The Female Lead Saves the World - Chapter 86

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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 86

Once night fell and I confirmed everyone had gone to bed, I began my preparations.
Ever since I decided to catch the dog thief, I’d been resting on the sofa without moving, replenishing my stamina for the task ahead.
“I’ve got some things I prepared for today.”
I pulled out the items I’d been keeping in one corner of my room and laid them across my bed.
Most notably, a D-rank self-defense baton that hit with extra force.
A C-rank baseball cap with stealth properties and a C-rank mask.
And finally, a universal key limited to 30 uses that could open any lock.
“Perfect.”
Looking at the three items, confidence surged through me.
Confidence that I could catch the dog thief.
All three were items, and two of them occupied that precarious line between legality and illegality, making them difficult to obtain.
“Secretly receiving the delivery was the hardest part.”
Eight adults lived here, and three of them were incredibly nosy busybodies.
Getting the packages sent to a nearby public parcel locker and sneaking them into my room was like executing a covert intelligence operation.
I equipped the black cap and mask, pocketed the universal key, tucked the baton into my waistband, and concealed it all under an oversized hoodie.
Preparation complete.
Then, moving with barely a sound, I slipped out of the Guild Building.
Fortunately, it was late, so the hallway was empty and silent as a tomb.
And there I stood, in front of the Guild’s van.
I’d carefully covered the ‘JUSTICE’ lettering with black tape for today.
I’m Yeo Joo, a woman with a Class 1 standard driver’s license.
“A dormant license is still a license, after all.”
Honestly, this was more nerve-wracking than going to catch the dog thief.
“Alright, I can do this.”
The night was already late.
I couldn’t waste any more time, so I started the van’s engine and gripped the steering wheel.
“Just don’t hit anyone, just don’t hit anyone.”
After taking a few deep breaths, I drove the van out of Seoul.

* * *

Fortunately, there were no accidents along the way.
The late hour combined with our approach to the destination in the Outskirts of Gyeonggi Province meant fewer pedestrians and vehicles on the road.
“Where exactly is this place?”
I rolled my shoulders, which had grown tense, and surveyed my surroundings.
The area was nothing but densely wooded hills and abandoned rice paddies.
“Perfect for an illegal dog fighting ring.”
In a place like this, no one would hear the dogs barking no matter how loud they got.
“There it is.”
Yet they’d brazenly posted a sign to direct customers here.

[ Happy House ]

