Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 32

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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’s Mythic Tower Climb (32)
Geum Sua and Kim Moo-saeng’s café meeting hadn’t lasted long.
Geum Sua wanted to know what they’d discussed with her father, and how Kim Moo-saeng intended to move forward.
“That’s the general feeling of it.”
“I think I should ask the chairman about it…….”
“Was he satisfied? Probably?”
“It didn’t seem to go poorly.”
The fact that Moo-saeng answered every question in this fashion.
He wouldn’t give her anything clear or straightforward.
No matter how sharp Geum Sua’s intuition and mind were, it was difficult to grasp what subject the conversation between Moo-saeng and Geum Byeong-chul had covered, or how it had unfolded.
“……Sigh, fine. So Park Hyun-gu’s company is one thing. You’ll be working with us, won’t you?”
Eventually accepting that she couldn’t win against Kim Moo-saeng’s slippery evasiveness through conversation alone.
Geum Sua had no choice but to steer toward a different topic.
Moo-saeng gave a soft hum and shook his head lightly.
“But is there really anything I could do alongside you or Director Yun? We’re still quite far from reaching the 60s of the tower.”
They couldn’t come down to the lower floors.
Where and how would they work together?
Geum Sua’s eyes gleamed sharply.
It wasn’t about the conversation with Geum Byeong-chul or artifacts from the 66th Dungeon.
Now there was only one reason Geum Sua wanted Moo-saeng.
“The dungeon. Did you forget?”
The Unconfirmed Dungeon presumed to be the 67th Floor.
Geum Sua’s purpose was to conquer that place alongside Yun Pyo’s acknowledged “Kim Moo-saeng’s incomprehensible ability”.
“But if we get a Mana Fingerprint from the United States and verify it, won’t we find out what floor it is anyway?”
The officially recognized highest Climbing Record is the 71st Floor.
Geumseong is the highest in Korea, but there are nations and guilds that have climbed beyond that, including the United States.
Just as Lee Eun-woo of Korea OneWay Group confirmed the 66th Dungeon.
Couldn’t Geumseong also verify the Unconfirmed Dungeon using that Mana Fingerprint and determine what floor it is?
“Us? Geumseong?”
That would only be possible because OneWay was involved.
Information about floors and dungeons was, quite literally, top-secret information.
They wouldn’t share it. To learn it, one would have to pay an enormous price.
Let alone just confirmation of the dungeon—not even conquest secrets, but the ability to consistently research such conquest and secrets and even acquire artifacts?
Wouldn’t one have to hand over nearly all the profits generated from that dungeon to make it an even trade?
“Tch, that’s how it is, isn’t it.”
Moo-saeng understood the situation from Geum Sua’s brief counterargument.
Yet his reaction remained lukewarm.
Geum Sua leaned forward toward Moo-saeng, drawing her upper body close as she spoke.
Because her words carried an earnestness and sincerity that the Deputy Director of Geumseong’s Conquest Headquarters would never ordinarily reveal.
And because Moo-saeng felt it too.
“Of course. So……. Naturally! Of course I know it’ll be difficult. Which is why for Kim Moo-saeng, there will be appropriate—.”
“Gather information about the 58th Floor. Or rather, I’ll be specific about what I need…… that information. Please gather information from Geumseong and all guilds worldwide collaborating with Geumseong.”
At last Moo-saeng broached the real subject.
The one he couldn’t have mentioned before Geum Byeong-chul.
Or rather, he hadn’t needed to involve Geum Byeong-chul in the first place.
A request for information that would be fully obtainable with just Geum Sua’s cooperation.
“Yes, yes? The 58th Floor—. Specific information you need? What could that be?”
Geum Sua noticed that Moo-saeng’s eyes, which had shown only lukewarm reactions until now, had changed.
With eyes so grave they momentarily unsettled even her, Moo-saeng spoke.
About her Awakening Ability, Florist (E).
About her skill, Flower Arrangement.
And about Ju Ye-rin.
“The 58th Floor and beyond are fine, as are those before it. Please gather all you can. If you do…… I’ll join you in the dungeon you want.”
Moo-saeng already knew.
If Geum Sua set her mind to it.
“Ah, I understand. We’ll need time to prepare for exploration anyway. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to gather everything.”
She would collect even the smallest trace of Ju Ye-rin remaining in the tower without missing a thing.
[What preparation is there? The 67th Floor boss is something that plays with light in the darkness, so as long as we don’t get distracted by that—.]
“Yes?”
