A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 5

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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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Just before leaving the Sealed Room, Yujein cast a blessing upon our entire party.
“It alleviates fatigue and replenishes stamina. Nothing extraordinary, but….”
“It is more than sufficient. Thank you, Miss Yujein.”
Yujein, a commoner orphan raised in the Temple, had first caught the eye of noble society precisely because of this.
Holy power.
Though the Polytheistic Religion Empire had many priests, those capable of wielding such tangible holy power could be counted on one hand.
As far as I knew, Yujein’s holy power was, well… enough to heal a finger cut by paper.
‘Too weak, you say?’
The gods here were stingy, never granting their priests great divine authority.
That level of power was sufficient to become the Empire’s most renowned priest.
After pouring blessings upon multiple people at once, a wavering Yujein was steadied by the Grand Duke beside her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Your Highness, my hand….”
“It’s cold. If it troubles you….”
“It doesn’t trouble me! That’s not it. It’s just… my hand is cold….”
“That’s fine. I like cold hands.”
‘They’re quite the flirts.’
I brushed dust from my clothes with indifference, watching the romance unfold before my eyes.
See nothing. Hear nothing. Speak nothing.
Just like when my mentor and a colleague from the adjacent team were flirting in front of me during my rookie days.
It was the Troublemaker who shattered the romantic atmosphere.
Without so much as a word of gratitude, the Troublemaker rotated his arms about, complaining.
“You should’ve done this sooner. Maybe one of the knights wouldn’t have died.”
At those words, Yujein, who had been wiping cold sweat from her brow, flinched.
“I’m sorry….”
“Well, you don’t owe me an apology. I’m just saying.”
So this is what they mean by ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’
It was obvious that each blessing drained considerable stamina—why had you entrusted the blessings to her in the first place?
The Crown Prince furrowed his brow on behalf of the bewildered Yujein.
“Dazling, that’s enough.”
“Come on, be honest, brother…! She’s someone who normally wouldn’t dare stand among us, but thanks to her holy power, she’s made it this far—she should’ve been perceptive enough to act accordingly without being told. What is this?”
We don’t know how many of those monsters are out there, and we’ve lost a shield. Dazling grumbled.
‘Wow, I can think of a hundred harsh things to say to him right now.’
Just as the Crown Prince was about to speak again, Mascarpone interjected.
“Didn’t you hear? It’s a blessing that removes fatigue.”
Mascarpone shot back with the same tone she’d used to provoke me earlier.
“Did that knight die because he was tired? No. What Miss Yujein cast was a blessing, not defensive magic, was it?”
“What’s it to you, old woman….”
“Old woman or whatever—let’s move! We’ll be here till dawn at this rate!”
“Right, let’s go. I don’t like it here.”
I seized the opportunity without hesitation.
I felt like bowing to Mascarpone for voicing the words I’d been holding back.
‘Restraining myself is this difficult. Without Mascarpone, I probably would’ve gotten angry just now.’
She’d been sharp with me earlier, but if she treated everyone equally with that same bluntness, I could tolerate it.
“Yes, let’s go. I’m terrified….”
Supporting Character 2, reading the mood, chimed in as well.
With the women united in their plea, the Troublemaker couldn’t hold out any longer and fell silent.
Dazling quickly took the lead and opened the door.
* * *
Dazling and the Crown Prince, both skilled with weapons, led the way, while the Grand Duke guarded the rear, leaving the rest of us—unarmed and untrained—clustered in the middle.
Eight people total, yet only three capable of fighting.
Three people protecting five.
‘This is like getting stuck with a terrible team composition in a game. I’d delete my account on the spot.’
“Sigh.”
I was exhaling in frustration when—
“Ah, move.”
“Huh?”
The Troublemaker shoved my back roughly and squeezed past me to the front.
Pushed backward suddenly, I could only blink in bewilderment.
‘What?’
What was this.
‘I thought he’d be guarding the rear with the Grand Duke?’
Not because he was a man, but because he’d insisted earlier on taking a weapon and had grabbed a sword.
Yet he naturally shoved me aside and positioned himself in the middle row, surrounded by women—protected on all sides. Watching him wedge himself between the women, I sighed and stepped back into the rear line.
The Grand Duke, noticing me move to his side, subtly shifted to let me walk on the safer side.
“You should go to the front row, my lady.”
“It’s fine. Five of us can’t walk in a line anyway.”
I could probably stab a zombie’s neck with a paper knife. Or push it off balance by shoving its shoulder.
The Grand Duke tilted his head as he watched me stretch, swinging my arms in circles.
“You seem rather different today, somehow.”
“Do you mean I look more exhausted?”
“Rather than that….”
The Grand Duke leaned his waist toward me, casting a shadow across my face. I shrank my shoulders at the breath touching my ear.
“Your atmosphere feels different. Just now, you even helped Yujein.”
“I didn’t help her. Mascarpone did.”
“But you supported Mascarpone’s words to hurry along—isn’t that helping?”
He chuckled and scratched his cheek before continuing.
“I thought you’d be upset seeing Praha and Yujein together all afternoon. Yet you weren’t.”
His emerald eyes glimmered, catching the light from the corridor.
“With corpses wandering outside, does it matter if living people stay close together?”
I tossed it down, and a low chuckle escaped him.
“You’re really different.”
Because you’re a different person.
The Grand Duke observed me without bothering to hide his unspoken thoughts—something like ‘what wind blew to make this happen’—and I stared right back up at him.
He was handsome.
Like staring at a celebrity birthday advertisement plastered on the wall at Samseong Station on Line 2 late at night.
