The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 317

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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 138

Something felt off.
Usually, when web novels were published as physical books, their covers were designed with flashy aesthetics to capture the eye.
But this book had only a dull title—”Prevent the World’s End”—written plainly in black text on a black cover.
“That’s strange. If I bought the physical copy, there’s no way I’d forget the contents like this…”
Without much thought, I opened the book to check its contents.
On the open page, there was only a single sentence written in bold, clear letters.

⌜ Yeo Joo, isn’t it time you woke up? ⌟

“…Ah.”
Waking from the dream happened in an instant.
There was no stumbling, no clutching my head in prolonged agony.
Just as one suddenly awakens from sleep, I understood everything all at once.
Nothing had changed.
Yet everything had changed.
It felt like I’d fallen into a deep sleep, wandered through a dream for a long time, and finally awakened.
I chuckled softly, tossed the book I’d been holding onto the desk, and stretched luxuriously.
“What a dramatic dream that was.”
I’d suspected something like this might happen ever since I handed the golden compass to Kang Han, but this dream’s scale was something else entirely.
In hindsight, it was foolish of me.
I should have just dreamed about bringing in a ton of gold bars with all taxes already processed and happily shopping for real estate instead.
Thump.
I sat on the edge of the bed, swinging my feet while taking in the sights of “my room.”
Before returning from eating fruit, it had been a space I found perfectly familiar and cozy, but now it felt strange, as if I were sitting in someone else’s room.
“Well, it is someone else’s room, isn’t it.”
No matter how soft the blanket felt against my fingertips pressing into the mattress, no matter how much I missed and cherished the sound of Mom and Dad laughing outside, all of this was ultimately nothing but an illusion created by the dream Dungeon.
A fake, carefully blended from Kang Han’s desired dream with just a spoonful of what I wanted.
“Besides, we’ve never even lived in a house this nice to begin with.”
As hollow disappointment washed over me, I let out a bitter laugh and caught sight of the physical copy of “Prevent the World’s End” sitting on the desk.
Thanks to it, I grasped reality in an instant.
But waking from the illusion created by the “golden land where all desires can be fulfilled” is never as easy as this.
“I roughly understand the reason, though.”
Fundamentally, I was never a person of this world where Gates opened and Hunters thrived.
Since I was never part of the Sejong Barrier from the beginning, the dream’s binding force was inevitably far weaker.
Moreover, this was Kang Han’s dream after entering the Dungeon with the Golden Compass in hand.
In a place thoroughly shaped by Kang Han’s desires and unconscious mind, I was merely an uninvited guest dragged along for the ride.
That’s why I had handed the compass over to Kang Han in the first place.
“…I feel a bit sorry about it, though.”
As I’ve already mentioned, awakening from a fantasy is normally never this straightforward.
The process of accepting that a world where one’s deepest longings have become reality is actually false is always agonizing.
And upon reflection, it was implemented with an almost absurdly perfect completeness.
It spoke volumes about the depth of Kang Han’s yearning.
Still, there’s no helping it.
There is only one way to clear this dream Dungeon.
Kang Han, the dreamer himself, must awaken from the dream and choose to return to reality.

