A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 69

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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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Over the past few years, the events in my life have followed a predictable pattern.
1. Insubordination
‘Hey, you know that intern from the next team? He mouthed off to the manager at the company dinner.’
‘That’s insane.’
‘And he didn’t show up today.’
‘Even more insane.’
2. Infidelity
‘Hey, you know Jiho? He sent an all-company email at dawn tagging everyone, with photos of his team’s section chief and director having an affair.’
‘Crazy… Is that why today’s training was cancelled? Why didn’t I see it?’
‘The management audit team deleted it as soon as they came in this morning. I only saw it because I woke up to use the bathroom at dawn.’
‘You should’ve taken screenshots! But isn’t Jiho scared of getting sued? How does he plan to show his face at the company after this?’
‘No idea… Anyway, that whole team got called in.’
‘Wait? I need to get some documents from that team this morning.’
‘Hang in there.’
3. The Smell
‘Our new hire’s mother came to the company today.’
‘The one who smells?’
‘Yeah… Yesterday his mentor called him in and talked to him about it. The team was struggling, so he asked him to pay more attention to personal hygiene.’
‘And then?’
‘Then he didn’t come to work today, and his mother showed up at the company. She was demanding to know who insulted her son, saying she’d sue. She was screaming in the lobby—it was a complete mess.’
‘Instead of coming to the company, maybe she should teach him how to use a washing machine….’
And various other troubles, big and small.
‘How am I working at the same company as these people?’, ‘How am I on the same level as these people!’
Events that periodically crushed my self-esteem.
But while such incidents thoroughly eroded one’s sense of self-worth, they posed no actual threat to life itself.
Yet here, there were zombies, kidnappings….
I kept warning myself not to let my guard down, yet I kept doing exactly that….
‘Life is so exhausting….’
“Ugh….”
My head felt like it was splitting open.
My head couldn’t maintain its balance and kept tilting to the side.
‘I’m dizzy. I can’t see properly.’
Is this a concussion?
‘Focus. Concentrate on the basic facts.’
What’s my name? Yusara.
Where am I? I don’t know.
Why did I come here? I was kidnapped.
‘I went to negotiate (blackmail) using Lord Promé’s tax evasion evidence, and then his wife suddenly appeared and….’
‘If those people realize we’re hunting humans! We’re all dead!’
Right. That’s what happened.
Lord Promé and his wife have been trafficking in human flesh and hunting people on Mount Prome, which they own.
Madness incarnate….
“I think I’m going to be sick….”
I clutched my head between both hands, feeling it ring like a bell with something trapped inside, and crouched down.
As I took slow, deliberate breaths, the sensation gradually subsided.
I began fitting the pieces together in my mind.
1. When I first arrived in Promé, Praha asked what the territory’s primary source of income was, and Marquis Prome answered that there was a merchant company operating under the family name.
2. Smoothie, the property manager of Promé, said the items handled by that company were “artworks favored by the upper echelons,” but none of us knew what that meant.
‘Those artworks were human beings.’
Mount Prome sees few traveling merchants or visitors, and the territory’s residents are forbidden from entering—so they can freely abduct people and lock them away without worry.
Even if a kidnapped person manages to escape, they’ll simply get lost in the mountains and be recaptured soon enough.
The act of recapturing or killing those escapees is what they call “hunting.”
‘…Wait.’
Then the bile wine the Lord said he personally hunted and prepared surely couldn’t be….
“Ugh.”
Nausea surged up, and I covered my mouth with my hand.
With my head already pounding, the churning in my stomach is driving me to madness.
I wiped the cold sweat from my brow and forced myself upright.
‘I’ve walked into a den of vile creatures who make human trafficking their livelihood. I don’t have time to lie here wallowing.’
If I’m not careful, I’ll lose my autonomy to some petty Lord Promé before the God of Light even claims my soul.
Pressing my ringing head between my hands, I surveyed my surroundings.
A cramped cell—perhaps fifty square feet. Three walls are dark, damp stone without windows; the front is iron bars.
From the cold stone floor and cracks in the walls rises the stench of blood and urine from those who were imprisoned here before me.
Beyond the iron bars lies a narrow Corridor lit by torches.
‘A typical Underground Dungeon.’
I grasped the rust-eaten iron bars and pressed my face through the gaps to look out.
Cells line both sides of my compartment, and at the far end, I can see a Staircase leading upward. The guard’s chair in front of it sits empty.
I cannot see how many Adjacent Rooms there are or whether anyone occupies them.
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Narrow Corridor
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Cell Cell Cell Cell Cell
Prison Prison Prison Prison Prison
(Me)
A structure like this doesn’t seem to have been here from the beginning; it was likely built specifically for this human trafficking operation.
