Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 17

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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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Cheating Administrator Climbing the Mythical Tower (17)
Mu Saeng froze.
‘That female from back then—she’s over there? Luminous.’
Washi adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and spoke.
At the same instant, Mu Saeng’s eyes stung sharply.
Then he could see it too.
Geum Su-ah’s startled face, her round eyes trembling.
The moment their gazes met, Mu Saeng had to work hard to keep his expression neutral.
A situation too awkward to turn away from or to react with surprise—he could only manage his face, keeping it steady.
‘Geum Su-ah? When? And of all times—!’
He’d already been in cold sweat over the “67th Floor Management Negligence Incident.”
Though he’d barely scraped through, it had been one of the most tension-filled moments in his entire thirteen-year career as a dungeon Sherpa.
And now, of all moments, this—!?
‘I should have targeted everyone except me instead of telling the snake to attack One-Way personnel. At least if I’d let it bite me, there’d be a scenario where she’d have to save me.’
Controlling the serpent through the Slay Kraken’s Tongue was possible with just a thought.
It was such a powerful and excellent ability.
He’d deliberately narrowed the targets to avoid any strange situation where it might turn on Washi.
He never expected a third party—not from the One-Way Group—to slip inside.
She was looking at him.
He was meeting her gaze too.
‘Or rather…’
In that respect, Mu Saeng’s judgment was precise.
Who held the initiative at this moment.
Who was the ‘more shocked person.’ Mu Saeng understood this clearly.
In fact, Geum Su-ah’s panic was beyond mere surprise.
Mu Saeng was looking at her with clear, unmistakable focus.
‘Impossible—how could he…? I tried not to be shocked, but no matter what, this is just too…’
It was an Awakening ability that manipulated light.
Not merely concealing one’s presence—nothing so simple.
Light distortion. Literally erasing herself from his view.
He shouldn’t be able to see. He mustn’t be able to see.
Even S-grade Awakeners with detection and tracking abilities had struggled and flailed without finding her, yet how—!?
‘No, stop dwelling on that now. The problem is—the problem isn’t how he saw me.’
How he’d managed it no longer mattered.
Mu Saeng was seeing her clearly, knowing exactly who she was.
That meant her position, her situation, became the real problem.
That incomprehensible man—one who seemed absolutely not to be opposed.
That man whom she found herself judging as someone who must be drawn to her side at all costs.
The imperative not to make a bad impression.
All of Geum Su-ah’s thoughts and actions began to converge on that single point.
She immediately dropped her concealment and spoke.
“Hello, Sherpa Mu Saeng.”
Her smile was as bright as her crisp white suit.
Mu Saeng received her greeting curtly, cutting her off.
“I expected word of you checking out of the Hotel would reach me… but I never thought you’d actually follow me into a dungeon. And into the very same one at that.”
He’d sensed her movements both when the Hotel was provided and when she’d stepped outside.
He’d simply been somewhat surprised that her movements were this quick.
Essentially, Mu Saeng was insinuating—wasn’t this surveillance rather than protection?
Geum Su-ah flinched.
“Oh, no—there’s no ill intention behind it. Rather—I was worried the One-Way operatives might cause trouble, so I quickly followed you in.”
Her words weren’t entirely false.
She simply hadn’t voiced her hidden objective: wanting to confirm his abilities and whether he possessed any Artifacts.
Though she did harbor the genuine intention to protect him from the One-Way Group…
Such words wouldn’t persuade him now.
“While hidden? You can demolish a section of this 22nd Dungeon with a single Photon Concentrated Beam?”
Thirteen years as a dungeon Sherpa.
She knew the combat styles and signature techniques of every famous Awakener.
If Geum Su-ah had truly followed Mu Saeng into the dungeon to protect him—
If she’d genuinely come prepared to fight the One-Way Group—
It would’ve been over in six seconds.
“That is, well, now, the other people involved, yes, for instance the Sherpa might get caught up in it unnecessarily. A wide-area skill like that I can’t use. And 《Luminous》 isn’t a name I gave it. Technically it’s 《Photon Concentrated Beam》, and I can’t just throw that around on the internet, anyway. Yes.”
《Luminous》 is a concealment-type skill, not something to slink around assassinating people with.
Its primary function is wide-range attack.
Watching Geum Su-ah’s embarrassment, Mu Saeng let out a soft laugh.
‘That was actually one of the most impressive things I’ve seen on video.’
