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

A Corporate Slave Becomes ‌‌‌a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse ‌‌‌
Episode 52
The ceiling descends toward the floor.
The door closes behind us.
Just as it had opened—slowly, deliberately—the door now begins to shut with inexorable certainty, and the light streaming through the narrowing gap diminishes with each passing second.
"Run!"
"Get out!"
Panic-stricken, we bolted toward the entrance without hesitation, already far behind us.
As I stumbled while desperately changing direction, Praha caught me, steadying my balance.
"Tangerine!"
"Yes!"
At the call, Tangerine sprinted ahead ‌toward the entrance, followed by Praha ‌‌carrying me and Cyprus carrying Yujein.
"Hold on tight!"
At that speed, I suddenly realized they had been holding back this entire time, matching their pace to accommodate Yujein and me—both of us physically weaker.
They were running at this velocity while carrying nearly fifty kilograms on their backs.
'That ‌‌‌moment I offered to hold Praha's hand... I was being presumptuous, wasn't I?'
With strides this long, those few stepping stones would have posed no obstacle whatsoever.
They had ‌‌‌‌silently taken my hand out of consideration for my embarrassment.
If it had been just these three, they would have already cleared the entire labyrinth and escaped with ‌‌‌time to spare.
Whoosh!
Tangerine skidded to ‌‌‌‌the entrance and pushed against the closing door with both arms.
"Ugh!"
With sleeves rolled up, Tangerine's arms tensed with straining muscles. First attempting to push with outstretched arms, then shifting to press with her full body weight against the stone, but—
"It won't budge, Your Highness! It's impossible!"
There was no way human strength could hold back a stone door of such thickness.
I understood instinctively.
'Once that door closes, it won't open again. Not until someone outside opens it.'
If we became trapped in here, escape would be impossible on our own.
We would be crushed by the descending ceiling while pounding against the door.
The ceiling that even now continues its relentless descent from above.
The only saving grace—
Tap!
"Are you alright, my lady?"
"I'm fine! Your Highness, are you?!"
"I'm unharmed as well."
—was that we were on the verge of escape.
'They must be incredibly fast for this to work...'
The light from outside now illuminates ‌‌Praha's cheek. Tangerine, who had been pushing against the wall, stepped aside.
"Phew..."
Color returned to Yujein's ashen cheeks as the warmth of the outside world reached her face.
But ‌‌the moment I let my guard down, an inexplicable force erupted from the ceiling.
"Kyaaah!"
"Ugh!"
It tore me and Yujein away from Praha and Cyprus.
And hurled us deeper into the maze, away from the entrance.
Crash!
"Ahhh!"
Farther inward than where we'd started, farther from the exit.
The moment my body hit the ground, I rolled with the impact and surveyed my surroundings.
"Ugh...."
My neck wrenched painfully as my head struck the floor first.
I managed to regain my bearings by rolling through several rotations.
But Yujein, who'd been thrown much farther and crashed back-first into the stone wall, absorbed the full force of the collision.
I watched her body go limp.
"Yujein!"
Without hesitation, I rushed to her side.
Shaking my dizzy head, I cupped her cheek in my palm.
"Yujein! Are you alright?!"
There was no time to wait for an answer. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up without waiting for a response.
I draped her limp arm over ‌‌my shoulder.
Only then did it occur to me that I might have injured her spine, ‌that lifting her carelessly could make things worse.
'But staying here and getting crushed by the ceiling is just as bad!' ‌‌‌‌
"Yujein! Snap out of it!"
"Hngh...."
Supporting Yujein, who could only manage faint ‌‌‌whimpers, I looked ahead.
The ‌‌exit that had been right before us moments ago—that opening where light poured in—was now impossibly far away.
So distant that the three people standing there appeared no larger than my fingertip.
Which meant....
'We might not make it through before the door closes.'
Now I understood why no help was coming.
"...Your Highness!"
"...Your Holiness!"
The Maze Entrance was closing by the second, and I could see a gelatinous ‌barrier forming like a seal across the threshold between inside and out.
The three of them, equally battered from being blown about by the force, were ‌‌‌trapped outside the Maze and hammering against that barrier, unable to re-enter.
"Are you alright?!"
"Damn it!"
Once you crossed the threshold, there was no way back in.