Glittering and brilliant, while the underground was shrouded in darkness, yet that billboard alone shone brilliantly. It felt like someone had taken the most radiant moment of a person’s life and pasted it there—that dazzling, luminous sensation.
I brushed off my wrist, thinking that with such pure blonde hair, it would shine even without a light source.
“Are you still tired? You’ve received a blessing.”
“My exhaustion isn’t the kind that can be erased by a blessing alone.”
“Then what would?”
The kind of tiredness that only an iced Americano can fix.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re quite cold.”
“Yes.”
Even as I spoke harshly, the Grand Duke only laughed.
It was widely known that after Yusara’s confession incident, the Grand Duke and Princess Yusara had become firmly estranged.
Therefore, no one found it strange that I treated the Grand Duke coldly.
Thanks to that, I could speak to the Grand Duke without reservation, just as my personality dictated—that one thing was convenient.
“Don’t talk to me. I’m too tired to even have the energy to respond…”
Yujein, who had been walking ahead, glanced back at me as I shut down the Grand Duke’s continued attempts at conversation.
Meeting those round, rabbit-like eyes, I finally closed my mouth.
Was she upset because her blessing had no effect?
I should keep quiet.
* * *
The villa we are in is a two-story building that looks like a ‘ㅜ’ shape when viewed from above.
The rightmost room on the second floor was the Sealed Room we had exited. There were no stairs on the right side, and in the center of the building stood the grand Central Staircase used by nobles, with a staircase for servants on the left.
Second Floor: Staircase/Central Staircase/Sealed Room
First Floor: Gallery/Kitchen/Dining Room
The Kitchen, our target, was located behind the ornate, expansive curved Central Staircase in the center.
From here, we’d go straight, turn the corner, spiral down the Central Staircase, and slip into the Kitchen behind it—simple enough.
‘The problem is that this simple structure is absurdly vast.’
As we walked down the long Corridor, the group’s conversation gradually dwindled. Even the Grand Duke, who had been teasing me, now wore a cautious expression as he surveyed our surroundings.
To ease my own tension, I let my mind wander to pointless thoughts.
-Yusara’s acrostic poem about the Crown Prince-
Crown: How honorable.
Prince: To be escorted by the Crown Prince and Grand Duke.
Self: I must boast about this.
As we drew near the Central Staircase, Supporting Character 2 spoke up.
“It’s so quiet… it makes me uneasy…”
Mascarpone, who had been biting her lip, spoke up.
“Wouldn’t it be better to return to our rooms right now?”
She seemed to be asking for the Crown Prince’s opinion, but he kept his gaze forward without responding. Instead, it was the Grand Duke who offered an explanation.
“With corpses rising and walking about, the building could collapse or catch fire at any moment. We can’t predict what else might happen, so escape must be our absolute priority. That’s why I’m taking all of you, armed or not.”
“But…”
Just then, the Crown Prince ahead of us whispered.
“Shh.”
At his word, everyone froze as if hitting the brakes.
Behind a massive horse sculpture—just around the corner lay the Central Staircase.
A knight stood there.
Without being told, everyone held their breath.
“…”
The Crown Prince raised his left hand, which held no sword, and crossed two fingers, shaking them. Dazling immediately raised his shield to protect the group.
The Crown Prince approached the knight’s back in just a few silent steps.
“Grrrrgh…”
When the knight’s eyes—covered as if by a white film—turned toward us.
Squelch.
The Crown Prince severed the knight’s neck.
Only after the Crown Prince returned did everyone dare to speak.
Deliberately ignoring the dismembered knight scattered in the corner of the Corridor.
“They can’t see us.”
“It seems they sense their surroundings through hearing or smell rather than sight.”
“Do all the walking corpses work that way?”
“Your Highness, what do you think?”
“…”That’s not the problem.”
The Crown Prince’s expression was grave. So was Dazling’s, who stood at the very front alongside him.
The Crown Prince, his brow furrowed, gestured toward the Central Staircase. Since we had to turn the corner, we couldn’t see it from here.
The murmuring people fell silent and pressed close behind Dazling and the Crown Prince.
“Ah!”
“Ugh…”
There was a mountain of corpses.
Along the broad, curved staircase—wide enough that two people lying end to end would still have room—dozens of bodies lay discarded like broken mannequins: necks severed, arms cut off, torsos split in half.
Blood from the pile of dismembered corpses flowed down the stairs like a ravine stream.
Drip, drip, drip…
Only after registering the sight did the acrid stench wash over us.
A fingerless hand jutting out from the top step, a young man with his abdomen split open placed at the highest point, spilled intestines, the cross-section of a severed neck.
“Ah!”
In an instant, Yujein, stumbling backward, stepped on my foot.
I, my mind reeling as I stared at the pile of corpses, couldn’t dodge Yujein as she came toward me.
Her tall, pointed heel caught and slid across my instep.
Yujein and I tumbled down together in a tangled heap.
“Oof!”
“Oh my!”
“Miss Yujein!”
“Are you alright?!”
“Ah, yes… I’m fine.”
That man’s shoes—I should have known something was off about them.
I rubbed my throbbing ankle and lifted my head.
Two large hands came into view, extended toward me.
“Ah, thank you….”
I hesitated before reaching for either hand to pull myself up.
Both male leads stood before Yujein and me, hands outstretched.
More precisely, they were both offering their hands to Yujein.
The male leads looked flustered, noticing my frozen state.
Nothing but empty space before me.
‘Are you alright?!’
That question wasn’t directed at me after all….
[Imperial Villa Second Floor Corridor]
Dazling/Crown Prince
Yujein/Troublemaker/Mascarpone/Supporting Character 2
Grand Duke/Yusara
(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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