I Woke Up as the Saintess
I ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel.
“...?”
When I came to, I was lying in a bed. And not just any bed. It felt as fresh as if I’d just taken a shower and lain down, and the sheets were spotlessly clean. The scenery around me was equally pristine. It was so perfect that for a second I thought I was dreaming—that I’d simply been having a long nightmare about surviving a zombie apocalypse and had finally woken up.
It was so meticulously crafted, like a perfect replica of the world before the outbreak, that it felt even more eerie.
“...”
There was also a strange, foreign sensation around my ankle. I wondered if I’d been subjected to something horrible, but that didn’t seem to be the case. My body didn’t feel harmed in any way. Instead, it was obvious that someone had changed my clothes.
“What the hell is this?”
I was dressed in something that looked familiar—a modified nun’s habit. But it wasn’t the kind you’d see in an actual church. It was the sort that only appeared in subculture, the kind deliberately altered to look more provocative than pious.
A wave of foreboding slammed into me.
“Oh, fuck no.”
The odd feeling around my ankle turned out to be a metal chain. It was basically a shackle. The kind of heavy chain people in the countryside used for large dogs, the sort normally attached to a collar. Only this one was locked around my ankle.
“...”
I looked around frantically and saw that the chain was ridiculously long. This appeared to be a house in a quiet rural area. There was a thick post driven deep into the yard, and the chain was wrapped around it several times. Given its length, it looked like I could go anywhere inside the house without restriction.
“What the actual fuck is this supposed to be?”
In the yard stood Jeokto, completely intact. My Beopbong and blade lay nearby. If they were going to keep me captive, why leave my weapons and escape vehicle right there? It made no sense.
“Are they stupid?”
“You’re the stupid one.”
“...!”
I whipped my head toward the voice and saw the chamdokchung. She tapped the sheath at her waist in a clear warning not to try anything funny. Her outfit was strange, though. Last time she’d been wearing shorts, but now she was dressed in a nun’s habit similar to mine.
The chamdokchung noticed my stare and quickly looked away.
“Chamdok…chung?”
“Who are you calling a chamdokchung?!”
“Well, if you got sucked into this novel, that’s what you are.”
“Then what about you!”
“I was forgiven, obviously.”
“...”
“So why am I the stupid one?”
“...This is Yeongdo District. Yeongdo.”
“Ah.”
They’d given me the means to escape because it didn’t matter. Yeongdo was an island. There were only so many ways off it.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
“W-wait, salt farm slave?!”
“...”
“I mean, when people say island slave, that’s usually what they mean.”
“...I can’t tell if you’re an idiot or a genius. You’re the Saintess.”
“...?”
Me? A saintess? What a joke. It was so ridiculous I almost laughed. Given everything I’d done, calling me a saintess was a stretch. I was about as far from pious as a person could get. Then again, maybe getting isekai’d automatically qualified me for the title.
“So that Prophet bastard really called me the Saintess?”
“Yes. They even sent messengers to announce it to the nearby factions.”
“Messengers? Wait, hold on. Where exactly?”
“The military unit should have arrived by now, and the campus group will be here soon too.”
“Huk!”
“We need to establish ourselves as a proper faction soon. You were the last Saintess candidate in the region, apparently. By the way, why do you look like that?”
The chamdokchung tilted her head in confusion, but I couldn’t answer. I barely managed to squeeze out a question.
“What… did you just say?”
“I said they publicly announced you as the Saintess. They even took photos.”
“S-show me!”
“I don’t see why not.”
The chamdokchung pulled out a phone. I snatched it and frantically opened the gallery. There I was, sleeping peacefully, dressed in the nun’s habit with a bizarre cross around my neck like some holy figure.
No matter how many times I looked, the photo remained. I muttered blankly.
“They took this… and left?”
“Yes. Anyway, you’ll have to cooperate with us now. Once you’re inside the novel, there’s no other choice, right?”
“...”
Fuck. I’m screwed.
Those were the only two thoughts in my head. My teeth chattered. My body curled in on itself. My heart clenched so tightly with fear that I could barely breathe. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground. My fingers dug into the dirt like it was tofu. The desperate thought that I was going to die must have triggered a burst of monstrous strength.
Nothing else mattered. As long as it wasn’t the campus. Actually, even the campus didn’t matter. Noh Changhun wouldn’t panic if he heard about me. He’d probably handle it calmly. The people at the campus wouldn’t worry either. They’d just wonder what the hell I was doing. With Lee Ayoung there, they had nothing to fear.
The problem was Kang Siwoo.
The sound of her tapping the sheath reached my ears. That guy could become a serious problem. I could already hear him asking, “Yeji… did you betray us?” His voice would be ice-cold. He already harbored deep resentment toward me. From the very first meeting, he’d been extremely wary. He’d even declared he would kill me no matter what. He’d threatened that I wouldn’t die easily.
