The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 3

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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 3

The moment the next day arrived, I discharged myself and returned home.
Though I’d won the lottery and become wealthy, with all four limbs intact and functioning perfectly, I had no reason to squander money on a hospital’s VIP suite.
There were far too many places where I’d need to spend money in the days ahead.
“But the more I look at it, the stranger it feels.”
I slipped off my shoes and surveyed the interior of my home.
“It really is my place.”
Nothing had changed.
Even my bed remained exactly as I’d left it, as if I’d only just stepped away.
But there was no time to linger in sentiment.
There was still the most crucial thing I needed to verify.
“First, I should wash up.”
Without overthinking it, I bathed thoroughly from head to toe, cleansing myself completely.
Then I sat on the bed and opened my mouth with utmost reverence.
“Status window.”

Yeo Joo A
1. The More You Know, The More You See (EX) – Inactive
2. Even Dried Squid Yields Water When Squeezed (A)
3. Strengthen Body and Spirit (A)
▼ Expand
4. [Empty]
Stigma Recovery – None
Equipped Items – None

“Yes!”
It’s happening, it’s happening!
The moment I heard the Doctor say I’d awakened, I was dying to check right then and there, but I held back until I was completely alone in the safest place possible, thinking I’d examine it calmly.
I tried mimicking what Kang Han did in the novel, and sure enough, a translucent skill window materialized right before my eyes.
Generally, Awakeners cannot see their own status windows.
That’s why the Awakener Association needs the help of their Awakening Scanners.
Aspiring Hunters who showed signs of awakening or hoped they’d awakened would wear out the doorstep of the Awakener Registration Center where the scanners were kept.
But I, like a select few Hunters including the protagonist, could summon my status window.
That alone was encouraging enough.
I checked my status window with the nervous anticipation of someone carefully opening a hand of cards one by one.
“Let’s see, let’s see… where is it…”

Yeo Joo A
1. The More You Know (EX) – Inactive State
2. Even Dried Squid Yields Water When Squeezed (A)
3. A Sound Body and Mind (A)
▼ Expand
4. [Empty]
Engraved Abilities Recovered – None
Equipped Items – None

For a moment, I couldn’t say anything at all.
“…This is good?”
My status window’s condition was absurdly excellent.
“Okay, let me calm down for a second.”
I wiped my sweat-dampened hands on my pants and began examining my status window from the top, piece by piece.
“First of all, I’m A-rank.”
My rank, stamped as clearly as Korean beef grading.
It’s a grim reality, but 90% of all Awakeners are D-rank or below.
In other words, they’re Awakeners, but they can’t really stand out.
They’re tougher than non-Awakeners, but too weak to enter a Gate directly and fight monsters.
Some are even classified as non-combatant and aren’t called “Hunters” at all.
So most of those people either live lives no different from non-Awakeners or enter already-secured Dungeons to work as miners.
“But I’m A-rank, right?”
Heh heh.
Even C-rank Hunters walk around with their heads held high, and B-rank can build careers to become core members or even guild leaders of decent mid-sized Guilds.
So A-rank is more than enough to join a major Guild’s elite raid team immediately.
Of course, it does depend somewhat on what kind of ability I’ve awakened…
But just being A-rank means I’ve crossed the safety threshold.
If I were F-rank when I’m supposed to prevent the world’s apocalypse, maybe the best I could hope for would be to buy a ton of instant lottery tickets with 25 billion won and scratch them until I died.

Yeo Joo A
1. You See What You Know ( EX ) – Deactivated

“My first skill is… EX-rank?”
Heh, now I can’t help but laugh.
EX-rank is a tier above S-rank.
Exceptional—in other words, beyond standard classification.
It can even evade the Awakener Association’s scanners, which can detect up to S-rank abilities.
That’s why it has the slight drawback of not affecting my personal rank.
But then I noticed the description next to the skill: “Deactivated.”
Hmm, in books, this is usually when…
“Skill activation.”

[ ‘You See What You Know’ skill has been activated. ]

Along with a brief notification, I immediately understood what this skill did.
“Whoa.”
My vision transformed in an instant.
It appeared to be a skill that displayed information about objects.
“It doesn’t work on everything—only on items from Gates or things crafted by Awakeners get descriptions attached.”
For example.

[ Health Recovery Potion ( E )
Enhances vitality by promoting natural recovery. ]

A small information window hovered above the pinky-finger-sized potion I’d received when I was discharged.
“But this seems pretty inconvenient. Can’t I choose to see only what I want?”
As if the system had been listening to my voice, it responded.

