A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 51

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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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Chapter 8. Jumong, Gwanggaeto the Great, and Heungseon Daewongun
That evening, the source of the problem.
“Well, everyone?”
“Yes?”
“I’m truly grateful that all three of you came out of consideration for me. However, I have a prior engagement.”
“…Yes?”
“A prior…engagement?”
….
“But why!”
Praha, Cyprus, and Yujein stared at me as though I’d struck them from behind.
Even the maids assigned to me looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
By the way, that “But why!” just now—one of my maids said it.
‘Are the maids in this fantasy world like audience members on Earth?’
I offered an awkward smile before those shocked faces.
“I promised to dine with Smoothie this evening.”
“…Who?”
“Smoothie. The steward of Promae Castle.”
“Who is that?”
“The pale-faced man with glasses who sat beside me at yesterday’s banquet.”
“Ah….”
“We spoke yesterday, and our conversation flowed quite naturally.”
It was like meeting someone from the same profession in this other world.
Only then did Cyprus nod vaguely, his expression utterly unconvinced.
“You seem to have grown quite close to him.”
“He was with the young lady all yesterday.”
Unlike Cyprus, Praha seemed to remember who Smoothie was. His expression was composed.
‘Or rather, was it composed?’
He looked somewhat dejected….
In any case, considering how awkward my position would have become had I chosen any of Praha, Cyprus, or Yujein.
Making a prior arrangement with Smoothie was nothing short of foresight.
A brilliant choice, one might say.
“Then, my lady… you can’t go with me today?”
“I’m sorry, Yujein.”
“No, it’s fine….”
Yujein’s dejected expression.
Originally, I’d made the arrangement because both Praha and Cyprus seemed like they’d want to go with Yujein, and I worried only I would be left in an awkward position.
“You’re all so considerate… Hahaha!”
Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha….
“Well then, I’ll be going….”
The expressions of those three as they watched me laugh vibrantly and slip away….
I have no idea what the three of them discussed after their master left, or how they ended up pairing off for the banquet.
“My lady!”
“Smoothie! Were you perhaps thinking of dining out today?”
Smoothie and I had changed our plans and eaten omelets in Prome Village instead.
We even toured Smoothie’s office.
It was a very comfortable evening.
“This must be it!”
Tangerine’s bright, melodious voice jolted me awake from my reverie about that evening.
I stopped my feet, which had been moving mechanically, and lifted my head.
A slippery rocky mountain where one misplaced step could spell disaster.
The steep slope that made me wonder if we should be crawling rather than walking finally ended, opening into a clear vista ahead.
A thunderous roar of water—one I’d somehow failed to hear until now—echoed through the Gorge.
“…Do you suppose we have to go behind that?”
Behind the waterfall, which cascaded down like a curtain, a space was visible.
“There’s a side path here. It looks like we’ll have to go around and enter from there.”
Cyprus, with his keen eyes, pointed to the side of the waterfall.
It was called a side path, but it was essentially a series of stepping stones.
“It’s wet.”
“Tell me about it! It’s already slippery! Should we take off our shoes?”
“If someone were to slip and fall into the water…”
“They’d be swept away in an instant.”
“Grand Duke, wasn’t there supposed to be an abandoned Temple somewhere on this mountainside?”
“There was. Why? Are you suggesting we meet there if we get separated by the current?”
“No. I meant we should stop by on our way back after we’re done and offer prayers for the departed.”
“My lady, I’m scared…”
“I’m a good swimmer!”
I said it lightly, but we still needed to be careful.
If we fell, we were done for.
“Phew.”
My legs, already exhausted from the continued climb, moved as I stepped onto the stone, worn smooth and shiny.
Tangerine, Yujein, Cyprus, myself, and Praha walked single file along the narrow side path.
“I think I’d rather crawl at this point…”
I could hear Yujein’s whimpering voice from ahead, but there was no time to tease her.
Behind me, as I walked with my arms awkwardly spread and my body tense, Praha followed silently.
It seemed he was ready to catch me if I slipped.
“Crown Prince Praha.”
“Yes.”
“I think Your Highness might need my help this time?”
I pointed alternately at Praha’s feet—clearly over 290 centimeters—and the cat-fist-sized stepping stones lined up below.
“Being too large has its drawbacks too. Come on.”
I extended my hand to help.
When I wiggled my fingertips to urge him to take it, he hesitated.
“Hurry.”
After prompting once more, he finally grasped my hand slowly.
His grip was so cautious, wrapping around my fingertips so gently, that I could barely feel it.
Water sprayed from the Waterfall dampened Praha’s hair.
Watching Praha step carefully across the stones, I couldn’t help but smile.
“See? It was good that you took my hand, wasn’t it?”
When our eyes met, Praha murmured as if sighing.
“Yes. Thank you.”
At the same time, he squeezed the hand he was holding, then slowly released it.
“I crossed safely thanks to you, my lady.”
“Hehe.”
Cyprus, who had been watching us from ahead, interjected.
“My lady, surely Praha didn’t ask you for help?”
“No. I just helped him on my own.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Well, you see, we have long strides, so we could easily jump across without stepping on those few stones in one go….”
“Be quiet.”
A pebble thrown by Praha struck Cyprus’s shoulder.
“Ow ow ow! I almost slipped! My lady, help me!”
They’re having fun.
“No, I’m asking for help!”
I should ignore them.
After much effort, we finally arrived behind the Waterfall.
“Wow….”
Behind the cascading curtain of water lay the Ancient Labyrinth, positioned like a secret cave of a martial arts master.
More precisely, the tightly sealed entrance to the labyrinth.
It had that martial arts novel aesthetic.
