chapter 7
A third-year office worker, Yoo Sara’s opinion on salaries:
A salary isn’t payment for working. It’s payment for enduring.
= Compensation for stress-induced illness treatment.
Company: A place that makes you sick and then pays for the medicine.
Warning: The medicine allowance is ridiculously insufficient to cure all the illnesses you acquire there.
But this wasn’t a company.
Nobody paid you for putting up with things here.
Was I really supposed to tolerate that bastard’s behavior just because I wasn’t supposed to stand out?
Holding back everything I wanted to say at work was already enough to make my blood boil. Did I have to keep enduring it here too?
When nobody was even paying me!
As someone who had developed the habit of referring to everyone she met at work as that bastard, that jerk, or that asshole...
My conclusion was simple:
No.
I’m not putting up with it.
I don’t want to.
I turned toward the nuisance sitting diagonally across from me.
“Excuse me.”
“What is it, Duchess?”
“I get that I’m dead weight, but it’s pretty unfair hearing that from another piece of baggage instead of one of those two fit guys over there.”
The male leads, who had suddenly become “two fit guys,” widened their eyes.
Seeing the handsome men looking oddly cute, I snorted.
Whatever.
I’m already the troublesome villainess, right?
A character like that is supposed to talk trash.
And no matter how rude I get, I still won’t be worse than Assistant Manager Jo from my team.
“And Miss Yoo Je-in isn’t baggage. She has divine power. Who do you think cast that blessing on you?”
Honestly, I didn’t even like the term villainess.
If I’m a villainess, what does that make him? A villain? An ugly villain?
“If she hadn’t used her blessing on you, she could’ve spent that power treating her own ankle. Did that ever occur to you?”
Well, not exactly. Divine power wasn’t that amazing.
The nuisance knew that too and immediately shot back.
“What are you talking about? It’s a useless power anyway. If all it can do is heal tiny cuts, how’s it supposed to fix an ankle?”
“Oh, really? Earlier you were saying a knight died because she didn’t bless him.”
Wasn’t he the one saying she should’ve done it sooner, without even offering a thank-you?
Why was he changing his story now?
The moment I pointed it out, he opened and closed his mouth without a response.
Since he seemed out of words, I kept going.
“You were happy enough to accept her blessing, but now that you’re hurt, you want to leave her behind? Are you not ashamed? Is Yoo Je-in some kind of object? Something you throw away once it’s broken? Have some conscience.”
I clicked my tongue.
I wouldn’t even treat my robot vacuum cleaner like that.
The nuisance’s face flushed bright red as he raised his voice.
“Who said we should abandon her completely? I said leave her behind! The knight too! The guy with the sword!”
“Why would we leave Sir Dazzling behind? By your own logic, the most efficient thing would be for the people who aren’t burdens to leave first. Sir Dazzling should go, and you should stay here with us. You’re baggage too.”
I pointed at his chubby cheek.
His face was handsome enough to hide it, but he still had baby fat.
Maybe twenty years old?
So young, yet he’d already learned all the wrong things.
Tsk, tsk.
“If we’re going to talk efficiency, let’s be consistent. Wasn’t it your idea? Leave behind anyone who’s a burden and let only the useful people escape.”
“...”
“From the perspective of those armed people over there, you’re baggage too.”
“...”
“Actually, heavy baggage.”
“...”
“You look like you weigh twice as much as Yoo Je-in. Nobody could even carry you.”
The moment I said exactly what I thought, his face turned crimson all the way to his ears.
He wiped sweat from his forehead, fuming, but what was that supposed to accomplish?
Then he glared at me.
“Watch your mouth, Duchess.”
“About what? I’m just suggesting the most efficient solution. Come on. Let’s go back together. Let’s hide in a sealed room all night without a drop of water, starving, armed with nothing but a single dagger, while waiting for a rescue team that may never come!”
I clenched my blood-crusted hand into a fist and thrust it dramatically into the air.
You lunatic, let’s die together!
“Let’s go!”
I stood up and grabbed his elbow.
Even his elbow was packed with fat.
Honestly, I’d seen Jeju cutlassfish with less meat on them.
“If a corpse shows up while we’re waiting, you can act as a shield and buy us time. The women—including me—can run away while the zombies are busy eating you. With that much meat on you, they’ll be occupied for quite a while.”
“You little...!”
“Why? It’s the most. Efficient. Solution.”
Apparently nobody had ever commented on his weight before.
That was exactly why I did it.
Working around male coworkers who constantly judged other people’s appearances, I knew perfectly well how irritating and humiliating it felt.
I didn’t want to become the kind of trash who attacked people over their looks.
I hated myself for using such a cheap tactic just to hurt him.
I hated that it was the first thing that came to mind.
And I hated the people at my company who had conditioned me to think that way.
Why did they have to make people so petty?
Did he think the women had been keeping quiet because they had nothing to say?
“If we leave people behind one by one based on how burdensome they are, and we’re the first ones abandoned, then what? Don’t you realize you’d be next?”
“You’ve really gone too far...!”
The furious nuisance shook off my arm.
The force nearly made me stumble.
He shot to his feet and raised his arm toward my face.
I wasn’t scared at all, so I lifted my chin.
