The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 140

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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 140

I slipped out of the Justice Guild Building without anyone noticing.
The streets of Jongno in the early dawn were completely empty, devoid of a single passerby.
Only a sanitation worker or two could be seen here and there, clearing away trash left on the sidewalk.
“You’re heading to Yongin, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As I rode the taxi I’d booked through a phone app toward Yongin, I gazed out at the still-dark window and organized my thoughts.
Just as the Justice Guild twins’ re-awakening had occurred, Sa Ma Young’s re-awakening would happen when certain conditions were met.
Specifically, it was ‘betrayal by a brother.’
So all I had to do was go in, cure the darkness addiction, and leave.
As I continued to recall scenes from the book and map out my tasks and movements, the taxi zoomed through the empty dawn streets and arrived at my destination in no time.
Or rather, it had already arrived.
“This is the right apartment complex, yes?”
“Yes. Thank you, driver.”
“You’re welcome. I heard a Gate opened around here yesterday—be careful.”
That’s exactly where I’m headed.
I deliberately got out a few blocks away from the Gate and walked the rest of the way.
‘Not a single soul out here.’
As the taxi driver had mentioned, there was a perception that areas where Gates had opened were dangerous, so it was natural for people to avoid the vicinity for a few days.
But this level of absolute silence and emptiness was unnatural.
Especially the fact that even the Awakeners Association staff member who usually guarded the Gate was absent.
Someone had made arrangements beforehand.
‘That Sa Ma Jung bastard is really committed to this.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and positioned myself in a dark corner near the Gate.
From my vantage point, I could see the Gate entrance clearly, but from their side, this spot would be shrouded in shadow.
There was still some time before dawn broke.
I settled in firmly and kept my eyes fixed on the Gate, which shimmered with an inky darkness.
Today, at this location, Sa Ma Jung intended to kill his half-brother, Sa Ma Young.
How could Sa Ma Jung, an A-rank like me but non-combat oriented, possibly kill Sa Ma Young?
The secret lay hidden in the headline of Sa Ma Jung’s return to Korea today.
‘A drug developed through cooperation with the United States.’
Honestly, reading that part made me wonder if the real villain of 【The Chronicles of Sejong】 wasn’t Sa Ma Young but Sa Ma Jung himself.
The drug Sa Ma Jung had created after going all the way to the United States was one that forcibly sent Hunters into a rampage.
I had no idea why he’d bothered researching and developing such a thing.
In any case, Sa Ma Jung, who specialized in potion-making like Im Chung Soo, had returned to Korea immediately after creating the rampage drug.
To kill Sa Ma Young.
The method was befitting a Hunter.
Destroy the Dungeon’s core while leaving the helpless, berserk Sa Ma Young behind, then seal the Gate—that was the plan.
It was designed to erase Sa Ma Young’s existence from the world so completely that not even a body would remain.
Sa Ma Young miraculously survives by re-awakening as an S-rank in that state, but whether due to the drug or something else, the darkness penetrates his mind and shatters it.
And not in a good way.
In short, today is the day Sa Ma Young is reborn as the worst villain in this world.
‘I have to stop it.’
To be honest, if I think selfishly, it would be simpler to just prevent Sa Ma Young from leaving the Gate.
Then Sa Ma Young, who keeps blocking Justice Guild’s path at every turn, would simply disappear.
But to prevent the apocalypse, every single Hunter matters—especially an S-rank like Sa Ma Young.
So my only option is to cure his addiction before the darkness completely takes over his mind, and quietly slip out.
‘What a mess I’m in.’
Just as I was barely suppressing a sigh that threatened to escape, I heard a sound in front of the Gate.
The area in front of the Gate, which had been silent without even a stray cat, suddenly had signs of life.
“That persistent bastard.”
“Let’s head back to the Guild and get treatment, Director.”
“Not the Guild—call a Healer quietly to my home.”
“Yes, understood.”
Sa Ma Jung, bleeding profusely from a deep gash on his arm, conversed with his subordinate as he climbed into a black car.
I’d been worried that a few of them might stay behind to guard the Gate entrance.
Fortunately, they were only focused on leaving the scene quickly.
“Phew, let’s go.”
Once I confirmed Sa Ma Jung’s car was completely out of sight, I immediately sprinted toward the Gate.
They would have destroyed the Dungeon’s core before leaving, so I had at most an hour left.
I had to quickly treat Sa Ma Young and get out of the Gate myself within that time.
The moment the unsettling sensation of passing through the Gate ended, I began running.
I had no time to admire the Dungeon’s scenery.
Tap, tap-tap!
The sound of my feet striking the Dungeon floor echoed so loudly that the silence inside felt almost suffocating.
‘Thank you, Jung Je Hwa!’
Thanks to the shoes I’d been gifted, I was practically flying.
“Sa Ma Young, where are you, where are you?”
I ran with my hair streaming behind me, desperately recalling what I’d seen in the book.
“A blackened plain… ah!”
I remembered the strategy video I’d watched yesterday afternoon.
The grassland that Sa Ma Young had burned to ash with his skills.
“It was the Second Field, right?”
Fortunately, it wasn’t far from the entrance.
Without hesitation, I accelerated further toward the Second Field.
Shortly after, I arrived at a vast, charred plain where nothing remained but white ash.
Originally, there had been scattered tree-shaped monsters, but Sa Ma Young had burned them all away in this very place.
And far in the distance, in the center where oddly enough green grass still remained, I could faintly make out the form of a single person lying collapsed.
A man staring up at the sky with unfocused pupils dilated wide, tears of black streaming down his face.
It was Sa Ma Young.

