Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 116

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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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Admin with Cheat Code Climbing the Mythic Tower (116)
[Floor 32]
[Broken Fishing Port, a ruined harbor]
[Eliminate the monsters that destroyed the harbor.]
[Phantom Octopus: 0/10]
[Time Remaining: 96:00:00]
[Multi-person Climbing adjustment applied.]
[Contribution Calculation initiated.]
Kim Moo-saeng wielded his knife with utmost seriousness.
Slice, slice, slice……
And his party members watched, swallowing hard.
Not from tension and anxiety.
“Ahhh, it’s been so long, but it’s still the same. Here, help yourselves!”
From hunger.
About forty minutes after ascending to Floor 32, what Kim Moo-saeng offered his gathered party members was this:
“Um, but we can really eat this? Sashimi……? In a tower?”
Sashimi.
Fresh sashimi at that—caught in mere moments from the Sea, the stage of Floor 32, and expertly prepared……
Kim Moo-saeng grinned, watching the speechless Kim Woo-min and the party members.
“This stuff is incredible, trust me. It’s nothing compared to the tuna sashimi you get outside. That’s frozen, right? This is completely fresh! Fresh tuna! I mean, I have no idea why tuna and swordfish and whatnot—fish you’d only catch in the deep sea—show up near the harbor anyway, but listen, just try it first. Hey, pass the wasabi over there.”
It wasn’t just Kim Moo-saeng.
Park Hyun-gu, who’d somehow settled in, was already popping three pieces onto a single chopstick and chewing contentedly.
“Remember back in the day? When we had no money for sashimi and went into the Level 32 dungeon with the other Awakeners, we’d go hunting for fish—remember, Moo-saeng? Should I grab the dipping sauce?”
“Right, tuna’s supposed to be expensive. That’s nostalgia right there. Oh, and I’ve got my dipping sauce too. You can use mine, hyung. Gotta think about the Contribution Rate.”
Park Hyun-gu reached for his bag smoothly, but Kim Moo-saeng stopped him at once.
Even in this, such thorough action to preserve the Contribution Rate.
He’d pulled out soy sauce, dipping sauce, wasabi, and everything else from that enormous supply bag—all because of the Contribution Rate calculation?
Kim Ji-yoon burst out laughing.
“So from fishing itself, to bleeding them out? You wouldn’t even let us help with scale removal or anything? Because you’re worried the Contribution Rate might be split?”
“Well, yeah. Tower Climbing, after all. In a dungeon it wouldn’t matter, but……”
“Th-that’s seriously incredible, Director Kim. Really…… wow……”
Shin Hyun-dong felt the same.
He’d moved beyond mere amazement into genuine admiration.
Was he really taking care of every single tiny detail like this?
No—was he deliberately going out of his way to pay such meticulous attention while doing all this?
Jo Sang-gyu couldn’t even hide his expression of disbelief—’What kind of person is this?’
“Hmm? Sang-gyu? Is it the Mana Pressure?”
Kim Moo-saeng regarded his vacant expression as the look of someone in pain from the increased Mana Pressure.
Jo Sang-gyu hurriedly shook his head.
“Oh, no, no. I took the Mana Pressure Resistance Potion, so I’m fine……”
“Your expression didn’t look good. Come on over and eat. This isn’t something easy to get outside, you know?”
“Yes…… Well. I should eat it, anyway. To have a story to tell somewhere else.”
He’d heard that dungeon resources could be utilized outside.
Most of it approached from the angle of Artifacts, hadn’t it?
But like this…… Could basic necessities like food really be done this way?
Jo Sang-gyu murmured while chewing a piece of sashimi.
“Earth won’t have food shortages, will it.”
The instance-type structure of a dungeon.
All sorts of resources inside that could even be brought out.
Thinking about it now, wasn’t it strange that this kind of industry hadn’t developed?
“Well…… the Level 32 dungeon does have cases where you get ambushed by crabs and shrimp-type monsters the moment you go in. It’s a bit much for starving kids to enter, you know. And the Mana Pressure and all that.”
