Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 11

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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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Administrator with Cheat Ability Climbing the Mythic Tower (11)
Mu Saeng stood gazing into empty air, his expression grave as stone.
The Village Chief too drew near with shuffling steps, his manner equally earnest.
“Um, er, could you perhaps explain what’s happened here—”
“Ah, that child from before—he was already gotten to by the Werewolf. So the creature took on his form and pretended to be a village resident—that right, Wash? Yes, that’s correct. Anyway, pay it no mind. The Werewolf is dead, so you’re all safe now. You can live in peace and happiness. Well, after I leave it’ll all Reset anyway.”
The Werewolf’s corpse.
And the child before the transformation into a corpse.
His parents.
A village that had endured frequent attacks by the Werewolf and the pack of beasts it commanded.
“—Yes? Ah, yes……”
There was no way the Village Chief could have understood the full breadth of Mu Saeng’s rapid-fire explanation.
But he feared to press further, so he simply retreated.
Besides, Mu Saeng himself had no desire to elaborate.
〈Ignition〉
〈Water Ball〉
〈Spark〉
〈Wand Cutter〉
〈Slash Enhancement〉
〈Small Barrier〉
〈Concentration〉
〈Downward Strike〉
.
.
Normally, skills branch out from a foundation of Awakening Abilities.
But now that 〈Transfer (X)〉 had become 〈Transfer (O)〉—
Now that X had literally transformed into O, he’d effectively gained the ability to choose the very first skill that could branch from any and every Awakening Ability!
‘What would be best, thinking ahead….’
Mu Saeng couldn’t help but deliberate.
Though his career as a Sherpa was long, he didn’t know every skill.
Even mobilizing all the knowledge he’d gathered—unreliable internet forums aside, solicited advice from his clients—he couldn’t possibly know all the Basic Skills.
Much less the skills that would branch out from those Basic Skills themselves?
“Choosing one route doesn’t block the others, right Wash?”
[Obviously.]
“Ugh, that’s what makes it worse. Now I have to think about combinations too. But still—shouldn’t you at least let me read the skill descriptions? No matter if I haven’t acquired them yet……”
Mu Saeng grumbled.
He had to deduce the effects of one hundred seventy-eight skills from their names alone.
[Normally you just auto-get one and that’s it, so there was no time to build that feature in.]
Wash answered curtly.
There was a reason for his attitude.
[Just pick one at random. It’s a Basic Skill anyway—what does it matter?]
It was just a Basic Skill, after all.
Choosing now wouldn’t lock his tree into one attribute.
So why was he putting in this effort?
“Excuse me—is that what an Administrator should say? Even if I wanted to act that way, you’re supposed to stop me.”
But Mu Saeng was different.
Was it because he’d been without skills until now?
Was it because he knew the ache of lacking a single skill all too well?
[Me? Why?]
That wasn’t it.
“I made a promise to uphold Good Faith and Sincerity. That’s our contract condition, remember?”
He’d lived as a Sherpa for thirteen years.
No—before that even.
Before he became a Sherpa, Mu Saeng had always been this way.
Sincerity. Integrity. Faithfulness.
Once undertaken, see it through to the end with trust and care. No exceptions.
Zero accidents, safe return, strict deadlines.
The nickname “Ace” that followed him as a Sherpa wasn’t earned solely for weathering Mana Pressure well—
[……Hmm. Huh……… Hmm.]
But that answer took Wash by surprise.
Because the Administrator could tell that Mu Saeng meant every word.
Good Faith and Sincerity.
This man truly acted according to that principle.
“Am I wrong?”
[No…. You’re right.]
And so Wash could speak.
To a “contract partner” who had shown sincere faith, she too had to reveal her sincerity in turn.
[I was wrong. You’re right, Mu Saeng.]
If anything, Mu Saeng felt a little embarrassed by Wash’s reflection.
“Oh…? I didn’t expect an apology. Since you’re already wrong, how about some other compensation—”
[Quiet!]
As Mu Saeng, suddenly bashful, began to tease, Wash let out a loud squawk and drifted lazily up into the air.
Then she looked at the sky.
The third floor of the Tower.
But a sky where the ceiling could not be seen.
[Mmm….]
Wash gazed at that sky and let out a long breath.
There was something satisfied in the curve of her beak.
Of course, Wash could not have known at this moment.
No matter how important, no matter how sincere….
“Ugh, I don’t even know if this is the right choice! That’s it, we’re done!”
