The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 246

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

Yeo Joo Saves the World
Part 2, Episode 67

But I can’t exactly ask him about it directly.
If I suddenly blurt out to Kang Han, “Do you have separation anxiety?” he’d probably call Seo Yu Baek right away.
Say something’s wrong with my head.
Of course, the fact that all three of them now have favorability ratings above 40 is definitely encouraging.
My trauma treatment skill has also risen to Intermediate II, and thanks to the increased favorability, my dark purification efficiency should improve even further.
I’ll be able to perform better in the next Dungeon we enter.
…Wait, but the keyword!
“Sigh.”
I have no idea.
As I shook my head and let out a breath, someone knocked and entered.
“I came to check since you seemed to be awake.”
Seo Yu Baek approached while saying that, shining a light in my pupils with a flashlight, asking me to hold both his hands, and conducting various other examinations before smiling with relief.
“Thank goodness. There’s nothing wrong.”
“I’m perfectly fine. But how did you know I was awake, teacher?”
“This machine is connected to my phone.”
Following Seo Yu Baek’s finger, I turned my head and saw a large monitor placed beside the bed.
The screen displayed various numbers, and I could barely tell that the one next to the red heart was my heart rate.
“Isn’t this kind of a privacy violation?”
“Why would you hide your health condition from a doctor?”
“Well, that’s true, but….”
“Don’t create more secrets. Just come clean about what’s already there.”
“Ah.”
I was completely caught by Seo Yu Baek’s smooth approach.
Throwing such a direct fastball right at my weak spot.
When in trouble, playing dumb is the best strategy.
Just as I was about to open my mouth with that resolve, there was something I’d momentarily overlooked.
“You’re feeling better now, right?”
Je Hwa approached and examined my complexion carefully before asking.
“Yes, I’m fine, boss.”
My conscience, which usually let injustice slide so easily, pricked me sharply.
I had to play dumb and put on a poker face in front of this face.
Then our eyes accidentally met with Seo Yu Baek’s, and he raised one eyebrow, questioning with his expression.
‘Everyone’s so worried, and you’re going to keep lying?’
That’s roughly what it meant.
I bit my lower lip hard and turned to look at each face in turn—Seo Yu Baek, Kang Han, Sa Ma Young, and Je Hwa, who had drawn closest to my bedside.
Their expressions varied, but I understood perfectly why they had all gathered around my bed like this.
They were worried about me.
“Well, here’s what happened.”
I finally began to confess everything.
Instead of consuming mana to use skills, I have to drink stamina potions regularly, but that damned system placed four limits on me under the excuse that drug abuse is dangerous.
“So if I drink five or more potions, I randomly contract a status ailment. This time, that ailment was ‘five days of comatose state.'”
Kang Han, who already knew the truth, simply frowned in silence.
But Seo Yu Baek was different.
“What exactly are the candidate status ailments? Was the coughing up blood from last time also due to drug abuse?”
“Coughing up blood…?”
Sa Ma Young stared at me with a terrifying gaze.
“You coughed up blood?”
“Not exactly coughed it up. Coughing up blood, I mean when I cough, a little blood comes out…”
“You mean the day you had to change into a hospital gown.”
This guy Kang Han—his memory is annoyingly sharp!
Not that he’s any help!
I glared at him indignantly, but my glare didn’t even scratch the surface with Kang Han.
“Yeo Joo, answer Director Seo’s question.”
Now even Je Hwa stepped forward, his voice stern and pressing.
“…The coughing up blood from last time wasn’t a drug abuse penalty—it was from using skills too much. That was also a random status ailment, but I don’t know which one will hit me. The roulette spins so fast I can’t even read it. The only ones I remember are…”
I counted on my fingers one by one, trying not to be conscious of the four men’s gazes fixed on me.
“Fainting, coughing up blood, inability to lie, burning fever. What else was there… Oh! There was also ‘nausea and dizziness’ and ‘I become S-rank for one hour.'”
“…”
Despite five people being in the hospital room, the silence was so complete it seemed impossible.
“What? Why is everyone reacting like that? I just happened to be unlucky and got the worse ones, but some people just get mild nausea and that’s it, or they even become S-rank for an hour, right?”
“Every time you drink five bottles of potions, you have to go through something like that.”
Je Hwa muttered as if he wanted to be angry at someone.
But soon the anger faded, leaving only exhaustion in its place.
“What you needed most was an item that increases stamina, and I didn’t even know…”
“Why are you blaming yourself, sir? I didn’t tell you.”
“It’s the result of my arrogance in thinking I knew so much about you. Using stamina instead of mana to cast skills… In other words, you’re dividing your own strength and giving it to others. If I hadn’t been so arrogant, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Oh no! He’s digging a hole!
Je Hwa is burying himself in a hole!
Hole alert! Hole alert!
“Sir, I told you it’s my fault for not mentioning it beforehand! And do you know how many times that necklace you gave me saved my life? Look at this—I used all five charges and it broke!”
I grabbed the broken medal of the necklace and thrust it toward Je Hwa, half-shouting.
“When I receive the Mark of Finality, the damage the Death Knight takes gets transferred to me, right? But because of this, I was able to hold out until the core shrank completely. You saved me, sir.”
I thought he would surely feel a little proud.
But Je Hwa didn’t look pleased at all—his face twisted with anguish.
“The fact that this necklace shattered means you came close to death multiple times, Yeo Joo.”
To make matters worse, Kang Han began digging another hole right beside Je Hwa.
“I didn’t know the Mark worked that way. So you hastily consumed multiple potions to prevent the damage transfer through status abnormalities?”
“I gambled.”
“With your life.”
“Ugh, but I didn’t die!”
I burst out without thinking.
“I didn’t die, so what’s the problem? Why is everyone so worried? How am I supposed to survive in this harsh world if things keep going like this!”
I realized too late what I was saying, but my brakes had already failed—my mouth kept running.
Yet every word was sincere.
Now that I’d climbed onto the back of the word “finality,” the Gates would grow increasingly vicious, and naturally, Awakeners like myself would face ever greater danger.
“…What if someone actually dies because of this?”
I don’t want to see these people crushed under the weight of grief.
I want us to pick up weapons again, fight, and ultimately prevent the apocalypse and survive.
A future where I myself survive to the end and spend all the money I’ve accumulated lavishly—or perhaps something even more than that.
“Isn’t that right, Sa Ma Young?”
I called on Sa Ma Young, the one among them most similar to me in temperament, as my relief pitcher—someone as cold and ruthless as they come.
But there was a reason he’d been silent all this time.
“…Sa Ma Young?”
I met his expressionless gaze and those crimson eyes boring into me.
And in that moment, I glimpsed the emotion dwelling within them.
‘Fear?’
Sa Ma Young was afraid of something.
But what?
Seeing someone so terrified, I forgot it was Sa Ma Young and reached out my hand to comfort him.
But my fingertips grasped only empty air where his sleeve should have been.
Whoosh.
Sa Ma Young stepped back, evading my touch.
He retreated—that Sa Ma Young actually retreated.
I was momentarily bewildered, as if I’d witnessed something I shouldn’t have, but before I could even try to stop him, he turned his back and left the Hospital Room.
“Huh?”
I didn’t even have time to call out and hold him back.
Heavy silence fell over the Hospital Room once more.
Both Kang Han, still standing beside the bed, and Je Hwa remained lost in their own thoughts, saying nothing.

