I Reincarnated Into a Healing Game… and It’s a Zombie Apocalypse?! - Chapter 97

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 97

“To me, what?”

“Ah, anyway, no! We’re just friends.”

“Geez, at this point I’m starting to feel sorry for Ash.”

Nana quickly changed the subject to shake off her uncomfortable feelings.

“More importantly, why hasn’t Sam shown his face at all? Even Ash, who’s his friend, is helping so diligently.”

“Huh? Sam? Who’s that?”

“Who else. Uncle Brody’s nephew, you know. That rude kid who just spits out mean words.”

But the only response that came back was bewilderment.

“Uncle Brody? There’s no one like that in our village. What are you talking about?”

“There isn’t? Uncle Brody who runs the general store and his nephew Sam…”

It was the moment she tried to speak their names.

The memories of those two people in her head vanished white as if it were a lie. Even the names she had just spoken felt strange and unfamiliar.

‘Today is really strange. Why am I like this?’

As Nana muttered to herself in a daze, the woman sitting next to her patted her back with a worried expression.

“You must be really tired. Suddenly saying random things.”

“…”

“Leave this to us and go home early to rest today. Okay?”

Nana moved her steps weakly as the women pushed her back.

Then she turned around at the gaze she suddenly felt. Among the villagers happily preparing for the festival, only Ishanka had stopped and was staring at her.

Even when their eyes met, he didn’t look away. Rather, he only looked at her with what seemed like persistence.

He wasn’t particularly angry or glaring. But she couldn’t read what emotion was settled in those quiet eyes.

Nana somehow found it burdensome to meet that gaze and hurriedly turned her head and quickened her steps.

It really was a strange day.

* * *

When she returned home, the sun had already set.

“Haa, I’m dying.”

As soon as Nana closed the front door, she threw herself onto the sofa in front of her. Her legs, which had been overworked all day, were throbbing.

“Come to think of it, I barely sat down today.”

She went to the winter festival and even helped prepare for the village flower festival, so it’s no wonder she overdid it… Huh?

“Winter festival?”

Nana’s lips stopped. It’s May now, so what winter festival in spring when flowers are in full bloom?

“Why am I really like this today?”

Why do these nonsensical words keep coming out? Nana dry-washed her face with a serious expression. She was seriously starting to wonder if something was wrong with her head.

Then, with a clicking sound, the front door opened.

“Oh, oh oh… You’re back? Worker.”

Nana sat up in surprise. But Ishanka’s reaction to the greeting was subtle.

“You don’t need to call me that either.”

“What? But earlier…”

“That was just something I said to shut that guy up.”

Ishanka took off his outer clothes and roughly hung them on the sofa backrest. Then he approached and without hesitation knelt on one knee at Nana’s feet.

“Wait, why are you doing this?”

Nana tried to pull her legs away in surprise, but Ishanka’s large hands were faster. He firmly grasped Nana’s slender ankle and pulled it onto his thigh.

“Stay still.”

“No, I’ll do it! I can do this kind of thing by myself…”

“And speak casually. An employer doesn’t use formal speech with a worker.”

Nana closed her mouth. Who was the one giving off an atmosphere that would make formal speech feel awkward…

Nana blamed Ishanka for no reason and relaxed. She couldn’t beat him with strength anyway.

Swoosh. The leather shoe laces came undone and the shoes were removed.

He wrapped Nana’s freed bare foot in his large, thick palms. Soon a cool sensation traveled up her sole. His hands touching her swollen, heated feet felt pleasantly cold.

Her toes twitched involuntarily at the distinct temperature difference.

“Mmh…”

When Nana inhaled, Ishanka’s touch stopped abruptly.

He checked her reddened, swollen ankle bone and furrowed his brow with an expression mixing regret and tenderness.

“You did sprain your ankle after all.”

When he pressed firmly around the severely swollen area, a sharp pain rushed through.

“Ah!”

“How foolishly stubborn of you to endure until it got this bad.”

“It didn’t even hurt so I really didn’t know I had sprained it… ow.”

Despite Nana’s excuse, he didn’t respond and instead gripped her foot more deeply. His thumb began gently loosening the tense muscles.

The arm holding her leg was solid like shackles, but the touch caressing her injury was tenderly melting.

Nana stared down at the top of his head in a daze.

Each time his touch reached her, a tingling heat traveled up from her toes. Her confused mind went blank.

