A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 52

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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 ceiling descends toward the floor.
The door closes behind us.
Slowly at first, just as it had opened, but now unmistakably sealing shut—the light shrinks with each passing moment.
“Run!”
“Get out!”
Panic seized us, and without hesitation, we bolted toward the entrance that had already receded far behind.
As I stumbled while desperately changing direction, Praha caught me around the waist.
“Tangerine!”
“Yes!”
Summoned, Tangerine sprinted ahead toward the entrance, followed by Praha carrying me and Cyprus carrying Yujein.
“Hold on tight!”
At that speed, I suddenly realized they had been holding back their pace all this time for Yujein and me—the weaker ones.
Running at this velocity while bearing nearly fifty kilograms on his back.
‘That time I offered to hold Praha’s hand… I was being presumptuous.’
With strides this long, a few stepping stones would have posed no obstacle whatsoever.
He had taken my hand without complaint, simply to spare my embarrassment.
If only these three had been here from the start, we would have cleared the entire Maze Entrance and escaped long ago.
Screech!
Tangerine skidded to the entrance and shoved the closing door with both arms.
“Ugh!”
Muscles rippled across Tangerine’s rolled-up sleeves, straining to their limit. After pushing with extended arms proved futile, she threw her full weight against it, using her back instead.
“It won’t budge, Your Highness! It’s impossible!”
A stone door of such thickness could never be stopped by human strength alone.
I understood instantly.
‘Once that door closes, it won’t open again. Not until someone outside opens it.’
If we become trapped in here, there’s no way out on our own.
We’d be crushed by the descending ceiling while pounding at the door.
The ceiling that even now continues its descent from above.
The only saving grace was this:
Click!
“Are you unharmed, my lady?”
“I’m fine! Your Highness, are you?!”
“I am as well.”
We were moments away from escape.
‘They must be incredibly fast…’
Daylight now illuminated Praha’s cheek. Tangerine stepped aside from the wall she’d been pushing.
“Phew…”
Color returned to Yujein’s pallid cheeks as she came into view beside me.
But the moment relief washed over us, an inexplicable force erupted from the ceiling.
“Ahhh!”
“Ugh!”
I was torn away from Praha and Cyprus, along with Yujein.
And we were hurled deep into the opposite side of the entrance.
Crash!
“Ahhh!”
Deeper inside, farther from the entrance than where we’d started.
The moment my body hit the ground, I rolled with the impact and surveyed my surroundings.
“Ugh…”
My neck wrenched painfully as my head struck the floor first.
I managed to regain my bearings by rolling through several rotations.
But Yujein, who flew much farther and crashed spine-first into the stone wall, seemed to have absorbed the full brunt of the impact.
I watched her body convulse before going limp.
“Yujein!”
Without hesitation, I rushed toward her.
Shaking my dizzy head, I cupped her cheeks in my hands.
“Yujein! Are you alright?!”
There was no time to wait for an answer. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up without waiting for a response.
I draped her limp arm across my shoulders.
Only then did it occur to me that she might have injured her spine, and lifting her carelessly could make things worse.
‘But staying here means getting crushed by the ceiling, which is just as bad!’
“Yujein! Come to your senses!”
“Mmm…”
Supporting Yujein as she let out only faint groans, I looked ahead.
The exit that had been right before us moments ago—that opening where light poured through—was now impossibly far away.
So distant that the three people standing there appeared no larger than my fingertip.
Which meant…
‘We might not make it before the door closes.’
Now I understood why no help was coming.
“…Your Highness!”
“…Holy One!”
The Maze Entrance was closing by the second. A gelatinous barrier materialized around the door that separated the inside from the outside of the Maze.
The three of them, similarly thrown by the wind and battered from wherever they’d crashed, were trapped outside the Maze, pounding against that barrier and unable to re-enter.
“Are you unharmed?!”
“Damn it!”
Once you left the door, there was no returning through it.
Despite all three of them—strong as they were—pounding, pushing with their bodies, and straining with all their might, they couldn’t penetrate the gelatinous wall. They could only use their own bodies to prevent the door from closing further.
