Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 22

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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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A Legendary Tower Climb Using an Admin Cheat (22)
The first thing that caught his eye was the completion of an Additional Condition.
[You have achieved an Additional Condition.]
[Collected 10 or more Stone Golem Cores]
[Additional rewards have been granted.]
[Stat Point +1]
[Additional Attack Power Against Large Monsters +10%]
[Additional Attack Power Against Artificial Monsters +5%]
[You are the 33,752nd achiever of this Additional Condition.]
“Thirty-three thousand…… surprisingly few, actually.”
At that same moment, Mu Saeng came to understand what it truly meant to climb the tower.
Floor 5’s normal condition was satisfied the moment you acquired five of the golem’s cores.
Which meant the floor would Clear within five seconds of that point.
Then?
[Kekekeke, an illuminating indicator of just how primitive humanity truly is.]
“Well…… it simply means few people think so far ahead when their lives are on the line. Less ‘primitive,’ more understandably distracted.”
You could choose not to acquire them.
Carefully, without exceeding the Clear condition, you could gather the cores and deposit them all in one location.
Then, once you collected them all at once, you’d trigger an over-Clear.
Once you knew it, it was nothing.
At first glance, it seemed like a loophole.
But Mu Saeng understood the difference between grasping this loophole and actually executing it.
‘There must be over a million Awakened Ones worldwide…… and only three thousand of them.’
Moreover, in the lower floors where climbers could barely adapt to the tower yet, it was unlikely many would be deliberate enough to exploit such loopholes or system vulnerabilities while pursuing growth.
From that perspective, perhaps it wasn’t unreasonable to acknowledge that three percent of Awakened Ones had noticed and exploited such gaps.
‘Besides, a measure of humanity’s primitiveness? Then what if there are towers on other planets, in other worlds…… and what if a higher percentage of Additional Condition achievers exist on those towers-. Hmm.’
Mu Saeng’s thoughts expanded.
But this wasn’t something he should ask Wash about now.
If that strange designation Wash had mentioned when he first appeared truly meant ‘Earth’—
Then Wash, as Earth’s administrator, could hardly know anything about other places, so there was no reason to bring it up and make things awkward.
“Anyway, that’s all other people’s business! Now let’s see, what’s next—.”
Above all, there was something he still hadn’t confirmed.
The reward for rendering one of the Guardians left behind by Mage Maia—colloquially known as Mama—inoperative!
[You have achieved a Hidden Condition.]
[Shabby though it was, it was a cozy place]
[To think you would destroy my last refuge…… .]
[I shall be waiting, human.]
[Stat Point +6]
[Mark of Mage Maia]
“……huh? Something about this message feels…… off? It’s got a different tone than the other hidden clears, Wash?”
Mu Saeng, who remembered all the messages from previous Hidden Condition achievements, noticed it immediately.
It was almost praise, or perhaps something like an axiom one should heed while climbing the tower…… but the phrasing carried a different weight than before.
[Must be the will that the mage left behind. Kwack.]
Wash spoke as though it were nothing special.
But then why this sense of deliberately dodging a deeper conversation?
“Hold on a second. It says I’ll be waiting, right? So now this Mark of Mage Maia is actually on my status window? That means something’s going to happen on Floor 55, doesn’t it?”
[Well, let it happen.]
“No, no, Wash? You can’t talk about it like it’s someone else’s problem?”
Let it happen?
That phrase reeked of gritting one’s teeth and waiting to see what unfolds.
No matter how he looked at it, something seemed bound to go wrong.
Wash wiped his black-framed glasses with a soft swish, then asked.
[How many people have achieved this, Mu Saeng?]
“You’re dodging the—”
He wanted to say “Stop dodging,” but…… .
[You are the 2nd achiever of this Hidden Condition.]
Even Mu Saeng had to pause in wonder at a number so different in scale from those who achieved Additional Conditions.
He was the second.
In a place where, for the twenty-nine years since the tower rose, all of the world’s Awakened Ones had flocked.
Apart from himself, there had been only one other.
‘That makes sense. Hidden Conditions don’t trigger inside dungeons. Finding one by chance here would’ve been nearly impossible anyway……. Even I’d never heard of this condition anywhere—not from the internet, nowhere at all.’
Hidden Conditions are difficult to locate, for one thing.
And even if you happened to trigger it by meeting the condition by pure accident, it’s never a good thing.
