"Whew…this is really true, huh…" Sungah murmured beneath her breath, gazing at the mesmerising sun through the windows of her room.
Just yesterday, she could have sworn she had succumbed to her exhaustion and fell unconscious on top of the cold, rough surface of the concrete ground outside. The voices and chants of the mob still reverberated throughout her mind, yet at the same time—her thoughts were more organised than ever before.
She looked downwards, her hands still clutching on the soft, white sheets from her earlier encounter with Florin. A few wet spots were visible, caused by Florin's tears. Everything from yesterday up to the present seemed as if to be nothing more than a mere hallucination for her. A happy one at that.
"Yeah…this is reality, alright." She breathed a sigh of relief, pinching her cheeks to ensure she hadn't been caught up in some elaborate l dream her mind conjured for the purpose of coping with yesterday's events.
A pleasant smile crept up onto her face, standing up from her bed with a sense of hope and comfort enveloping her—knowing that she was back at the place she belonged in this world. Turning around, she headed towards her closet—prepared to resume her job as a maid.
While she stepped towards the wardrobe jubilantly, the door to her room abruptly burst open—a flood of servants pouring in seemingly endlessly without halt. All of them surrounded Sungah, picking her up in their arms before tucking her back into her own bed.
They too wore a concerned and disturbed expression on their faces—albeit not as worse as Florin's distraught. They bombarded Sungah with questions, questions and questions. Each one was different, but it all had the same essence—inquiries regarding her well-being.
A nervous chuckle escaped from her throat, answering each and every single one of them to the best of her abilities. Sungah had somewhat expected Florin to worry about her, but not every single servant within the manor too. She felt slightly overwhelmed by the abundance of people all gathered within her room, yet was still thankful for their presence.
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It warmed her heart knowing there were more than one person that truly cared for her condition. It also somewhat felt nostalgic, as if she had returned back to the old days of spending her time at the orphanage as a child. Those days whenever she was sick, a bunch of people too would gather around her all for the purpose of hoping to make her feel less lonely while faced with a fever.
"I'm fine, everyone. Thank you for worrying about me, but I'm truly fine." She reassured them once more, attempting to sneak out of bed but was promptly stopped by a servant.
"No! Even if you say you're fine, it sometimes isn't true. So, take a rest for today. No more arguments!" A maid protests, stepping out amidst the crowd and revealing herself to be Aiala.
"So, be a good friend to us and take the rest you need now. We'll handle your tasks for today. No need to feel indebted to us. You have after all always lend us a hand even when we didn't ask you to. Think of today as a small payback for all the help you have provided." She added, the servants nodding in agreement with her words.
With that, the throng of servants exited the room—leaving Sungah to receive her much-needed rest after everything she had undergone. She groaned, pulling the blanket over herself to take a nap she desperately needed—or at least told by her colleagues.
Her consciousness gradually slipped out of reality from the soft pillow her head was placed atop of. Her last train of thoughts were about how much she was actually treasured by the people in the manor, in comparison to her co-workers back on Earth.
Although she still felt somewhat grateful for Takashi, Kafil and Jeongeun for all the things they had participated in together, whether it be as coworkers or friends—ever since the apocalypse began, her perspective over them changed far more than she initially anticipated. It had once been stated that when a human knows its finite lifespan was near, it would let loose all inhibitions and go on a rampage to satisfy its impulsiveness.
The same logic could be applied to them. Her boss wasn't the usual, seemingly happy yet calculated man she had worked under for nearly four years straight. He definitely wasn't your overwhelmingly good boss, but neither was he condescending or haughty towards his employees. He was merely your average—perhaps better than a normal, filthy rich CEO that made sure his employees were given a suitable paycheck, bonuses and benefits to certain hardworking individuals.
However, she couldn't see him in that way any longer. When the disaster struck, it was almost as if the side he had kept restrained for years—tore through its chains. Cold, calculative, maniacal and erratic. His actions became unpredictable. The kindness he once showed his employees was thrown out of the window—revealing a ruthless and unforgiving nature to anyone he met, foe or not. And Kafil and Takashi were willing to follow such a madman. It was a bewildering sight to say the least.
Sungah slapped both her cheeks lightly—attempting to put such issues aside for the moment. At the very least, not when she is trying to get some rest. Another sigh of relief escaped her lips, her eyelids slowly closing her eyes until there was nothing but darkness as she drifted to the realm of unconsciousness.
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