[ ‘You See What You Know’ – Switched to selective visualization mode. ]

At the same time, the potion’s description window vanished.
And the moment I tried to look at it again, a small window reappeared.
Now I understood why this skill was EX-rank.
In a world where most Hunters couldn’t even freely view their own status windows, the ability to access item information whenever I wanted was extraordinary.
Occasionally, some Awakeners possessed emotional appraisal skills that let them “see information,” but even those came with limitations based on their rank.
So it was common for them to make incorrect appraisals or fail to read items entirely.
In short.
“A money-making skill!”
If there were an Awakener capable of flawless, perfectly accurate appraisals, Hunters and Guilds would line up with bundles of cash in hand.
But I had no intention of doing that.
“Not now, anyway. It’s far too dangerous right now.”
Until I could create an environment where I could protect myself, this ability had to remain secret.
But that didn’t mean I had no way to earn money.
“I could buy undervalued items and sell them for a profit.”
I could practically hear the sound of money rolling in.
I smiled contentedly and moved on to the next skill.

2. Even Dried Squid Yields Water When Squeezed ( A )

“What kind of skill name is that?”
But I had a rough idea of what it did.
Monsters dropped items when they died.
This skill simply meant those items would drop in greater quantities.
In other words, it was like extracting every last drop.
Even if it was just miscellaneous loot like monster hides or fangs.
Collecting and selling such things could add up nicely.
I could almost taste the salty flavor of dried squid on my tongue as I moved on to the next skill.
But then.

3. Body and Mind Fortified ( A )
▼ Expand

“…A Healer?”
Just from the skill name alone, it was obvious I was a Healer.
“Phew.”
I let out a long, relieved sigh.
“Thank goodness. That’s a relief.”
I was born a coward.
Here I’d awakened, and if I turned out to be a combat-type, I’d have to charge into battle first?
I’d literally be trembling, eyes squeezed shut, flailing around wildly at everything.
That would make me a terrifying Hunter in an entirely different sense.
And in Korea, where Awakeners were already disproportionately common relative to the population, an A-rank Healer? I’d be a precious commodity—hearing “Please join us!” wherever I went.
“Haha! …Haha, ha….”
I laughed as if nothing was wrong, trying to look away, but I couldn’t escape it.
My gaze drifted downward, toward the text beneath the skill name.

▼ Expand

Something ominous. I didn’t want to expand it.
Why couldn’t I just be left as a happy Healer?
Then the Expand button on the status window flickered and glowed.
“Ugh. I don’t want to.”

[ ▼Press the Expand button to view detailed information. ]

Now even the system window was pressuring me.
I had no choice but to raise my finger and press the black triangle firmly.

[ 2. Body and Mind Made Resilient ( A ) – Growth Type
▷ Physical Healing : I consume my own stamina to heal the target.
Current Level – Beginner I
▷ Darkness Addiction Cure ( EX ) : Reduces the target’s darkness addiction level.
The efficiency of addiction cure is proportional to the affection the target holds toward Yeo Joo. ]

Every healer knows the universal rule: mana depletes with each healing skill cast.
I should have raged at the absurd setting of “consuming stamina,” but my eyes snagged on the word “growth-type.”
“Nothing’s being handed to me easily, is it?”
Growth-type sounds nice, but it really meant I wouldn’t be spoon-fed powerful abilities from the start.
Given that it was labeled “beginner,” I could probably only heal shallow wounds at best.
Unlike ordinary hunters who gained abilities matching their rank the moment they awakened, I had to claw my way up from the very bottom.
“So I’m basically starting from scratch….”
Just as I was about to lament my fate, the words “Darkness Addiction Cure” at the bottom made me hold my breath.
“Seriously?!”
I bolted upright.
“I can cure darkness addiction?!”
This was the very issue I’d written about in the comment that had earned me this karmic transmigration into a doomed world.

[ YeoJoo_Commentary : No. Author… … Either scrap that shitty darkness addiction mechanic, or give the hunters the ability to block the darkness flowing out of Gates!! … Honestly, this is just author incompetence…]

That’s how horrific the darkness addiction setting was.
As addiction levels rose, hunters would eventually go berserk, and the manifestation differed from person to person.
But they all shared one thing: the agony was severe enough to draw thick black tears of blood.
Fortunately, hunters with sturdy bodies could survive a few berserker episodes, but even that had limits.
When they couldn’t overcome the continuously accumulating darkness, their bodies would collapse and they’d die.
That’s why most high-rank hunters stopped dungeon raids as they aged and lived as far from Gates as possible.
At least until the approaching apocalypse forced everyone to stand and fight.
As a result, by the novel’s later chapters, there weren’t many high-rank hunters left to face the apocalypse.
“But if this changes things…”
If I could just prevent the berserker episodes that drove hunters to their deaths.
If other S-rank hunters could fight alongside Kang Han at the final battle because of it.
“Then this game might actually be worth playing.”
It seemed there were conditions attached, like with the physical healing skill, but honestly, I didn’t care.
If I could lower darkness addiction levels, I’d take any method—hot or cold.
The next line was printed in such tiny font, like insurance fine print, that I had to squint just to read it.
“The efficiency of addiction cure is proportional to the target’s affection toward Yeo Joo….”
No! This can’t be right!
“Noooooo!”
I thrashed my limbs in protest, but the status window remained unchanged.
Exhausted, I collapsed back onto the bed.
Desperate to deny this cruel reality, anguished groans escaped between my hands covering my face.
“Insane system….”
An affection mechanic.
…Really doing this to me.

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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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