You’ve heard of ‘isekai‘ as an up-and-coming genre in mangas and manhwas. It means to be either transmigrated into another world as another person or character of the book you were reading, or it can be you being reborn in another world after you ‘die’.
The key word is another world, because if you’ve been born into the same world, just at a different timeline, then it’s time travel. The latter occurs when the main character has something left to accomplish.
The Isekai genre is quite popular in manhwas as a plot device to give the main character a second chance at life. The exciting ways it has been used is by making them into a villainess, a second lead, a dying female lead, or even a hero’s stepmother. There’s magic involved at times, sometimes it’s just a game of survival between the royalties.
So you see, this genre now is being used in the same manner where the protagonists are able to deal with their troubles due to knowing either what happens next (if they are a character in a book). So there’s not much variety when you know how it all ends.
They get transported into another world, they try to change their miserable fate, they get the guy (or the girl), and the power and everything is all sunshine and rainbows by the end of it.
Thus, you may be surprised by this new take on mixing one of the best genres in Korean entertainment media- zombie apocalypse and isekai. Yep, you heard it right, if it wasn’t enough surviving a zombie outbreak, our MC has now been transmigrated to another world.
Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire is the story of strong Lee Jaeha, who has managed to survive in a world run over by zombies. After losing hope about living in a world with no other human being than her, she gives up on life and kills herself. But that’s not the end for Jaeha. She is given the chance to find the meaning of her life when she is transmigrated into the body of meek Princess Charlotte.
Just when she is confused as to what exactly has brought her here into a peaceful empire of Olent and her purpose, this “peaceful” empire has its own zombie outbreak. Not only this but she is also met by an old friend from her previous life, a person she addressed as ‘Mister’. But Mister here, in this world has supposedly tried to kill Charlotte.
Now, using her own survival and zombie-killing skills, Jaeha/ Charlotte has to again stick it out till the end and save the empire with it.
Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire Chapter 12 Recap
In Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire Chapter 12, we’ve seen the continuation of prince Andrew narrating an incident of younger Andrew and Charlotte exploring the Tower of Sun which is rumored to have a monster trapped within. Charlotte, as if possessed, walks towards a room that has the monster trapped in it and is bellowing to be let out.
Andrew was scared and begging her to come back, but the only thing that worked to take her out of her trance is their father. Their father came upon them at the last moment and slapped her to come back to her senses. Andrew says how he felt such guilt that he couldn’t look her in the eyes and this led to them being distant from each other. They were later told that their father had taken care of the monster.
Now, Andrew wonders why the monster was kept alive at all. If it was kept alive for a reason, then why was it killed? However, the biggest question of all was why did Andrew not remember any of this.
Charlotte still persists in going to the Tower of Sun to rescue Lord Olent, who Andrew has proposed to be the monster. But regardless of whether it was a God or a monster, it was the being that brought Jaeha into this world as Charlotte, which is why she needs answers. Angry at it for changing her fate, she wishes to punch him.
Andrew straightforwardly tells her no, as he won’t allow her to put his sister’s body in danger. But Jaeha/ Charlotte knocks sense into him by rationalizing that the only way to get the real Charlotte back is to rescue this God. She also reminds him that he was never good to her when she was alive and thus his concern is untimely and wasted on her.
Andrew acquiesces that as truth but ponders how it is that things turned out like this between him and Charlotte and why is it now that he is able to remember the monster incident. The somber atmosphere is broken by Iveta, who sneezes as her stomach grumbles. Recognizing the shortage of their supplies, the trio decide to rest in the guestroom of the palace with only cookies and tea for their meal.
The matches are gone, so we finally see Charlotte able to use her magic- summon fire to keep them warm. This shocks Andrew who questions her angrily as to how she can have such forbidden powers.
The chapter ends with a flashback of Andrew’s conversation with his father in his office after that night in the tower where he acknowledges his mistake in dragging Charlotte with him into the tower. The emperor, however, seems to have a secret, which might be related to Charlotte as she has the potential to destroy the empire with her power.
Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire Chapter 13 Spoilers
We may see further clarification in Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire Chapter 13, about the conversation between Andrew and the Emperor concerning Charlotte. In the present, Charlotte, Andrew, and Iveta spend the night in the guestroom together while Adam (Mister in his previous life) struggles with his thoughts and his wish to kill Charlotte.
The trio may move forward with their plans to rescue Lord Olent, the God, to bring an end to this zombie outbreak and get the answers to Jaeha’s transmigration.
Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire Chapter 13 Release Date And Where To Read
The chapters are uploaded without a fixed schedule, 2-4 chapters in a day at times. The last 4 chapters were released on 13th February 2023, with the previous ones on the 10th with a gap of a weekend. Due to this, one can gauge the next upload date to be next week, sometime between the 20th to 24th of February 2023.
Once Upon A Time In A Zombie Empire: How to Read
Due to no official website for this manhwa, you can surf Pocket Comics or Wordexcerpt (a legal site for translated light novels), and find more isekai manhwa.
Also read: Best Zombie Manga Of All Time (OtakuKart Recommendations)
