The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 76

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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 76

The uneasy atmosphere that had hung over the room transformed instantly at the word “capture.”
The guild masters straightened in their seats, their ears perking up at Sung Ro Sa’s next words.
“Of course, the right to choose an S-rank item will be granted to the successful guild.”
“Then surely you mean….”
The guild master of Ragnar, drawing on years of experience, was the first to grasp the implication.
“Yes, that’s correct. We plan to open Fantasia Guild’s item vault. You may select one item from within.”
The Four Major Guilds didn’t earn that distinction for nothing.
While the Awakeners Association’s rankings mattered, such status required the scale, capability, and financial backing to support it.
Yet here was Fantasia Guild, opening its item vault.
Not merely opening it—allowing them to enter and claim one S-rank item of their choosing.
Ragnar, Hwacheon, and Magma Guild—the three guilds summoned here—were still mid-tier, but they possessed solid foundations.
For them, an S-rank item could be the game-changer that lifted them out of the mid-tier ranks entirely, allowing them to pursue stable upper-mid positions, or perhaps even higher.
A gleam appeared in the eyes of those who envisioned the future of whichever guild succeeded in capturing Sung Yo Na, acquiring both an S-rank item and enormous cash reserves.
Everyone except Kang Han and me.
‘Sung Ro Sa is feeling the pressure, it seems.’
He was maintaining a composed facade now, but his inner turmoil must be considerable.
Since Sung Yo Na’s discovery, public opinion had deteriorated rapidly.
Fantasia Guild, which harbored “the murderer Sung Yo Na.”
Sung Ro Sa, blood relative of “the murderer Sung Yo Na.”
People cursed Fantasia Guild, and the media was quick to condemn them for irresponsibly allowing a murderer to roam free.
Despite the enormous bounty placed on Sung Yo Na, it had proven ineffective—so now he was recruiting guilds to do the legwork directly.
“For your information, only one guild will receive the commission reward.”
Coalition or not, he was pitting the guilds against each other in competition.
“Are there any… restrictions on method?”
Someone from Hwacheon Guild asked carefully.
Sung Yo Na—Sung Ro Sa’s younger sister, an A-rank spatial manipulation-type hunter.
They were asking how they should handle her.
“There are none. As long as I can confirm that whoever you capture is the hunter Sung Yo Na.”
His words were roundabout, but the meaning was unmistakable.
Alive or dead—just bring her in.
“I’ll give you time to confer.”
Having made his proposal, Sung Ro Sa vanished as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving the gathered crowd in turmoil.
“Guild Master, we absolutely cannot miss this….”
“What S-rank items does Fantasia Guild actually possess….”
“One hundred billion won for a single S-rank item…”
As I watched Yang Hwa Yeon from Magma Guild fall for the proposal as well, Kang Han tapped the back of my hand and spoke.
“Let’s step outside and talk for a moment.”
Right.
I found it strange that our protagonist was being so quiet about this.