Yet the reasons this kind of industry hadn’t developed were clear and obvious enough.
[Kyakkyakkyak! Stupid, really—the whole idea of uncertain spaces like dungeons spawning in the first place doesn’t make sense. If I’d been managing it, it never would’ve happened.]
Add to that the Tower Manager’s statement that people shouldn’t rely on dungeons in the first place.
Of course, only Kim Moo-saeng could hear Wash’s words, so no one else could pay attention to that part.
The atmosphere loosened a bit as people chewed and swallowed, making soft sounds.
Then Noh Ye-rang cracked the door open to speech.
“But…… eating like this has to be part of some sort of plan, doesn’t it? What you’re doing, Kim Moo-saeng?”
She had every reason to ask.
[Target added.]
[Phantom Octopus: 0/20]
[Emerald Kraken: 0/1]
[Time limit has been modified.]
[Remaining time: 46:33:56]
“Something’s off about us…… The bosses keep getting added, or the time keeps shrinking.”
Twelve people were climbing, but in reality, adjustments for fifteen were factored in.
Floor 32 this time saw ten additional Phantom Octopuses and a single entity that sounded like a proper ‘boss monster’ just from hearing its name. And the time had been cut in half.
Park Hyun-gu chuckled and spoke.
“What’s there to worry about? Kim Moo-saeng will have a plan for everything. Even in that insane Dark Elf situation, we all got Stat Points, remember? Plus the bonus damage against humanoid monsters.”
Clear of the modified quest on Floor 31.
The reward granted to everyone was fifteen Stat Points and a +20% bonus damage increase against humanoid monsters.
Compared to the fifty given after finishing the Murometsu-related quest, it felt a bit thin, but—
“Right. It’s a bit lacking compared to Floor 21, but honestly, in a position where we can’t afford to be picky about cold rice or hot rice, it’s almost embarrassingly generous.”
No one would naturally have complaints about that.
If anything, it was Kim Moo-saeng who felt the lack.
“No, it’s a bit short. Fifteen points…… because of the Mana Pressure affecting you all.”
Growth from Stat Points.
That was ultimately the foundation for raising Mana Pressure resistance.
But in a situation like this……
“We can just drink the resistance potions as we go. And you said there’s another quest modification, right? We’ll get rewards from that.”
Park Hyun-gu laughed as he said it, but Kim Moo-saeng couldn’t help feeling short-changed.
The quests on Floors 34 and 35 were confirmed for modification too, so they’d get rewards from those—
‘At best, Floors 38 and 39 will be the limit. And on Floor 39, for Ye-rin’s sake…… if I factor in moving with people from the Association—’
It wasn’t enough.
And there was still an unsolved problem.
‘Actually, once I find Ye-rin on Floor 58, what happens then? Can I come back down to Floor 39? Or do I jump straight to Floor 59 from there?’
Kim Moo-saeng shook his head lightly as his thoughts reached that point.
There was no use thinking about it now—no answer would come.
The Tower’s twists and turns were mysteries that even Wash didn’t fully understand yet.
“Even if my head splits open…… I’ll follow you as far as I can, Director Kim.”
Shin Hyun-dong spoke carefully, gauging the mood.
Kim Woo-min, Jo Sang-gyu, Kim Ji-yoon, and the others all nodded in agreement.
Kim Moo-saeng grinned.
“Good! As far as we can go! Besides, life never goes according to plan anyway, does it?”
“That’s right, that’s right. So—”
Then he stood up.
The reason he’d bothered with fishing and cooking and all that thinking about what lay ahead?
“—let’s rest until nightfall. Time for a good nap.”
They needed to kill time.
“……What?”
“Huh? Kim Moo-saeng?”
They had to wait out the hours to complete the Hidden Condition for Floor 32 that Wash had told him about.
* * *
The sun had completely set, the moonlight too dim to brighten the darkness, when—
“Haaah…… What is it, didn’t anyone sleep?”
Kim Moo-saeng pulled out his earplugs and rose leisurely.
A genuine nap of over six hours.