Even with three powerful men pounding, pushing with their bodies, and ‌‌exerting all their strength, they couldn't penetrate the gelatinous wall—they could only use their own bodies to prevent it from closing further.
The door was already more than halfway ‌‌‌shut.
"Yusara!"
"It's fine!"
There was no choice—the two of us had ‌‌‌to push forward.
"Why did Yujein get thrown so far?!"
If you were going to fly anyway, you should've aimed for the exit!
No time to complain.
I steadied Yujein as she collapsed toward the ground.
"Stay conscious!"
"...M-my lady..."
"Yes! Don't lose it!"
"Just leave me..."
"Losing consciousness sounds better than that!"
"No, I..."
"What do you mean 'no'!"
Silence. She must have passed out.
I grabbed the arm draped across my shoulder and half-ran, half-walked forward.
No matter how small Yujein was, her full weight pressed down on me—it was heavy.
To make matters worse, a fierce wind began to blow. In the opposite direction of where we were heading.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Was this the Maze of the God of Wind instead of the God ‌of Light?
"I don't know about me, but she's a priestess who serves you!"
Are you trying to kill your own followers?!
One step. Two steps.
Squeezing every ounce of strength from my entire body.
Facing a wind so fierce that even standing still was difficult.
Walking was already hard enough, yet I pushed myself to move ‌faster.
"...Ugh...!"
My skin's going to peel off at this rate!
I barely managed to open my eyes, burning with cold, and looked toward the entrance.
I could see three figures ‌desperately trying to buy time with the closing door.
Cyprus reached out toward me as I struggled forward with all my might, but the barrier blocked him once again.
"Yusara!"
Cyprus, his face twisted in anguish, slammed his fist against the wall.
'I'm going to cry, I'm going to cry...'
I'm ‌‌‌‌doing my best, ‌‌‌so ‍‌please don't worry.
The one silver lining was that moss and dust rolling around inside the maze were being swept outward, which meant getting from inside to outside should be possible.
"Ugh!"
In that brief moment, ‌Yujein crumbled, and I fell forward with her.
This won't do. I slipped my hands beneath Yujein's shoulders and lifted her.
I laid her back against the ground and dragged her along, gripping her firmly.
I didn't care anymore if Yujein's back got scraped raw or her ankle twisted because of me.
"Hnngh!"
Because I'm absolutely exhausted right now ‌‌‌too!
Half-sobbing, I stumbled backward.
"I've... arrived!"
The gelatinous wall brushed against my back, and I spun around.
The doorway now ‌‌‌offered barely enough width for a single person to squeeze through.
"My lady!"
Praha's expression twisted as he looked at me.
Drawing his sword, Praha wedged it vertically between ‌‌‌the ‌‌wall and the closing door.
Desperate to hold back the descending barrier.
I couldn't bear to meet Praha's anguished gaze.
I threw my entire body against the barrier, straining with all my might.
The ‌‌‌problem was.
This gelatinous wall ‌‌‌‌was surprisingly rigid.
It would release leaves and dust, but it resisted with tremendous force against living flesh.
My body rebounded violently from that resistance.
"My lady!"
Crunch.
The blade snapped and its fragment grazed Cyprus's shoulder as it flew past.
Unflinching, Cyprus drew his own sword and wedged it between the door and stone wall.
Watching his blade begin to bend immediately, I understood.
This gelatinous wall was unyielding.
The door was nearly sealed.
Weakened as I was, there was no way Yujein and I could both escape through this barrier.
A choice had to be made.
Either abandon Yujein now and push through with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Or attempt to drag Yujein—who couldn't even support her own weight—through together, only to become wedged between door and barrier and die.
We couldn't both make it.
Crunch....
The fading light from outside.
'Yusara. Think rationally.'
I had to ‌‌‌judge this logically.
If I didn't want the door to seal us both inside to die together.
Rationally.
At ‌‌least one of us had to survive.
"...Ugh!"
I grabbed beneath Yujein's shoulders and positioned her before me.
"I'm sorry!"
I shoved her back.
Yujein, unable to steady herself, was propelled forward by my force.
I pushed once more. ‌‌
Toward the door.
Yujein's ‌‌‌‌small frame seemed to meet resistance from the barrier at first, but then she slipped forward smoothly through it.
"Got it!"
