away the veil that had covered my face all this time. He carefully examined my wrists and ankles for injuries.
After all that running, Cyprus moved without a trace of breathlessness, and I suddenly spoke to him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“…What else would it be.”
Cyprus had suffered needlessly because of my Younger Brother, and in the end, we gained nothing.
I’d shown him nothing but absurdity.
And I’ll say it again—if Cyprus were my coworker, I’d be so ashamed I’d resign on the spot.
Seeing me hang my head, Cyprus asked.
“How are you feeling right now?”
“…How am I feeling?”
Was he asking how wretched I felt?
“Like I want to die.”
“I won’t let it come to that. I mean something else.”
“What else could you possibly mean.”
“Are you perhaps embarrassed?”
[Sodom City]
-Yusara, Cyprus, Mocha (Alive)
-Aspara (Defected)
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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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