A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 63

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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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Yujein’s eyes began to glow white once more.
Beads of sweat already dotted her forehead from having expended her full power moments before.
And now, one more time.
A deafening boom erupted.
“Kyaaaah!”
Behind the zombies that had crumbled into ash, another wave surged forward, only to be engulfed in black flames and collapse.
“Miss Yujein!”
Cyprus caught Yujein as she swayed, supporting her weight.
She had incinerated dozens of zombies in mere moments, yet her face bore only bewilderment.
Sensing her distress, I asked.
“Miss Yujein? What’s wrong?”
“I haven’t grown any stronger at all….”
“What?”
“I haven’t grown any stronger at all! My power hasn’t increased!”
Yujein shrugged off Cyprus’s supporting hand and rose, hoisting the sacred relic high.
Crackle. Snap.
Boom! Boom!
“Miss Yujein! Stop!”
At this rate, she’ll collapse!
“The sacred relic is useless! My strength remains unchanged!”
“What do you mean?”
“Whether I have the sacred relic or not, my power is identical…. I can’t feel any increase in my abilities.”
“What?”
Tangerine and Cyprus’s eyes widened in shock.
I gazed out beyond the stone wall.
“Groooowl….”
No matter how many zombies escaped from that crumbling Maze, another horde immediately filled the spaces where ash fell.
Yujein’s power was certainly formidable, but it hadn’t grown stronger than it was at the Villa.
‘The sacred relic is worthless.’
We had scraped together every spare moment to reach Promé and endured all that suffering for this?
And after obtaining the sacred relic, zombies had even appeared in this region?
A heavy silence fell over the group, as if they all shared the same thought.
“What do we do….”
Yujein, the one directly responsible, looked as though she wanted to bite her own tongue and perish on the spot.
“What do we do! I brought everyone here! And now this!”
“It’s not your fault, Holy Maiden! No one could have known the sacred relic would be ineffective!”
“That’s right. You didn’t force us to come here, Miss Yujein.”
The others, regaining their composure, attempted to console Yujein. But tears were already glistening in her eyes.
“But you all came here because of me….”
“Holy Maiden….”
“I thought I could send all the zombies to the underworld in one go… but at this rate, I’ll barely manage it after dozens of attempts.”
‘Hmm. It doesn’t seem like a major problem, actually.’
While everyone else stood at a loss, I shrugged and interjected.
“Then let’s just do it dozens of times and get rid of them.”
“…Pardon?”
“If it’s difficult to do once, but you can eliminate them by doing it dozens of times, isn’t that what you’re saying?”
It’s basically like that.
If you see an English word a hundred times and don’t memorize it, you just look at it a hundred and one times.
If doing it once doesn’t work, doing it multiple times will.
“Either way, if you do it, it will work, right? So let’s do it. For now, this place is safe, we have shelter from wind and rain, and we still have food.”
“…”
“As long as Yujein’s stamina holds up, we’re all fine. Besides, we have no right to complain—we don’t even have divine power.”
“My lady…”
“Let’s rest today and gather our strength to deal with them tomorrow.”
I glanced around at the zombies beyond the wall.
All their attention was fixed on us. We were the only target in this area.
Unless something unexpected happened, they would be hunting us all night.
That’s right. Zombies don’t clock out.
“It’s fine, Yujein. Your divine power hasn’t completely vanished.”
To reiterate, we’re in no position to tell Yujein whether things are fine or not.
We don’t have any divine power at all.
I gestured toward Cyprus.
“Don’t worry too much. There are people blessed by God who can’t even use a shred of divine power.”
“That’s right! There are incompetent people like me!”
“Exactly! The Emperor is useless!”
“Tangerine… isn’t that a bit much…?”
“Anyway, Yujein, let’s think positively.”
Whether or not you have sacred relics, being able to exert this much power is actually a good thing.
I led the bewildered Yujein toward the Temple building. Just then, Praha was emerging from inside.
As Praha approached us and caught sight of the dejected Yujein, he blinked. I gave him a brief explanation of the situation.
“The sacred relic isn’t working.”
“I see.”
Praha simply nodded.
“There’s nothing to be done about it. How is my lady’s palm?”
His acceptance was remarkably swift.
“It’s fine. The watch disappeared too.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Praha brushed back the hair falling across his forehead and continued.
“There’s a comfortable space inside where we can rest.”
“Oh! Do you have any pastries, Your Majesty?”
“There are two sacks of salt.”
“That’s not candy!”
“Tangerine, are you dismissing the salt?”
Tangerine had already lost focus, her mind elsewhere.
Praha emphasized the importance of salt.
“I wish I had clean clothes to change into.”
Cyprus was devoted to maintaining his appearance.
All my efforts had been for nothing, yet they remained remarkably composed about it.
So? No effect? Fine. That kind of attitude.
‘If the Troublemaker had already died in this situation, there would have been absolute chaos….’
I linked my arm with Yujein’s, who hung her head dejectedly, grateful to be among this group.
“Let’s go inside and rest. We can’t do anything until daylight anyway.”
* * *
“There are zombies lurking outside—do we really have to brush our teeth now? Is cleanliness really important at a time like this?”
