A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 21

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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 world flipped over several times.
My mind was utterly scattered.
As my vision spun in dizzying circles, all I could feel were the firm arms and chest enveloping me, the scent of soap mingling between blood and sweat.
A familiar fragrance, like one I’d been buried in before.
“Hah, hah….”
“Ha….”
When our tumbling bodies finally stilled, the world contained nothing but the sound of our breathing.
“Hah….”
I lifted my head, and our eyes met.
The Crown Prince’s ragged breath spilled messily across my cheek.
Beyond him, the hazy night sky stretched overhead.
As I felt his breath, he felt mine in equal measure.
Thump, thump, thump….
We remained silent for a long moment, sensing each other’s heartbeat.
“I was worried.”
I spoke suddenly.
“I was worried. Because you didn’t come.”
The Crown Prince blinked softly before answering gently.
“That’s why I came back. So you wouldn’t worry.”
“….”
“Were you waiting for me?”
“Yes.”
“It was good that I returned. Though I did set quite a fire.”
“…That’s a lie.”
“…?”
“This isn’t ‘quite’ a fire—you burned everything down!”
Where did he get off downplaying it like that! He’d incinerated the whole place!
“I see.”
“You do.”
“Well, now that I know how to set fires, I suppose I only need to learn cooking next.”
“What?”
“The ceremonial food. The offering we promised to make for our ancestors.”
We did agree to make an effort, the Crown Prince said, rising to his feet.
The moment the man blocking out the smoke above me moved away, I was engulfed in it again.
“Cough, cough….”
The Crown Prince steadied me as I stumbled. I grasped his arm and stood, looking ahead.
“…Insane.”
A wall had collapsed directly onto the tree that had sheltered Consomme and me.
“Your Highness! Miss!”
“Are you both alright?!”
Between the stones piled as high as a person’s head, I could see Consomme and Papri frantically shuffling their feet.
I didn’t expect Consomme to remain, but Papri? The time I’d spent overlapped with the Crown Prince must have been shorter than I thought.
‘It felt like an eternity.’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Papri’s narrow eyes rapidly scanned the pile of stones between him and us.
And then.
“Tch!”
Without hesitation, he turned his back and bolted away.
I didn’t even expect it, you bastard!
“Papri!”
Consomme, desperately calling after Papri, turned to look at us.
“Cough, cough! Are you two alright?!”
“Yes! We’re fine! Go ahead!”
“But!”
“Hurry! Don’t lose sight of the others!”
“No! I’ll dig through some of these stones here!”
“We promised! No matter what happens behind us, we run!”
“Miss!”
“I’m not saying I’m dying! We’ll find our own way out! Just go and rejoin the others!”
Even as we spoke, smoke was accumulating in our lungs!
“You must go first, Consomme. The Garden will end soon anyway.”
“Did you hear that! Go on!”
“But still!”
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! We’ll all suffocate at this rate!”
I urged the hesitant Consomme to go only as far as the Black Palisade Gate and sent her off.
“Tell them not to lock the gate!”
“Hurry back! I’ll wait for you!”
Consomme disappeared, glancing back several times even as she ran. I sighed and looked at the Crown Prince.
His eyes were stinging too, it seemed. He was nearly squinting one eye shut while tapping the stone pile here and there with his elbow.
“Thank you for saving me, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Praha.”
“Pardon?”
“My name is Praha.”
“Ah. Yes. Your Highness the Crown Prince Praha.”
“….”
I think he just glared at me.
The Crown Prince, who seemed quite attached to his own name….
‘…Good grief.’
☆Praha☆ approached me.
Stones in front, zombies behind, smoke in the air. It seemed hopeless, yet Praha remained composed.
“The collapse made quite a noise. The corpses are gathering.”
He was right. The ground was trembling.
Burning zombies were rushing toward us. Even I could sense it.
At first, there was only the vibration.
“Grrrrgh!”
“Kyaaah!”
Soon, sounds began to reach our ears.
“Crown Prince Praha?”
“Yes.”
“I want to be helpful too, but I can’t think of anything! I’m so sorry for being useless! But… are we going to die like this?!”
“No.”
Praha spoke simply and extended his hand to me.
He grasped my hand, which lay lightly across his palm, then shifted our position and interlaced our fingers.
“This is better.”
He said it briefly.
Without hesitation, he kicked the side of the collapsed wall.
Crash!
“What are you doing?!”
“There’s no path, so I’ll break through.”
So he’s going to break through the stone wall right now?!
But Praha accomplished that impossible feat.
Thud, thud, crash! Rumble.
“Let’s go.”
“Y-yes.”
Just as I had run while holding Consomme’s hand, now Praha ran while holding mine.
He collapsed the wall with his feet while dragging one person along, then swung his blade to strike down the zombies that burst forth.
“Kieek!”
“Argh!”
Not to be outdone, I drove my elbow into the nose of a zombie that appeared beside me.
‘Zombies bleed from their noses too!’
“Impressive.”
“Thanks to you!”
Obscured vision. Smoke. The stench of blood. Gray dust scattering before my eyes each time I opened them. Stinging pain. And amid it all, the only warmth—his hand.
When we finally burst through the cursed Garden’s palisade gate.
“Kyaak!”
A zombie suddenly appeared, its mouth gaping wide.
Thud!
Consomme appeared beside the zombie and struck it with a chair leg.
Dazling and the Grand Duke, who had rushed over, closed the gate behind us.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Kyaaaah!”
The zombies were blocked by the Black Palisade Gate by the narrowest of margins.
