The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 187

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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
Part 2, Episode 8

Jung Je Hwa sat at the desk in his Secret Workshop, a low chuckle escaping his lips.
Through the phone in his large hand—which made the device look diminutive by comparison—Yeo Joo was chattering away.
[“Do you have any idea how shocked I was! I saw Jung Je Hwa’s name right there on the applicant list!”]
“You were that surprised?”
[“Of course! I mean, boss, what on earth were you thinking submitting an application?”]
As always, she asked without any pretense or hesitation.
“Why else would someone submit an application? Because I want to get hired.”
[“Pffft!”]
For a moment, her bright laughter filled the Secret Workshop.
[“Oh, sorry. I laughed too loud. Boss, you’re so different from your first impression! I had no idea you were this good at joking around.”]
“What was my first impression?”
Along with the question, he recalled the day he first met Yeo Joo.
It was a peculiar thing, really.
The severe depression and ennui he had been suffering from back then made those memories feel shrouded in a hazy fog.
But the memory of her opening the Workshop door was unusually vivid.
Jung Je Hwa picked up the notepad and pen lying on his desk and began sketching that moment as if doodling.
[“Hmm, I bet that person’s wardrobe is packed with nothing but black clothes.”]
“…That was your first impression of me?”
[“Yes. You didn’t even look at my face properly back then, boss.”]
That wasn’t quite right.
Jung Je Hwa thought as his pen-holding fingers swept around his loosely relaxed lips.
Scratch, scratch.
Along with the faint sound that wouldn’t carry through the phone, her round eyes as she opened the door were etched onto the paper.
[“Anyway, boss, let’s keep this joke between us. Geum Eun Dong might cry if he found out.”]
“Other people don’t even know my name is Jung Je Hwa.”
He hadn’t revealed that he was the Master in his application.
He had only disclosed his real name—Jung Je Hwa, an S-rank Crafter.
[“That’s exactly why it’s a problem! We almost let your real name slip while joking around!”]
“Ah.”
[“…You didn’t even think about that part, did you?”]
“You’re right. My thinking was shallow.”
He had simply submitted the application as Jung Je Hwa the person, not as the Master.
[“Sigh. Anyway, I’ve already deleted that application file without anyone knowing. So don’t worry about it.”]
“Thank you. Is there anything I can help you with?”
[“Actually, I was planning to stop by Jamsil soon anyway. I picked up a strange item from the Garak-dong Second-hand Market a while back.”]
“A strange item?”
Jung Je Hwa’s pen, which had been flowing smoothly as he sketched her likeness, came to an abrupt halt.
Odd things had a peculiar way of clustering around Yeo Joo.
Jung Je Hwa found himself agreeing, to some extent, with her own explanation that her fate was simply turbulent.
It was clear that things, recognizing the radiant light that shone from within her, were drawn to her like moths to a flame.
‘Perhaps I’m one of them too.’
A soft chuckle escaped.
Self-deprecating laughter spilled from his lips.
[“It’s not exactly strange, but it’s a divine statue
(神像)
anyway. Just take a look at it next time.”]
“Of course. Then when would be a good time….”
Beyond the phone, where only her voice and the sound of wind had been audible, an urgent voice suddenly cut through.
[“Yeo Joo! Hurry… The Greenhouse is in chaos…!”]
“What? I’m sorry, sir. I’ll call you back next time!”]
Click.
The abrupt disconnection left Jung Je Hwa with a hollow sense of isolation, as though severed from the world.
He held the phone to his ear for a moment, frozen, before blinking several times and finally accepting that he was alone again.
In the silence, his pen moved a few more times, completing the portrait of her.
With a soft tearing sound, Jung Je Hwa separated the drawing from the notebook and opened the first drawer.
The file folder inside slid out with a soft thud, revealing itself.

