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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 57
Mission.
Let's make a running jump across the Cliff!
Q. But I can't jump that far?
A. That's fine! This tall, handsome ‌‌‌‌man here will throw you across!
Now only Praha and I remain on this side.
"I'm ready."
I retied my ‌‌‌‌‌‌hair while waiting for Praha to throw me, and slung my bag to the front.
I prepared myself to fly as smoothly and lightly as possible without getting in the way.
"Princess! Cross over quickly! I swear on my life I'll catch you!"
Praha glared at Cyprus, who ‌‌was standing on the other side ‌with his arms spread wide, being insufferable.
"...Huh?"
He simply lifted me into his arms instead.
Face to face with him.
My legs, suddenly suspended in midair, instinctively wrapped around Praha's waist.
"Please don't hold my neck. I'll run like this."
"..."
"Is this uncomfortable for you?"
"No! I'm fine with it! It's safe! But that's not it. ...I think I might smell like sweat."
I hadn't properly bathed in days, and today I'd rolled around in the dirt, so I must look absolutely terrible.
'People who fall in love while ‌‌‌adventuring together are amazing. They develop feelings looking at someone in this state?'
But Praha remained unfazed.
"I smell too."
No, you smell like soap.
But before I could say that, Praha started running.
"Ahhh!"
Terrifying!
I forgot everything I was about to say and clung desperately to Praha's neck.
The thought that falling here meant death made my limbs automatically tighten.
Then I felt one of ‌‌‌‌Praha's arms, which had been wrapped around ‌‌my back, tense slightly.
"..."
"..."
"Your Highness?"
"You can open your eyes now."
We were across in an instant.
I lifted my face from where it had been buried in Praha's chest.
"We actually ‌‌‌made it across..."
I ‌‌survived.
Cyprus approached me as I let out a relieved sigh.
"Are you alright, Princess?"
"Yes, I'm fine. ...Aren't you going to ask ‌‌‌‌if the Crown Prince is alright?"
"That bastard's always fine. Let me help you."
Cyprus extended his hand, telling me to grab it and come down.
Praha, cleanly ignoring that hand, set me on the ground with his ‌‌‍own strength.
"Thank you...?"
I didn't mind, but was this really okay?
Yet despite being openly ignored, Cyprus looked rather amused.
Cyprus glanced down at his suspended hand, chuckling softly as he spoke to Praha.
"So you're not even trying to hide it anymore?"
But Praha ignored this remark as well, offering no response.
"Are you injured anywhere, Princess?"
He looked only at me, examining me from side to side.
Tangerine, who had come to my side in the meantime, asked a question.
"Your Highness, what were you hiding?"
Her ears were sharp, too.
"Your Highness! What were you hiding, I'm asking!"
"Nothing."
"Hmm. It's not a snack, is it?"
"...No snack."
"Then that's settled!"
Tangerine's eyes gleamed as she declared she wouldn't forgive even the Crown Prince if he'd hidden snacks. I handed her a packet of jelly I'd brought along.
"I wasn't hiding it—I was planning to share it ‌with you all later."
"Oh! You're amazing, Princess!"
"Hehe."
'Is there a lot of sour powder on it?' 'It's covered so much you can't even see the jelly.' 'Please have some too, Holy One!' 'I'm fine....'
In the meantime, Praha and Cyprus exchanged a few words between themselves before rejoining us.
Praha frowned and said something to Cyprus, but I couldn't hear it.
'Not my business. As long as they don't fight.'
Yujein, who had been glancing nervously at her surroundings, asked a question.
"What was the third precaution again?"
"Oh, I wrote it down."
[Ignore the woman who took her own life.]
No matter how many times I looked at ‌‌‌‌‌it, it was an unsettling precaution.
If she had taken her own life, there must surely be a reason behind it, so why ignore her?
'That would be impossible in the land of Janghwa and Hongryeon.'
Thank goodness this was the Empire ‌and not Korea.
"Who on earth took their own life here?"
"Right? Why would someone ‌‌take their life in a labyrinth of all places?"