Already, more than half the door was sealed shut.
“Yusara!”
“I’m fine!”
There was no choice. Yujein and I had to make it through on our own.
“Why did only Yujein get blown so far away!”
If you were going to fly anyway, you should’ve headed straight for the exit!
There was no time to complain.
I steadied Yujein as she collapsed toward the ground.
“Stay with me!”
“…Your… Highness…”
“Yes! Don’t lose consciousness!”
“Just leave me behind…”
“Losing consciousness might be better at this point!”
“No, I…”
“What do you mean ‘no’!”
Silence. She must have passed out.
I grabbed her arm draped across my shoulder and half-ran, half-walked forward.
No matter how small Yujein was, her full weight pressed down on me—it was heavy.
To make matters worse, a fierce wind began to blow. In the opposite direction we were heading.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Was this the labyrinth of the God of Wind instead of the God of Light?
“Even if I don’t care, she’s a priestess who serves you!”
Are you trying to kill your own followers?
One step. Two steps.
Squeezing every ounce of strength from my entire body.
Facing the wind with my whole body—wind so fierce that even standing still was difficult.
Walking was already hard enough, and yet I was trying to push for speed.
“…Ugh…!”
My skin was going to tear off at this rate!
I barely managed to open my eyes, which were streaming with tears from the cold, and looked toward the entrance.
I could see three people desperately trying to buy time with the closing door.
Cyprus reached out his hand as he watched me struggling toward them, but once again a wall blocked the way.
“Yusara!”
Cyprus’s face twisted in anguish as he pounded his fist against the wall.
‘I’m going to cry, I’m going to cry…’
I’m doing my best, so please don’t worry.
The silver lining was that I could see moss and dust from inside the labyrinth being swept outward, which meant getting from inside to outside shouldn’t be a problem.
“Ugh!”
In that brief moment, I fell forward along with Yujein, who was crumbling beneath me.
This wouldn’t do. I slipped my hands under Yujein’s shoulders and lifted her up.
I laid her back against the ground and, gripping her, dragged her along.
I didn’t care if Yujein’s back got scraped raw or her ankles twisted because of me.
“Haaah!”
Because right now, I’m absolutely exhausted!
Walking backward while half-sobbing like that.
“I… made it!”
I turned around at the sensation of the gelatinous wall touching my back.
Now the door remained open only wide enough for a single person to barely slip through.
“Princess!”
Praha’s expression twisted as he looked at me.
Praha drew his sword and wedged it vertically between the wall and the door.
Desperately trying to hold back the closing door.
I couldn’t bear to meet Praha’s anguished gaze.
I threw all my strength into pushing through the barrier.
The problem was.
This gelatinous wall was unexpectedly solid.
It would let through leaves or dust, but it resisted fiercely as if refusing to let a person pass.
My body bounced back hard against that force.
“Princess!”
A sharp crack.
The blade, bent and then snapped, sent fragments grazing past Cyprus’s shoulder.
Unbothered, Cyprus drew his own sword and wedged it between the door and the stone wall.
Watching the blade immediately begin to bend, I understood.
This gelatinous wall was solid.
The door was nearly shut.
Weakened as I was, there was no way Yujein and I could both escape through this wall.
I had to choose.
Either abandon Yujein now and push through with all my remaining strength alone.
Or try to drag Yujein, who couldn’t even support her own body, through together and end up wedged ambiguously between the door and barrier, dying.
We couldn’t both make it.
A sharp crack…
The fading light from outside.
‘Yusara. Think rationally.’
I had to judge this logically.
If I didn’t want the door to close with both of us trapped inside, dying together.
Rationally.
At least one of us had to survive.
“…Ugh!”
I grabbed beneath Yujein’s shoulders and positioned her in front of me.
“I’m sorry!”
I pushed her back.
Yujein, unable to steady herself, was propelled forward by my force.
I pushed once more.
Toward the door.
