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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 21
The world flipped over more than once.
My mind was completely scattered.
As my vision spun in circles, all I could feel were the strong arms and chest enveloping me, the scent of soap ‌‌‌mingling between the smell of blood and sweat.
A familiar scent—I'd been buried in it before.
"Ha... ha..."
"Ha..."
When my rolling body finally stopped, the world held nothing but the sound of our breathing.
"Ha..."
As I lifted my head, our eyes met.
The Crown Prince's ragged breathing spilled ‌‌‌messily across my cheek.
Beyond him, the hazy night sky stretched out.
As I felt the Crown Prince's breath, he felt mine in equal measure.
Thump, thump, thump...
We sensed each other's heartbeats, and for a long moment, neither of us spoke.
"I was worried."
I suddenly said.
"I was worried. Because you didn't come."
The Crown Prince blinked softly before answering.
"That's why I came back. So you wouldn't worry."
"..."
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes."
"Good thing I came back. Though I did set a little fire."
"...That's a lie."
"...?"
"This isn't 'a little' fire. You burned everything down!"
Where's the ‌subtle downplaying coming from! You incinerated it all!
"I see."
"Exactly."
"Well then, now that I know how to set fires, I just need to learn cooking."
"What?"
"The ancestral offerings. The ones I promised to prepare."
The Crown Prince stood, saying we'd committed to making the effort. As the man who'd been shielding me from above stepped away, I felt the smoke engulfing me once more.
As soon as ‌‌‌the man who had been shielding her from above fell away, she felt herself engulfed in smoke again.
"Cough, cough..."
The Crown Prince steadied me as I stumbled. I grasped his arm and rose ‌‌‌to my feet, looking ahead.
"...This is insane."
A ‌‌‌‌wall had collapsed onto the tree that had covered Consomme and me.
"Your Highness! Princess!"
"Are you alright?!"
Through the gaps in the rubble piled as high as a ‌‌‌‌person's head, I could see Consomme and Nuisance Man stamping their feet anxiously.
I didn't expect Nuisance Man to still ‌‌be here. The time I spent overlapped with the Crown Prince must have been shorter than I thought.
'It felt like an eternity.'
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Nuisance Man's narrow eyes quickly scanned the pile of stones between us.
And then.
"Tch!"
Without hesitation, he turned and bolted away.
I didn't even expect anything from you, you bastard!
"Paprika!"
Consomme, who had been desperately calling after Nuisance Man, turned to look at us.
"*Cough cough!* Are you two alright?!"
"Yes! We're fine! Go ahead!"
"But!"
"Hurry! Don't lose sight of the others!"
"No! I'll try to dig through some of these stones here!"
"We promised! We agreed to keep running no matter what happens behind us!"
"Princess!"
"I'm not saying we're ‌‌‌dying! We'll make our own way out! Now go and rejoin the others!"
Even as we spoke, smoke was accumulating in ‌‌‌our lungs!
"You must go first, Consomme. The Garden will be over soon anyway."
"Did you hear that! Now go!"
"But still!"
"Go, go, go! We'll all suffocate at this rate!"
I urged the hesitant Consomme forward, telling her she only needed to reach that black gate over there, and sent her on her way.
"Tell them not to lock the gate!"
"Hurry back! I'll wait for you!"
Consomme disappeared, glancing back several times even as she ran. I sighed and looked at the Crown Prince.
His eyes must be stinging too. He was squinting with one eye nearly shut, tapping the ‌‌‌rubble pile here and there ‌‌with his elbow.
"Thank you for saving me, Crown Prince."
"Praha."
"Pardon?"
"My name is Praha."
"Ah. Yes. Crown Prince Praha."
"...."
I think he just glared at me.
The Crown Prince, who seemed quite attached to his own ‌‌‌name....
'...Good grief.'
☆Praha☆ approached me.
Stone rubble ahead, zombies behind, smoke choking the air. It seemed hopeless, yet Praha remained composed.
