The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Yeo Joo Saves the World – Episode 1

Finally, I succeeded.
The boss monster fell, and we cleared the Gate.
At the same time, my body—which had been holding on through sheer willpower—crumbled helplessly.
“Yeo Joo!”
“Yeo Joo!”
I felt two men rushing toward me, calling my name.
“Yeo Joo, open your eyes. Look at me, Yeo Joo.”
“Move. We’re going to the hospital.”
I thought I should reassure these two bickering over me.
I’m not dead yet, you two.
I forced my eyes open, and through my blurred vision, I saw the faces of Kang Han and Sa Ma Young.
Both were drenched in blood, their conditions looking far more critical than mine.
When I looked slightly higher, I saw numbers floating above their heads.
《 ♥ 300 》 《 ♥ 300 》
A snort of laughter escaped me.
Who could stop these two.
Then, after a long silence, the system kindly informed me of my status.

[ Current Health: 1% ]

It was understandable.
I had poured every ounce of my strength into the final battle, transferring it all to those two.
Along with the warm body heat of whoever held me, I felt my consciousness scattering, growing hazy.
In the meantime, it seemed we had safely escaped the Gate.
Click! Click, click!
The sound of cameras flashing erupted from all directions.
The excited clamor of reporters too.
“Has the apocalypse truly been stopped?”
“Guild Master Kang Han! Guild Master Sa Ma Young! Please say something to the people!”
“What is the condition of Hunter Yeo Joo!”
“You’ve become a hero who saved the world—how do you feel!”
The footsteps halted.
The moment the person carrying me stopped, Sa Ma Young’s cold voice came from beside us.
“It was Yeo Joo who saved the world, not us.”
Then Kang Han spoke in a low voice.
“We’re heading to the hospital. Please step aside.”
His tone was always polite.
Except for one final addition.
“Before I sweep you all away.”
Simultaneously, a blue system window materialized within the darkness of my closed eyes.

[ Warning! Warning! ]
[ You are receiving a penalty for excessive skill usage. ]

So it finally begins.
What kind of curse will it be this time?
After listening briefly to the cheap, tinny sound of a slot machine spinning, the system window appeared with a garish, flashy effect.

[ Penalty Random Draw Result! ]
[ You will fall into a comatose state until your health and injuries recover. ]

Damn, I drew the short straw.
But I laughed.
It was because of the final message that came to mind before losing consciousness.

[ Congratulations!
Through your efforts, the apocalypse of Earth B-2907 has been placed on final hold. ]

I gathered the last remaining 1% of my energy and moved my lips.
“I… I won…”
Damn it, I’m rich now.

💸 💸 💸

「 Kang Han exhaled his final breath. Black tears streamed from his unseeing eyes as he gazed up at the sky being devoured by the Gate.
And so the world met its end.

-【Prevent the World’s Apocalypse】 COMPLETE – 」

“Is the author insane?”
My hand holding the phone trembled violently.
“This is the end? It ends like this?”
I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.
But no matter how many times I scrolled down the screen, the word “complete” refused to disappear, and no next chapter button appeared.
“So the world just gets destroyed and everyone dies, and that’s how it ends.”
The fantasy novel 【Prevent the World’s Apocalypse】, which I had been reading daily for three straight years waiting for each new installment, was not a work that deserved to end with such a pathetic bad ending.
Yet the author killed off every protagonist and supporting character who each commanded massive fanbases, then concluded everything with a single irresponsible sentence: “In the end, they could not prevent the apocalypse.”
Where emptiness had faded, fury rushed in to fill the void.
“The author is a bastard, I’m going to curse them and abandon this trash.”
As expected, the comment section was in complete chaos.

[ HaniLoveForever : Wait??This is the end??]
[ SejonMakForever : If you have a conscience, refund us seriously ]
[ DogBarksAtBadStories : Woof woof woof arooooooo!! ]

People crying out that it couldn’t possibly end this messily.

[ WaitButWhoFirst : SejonMak Publishing House email -> [email protected] ]

Some people were even sharing the publisher’s email to organize a group protest.
It’s just a novel—don’t tell me I’m too invested in it.
The author tormented the protagonists relentlessly throughout the entire story.
At first, the author set Kang Han as the guild master of the Justice Guild, one of Korea’s five major guilds, but now defunct, which was infuriating enough. But then the author created a phenomenon called “Runaway”—caused by addiction to the “Darkness” flowing from Gates—and killed off the hunters one by one, even the ones readers had grown attached to.
Every time that happened, the comment section looked like a funeral home.
Yet despite all this, countless readers followed the serialization to the very end.
They wanted to see the protagonists who survived in this hopeless, dreamless world finally achieve happiness.
“But why dump this sewage on us?”
I took a deep breath, composed myself, and began typing a comment.