Yujein’s small frame initially met resistance from the barrier, but soon slipped through with a soft whoosh.
“I’m through!”
Praha, standing ahead, caught Yujein as she emerged from the gelatinous wall.
A narrow escape….
Thud.
The door slammed shut.
I was left alone in the Maze.
“….”
I couldn’t see anything.
The torches we’d each been holding had rolled away somewhere in the chaos and extinguished, leaving the Maze interior in complete darkness.
“Ugh!”
My disoriented body crashed into something.
My head throbbed.
But I kept running.
Before the descending ceiling could crush me.
“It should be around here…!”
Thump.
Dizzy and off-balance, my body pitched forward onto the ground.
Crawling along the floor from where I’d fallen.
“….”
I realized the ceiling had stopped moving.
“Ha….”
I didn’t understand why, but I was alive….
A sigh escaped from deep within my chest.
“Insane….”
I survived….
“I survived….”
Though the fact remained that I was trapped alone in the Maze.
At least I’d escaped the crushing death.
Thank goodness.
I was honestly terrified.
“Why did the door suddenly close? What was that chaos…. Ugh, my head.”
I lay flat on my back on the ground.
The impact from hitting my head earlier was catching up with me now. I breathed heavily and glared at the barely visible ceiling.
After staring at it for a long while, I confirmed it had completely stopped, then pushed myself up to sit.
“I must look like a complete mess right now.”
My neck might be bruised. My limbs were definitely all scraped up.
Thank goodness I wore long sleeves.
Though I couldn’t see in the darkness, I wouldn’t be surprised if something was broken somewhere on my body.
Once my strength returned a bit, I’d need to find that bag I’d abandoned and light a fire.
“I’m glad I learned how to light a fire from Cyprus.”
It’s true—everything you learn has its use.
Wait. Do I have any water to drink?
“I taste blood in my mouth.”
I gathered what little saliva remained and forced myself to swallow, surveying the darkness that surrounded me.
My companions were surely still outside.
Whether they were or weren’t, I was trapped here alone.
I needed to secure my vision first.
“It’s so hot….”
An iced americano… with an extra shot….
Light on water, heavy on ice….
I forced my body, which threatened to collapse, to rise.
‘This isn’t the time to space out. Get it together.’
I felt along the ground, searching for my bag that lay somewhere in the darkness.
Twenty minutes ago, I was bothered by insects crawling on the walls. Now? Not at all.
First, light. Then, water.
I blinked my increasingly blurred eyes and continued feeling along the ground.
“Where exactly am I right now….”
I have no time to be afraid, yet fear keeps creeping in. The ceiling above me, now still, suddenly seems poised to collapse. Arrows seem ready to pierce through my body. The gelatinous wall that blocked my escape moments ago threatens to form across my face and suffocate me. Every paranoia feels real.
‘Get it together. None of this has happened. Stay rational.’
Anyone watching would think I’d been trapped here alone for a hundred years.
As I whipped myself for being such a coward and continued feeling along the ground.
A rumble.
“Huh?”
Sudden light flooded in, along with the sound of the Waterfall.
Still lying prone, I stared blankly at the light.
“Uh….”
Is that the door?
Why is it opening again?
And why is it so close?
Only then did I realize I’d lost my sense of direction and had been circling near the entrance the whole time.
Before I could process what was happening, Praha, entering through the still-opening door, lifted me from the ground.
His expression was rigid.
“Your Highness? What happened?”
“The mechanism we lowered earlier rose back up as time passed.”
“So that’s why the door closed?”
“Yes. This time, we destroyed it completely.”
“You did well…. We nearly all got trapped here. That would have been a disaster.”
“The disaster has already occurred.”
“What?”
What’s the matter?
I glanced around in confusion.
Everyone’s expressions had turned cold.
Praha, needless to say.
Yujein and Tangerine as well.
Even Cyprus, who laughed every day as if his lungs were filled with wind, wore a grim expression.
“Princess.”
Praha looked down at me, his eyes cast low.
“What did you just do?”
…Me?
[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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