"It's ‌‌‌not like they thought, 'I have to die so I can become a precaution in the ‌‌‌labyrinth!' or something."
"If it's been carved into the Ancient Labyrinth, whoever died there must have been gone for at least several centuries. What if everything's already decomposed and vanished?"
"Bones might still remain, though, wouldn't they?"
Speculation flew from every direction.
Wary of arrows that might rain down from anywhere, I trudged on for quite some time longer.
Cyprus checked the time and spoke.
"It's already evening. ‌‌‌Shall we find somewhere safe and have a meal?"
"Is there anywhere safe, though...?"
"Of course there is, Holy Maiden!"
Yujein looked particularly downcast today.
She was clearly exhausted but couldn't bring herself to suggest a rest, too conscious of my presence.
'She probably feels awkward asking to stop when I'm the one ‌‌wearing a watch on my palm.'
Reading the room, I sat down first.
"I can't go any further today. How about we rest here and start again tomorrow?"
"Are you very tired, Princess?"
"Yes! My knees feel completely worn through!"
"Knees are precious! Let's rest!"
Tangerine bolted off to find the coolest, cleanest spot possible.
We prepared to spend the night in the suitable place we found.
"Would ‌‌‌‌it be alright to keep a fire going through the night? Will ‌‌we run out of oxygen?"
"A small one should be fine."
"Grand Duke, I'll cut the bread."
I helped Cyprus with the meal preparations, ‌‌‌‌now routine and familiar.
"Holy ‌‌Maiden, come lie down!"
"I'm really fine... Or I could give Tangerine a massage instead!"
I listened to Tangerine and Yujein bickering.
"Goodness."
I stretched my legs out and sat on the ground.
"We'll eat together when the Crown Prince returns."
"Sounds good."
I sat there blankly, waiting ‌‌‌for Praha to return from his reconnaissance.
"May I see your hand for a moment?"
Cyprus, who had finished organizing the ‌‌remaining provisions, spoke to me.
"My hand?"
"Yes. The one with the watch."
Too tired to protest anymore, I quietly offered my hand.
Cyprus placed his hand against mine ‌‌‌and ‌slowly closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm wondering if ‌the watch might ‌transfer over this way."
"For heaven's sake."
Naturally, it had no effect whatsoever.
"Perhaps it's a matter of willpower? Try praying with all your might. Wish that you could palm off this golden watch onto that blonde pretty boy standing right ‌‌‌in front of you."
"Fine."
Could I actually get arrested for attempted murder of the Imperial Family?
I clapped my hands together sharply against his outstretched palms.
You deserve a hit. I struck with genuine intent, yet it doesn't even seem to hurt you.
Cyprus blinked and lifted the corners of his mouth.
"I like it when you smile, princess."
"I wasn't smiling because I'm happy."
I'm irritated right now.
I won't find any happiness until I escape this labyrinth and wash my body in cold water.
"You're burning up. What would I need to do to make you smile happily?"
"I don't know. How about catching that bug on the ceiling?"
"That much is easy enough."
"And staying far away from my side."
"Ah."
"Hmph."
I ‌‌‌turned my head away primly and ‌‌fanned myself with quick fluttering motions.
'I'm dying from the heat and he's spouting nonsense right beside me.'
Hot, throat parched, drowsy.
A complete disaster.
I'm so exhausted I'm not even hungry anymore....
"When is the Crown Prince coming back...."
I must have closed my eyes without realizing it while muttering.
As my head drooped to the side while I dozed, someone caught it.
"I'm sorry...." ‌‌‌
"Just sleep."
That's what I was planning to do anyway.
I've been through so much today....
I don't even have the strength to lift my eyelids again.
'I need to eat. Even if I'm not hungry, I ‌‌‌‌‍need to eat.'
And so I fell asleep.
"Don't worry too much. If it comes to that, there's someone who would transfer that hourglass to their own body just to save you, princess."
A soft voice settling near my ear became the backdrop.
* * *
"Praha."
"...."
"Now you won't even respond."
"Why."
"Catch that bug for me."
"Do it yourself."
"Have Yusara hold onto me."
"Got it."