How many years have they been doing this?
“Hello there….”
I called out, hoping to find other prisoners.
“Hello there….”
“….”
“Excuse me… Is anyone there…?”
My voice echoes through the desolate, frigid dungeon with a spine-chilling resonance.
My feeble voice sounds to my own ears like that of a maiden ghost freshly risen from a pond. No wonder no one answers.
‘Should I speak in a more cheerful tone?’
But I’ve been kidnapped—wouldn’t cheerfulness be even stranger?
“Excuse me… I was brought here against my will too… If anyone is here…”
“It’s pointless to keep trying. Everyone here has had their tongues cut out.”
“Eek!”
A low voice suddenly from the adjacent room startled me, and I stumbled backward.
“Who are you?!”
“The Unlucky Adventurer.”
I took a wrong turn into this region and ended up in this predicament, the Unlucky Adventurer said in a sing-song manner.
His voice was hoarse, as though he hadn’t spoken in quite some time.
I imagined the face of a man in his early thirties with stubble bristling across his cheeks as I asked my question.
“Why haven’t they cut out your tongue?”
“I haven’t been here long.”
“…”
“There are two others in this room besides me. Probably about that many in the other cells too. Come on, shouldn’t you introduce yourself?”
It seemed he had nudged the person beside him.
There was a brief scuffle, then a sound came from the adjacent room.
“Ugh…”
A sound like a strangled throat. I flinched involuntarily.
The Unlucky Adventurer spoke.
“You heard? That’s the state everyone’s in.”
“…”
“I can’t have the last one introduce himself. His wounds are infected and he’s unconscious.”
“Why do they cut out their tongues?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Everyone brought here is illiterate commoners. If those who can’t read also can’t speak…”
“…it would be far more difficult to plan an escape.”
And even if we were fortunate enough to escape, it would be even harder to report this atrocity anywhere.
“Exactly.”
The adventurer coughed roughly before continuing.
“We’ll soon meet the same fate. Unless you happen to have an exceptionally beautiful voice with commercial value.”
Hearing this, your tongue might actually be spared, the Unlucky Adventurer added with a tone of jest.
That was when it happened.
“You understand your future quite well!”
Screeeech.
The door connecting to the upper level opened with a harsh grinding sound, and light and footsteps poured in.
Thud, thud.
Clink, clink.
Lord Promé entered with a bundle of keys hanging from his waist, accompanied by his subordinates.
Four or five of the Lord’s men were seen carrying a massive, blood-soaked sack between them.
The sack was so heavy that the Lord’s men dragged it across the floor before dumping it in front of the dungeon cell where I was imprisoned.
Something inside stirred faintly.
Lord Promé looked back and forth between the sack and me, then broke into a slow, deliberate smile.
“Today’s harvest has been quite bountiful.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
I recognized the faces of the men wiping sweat from their foreheads behind the Lord—they were the Knights of Promé.
Or rather, they were thugs masquerading as knights.
‘So they were nothing but gangsters all along.’
“Have you been well-behaved and caused no trouble, my lady?” the Lord asked with a leering grin.
He kicked the sack lying on the ground.
“This is the only one of my personal hunting expedition yesterday who managed to survive. I’ve brought him to give you a cellmate, my lady.”
The Lord reached to unwrap the sack and show me the face of the person inside, but stopped when he saw it was caked with dirt and blood.
The Lord gave an order to his subordinate.
“What are you waiting for? Put him in the lady’s cell.”
“Yes, sir.”
The subordinate who received the order took the Lord’s key and approached my cell.
When our eyes met, the thug’s expression turned smug.
“Step back, my lady. You might get hurt.”
Under normal circumstances, this man would never have dared speak to me or even meet my gaze—but now that the opportunity had presented itself, he was emboldened.
The Lord’s subordinate opened the cell door and rolled the sack into my chamber. Even this task required considerable effort; veins bulged across the thug’s forearms.
The size. The weight. I was certain the sack contained a large, adult male.
‘He’s deliberately putting me in a cell with a man. He’s trying to frighten me.’
The Lord spoke.
“Our business has been flourishing, so we’re running short on cells. No matter how noble a lady you are, you’re a slave now, and you must learn to coexist with others, mustn’t you?”
“….”
“I’ll check on the merchandise’s condition later. It will be a special pleasure to slowly discover who your first cellmate is, my lady.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well then, shall we….”
“….”
“teach you how we treat our slaves and what your future holds in store?”
As the Lord spoke, his gaze turned toward the Adjacent Room—where the Unlucky Adventurer was held.
[Mount Prome: Underground Dungeon – ? Floor]
– 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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