A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 81

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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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“So this is….”
“Yes. It’s a magical device capable of detonating the entire Mansion. It was in the Reception Room, not the Office.”
Praha answered. I covered my mouth with my hand.
“That’s incredible.”
Every time I said this word aloud, my coworkers back home would scold me, saying “Gen Z doesn’t use that phrase anymore.” What do they know?
This truly is incredible.
“We could wipe out all those zombies swarming on the 1st Floor in one blast.”
“Indeed.”
“That’s strange… I searched the Office thoroughly but found no device.”
Even during that frantic moment of escape through the window, I’d rummaged through desk drawers and such, and I’d been secretly disappointed when this device wasn’t there.
“The lamp beneath the stand casts no shadow. I naturally assumed it would be in the Office.”
The Thug who’d been interrogated and turned into a zombie had said the same thing, after all.
Lord Promé must have used his head by placing it in the Reception Room instead of the Office.
“It helped that Yusara locked me in the Wardrobe so forcefully.”
“Exactly. Women really do have nerve.”
I laughed at Praha’s remark, whether it was sarcasm or a joke.
The most troublesome aspect of zombies isn’t simply killing the ones you see or escaping from them—you must always account for the possibility that surviving zombies might wander about and bite someone, increasing their numbers.
‘The Local Lord’s subordinates said they’d already dealt with all the zombies roaming Mount Prome, so once we detonate this device, we won’t have to worry about zombies appearing in Promé.’
I felt like giving Praha a gold star for finding the device I’d been searching for all this time.
“Your Highness, do you know something?”
“What do you mean?”
“If Your Highness were my younger sibling, you’d be getting a kiss right now.”
That’s how well you’ve done.
I left Praha, who’d turned around with a startled expression at my laughing words, and examined the short rod hidden between the coats inside the Wardrobe.
As I pulled it, the rod’s end stretched out like a spring. A small button was attached to the rod’s center. I rotated the rod as it extended, speaking.
“Marquis Prome disarmed the security on the Mansion earlier. It seems the lock on this device was released at the same time.”
“Yes. It should activate the moment you press the button.”
“So if I press this….”
This Mansion where we’re standing right now goes boom! Crash and crumble.
All the former Thugs, now zombies, wandering through the Mansion would either be blown apart or crushed to death.
“….”
I don’t feel sorry for them at all.
However.
“Will Basement Level 2 collapse as well?”
I asked, concerned about the people who’d been wrongfully kidnapped and imprisoned, only to become zombies. Praha shook his head.
“The Prison is the most reinforced section by design. There’s a high probability it will remain intact and unaffected.”
“That’s good.”
Later, if I find a cure or vaccine or anything, I’ll definitely come back and save them.
With that resolve, I looked at Praha.
“So the zombie problem is solved. What’s left is our escape.”
The cord attached to the device extended in a long line, and it seemed I could simply take it as far away from the Mansion as possible and press the button.
“Why choose such a primitive method? You could have installed magic that detonates ten minutes after pressing a button.”
“Advanced magical devices like that are monopolized by Mascarpone’s family. This was probably the Local Lord’s best option.”
“Ah.”
I nodded in understanding and gripped the device firmly.
Good. I’ll take this like Ariadne’s thread, leave the Mansion, and press the device somewhere suitable.
But how do I get out?
My gaze and Praha’s naturally turned toward the window.
That same window where we’d just had a vicious argument—dangerous, heads cracking, I was worried about you, I was more worried, blood-drawing quarrel.
“…There’s no other way… is there?”
“…No.”
I was grateful the Wardrobe had plenty of clothes.
I wove together a stubborn leather coat whose taste I questioned and a grotesque thread scarf that I hoped wasn’t made from human hair, creating a makeshift ladder that reached down to the 1st Floor.
“We should climb down using this, then walk between the building’s outer wall and the barbed wire to escape.”
“Will the cord attached to the device be long enough for that distance?”
“It will be. Marquis Prome himself must have considered escape when he created this device.”
“Hmm.”
Marquis Prome, who by now would have become a zombie.
“He got off too easy. A man like that should have survived alone, hidden somewhere on the 1st Floor, and been crushed to death by the collapsing building.”
“I agree.”
I ground my teeth and threw the makeshift rope made from clothes and curtains out the window.
Since I might encounter zombies the moment I descended to the 1st Floor, Praha—who could move quietly like a cat—went down first, while I, relatively clumsy, followed with the detonation device in hand.
Before descending, I checked Praha’s condition one last time.
“Are you alright?”
Praha, whose face was always pale enough to look like a nobleman but was now as pallid as a vampire’s, nodded.
Before I could say anything more, Praha nimbly climbed over the window and descended to the 1st Floor.