Several party members watched Kim Moo-saeng sprawled out in deep sleep with expressions of exasperation.
Not that his stretched-out napping bothered them, of course.
“Yeah…… I slept. Until just before.”
“I couldn’t sleep because—”
“How could I sleep worrying about this?”
[Phantom Octopus: 37/20]
[Emerald Kraken: 0/1]
[Remaining time: 40:15:39]
The count of defeated Phantom Octopuses.
From the moment dusk began to fall, the number had climbed one by one, and somehow it had already exceeded the target of twenty—!?
With each increment, a holographic message and system window appeared before their eyes, so how could they sleep?
Why was it going up?
Kim Moo-saeng had been sleeping.
Earplugs plugged in to avoid the noise, he snored away.
But why was the phantom octopus dead?
How could such a thing even be possible?
“Director Kim, could it be some kind of—automatic hunting or something like that?”
“What? Pfft, there’s no way. If such a thing existed, I’d want you to tell me about it too.”
“Then, why on earth—”
Shin Hyun-dong ventured forward to ask.
An answer that even Park Hyun-gu hadn’t easily arrived at?
It was simple, really.
“Phantom octopuses are far more foolish than real ones. They’re nocturnal like their counterparts, but they’re not smart enough to figure out what kind of bait is inside a fish trap.”
It was a use of the Dungeon Sherpa expertise that even Park Hyun-gu, who had never formally guided a client before, couldn’t have known.
Kim Woo-min muttered.
“A fish trap? That thing from earlier… that net-like thing, right?”
“And remember those spicy stew scraps from when we ate sashimi earlier? I put some of that in there. Mixed with a spoonful of poison.”
“Spicy stew scraps…?”
Right after Kim Moo-saeng sliced the sashimi, he’d said something about going to take out the trash and darted off somewhere using the Void Step.
Everyone had simply assumed he was tidying up before eating.
[Kekekeke! In all my years, Kim Moo-saeng, you absolute madman! You’re telling me you killed those phantom octopuses that appear all the way up on Floor 67 with nothing but fish scraps?]
The reason for slicing the sashimi?
First, to fill his own belly after so long and treat his party members.
Second, to pass the time while eating.
And third.
To secure bait for the phantom octopuses’ fish traps.
And then he’d injected venom extracted from the Poison-Snake drawn from the Poison-Snake (SR) steadily, steadily into them…
Once the nocturnal phantom octopuses began their proper activity cycle, his kill count would inevitably climb.
‘If they’d been that enormous like on Floor 67, it would’ve been impossible.’
This wasn’t an environment magnified dozens of times over.
It was possible precisely because he knew it was the same as the regular sea.
“Alright, then…”
Once the phantom octopuses were dealt with came the Emerald Kraken.
No—before that, what he had to do first was achieve the “Hidden Condition” that Wash had told him about.
Gulp, he swallowed the potion that would allow underwater breathing, then stretched out his limbs.
After putting on Mage Maia’s Goggles like a pair of swimming goggles.
“Everyone, finish resting. If you haven’t slept, sleep some more. I’ll be back before dawn.”
Splash—Kim Moo-saeng threw himself into the sea.
With a soft pop, seawater sprayed, but no one thought it strange.
Grrrrrrrrr—
Beyond the goggles of Mage Maia that illuminated even the lightless depths of the sea, Kim Moo-saeng smiled to himself.
“I mean, it really is better than what that Yoon Pyo guy has, right?”
[Who’s that, Kim Moo-saeng?]
“…I can’t believe I couldn’t even remember the name. Director of the Geumseong Strategy Division. Absolute Zero.”
[Ah, that savage. What did he even have?]
Watching Wash tilt his head in confusion, Kim Moo-saeng had to put on an expression of exasperation.
The Hidden Condition for this floor was consuming the eggs of the Emerald Kraken.
“Underwater breathing capability. You had that, remember?”
[What’s so great about that? This will be far better.]
And the reward was?
“Exactly. That’s what I’m looking forward to…”
Skill acquisition: Aquatic Lifeform Transformation.

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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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