* * *

‘Is this death?’
Sa Ma Young had that thought, then let out a faint laugh.
Or rather, he tried to.
But his body, already consumed by the rampage, had become completely severed from his will.
He could not see, could not hear, and could not move his body as he wished.
Even the terrible pain that had burned through every nerve in his body had now vanished.
‘So this is what dying feels like.’
It had been a mistake to let his guard down just after completing the dungeon conquest.
He should not have carelessly drunk the water handed to him by someone from the Awakeners Association—not by his trusted subordinates.
By the time he realized the drug Sa Ma Jung had created was inside it, the rampage had already begun.
‘I should have killed that bastard Sa Ma Jung.’
With the single resolve to not go alone, he had endured the rampage’s agony and attacked, but he had only managed to sever one of his arms.
If that bastard’s subordinates had been even half as incompetent as Sa Ma Jung, he would be receiving treatment somewhere by now for such a wound.
“Huh.”
A sigh—or rather, a labored breath—escaped Sa Ma Young’s lips.
Whether it was laughter or a groan of agony, he could not tell.
‘I should have completely taken over the Sama Group. I should have watched that bastard Sa Ma Jung crumble with my own eyes.’
As death drew ever closer, his rage over what he had failed to obtain intertwined with the rampage, burning Sa Ma Young’s very soul.
Then, suddenly, something came to mind.
‘That woman.’
The woman who had fearlessly stood in his way, trying to protect the Justice Guild.
‘What was her name?’
Now that even his consciousness was fading, her name would not come to him, but those clear, piercing eyes that had glared at him remained vivid.
She was utterly incomprehensible.
Why?
Why did she fight so hard to protect the Justice Guild?
The longing reflected in her eyes was of a different nature than his own.
Different from the desire to possess, to own, and to destroy if he could not have.
‘Could that be… affection?’
It could be, or it could not be.
But if his thoughts were correct.
‘She would have been beautiful.’
If those eyes had yearned for Sa Ma Young instead.
If he had shown me his defenseless small back, and protected me instead of the Justice Guild.
‘That would have been a shame.’
It was the moment something from beneath the earth pulled at him, as if those uncharacteristic thoughts were dragging him into sleep.
Snap.
Someone yanked him from the abyss, as if awakening him from a deep slumber.
‘…Who?’

* * *

The symptoms of rampage vary from hunter to hunter.
They differed vastly depending on one’s usual personality and awakened state.
Some people attacked their surroundings indiscriminately, and there were awakeners like Yu Ga Young, whom I’d seen at the hospital recently, who suffered while vomiting black blood.
But Sa Ma Young’s rampage resembled Han Ji Sung’s.
Based on his usual conduct, I thought he’d be rampaging around setting fires everywhere.
Yet here he was, dying away in a daze as if he’d given up on everything.
“Unexpected.”
I muttered while waving my hand in front of Sa Ma Young’s vacant, open eyes to confirm he’d completely lost consciousness.
“Completely gone, gone.”
For me, it was fortunate.
I could remove my mask and calm my ragged breathing from sprinting at full speed.
“Huff, huff.”
I took several deep breaths while checking Sa Ma Young’s condition.
“He’s been absolutely torn to shreds.”
Even without the rampage, Sa Ma Young’s physical state was such that it wouldn’t be strange if he died right now.
No, if he weren’t an A-rank hunter, he would have already crossed the River of Three Paths several times over.
I had no desire to stay here long, and I’d planned to leave after just stopping the rampage.
But first, it seemed I needed to stop the bleeding.

[ Skill ‘Body Restoration’ is being used. ]
[ 65 Stamina is consumed to treat the target’s critical wounds. ]
[ The target’s critical wounds have been healed. ]

“This, insane….”
My stamina depleted so much in a single use.
I had no choice but to take out a stamina potion and drink it.