His breath smelled sweet.
You’ve got to be kidding me...
Was he drunk too?
“Papri!”
The moment he raised his hand, people jumped to their feet.
In an instant, the Crown Prince appeared behind him and grabbed his arm.
Hadn’t he been much farther away?
Did he teleport?
“Papri.”
The Grand Duke called his name, expression hard.
One hand rested on his sword.
The Crown Prince twisted Papri’s arm behind his back and restrained both arms with one hand.
“Argh!”
Papri screamed immediately.
“Brother! That hurts! It hurts! Ah! Ah!”
Ignoring him completely, the Crown Prince looked only at me.
Only after I shook my head did he release Papri and step back.
Then he warned him quietly:
“Do not make me disappointed in you.”
“Brother...!”
“Apologize to the Duchess. Otherwise, the one staying behind here alone will be you.”
There wasn’t the slightest trace of humor in his cold eyes.
...He seemed angry.
“Does it really need to go that far?” the Grand Duke added.
“We could always take him with us and use him as a shield.”
Then he smiled.
“The Duchess offered an excellent suggestion. Let’s try it exactly as she said. A shield.”
His tone was light.
His words were not.
Yeah.
They were both definitely angry.
Papri glanced nervously between his two terrifying older brothers and fell silent.
He only rubbed his twisted arm stubbornly, but the male leads clearly weren’t letting it go.
The Crown Prince sighed.
“Papri.”
Finally, a reluctant apology dropped from Papri’s mouth.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
I answered casually.
The male leads exchanged looks and returned to their positions.
“We’ll move again after a little more rest.”
An awkward silence settled over the room.
What’s wrong with people like him? Everyone should be working together to survive, yet all he does is complain.
I wasn’t exactly mature either, considering I’d argued back...
But still.
He started it!
Ugh.
I wanted to go home.
I was stretching my arms and legs when Papri, rubbing his elbow, whispered again after making sure the Crown Prince wasn’t listening.
“Must be nice. Getting protected just because you’re a woman.”
Then he muttered:
“Maybe I should be born a woman in my next life.”
This guy is persistent...
I fired back immediately.
“Protected?”
I tilted my head.
“Are you sure they were protecting me?”
Maybe they were protecting you from getting punched by me.
Did he think I’d just stand there if he hit me?
Not a chance.
I’d scream and attract zombies if I had to.
Yoo Je-in’s eyes darted nervously as another argument began.
I continued.
“What do you mean ‘born a woman next life’? Weren’t you the one saying we should leave all the women behind? Do you enjoy being abandoned?”
“That’s because you’re burdens!”
“No, what I’m asking is whether you’re not a burden! You’ve been walking in the middle of the women, protected from every direction! Be honest. If zombies appeared, you were planning to hide behind Yoo Je-in or Mascarpone, weren’t you?”
If he had any conscience at all, he couldn’t deny it.
“Even if I’m a burden, I’d be a burden to the Crown Prince, the Grand Duke, or Sir Dazzling—not to you. And besides...”
I lifted my chin.
Trying to look down on him as arrogantly as possible.
“Could you even carry me like baggage? We look about the same height.”
He was maybe a little taller than me.
My original height had been 169 centimeters, and this body seemed about the same.
So maybe he was 172 or 173.
His arms were all soft fat, no muscle.
I trusted the thigh muscles I’d built from swimming three mornings a week far more than I trusted him.
“Can we just shut up and move already? Whether it’s you or me, we’re both getting carried through this situation by other people anyway.”
I couldn’t stop smiling.
Completely inappropriate for the situation.
If only I could speak my mind like this at work.
Who knew saying exactly what you wanted without filtering yourself could feel this refreshing?
No wonder people vent anonymously online.
“Oh, and one more thing while we’re at it. I’ve wanted to say this for a while.”
I pointed at him.
“What’s the point of Yoo Je-in blessing you every day if you never put in any effort? Aren’t you expecting way too much from a blessing?”
“Pffft.”
Supporting Character No. 2 finally burst out laughing.
Then immediately covered his mouth.
“Sorry...”
Mascarpone’s expression looked much the same.
Even Sir Dazzling, standing farther away, seemed amused.
Papri looked utterly devastated.
Humiliated by the very people he had looked down on as baggage.
He clearly wanted to punch me right then and there but couldn’t because of his brothers.
I looked him over.
That spiteful expression.
That rude, inconsiderate way of speaking.
His complete inability to notice the inconvenience he caused others while being hypersensitive to any inconvenience caused to him.
And the stamina of someone who was already panting after a few minutes of walking.
What was his name again? Paprika?
Whatever it was, I decided I’d keep calling him the Nuisance.
Until Paprika’s hair turned black.
Back in Korea, I was an office worker who solved everything with “Yes,” “Thank you,” “Please confirm,” and “(damn it)” muttered under my breath.
But not here.
Here, I was going to stand out.
I was going to say whatever I wanted.
I was going to act like myself.
The corners of my mouth, twisted by the stress of transmigration, slowly curled upward.
And from that moment on—
the resolution I had made earlier, Don’t stand out—
which I hadn’t really been following anyway—
was officially broken.
[Imperial Villa – Second Floor Washroom]
Survivors: