The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 309

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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 130

“If it were me, I would…”
Seo Yu Baek fell silent for a moment, his eyes wavering with uncertainty.
Watching him struggle, I let out a soft laugh.
“This is exactly why I respect you so much, Teacher.”
He couldn’t bring himself to lie, not even to convince me.
He couldn’t utter that easy phrase—”I wouldn’t have done it that way”—because he knew better.
After all, Seo Yu Baek was someone who had exhausted himself to death treating civilians caught in the aftermath of a sixth-tier Dungeon Break.
If he had truly placed himself in my position, he would have understood.
If he possessed the ability to purify darkness, Seo Yu Baek would have sacrificed far more than blood to help Hunters suffering from rampage.
“Sigh…”
Finally, Seo Yu Baek exhaled deeply and bowed his head.
Then he grasped both my hands firmly and spoke.
“I’m sorry for pushing you so hard.”
“What? No, honestly, I might have been a little disappointed if you hadn’t objected.”
As I smiled playfully, the shadow across Seo Yu Baek’s face only deepened.
“But Yeo Joo, what I said just now—I meant every word. If you keep going like this, something truly terrible will happen.”
This time, I nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. At first, I was being too careless about it. I thought of it like donating blood—just giving a little regularly. But the more I repeated it, the worse my body became.”
Honestly, it frightened me.
There was the morning I nearly collapsed getting out of bed, my vision spinning. And the time I accidentally cut too deep and blood pooled across the floor.
I’d even cursed the System more than once.
Asking it why it would grant such a useless skill as an ability.
“But I can’t stop making the Darkness Purification Potion, Teacher.”
When I first arrived at the Justice Guild with the prize money, my only goal had been wealth.
If this world ended, my money would disappear with it.
I didn’t want to waste the half-luck that had suddenly come into my life, not when I’d been living so aimlessly before.
But somehow, things had changed.
I looked at Seo Yu Baek, then at Chung Soo.
We talked together, made eye contact, shared meals.
And through it all, the people of this world within the apocalypse had become my people.
Now I wanted to live in a world where these people were alive.
And to do that, I had to prevent the end. To prevent the end, as many Hunters as possible needed to be freed from rampage.
I squeezed Seo Yu Baek’s hands, which still rested in mine, and spoke.
“Please help me, Teacher. Help me find a way to make potions without hurting myself.”
“I… I don’t know how to…”
Seo Yu Baek tried to pull his body back.
But I grabbed his hand again.
“You can do it, Teacher. That’s probably why Chung Soo came to you in the first place.”
Im Chung Soo, who had been listening silently to our exchange, gave a short nod.
“If we can produce large quantities of potions from small amounts of blood without compromising health, there shouldn’t be any problems. I think we can find a breakthrough by applying the methods we used when developing trauma treatment potions.”
Seo Yu Baek fell into thought.
He seemed to be considering whether there were methods worth combining, just as Im Chung Soo had suggested.
After a moment, Seo Yu Baek finally nodded.
“Let’s try it. I’ll do my best to help.”
“Thank you, Teacher!”
I pulled the figure in the white coat into a tight embrace.
Seo Yu Baek, who had hesitated for a moment, let out a weak, small laugh and patted my back.
“But don’t use a knife to draw blood anymore.”
That was a welcome thing to hear.
“I didn’t like that either.”
Over my shoulder as I held Seo Yu Baek, I could see Im Chung Soo with his usual sullen expression looking at me.
I gave him a thumbs up to show my approval.
“I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do…”
Im Chung Soo ruffled his hair and muttered before finally speaking with sharp eyes.
“Just don’t let Guild Master Kang Han find out.”
Ugh, this guy’s going to cause real trouble.

* * *

“The most important thing is making sure word doesn’t leak out….”
Kang Han, who had been on a call at the end of the hospital corridor, stopped mid-sentence when he thought he heard his own name from somewhere.
[ “Did the call drop? Guild Master Kang Han?” ]
Kang Han, who had been staring briefly at Yeo Joo’s firmly closed hospital room door, soon continued speaking.
“No, I just thought I heard something for a moment. I was about to emphasize that confidentiality is paramount. They may have planted believers within the Awakeners Association, after all.”
[ “Right, exactly. Don’t worry—I won’t let these bastards off easy.” ]
The brief call with Association Director Ji Jung Hwi ended.
In the hospital corridor, now silent as a tomb, Kang Han held his breath and listened intently.
But all that reached his ears were the various sounds drifting in from outside the hospital.
The hospital had been built specifically for Awakeners from the start, which meant its soundproofing was unnecessarily thorough.
“Sigh.”
Even for an S-rank Hunter, there was no escaping the weight of mental exhaustion.
As I dragged my weary hand across my face, my green gaze remained fixed on Yeo Joo’s hospital room.
I was anxious.
And worried.
Yeo Joo knows so much about the world, yet understands so little about herself.
She acts like a superhero who can endure anything, but her heart is fragile.
She carries as many wounds as her bright smile suggests, and because of that, she cannot simply walk past those who suffer and struggle—she reaches out to help them.
She sees her own reflection in their pain, the loneliness she once bore alone.
I pictured Yeo Joo beyond the white walls of the hospital and muttered to myself.
“What are you going to do this time to make my heart skip a beat, Yeo Joo?”

* * *

In the darkest hour before dawn, Ji Jung Hwi led fifteen Awakeners Association hunters toward an old residential district on the outskirts of Seoul.
The desolate alley, emptied of most residents due to redevelopment, served as the headquarters of the Apocalypse Cult.
The intelligence that they had relocated from Gyeonggi Province to Seoul had arrived only a few months prior.
‘I should have acted then.’
Ji Jung Hwi, the Association Director, watched from his position as the Association hunters infiltrated the grand residence that stood with a small mountain at its back.
Dressed entirely in black from head to toe, they moved without sound or presence—like shadows given motion.
[ “Entering now.” ]
The infiltration team’s transmission crackled through the earpiece.
Ji Jung Hwi followed swiftly in their wake.
But just as he reached the stairs, a new transmission came through.
[ “Nothing here. The interior is empty.” ]
“What?”
Ji Jung Hwi kicked open the slightly ajar front door and stepped inside.
The infiltration team was right.
Scattered belongings lay strewn across the floor as if hastily packed and abandoned, yet nothing of importance was visible.
Whether the information had been leaked or whether they had urgent reason to relocate quickly would have to be determined later.
“The upper floor?”
The hunter descending the stairs shook his head.
“Did we miss them by a step?”
Ji Jung Hwi rubbed the throbbing vein on his furrowed brow, speaking through gritted teeth.
As he turned, his foot caught on something.
It was the ‘Scripture of the End’—the holy text the Apocalypse Cult’s followers revered as scripture.
“Gather anything that looks useful. Let’s figure out what these bastards are thinking, how they sustain themselves—everything.”
“Yes, understood.”
At Ji Jung Hwi’s command, the hunters dispersed throughout the residence.
“Cowardly rats.”
Raiding the local branch churches used by ordinary believers now would only heighten their vigilance.
The Association Director clicked his tongue and stepped outside, dialing Kang Han’s number as he thought.
Rats aren’t caught by driving them out.
“Proper rat hunting requires setting a trap.”

* * *

The morning of my discharge from the Hospital.
I woke early, ate the Hospital’s breakfast, and was packing my belongings when Kang Han arrived.
“I said I’d be discharged alone since it’s right around the corner.”
“There’s someone idle at home—why should the patient leave alone?”
“You’re quite stubborn yourself, Guild Leader. You know that, right?”
“Should I just call you Yeo Joo?”
He didn’t back down with a single word.
Kang Han spoke to me as I glared at him with narrowed eyes.
“The Awakeners Association conducted a raid on the Apocalypse Cult’s headquarters, but it appears they’d already relocated.”
“They lost them? Without even knowing where they went?”
“Yes. Even though the Association Director personally led trustworthy people, the fact that they still escaped suggests information wasn’t leaked.”
“Then there must have been a reason they needed to move, I suppose.”
It was probably because of that gaming device Mollig handed over.
With an unexpected weapon in their possession, they’d naturally relocate their headquarters and lay low for a while to orchestrate their plans.
Bishop Yi doesn’t possess that kind of intellect.
It was obvious this was all the cunning Vice Cult Leader’s doing.
‘Stupid fool.’
Couldn’t even hide such a small gaming device and got caught so quickly?
I pictured Bishop Yi’s vacant face and clicked my tongue disapprovingly as I zipped my backpack shut.
Then I pulled Kang Han’s outstretched hand toward the door as if to take my luggage and spoke.
“Come with me somewhere for a moment, Guild Leader.”

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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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