A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 140

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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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His gaze alternated between my hand and Cyprus’s arm where it touched mine, cold and piercing.
No, not cold.
‘Absolutely burning.’
I knew it was odd to describe my Younger Brother this way, but his eyes were blazing with intensity.
I was genuinely concerned about climate change.
“You’re here?”
Cyprus grinned widely at Praha and greeted him.
Whether Praha looked at him with eyes that could kill or not, Cyprus simply smiled. He didn’t even seem surprised at when Praha had arrived. He appeared to have already sensed his presence.
Praha kept his gaze fixed on Cyprus’s forearm, which would undoubtedly be flushed red if the hood were pulled back, as he spoke.
“For some reason, a few hours felt like decades.”
“….”
“It’s nice to see you two getting along so well.”
That doesn’t seem to be the case….
Just to be clear, I was hitting Cyprus.
Not caressing him.
“How did you get out?”
I asked with the implication of how he’d managed to come here alone when the doors were locked and servants were watching. Praha answered.
“There’s been a theft at Sodom Castle.”
“A theft?”
“Yes. When commotion suddenly broke out, I stopped a passing servant and asked. That’s what he told me.”
“Hmm….”
A thief in a city completely surrounded by walls, and in the most heavily guarded place at that?
I had to admit the audacity.
“What did they steal?”
“I didn’t hear that far.”
“Are you sure it was a real theft? It wasn’t someone like us, half-imprisoned in the castle, attempting an escape, was it?”
“I’m not certain. After consulting with Tangerine, we determined the situation was developing unusually, so we decided to gather everyone first. That’s why I slipped out alone under the cover of the chaos to retrieve you and Cyprus.”
I nodded as I listened to Praha’s explanation. He’d come to fetch us because the situation seemed dire.
“Thank you. If I’d wandered back without knowing anything and run into guards searching for the thief, it would have been troublesome.”
“Hey, I’m still sitting on the ground here. Could you help me up first before talking?”
Cyprus, still sprawled on the floor, spoke pitifully.
“Get up on your own, will you.”
“Eeeeek.”
“Ugh.”
I grabbed Cyprus’s whining hand and pulled him up from the ground.
Ignoring Praha’s piercing stare, I turned my attention to Mocha.
“You know something, don’t you?”
“Hm?”
Mocha, who had been licking ice cream off his hand, blinked.
His expression suggested he knew nothing, but I didn’t believe it.
“There’s a thief in Sodom Castle. How convenient that this happens on the very day you smuggled us out. It’s almost too perfectly timed, don’t you think?”
“Is that so? Perhaps it is!”
“You orchestrated this, didn’t you? You got me out of the castle, and while that was happening, you stole something to frame me as the culprit.”
“My goodness, that’s quite an accusation, isn’t it? I helped you find your brother!”
“I know. Someone with your abilities could simply steal whatever you wanted in secret—you wouldn’t need to complicate things like this.”
Mocha’s expression went blank at my swift acknowledgment.
But I wasn’t finished speaking.
“However, it’s true that you’ve gained nothing from helping my brother and me.”
Mocha and I weren’t acquainted before this, and I’d never done anything for him.
So why would he risk danger to send me a note, bring me here, and arrange this meeting with Aspara?
“It’s too great a loss for you to attribute this to mere sympathy.”
Thanks to Mocha, we learned Aspara’s whereabouts and obtained evidence of the Lord of Sodom’s crimes.
Meanwhile, Mocha gained nothing.
Instead, he’d revealed to the Fallen Priest—someone who appeared close to him—that it was Mocha himself who brought outsiders into the Casino.
If an investigation came later, Mocha would be the first one arrested.
Weighing everything, his actions held nothing but risk.
So why did he do it?
“At first, I wondered if perhaps my brother appealed to your tastes and you wanted to save him… but looking at you, I don’t think so.”
I gestured with my chin toward Cyprus.
“You seem to prefer someone with a physique like that—someone lean like Aspara doesn’t appear to be your type.”
“….”
“I’m not even certain you actually prefer men.”
“Hmm.”
“Just as you’ve fabricated your manner of speech, your voice, and your expression, you could have fabricated your preferences too, couldn’t you?”
What does Mocha gain from this action? Why did he help us?
If Mocha gains nothing from us, there’s only one answer.
‘He’s interested not in his own gain, but in the harm he can inflict on others.’
If he acted this way not to help us, but to oppose the Lord—that would make sense.
I swallowed the suspicion I’d been harboring and asked Mocha directly.
