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Brought to you by Valir Scans! ‌‌‌‌To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 18
* * *
"So, what will you do first once you get out of here?"
"I'm going to drink coffee. Coffee, no matter what."
"Me too! Fresh, hot coffee with a little cream."
"Ah, ‌I absolutely must have iced coffee."
The Crown Prince's group hadn't returned.
We were anxious, but no one showed it.
Because if we let it slip, everything might spiral out of control.
We all knew we were uneasy, yet we deliberately hid ‌‌it from one another.
"Can you all be quiet?"
Not until Nuisance Man started acting up again.
Nuisance Man, sitting with his back pressed firmly against the corner of the wall, glared at us as he spoke.
"What's there to be happy about? Can't you read the mood?"
I was the one who fired back.
"What are you talking about? Your voice is the ‌‌loudest one in here."
"That's not what I meant!"
Nuisance Man, looking utterly frustrated, ruffled his hair and shouted loudly.
"Don't you people think for yourselves? Are you just going to sit here waiting for men to come rescue you?"
"Right, and you're sitting here with us too."
I stared blankly at Nuisance Man, who seemed desperate to practice what he preached.
Anyone ‌‌‌‌watching would think we were the ones depending on him.
I spoke up.
"Of course we think for ourselves. For instance, in a situation like this right now, we're thinking things like 'that guy is really annoying, I wish he'd shut his mouth.'"
"Hey!"
"So tell us—what should we be thinking about right now?"
"Three people who know how to use a sword went out and haven't come back! Aren't you worried? That they're escaping on their own and abandoning us?"
"...."
So that's what he was thinking.
Nuisance Man shot to his feet and pointed at my forehead.
"It's strange that Praha suddenly gave his rope to you of all people! Isn't that like handing a lollipop to a child before abandoning them? His last act of conscience?!"
"...."
The girl listening was hurt ‌‌‌‌by that comment, damn it.
'He must be really ‌‌‌anxious. Look at how irritable ‌‌‌‌he's getting.'
I spoke to the frantic Nuisance Man in a flat tone.
"Don't worry. Those people will never leave us behind."
"How would you know that?!"
How ‌‌would I know.
Well....
"Yujein is here, after all."
"So what!"
"If the person you love is here, of course ‌they'll come back."
That's what I said, but truthfully, they'd come back even if Yujein weren't here.
Because.
'They're male protagonists.'
You can't call men ‌‌‌who only rescue the women they fancy by the title of male 'protagonist'.
- Yusara's opinion on men, formed after experiencing a senior colleague eight years her senior who treated her well during her internship, then completely changed his attitude when she said she had a boyfriend -
In my view, how a man treats the person he loves isn't particularly important. That's just love, after all.
It can change whenever love fades.
What matters is how he treats those he doesn't love.
Coming to rescue those he doesn't love simply because the action is right.
That's an unchanging part of his values, the mark of a true male protagonist, and something I can trust until the very end, no matter how our relationship changes.
'Even though one of them cruelly rejected me ‌‌‌‌in the past, and the other will kill me in the future.' ‌‌
They'll come back! Because they're protagonists!
Men without even that much character wouldn't be sitting in the protagonist's seat!
But I didn't want to suddenly spout my half-baked philosophy here.
"They'll come back. Both of them. To retrieve Yujein."
I brushed it off casually.
The fact that I, who'd been desperate to devour Yujein, had just spoken words acknowledging her seemed to surprise everyone into silence.
Especially the women who knew that I'd harbored feelings for the Grand Duke in the past and the Crown Prince in the present.
"My lady...."
"Are you... alright?" ‌‌
Consomme was nearly in tears.
Both the Crown Prince and ‌the Grand Duke had no interest in me and only loved Yujein. ‌‌
The way I'd ‌‌‌stubbornly refused to acknowledge this obvious fact made them wonder what kind of storm had raged inside me to bring me to this calm acceptance.
"What else ‌‌‌can I do? It's not something I can change."
