The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 5

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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 5

An S-rank flame-attribute Hunter and illegitimate son of the conglomerate Sama Group.
Until he suddenly vanished inside a Gate midway through 【The Chronicles of Sejong】, he had been constantly at odds with the protagonist Kang Han.
Yet ironically, he was also the most popular supporting character.
It was all because of that infuriatingly handsome face and his venomous personality.
Even the author had mentioned it once.
Poisoned villains were always more flamboyant, after all.
I had quite liked Sa Ma Young myself.
He was a bad guy, sure, but when someone like that becomes your ally, it’s far more reassuring.
There was a time I hoped Sa Ma Young would stop opposing Kang Han and become a team with him instead.
But that was only when he was just a character in a book—now he’s nothing but a headache for me.
“I need to do something about him too.”
He does re-awaken as S-rank, but his future is to return even more toxic after his corruption.
And then he relentlessly hammers the Justice Guild, constantly getting in the way at every turn.
“Do you really think I’d let that happen?”
I have mountains of work to do, mountains.
The advertisement plastered on the side of the bus displayed its slogan in a font slightly smaller than Sa Ma Young’s photograph.

[ There are grades even in markets—「Sama Hunter Market」]

Wow, how perfectly fitting for him.
Sa Ma Young definitely planned that advertisement himself.
Just then, the taxi that had been stationary for a while began moving again.
The last glimpse I caught of Sa Ma Young’s face was still devastatingly handsome.

* * *

“Look at the scale of this place.”
Stepping out of the taxi and gazing upward, the sheer magnitude of the Korean Awakener Association was almost impossible to take in at a single glance.
The modern building complex, constructed after demolishing the luxury hotels that once clustered across from City Hall, distinctively bore traditional Korean eaves like those of a hanok.
There was no mistaking it—this was unmistakably the Korean Awakener Association.
“Ah, national pride strikes again.”
I wasn’t alone in thinking so; several tourists scattered throughout the plaza were snapping photographs with fervent enthusiasm.
Within this sprawling and magnificent Association complex, every facility imaginable for Hunters had been meticulously established.
From training grounds to research institutes studying Gate ecosystems, to the Awakener Support Headquarters that facilitated smooth Dungeon raids for Hunters, and finally the Awakener Registration Center—my destination today.
“Once they replace the Association Chairman, this place will be absolutely perfect.”
After admiring the architecture a bit longer, I made my way toward the information desk.
“Hello, how may I assist you?”
A receptionist greeted me with an almost unnaturally bright smile.
“I’m looking for the Awakener Registration Center.”
“Ah.”
…Ah?
Something about her reaction seemed off; the receptionist’s expression noticeably cooled as she handed me a map.
She pointed to a tiny building barely visible in the corner of the map and said:
“Go there.”
It was so small I had to squint to make it out on the map.
“It’s in the basement, fourth floor of the adjacent building.”
“The basement… fourth floor.”
Right, the building and grounds were massive, so of course there would be basements.
But still, this seemed excessive.
“Ah, yes. Thank you for your help.”
I turned around from where I stood with the map in hand and walked for quite some time.
And then I walked some more.
Gradually, the windows became fewer and the once-dazzling interior design grew noticeably shabby.
When I finally arrived at the most remote building on the Association’s grounds, a slightly creaking escalator greeted me.
Down, down.
When I reached the fourth basement level as the staff member had indicated:
“Wow, the Association really knows how to be harsh.”
Beneath the shoddy fluorescent lighting—a stark contrast to the natural light flooding through the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows I’d seen earlier—a waiting room packed with aspiring Hunters like bean sprouts in a steamer was revealed.
Only 0.01% of the entire population received the System’s selection.
Even after breaking through that probability and awakening, the chance of achieving C-rank or higher—the grade required to earn the title of “Hunter”—was less than 10%.
Stacked odds upon impossible odds, yet the belief that “if only one awakens” had long been ingrained in everyone’s minds.
The danger of facing monsters that human strength, guns, and bombs couldn’t overcome, plus the risk of going berserk.
Yet despite all these risks, the profession of Hunter had become an object of aspiration.
In other words, the over 100 people crammed into this narrow space were all aspiring Hunters.
What made it even more hopeless was that people like me—those showing signs of awakening—were probably an extreme minority.
Most were desperate applicants who came hoping they might awaken today, scratching lottery tickets in their hearts, each taking a scan just in case.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
With so many people crowding the center, it was difficult to grasp its layout all at once.
Near the wall, a short distance away from where rows of waiting chairs—like those in a bank—were arranged.
Unlike the anxious and tense applicants, I spotted people in crisp business suits or guild uniforms with large emblems, sitting with indifferent expressions while scrolling through their phones.
They must be head hunters from various guilds.
Though the odds were extremely low, they waited here to immediately recruit any promising new Awakeners who might emerge.
“Ugh, it’s hard to spot from way back there.”
I headed toward the reception desk I’d finally found.
“Hello. I’m here for an Awakening test….”
“Fill out this application and wait over there.”
Before I could even finish speaking, the receptionist—who looked utterly unmotivated—thrust a clipboard at me with a whoosh and spoke.
“The test fee is 50,000 won, and there are no refunds even if you’re not an Awakener.”
Apparently worn down by the endless stream of applicants, the receptionist’s monotone voice sounded like a vending machine dispensing beverages at the push of a button. I filled out the application.
Then I handed it back and asked.
“How long is the wait?”
“Do you see all those people in the back?”
The center employee pointed toward the waiting area with the tip of their pen.
“Once we finish with them, it’ll be your turn.”
In other words, there was no telling how long the wait would be.
I’d prepared for this possibility.
I pulled a sheet of paper from my bag and handed it over.
“I brought a doctor’s opinion stating I have Awakening wavelengths.”
“An opinion letter?”
The receptionist stopped what they were doing and looked up at me for the first time.
“Yes, having this raises my priority, right?”
“Yes, well, that’s correct.”
The employee nodded with a slightly flustered expression and carefully reviewed the opinion letter before letting out a small cough.
“The Awakening scanner is currently under maintenance. Once it’s done, I’ll call your name right away, so please wait nearby.”
As expected.
It was a good decision to get the opinion letter before being discharged from the hospital.
Otherwise, I would have been stuck in that crowd, waiting all day.
Sensing something from my exchange with the receptionist, I felt the gazes of the head hunters following me from behind.
Regardless.
I nodded to the employee and began surveying the waiting area.
“The main building is so grand and splendid.”
I recalled the entrance that looked like a subway turnstile, visible behind the guide who had handed me the map earlier.
With just an Awakener Registration Card, one could access all the convenient facilities beyond it.
But if you didn’t have one, there was no mercy.
As I slowly walked through the waiting area, taking in the sights like a tourist, a large framed picture on the wall caught my eye.
It was a history board—the kind commonly found in public institutions.
But I couldn’t simply overlook the content.