Praha, standing ahead, caught Yujein as she emerged from the gelatinous wall.
She made it through by the narrowest margin....
Thud.
The door slammed shut.
I was left alone in the maze.
"...." ‌‌
I couldn't see anything.
The torches we'd each been carrying had rolled away somewhere in the chaos and extinguished themselves, leaving the maze shrouded in complete darkness.
"Ugh!" ‌‌
My disoriented body crashed into something.
My head throbbed.
Still, I ran.
Before ‌‌‌the ceiling descending toward me could crush me.
"It should be around here...!"
Thump.
My body, unable to ‌‌maintain balance in the dizziness, fell forward flat.
Crawling along the floor where I'd fallen.
"...."
That's when I realized ‌‌‌the ceiling had stopped moving.
"Ha...."
I didn't understand why, but I was alive....
A sigh escaped from deep within my chest.
"Insane...."
I survived....
"I survived...."
Though the fact that I was now trapped alone in the maze remained unchanged.
At least I'd escaped the crushing death.
Thank goodness.
I was ‌‌‌honestly pretty terrified.
"Why did the door suddenly close like that? Ugh, my head."
I lay flat on my back on the floor.
The impact from hitting my head earlier was catching up with me now. I breathed heavily and glared at the barely visible ceiling.
After staring at it for a long while to confirm it had completely stopped, I pushed myself up to sit.
"I must look like a complete wreck right now."
My neck might be bruised. My limbs ‌‌‌were definitely all scraped up.
Thank goodness I was ‌‌wearing long sleeves.
It's too dark to confirm, but I wouldn't be surprised if something somewhere on my body was broken.
Once my stamina recovers a bit, I need to ‌‌‌‌find that bag I carelessly abandoned and get a fire going.
"Thank goodness I learned how to start a fire from Cyprus."
It's true—everything you learn ends up being useful.
Wait. Do I have any water to drink?
"I taste blood in my mouth."
I tried to gather what little saliva remained and swallow it, scanning the darkness surrounding me.
My companions were surely still outside.
Whether they were or weren't, I was trapped in here alone.
I needed to secure my vision first.
"It's so hot...."
An iced Americano... with an extra shot....
Less water, more ice....
I forced my body, which felt like it might lose consciousness, to rise.
'This isn't the time to zone ‌‌out. Get it together.'
I felt along the floor, searching for the bag that lay somewhere in the darkness.
Twenty minutes ago, I was bothered by the ‌‌insects on the walls, but now? Not at all.
First, fire, and then water.
My vision kept blurring as I felt my way across the floor.
"Where exactly am I right now...."
I don't have time to be afraid, yet I keep feeling terrified. The ceiling that had stopped moving suddenly feels like it might collapse. I imagine arrows flying from nowhere to pierce my body. The gelatinous wall that blocked my escape before now feels like it might form across my face and suffocate me. ‌‌‌‌All these thoughts I can't shake.
'Get a grip. None of this has happened yet. Keep your reason.'
Anyone ‌‌watching would think I'd been trapped ‌‌‌here alone for a hundred years.
I was whipping myself for being such a coward, still feeling along the floor, ‌‌‌‌when—
A low rumble.
"Huh?"
Light ‌‌suddenly floods in, the sound of the Waterfall.
Still lying ‌‌‌prone, I stared blankly at the light. ‌‌
"Uh...."
Is ‌‌that the door?
Why is it opening again?
And why is it so close?
Only then did I realize I'd lost my sense of direction and had been spinning in circles near the entrance.
Before I could even process my confusion, Praha, who had entered through the still-opening doorway, lifted me up from the floor.
His expression was rigid.
"Your Highness? What happened?"
"The mechanism ‌we lowered earlier rose back up as time passed."
"So that's why the door closed?"
"Yes. This time, we destroyed it completely."
"You did well... We almost got trapped in here. That would have been a disaster."
"A grave situation has already unfolded."
"Pardon?"
What grave ‌situation?
I glanced around in confusion.
Everyone's expression had turned cold.
Praha's was beyond mention.
Yujein and Tangerine as well.
Even Cyprus, who laughed every day as though his lungs were filled with nothing but air, wore a grim expression.
"Your Highness."
Praha looked down at me, his eyes cast downward.
"What exactly did you just do?"
...Me?
[Maze Entrance]
- Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (Alive)

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