"Hic...!"
Consomme stifled a cry, both hands covering her mouth.
'Consomme's empathy is practically at audience level.'
Combined with the fall from the Second Floor earlier, I could see Consomme's imagination snowballing before my eyes.
"My lady."
Yujein called ‌‌‌‌out to me, startled by her own name tumbling from my lips.
I gazed at her face—like a summer fruit just pulled from cool valley waters on a sweltering afternoon.
I let out a short laugh and added.
"Emotions don't disappear just because you ‌‌‌‌‌pretend they don't exist. I have eyes too."
'Besides, it's not my concern.'
Once I go home, that's the end of it.
I thought to myself and rose to my feet.
I checked my watch and spoke.
"The promised hour has long since passed. ...Much ‌‌‌‌longer."
At those words, I watched as forgotten worries flickered across each face, meeting their eyes with deliberate ‌‌care.
"It would be fortunate if the three of them return even now—and they certainly will—but I believe we must prepare for the possibility that they might not."
"...."
"Or perhaps, even if they do return, the corpses might find us first."
In ‌‌‌that case, the three who returned ‌‌‌would discover us already transformed into zombies.
Q. Come on, surely we won't get infected? There's an original work, after all. We'll survive here for now.
A. We're not gambling with our lives.
I stretched my arms out long, rolling my head as I did. The tension eased from my shoulders.
I had no brilliant strategy of my own, but I'd weathered enough hardship in society to have stronger mental fortitude than these fragile minds.
After using this body for a few hours now, I could ‌tell that Yusara's stamina wasn't entirely depleted.
I understood more about the zombies too.
(Nuisance Man excluded) I was also the tallest here.
'I suppose you could call me the relatively stronger one.'
Yujein was injured, and Mascarpone and Consomme were dressed in slippers and gowns—clearly the type who'd never unscrewed a water bottle ‌on ‌‌‌‌their own strength.
'Consomme rides in a carriage even within the park. Say no more.'
With the three absent, it fell to me to protect the group. I had to keep them safe.
I'd ‌do my best, ‌‌‌inadequate as it might be!
Not out of modesty—I ‌really was inadequate!
Yujein, who'd been worrying at her lip, offered her opinion.
"What if we went out to search for the three of them? They might be in need of help."
"Without weapons, there's ‌‌‌‌no way we could help them."
Mascarpone took up the ‌‌thread. Consomme nodded in agreement beside her.
"Yes, and if we missed each other...." ‌‌‌
The Garden ‌‌‌must be quite expansive ‌‌if they could miss each other in it.
There was another concern.
"If we do go out, we should go during the day."
"Why is that?"
"The corpses have no vision, but we do. As Mascarpone said, without weapons, we need sunlight to evade them."
Fighting them head-on was out of the question—we had to avoid them.
I continued, speaking gently to soothe Yujein's furrowed brow.
"Our best option is to hide here safely and leave once the sun rises. For that, we need to prepare to survive the night securely."
"What ‌‌kind of preparations are you referring to, Yusara?"
I took the magical rope the Crown Prince had given me from Consomme's question, grasping it in both hands and stretching it out to show them. ‌‌‌
"We need to set traps. To keep the corpses from getting in."
Part of me wanted to suggest, 'There are plenty of severed corpses here—what if we smeared them on ourselves to disguise ourselves as corpses too?'
But if I'd said that, the group would surely have rejected me outright.
'And I don't even have a blade.'
In the end, I chose the method I'd seen the Crown Prince employ ‌‌‌on the Second Floor—a rope trap.
"I noticed earlier that the Crown Prince tied this rope to protruding points like pillars or handles."
Unfortunately, this smooth cabin, which appears to have been built purely for decoration, lacks any such protrusions.
"I want to tie this rope across both sides of the door so that any corpses trying to enter will trip over it or have their necks severed."
"That certainly sounds dangerous...."
"But what if the two Crown Princes return and get caught in the trap?"