[…I kept thinking it wouldn’t happen. Thirty-three hours.]
Over a full day just to choose a single skill.
Mu Saeng stretched and spoke.
“Now that we’ve chosen, let’s go. The Tutorial is done anyway, and I should do some maintenance too.”
It wasn’t just rest he needed.
Restocking supplies in his pack, refilling his water bottle—basic maintenance activities were necessary at this point.
“Mu Saeng, requesting exit!”
───────────……!!!!
Mu Saeng stopped climbing the Tower and stepped outside.
The moment he set foot in the Tower Common Lobby.
“D-Director! There, it matches the tip we received! The hat! The mask!”
“Mu Saeng? It’s Mu Saeng!”
“Mu Saeng spotted! Securing him now!”
Urgent voices called out from everywhere.
Men in black suits began rushing toward Mu Saeng.
“…Wash, you were right. I don’t know what that Administrator is doing, but…. They should’ve made this lobby bigger.”
He had tried to hide, but in the crowded Common Lobby, it was impossible to conceal his identity perfectly.
[Tell them later, when you go back up. Those damned bastards.]
“I will.”
His conversation with Wash ended there.
Personnel from Korea’s One-Way Group surrounded Mu Saeng.
* * *
The One-Way Group’s pursuers spoke with confidence.
“Stupid of you. Did you really think you could escape our eyes by going into the Tower?”
“Managed to clear the fourth floor though, it seems? Based on the fact that you’re back out. Were you afraid to challenge the fifth?”
“What could an incompetent Sherpa like you possibly do in the Tower anyway.”
But to Mu Saeng, it all sounded like nonsense.
It’s standard practice for major guilds to station employees in the Tower Common Lobby.
‘The quest time limit on the fourth floor is twelve hours.’
That’s not something you’d say to someone who’d been in the Tower for nearly forty hours.
In other words, the One-Way Group had only recently learned that Mu Saeng had entered the Tower and come here.
And there they were, acting proud about it.
Their cheap, swaggering manner was exactly like gangsters.
Only one person was showing Mu Saeng any courtesy.
“…It doesn’t matter how you survived in there. What you did to the Director—. No, what you did isn’t important anymore. Sherpa Mu Saeng, will you take the antidote?”
Park Do-hyeon, the escort commander who had accompanied Lee Eun-woo into the 15 Dungeons.
Courtesy?
Of course, that meant courtesy compared to the other One-Way employees.
“Don’t you have something to say first?”
When Lee Eun-woo had launched a surprise attack on him.
It was the man who stood before all of them first, sword raised to meet the strike.
I’m sorry. I made a mistake.
Such words ought to come first as a matter of course.
Truth be told, even those words aren’t necessary. I nearly died.
Yet now, Mu Saeng felt oddly good.
For the first time in his life, he even felt the sense of having accomplished something.
Therefore, he had tried to compromise.
If only he could offer one genuine apology.
If only he could receive a sincere apology from at least one person.
‘Not from Lee Eun-woo. I don’t expect anything from that trash.’
He’d tried to negotiate by offering a piece of Slayken’s Shed Skin.
From Lee Eun-woo, ‘material compensation’ would suffice.
“Look, circumstances were what they were, weren’t they? I thought you’d understand.”
Park Do-hyeon said this.
Mu Saeng shook his head vigorously.
“Hah, wise words. You’re right about that.”
“Then, the antidote—”
“The circumstances are what they are. I’m sure you understand, Sir.”
When he said it like that, there was no room for negotiation.
Done.
“This bastard’s turning his back while Manager Park is speaking?”
As Mu Saeng turned to leave, one of the One-Way Group employees raised his fist, but that was all.
In the Tower Common Lobby, a forcible rule applied: ‘No one can cause harm to another.’
He simply froze in an awkward stance.
“Boom-chicka, boom-chicka—dancing now? How’d you even make it up here not knowing the Tower’s basics?”
“Ah, no, but this guy—. It’s not that he doesn’t know, you bastard!”
The embarrassed employee shouted.
Park Do-hyeon stopped him.
“Enough. No point drawing attention. Sherpa Mu Saeng, if it’s money you want… we can arrange it. I’ll connect you with the Executive Vice President’s personal secretariat director. Let’s talk—”
“Get lost.”
Mu Saeng said it.
Then he walked away. Out of the Tower.
The One-Way Group personnel swallowed their curses and simply followed behind Mu Saeng.
For them, the most troublesome thing was when Mu Saeng planted himself in the Tower Common Lobby.