My mind went blank for a moment, then sharpened with terrifying clarity.
If I stayed here, I was dead.
“You fucking bitch!”
I yanked the chain hard. After a slight resistance, the post ripped out of the ground. It didn’t just come loose—it flew straight toward me. I caught it and casually hurled it at the wall. I hadn’t thrown it that hard, but the wall shattered into pieces.
The chamdokchung ducked in terror, probably thinking I was aiming for her. That worked in my favor.
“Where is that Prophet bastard?!”
“...Ah.”
“Tell me right now! If you don’t want to die…!”
A light tug on the chain sent the post flying again. I was so desperate to live that the post began to crumble in my grip. I had never unleashed this much strength without being injured before. And I hoped I never would again.
Even now, I could hear Kang Siwoo’s fake laugh ringing in my ears.
“M-monster…”
“Hey. Before you die, tell me where that bastard is.”
I didn’t care if she pissed herself. I was in a hurry. I had to explain the situation to Kang Siwoo as fast as possible. Cold sweat poured down my back. He was smart, so he probably wouldn’t misunderstand. But there was always the chance he might. If he did, I would suffer the most horrible death imaginable.
The post turned to powder in my hand.
Yeongdo. Right, Yeongdo. Being an island didn’t mean there were no roads at all. If I tried, escaping wasn’t impossible. If I rode Jeokto at full speed, I could get away without trouble.
I ignored the trembling chamdokchung, snapped the chain off my ankle, and used the broken links to tie her arms and legs so she couldn’t cause trouble. She was so terrified she just let me do it.
“...Ha.”
I really didn’t want to die. Kang Siwoo wasn’t stupid, so I told myself he’d understand. But I couldn’t ignore the slight possibility of misunderstanding.
“...”
First, I needed to make sure no one was watching. I walked slowly toward the entrance and scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, something blue flew at me. It was the girl I’d seen before. She attacked like a madwoman—fists flying, threatening kicks slamming into my body over and over. But it didn’t hurt much.
I lightly stomped the ground.
“W-what?!”
The girl staggered and shouted. She had every right to be shocked. Cracks had spiderwebbed across the road like an earthquake had struck. I thought for a moment, then gently pushed her. That alone sent her flying several meters. She slammed into a wall and lost consciousness.
“...Fuck.”
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the thought that I was going to die. I had no idea how to convince Kang Siwoo. I’d nerfed my intelligence quite a bit lately, so maybe I could play dumb and get away with it. Saintess? Oh, the Saintess. I’ve always wanted to try on a nun’s habit. Yeah, right. As if that would work.
Looking at the phone, quite a bit of time seemed to have passed. The date on the device and the photo in the gallery showed a significant gap. By now, the campus and the military must have received the news. I didn’t know exactly what the messenger had said, but I couldn’t relax.
I sank to the ground in despair. It wasn’t just anyone. It was Kang Siwoo. If it had been Noh Changhun, I wouldn’t have been this scared. In the end, I could beat him. But with Kang Siwoo, there was no guarantee. All the achievements he’d accomplished in the original story flashed through my mind.
“You certainly made quite the spectacle.”
“...You.”
A voice reached me. I whipped my head around, too furious to hold back. Across from me stood a woman who looked every bit the holy Saintess—serene, dignified. Her hair was ash-gray and her eyes were red. She was accompanied by hunters, clearly acting as her escort.
“I am the Prophet. Nice to meet you.”
“You immersion-obsessed… pathetic otaku bitch…!”
A suitable blunt weapon lay nearby. Without standing up, I casually grabbed a nearby streetlamp. It snapped off instantly. I rose to my feet holding it. One good swing and I might feel better.
No, seriously. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have cared this much. In the original story, Kang Siwoo had only ground his teeth and sworn to never let someone die easily twice. The fact that I was now one of those people told me exactly how much he must hate me.
A crow flies by and the pear falls. Tying your shoelaces in a melon field. He already viewed me negatively, and now this had piled on top. I was really going to get murdered.
My teeth ground together. I had been so careful, watching every step to survive, and this bitch had ruined everything.
“You fucking bitch. Stand right there.”
On second thought, it was better to kill the hunters with the streetlamp first. Then I’d incapacitate her, calm down, suppress my monstrous strength, and beat the shit out of her.
I began walking slowly, dragging the streetlamp behind me.
“How scary. You really are violent.”
“Shut your mouth, you whore.”
“Say that one more time.”
“Ah.”
The pathetic wannabe pulled a pistol from her pocket. The hunters drew their guns as well. I twisted the streetlamp into a pretzel in rage, but that was as far as it went.
People die when they get shot.
I tossed the streetlamp aside and slowly raised both hands.