Chapter 2

2

I walked inside, and a light breeze caught the curtains.

The golden sunset flooded the room.

If the memory of my death wasn't so painful, I would have thought it was all a dream.

It was a cozy two-bedroom apartment. I'd even decorated one room specifically for Sienna.

If the world hadn't ended, I never would have known how much she hated me.

Her words from my past life still echoed in my ears like a demon's whisper.

"Why did I do it? Cora, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been ruined by that pig Lester Flint…"

Lester Flint was our department manager before I quit.

He was a middle-aged, balding guy who loved to lecture people. I usually ignored him.

Last year, right before a holiday, there was a business trip.

Originally, Lester wanted me to go with him.

But I got food poisoning at the last minute and ended up in the hospital. Sienna went instead.

When they got back, Sienna was in a terrible mood for days and took it out on me.

After that, Lester started making my life a living hell at work.

That was why I eventually quit.

It turned out something terrible had happened on that trip.

But the only thing I'd eaten that day was a sandwich Sienna gave me.

She had poisoned me so she could take the trip and get a promotion.

She just didn't realize Lester had disgusting intentions.

He'd told her to come to his room at night, and she could have said no.

She chose not to. She knew what it meant, but she did it anyway.

Then she spent the rest of the year blaming me for her own choice.

I remembered how she always acted like a little ray of sunshine at the office.

She'd volunteer for extra work, but then she'd dump all those tasks on me.

"Cora, don't be so stingy. We're colleagues, we should help each other. See? The coworkers even bought me coffee to say thanks. You should be more considerate…"

She got all the praise for being "kind," while I did all the work and spent all the money.

I used to joke that she was a saint. Now I realized I was the only idiot here.

I grabbed all the bedding I'd bought for her and tossed it straight into the trash.

Since this was a new development, the occupancy rate was pretty low.

In my last life, I'd broken into an empty unit to hide.

If I had enough food and stayed inside, I could survive until the end.

Those monsters had a crazy sense of smell and were incredibly fast.

I only went out last time because I was starving to death.

Thankfully, the contractors had talked me into top-tier security.

The doors were reinforced and heavy.

I didn't have to worry about people breaking in; the noise would attract monsters before they got through.

Now, it was time to shop.

My memories didn't stop when I died; my soul had lingered until the monsters were wiped out.

The whole thing lasted six months.

Every evening at the hour of my death, I felt the pain of my flesh being torn from my bones.

Sienna had run out of food after three months.

She ended up sleeping with the guy upstairs to survive, even though he was married.

I watched them huddle together as they threw his innocent wife out to the monsters.

Those two pieces of trash actually managed to survive.

I drove to the supermarket and went straight for the long-term food section.

I grabbed self-heating meals, canned beef, instant noodles, and crackers.

I bought rice, oil, flour, and every seasoning I could find.

To avoid suspicion, I went to several different stores and made multiple trips.