Ishanka asked quietly without even lifting his head.

“What was your relationship with that man earlier?”

“Huh? Ah, you mean Ash?”

Ishanka didn’t answer, but his silence meant affirmation. Nana looked down at her wriggling toes and moved her lips.

“Ash is the first friend I made when I came to this village.”

Actually, it was subtle to simply explain him as a friend. He had been a target she had pursued since her days as Song Nana, and since coming here, they had actually been in an almost romantic atmosphere.

But she couldn’t explain all the details in this situation.

“And we promised to dance together at the main event during this flower festival… Mmh!”

Ishanka’s hand gripping her ankle tightened.

“Ah, it hurts! Isha?”

“…”

Ishanka didn’t release his grip immediately. His eyes, as he slowly lifted his head, had sunk coldly.

“Did you say dance?”

His tone became polite yet strangely sharp.

“Uh, yeah. It’s tradition to dance with a partner at the flower festival…”

Nana trailed off, overwhelmed by his intensity. Ishanka’s gaze fell back to Nana’s reddened, swollen heel.

“Even with your foot in this condition, you insist on dancing with that bastard?”

The touch massaging her injury again was chillingly intense. As his thumb pressed firmly on her ankle bone and slowly traveled up her Achilles tendon, Nana’s body stiffened.

“It’ll heal! There are still several days until the festival…”

“Don’t do it.”

“What?”

“Don’t dance with that man.”

“What right do you have…”

Nana tried to pull her foot away indignantly, but Ishanka didn’t budge and instead suddenly leaned toward her.

The distance closed in an instant. At a distance where their breaths could touch, Ishanka’s voice became lower.

“Why don’t I have the right?”

He added while gazing deeply into Nana’s eyes without avoiding them.

“Keeping you from getting hurt is my job.”

“That’s unreasonable…”

“I don’t care if it’s unreasonable.”

Ishanka’s gaze moved from Nana’s lips back up to her eyes. His eyes seemed to be pleading and commanding at the same time.

‘Why is my heart beating like this?’

Her memories were hazy, but her emotions reacted before her reason.

Surely she had no relationship with Ishanka. There was nothing clear she could recall about him.

But her wildly beating heart seemed to protest that wasn’t true, that she actually knew him.

“Don’t smile at other guys. It turns my stomach.”

“…”

“If you really want to dance, then dance with me after you’ve recovered.”

As far as Nana knew, their relationship was simply that of worker and farmowner, nothing more. There was no reason for such persistent obsession to emerge from a mere employment relationship.

Nana wanted to snap back that this was crossing the line. But for some reason, when she faced his expression, she couldn’t open her mouth. Instead, she even felt as if she should obey his words as if under a spell.

‘This is strange. This person and I are just employer and employee, nothing more.’

Come to think of it, how did this person become a worker at the farm?

Nana tried hard to recall her first meeting with Ishanka. But her memories were hazy, as if fog had settled in her mind.

“You have been acting strange ever since entering this village.”

Nana snapped back to her senses at the pleasant baritone voice.

“So I can understand why you’re acting this way now.”

“….”

“But that doesn’t mean I’ll just stand by and watch that man approach you.”

He pressed his lips to Nana’s foot that he was holding. The soft, hot sensation touching the top of her foot. It was an act closer to marking than treatment.

* * *

Today too, the village was bustling with festival preparations.

Nana had also tried to help with the work, but was blocked by Ishanka’s firm refusal. In the end, she sat in a courtyard chair with a bandage wrapped around her ankle, making flower crowns.

“Adrien, I’m here!”

Ash’s bright voice could be heard from beyond the fence. He strode into the courtyard carrying a glass bottle filled with freshly squeezed milk.

“I squeezed this this morning and it was so rich that it reminded me of you. You like milk, don’t you.”

It was the moment when Ash was approaching Nana with his characteristic good-natured smile.

Step.

Ishanka appeared from nowhere and blocked Nana’s front.

“Huh?”

Ash stopped walking and widened his eyes. It was a rather theatrical attitude, as if he had just now discovered Ishanka.

“Ah right, you were the worker I met yesterday, weren’t you? You haven’t been here long so I forgot for a moment.”

“Just state your business.”

“You just heard my business, didn’t you? I brought milk. Adrien likes milk so I bring her fresh milk that I squeeze at the dairy farm every day. Ah, you wouldn’t know this since you haven’t been here long, would you?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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