「 History of Dungeon Breaks 」

A Dungeon Break is a type of disaster that occurs when a Dungeon beyond a Gate cannot be cleared within the time limit, or when the monster population inside cannot be properly controlled.
In short, it’s when the monsters inside the Gate spill out into the world.
Naturally, this results in countless civilian casualties among those without the ability to fight monsters, and the surrounding area is reduced to ashes—leaving behind horrific devastation.
“Geez, they really hung such graphic photos without any censoring.”
The photographs displayed corpses scattered everywhere, billowing smoke, and shattered buildings in stark, unfiltered detail.
A Dungeon Break is what the people of this world fear most—a calamity so catastrophic that once it occurs, the destruction is immense.
The timeline explained all five disasters that had occurred so far in chronological order.
My gaze fixed on the last one—the Fifth Dungeon Break.

「 The Fifth Dungeon Break, caused by the reckless assault led by the Justice Guild and its second Guild Master, the late S-Rank Hunter Kang Young Won. Location: Cheonho Station area, Gangdong-gu. 」

This incident was precisely why Kang Han and the Justice Guild had fallen to rock bottom.
The Justice Guild’s elite assault team—not a single member survived. They were completely annihilated.
Among them was naturally Kang Han’s mother, the Guild Master at the time and S-Rank Hunter Kang Young Won.
Because of this, the Justice Guild bore responsibility for the Dungeon Break and had to pay astronomical compensation.
The debt Kang Han was paying off now had originated from that time.
“Ugh. Bitter, bitter, so very bitter.”
Thinking of Kang Han, tormented by exchanging pride and self-respect for money, made my chest feel unbearably tight.
“And that’s exactly why it’s so frustrating.”
The Cheonho-dong Dungeon, where the Justice Guild had failed in their assault, was merely the beginning of increasingly frequent, immeasurable-grade mutant Gates that would occur in the future.
And there was still an empty wall.
I was staring at the blank space where the photograph of the Sixth Dungeon Break would eventually hang.
“Oh, the stream just started.”
“Good timing. I was getting bored.”
I overheard the conversation of two men sitting nearby, waiting.
“Damn. The Magma Guild’s got style.”
“Didn’t I tell you they’d rise?”
The two men, who seemed close, sat huddled together, staring at a phone screen.
“Turn up the volume a bit.”
They weren’t even wearing earbuds, but it didn’t seem to matter much.
Most of the aspiring Hunters waiting in the reception area were watching the same video.
The waiting room, which had been filled with a subtly dark and listless atmosphere until moments ago, instantly transformed into an excited buzz.
“Right, there were dungeon-clearing streams too.”
It wasn’t something heavily covered in 【The Chronicles of Sejong】, so I’d forgotten about it.
‘This could be useful later on.’
I casually leaned against the wall in the corner and pulled out my phone.
Finding the streaming channel wasn’t difficult.
The moment I opened YouTube, a live broadcast channel already being watched by tens of thousands appeared on the home screen—I simply had to click on it.

“Well, this E-rank Gate is quite large for its classification, wouldn’t you say? What’s your assessment, Hunter Lee Jin Sik?”
“Yes, you’ve observed correctly. This Gate opened in Shillim-dong, a densely populated area, and the citizens’ concerns have been considerable….”

A caster and commentator, no less.
Live-streamed dungeon raids—presented like sports broadcasts—were the most popular content and the decisive reason hunters enjoyed such tremendous popularity.
A chosen few transcendent beings who risked their lives fighting monsters for the safety of ordinary people.
And to capture their exploits, there were camera crews entering the Gates alongside them, along with Awakeners in production roles who developed specialized cameras capable of broadcasting even from within dungeons.
‘There’s no way they couldn’t be popular.’

“Ah, the Magma Guild is making their appearance!”
“As expected, Guild Master Yang Hwa Yeon, the A-rank flame mage and guild leader, is taking the lead!”
The caster’s voice rang out, brimming with excitement.
An announcement broadcast echoed from speakers positioned throughout the waiting room.
“Yeo Joo, Yeo Joo, please enter the examination room.”

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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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