The guardian left by the Mage on Floor 55. Even Mu Saeng himself, who’d made maximum use of the stat inflation from Strong Bone, had nearly died.
For ordinary Awakened Ones, hell would’ve begun the moment they achieved that condition…….
In the entire history of the Tower, there couldn’t have been more than one person who confirmed this condition and managed to exit the Tower alive to reveal it.
“Still, six total Stat Points seems a bit stingy for all that. Why do I get this ominous-feeling mark and—wait, huh!?”
This wasn’t a direct reward for achieving the Hidden Condition.
Yet it was another result he could gain precisely because he’d made the effort to achieve the Hidden Condition, and it left Mu Saeng—who’d been somewhat disappointed moments ago—with his mouth hanging open in shock.
[Understanding of Magecraft has increased.]
[Knowledge 27 → 31]
[Mana 27 → 31]
[You have acquired a new skill.]
[Mage Maia’s Magecraft Engineering]
A fragment of Magecraft Engineering left behind by the last Mage, Maia.
You become capable of crafting, operating, maintaining, and dismantling items imbued with Mana. (Results vary based on Knowledge and Mana values)
“Maia, Maia, Maia…….”
He didn’t even notice the increased Stat Points.
The new skill and its description had opened Mu Saeng’s eyes wide.
And slowly, steadily, his lips curled upward into a smile.
* * *
The coffee poured with a soft, trembling stream.
Park Hyun Gu’s hands shook visibly as he handed over the cup.
“I hope it suits your taste, but—.”
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
“—Yes, of course.”
Even as he played host, Park Hyun Gu kept bowing, his posture deferential and tense.
But it wasn’t just Park Hyun Gu; Omgim Company itself, his entire firm, bore the unmistakable weight of anxiety.
Two visitors had taken their seats.
“But as I mentioned, it seems like Mu Saeng went into the Tower, so we’re a bit…….”
“Yes, we understand. Our staff saw the Sherpa Kim Mu Saeng disappear from the public lobby.”
“R-right, that’s the thing. There’s no real need for you to wait here, is there? I’ve already texted Mu Saeng anyway, and sent along Director Yoon and Director-General contact information too. I was worried you’d just be wasting your valuable time…….”
Geumseong Guild.
Strategy Division Director-General and Chairman’s Aide.
Yoon Pyo.
“Please, don’t lower yourself like that, Director Park. Both Director-General Yoon and I came in person to meet Sherpa Kim Mu Saeng. We judged it more important than anything else.”
And Vice Director-General of the Strategy Division, and daughter of Geumseong Chairman Geum Byung Chul.
Geum Su Ah.
Aside from Chairman Geum Byung Chul, these two were without exaggeration the strongest Geumseong had to offer.
“Y-yes, understood. Then while we wait for Mu Saeng, perhaps I could at least be some company for—.”
“The Vice Director-General is right. If you fuss over us like this, it actually puts us in an awkward position. We’d appreciate it if you’d just go about your regular work and not worry about us.”
Yoon Pyo, understanding this too, treated Park Hyun Gu with formal courtesy and respect, but it fell on deaf ears.
From the start, the two visitors had no idea what Park Hyun Gu was really thinking.
‘Just go home already! He went into the Tower—how am I supposed to know when he’ll come out? You want to just sit here? Soon we’ll all have to clock out! What are you people doing!?’
Wait here?
If he doesn’t hear from Mu Saeng? Are they planning to pull an all-nighter?
Just leave already!
But Park Hyun Gu couldn’t say any of this aloud.
Assuming neither of them fell under Nevada Treaty sanctions, Yoon Pyo and Geum Su Ah possessed enough power that three seconds would be more than enough to erase Omgim Company and everyone in it.
Of course, that would never happen in a thousand years.
Yet before beings who possessed such overwhelming strength, humans naturally grew meek.
“Well, if you’re not going to leave, I’d like to ask Director Park one thing.”
“Y-yes! Please, go ahead!”
Geum Su Ah, seeing the strained atmosphere, moved to ease the tension.
Watching Park Hyun Gu startle, she offered a smile.
“If you were to convert Sherpa Kim Mu Saeng’s value into cash, how much do you think it would come to?”
She asked it lightly.
Half in jest, and half to sound out his true intentions.
For Geum Su Ah, it was a rational assessment.