[ Consumption of ‘Stamina Potion’ has been detected. ]
[ Overuse of medicine is dangerous. ]

Ah, I know that too.
If I’d drunk Chung Soo’s potion, the number of potions wouldn’t matter.
But my share was already completely given to Yu Ga Young when I recruited Yoo Jin Rok.
And if I asked Chung Soo for more, he’d definitely open his eyes wide and ask, ‘What are you going to use it for?’
So I secretly bought a few premium stamina potions.
“Right, you just can’t drink five bottles, that’s all.”
I looked at Sa Ma Young, who was still weeping black tears, and adjusted my grip on his hand.

[ Using skill ‘Dark Purification’. ]
[ Target’s dark addiction rate: ???% ]
[ Purification rate cannot be calculated due to the influence of ‘Berserk Inducer’. ]

Sa Ma Jung, you bastard.
Really watch yourself on dark roads.
What kind of vicious drug did you give him to end up like this?
That’s probably why he went so insane after his re-awakening.
I glared at Sa Ma Young, who was lying there peacefully, and began the purification.

[ Skill usage completed. ]
[ Target’s dark addiction rate: ???% ]

In the end, I consumed another stamina potion.

[ Consumption of ‘Stamina Potion’ detected. ]
[ Drug abuse is dangerous. ]

And then another bottle.

[ Consumption of ‘Stamina Potion’ detected. ]
[ Drug abuse is dangerous. ]
[ Consumption of ‘Stamina Potion’ detected. ]
[ Drug abuse is dangerous. ]

It was after drinking the fourth potion that I was still receiving messages like ‘???%’.

[ Wider contact range enables more effective skill usage. ]
[ Expand your physical contact range with the target. ]

“Ugh, seriously.”
Was there any reason I had to go this far to save Sa Ma Young?
Should I just leave him to his fate and run?
All sorts of thoughts flickered through my mind.
But my lottery ticket—my money—lifted me back up.
No, it made me lie down on top of Sa Ma Young.
I straddled his prone body, interlaced my fingers, and pressed down while muttering.
“If you go dark and interfere with the Justice Guild after I’ve done all this, I swear…”
Eventually, I buried my face in Sa Ma Young’s neck.
And I used the skill again.

[ Skill ‘Dark Purification’ activated. ]
[ Target’s darkness addiction rate: 150% ]
[ Purification successful! ]

Finally.
But I wasn’t celebrating yet.
To stop the ongoing rampage, I needed to drop the addiction rate below at least 100%.

[ Current remaining stamina: 20/100 ]

With slightly trembling hands, I alternated my gaze between the stamina potion I’d pulled from the Subspace and Sa Ma Young, still in the throes of rampage.
And simultaneously, I tried to recall the words written on the status ailment roulette wheel.
Last time I was just unlucky—there were actually quite decent options listed.
For example, things like ‘Burning Hot’ or ‘Dizzy Nausea,’ and surprisingly, there were rewards too.
Things like ‘S-rank for one hour.’
“Ah screw it, I’ve come this far—why would I back out now?”
I finally uncapped the fifth potion, gulped it down, and wrapped my entire body around Sa Ma Young.
And I used the skill again.

[ Skill ‘Dark Purification’ activated. ]
[ Purification successful! ]
[ Target’s darkness addiction rate: 90% ]

“Yes, that’s it!”
If only it had ended there.
But just as I was still straddling Sa Ma Young’s body and threw both hands up triumphantly—

[Drug abuse is dangerous.]
[You have received a potion abuse penalty.]

Right before my eyes, the damned system’s status ailment roulette wheel began to spin.
Ding—!

[Penalty random draw result!]
[For the next 12 hours, you will be afflicted with the ‘Cannot Tell a Lie’ condition.]

Thank goodness!
If I’d been hit with something like ‘Unconsciousness’ while still on top of Sa Ma Young’s body, that would have been a real nightmare.
How would I have explained that to people?
But a mild status ailment like this?
All I have to do is lock myself in my room for 12 hours and not see anyone.
“I need to get home quickly….”
Thump.
As I tried to push myself up on my knees, my wrist was grabbed.
There’s only me and Sa Ma Young in the dungeon.
Which means.
“Huh…?”
Sa Ma Young, who should have been unconscious, was staring at me.
His eyes were still hazy—his vision hadn’t fully returned yet.
But he was definitely looking at me.
And that damned mouth of his opened anyway.
“Who are you?”
Damn it!
I tried to raise my hand and cover his mouth, but the status ailment was faster than me.
“I’m Yeo Joo.”

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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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