[ Maestro Rights Transfer Contract ]

Jung Je Hwa casually tossed the completed drawing onto it.
“What a shame.”
He murmured softly, then closed the drawer without hesitation and turned away.
Thud, thud.
Only the sound of his footsteps echoed solemnly through the vast space as he walked toward the bedroom, both hands in his trouser pockets.

* * *

I hastily ended the call with Jung Je Hwa and rushed toward the Greenhouse.
I had just arrived at the top floor of the Training Building, which Im Chung Soo shared with Han Ji Sung.
Crash—!
With a deafening roar, the glass walls of the Greenhouse shattered outward into the corridor.
“Ahhh!”
“Sister!”
In the same instant Im Chung Soo yanked me close and held me tight, we tumbled across the floor.
My shoulder screamed with pain as though it might dislocate, but that agony was short-lived—a second explosion tore through the air.
Boom!
Quieter than before, yet razor-sharp glass shards scattered in all directions.
One fragment hurtled toward us, but fortunately only grazed my cheek while Im Chung Soo escaped unscathed.
“Hey, we need to run fast… ugh.”
As I tried to pull Im Chung Soo up by the shoulder, still dazed from the blast, a sharp pain shot through my hand.
My wrist had swollen from being planted awkwardly against the ground during our tumble.
“Damn, is that really…”
Im Chung Soo cursed, his face drained of color as he stared at something.
Following his gaze, I saw something verdant creeping slowly through the gaping hole in the Greenhouse.
“…A Venus flytrap?”

[El-Rosk (B)
: The territorial guardian of the Jungle-type Dungeon.
A plant-type monster whose primary weapons are razor-sharp teeth and vines capable of devastating force.
Generally docile.]

Hwa was freezing to death.
It’s destroying all the new buildings right now!
Lost in the surreal spectacle, I stared blankly at the colossal monster.
“Yeo Joo!”
Kang Han called my name loudly and leaped through the open corridor window.
Upon spotting Chung Soo and me rolling on the floor, his face contorted.
“Are you hurt anywhere….”
“Behind! Kang Han! Behind!”
I urgently pointed at the Venus flytrap—no, El-Rosk.
“Why is it here.”
Kang Han approached the monster and drew out his spear.
Crackle—!
A bone-chilling sound accompanied brilliant blue electricity coursing down the pitch-black shaft.
Detecting the approaching threat, El-Rosk opened its crimson maw wide and lunged first.
“Shrieeeek—!”
True to its B-rank status, the creature was intelligent.
Whoosh—!
It thrust teeth as sharp as a human forearm to divide Kang Han’s attention, while simultaneously thick vines seized at his ankles.
But Kang Han was no fool to fall for such shallow tactics.
He immediately leaped up, evaded the vines, and drove the spear directly into El-Rosk’s gaping mouth.
Then came the cascading electrical assault.
Crackle-crackle—!
“Gack, cough, cough….”
The monster’s movements froze instantaneously.
Seizing the moment, Kang Han wrenched the deeply embedded spear upward with all his strength.
Splurt—!
A sound like a water-filled balloon bursting echoed through the corridor, and thick, ink-like monster viscera traced the spear’s arc across the ceiling and walls.
Thud!
Split in half, El-Rosk crashed to the floor and began oxidizing into black ash.
“Phew, we survived….”
Before I could finish exhaling in relief.
Crash—!
The remaining intact Greenhouse wall crumbled with a familiar sound.
“Surely not.”
“Shrieeeek!!”
“Screech, shriek!”
There were more El-Rosk.
This time, two of them crawled sluggishly out of the Greenhouse simultaneously.
Kang Han shook his spear clean while observing them, then asked Chung Soo.
“Chung Soo, how many more of those things are in the Greenhouse?”
“Three, maybe three of them… Oh! But the others might have grown too!”
Grown?
So those were the ones being cultivated in the Greenhouse?
Only then did I recall what Chung Soo had shouted at me moments earlier.

“Yeo Joo! Please help me quick! The plants in the Greenhouse suddenly started growing and everything’s gone crazy!”

So that’s what he meant.

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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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