“…What if someone actually dies because of this?”

Well, I suppose the bomb I threw was a bit large.
I clasped my hands together in a gesture of contrition and waited for Kang Han and Je Hwa to finish their deliberations.
But Seo Yu Baek was not one to wait.
“Come now, Guild Master Kang Han and the person Miss Yeo Joo was calling the president earlier—you both should head home. You haven’t properly returned to your homes in a week, have you?”
At Seo Yu Baek’s words, the shoulders of the two large men flinched.
When I looked at them with a gaze that asked ‘Is that really true?’, they rolled their eyes and averted their sight.
It seemed it really was the case.
Yet despite this, the two men standing like stone monuments at the entrance to the neighborhood showed no sign of moving.
Then Seo Yu Baek spoke, his expression growing slightly irritated as he crossed his arms.
“I’m not sure what kind of work the president does, but all he’s managed is to hire a spatial transfer user to occasionally change clothes and wash up during brief trips home, right? He’s been catching only snatches of sleep in the hallway. Guild Master Kang Han is the same. He’s been staying here full-time, even eating and sleeping in the hospital room.”
Not just a day or two, but a full week of such hardship.
No wonder the faces of these S-rank hunters, whose stamina was second to none, looked so rough and worn.
“Wait, it’s not me who’s been the patient—it’s these two! Go home at once! You’ll actually collapse if you keep this up!”
At my insistence, Je Hwa hesitated as if he had no choice.
“If Guild Master Kang Han goes, I’ll go too.”
“I am Yeo Joo’s guardian. There’s no reason for me to leave.”

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