End of the World? I'm the Boss novel Chapter 1

"Listen, I make 50,000 dollars a year. That's more than enough to take care of you. At your age, you should be thinking about settling down while you still have the chance. In a couple of years, it'll be harder for you. You might not have many options left. Hey—are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

Robin jerked in surprise. Her eyes flew open as she stared at everything around her, stunned.

The air smelled strongly of fresh coffee. Warm sunlight poured through the bright windows and spread across the table in front of her.

The café was quiet and calm. Every now and then, someone tapped on a keyboard. Soft laughter and low conversations drifted through the room.

Everything felt peaceful. Normal.

But just moments ago, her best friend Zelda Field and Noah Goodman had pushed her straight into a swarm of zombies. Pain had ripped through her body. Rotting mouths had torn into her flesh. Blood had filled her vision...

Robin slowly looked away from the room and focused on the man sitting across from her. He wore a neat suit. His huge belly pressed against the table, and the hair on the top of his head was thinning.

"You are...?"

His face looked somewhat familiar. Robin moved her lips slightly. After surviving ten years in the apocalypse, she had learned how to stay calm no matter what happened. Even though this situation made no sense, she quietly picked up her phone and checked the screen.

August 14, 3026.

4:00 p.m.

Which meant—

Ten years ago! She had returned to ten years in the past.

Robin Neel forced herself to stay calm, despite her emotions running high. In her previous life, on August 24, 3023, Jeblea ignored warnings from the United Nations and dumped nuclear wastewater into the ocean. They confidently claimed it would cause no harm to Earth.

But three years later, on August 24, Earth fought back. Humanity faced Earth's retaliation for that reckless decision.

A zombie virus that only affected humans spread across the world. Animals and plants mutated and became highly aggressive. The weather turned extreme. Natural disasters followed one after another. The world humanity had built over thousands of years fell apart almost overnight.

And today was exactly ten days before the apocalypse.

Once Robin realized that, she couldn't sit still.

Ten days. That was all she had left.

"Sorry, I need to leave."

She stood up at once, not caring about anything else. The man across from her suddenly changed expression. He grabbed her wrist. "What's your problem? Was anything I said wrong? Do you know how popular an elite like me is in the dating market? You should appre—AH!"

Before he could finish, he let out a loud scream.

Robin could feel the warm, sticky touch on the back of her hand. Holding back her disgust, she twisted his wrist and pinned it firmly to the table. Her eyes turned sharp. "What do you think you're doing?"

It was pure instinct. Even though her current body was weak, she used a clever grip. The man couldn't break free.

The quiet café atmosphere shattered. People turned to stare.

Robin looked at the man's round face and then thought about the timing. Suddenly, it clicked. A cold smile slowly appeared on her lips.

Right. She remembered now.

His name was Jim Patton. He had originally been the blind date arranged for her "best friend." But Zelda claimed she felt sick and begged Robin to go in her place. She even reminded Robin that Jim had been introduced by her Aunt Mabel, so Robin needed to be polite.

Robin had followed that advice. During the whole meeting, she stayed polite. Jim said several ridiculous things; she kept smiling and remained respectful.

But Jim saw her politeness as encouragement.

That very night after the date, he tried to drag her to a hotel. When she refused, he wouldn't stop harassing her for days. On top of that, he secretly spread rumors that the two of them had slept together, which caused Robin a lot of trouble at the time.

The memories came rushing back. Robin slowly loosened her grip. A strange look flickered in her eyes.

She smiled softly and said, "Come to think of that, you know, I should thank you."

In her previous life, if Jim hadn't sneaked into her apartment on the very day the apocalypse began, trying to force himself on her, she wouldn't have panicked and accidentally stabbed him with a fruit knife. Later, when a massive group of zombies surrounded the building, she used Jim's body as bait to lure them away. That gave her, Noah, and Zelda the chance to escape.

In a way, if Jim hadn't been the unlucky sacrifice, Robin might have died during that first zombie siege.

So when it came to an old "benefactor," she should at least show a little courtesy.

Jim quickly pulled his hand back and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Everyone, look at this! This is unbelievable! I made time out of my busy schedule to come on this date, and she suddenly attacked me! I've never met someone like her before!"

"Didn't you grab me first?" Robin said darkly.

"Besides, I'm not interested in you. Isn't it normal for me to leave?"

Jim shouted angrily, spitting as he spoke. "You—you're not interested in me? Do you have any idea how rare it is to catch a man like me in the dating market?!"

When Jim met her icy gaze, he instinctively looked away. A strange fear rose in his chest.

For some reason, in that brief moment, the way Robin looked at him made him feel like she was staring at a dead man.

What Jim didn't know was that in her previous life, he had died by Robin's hand.

Seeing how cowardly he looked now, Robin let out a quiet scoff and walked away without even turning back.

...

Robin returned to the place she remembered from her previous life. She took a slow breath and pushed the door open.

It was a three-bedroom apartment in the heart of the city. The location was great, and transportation nearby made it easy to go anywhere.

But Robin didn't have time to dwell on the strange feeling of being back. She quickly reviewed everything she owned. Over the years, she had saved a little more than 2,000,000 dollars, along with this apartment and three percent of Neel Group's shares.

Of course, that money didn't come only from her paycheck from the zoo. Robin was the adopted daughter of the Neels. She didn't have much standing in the household, but every year she still received a decent amount of dividend money from the company.

After a moment of thought, she grabbed a piece of paper and started listing the supplies she needed.

When the apocalypse arrived, the biggest problem would be a lack of resources. In her last life, she had seen it many times—people fighting until their heads were bleeding just for a small amount of food. Once society collapsed, the darkest side of human nature came out without restraint.

Robin shook her head and opened the Amazon app on her phone. The first thing she looked for was instant noodles in different flavors.

Normally people called them junk food. But in the apocalypse, instant noodles easily beat rice and pasta and became one of the most practical survival foods.

If you had hot water, you could cook them. If you didn't, you could eat them dry. They filled your stomach quickly, came in many flavors, and soon turned into a rare luxury.

Robin had just chosen several boxes and was about to place the order when—Beep!

A sudden sound rang in her mind. Then a mechanical voice spoke.

"Greetings, honored host. System Assistant Bell is here to serve you.

"I have detected that you intend to spend money. Please feel free to spend as much as you like. For every 1,000 dollars you spend, you will receive 10 square feet of storage space. Once the ‘Big Spender' feature is unlocked, you will also receive one lottery draw as a reward.

"Countdown: 167:59:59."