[ YeoJoo: No. Author… wasn’t the whole point that the protagonists were fighting to prevent the apocalypse?? So either scrap that bullshit Darkness addiction setting, or give the characters the ability to stop the Darkness flowing from the Gates!! Thanks for the express train to hell ending with no dreams or hope ^^ You really put those kids through the wringer. The author’s a total hack if you ask me. Honestly, this is just a lack of skill on the author’s part… ]

It got a bit heated in the middle, sure, but I wasn’t wrong about anything.
I hit post and watched my comment appear, but only for a moment.
It was quickly buried and swept away by the flood of angry comments from countless other readers.
“Ugh, what’s the point? All I did was hurt my fingers.”
After venting my frustration in the comments, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion washed over me.
I sprawled out on my bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Then, one by one, the reality I’d been avoiding while reading The Last Apocalypse came flooding back.
I opened my phone and pulled up my banking app, and a pathetic balance greeted me.
“After I pay next month’s rent and utilities, there won’t be anything left again.”
I work part-time every month, but my life is so tight that I can barely scrape together any savings.
But I have no family or friends I can really talk to about this harsh reality.
That’s why I’d been spending tens of thousands of won every month—an enormous sum from my perspective—to read The Last Apocalypse.
“What’s the point of reading anymore?”
I muttered, rubbing my eyes.
I hadn’t even showered since coming back from my part-time job, and suddenly drowsiness began to overwhelm me.
Today had been a bit busy, but not exhausting enough for this.
Had the conclusion of The Last Apocalypse really hit me that hard?
This was all that damned author’s fault.
I forced my heavy eyelids open and reopened the web novel app.
I stared blankly at the screen still filled with angry readers and the word “Completed.”
“Come back now, author. Just say it’s actually an infinite regression story and launch season two. Then I’ll forgive you for everything I’ve seen…”
As my phone screen went dark in my grip, I surrendered to my heavy eyelids and fell asleep.

* * *

Beep— beep— beep—!
“Ugh! You scared me!”
I jolted awake, trembling at the blaring emergency alarm.
“Damn it, when did I turn off the disaster alert? …What is this?”

Emergency Disaster Alert
[Gate Prediction Management Bureau]
D-rank Gate opening in 10 minutes near Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Titan Guild en route.
Citizens at the scene, please follow the guidance of Bureau personnel.

Something felt off about the disaster alert.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked again, but it still seemed wrong.
“What is this now?”
Something was clutched in my left hand.
The small slip of paper, resembling a receipt, was crumpled and wrinkled from how tightly I’d been gripping it.
“Mega… lottery ticket?”
What?
Did I buy a lottery ticket drunk again?
And something was wrong with my room too.
“Wait, is this a hospital?”
The IV drip connected to one arm, the predominantly white interior, and the patient gown I was wearing—
It was definitely a hospital.
“But why am I admitted?”
I clearly fell asleep in my one-room apartment’s bed.
I remember that much clearly, but I opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room.
What on earth happened while I was asleep?
An unfamiliar ceiling greeted me when I opened my eyes—not that this mattered much.
“This is usually how possession scenarios play out.”
Possession? Even amid the confusion of such absurd thoughts, I let out a hollow laugh.
It was ridiculous enough to joke about.
I opened my eyes not in my shabby old one-room apartment but in this gleaming, pristine hospital room….
“This is obviously a private suite!”
I’m screwed.
I should have realized it from the moment the hospital bed felt this comfortable!
Cold sweat that hadn’t flowed even when I first regained consciousness in this unfamiliar place now trickled down my spine.
I’d never been sick enough to be hospitalized, but I knew roughly how much a room this nice cost.
Even if I drained my entire bank account, I couldn’t afford a single day’s stay here!
Get me a six-bed ward, now!
I was reaching for the call button hanging by the bed’s headrest, ready to summon medical staff, when—
“Oh? You’re awake, Yeo Joo?”
The hospital room door slid open, and a doctor in a white coat spoke with a bright smile.
“This is a six-bed ward? Where am I?”
The genuine urge to demand an immediate room transfer nearly burst out, but I forced myself to focus and asked the most pressing question first.
“This is the National Awakener Hospital. Do you not remember anything before you collapsed?”
“What? Where?”
“The Awakener Hospital—the one in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Well, you did hit your head when you fell…”
“The National Awakener Hospital in Seodaemun-gu?”
A sudden spark of recognition flashed through my mind like electricity.
I dropped the call button and quickly grabbed my phone.

Emergency Disaster Alert
[Gate Prediction Management Bureau]
D-rank Gate opening in 10 minutes near Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Titan Guild en route.
Citizens in the area, please follow the guidance of Bureau personnel.

It’s still there. I hadn’t misread it in my drowsy state.
An emergency alert from the Gate Prediction Management Bureau.
And the National Awakener Hospital located in Seodaemun-gu.
These two facts alone were enough to make it clear.
This was the Korea from the novel I’d been reading—”Prevent the End of the World.”
…I’d fallen victim to that clichéd trope of cursing an author and then transmigrating into their work.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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