The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 227

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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 48

I should have checked sooner!
Between chasing down nights and his condition appearing so perfectly normal, I’d made the mistake of not thinking to check his status window.
‘What do I do?’
A retired hunter suddenly going berserk.
He doesn’t even enter Gates—why is darkness accumulating in him?
Faced with this unexpected crisis, I bit down hard on my lower lip to maintain composure.
If I’d been alone, there would have been no dilemma.
I could simply use my skill to purify him.
But Kang Han was here with me.
Kang Han, who didn’t know about my skills.
That’s when it happened.
“Ugh….”
Ji Jung Hwi opened his eyes, seeming to regain consciousness, however hazily.
Then he spotted me and Kang Han staring at him.
In that moment, Ji Jung Hwi appeared terrified.
His eyes widened and his teeth clenched so hard they might break.
And what Ji Jung Hwi did next left me utterly shocked.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Ji Jung Hwi began smashing his head against the large boulder he’d been hiding behind.
“No, no!”
“Ji Jung Hwi!”
From the force of impact, his skin tore open immediately and blood poured from the wound.
Even as Kang Han rushed forward and held him with all his strength, Ji Jung Hwi continued trying to destroy his own head.
It wasn’t the action of someone who’d lost their reason.
Rather, it was desperate determination with a clear purpose.
Suddenly, it struck me—Ji Jung Hwi’s ability was mind control.
And years ago, when he’d gone berserk, he’d used that skill to force his own wife to commit suicide.
Now Ji Jung Hwi was terrified that he might lose his mind and attack me and Kang Han in the same way.
“Sigh. Kang Han, please move Ji Jung Hwi away from the boulder.”
At my request, Kang Han lifted Ji Jung Hwi and carried him to a place with nothing around.
“Let me go!”
As the boulder moved away, Ji Jung Hwi now began smashing his head against the ground instead.
His will was clear—he would rather die himself than kill another person through mental assault.
“Guild Master, let Ji Jung Hwi go and step back.”
“Yeo Joo….”
“Now.”
In the end, Kang Han released Ji Jung Hwi’s body that he’d been holding.
Then Ji Jung Hwi crawled desperately toward the stone.
And I snatched his hand as if hooking it.

[ Purification efficiency decreases due to low favorability. ]

It didn’t matter.
This wasn’t the time to worry about efficiency.
I would have preferred to give him Im Chung Soo’s stamina potion, but Ji Jung Hwi’s thrashing was too violent.
I used the skill as is.

[ Using skill ‘Dark Purification’. ]

“Gasp!”
Ji Jung Hwi suddenly drew in a sharp breath.
His thrashing stopped.

[ Current target’s dark addiction rate: 95% ]

Too slow. Faster.
The moment I thought that, dizziness washed over me as my stamina plummeted, and Ji Jung Hwi’s hand trembling in mine began to shake violently.

[ Current target’s dark addiction rate: 85% ]

“Ugh, ugh….”
Ji Jung Hwi let out a sound like sobbing, curling his body into a ball.
Gripping my right hand with both of his as if it were a lifeline, he pressed his forehead against it.
Blood flowing from Ji Jung Hwi’s head wound stained my hand crimson in the process.

[ Current target’s dark addiction rate: 80% ]
[ Remaining stamina: 35 / 150 ]

I’d managed to extinguish the immediate crisis.
Just as I was about to stop using my skill and withdraw my hand—my stamina couldn’t endure any further—
“No, wait.”
Ji Jung Hwi gripped my hand firmly.
His nails dug into the back of my hand with desperate hunger.
“Ji Jung Hwi, please… let go…”
Smack.
Another hand appeared and forcefully knocked away Ji Jung Hwi’s grip, which refused to release me.
Kang Han examined the back of my hand and asked, “Are you alright?”
“Yes, there’s no wound.”
I offered my thanks, but I couldn’t meet Kang Han’s gaze—my eyes drifted away awkwardly.
I watched as focus gradually returned to Ji Jung Hwi’s eyes.
“Ugh…”
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“What… how is this…?”
I took a breath, glancing between the bewildered Ji Jung Hwi and the silent Kang Han.
The tension I felt now was different from when I’d explained this before Jung Je Hwa.
“There’s a substance called Darkness that flows from the Gates. It causes addiction, and when the addiction rate rises high enough, it triggers a rampage. I possess a skill that purifies this Darkness. In short, I can stop a rampage once it’s begun, or prevent it from happening altogether.”
As I spoke, my breath grew short.
It was from my depleted stamina.
I retrieved Chung Soo’s tonic from my Subspace and drank it, and immediately my stamina surged, my breathing opening up.
“That’s why I sought you out, Ji Jung Hwi. You retired after an unexpected accident caused by a rampage, didn’t you?”
I slowly reached out and healed the wound on Ji Jung Hwi’s forehead.
The grotesquely torn and crushed flesh rapidly filled in and recovered before my eyes.
“With my skill, Ji Jung Hwi will never rampage again. I can promise you that. So please, return to the vacant position of Association Director…”
Suddenly.
Before I could even finish speaking, Ji Jung Hwi rose from his seat.
“Ji Jung Hwi! At least hear the proposal through…!”
But Ji Jung Hwi didn’t stop walking.
He simply turned his back to me and walked deeper into the mountain.
And then he truly disappeared.
“Sigh.”
I never expected things to go so wrong.
I’d wanted to persuade him in a calmer state.
Feeling deflated, I lowered my head, then raised it again.
There was still another troublesome matter remaining.
“…”
Fortunately, Kang Han remained silent, but he stayed by my side.
Fortunately, even though Kang Han still kept his mouth shut, he remained by my side.