Back in the days before Washi, before 《Transmission》, her ability was one of the Awakenings Mu Saeng had most admired and longed to possess—its destructive power was beyond question.
But at this moment, Mu Saeng held the upper hand, that much was certain.
He’d confirmed through their conversation that she was neither arrogant nor coercive.
In which case, now that it had come to this….
“Well then, since you say you came to help, would you mind lending a hand with the cleanup?”
“Cleanup? What kind of cleanup?”
“I need to get them outside. You don’t mind using a little strength, do you?”
Them.
Mu Saeng gestured to the thirty-one paralyzed, motionless bodies arranged neatly on the ground.
He meant to carry all of them out of the Gate in this condition, one by one?
Watching Geum Su-ah’s wide eyes blink rapidly.
Mu Saeng stepped outside the Gate.
“I’ll wait out here, so just toss them out one after another.”
“What? Yes? Wait, what?”
Mu Saeng’s receding figure disappeared through the murky Gate.
Geum Su-ah stood bewildered.
“…What on earth just happened?”
Yet there was nothing she could do about it.
She simply did as Mu Saeng instructed, flinging the men out through the Gate like so many sacks of cargo—whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Just as Mu Saeng had anticipated, she wielded considerable strength.
* * *
Brrrring-!
Jang Ha-guk sprang from his seat and grabbed his smartphone.
A video call; the caller was Park Do-hyeon.
He pressed the answer button with a grinning face.
“How did it go?! Did you catch—… What?”
He’d expected to see Kim Mu Saeng looking devastated.
He’d hoped to find Park Do-hyeon triumphant, holding the Antidote.
“…Kim Mu Saeng?”
That dream shattered against Mu Saeng’s perfectly intact face.
Mu Saeng panned the camera smoothly across the space.
The darkness made it difficult to see clearly, but it was unmistakable.
Thirty-one employees, disarmed and completely bound.
“This… can’t be real.”
Jang Ha-guk rapidly assessed the situation.
It wasn’t the police station.
The Gold Star Group’s involvement?
―Secretary-General Jang Ha-guk?
Before he could properly gather his wits, Jang Ha-guk found himself being addressed by Mu Saeng.
He forced authority into his voice as best he could.
“A-ahem. What… what are you doing?”
But Mu Saeng was not about to let that bewilderment slip past.
―Four Awakeners of the 30th floor and above.
“W-what? How is that even—”
―Eleven in the mid-to-late twenties range. Even for the One-Way Group, losing fifteen people of this caliber will sting quite a bit, wouldn’t it?
Mu Saeng asked this with a smile.
Jang Ha-guk’s brow twitched.
Though he spent his time mopping up after Lee Eun-woo, he himself had climbed to the position of Secretary-General through his own competence, including his political acumen.
“…Does the One-Way Group look that easy to you? I’ll find you and kill—”
―Not the One-Way Group. You, Jang Ha-guk.
And this fact—Mu Saeng knew it as well.
What mattered when working as a dungeon Sherpa?
The conditions within the dungeon. The characteristics of each floor of the Tower.
The synchronization state between the Tower and the dungeon…. Those things go without saying.
And what might be even more important than that.
It was outside information.
The flow of the industry. Information about clients. Rumors drifting through the guild.
Who was backing whom. How relationships were formed and whether anyone would betray you once inside the dungeon.
Not a single rumor, however small—not even gossip—could be overlooked.
-You don’t want to claw your way up from the bottom and then lose your position, do you?
Mu Saeng knew this too.
That Jang Ha-guk, Lee Eun-woo’s dedicated secretary and chief of staff, was a remarkably capable man.
While his own tower ascent topped out around the 25th floor, he was sharp enough and well-connected enough to serve as both aide and tutor to the Korea One-Way Group’s successor—the kind of man who read the room perfectly.
“You, you—”
—No, it wouldn’t stop at just a position, would it? If your mistake caused the Korea One-Way Group to lose thirty-one people—and some of them were even close to being top-tier hunters—then… well, what kind of punishment would Chairman Lee Jung-gi impose?
Mu Saeng had already gathered information about Jang Ha-guk and the Korea One-Way Group before Lee Eun-woo’s commission even came through.
In other words, there was nothing Jang Ha-guk could do when facing such a rigged scale.
Jang Ha-guk was trembling.
Yet suppressing his emotions, he barely managed to open his mouth.
“…W-what… what are you trying to s-say? Kim Mu Saeng, Sherpa.”
He’s capable after all, Mu Saeng thought, and grinned.
If someone spoke his language, the rest was simple.
—I’ll let you live.
“What?”
—This is the Antidote.
Jang Ha-guk’s eyes widened at the sight of the Slay Kraken’s Shed Skin fragment.
What lay before him wasn’t Lee Eun-woo’s Antidote.
“What—… No, it can’t be free. What do you w-want.”
Jang Ha-guk, his salvation.
The secretary’s instincts activated immediately.
That was precisely what Mu Saeng had aimed for.
How was he going to sever his ill-fated connection with the One-Way Group?
Why hadn’t he killed all thirty-one of them?
Simple.
—I’ll give you the Antidote. In return, report to me in real time about One-Way’s internal information, their attack plans against me, and Lee Eun-woo’s movements. And beyond that… hand over the strategy information One-Way obtained about the Tower’s 50th floor range. Including the 58th floor—every rumor, not a single one left out.
Because there was a better way.
A Sherpa searches for the optimal move even in the worst situation.
Putting a leash around the One-Way Group’s neck.
Mu Saeng had grasped that this was the best move of all.
“You, don’t make me laugh! You’re asking me to betray them?”
—You’re free to choose, Secretary. Either be my eyes, or have your eyes torn out. Though I doubt Chairman Lee Jung-gi would stop there.
Jang Ha-guk couldn’t even struggle.
After a brief silence, what came out of him was this:
“But I can’t fulfill that request. One-Way is still breaking through the 40th floor range. Besides, information about the 50th floor—”
—Huh? That’s exactly why I said “One-Way”, didn’t I? Korea One-Way Group is at the 40th floor range, sure, but Thailand One-Way Group reached the 60th floor just recently—everyone knows that. Vietnam One-Way Group is probably attempting the 59th floor strategy as we speak. And a secretary handling the Korean successor clearly has cross-group high-security access rights—it’s obvious. Let’s not waste time, shall we.
But Mu Saeng cut him off, his tone brooking no argument.
It was a mid-tier Korean guild. But it was clearly a group that shared licenses.
Mu Saeng couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the One-Way Group’s movements—they dominated Southeast Asia.
The moment Jang Ha-guk heard this, his pupils darted left and right.
Mu Saeng, watching his reaction, explained kindly:
—Oh, and the moment you try to backstab me, this call recording goes straight to Chairman Lee Jung-gi’s office. So don’t get clever. Okay?
If you want to survive, there’s only one path open to you.
Jang Ha-guk’s face contorted.
The outcome had been decided from the start.
An opponent he could neither overcome by force nor by wit.
“…I’ll… do as you say.”
Jang Ha-guk admitted defeat.
Mu Saeng smiled brightly and spoke:
—Excellent. These people will wake up within five hours, so send the Antidote to your location then. Oh, and I’m taking a few Artifacts for myself? You handle the equipment loss on your end. The 50th floor information should already be somewhat organized, so send it right away.
“Huh? Wait, hold on—”
Click.
“—…You rotten bastard!”
Shouting at an already-disconnected smartphone yielded nothing.
His leash was now firmly in Kim Mu Saeng’s hand.
It took Jang Ha-guk a long moment to finally catch his breath.
‘I have gathered information on the 50th floor level, but… why specifically the 58th floor?’
Only then did it occur to Jang Ha-guk that Mu Saeng’s request was rather peculiar, but that was as far as his thinking went.
There was nothing more he could discern.
In truth, Park Do-hyeon and the other climbers in the 30th-floor range were elite employees—the core of the One-Way Group’s domestic operations. They could not be allowed to be “disposed of.”
Equipment? The Artifacts would cost him dearly, but… he could manage those accounts on his own.
“Stepped in it now, damn it.”
In the end, for Jang Ha-guk’s own survival.
He had no choice but to comply unconditionally with Mu Saeng’s demands.
It did not take long for several files from the One-Way Group’s top-secret shared folder to be extracted and transmitted.
Jang Ha-guk meticulously doctored and deleted the access logs, then exhaled a long, heavy sigh.
* * *
And Mu Saeng?
There was no need to go to the Gold Star Group’s hotel anymore.
From his own home, at his own computer.
He quickly scanned through the materials Jang Ha-guk had sent—
His scrolling finger stopped.
“… Washi. This is Ye-rin?”
Mu Saeng asked.
While looking at the few lines of information displayed on the monitor.

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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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