“Yes.”
“Why!”
“Because zombies track people by scent.”
Even if the Empire were to fall tomorrow, I would brush my teeth for three minutes.
“I just want to lie down as I am…. Can’t I rest for just five minutes?”
“Healthy teeth are one of life’s five blessings. Go brush them now.”
“What are blessings, my lady?”
“I’ll tell you after you brush your teeth.”
I pushed the whining Tangerine toward the washroom and sat on the sofa in the Reception Room.
Dust billowed up with a soft thud.
Ugh.
“Grrraahhh….”
The zombies circling outside the Temple wailed.
Poor facilities, dust everywhere. Outside came the noise of those who had lost their minds.
It felt like we were on a field trip.
Beside me, Praha and Cyprus, their wet hair hanging loosely after washing, studied a map and conversed.
“If the zombies truly cannot cross the Temple’s boundary.”
“Then it makes sense that the regions we’re heading to haven’t been overrun with zombies.”
“If there are zombies in that area.”
I sat beside them, drying my hair with a rough towel I’d taken from an upstairs drawer.
Praha glanced at me and rotated the map so I could see it clearly.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
“I’m fine. The marked locations are Temples, correct?”
“Yes.”
I examined the map.
Temples dotted the entire Empire, except for the Capital and several imperial territories that the Emperor had taxed and driven out.
Without exaggeration, Temples existed throughout Cyprus as abundantly as cafes and churches did in Korea.
Particularly in the Southern Region of Cyprus, Temples had formed an almost continuous belt of sacred structures.
Cyprus, noticing my gaze, spoke.
“I sponsor the Temples, you see.”
“Even though Your Majesty dislikes the clergy?”
“But they care for and raise the orphans created by war.”
“A noble endeavor indeed.”
Certainly, with Temples spread throughout the Empire like this, it seemed they could prevent the zombie outbreak from expanding to some degree.
“Going forward, the Temples will serve as evacuation centers during this crisis.”
“Right. Whenever zombies appear, people can evacuate to the Temples.”
“I’m curious how the Emperor will react to this.”
What would the Emperor, so desperate to weaken ecclesiastical authority, do once he learned of this reality?
“If the zombie crisis continues, we may need to reorganize the cities around the Temples.”
Temples would be established at all critical locations—village entrances, grain storage facilities, and more. Everyone would scramble to invite clergy to their regions.
As the clergy’s voices grew louder, the Emperor’s power would naturally diminish.
“Still, having a means of defense is hopeful news. Let us hope His Majesty sees it favorably as well.”
“I doubt it. What if he tries to kill us and cover this up?”
Cyprus responded with a gloomy expression.
“By the way, what was that strange rift in midair we saw earlier?”
“It seemed like a summoning gate that calls forth zombies.”
A discussion about the gate followed immediately.
(At this point, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. The gate was no longer a secret known only to me.)
‘Good. This is all good.’
I sipped the milk tea Cyprus had prepared and glanced sideways at Yujein, who had been quiet this whole time.
She wasn’t participating in the conversation, just huddled in the corner with her arms wrapped around her knees.
‘Come to think of it, something’s been off with her since the Maze.’
I held my teacup and walked over to Yujein.
“Yujein.”
“Oh, Your Highness….”
“Is something wrong?”
Even as I asked, I thought she might not answer me, but surprisingly, Yujein opened up readily.
“I feel like I’m not being helpful at all.”
Huh?
If you’re not helpful, what about all those zombie corpses scattered outside?
Yujein continued.
“I’m the reason we came here in the first place. But I haven’t been useful at all, and even the sacred relic we worked so hard to obtain is useless…. I’m just being dragged along like dead weight. I have no face to show you all.”
I just stood there with my mouth agape.
But that’s not your fault—the sacred relic being useless isn’t your doing!
“I’m afraid. The power I have is just luck, a mere stroke of fortune…. What if I’m deceiving people by pretending it’s my ability? What if my power fails at the critical moment?”
Wouldn’t it be better to stay quiet from the beginning instead? Yujein said.
“I regret acting so proud, as if I were someone special. I’m so ashamed. I feel like a fraud.”
I should never have let her follow me.
“When I first received the proposal to join the Investigation Team, I agonized over it… but I should have refused.”
“…”
“What could someone like me possibly accomplish by coming along? I should have just lived my life as I always had.”
This is infuriating.
Haven’t the zombies collapsed outside alone already proven Yujein’s abilities sufficiently?
The most invaluable person here is drowning in self-doubt over a brief struggle in the Maze.
How much more proof does she need to believe in her own strength?
If I leave her to her own devices, she’ll spend the rest of her life choosing “maybe not” over “maybe I will.”
I had no choice but to share my personal philosophy with her.
“Yujein.”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
“The truth is, whenever I develop feelings for a man, I confess without hesitation.”
“What? Why…?”
Yujein’s expression went blank at my sudden, provocative statement.
[(Safe Zone) Abandoned Temple: Reception Room]
– Yusara, Yujein, Praha, Cyprus (in conversation)
– Tangerine (Don’t tell interesting stories without me!)

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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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