* * *

“Here, this fig wine was made last year, and it’s very sweet. Go ahead and try some.”
“Thank you, Grandmother.”
When I descended from the mountain and arrived at the Village Community Center, a small village celebration was already underway.
It had been a long time since guests from outside had visited, and this was meant to be a celebratory gathering after spending the night together.
I carried a bottle of fig wine that Grandmother had given me and stepped out onto the wooden platform in front of the community center.
That was where Kang Han was sitting, gazing up at the night sky.
“The elder gave this to me. It’s fig wine, apparently. It seems pretty strong, but would you like to share some?”
“…Yes, let’s do that.”
Kang Han took the bottle and poured the wine into two paper cups.
“Wow, it really is sweet.”
Just as Grandmother had said, the wine was incredibly sweet.
It seemed like I could keep drinking it endlessly if I added ice, as if it were a soft drink.
“The alcohol is strong. Don’t drink too much.”
“…Aren’t you angry with me, Guild Master?”
I asked Kang Han, who was once again looking out for me with concern.
“I essentially lied to you, Guild Master.”
Of course, it was really just a matter of not saying anything, but it was still reason enough to break trust.
For some reason, my throat kept feeling parched.
As I poured the wine generously into a paper cup and gulped it down, Kang Han answered.
“I’m disappointed.”
“…Ah.”
I would have preferred if he’d said he was angry.
At those words of disappointment, my heart seemed to sink heavily.
“I’m disappointed, but at the same time, I think it’s my fault. It means I didn’t give you enough reason to trust me enough to share your secrets.”
“No, that’s not it….”
“May I ask you something I’m curious about?”
I quickly nodded.
“Are there perhaps other skills you’re still hiding?”
“Ah, well…”
As I hesitated, Kang Han smiled bitterly and spoke.
“You don’t have to force yourself to tell me.”
“No, it’s not that I’m forced. I was just worried you’d be more upset.”
“I’m not upset. I’m not upset with you, Yeo Joo.”
I finished the remaining wine in my paper cup and began to confess everything.
“I have an EX-rank skill. It’s a skill that lets me see information about items, monsters, or people—things that even the Awakeners Association’s scanners can’t read.”
“People… you mean?”
“Yes, status windows.”
Kang Han’s mouth fell slightly open.
In a world where Awakeners could barely glimpse their own status windows, the skill “The More You Know, The More You See”—which allowed me to read anyone’s status window freely—was truly extraordinary.
“Then, can you see my status window as well?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Kang Han buried his face in both hands.
Whether his ears had flushed red from the liquor or from the fact that I could see his entire status window remained uncertain.
I sipped another cup of fig wine and waited for Kang Han to speak.
“About that skill—the one that purifies darkness. Does it consume stamina as well? Like a healing skill?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I recalled something Seo Yu Baek had once told me.
Other healers don’t die simply because they exhaust their mana while using skills, he’d said.
Well, what could I do about it?
I possessed a skill that could purify darkness itself—I considered this penalty a bargain.
“Yeo Joo.”
“Yes?”
“You won’t be able to hide that skill forever.”
“…I know. That’s why I’m planning to make my status window public soon. So that people who need me can find me. Of course, the darkness addiction scanner will need to be distributed first.”
Kang Han blinked at my words for a moment before understanding dawned on him.
“A scanner. Then the Maestro Guild Master already knows about this.”
“…Yes.”
“How many people know before me?”
I’d never actually counted.
I folded my fingers one by one as I thought it through.
Seo Yu Baek didn’t know about the darkness purification, so I excluded him.
“Well, I’ve been keeping Ga Young strong through darkness purification. Master Yoo Jin Rok knows, and that Master I mentioned earlier… Oh, and Sa Ma Young too.”
I’d seen it. I’d definitely seen it.
At the mention of Sa Ma Young’s name, Kang Han’s eyes turned sharp and fierce.
He seemed genuinely angry this time, and I was watching carefully for his reaction when Kang Han suddenly exhaled deeply.
And then he spoke.
“I’ll work harder.”
So, what was that supposed to mean?

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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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