* * *

“I’d prefer we didn’t take this request.”
Kang Han had always given me the green light for everything I wanted to do—except for that one time when I first tried to buy the Justice Guild with money.
But this time, his stance was firm.
“Why not?”
“No matter how you frame it, this is hunting people.”
“But Sung Yo Na is supposedly someone who killed multiple people.”
“Nothing has been confirmed.”
“So because nothing is confirmed, it’s wrong?”
“That’s correct.”
Kang Han didn’t avoid my piercing gaze.
“An S-rank item and one hundred billion won would be a tremendous help to the Justice Guild.”
“And?”
“But the Justice Guild can succeed without doing what’s wrong. We can climb back up on our own.”
“Hmm.”
I felt a quiet sense of pride swell within me.
Because I was genuinely proud.
The old Kang Han—desperate for money, hounded by debt—would have at least considered such a request.
And then, whatever decision he made, he would have despised himself for trying to do something wrong.
Just like when he fought in illegal gambling rings for money.
But now, the eyes of Kang Han trying to convince me held only integrity.
He had grown confident enough in our abilities that we didn’t need to abandon our beliefs—his and the Justice Guild’s.
“That’s good.”
This is how Kang Han should be.
Someone who doesn’t chase immediate profit for what he believes is right.
This is Kang Han.
If he’d said, “Let’s take it because the S-rank item is tempting,” I might have been disappointed.
“But we need to take this request.”
“Yeo Joo.”
“Just hear me out for a moment.”
I cut off Kang Han’s words and checked our surroundings.
The dimly lit corridor held only us.
“There’s no one else around right now, correct?”
“…There’s nothing.”
Kang Han confirmed with the sensory acuity unique to S-rank Awakeners before responding.
“Listen, I think I’ve actually met Sung Yo Na before? At our Underground Training Facility. The spatial ability user who did the construction work there—I’m pretty sure that was Sung Yo Na. No, I’m certain of it.”
“How could you possibly….”
“It spread all over the community forums, didn’t it? Sung Yo Na’s composite sketch. Anyway, the Sung Yo Na I met back then didn’t seem like the type to kill someone. You can tell by their face.”
“By their face?”
Kang Han looked at me with the expression of someone watching Jang Su Ho talk nonsense.
No, listen to what I’m saying.
“According to what the Guild Master said, the rumors that Sung Yo Na killed the people who entered the Dungeon with her are just that—rumors, right?”
And because of those rumors, Sung Ro Sa is trying to capture his own sister, even putting out a bounty on her.
“That may be true, but…”
“So let’s verify it ourselves. Find out exactly what happened inside that Gate. And we can decide later—it’s not too late. Whether Sung Yo Na is really a murderer who killed multiple people and is on the run, or whether she’s a victim who suffered some unavoidable tragedy.”
“And if she turns out to be a victim, what then?”
“We help her.”
I answered without a moment’s hesitation.
An A-rank being hunted unjustly?
I can’t ignore that.
She’s priority number one for recruitment.
“To do that, we need to find Sung Yo Na first.”

* * *

Persuaded by my lengthy speech, Kang Han signed the commission contract.
I thought we’d finished the conversation quite quickly, but when we returned to the Conference Room, only we remained.
Everyone else was equally urgent to leave.
Unlike other Guilds, we didn’t have a spatial ability user, so we had to trudge down the hill we’d climbed on foot.
Walking down the quiet nighttime path of Gwanak Mountain, I reviewed the commission contract.
“Strict confidentiality. Duration until individual notice is given.”
It was bound by magic, no less.
“They really don’t want it known that they hired an outside Guild to hunt Sung Yo Na.”
A Guild’s lifeblood is its power and its image.
From the perspective of a manager running the Justice Guild, I couldn’t entirely fault Fantasia’s approach to handling these matters.
“Still, I heard they were quite close. Isn’t that right?”
“You mean Sung Ro Sa and Sung Yo Na?”
“Yes. How were they at school?”
“Guild Master Sung Ro Sa is a spontaneous Awakener, so I never trained with him, but I have seen Hunter Sung Yo Na.”
Kang Han spoke, searching through old memories.
“…He was quite proud of his older sister, the Fantasia Guild Master.”
At the same time, I recalled what Sung Ro Sa had said just moments before.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as I can confirm that the person we captured is the Hunter Sung Yo Na.”

How had these sisters ended up in such a state?
Though I was a reader possessing this world, the incident had been covered in mere lines, so I didn’t know the full details myself.
What I knew was one thing.
‘Sung Yo Na dies because of this incident.’
And the truth that her death was unjust would be revealed much later.
That was why Fantasia Guild would lose its current prestige afterward.
Because Guild Master Sung Ro Sa went berserk upon learning the truth and nearly lost his abilities entirely.
But that was only if I didn’t intervene.
“Ah, what lovely moonlight.”
I stretched and thought to myself.
Ten billion won in cash was somewhat regrettable, certainly.
But an A-rank spatial manipulation item was far more profitable than an S-rank one.

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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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