A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 15

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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 creature that had been too lazy to take a few steps now moved with terrifying speed.
“Close it!”
“Close it!”
“Shut it!”
The onlookers cried out in unison, but it was already too late.
The door, recognizing the command to open, began splitting apart on both sides of its own accord.
The moment a gap appeared, a hand shot up from below.
It was a hand with every fingernail broken.
“Grrgh!”
The Crown Prince stomped on that hand as if to crush it and attempted to close the door again, but it wouldn’t obey.
“It’s useless! Once it opens completely, that’s the only time it can close!”
“Grrgh!”
“Grrgh!”
“Kyaaah!”
Hands surging through the widening gap looked as though they were clawing up from the depths of hell itself.
Heads thrust forward one after another.
Burst open, torn, faces pooled with blood.
The zombies that had been crammed together in that narrow space erupted upward like springs released.
“Close it now!”
At last, the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince began forcing the fully opened door shut again.
The two men, each gripping one of the handles split to either side, pushed desperately against the open door. Veins bulged at their necks, and every muscle in their arms tensed with effort.
But.
“Kyeek!”
“Watch out, Praha!”
Closing the door while pressing down on the heads of zombies scrambling upward was far from easy.
The Portal entrance was larger than it appeared. While the two men were frantically trying to shut it, a couple of smaller-framed zombies managed to slip through.
The zombies, recognizing human prey, thrust out their hands and bared their teeth in competition.
‘They’re going to bite me…!’
“Your Highness!”
Dazling, having hurled the Troublemaker aside, rushed over. The Grand Duke, already lying prone and using his weight to force the door shut, threw a punch at the obstructing zombie.
The Crown Prince severed all the zombies’ arms at once with a cord wrapped around his wrist. Blood sprayed.
“Kyaaah!”
“Ugh…”
The Troublemaker, who had fallen backward on his rear, let out a groan of pain. But no one had the luxury to pay attention to him.
A zombie carrying a dead one on its back—fortunate enough that its head hadn’t been severed—was crawling toward us.
“…!”
I looked straight ahead.
The Grand Duke, forcing the door shut against the zombies trying to force their way through.
The Crown Prince, severing the arms and necks of zombies snapping their jaws near the Grand Duke’s hands.
Dazling, driving a blade into a zombie’s crown and using it to shove other zombies away.
A zombie crawling forward using only the strength of its arms, its lower body severed clean away.
There was no one to help on this side.
“Kyaaah!”
The zombie’s jaw snapped open, sinking its teeth into the shoe of the nearest Troublemaker.
“Ahhh!”
The unrestrained scream drew the Crown Prince’s and Grand Duke’s attention toward us.
“Praha!”
“Brother! Help me, help me!”
“Your Highness, this is dangerous!”
Dazling kicked the zombie lunging for the Crown Prince’s fingers, driving it back into the road.
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue and drove his blade into the mouth of the zombie clawing at his ankle.
Chaos erupted.
“Ahhh! Ahhh! Aaaahhh!”
The Troublemaker thrashed wildly, flailing his legs in desperation.
“Help me! Brother! Brother!”
But no one could break away.
If even one person abandoned their position now, we would all die.
“Heeeeelp!”
“Praha! Use your sword! You have a sword, don’t you!”
“Ahhh! Ahhh! Aaaaaaahhh!”
“Praha!”
Supporting Character 2 rushed over and handed the Troublemaker the sword he’d dropped earlier. The panicked Troublemaker barely managed to grasp it.
His trembling hands swung the blade without even drawing it from its sheath, and the first strike went wide.
“Grrgh!”
The second strike carved a wound into his own ankle.
“Ahhh! It hurts!”
That was the end of it.
“I can’t do this!”
The Troublemaker, his face streaked with tears and snot, clutched the sword and sobbed.
“What do we do!”
“This is going to end badly, please!”
Yujein and Supporting Character 2 reached out to try something, anything, but how could they without weapons?
The only blade we had, and the Troublemaker refused to let it go!
‘This is maddening! I’m going to lose my mind!’
I shouted at the Troublemaker.
“What are you doing! Kill it! Now!”
“I, I can’t!”
Damn it!
“Then at least give me the sword!”
“Ahhh! Aaaahhh! I can feel its teeth! I can feel its teeth!”
“Hand over the sword!”
“Save me, please!”
“Damn it…!”
Maddening!
That’s when I noticed the shield strapped to Troublemaker’s back.
I rushed forward and tore it from him.
“Mom, mom!”
I drove my fist into the thrashing Troublemaker’s skull.
“Let go!”
“Save me!!!”
“That’s why you need to let go! I’ll handle it!”
After a desperate struggle, I finally managed to rip the shield from Troublemaker’s back and lifted my head.
“Grrgh….”
The zombie that had already stripped Troublemaker’s shoes was opening its mouth again.
I brought the shield down on its head.
Thwack!
The zombie’s cheek snapped sideways, its crimson teeth bared.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Crown of the head, a glancing blow across the nose, back of the skull, a gurgling moan escaping from the face staring up at me, the nape of the neck….
I gritted my teeth and brought the shield down again and again.
Thwack! Crack!
‘If I don’t do this, I die.’
If I relaxed for even a moment, the zombie would shift its target and tear into me.
‘If I don’t. Do this. I die!’
I ignored the sickening sensation transmitted through my hands.
Again and again.
Until the pulped zombie released the ankle it was clutching and went limp.
Thud.
“Hah….”
Only when I was certain it was finally dead did I release the tension from my arms and stumble backward.
The shield I’d dropped rolled across the floor, but I had no strength to retrieve it.
“…Ugh.”
