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‌‌ A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse Episode 8 "I'm fine." Watching Yusara rise to her feet on her own, Praha felt like he'd become an utterly despicable person. ‌‌A faint smile, then an expression that wavered with confusion. A hand that rose slightly, then withdrew. Everyone witnessed her outstretched hand find no one to grasp it, ‌‌‌only to fall back down. I suspected I wouldn't forget the look in her eyes at that moment for a long time. * * * When was it? I watched a film with my university classmates. Afterward, we had this conversation. "Breaking up is difficult, so you make the <decision to break up>. If breaking up were easy, you'd just do it—you ‌‌‌wouldn't need to make a decision about it." "Who said that?" "The director who made this film." Either people fail to break up in the end, ‌‌or even ‌‌‌if they succeed, the process is so agonizingly turbulent and painful that they make a film about it and ‌‌‌title it 【The Decision to Break Up】. I agree. "Right, when we make decisions, we make ‌‌‌decisions to save money, to quit our jobs, to ‌‌‌stop drinking—we don't make decisions to go home after work and lie in ‌‌bed." "That's not a decision, that's a desire—the desire to lie around." "A desire just to ‌‌‌lie down? Are we slaves or something?" So my point is, if it were easy for me not to be a nuisance, I wouldn't have made the <decision not to be a nuisance> in the first place. Not being a nuisance is hard. Especially in a situation like this where an idiot ‌keeps coming and going right in front of me. Had I really accumulated that much stress? An unexpected possession, sudden ‌‌‌conflicts breaking out from all sides, falling down with no one bothering to help me up—surrounded by such heartless people. Did I unleash all the rage that had risen to my throat on that Nuisance Man? I did something so petty, attacking someone by fixating on their ‌‌appearance. My character is absolutely terrible. "Yes, I'll do my self-reflection at home!" I set aside the tangled mess of stray thoughts. There was no rush—I could reflect once I was home, lying in my own bed. My primary objective was getting back home. With the resolve of "going home, lying down, and reflecting," I looked at the people around me. While I was spacing out and Nuisance Man was rubbing his elbow and muttering to himself, the others were doing their best to compose themselves. "My soles hurt. They've turned red." "The shoe soles must be thin. It would be nice if we had thick socks or something." "I'm tempted to steal the servants' socks and wear them." "By tomorrow morning, my legs will definitely be sore." Observing ‌them intently, I finally understood why the Crown Prince and Grand Duke had needlessly lingered here for ‌‌so long. "These people ‌don't have the stamina." They don't have the stamina to walk briskly without rest from here to the Left Stairs, and then from there to the Kitchen. The same goes for traversing such a vast Villa from one end to the other. "For someone like me—a corporate slave who takes the subway every day—this is nothing. But for these others, who ‌‌‌are nobility to their bones, it's the ordeal of a lifetime." Of course, I'm currently possessing the body of this princess myself, but... 'Come to think of it, this princess Yusara supposedly has the same name and appearance as me... but I haven't actually verified how ‌‌‌‌similar we are. At least our limbs look almost identical. Is there a mirror anywhere in this place?' No. There wasn't one. Now wasn't the time to be checking mirrors anyway. I alternated my gaze between Supporting Character 2, who had kicked off her slippers and was massaging her bare feet regardless of noble dignity, and Nuisance Man, who was still dripping with sweat. Both their faces were deathly pale. 'Did I just make things worse by fighting with Nuisance Man and dealing psychological damage for nothing?' I casually asked Supporting Character 2, who seemed the kindest of the group. "That must have been quite exhausting, walking all this way." "Pardon? ...Yes. Since I don't usually walk much, it was rather taxing." "How much do you normally walk?" "Well... I sometimes go to the park on sunny afternoons." "Ah, so you take strolls through the park?" "Pardon? No. We go to where we can see the lake and spread out blankets to sit with friends." "So you do walk from ‌‌the park entrance to the lake? How many steps would that be?" "I'm not sure. We always have the carriage stop right in front of the lake." ...Isn't that just saying she doesn't walk at all? "My memory's a bit ‌fuzzy, but how did we get here after we came down from the portal?" "The carriage dropped us off at the Entrance Hall." ... So I'm escaping with people who don't walk even five minutes on their own feet... My earlier resolve to 'go ‌home and reflect while lying down' instantly transformed into 'I need to exercise'. When I get back, I'm exercising. I'm increasing my early morning swimming from three times a week to five. I could only pray we wouldn't ‌‌have to run for our lives. "How is your ankle, Yujein?" "I tried to use my ability, but... it seems my recovery isn't complete ‌‌‌yet. I'm sorry." "Please, don't apologize." A faint white light flickered at the tips of Yujein's fingers before vanishing. As she withdrew her ‌‌‌hand from her ankle, she looked absolutely mortified toward the Crown Prince who had spoken. 'The divine power I imagined was supposed to resurrect the dead and commune ‌‌‌‌with gods and all that. Why are the gods in this place so stingy? They could at least heal a minor sprain.' Though healing even small wounds ‌‌with divine power was genuinely remarkable in itself. "Allow me to examine it." The Crown Prince, who had left Dazling to guard the entrance, and the Grand Duke approached us. The Crown Prince ‌tended to Yujein while the Grand Duke examined my wounds. It was a role division that made it painfully obvious they were being mindful of what had ‌happened earlier. The Grand Duke, kneeling on one knee before me, spoke. "Princess, show me your hand." Without waiting for a response, he pulled my hand toward him ‌‌and gently cleaned the wound with water ‌‌‌from his handkerchief. My hand instinctively recoiled, but the Grand Duke held it firmly. "Are you injured anywhere else?" "No." "Think carefully. You took quite a hard fall back there." Despite his curt tone, his touch was remarkably tender. A straight finger ‌‌touched my palm. Blood was wiped away as if brushed off like dust. 