"Does it bother you that she's sleeping leaning against me?"
"...."
"But what do I do? If I move now, I'll wake her up." ‌‌‌‌
"Be quiet."
"And that hourglass—no matter how much you stare at it with those longing eyes, it won't disappear."
"That's not why I was looking at it."
"Then why were you looking?"
"...."
Without responding, Praha rose to his feet. He chased away an insect crawling toward them, then sat back down beside Cyprus.
Yusara was sleeping with her head resting on Cyprus's lap.
"...."
The fact that Yusara could die, that danger could strike at any moment—it had awakened something profound within Praha.
For instance....
"Praha. If Yusara wakes up, should I tell her you fanned her all night?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Why would I need her to know?"
"Huh?"
"As long as she slept well, that's enough. Why would I need to tell her?"
The feelings he was trying so hard to deny.
"Your arm must hurt from fanning ‌‌‌all night."
"If I don't even have the strength to fan for a few hours... ‌no, never ‌‌‌mind."
Praha closed his mouth and turned his head away.
On the other side of the small fire, ‌‌‌Yujein and Tangerine were sleeping.
Since Tangerine had covered a lot of ground, the two men had agreed to take ‌‌the night watch instead.
Still, Tangerine wasn't the type to sleep deeply, so she might be hearing this conversation right now, but whatever.
This time, Praha rose again to catch an insect crawling near Yujein and ‌‌‌‌Tangerine's heads. ‌‌
Standing, Praha looked down at Cyprus with only his eyes.
"You're ‌‌looking too."
"Huh?"
"You're looking too. Cyprus."
He'd left unsaid what exactly he was looking at, but Cyprus understood. ‌‌‌
Praha moved without looking further at Cyprus, whose expression ‌‌was as if he'd been struck.
He wanted to escape this wretched labyrinth as soon as possible.
* * *
"I want to take a bath...."
It's really hot and humid here.
"Good morning, Princess. Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, and what about Yujein?"
"Me too!"
I caught a glimpse of Yujein, whose complexion looked pallid, and stretched languidly.
'Did she sleep ‌‌‌‌poorly? I managed fine enough.' ‌‌
For how sweltering it was, I'd slept surprisingly well.
A gentle breeze drifted through from somewhere.
"Princess, you didn't eat dinner last night before sleeping, did you?"
Cyprus, who'd been awake for some time now, offered me a ration.
He looked just as grimy and unwashed as I did, yet somehow he appeared so radiant.
"I'll eat gratefully."
I tossed the hard food into my mouth in one bite and stretched my sides.
As I limbered up and dawdled through breakfast, Tangerine returned from reconnaissance and cried out.
"There's a corpse ahead!"
"A corpse?"
"Yes! A female corpse! But the problem is!" ‌‌‌
"The problem?"
"It hasn't decomposed at all! Like someone who just died!"
At those words, we all scrambled to gather our things and stand.
"This way!"
Tangerine led us to another cavern.
A vast cavern like the place where we'd first discovered the ancient-language warning—in ‌the empty space—
hung the Hanged Woman.
A woman suspended by a rope stretched long from the ceiling, her neck ensnared.
Tangled blonde hair, a ‌‌‌white dress like mourning garb. A face hidden behind her locks. Pale bare feet. Limbs without a single wound.
Her body swayed slowly back and forth.
"...."
No trace of fire, no stench of decay, no traps—nothing existed but an empty space.
Only the solitary corpse hanging there.
"The rope is... quite long, isn't it?"
"Where could it be extending from?"
I ‌‌refrained from approaching rashly and observed the surroundings first.
'But there should be something.'
There's nothing but that woman.
My gaze traced from the rope on the ceiling, past the dead woman, and swept across the pristine bare floor.
Nothing whatsoever.
Not even insects.
'So I'm supposed to simply ignore her and pass ‌‌by?'
Something felt off.
A sense of discord ‌‌‌‌‌gnawed at me.
Like viewing a picture drawn all wrong.
"...Is that person really dead?"
[Ancient Labyrinth: Priest's Chamber]
- Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine ‌‌‌(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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