“Mocha, what do you want from us?”
He didn’t answer, instead fussing with his clothing, patting it down methodically.
He removed the wig and crumpled it back into his pocket, rubbing his eyes and cheeks with his fingers to smudge away the makeup. It only made him look stranger, but Mocha didn’t seem to care.
After grooming himself like a cat for some time, Mocha finally lifted his gaze.
His sharp eyes curved into a peculiar smile.
“You see.”
His tone shifted subtly.
“I believe everyone in this world deserves to die. The Princess and her companions are no exception.”
In the darkness, his eyes gleamed with an eerie light.
“People commit too many sins in their lives. To repay those sins, they must die. They must die and face God’s judgment. Especially the people of Sodom.”
“….”
“I feel no pity even when I witness a child’s death. I don’t care what happens to anyone. They’re all destined to die anyway. The only reason I tried to save you was because you came all this way searching for your brother—it felt personal.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
Mocha tried to save me? When?
And what does he mean by “it felt personal”? Did his own brother disappear too?
I was about to ask immediately, but Mocha was faster.
The laughter faded from Mocha’s eyes as they suddenly shifted toward Praha.
“And there is indeed one person here truly destined to die.”
Without a trace of fear, Mocha met the Crown Prince’s gaze as he spoke.
“Before I depart, allow me to offer a prophecy.”
“…”
“It is the word of the god I serve.”
“…”
“Crown Prince Praha of the Empire. You shall meet your death at the hands of one who has already died once.”
* * *
“That man is a priest serving the Underworld God.”
“What? Not the god of excess and short lives?”
“The God of Indulgence is…”
“It’s all the same.”
When we first met him, didn’t he tell us to serve the God of Indulgence? So naturally I assumed he was a priest of that deity.
Now that I think about it, he never actually said directly that he was a priest of the God of Indulgence.
“How did you know, Praha?”
“The words that man left behind are typical of priests serving the Underworld God.”
I asked Praha, but Cyprus answered instead.
“Repay your sins by dying. Receive judgment after death. And so on and so forth. That’s how they tell people to come under their god’s influence through death.”
“Unbelievable.”
This is infuriating.
Why must we wait until death to receive judgment? Why can’t we simply face legal judgment in this world right now?
I shook my head and gazed at the spot where Mocha had vanished.
Mocha had simply disappeared, leaving behind only those unsettling words.
He’d vanished in an instant using the power of magical artifacts, so there was no way to catch him.
All that remained where he’d stood was the wrapper of a finished ice cream. Cyprus picked it up and disposed of it in the trash.
“Regardless, when exactly did he try to save me? When did I die without even knowing it?”
His words about trying to save me bothered me far more than the question of whose priest he actually was.
He tried to save me?
‘That sounds almost like everyone in this castle is destined to die, and he was trying to spare only me from that fate.’
And it also sounds like that attempt failed…
It’s all so unclear.
“…We need to hurry.”
I spoke to Praha and Cyprus, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Cyprus nodded, and we quickened our pace together.
“If you have something to say, spit it out clearly before you leave. What is this? It’s driving me crazy.”
As I grumbled, Praha chuckled softly beside me.
“Does it not concern you, Praha? They say you’ll meet your death at the hands of one who has already died.”
And apparently that’s a prophecy. Not a curse—a prophecy.
You only need to look at Oedipus Rex to understand how terrifying prophecies can be.
Even if it were a prophecy from the God of Indulgence, it would be unsettling, but coming from the Underworld God who despises Praha? It’s infinitely worse.
‘One who has already died.’
Isn’t that talking about a zombie?
I wanted to find salt somewhere and scatter it immediately, but Praha didn’t seem particularly concerned.
“If the God possessed the power to execute prophecies, he would have killed me long ago.”
“Right, it’s all bluster. I could make a prophecy like that too.”
Cyprus seemed to agree, laughing quietly to himself.
“Why don’t I give prophecy a try?”
Cyprus, who had been speaking with that smile, suddenly fell silent.
“…Cyprus?”
“”
“Cyprus!”
Why like that, so unsettling….
Cyprus, who hadn’t answered my call as I stopped and stared at him, gazed toward something in the distance with a vacant expression.
It was in the direction of the sealed Temple of Marriage God.
His voice emerged, slowed and distant.
“Crown Prince of the Empire, Praha. You are….”
[The Path Back to the Castle]
-Yusara, Praha, Cyprus (Alive)
-Mocha (Departed)

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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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