They couldn’t kidnap him or do anything.
But if he leaves on his own? No need to provoke him unnecessarily.
Of course, Mu Saeng had his own thoughts.
‘Manager Park—that guy’s at floor 37. He’s basically cleared team dungeons all the way through.’
He could estimate his abilities to some degree.
The rest of them too.
Outside the Common Lobby, Awakening Abilities and Skills couldn’t be used anyway.
They’d receive stat bonuses, but it’d be nothing but raw physical strength in a fight.
‘Brace yourselves. Today, someone from One-Way will shed tears of blood.’
And yet—
“Sherpa Mu Saeng!”
“Hm?”
Just as Mu Saeng was steeling himself, right before stepping outside the Tower.
Someone called his name.
In a bright, clear voice.
“What is it? Who’s there?”
“Who—… Ah?”
The One-Way Group personnel raised their guard as well, turning their heads.
And soon their expressions twisted.
The one running toward them was a woman in a white suit.
Behind her, two or three people in black suits.
Both the white suit and the appearance that dominated it caught the eye, but what struck the Awakened ones in the Common Lobby most was what adorned her chest.
“… Geumseong.”
Precisely, the golden badge affixed to her chest.
Tossing her long C-curl hair, the woman in the white suit who’d run up first smiled.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Sherpa Mu Saeng. I’m Geum Su-a, Vice Director of the Geumseong Group’s Strategy Division.”
Then she offered Mu Saeng her hand.
Mu Saeng’s eyes widened in shock.
“That’s… Geum Su-a.”
“The vice-captain of the 66th Floor Raid Team!?”
“Chairman Geum Byeong-cheol’s daughter.”
He felt the same disbelief as everyone around him.
A figure of this caliber…
“Oh, yes, well… how did you—”
Before he could finish, Mu Saeng found himself taking her hand.
With a smile that curved her eyes like a crescent moon, Geum Su-a spoke.
“I spoke with Park Hyeon-gu. When I heard that One-Way Group personnel had begun mobilizing in earnest just moments ago, I was waiting outside the lobby… but I thought it would be better to introduce myself from inside.”
It was said lightly, as if nothing of consequence.
Yet the judgment and decisiveness contained in those words—from Geumseong, or rather from Geum Su-a herself—were enough to astound even Mu Saeng.
She had persuaded Park Hyeon-gu, who had raised his alert level to maximum because of the One-Way Group. Even for Geumseong, he was not someone who gave his trust easily.
She had deduced long ago that the One-Way Group would be pursuing Mu Saeng, and rather than searching for him herself, she had focused on tracking their movements.
Since little was likely to happen in the lobby itself, she had remained outside—but the moment she realized that the “negotiation” between Mu Saeng and One-Way had failed, she came straight in?
Mu Saeng was still marveling at this when—
“Geumseong people? Sorry, but we have a prior appointment with him…”
“Let’s respect the order, shall we?”
As the murmur of the crowd grew louder, the One-Way Group members moved forward quickly.
Geum Su-a knew they would not back down.
“Lee Eun-woo will not die. If he were going to die from the boss poison on the 66th Floor, the situation would have surfaced long ago.”
“What, what?”
“How could you possibly—”
If they left without information about Lee Eun-woo, their own lives might be forfeit.
So Geum Su-a told them.
“Most likely he’s paralyzed now… and experiencing respiratory difficulty? In a tower or dungeon, it would be dangerous. But with the group’s medical team on standby, he’ll simply be in discomfort for a while. At most, two weeks and he’ll recover.”
A clear message: stop your complaints and leave quietly.
Twelve people had come from the One-Way Group.
Four from Geumseong.
The numerical disparity was stark.
The One-Way members were briefly flustered, but trusting in their superior numbers, they tried to bluff.
“And why should we believe that—”
“What do you intend to do if you don’t? Shall we step outside the lobby together? Or perhaps… shall we head to the nearest dungeon?”
They needed to understand that mere headcount meant nothing.
It was not the power of Geumseong as a whole.
It was the power of one woman.
The vice-captain of the 66th Floor Raid Team, an awakened one with the Luminous Awakening Ability.
That aura alone was enough to make every member of the One-Way Group falter and step back.
Geum Su-a turned away from them without further regard, and looked at Mu Saeng.
“Would you have a moment to spare, Sherpa Park… I mean, Mu Saeng?”
She caught herself on the name she was about to misspeak, then smiled.

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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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