"The collapse made quite a noise. The corpses are gathering."
He was right. The ground trembled beneath us.
Burning zombies were rushing toward ‌‌us. Even I could sense it.
At first, there was ‌‌only vibration.
"Grrrrgh!"
"Shriek!"
Then the sounds began.
"Crown Prince Praha?"
"Yes."
"I want to help ‌‌‌‌somehow, but I can't think of anything! I'm so sorry for being useless! But... are we going to die like this?!"
"No."
Praha spoke simply and ‌‌‌extended his hand to me.
My hand rested lightly in his palm, and he gripped it firmly before interlocking our fingers together.
"This is better."
He spoke briefly.
Without hesitation, he kicked the side of the collapsed wall.
Crash!
"What are you doing?!"
"There's no path, so I'll carve one through."
So he was ‌‌actually going to smash through the ‌stone wall?!
But Praha accomplished the impossible.
Thud, thud, crash! Rumble.
"Let's go."
"Y-yes."
Just as I had pulled Consomme's hand and run, now Praha pulled mine as we sprinted forward.
While dragging me along, he shattered the wall with his feet and swung his blade at the zombies that lunged toward us.
"Screech!"
"Argh!"
Not to be outdone, I drove my elbow into the ‌‌‌nose ‌‌‌of a zombie that appeared beside us.
'Zombies bleed from the nose too!'
"Impressive."
"Thanks to ‌‌‌you!"
Obscured vision. Smoke. The stench of blood. Gray dust scattering before my eyes with each blink. Stinging pain. And through it all, one warm hand.
When we finally burst through the cursed Garden's gate fence.
"Screech!"
A zombie appeared suddenly, its mouth gaping wide.
Smack!
Consomme emerged from beside the zombie and struck it with a chair leg.
Dazling ‌‌‌and the ‌‌Grand Duke, who had ‌‌‌rushed over, closed the gate behind us.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Kyaaaah!"
By the narrowest margin, the zombies were blocked by the fence gate.
Dazling wedged the sword he'd been holding into the latch, securing the gate shut.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Kiek!"
"Kack!"
"Damn, I almost died that time... Hey, Consomme!"
She'd just killed a zombie perfectly—why was she stumbling like that? I rushed to catch her.
"Huff, huff... Did I help at all?"
Consomme's entire face ‌‌‌‌was ‌darkened with ash, yet she beamed brilliantly. Tears, mucus, ‌‌and saliva smeared across her features, ‌‌‌but she didn't seem to care.
Her eyes blinked incessantly, and when she tried to wipe them with her hand, tears streamed down instead. I ‌‌‌thrust my thumb up right in front of her face.
"Did you just say that?! You were invaluable!"
One shot, one kill!
Blowing a zombie's skull in with a single strike!
Is this really the same person who walks five minutes a day?!
Why don't you come to Korea with me and become a baseball player!
"If it weren't for ‌‌‌‌you, Consomme, the Crown Prince and I—well, Praha—would've died here! Thank you!"
"Thank goodness..."
"Yes! Really! We almost had a joint funeral... Why are your feet like that?!"
Consomme's feet, clad in torn slippers, were oozing with blood. Had her toenails been ripped off while running? Were they broken? Her big toe looked deformed. ‌‌‌
Consomme glanced down at her own feet and chuckled.
"I stepped on something hot while running. It's fine. We're almost there anyway."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Kack!"
Well... strictly speaking, it didn't seem like we were ‌‌quite there ‌‌‌‌yet. But it was close enough.
Don't argue with your savior.
"This way!"
The Grand Duke shouted.
Clang! Clang!
"Kyaaaah!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The number of zombies rushing at full speed and slamming into the fence gate kept increasing. The sound continued—like wet clay being hurled against a wall.
"Hurry! I don't think it'll hold much longer!"