+++

The next day.
I entered the Justice Guild Building right on time for work.
The Justice Guild, possessing a massive building at the Gwanghwamun Intersection where the statue of General Yi Sun-sin loomed directly overhead.
Standing in the middle of the lobby, the landscape I’d grown accustomed to suddenly appeared fresh and new.
The building where people confidently wearing Justice Guild employee badges streamed in and out ceaselessly, the massive digital display flickering with images of affiliated Hunters.
Magnificent and steadfast.
I could feel the full weight of the Justice Guild’s power, reigning supreme above all other Guilds.
At the same time, I could see what wish this dream Dungeon was capturing and depicting.
Kang Han must have longed for it.
A world where the Fifth Dungeon Break—which had toppled the giant that was the Justice Guild at the cost of countless casualties—had never occurred, and where Darkness didn’t exist, so Hunters wouldn’t suffer from going berserk.
“Remarkable.”
So this was what the Justice Guild looked like before its collapse, something I’d never known.
It wasn’t merely a matter of discussing the vast building and the wealth of items.
During my time living as Yeo Joo in this dream, the Justice Guild I directly experienced was an object of respect and admiration.
When crisis struck, it stood at the forefront, rallying Hunters and protecting people’s lives and daily existence—a reliable pillar and the final bastion of hope.
Kang Han had lost all of this.
He lost honor and pride, and in exchange endured ridicule and scorn, burying himself under mountains of debt to pay compensation for the casualties.
What must Kang Han have thought, standing in that dilapidated Jongno Building that no one sought out, embracing wounded and abandoned Hunters from all sides?
“But how am I supposed to get out of here?”
I really should have kept the Golden Compass after all.
As I was vigorously rubbing my face with both hands in self-recrimination, a familiar voice suddenly spoke up.
“Where are you trying to go?”
“Ah, Kang Han, or rather… Sub-guild Master.”
Kang Han was standing right beside me—I hadn’t even noticed when he’d approached.
With his hair neatly groomed and his forehead half-exposed, dressed in a sharp suit, his appearance was shockingly impressive.
Especially since I roughly know what kind of body lies beneath that well-tailored suit.
“I like that.”
“…Like what?”
“You calling me by my name. From now on, call me Yeo Joo instead of Sub-guild Master. Yeo Joo.”
“Oh, um. Should I?”
I found it more comfortable too, and seeing that eagerly anticipating face, I couldn’t refuse.
“But where were you saying you’d go? Surely you’re not thinking of leaving the Justice Guild…?”
Kang Han’s expression turned serious.
“I suppose you might reconsider your employment. Suddenly forcing you to participate in a Gate strategy, and on top of that, a guild that just hands out items. Yeo Joo, as I said yesterday, the item gift has nothing to do with this S-Grade Gate strategy…”
“It’s just that Kang Han wanted to give it, right? I heard enough yesterday. And I wasn’t talking about leaving the Justice Guild either.”
“I seem to have misunderstood.”
Relieved, Kang Han smiled softly.
At the smile of the Sub-guild Master famous for his stoicism, several employees heading to work stumbled in surprise, their footsteps echoing loudly through the lobby.
“That’s fortunate. I wasn’t planning to let you go.”
Then he added with a rather smooth smile.
“I want to be with you, Yeo Joo.”
…The Kang Han in my dream is quite honest, isn’t he?

+++

Tomorrow morning, early, the Gate opens.
In preparation, the Justice Guild Hunters entering the Gate decided to gather today and synchronize their movements.
It seemed to be a consideration for me, who probably wasn’t used to this yet.
I arrived at the 20th Floor, the space of Strategy Team 1, together with Kang Han, whom I’d met in the lobby.
“It seems the others haven’t arrived yet.”
I spoke while looking around the quiet Team 1 office.
“Let’s rest while we wait.”
I nodded readily and sat on the large sofa.
I could see Kang Han, who had taken a seat at a table not far away, pulling out a tablet.
It seemed he had guild work to attend to.
‘Should I try it now?’
Since I realized the situation yesterday, there was something I wanted to attempt.
It was something that would create a sense of dissonance for Kang Han.
There had been several instances where reality’s appearance had subtly shown through.
For example,

“Yeo Joo, haven’t we met somewhere before?”

There was even a day when he said something like that at the beginning.
Yesterday, he handed me several expensive items, and while I stood there bewildered, he spoke to me.

“I simply wanted to give them to you. As for the reason… honestly, I have no idea myself.”

It seemed to stem from his melancholy about only receiving from me in reality, never giving anything back.
To escape from a dream, it was crucial to sense that something was amiss—that peculiar dissonance.
I tossed out a comment to Kang Han, who had since become absorbed in his work.
“You must have suffered quite a bit when you awakened too, didn’t you? I was bedridden for an entire day. But when I looked into it, I found that most people actually awaken quite smoothly without any warning signs at all.”
Still not taking his eyes from the emails, Kang Han responded reflexively.
“I went through considerable hardship as well. Back then, I was forced to awaken while confronting a monster that had emerged from outside a Gate…”
His words, which had begun so casually, gradually trailed off.
“A monster that emerged from outside a Gate…?”
That would be strange.
This was a world where the Fifth Dungeon Break—where Kang Han had awakened—never occurred.

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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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