‘Director Park is practically brothers with Sherpa Kim Mu Saeng. A relationship as close as theirs—he’d definitely have passed along my proposal. And judging by Sherpa Kim Mu Saeng’s reaction, Director Park is clearly the one handling financial and management decisions for both of them.’
If Geum Su Ah asked with the brightest possible smile, she might uncover Park Hyun Gu’s true intentions—or even those of Mu Saeng, whom he’d likely consulted beforehand.
Though even without going that far, it would be worthwhile.
If she could get Park Hyun Gu and Mu Saeng to articulate their own value, to essentially pitch themselves, and let Yoon Pyo hear it—that alone would be valuable.
Regardless of what Geum Byung Chul thought, Yoon Pyo clearly still hadn’t grasped Mu Saeng’s true worth. This would be the perfect opportunity to make him understand.
After threading through a fairly complex line of reasoning, Geum Su Ah had successfully drawn out a topic that benefited everyone, delivered in the brightest tone possible—or so she thought.
“It’s like a ten-cent coin, really.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Too stingy to give it away, too heavy to carry alone. You know how it is, right? That’s why I stick around with him—a couple of worthless ten-cent pieces like him and me, hanging together. Ha-ha-ha!”
“Ah, no, that’s—. Ah, ha-ha-ha. I see.”
Watching Park Hyun Gu take that as a genuine joke and laugh it off, Geum Su Ah found herself at a complete loss for how to respond.
He was treating this as a joke?
In front of a potential buyer who’d just valued their stake at over fifteen billion?!
‘Strong nerve. No wonder he keeps company with Mu Saeng.’
He was anything but ordinary.
Geum Su Ah swallowed dryly.
Had she known that Mu Saeng had never even mentioned to Park Hyun Gu anything about “Geumseong’s fifteen-billion acquisition bid,”
she would have realized that Park Hyun Gu could only respond this way—that even jokes of this nature wouldn’t have been shared between them. And had she understood that, she likely wouldn’t have been so tense.
As her thoughts began to spin rapidly once more—
“Then what if, including Mu Saeng, we were to acquire the entirety of Omgim Company itself? If you find it too wasteful to give away, too burdensome to keep yourself—perhaps coming under Geumseong’s portfolio would be another option.”
Yoon Pyo broached the subject quietly.
More directly. More bluntly.
Yoon Pyo had never been vehemently opposed to recruiting Mu Saeng or acquiring Omgim Company.
If it could be bought, it would be bought.
The price simply had to be appropriate.
“I’m… sorry, what are you saying now—”
“Ten billion.”
Which is why Yoon Pyo was now testing the reasonable price point.
He wanted to hear the answer from Park Hyun Gu’s mouth, not Mu Saeng’s.
“Your two stakes for ten billion—”
And Park Hyun Gu answered.
“Puh-hoo-hooo-ooh! Ah, oh no! Sorry, so sorry! Tissue, I need tissue!”
By spraying coffee across Yoon Pyo’s face.
A “response” that shocked Geum Su Ah and left Yoon Pyo’s expression rigid.
Mu Saeng had answered Geum Su Ah’s fifteen-billion proposal with a yawn.
Park Hyun Gu had answered Yoon Pyo’s ten-billion proposal by spitting out his coffee.
As though saying, ‘You quoted fifteen billion and now you want to haggle? Not a chance!’—a ruthless rebuke to such discourteous business tactics!
Of course, Park Hyun Gu, who harbored no such intention whatsoever, had gone pale and was frantically handing over wet tissues and dry tissues in every direction.
“Are you… are you all right? This, that is, what you just said—”
“I apologize. I wasn’t trying to act against good faith.”
To Park Hyun Gu, who had nearly reached the conclusion that he was about to die on the spot,
Yoon Pyo instead bowed his head.
“Yes, yes?”
“Let’s discuss the terms of payment again when Mu Saeng is present. But… please remember this one thing: what it means that our chairman is seeking Mu Saeng right now.”
“That would be… that is to say…”
With Park Hyun Gu still looking utterly bewildered,
Geumseong Guild Strategy Division Director and Chairman’s Aide
Yoon Pyo spoke.
“If Mu Saeng leaves an impression that satisfies our chairman, Geumseong will spare no effort in providing every support we can.”
Not a merger. Not a stake acquisition.
Why Geumseong had come all this way in person.
Park Hyun Gu understood, watching the light in Yoon Pyo’s eyes.

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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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