'It tickles so much I ‌‌might burst out laughing....' "You really don't have any?" "No." Mascarpone, who had been watching, chided me. "Don't be stubborn about your pride and just tell us, Lady." When I turned around, she smirked with a sneer. "Lady Yusara loves getting attention, doesn't ‌‌‌‌she? When else would you get the ‌‌Grand Duke's attention if not now?" There she goes again, picking a fight. There was a reason Mascarpone kept needling me like this. A concert hall, years ‌‌‌ago. Mascarpone had mocked Yusara for not following the dress code, calling her uncouth. Yusara grabbed her by the hair right then and there. Yusara didn't care—her reputation was already in ruins—but Mascarpone couldn't go out in public for a while after that. The Grand Duke's nose wrinkled for a moment. "Are you two going to keep fighting?" Huh. I hadn't even said anything. "Stop fighting and focus on me. Your handsome healing fairy tending to your wounded hand." "Good grief...." The Grand Duke tore the handkerchief in half like paper and wrapped the clean half around my palm. The Grand ‌‌Duke asked, pretending to concentrate on the treatment. Subtly. "Lady, am I in good shape?" "Don't you look ‌‌in mirrors?" I replied coldly. The Grand Duke ‌‌scratched his cheek. "I do look in mirrors. But hearing it said outright that I have a good physique... it's a bit. How do I put it." "Proud?" "Embarrassed, actually. I never expected ‌‌‌‌you to say something like that." "Ah, yes." Lady Yusara ‌‌wouldn't have said that, that's for sure. Not wanting to talk further (I'm still upset with you two!), I shifted my attention to Yujein and the Crown Prince. Beneath the hem of Yujein's dress as she sat on the floor, small feet were visible. Despite her feet being truly tiny, the heels were so impossibly thin they ‌‌looked precarious. ‌‌The Crown Prince glanced at those shoes, somehow supporting a weight of at least 40 kilograms, and then— "If you'll excuse me." He snapped them clean ‌off with one hand. "Lady was right. I should have done this sooner." And with that, he subtly tried to engage me in conversation, glancing my way. I ignored him. 'The Grand Duke's doing it too. The Crown Prince has been watching my expression since earlier.' The Crown Prince, now standing, suddenly called out Nuisance Man's name. "Paprika." "Why, brother?" "I don't think I mentioned it earlier." "Huh?" The Crown Prince looked down at Nuisance Man, stretching his neck with a slow roll. Once ‌‌‌‌he ‌‌stopped moving, the Crown Prince spoke. "I do not consider any of you here to be a burden." "...." "These ‌‌‌people are my guests, and had it not been for me, they would never have been invited here or faced such circumstances. Therefore, the responsibility for their safety rests with me." ‌‌‌His flawless face tilted slightly to the side. "If I invite people on a whim and then call them burdens because the situation has changed, who would ever accept an invitation from the Imperial Family? Or perhaps you have no experience with guests ‌‌‌‌because you've never had ‌‌‌any to invite?" 'Nuisance Man has ‌‌‌no friends. I knew ‌‌it.' Nuisance Man said nothing in return. Neither did the Crown Prince. ‌‌The rest was over. In place of ‌‌‌the Crown Prince and Grand Duke who needed to protect the group, Mascarpone and Supporting ‌‌‌Character 2 stepped forward to support Yujein. The formation had changed. Grand Duke/Dazling Nuisance Man Mascarpone/Yujein/Supporting Character 2 Crown Prince/Me Why am I in the back again, you ask? Because ‌‌‌I didn't want to walk with Nuisance Man. Just as we were ‌‌about to pass through the Central Staircase and head into the Left Corridor without anyone speaking, it happened. "Aaaah!" Nuisance Man, who had been huffing and puffing, suddenly began kicking the wall with his feet—bang, bang, bang. His thick-soled boots crashed against the wall with such force that the vibrations rattled the decorative armor hanging nearby. Supporting Character 2, who had been following behind, flinched. The Grand Duke spoke cheerfully. "Paprika, you'll break it that way." A chill ran down my spine. I looked at the Central Staircase we hadn't yet fully passed. The mouths and hands of the zombies piled on the stairs—still alive, merely ‌severed and unable to move—twitched in response to the vibrations and noise Nuisance Man created. The grotesque sight of the severed flesh swelling and deflating made my hair stand on end. I grabbed the sleeve of the Crown Prince beside me. "Your Highness." "...Yes." "You said earlier that the dead Attendant might have come through the ‌‌‌‌servants' passage." "Yes." "Could you tell me again exactly where that servants' passage is...?" "...It's inside the wall. Within the wall, close to ‌‌‌‌a secret room." The passage is inside the wall, then. The very wall that Nuisance Man is now kicking so hard the corpses scattered on the stairs are reacting with twitches. "Your Highness. ...What do you think is the probability that the severed Attendant locked the passage door before dying?" Before I could even finish speaking, the Crown Prince, grasping my intent instantly, spun around sharply. The wall rattled. The curtain-draped wall—the Secret Passage—trembled visibly enough that we could discern where the entrance lay. I looked forward. My eyes met those of my companions, who had been listening to our exchange. Their gazes slowly shifted toward the space behind me. Clatter. Clatter. The sound continued relentlessly. Clatter. Clatter-clatter. Clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-bang-bang-bang. Crash! "Run!" [Imperial ‌Villa 2nd Floor Corridor] Grand Duke/Dazling Nuisance Man Mascarpone/Yujein/Supporting Character 2 Crown Prince/Yusara (Survived) ‌‌

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