Before I could even feel relief at finally escaping ‌‌‌that wretched Villa, we had to run again.
"Grrrgh!"
"Kaaaah!"
The only barrier between the zombies and us was a single black fence gate.
The decorative fence gate, serving no practical purpose, swayed violently under the onslaught of the approaching horde.
Dozens of zombies clung to the gate, shrieking their hideous cries.
"Where did all these people come from?!"
"We have to go before it collapses!"
"Cough, cough!"
Fortunately, just a few dozen meters ahead stood a long wooden palisade.
I ‌‌could sense it instinctively.
A barrier erected to protect the portal.
"Just past that!"
The Grand Duke rushed forward ‌‌‌without hesitation and shoved the gate attached to the palisade.
"Praha! Do ‌‌you have a key?!"
"I do!"
Praha sprinted over and ‌‌‌inserted the key hanging around ‌‌‌his neck into the lock.
"Hurry!" ‌‌
After several fumbling attempts, the key finally turned.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"It won't open!"
"What's happening?!"
"The door is locked from the inside!"
"Damn it!"
Clang clang clang!
"Kyaaaah!"
"What do we do! What do we do! Brother! Brothers!"
"Climb over!"
Without time to think, I pointed at the top of the palisade.
"Someone just needs to get over and open it from the other side!"
"Dazling!"
Hearing Praha's command, Dazling hurled himself forward.
He seemed to stumble for a moment, but then planted his hand against the wall and vaulted cleanly over.
However.
"There's no way to open it from this side! You'll all have to climb over!"
Dazling shouted from beyond the wall.
"Come over one ‌‌‌at a time! I'll catch you on this side!"
Clang clang clang!
"Damn it!"
The first to rush at the palisade was Nuisance Man.
Thud!
"No...!"
There were four people who needed lifting, and if that bastard ‌‌got over first—!
"Paprika! What about the others! What happens if you go over alone?!"
"You crazy bitch! Now's not the time to worry about other people?!"
"Paprika!"
"You said you'd take it, so why are you just standing there?! Damn stone woman!"
Clang!
"Grrrrgh!"
But there was no time for blame.
Clang clang clang! ‌‌
Praha and the Grand Duke, the two remaining behind, had to hoist me, Yujein, Mascarpone, and Consomme up.
"The princess should go first this time!"
Praha and the Grand Duke, standing closest to me, extended their hands, but I was already pushing Consomme and Yujein's backs upward.
"The weak first!"
Get the injured ones up!
"Kyaaaah!"
Clang!
This is going to collapse!
Without even noticing that people had gone quiet at my words, I stared anxiously at only the zombies beyond the fence.
Clatter!
The sword Dazling had ‌‌‌wedged ‌‌in place of the bolt was slipping out.
"What are you doing?!"
I urged Praha and the Grand Duke desperately.
After the two received Consomme and Yujein, they looked at me with expressions full of things to say, then immediately hoisted both women upward.
All the while, I kept turning ‌‌‌‌to look back.
Clang clang clang.
The sword's slipping, it's slipping....
"Push harder!"
"Grab right ‌‌‌above your ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌head!"
Praha and the Grand Duke practically threw both women upward, but the fence was so slippery it wasn't easy.
Clang clang clang.
It's slipping, it's slipping... if the sword falls....
Crash!
It fell!
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
They're ‌‌‌‌coming!
"Hey!"
I grabbed Mascarpone's forearm as she stood beside me, bouncing on her feet, and pulled her toward me.
Startled, I thrust my head between ‌her legs without hesitation.
I forcibly grasped her thrashing thighs and hoisted her onto my shoulders.
"Hold on! Grab anything! Step on me and climb up!"
"What?!"
"Climb up using me as a foothold!"
[Imperial Villa Main Portal ‌‌Entrance]
- Yusara, Yujein, Praha, Grand Duke, Dazling, Mascarpone, Consomme, Nuisance Man (Survived)

--------------- ‌
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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