The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 290

—————
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 111

In the end.
“Ugh!”
Shoved by the massive paw, Yang Hwa Yeon tumbled into the snowy field and found herself alone on the empty Training Facility floor.
It was only because Kang Han had halted the simulation just before the wolf’s fangs could sink into her.
After a few seconds of silence, Yang Hwa Yeon cracked open her eyes to assess the situation, then released a sigh of relief before suddenly pounding the ground with her fists.
“Argh, that was so fun! What a waste!”
“Goodness, that idiot.”
Carried out like luggage by Jung Yi Do, Yang Hwa Yeon had failed to post a proper record.
Yet everyone gathered at the scene sensed that Yang Hwa Yeon would secure one of the Round of 16 Squad positions.
And finally, the last turn.
“Yo Na, do your best.”
Receiving Yeo Joo’s understated encouragement, Sung Yo Na stepped into the Simulation Training Ground as the eighth contestant.
Click.
The door closed, and with a low hum, she found herself standing alone in a snowy field.
From her fingertips onward, the bitter cold crept in with each passing moment, and Sung Yo Na’s body, already rigid with tension, froze even further.
Then, glancing toward the glass window where countless unseen spectators surely stood, a small breath escaped her lips, rising as white vapor into the frigid air.
The Justice Guild hunters had cleared their names and grown comfortable as family, yet standing before others still terrified her.
She could almost feel those who had smiled warmly at her moments ago suddenly turning to scorn, pointing fingers and crying “Murderer!”
‘That can’t be. Sung Yo Na, get a grip. I’m not a murderer.’
It was all in the past.
The moment when she had cowered in fear and done nothing while Fantasia Guild hunters died before her eyes, managing only to flee—the moment when she was hunted like a helpless rabbit in the hunting grounds—all of it was over.
“Grrr, grrr.”
As I slowly opened my tightly shut eyes, five pairs of pitch-black pupils stared back at me.
“Huh.”
A faint whimper escaped my lips as my throat constricted.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to flee this moment and hide in my own space.
Even as such thoughts consumed my mind entirely, a self-deprecating laugh leaked out.
‘This is all I amount to.’
Unable to endure even this much pressure, only scheming escape.
Perhaps I was wrong from the very beginning.
Born timid and cowardly.
Unlike my older sister Sung Ro Sa, who was always confident, accomplished everything effortlessly, and shone brilliantly.
When my older sister awakened to the light attribute magic circle first, I thought it suited her perfectly.
The same went for when I first saw my skill window—all I could do was run away and hide in a subspace.
I thought it was so very me.
‘Someone like me shouldn’t participate in something like the Guild Cup where the whole world watches.’
I’d be pointed at again.
I’d barely cleared my name—couldn’t I just live like this?
With comfortable people, in familiar places, just like this forever.
I hesitated.
Sung Yo Na, who had been slowly backing away from the wolves that recognized her weakness and approached with dripping saliva, finally shook her head.
“I… I c-can’t do this…”
Just as I was about to speak those words of surrender.

“You have a tendency to underestimate yourself too much, but you’re not a weak person.”

When was that?
Yeo Joo’s words came back to me.
Ah, yes—I remembered.
It was the day I cried like a child because I was so pathetic that I couldn’t even take a single step outside the Guild Building.
The person who had extended her hand to me without hesitation, even as everyone pointed at me and called me a murderer, spoke in that same calm voice that day.

“Right now you’re just exhausted. So rest enough, and when you have strength again, then go outside. And face it head-on. I’m telling you, it won’t be as big a deal as you think. Confirm it yourself—whether my words are right or wrong.”

And she added.

“If you can’t trust yourself, then trust me. You’re a strong person, Sung Yo Na.”