Dazling wedged his sword through the gate in place of a bolt, locking it shut.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Shriek!”
“Screech!”
“Damn, I almost died that time… Hey, Consomme!”
She’d just killed the zombie so effectively, yet here she was swaying on her feet. I rushed to catch her.
“Gasp… huff… Did I manage to help at all?”
Consomme’s entire face was smudged gray with ash, yet she beamed brilliantly. Tears, mucus, and saliva clung to her, but she didn’t seem to care.
She blinked incessantly, trying to wipe her eyes with her hands, only for fresh tears to stream down. I thrust my thumb up right in front of her face.
“Did you really just ask that? You were help itself!”
One shot, one kill!
She’d smashed a zombie’s skull in with a single blow!
Is this really the same person who walks five minutes a day?!
Why don’t you come back to Korea with me and become a baseball player!
“Without you, Consomme, the Crown Prince and I—I mean, Praha, the Crown Prince—we’d be dead here! Thank you!”
“Thank goodness…”
“Yes! Truly! We almost had a joint funeral… What’s wrong with your feet?!”
Consomme’s feet, clad in torn slippers, were covered in oozing wounds. Had her toenails been ripped off while running? Broken? Her big toe looked deformed.
Consomme glanced down at her own feet and laughed weakly.
“I stepped on something hot while running. It’s fine. We’re almost there anyway.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Screech!”
Well… strictly speaking, it didn’t seem like we were quite there yet. But it was close enough.
I shouldn’t contradict my savior.
“This way!”
The Grand Duke shouted.
Clang! Clang!
“Shrieeeek!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Zombies charged at full speed and crashed against the Black Palisade Gate, their numbers growing by the second. The sound continued—like wet clay being hurled against a wall.
“Hurry! I don’t think it will hold much longer!”
Before I could even feel relief at finally escaping that wretched Villa, I had to run again.
“Growl!”
“Shriek!”
The only barrier between the zombies and us was the Black Palisade Gate.
The gate, which served no function beyond decoration, swayed violently under the onslaught of the approaching horde.
Dozens of zombies clawed at the gate, shrieking.
“Where are all these things coming from!”
“We have to go before it collapses!”
“Cough, cough!”
Fortunately, just a few dozen meters ahead stood a long wooden palisade.
I could sense it instinctively.
A palisade erected to protect the Portal.
“Just past that!”
The Grand Duke rushed forward without hesitation and shoved the gate attached to the palisade.
“Praha! Do you have the key?!”
“I do!”
Praha sprinted over and inserted the key hanging from his neck into the lock.
“Hurry!”
After several fumbling attempts, the key finally turned.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“It won’t open!”
“What’s happening?!”
“The door is locked from the inside!”
“Damn it!”
Clang clang clang!
“Kyaaaah!”
“What do we do! What do we do! Brother! Brothers!”
“Climb over!”
Without time to think, I pointed toward the top of the palisade.
“Someone just needs to get over and open it from the other side!”
“Dazling!”
At Praha’s command, Dazling launched himself forward.
He stumbled once, but quickly braced himself against the wall and vaulted over.
However.
“There’s no way to open it from this side either! You’ll all need to climb over!”
Dazling shouted from beyond the wall.
“Come over one at a time! I’ll catch you on this side!”
Clang clang clang!
“Damn it!”
The Troublemaker was the first to rush at the palisade.
Thud!
“No…!”
There were four people who needed to be lifted up, and if that bastard went first—!
“Papri! What about the others! If you climb over alone, what will happen to them!”
“You crazy bitch! Now you’re worried about other people?!”
“Papri!”
“You said you’d catch us, so why are you just standing there spouting nonsense! You heartless wretch!”
Clang!
“Grrrrgh!”
But there was no time for blame.
Clang, clang, clang!
Praha and the Grand Duke, the two left behind, had to hoist me, Yujein, Mascarpone, and Consomme up.
“The young ladies first, please!”
Praha and the Grand Duke extended their hands toward me, standing closest to them, but I was already pushing Consomme and Yujein’s backs forward.
“The vulnerable ones first!”
Get the injured ones up!
“Kyaaaah!”
Clang!
At this rate, it’ll collapse!
Oblivious to how the others had fallen silent at my words, I kept my anxious gaze fixed solely on the zombies beyond the palisade.
Clatter!
The sword Dazling had wedged in place of the bolt was slipping out.
“What are you doing?!”
I urged Praha and the Grand Duke on urgently.
The two, having received Consomme and Yujein, looked at me with expressions full of things to say before immediately hoisting both women upward.
Meanwhile, I kept glancing back.
Clang, clang, clang.
The sword’s slipping, slipping….
“Push harder, please!”
“Grab right above your head!”
Praha and the Grand Duke practically threw the two women upward, but the wooden palisade was so slippery it wasn’t easy.
Clang, clang, clang.
It’s slipping, slipping… if the sword falls….
Crash!
It fell!
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
They’re coming!
“Hey!”
I grabbed Mascarpone’s forearm as she stood beside me, bouncing nervously, and pulled her toward me.
Startled, she looked at me as I recklessly thrust my head between her legs.
I forcibly gripped her thrashing thighs and hoisted her onto my shoulders.
“Hold on! Grab anything! Step on me and climb up!”
“What?!”
“Step on me and climb up!”
[Imperial Villa Main Portal]
– Yusara, Yujein, Praha, Grand Duke, Dazling, Mascarpone, Consomme, Troublemaker (Survived)

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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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