It was movement that belied an injured body. He barely needed help from our makeshift rope.
Praha surveyed the surroundings on the 1st Floor and nodded.
I checked the rope once, then confirmed the detonation device I’d temporarily tied around my wrist.
“Phew….”
I can do this. I did arm exercises for moments like this.
After taking a deep breath, I gripped the rope’s knot.
“Ugh….”
Was a rope supposed to swing around like this of its own accord?
Climbing up the rope in the Maze had been difficult, and descending was just as hard. The slightest moment of carelessness sent both the rope and my entire body swinging like a pendulum.
I couldn’t tell if I was climbing the rope or just sliding down it.
Somehow, I made it down.
Just as I thought I could jump the rest of the way—
Tick.
“…What?”
The cord attached to the detonator device on my wrist caught on something along the window frame as I was slipping free.
Tick.
Tick.
“…What?”
Why is this happening?
I pulled with all my strength, but the caught cord wouldn’t budge. Instead, something went wrong—the cord tightened around my wrist as if to sever it.
At this rate, I’d be left dangling in mid-air by my wrist!
Sensing the crisis, Praha rushed over immediately.
He wrapped his arms around my waist to support me and tried to untangle the cord from my wrist, but—
“Ah, it hurts…!”
My wrist might actually be cut off at this rate. Seeing me whimper in pain, Praha’s expression hardened, and he severed the cord in one swift motion.
And then….
Boom!
The security device, now severed, exploded.
“…!”
Beeeeeep—
Honestly, I don’t remember what happened after that.
I heard something tearing.
My body flew upward, my back was shredded against barbed wire, and even in that moment I thought, “Ah, so this is what Praha was talking about,” and it was incredibly hot, and I instinctively shut my eyes, and….
When I came to, I was embedded in a tree stump.
“Ugh….”
As I barely pushed myself up, dirt tumbled from my hair.
“Huh….”
Beeeeeeeeeeeep—
Why are my ears like this?
The noise was so loud I couldn’t assess the situation. It felt like someone had shoved earphones directly into my brain and was pumping sound straight in. With my ears compromised, I couldn’t even maintain my balance.
In movies, people get bounced out of exploding buildings and stumble around for a few minutes before limping away just fine, but that’s complete nonsense….
I grimaced and supported myself with my arms.
Where was Praha?
Where was he?
“…Praha?”
Only then did I notice a thick arm resting on my knees as I knelt there.
The moment I pushed myself up, his body went limp and fell back with a soft thud.
A man with his eyes closed in silence.
Pale skin.
Wounds covering his entire body.
The ground was wet, and when I looked….
It was Praha’s blood.
Praha had lost consciousness.
“…Praha!”
It was obvious at a glance—when the Mansion exploded, this man had shielded me with his entire body.
And this… this was different from the brief loss of consciousness earlier.
My trembling body bent forward, pressing my ear against Praha’s chest.
Beeeep———
The ringing in my ears drowned out any sound. I struck my uncooperative ear with the heel of my palm, again and again.
“No, please….”
Praha’s heart wasn’t beating.
The moment that realization struck me, it felt as though someone had pressed a searing flame against my throat.
The gravest danger for someone stabbed by a blade.
Cardiac arrest.
Once cardiac arrest sets in, then….
“…I won’t allow it.”
I made a promise. To get this man out of here alive and unharmed.
Praha has always saved me, so this time I’ll save Praha.
That’s the promise I made to myself.
I’m someone who keeps every promise, no matter what.
Beeeep———
“Shut up!”
I struck my irritating ear again and again. My hand pressed against Praha’s chest. I tore his shirt open. I placed my palms over his bare chest and began compressions.
I can do this. I can.
“You’re not dying. You can’t die. Not like this, not after saving me here—that doesn’t make any sense….”
What’s wrong with you?
In urgent situations like this, people show their true nature!
You should have looked after yourself first!
I’ll save you.
Once I bring you back, I’m going to give you a serious lecture.
“If you don’t come to your senses, I won’t go easy on you. I….”
Pressing, pressing, breathing air into his lungs.
All the while, I kept talking to him.
“I told you—you’re not the only one who worries.”
I worry too.
If you just….
Pressing, breathing.
I pressed so hard I feared his ribs would shatter first. My tears fell onto Praha’s cheeks, dampening his lips….
But why did the lips meeting mine grow colder and colder?
“Wake up, Praha.”
“….”
“I don’t understand why you’ve been acting so strange lately. Since I don’t understand, you have to explain it to me yourself.”
“….”
“Open your eyes. Wake up.”
“….”
“Wake up!”
[Mount Prome]
– Yusara (Alive)
– Praha (-)

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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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