"I can control the sharpness of this rope with my will. If the Crown Princes or Dazling get caught on it, they'd just end up looking ridiculous as they tumble over." ‌‌
As I spoke, I was already feeling along the wall with my hands, searching for any protruding spots.
"Ow!"
But I pricked my finger on a wooden splinter.
"Miss, are you alright?!"
"Yes, I'm fine. ‌‌‌I ‌‌‌think this spot would work?"
The height is perfect—right at neck level when I stand up straight. This way, whether the zombies are small or large, they'll all be caught and sliced equally.
"This won't stop all of them, but it should help."
Consomme was the first to step forward.
"What if we tie the other end here? How long is the rope?"
"I'll help too."
Next came Yujein, still watching my expression carefully, limping over.
Even Mascarpone, who had been pouting with her mouth firmly shut as if she didn't want to talk to me, quietly got to her feet.
"You're going to help?"
"It's not because I like you, okay?"
She still dislikes me, but she's surprisingly cooperative.
"Then let's put it up here...."
"Huh? There's something over there too?" ‌‌‌
"Looks like a nail!"
"Just in case, should we set something up there too? If corpses just keep piling up...."
"Good idea. Who can reach up there?"
"I'll try. I'm the tallest here."
"Are you bragging about your height right now, Miss?"
"Huh? Yes. Um... ah... I can't reach."
"Or Miss, if you step on this chair...."
"Yujein, that chair is missing one leg."
"Oh my! I'm so sorry!"
"I've noted your assassination attempt, Yujein."
What looked easy when the Crown Prince did it wasn't easy at all ‌‌when I tried it myself.
'So trap-setting requires talent too.'
It was even harder because the only light came from the faint glow ‌‌of the Main Building and moonlight filtering through the windows.
We stumbled around clumsily, bumping into each other, falling over....
"What a pathetic sight."
While the four of us grunted and groaned trying to accomplish something, Nuisance Man just sat in the corner muttering to himself.
"Or Miss, I could lie down so you could step on my back and climb up...."
"Yujein, do you have a lot of divine power? Can you self-heal if I break your spine?"
"You're being ‌‌‌difficult, you're being difficult."
Grumble, grumble. Grumble, grumble.
This is really irritating.
I bounced up ‌‌‌and down, glaring at the nail above my head before turning to look at Nuisance Man.
"Help me out a bit?"
He was a few centimeters taller than me, after all.
The height was just barely out of reach for ‌‌‌me, but I had a feeling Nuisance Man could manage it with some effort.
"Huh? Help me out."
At my words, Nuisance Man looked at me.
He curled his thick lips into a sneer and spoke.
"Why should I?"
Even in this darkness, I could tell he was wearing a mocking expression.
"Why should I help with that?"
"This isn't something that only benefits the four of us, ‌‌is it?"
"Anyway, even if we set this up, once the corpses come flooding in, ‌‌we're all dead. What, we buy ourselves maybe 2 minutes? It won't work anyway, so why bother?"
2 minutes? That's generous. I was ‌‌‌estimating 30 seconds.
I shrugged in agreement.
"You're right. Surviving 2 minutes is already a lot. Still, you can buy yourself those ‌‌‌‌2 minutes until your precious older brothers come back, can't you? They're running hard to save ‌‌‌‌‌you, and you want to die because of a 2-minute difference?"
I tried to speak as kindly as possible, but apparently my sarcasm was showing. Nuisance Man, who'd been glaring at me silently, finally opened his mouth.
"Fine. I could help if I wanted to."
Good. Then help.
I stared at him pointedly with that meaning.
Nuisance Man let out a short laugh and said,
"But I'm not going to help because of ‌‌your tone."
This bastard really...
[Imperial Villa Exterior Hunting Grounds - Huntsman's Cabin]
- Yusara, Yujein, Mascarpone, Consomme, Nuisance Man (Alive)
‌

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our ‌‌‌‌‌‌team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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