A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 53

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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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“Me? You’re asking about me?”
“Have you given up on life?”
I opened my mouth at the cold words that fell from above.
I’d often heard Praha speak to others—usually bad people—in that tone.
But this was the first time he’d directed it at me.
At least in this lifetime.
Praha picked up the bag that had been discarded over there and stood before me.
Without asking permission, he lifted my palm and, seeing the wound there, his expression darkened.
His face looked so fierce it seemed he might kill someone.
Praha pressed me.
“What on earth were you thinking?”
What was I thinking…
“I was trying to escape, but the wall’s resistance was too strong. I thought if I didn’t do something, both Yujein and I would be trapped here.”
“So?”
“I wanted to save at least one person.”
“So you’re saying you’ve abandoned your life as a princess.”
“Not exactly…”
I was conscious, but Yujein wasn’t.
If I stayed here alone, there was a chance I’d survive, but if Yujein had been left alone, she would have died.
How could I escape by myself, leaving an unconscious girl behind?
“I made the most rational judgment I could.”
After expressing that opinion, everyone’s expressions only grew worse.
Praha clenched his teeth.
“You could have died.”
“Everyone dies eventually…”
“Not just anyone—you!”
He raised his voice, then flinched and stepped back.
After the silence, Praha’s voice emerged so faintly I could barely hear it.
“You could have died… might have died in here.”
Only then did I notice that Praha’s lips were trembling.
His lower lip, faintly stained with blood.
As if he’d bitten it severely, unable to overcome his anxiety.
Cyprus, looking like someone in shock, placed a hand on Praha’s shoulder and crouched before me.
“Yusara.”
He calls my name while smiling. Brightly.
“This is probably only the second time in my life I’ve said something like this.”
“…”
“If that’s what you call rational, then I’m an emotional person.”
“…What?”
“As the princess’s childhood friend, I’m emotional and sentimental and irritable and sensitive—basically someone far removed from rationality. So don’t do that in front of me again.”
“….”
“If I see one more person who isn’t even a trained soldier throwing away their life while spouting nonsense about reason, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Well, I suppose they’re saying this to me because I’m the one who made the sacrifice.
If I’d abandoned Yujein and escaped alone, I suspect they would’ve killed me the moment we got out.
I swallowed that thought before it could escape my lips.
Still, it was true that they were worried about me right now.
I simply nodded quietly.
“I’ll be careful.”
“Good. Now get up. If you keep sitting there with your legs stretched out like that, I’m going to want to carry you.”
“For heaven’s sake. I need to get up right now.”
I grimaced and brushed off my knees, rising to my feet.
Praha, who had been kneeling beside me on one knee and examining my wounds while I spoke with Cyprus, stood up as well.
He asked without meeting my eyes.
“Is your head all right?”
“My head?”
“I saw you hit it earlier.”
“Oh. I’m fine.”
My neck was a bit stiff, though.
Isn’t my neck always stiff?
Let’s refrain from using electronic devices in poor posture.
‘But what’s bothering me is Praha.’
He seemed upset. He wouldn’t even meet my eyes.
I craned my neck, trying to catch his gaze, and asked Cyprus instead.
“By the way, Grand Duke, your shoulder is all right, isn’t it?”
I’d seen the broken blade graze Cyprus’s shoulder earlier.
At my question, Cyprus pressed his hand against his bleeding shoulder.
“It was just a glancing blow. I’ll just apply some medicine and wrap it with a bandage.”
“Right! We need to treat everyone. Let’s get organized!”
Tangerine, who had been watching the surroundings, called out.
“The princess must be treated first!”
“But I’m not injured….”
“My heart is wounded because of you, princess!”
Then shouldn’t Tangerine be the one receiving treatment?
“Princess!”
“You’ve come to your senses, Yujein. Are you hurt anywhere from the impact?”
“Of course! Since you’ve been trapped here alone for over an hour now, naturally I’ve come to my senses!”
“Oh.”
Has that much time really passed already?
I thought only about five minutes had gone by.
‘I must have lost my sense of time from the panic.’
“Why should the princess have to make a sacrifice when there’s a priest here!”
“Yujein, you’re quite the troublemaker, aren’t you?”
“Yes! I’m good at things like this!”
Yujein grabbed my arm with trembling hands and poured her sacred power over my neck and palms.
Looking down now, my knees and elbows were absolutely wrecked.
Thank goodness I’d worn long pants.
“After the Grand Duke, now me too—aren’t we using far too much sacred power?”
“This space is saturated with divine energy, so this much is manageable.”
“I see.”
The white light pouring from Yujein’s hands was indeed stronger than I remembered.
If she’d originally been capable of healing paper cuts, now she could handle wounds from a utility knife.
After receiving adequate treatment, I stood up.
“Shall we head back inside then?”
“Are you certain you’re well enough, princess?”
“I have to be. We’re running out of time.”
“Perhaps you should rest a bit longer….”
“Tsk. If you’re going to say such weak things, then look at that ceiling instead.”
“What? The ceiling has risen back up!”
“So the structure works by lowering the ceiling and creating walls when the entrance closes—while simultaneously cleaning out any foreign objects still inside! That’s what’s happening!”
I’d nearly been swept away.
“Should we have made more preparations?”
“But we didn’t have sufficient time. We did our very best.”
A sigh escaped me.
I forced myself not to keep glancing back and pressed forward into the maze.
“So you completely destroyed the mechanism?”
“Yes! The Crown Prince climbed up the wall and smashed that device to pieces!”
“Ah….”
I walked while stealing glances at Praha, who still hadn’t uttered a single word.
