The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 41

—————
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 – Episode 41

Why did everyone look so serious?
Kang Han’s face in particular had gone rigid, like a stone guardian standing at the entrance to a village.
“So, what item dropped?”
Humans leave behind their names when they die; monsters leave behind items.
Fortunately, Kang Han seemed to appreciate my effort to lighten the stiff atmosphere and pulled something from his subspace, showing it to me.
The chalice, slightly larger than a fist, looked far from ordinary even to the naked eye.

[ Sacred Relic of the Collapsed Temple ( C )
: The last remaining sacred relic of the ??? Temple. It contains the fervent wishes of the priests who guarded the temple. ]

My intuition was right after all.
This couldn’t be sold.
I’d need to keep it somewhere precious in the Guild Building for later, or have Kang Han carry it in his subspace.
“But isn’t something odd about this?”
Lee Yu Chan examined the chalice carefully as he spoke.
“Usually when you defeat a crocodile, even if it’s a boss monster, you get things like hide, bone, or claws. Why did something like this drop?”
“That’s true.”
Jang Su Ho tilted his head in confusion.
And Han Ji Sung provided the answer.
“The Crocodile King must have consumed this and grown stronger from it.”
“Its power was definitely not C-rank.”
Lee Yu Eul, who had faced it directly, nodded in agreement.
Watching my guild members find the right answer on their own without me pretending ignorance and explaining indirectly, I felt like I understood what a parent’s heart must be like.
Of course, there was one who went off on a tangent.
“So if we break this up and eat it, can we get stronger too?”
“Do you even know what this is before you break it up and eat it! You’re going to ruin the whole guild, you fool!”
Was he insane?
How could his thoughts be so outlandish?
This is a sacred relic!
“Is the chalice an eel? Are you going to cut it up and share it? Should I call dibs on the tail?”
“No, I was just speaking hypothetically. Why do you always come at me like that!”
Jang Su Ho protested as if wronged, but all that came from my lips was a disapproving tsk.
“You’re really too much.”
He even pouted and bolted out of the Hospital Room.
“What’s with her? Why is she acting like that?”
This level of bickering happened all the time.
But that kind of reaction was unusual.
It seemed to be related to the keyword “master” somehow.
“Ugh, my head.”
I’d figured it out back when the system told me to do favors if I wanted to purify the darkness.
Why was this apocalypse so difficult to prevent?
Well, apocalypses were inherently hard to stop, that much was true.
Regardless, I had far too much to do.
“Let me just check out first.”
As I said that and swung one leg off the bed, it happened.
As if by supernatural intuition, Seo Yu Baek appeared and spoke.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
It wasn’t frightening, yet it was.
“No, I’m fine.”
I attempted mild resistance.
“Back to bed. Rest, please.”
“Yes.”
Now I couldn’t even leave the hospital on my own terms.
Such is my fate.

* * *

Kang Han lay in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling of the room.
I had managed to convince Yeo Joo to stay one more night at the Hospital after she’d tried to discharge herself without the Doctor’s permission, and now I was back at the Guild.
Slither.
“Baek Young.”
The small white serpent found a warm spot and settled near my neck.
My rough, long fingers habitually stroked Baek Young’s soft body.
The Guild Building was quiet, as all the other guild members seemed to be asleep.
Through my acute hearing, the only sounds reaching me were the distant flow of Cheonggyecheon, the chatter of drunken strangers, and the thin breathing of Baek Young right beside my ear.
Exhale.
I breathed out deeply.
When was the last time I’d rested so peacefully in this room?
I couldn’t even remember properly.
The inexplicable urgency that had always echoed in my mind fell silent tonight.
‘Finally, I’ve done it.’
This was the first time since the Justice Guild collapsed after the Fifth Gate Break.
We had achieved something worthy of the Justice Guild’s name.
I closed my eyes slowly.
And I retraced the situation in the Guerrilla Dungeon.
When we first entered the Gate, I couldn’t completely trust Jang Su Ho.
To be honest, Su Ho in Berserker mode was far too strong, far too cruel.
That was also why I allowed Yang Hwa Yeon, the guild master of another Guild, to accompany us.
I was confident I could suppress Su Ho if he lost his sanity to madness, but I wasn’t confident I could protect all the other guild members in the process.
‘I never imagined there would be someone who could control that Jang Su Ho.’
The Berserker with bloodshot eyes regained his sanity the moment Yeo Joo’s hand touched him.
If the countless Guilds and Hunters who had treated Jang Su Ho as a beast rather than a person had witnessed that sight, they wouldn’t have believed their eyes.
“What exactly is your identity?”
She was a woman I’d acknowledged as a comrade, yet one who still carried enormous questions.
Yeo Joo was right.
At least among those living in South Korea, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t owe a debt to the Justice Guild.
But there was no one like Yeo Joo who would stake everything to repay that debt.
Most tried a few times before shaking their heads and leaving, and there were even those who tried to steal away the few remaining things the Justice Guild had.
But I harbored no resentment about it, nor did I seek to fight.
‘The responsibility of the Fifth Gate Break.’
Many people were injured and died.
Many lost their homes.
And that responsibility lay with the Justice Guild.
So I endured silently and waited.
For the opportunity for the Justice Guild to stand upright again, to take responsibility for past sins and make amends.
And then Yeo Joo appeared.