I spat onto the ground whatever blood or saliva had pooled in my mouth. My cheeks stung—I’d bitten the inside of my own mouth without realizing it.
I raised my exhausted eyes.
The Grand Duke stood with the door closed behind him, the Crown Prince’s face smeared with blood, Dazling with sweat-dampened hair hanging in his face.
Troublemaker stared up at me with a tear-streaked face. Three women had gone deathly pale.
They were all looking at me.
“…You don’t necessarily need to sever the head.”
“….”
“Seems like they die when the brain is destroyed.”
I started to wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, then stopped when I saw how filthy it was.
‘My palm must have split open again.’
It was uncomfortable and painful, but I lacked the energy to unwrap the handkerchief I’d tied around it instead of a proper bandage.
“….”
Disgusting. Revolting. My skin crawled.
‘Yusara, pull yourself together. This is nothing.’
Over there, some people had been relentlessly severing zombie necks and legs, so I couldn’t afford to lose my composure over something this trivial.
Thud… thud. Thud.
‘I need to focus on what’s in front of me.’
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Even though the Portal door had closed, the zombies’ frenzy didn’t subside easily once they’d detected a human presence.
The trapped zombies pounded against the Portal door with their heads and fists.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Grrgh!”
The zombies in the Corridor heard Troublemaker’s scream.
They began wandering through the Corridor, searching for the source of the sound.
I shoved a zombie away from Troublemaker, who still wore that vacant expression. He remained sitting there, staring at me stupidly, so I spoke to him.
“Hey.”
I immediately bent down and grabbed him by the collar.
Cousin of the Crown Prince or whatever.
I call the Crown Prince himself “hey,” so why should I care about his cousin?
“I don’t care if you die. If you’re going to die, do it away from me. Don’t drag me into danger.”
The common ground between possession and employment that I see at this point.
There are people who can’t do their jobs, only spout negativity, and cause trouble for others.
These types are hypersensitive to damage others inflict on them, yet oblivious that they’re the biggest nuisance themselves.
But until one of them either quits or dies, you have to! Keep! Staying! Together!
Watching them! Cause! Trouble! Constantly!
This idiot will keep doing this, and I’ll keep seething beside him….
But I can’t just abandon him either.
‘If I abandon someone just because they’re a nuisance, how am I different from this bastard who wants to leave me behind as dead weight?’
Now that I think about it, it’s unfair.
Both he and I act terribly, so why am I the only one called a villainess? Why doesn’t anyone call him a villain?
It’s infuriating! Waaah!
“You….”
Troublemaker’s dazed mind slowly returned, and his cheekbones flushed red with anger.
“How dare you, a mere maid, speak so to Imperial royalty….”
“Maid or royalty, we all become corpses the same way when bitten. I’m absolutely furious that I can’t abandon you here right now. Got it?”
“This… let go!”
“You’re struggling pretty well? Why didn’t you struggle like that against the corpse earlier?”
Why is a corpse with only half a body terrifying, but I’m easy prey while alive?
Even while I was saving his life, he seemed irritated at receiving a lecture from me. The Troublemaker raised his voice.
“Who do you think you are…!”
“Paprika.”
If not for the Crown Prince’s cold voice from behind me, I would have surely summoned every zombie in the neighborhood with my shouting this time.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Brother!”
The Troublemaker stretched out his arm as if asking to be helped up, but the Crown Prince ignored him. As the tall Crown Prince stood directly behind me, his shadow fell across my vision. He spoke.
“This is the second time you’ve put others in danger. If there’s a third time.”
The Crown Prince trailed off there, but the Troublemaker’s face was growing paler by the second.
“Brother, I’m sorry. I must have lost my mind for a moment. I wasn’t in my right mind from drinking. Today was just so exhausting… I, I’m completely sober now! I’m fine!”
“….”
“Y-yes, brother.”
‘Did he just threaten me with his hands?’
I turned to look back. The Crown Prince was blinking as if nothing had happened.
“Are you unharmed, my lady?”
“Yes.”
“Your palm has torn open again.”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Wait.”
The Crown Prince extended his hand and carefully lifted my right palm to examine it.
His fingers were warm.
Despite being soaked in blood and sweat, they felt remarkably clean.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“It would be best to receive treatment before we leave.”
“I can do it!”
Yujein, who had been watching, stepped forward, but I shook my head.
“Miss Yujein, you’re exhausted right now.”
“But….”
“I’m fine, so if you have any strength left, heal your own ankle instead.”
“But…!”
“Besides.”
I cut off Yujein’s protest and looked at the Crown Prince.
“I think we need to leave here immediately.”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
I gestured with my chin toward the trembling Portal door.
“We should use the Main Portal on the other side of the Garden.”
Despite my urging to leave at once, the Crown Prince remained unmoved.
He simply gazed down at my palm.
“Your Highness?”
“Yes.”
The Crown Prince, barely listening to my words, pulled out his own handkerchief from his pocket.
“Wait.”
Long fingers unwound the handkerchief that the Grand Duke had wrapped around my wrist in the Washroom earlier.
He pressed the soft white cloth against my lacerated palm, then wound the magical rope from his own wrist over it in careful layers.
Knowing the rope’s sharpness, I flinched for a moment, fearing he might sever my hand entirely, but the cord wrapped around my palm with surprising gentleness.
The Crown Prince glanced at my tense expression and offered an explanation.
“The rope’s sharpness can be controlled.”
“Ah….”
The Crown Prince examined the Grand Duke’s unwound handkerchief once, then discarded it on the floor.
“Shall we go then?”
“Yes.”
I clenched my palm, still feeling the sensation of those clean fingers.
“Oh, before that.”
Let me gather some items first.
[First Floor Kitchen of the Imperial Villa]
– 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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