Only those with the proper qualifications could open this firmly sealed door.
And once opened, inside would be the corpse of a legendary master sitting in lotus position, ready to crumble into dust at the slightest touch.
Where the corpse turned to dust, there would be inner cores, elixirs, secret martial arts manuals, kimchi fried rice, and all manner of treasures.
Exactly that kind of aesthetic.
“Why aren’t you helping me! This is discrimination!”
“Please be quiet. This massive stone must be the door, right?”
“Looking at the carved patterns, it seems correct.”
“But how do we open it?”
“It doesn’t seem like it would open just by pushing hard….”
“Unfortunately, it won’t.”
Cyprus, making a whimpering sound as he gazed upward, spoke.
“If we pull that down, I believe the door will open.”
Looking up, I could indeed see something protruding sharply.
It looked like a lever.
But here’s the problem.
“How are we supposed to reach that?”
Even if Yusara stood on Cyprus who stood on Praha, we’d barely reach it.
= Impossibly high.
“Jumping to grab it is… obviously out of the question.”
“If we could jump high enough to grab that, we could just hop back and forth between the Capital and here for our commute.”
Hop! Off to work.
Hop! Heading home ^0^/
I stared at the lever intently, but no viable method came to mind.
For reference, I only know two ways to open doors.
1. Open sesame.
2. Alohomora.
Neither works here. Different world, different rules.
“What if we climbed up using these wooden vines?”
“They’ll snap. Since this is a rocky mountain, even the few vines here aren’t particularly sturdy.”
Cyprus, who demonstrated by pulling the vine and snapping it with a crack, turned to look at Praha.
“Can you do it?”
“Yeah.”
Looking to the side, I saw Praha lowering the bow from his back.
‘Is he planning to attach a ring to an arrow and shoot it to catch the lever? The angle seems awkward though.’
I may be descended from Jumong, but to pull off something like that, I’d need the actual Jumong himself, not just his descendant.
However, the one Praha looked at while nocking his arrow was Tangerine.
Tangerine nodded, and Praha released the arrow.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Three thick iron arrows with sharpened tips pierced through the stone wall and embedded themselves.
It was an incredible display of force.
And Tangerine, rushing from behind.
Used the arrows Praha had planted as footholds and climbed up the stone wall.
“Hup!”
She pulled the lever and slid back down smoothly.
Rumble.
The door began to open.
“Insane…”
No wonder this labyrinth looked like something out of a martial arts novel. There was a master of the martial world here.
“As expected.”
Cyprus clapped his hands together in applause.
“How did you manage to turn your body at the end?”
Praha was earnestly trying to learn the technique.
“Your Highnesses can’t do it! If you two heavy ones step on the arrow shaft, it’ll snap!”
Tangerine boasted proudly.
She had every right to.
‘Tangerine is amazing.’
I need to work out harder too.
Rumble.
A thick stone wall, easily two meters or more in height, ground open to reveal the labyrinth beyond.
The first thing I felt was a wave of hot air rushing toward us.
“It’s hot.”
“Indeed.”
Water sprayed from all directions, distinctly different from the cool air outside.
Combined with that stale smell that emerges when you first turn on the air conditioning after winter.
The faint breeze blowing from within was faithfully carrying that odor straight to our noses.
“I’m starting to not want to go in.”
Shouldn’t a cave be colder once sunlight is blocked out? Why is it hotter?
“There’s no light inside. We’ll need to bring torches.”
“We have to walk around carrying fire in this heat?”
“What if three of us carry torches and two of us fan ourselves while we go?”
I peered inside, spouting nonsense (though I meant it seriously).
A ceiling far higher than expected. Crumbling stone fragments beneath my feet. Clustered densely on walls that looked dark navy blue….
“There are bugs inside!”
“Aaahhh!”
“They’re the size of a fist!”
“They have ten legs!”
I genuinely didn’t want to go in.
Despite the grandiose name of the ‘Ancient Labyrinth,’ it wasn’t actually a particularly high-difficulty location.
‘We wouldn’t have come if it were.’
We didn’t have the time.
While it was true we needed to obtain sacred relics to strengthen our combat power, the risk was too great to stake our lives on it.
Historical records indicated that quite a few people had conquered this place, though it was in the distant past.
They would navigate the labyrinth to prove their faith, and in return, they would receive the blessings of God.
‘It’s like a dungeon of sorts.’
But as magic and science advanced and divine authority weakened, it had become an abandoned place that no one visited anymore.
“It’s dark… It’ll get darker the further we go from the entrance, won’t it?”
“It would be best to allow our eyes to adjust to the darkness sufficiently before we proceed.”
“If anyone is desperately hungry, needs to use the restroom, feels unwell somewhere, or has any urgent business to attend to before entering… please tell this Tangerine, who has the heaviest lips in the world.”
“It’s not urgent, but I am curious about something.”
“Yes, Princess?”
“Tangerine, if you keep talking that long, won’t your tongue get sore…?”
I, Yusara, am the type to defuse tension with nonsense.
“What are you saying, Princess!”
‘What do you mean, what. It’s a play on words.’
Fortunately, the Empire’s word for “sore” sounded similar to Tangerine’s name.
I ushered Tangerine, who was giggling away, and the rest of the group inside.
I squinted my eyes as much as possible to avoid looking at the massive insect clinging to the wall.
Nothing happened to us even as the entrance became a faint dot in the distance.
“Hmm, this seems better than expected….”
Just as Cyprus, tilting his head, was about to say that.
Rumble.
The entrance to the Ancient Labyrinth behind us was closing.
Rumble.
And the ceiling above began to descend.
[Ancient Labyrinth Entrance]
– Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (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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