“I’ve mentioned it before, but let me spell it out properly. I’m going to bring the Justice Guild back to the very top. And when I do, I’ll get back a hundred times, a thousand times the money I’ve invested.”

Since she joined, the Justice Guild felt like riding atop a tiger.
Rough and chaotic, yet unmistakably climbing upward just as Yeo Joo had promised.
Remembering the face of that woman who had stubbornly insisted just moments ago that she had “mountains of work to do” as she fought her way out of the Hospital, Kang Han let out a quiet laugh.
Nibble.
Just then, Baek Young, whom I thought had been quietly sleeping, playfully nipped at Kang Han’s earlobe.
Though the meaning was unclear, it was surely some form of mischief in its own way.
Kang Han gently stroked Baek Young’s small head and spoke.
“I think I can trust her this time, Baek Young.”
Ding-dong—
Along with a cheerful sound only Kang Han couldn’t hear, a small speech bubble appeared above his resting head.

《 ♥ 13 》

Only Baek Young gazed up at it with clear eyes, confirmed that Kang Han’s face still wore a peaceful smile, and then quietly drifted back to sleep.

* * *

“Ah, there’s no place like home.”
After my discharge, the first place I headed was the Training Facility in the Guild basement.
Having spent so much time lying around here, this place felt more comfortable than my room.
But today the training hall was empty.
Instead, the area around the central sofa was bustling with activity.
It was a gathering to celebrate my discharge.
“I’m going with Pep X Cola!”
“Ah, I can’t have Pep X with that.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who only drinks Zero.”
The twins were bickering as usual.
“Han Ji Sung, doesn’t exercising feel refreshing?”
“…Yeah.”
Han Ji Sung, dragged along by the fitness enthusiast Jang Su Ho, looked exhausted.
“….”
Kang Han, as always lost in thought, simply stroked Baek Young, who was wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet.
“There’s nothing like what you’re used to.”
It was somewhat surprising that I’d grown comfortable with this chaos.
“Unnie, which movie should we put on?”
“Just pick whatever you all want to watch.”
“Come on, it’s your discharge party! We should watch what you want to see!”
Lee Yu Eul, whose body was half a head taller than mine, wheedled and pouted at me.
“Ugh, that one. That looks fun. It’s number one today. Let’s watch that, that one.”
I pointed casually at a movie displayed on the screen.
“Oh, a romantic comedy. I wanted to watch this too.”
Lee Yu Eul started playing the film, as if to say we were truly on the same wavelength.
Overall, it was a decent enough movie to watch.
For reasons unknown, the male protagonist, cursed by some dark magic, transforms into a beast resembling a wolf whenever the full moon rises.
Then one full moon night, the female protagonist stumbles into the male protagonist’s mansion by chance, and he discovers that she possesses the power to restore him to his human form.
After that, it was predictable.
The male lead, who initially refused out of fear of hurting the female lead, eventually surrenders to an instinctive pull after various incidents unfold, and the two fall in love—a tired narrative.
“Do people these days really enjoy this sort of thing?”
Shouldn’t movies be entertaining because they’re explosive and destructive?
As I thought this, I was just about to drift off to sleep instead.
*Ding!*
A sound indicating an affection increase rang out from somewhere, and my drowsy eyes snapped open.
Who? Who is it?
And I spotted a speech bubble above Jang Su Ho’s head.

《 ♥ 24 : Master 》

For some reason, Jang Su Ho’s ears had flushed crimson as he stared at the screen with his mouth agape.
What’s wrong with him?
As he watched the kiss scene between the two leads with wide eyes, the bag of potato chips slipped from his hand and fell.
And I heard him muttering something.
“That’s not it… I don’t think that’s it… Wait, is it?”

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