A strong person.
I still don’t quite understand what makes someone ‘strong’.
But perhaps.
Perhaps Yeo Joo really was right—maybe I do have the strength to fight instead of running away?
Maybe I’m allowed to unleash my power without holding back?
Maybe I can collide with all my might?
A soft rustling sound.
Sung Yo Na faced the wolves that had crept into close range and drew two blades from the Subspace, gripping one in each hand.
The twin swords—slightly longer than daggers, thin and sharp enough to wield without burden—were weapons she’d begun using at Yoo Jin Rok’s suggestion.
“Huu.”
Like during her solitary training in the empty dawn, Sung Yo Na exhaled a long, quiet breath.
A firm grip.
As her hands tightened around the hilts that had grown perfectly fitted to her grip, her turbulent heart settled into calm.
The moment the wolves, sensing the shift in her momentum, could no longer restrain themselves and crouched to launch from the ground—

[ Skill ‘Subspace Creation’ activated. ]

A swift whoosh.
A single figure moved like wind between the wolves.
Or so it seemed.
All the onlookers saw were footprints being etched into the thick snow at an unbelievable speed.
“What, what is this?”
“Wasn’t Yo Na standing over there just now? So why is she on the other side…?”
The bewildered spectators, unable to comprehend what had happened, soon gasped in horror.
Splurt—!
Blood erupted simultaneously from the entire bodies of the massive wolves.
“Huuu.”
And as Sung Yo Na exhaled once more in a long breath, black blood falling onto the pure white snowy field drowned out the sound.
Thus, in the literal blink of an eye, five Snowy Field wolves met their end, scattering into ash amid the blizzard.
“Waaaah! She’s insane!”
“What was that just now, Sung Yo Na!”
Her gaze, oblivious to the excited cheers directed at her, was already fixed on the second pack of wolves that had spawned.

* * *

A few weeks ago.
When Sung Yo Na contacted me asking if we could talk for a moment in her Secret Workshop, I knocked on the pale yellow door.
“Sister, would you like something warm to drink?”
“No, no—I just got back from being worked to the bone by the Kang Han Guild leader. Get me something cold if you have it.”
I sat down at a wooden table that was a bit rough-hewn and waited briefly before a cold glass of orange juice appeared in front of me.
“Ahh, I feel like I’m coming back to life. But you said you had something to tell me?”
“Oh, before that, I wanted to ask you something. Sister, about those abnormal status penalties you mentioned.”
Sung Yo Na hesitated slightly before asking.
“Could you tell me what kinds of penalties you’ve experienced so far?”
“Hmm, let me think. There was losing consciousness for several hours, coughing blood for 15 minutes, and a time I couldn’t see for 48 hours. Oh, and being unable to lie for 12 hours. That one was the worst.”
“I see….”
“But it’s not all bad effects. When the roulette spins, sometimes you temporarily become S-rank, things like that. But why are you asking?”
“I thought I might be able to help you with those abnormal statuses. Ah! Though, it’s not such a big help or anything.”
“I’m fine with anything. But how would you do that?”
In response to my question, Sung Yo Na reached toward a small potted plant sitting on one side of the table.
And something remarkable happened.
What had clearly been just a tiny sprout suddenly grew rapidly as if the video were on fast-forward, and soon it bloomed with white flowers.
“Haa.”
Sung Yo Na wiped the sweat beading on her forehead with a weary expression, yet smiled with satisfaction.
“It seems I can control the flow of time for a designated target like this. To be more precise, I put the potted plant into a Subspace and accelerated the passage of time within it.”
“What? That’s possible?”
That’s completely broken.
At my astonished question, Sung Yo Na blushed with embarrassment and nodded.
“Since it’s a Subspace I created, I’m… essentially the creator of it. I’ve used it a little bit in the Jongno Branch Underground Training Room before. I made sure the books in the Recovery Room and Ji Sung’s Research Lab wouldn’t age either….”
“Yo Na, you really are a jack-of-all-trades, aren’t you?”
“A jack-of-all-tr, trades?”
“It’s just an expression. Anyway, to think you can use it like this…. Wait, then that time when Hunter Kim Min Jung stayed in a runaway state for 2 years…?”
“I think… I must have done it instinctively when I got scared and ran away.”
Yes, that makes sense now.
At last, the mystery that had remained unsolved all this time was resolved.
“So if sister falls into an abnormal status for a long time again like last time….”
“You can accelerate my time flow and help me wake up quickly, right?”
“Yes. Though, we’d need to try it to see if it actually works.”
“Alright, if something like that happens next time, I’ll definitely ask you. But you know what?”
I grasped both of Sung Yo Na’s hands as she cooled her flushed cheeks and spoke.
“That ability would be incredibly useful inside Gates too, wouldn’t it?”

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