As we walked slowly, we eventually reached the spot where Yujein had been trapped.
I tapped Praha, who was walking silently beside me.
Without a word, he stopped, and I pointed with my hand to a small crevice created by the split cavern wall.
Two people could never fit through it—only one.
And only someone as gaunt as me at that.
“I was planning to send Yujein out and enter through there myself.”
I hadn’t thrown my life away recklessly without any plan.
Only then did his eyes turn to look at me.
I offered him the brightest smile I could muster.
“I apologize for worrying you. At the next banquet, I’ll seek you out first. As an apology. To escort you, Your Highness.”
“….”
“If you’d rather not attend the banquet with me….”
“No.”
The answer came so swiftly it was startling.
‘That rejection must have shaken him more than I thought.’
I suppressed a smile and changed the subject.
“When we entered earlier, and even now—these walls don’t seem as sturdy as one might expect. If circumstances demanded it….”
Clang.
“What?”
An ominous sound from behind cut off my words.
I turned around.
The path we’d just traversed—iron bars fell across it, sealing off our retreat.
“….”
“….”
Praha, stepping closer, attempted to sever the bars with his spare sword and a magical rope, but it was futile.
Instead, he had to stumble backward from the violent sparks that erupted.
“Are you alright?!”
“Yes. However, returning the way we came is now impossible.”
“….”
Whoever designed this maze must have a peculiar fondness for closing doors.
Perhaps an isolationist at heart.
“Fortunately, I sense wind flowing from the opposite direction. We need only find the sacred relic and exit from that side.”
“This place is so damp and hot and suffocating….”
“Bear with it, Lady Tangerine. Think of it as infusing your skin with moisture.”
I ducked behind Cyprus to avoid an enormous insect fluttering toward us, and surveyed my surroundings anew.
A dark cavern where nothing lay visible beyond an arm’s length without fire. Stone walls glimmering faintly. Gravel crunching beneath our feet.
‘I can’t even see my own palm unless I hold it near the flame.’
“We have enough flint and oil, don’t we?”
“Yes. Plenty.”
At that moment, I didn’t know.
That within this maze, where direction itself was meaningless, I would fall behind once more—alone.
Me. Yusara.
The type to drive my companions to madness.
“Fortunately, we haven’t encountered any branching paths yet.”
“How much further do you think we need to go?”
“Given that it bears the name ‘maze,’ I never expected it to be small….”
Without the sun, there was no way to gauge time.
Cyprus occasionally drew out his pocket watch to tell me the hour, but knowing the time meant nothing when I had no idea how much further we had to travel.
To ensure no one vanished unnoticed in the darkness, we exchanged stories back and forth until somehow we arrived at the subject of gods.
“Each god has domains and powers they oversee. They can only exert their strength within their respective domains.”
“So gods aren’t omnipotent!”
“Exactly. For instance, a god who governs the afterlife cannot exert power in the mortal realm….”
“There’s no need for it while humans are alive.”
“So that’s why there aren’t many temples.”
“Yes. But since all humans must eventually die, the temples survive thanks to the sick and elderly who can’t help but contemplate what comes after death.”
“But the sick and elderly are…”
“Mostly poor. That’s why the temples of the God of the Afterlife are also impoverished.”
This district really needs to implement elderly welfare measures.
“Oh, but didn’t His Majesty say he abolished several temples of the God of the Afterlife not long ago?”
Is he not afraid of death?
At my question, Cyprus’s expression darkened.
“His Majesty is currently seeking a means to live forever.”
“Gasp.”
So if you don’t die, you’ll never have to meet the God of the Afterlife.
I nodded and asked each member of our group which god they believed in.
As for Yujein, well, her very profession is that of a priestess serving the God of Light.
“I don’t believe in any god.”
Praha says he doesn’t believe either.
“I believe in the god of strawberry cake and cream coffee!”
“Does such a god exist?”
“No! I just made that up!”
“….”
Tangerine also says she doesn’t believe.
The surprising one was Cyprus.
“I believe in the god of beauty and marriage.”
“Oh….”
You too?
My mother also….
“But my beauty is not a blessing from the god. It’s something I was born with.”
“I see. How admirable of you.”
I thought he wouldn’t believe in gods, but this was unexpected.
After chatting idly like this for a while, I suddenly became curious.
I looked up at Praha without thinking.
I was merely looking at him when he immediately bent down toward me.
“I have a question.”
“Please, speak.”
“It’s widely known that God’s Maze exists on this mountain, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Of course it’s dangerous, but it’s not so dangerous that one absolutely cannot approach it… (I pretended not to hear Praha’s murmur about how he nearly died in that supposedly not-so-dangerous maze) So why doesn’t Lord Promé turn this maze into a tourist attraction?”
The territory doesn’t really have any other means of income anyway.
Since people don’t travel as much as they do on 21st-century Earth, was there simply insufficient demand?
“Could he have some other source of income?”
“The Territory is certainly more prosperous than its size would suggest.”
Praha nodded thoughtfully, his eyes reflecting careful consideration of my words.
But we didn’t have time for a lengthy conversation.
“The space suddenly opens up ahead!”
At Tangerine’s cry, I turned my head.
Indeed, a vast cavern stretched out before us, completely open.
An inexplicable light poured from the ceiling, illuminating the interior of the cavern brilliantly.
Beneath the light like stage lighting, crimson letters carved into the wall became clearly visible.
“….”
“It’s frightening, isn’t it?”
“It certainly is.”
It felt like something North Korea would carve into Mount Kumgang—propaganda praising their leader.
Let me see what it says.
What was written there?
[Ancient Labyrinth: Chamber of Revelation]
– Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (Survivors)

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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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