“Ridiculous.”
I resumed driving the van I’d paused earlier, arriving at a cluster of large, dilapidated vinyl greenhouses.
I parked the car outside an alley that would be easy to escape from and stepped out, but no one was checking identities or standing guard.
This was simply that kind of place.
A shabby illegal dog fighting ring where anyone could come and go, placing bets.
I carefully made my way toward the largest vinyl greenhouse, from which I could hear voices.
“Yelp!”
“Hey! Make them fight properly!”
Drunken voices spilled through gaps in the torn vinyl.
I peered through a hole to see inside.
The interior was no different from the illegal fighting pit where Kang Han had competed as a fighter.
Only it was far more squalid, with convenience store plastic chairs and overturned beer crates scattered about.
Whether from the sickening excitement or the alcohol.
People with flushed faces were shouting loudly at the roughly fenced-off space.
“Hey! You sure you doped it up right?!”
“If it just keeps dodging, there’s no fight, no fight!”
“Owner! Bring some other dogs!”
Two small dogs stood in the fighting pit.
They were so small—barely five or six kilograms—that calling them “dogs” seemed generous.
At first glance, they looked far more suited to lounging on a comfortable couch in a cozy home.
One of them, with white fur, refused to fight and simply crouched quietly.
The brown poodle opposite showed its teeth with a nervous growl, glancing at the crowd, but the white dog turned its head away and wouldn’t make eye contact.
“Yelp!”
Even when the poodle finally lunged and bit at its neck, the white dog’s response was the same.
It flinched at the pain but didn’t fight back.
It seemed less like fear and more like a refusal to attack something smaller than itself.
The match ended with the brown poodle’s victory.
It was inevitable—the poodle attacked repeatedly, but its opponent refused to engage.
As a result, the laughter of those who had bet on the relatively smaller poodle grew louder.
“Kahahaha! I told you, that mutt’s too much of a coward to fight!”
“Damn it. Can’t even live up to his size. Looks like a tiger but all he did was lose us money!”
“Boss! Just get rid of that white one, will you? He’s completely useless!”
“Leave him alone! Looks like his owner raised him like some pampered pet!”
“Hahahaha!”
Disgusting bastards.
I had suspected as much, but my suspicions were confirmed.
The people betting here also knew that these dogs were stolen from their owners.
“Ah, just wait and see. Once these mutts realize their situation, they change completely, heh.”
A middle-aged man with a protruding belly said this as he carelessly grabbed the dogs that had been in the fight by their scruffs.
“I’ll put these ones away, so get the drinks ready.”
At the Dog Fighting Ring Owner’s words, I concealed myself in the shadows of the dark trees and quietly followed behind.
The owner dangled the dogs in both hands as he entered a small house located just below the hillside.
From inside, I heard the sound of something clattering for a moment.
“Yelp!”
“Useless mutt. Damn it.”
The moment I heard the dog’s agonized cry, I found myself drawing out my expandable baton.
If I let that bastard walk out of here unscathed, I’d be a complete fool.
I hid in the shadows near the house entrance and tightened my grip on the baton in my right hand.
And the moment the Dog Fighting Ring Owner finished his business inside and stepped out of the house.
Crack!
“Ugh.”
I struck the back of his head squarely.
Ah, now I can breathe easier.
The hit was perfectly executed—the man collapsed without a sound, completely unconscious.
I kicked him aside so he wouldn’t be in the way, then pulled his ID from his pocket and pocketed it.
Later, I would send it to the police station along with an anonymous tip as evidence.
‘Just you wait. You’re going to get another taste of the people’s justice.’
I looked down at the man sprawled on the floor with the same disdain I’d reserve for days-old garbage, then stepped into the house.

* * *

“I’ll have to land one more hit on that bastard on my way out.”
The interior of Happy House was lined with cramped wire cages.
And those cages were packed with small dogs.
There were no large ones.
The reason was obvious.
Smaller ones were easier to handle, and later, easier to dispose of.
Dogs that once lived cherished as family members in homes now bared their teeth in warning, their eyes filled with fear as they stared at me from within those suffocatingly cramped cages.
“Grrr….”
“Woof! Woof!”
Of course, I never expected the dogs in an illegal fighting ring to be treated like they were in a hotel.
But this was beyond acceptable.
The iron cages, with waste dropping directly onto the floor, were so narrow that the few dogs inside couldn’t even lie down properly.
I roughly adjusted my hat and surveyed the interior of Happy House carefully.
The feed mixed with what appeared to be food scraps even had white mold growing on it.
“Damn it.”
There was no way curses wouldn’t escape my lips.
And then my eyes fell upon the cage positioned at the very back.
Even in this darkness, there was a creature whose white fur gleamed softly.
Pad, pad.
I headed straight toward it.
Unlike the other dogs that continued barking warily at me, the one in this cage was silent.
A bloodied creature that was only breathing weakly—wheezing, wheezing—from the beating it had just received from its owner.
How long had this one been living like this?
“…I should have come sooner. I’m sorry.”
The news about dog theft had been a sort of cue.
I wanted to kick my past self hard in the shins for waiting for a signal to avoid wasted trips.
The creature in the cage barely opened its eyes, which gleamed blue even in the darkness, and looked at me.
The white puppy that never attacked anyone smaller than itself in the fighting ring.
“Hello, Baek Ho.”

?? (Baek Ho)
Combat-type
Imprinting target – None
Evolution stage – Stage 1
Abilities – □□□, □□□□….

I had found Baek Ho, the White Tiger of the Four Sacred Beasts—a Mystical Beast that had lived as a fighting dog, never found its owner, and died.

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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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