Geum Sua tilted her head slightly for a moment.
“Cough, cough-cough-cough! Ahem!”
Moo-saeng had to work hard to suppress the coughing fit.
* * *
From exiting the Tower to meeting Korea’s strongest Awakened One at the 55th Dungeon — quite some time had passed without rest.
One might have expected fatigue to accumulate, yet Moo-saeng’s expression remained bright.
Much like the Goggles he was wearing while driving, he’d gained quite a lot.
“In any case, Geumseong’s got reach. Free stays at every hotel operated by Geumseong Group from now on… people can be good, but not this good, right?”
Certainly beats heading home to a cramped little place where no one was waiting.
A Geumseong hotel with concierge service that takes care of every item needed for Tower or Dungeon expeditions!
In the present circumstances, where movement patterns hardly matter if exposed, it was far from a poor reward.
[If you wanted to find Ju Ye-rin, couldn’t you have just told that beast?]
As Moo-saeng drove on for a while, it was Wash who broached the subject.
The Tower’s administrator, turning over in his mind the conversations he’d had with Geum Byeong-chul and Geum Sua thus far.
Yet in this regard too, the administrator — someone who couldn’t help but be weak at such things — learned something from Moo-saeng.
“Then I’d be taken for a fool. He seemed like a far better man than the type you see on TV or the internet… but there’s no reason to invite that.”
Information gathering about Ju Ye-rin from Geum Byeong-chul?
Not now, at least. There’s no need for it yet.
He couldn’t tell Yun Pyo either. The moment he did, it would be reported to Geum Byeong-chul.
[That female — she’s trustworthy?]
“Yeah. She didn’t explicitly ask me to keep it secret… but with Geum Sua, it should be fine.”
But Geum Sua is different.
Vice Director of the Conquest Headquarters — that position.
Daughter of Geum Byeong-chul — that standing.
If she determined something was for Geumseong’s benefit, she could proceed without reporting every ‘trivial matter’ individually.
[Hmm… I see.]
“Right. And besides, Chairman Geum already saw you… if I went and brought up Ju Ye-rin on top of that—”
[Squawk!? What? He saw me?]
Wash leaped from his perch in midair.
Watching the rubber duck adjust his Black-framed Glasses, Moo-saeng found himself needing to be surprised instead.
“Uh, yeah? Of course. That’s why I said he seemed better than his public image.”
Moo-saeng was certain of it.
Geum Byeong-chul had seen Wash.
But what if the observed subject himself hadn’t realized that fact?
In Wash’s case, it was only natural.
[No, squawk? He saw me and pretended not to notice? He must have heard what I said too, right? But he didn’t, did he? He didn’t see me at all — that beast never saw me?]
“That’s what makes him remarkable. He saw you and played it off. If I were him, I’d never manage it. I’d keep acting, acting so hard not to let my eyes settle on you… heh, quite the gentleman.”
[That’s not remarkable…]
Wash, even after hearing Moo-saeng’s explanation, still couldn’t understand.
If you see something, you react to it.
If you hear something, you respond to it.
So why had Geum Byeong-chul simply… remained silent?
Watching Wash — still immature in this particular aspect — Moo-saeng
answered for him instead.
“It was a judgment not to make things awkward for us in that moment. If you’re truly an administrator, he wouldn’t want to earn your displeasure, and more importantly — ‘me’ standing beside the administrator.”
Put differently, Geum Byeong-chul might already have been suspicious of what the administrator was.
Since he hadn’t doubted Moo-saeng’s own words.
Wasn’t that itself why Moo-saeng had admired Geum Byeong-chul’s acumen?
“Think about it logically. Slay-kun saw you and heard your voice, didn’t he? All the more so — that man is far, far stronger than Slay-kun. How could he not have seen you? Not heard you? If I’d lacked Slay-kun’s information, I wouldn’t have caught on either, his acting was that good… but in the end, even I couldn’t be deceived.”
At the 66 Fragment, Slay-kun had clearly reacted.
He remembered the barely perceptible acknowledgment that he’d seen Wash.
If Slay-kun had done so, then Geum Byeong-chul, stronger than him, couldn’t possibly have missed it.
And yet that self-control.
Even when Wash was circling around his own face spouting nonsense, not a single twitch of Geum Byeong-chul’s ear — his composure was worthy of admiration.
[Hmm… hiding one’s true nature because one is crude… ah. So what did that beast mean by what he said?]
Wash asked Moo-saeng something else, accompanied by a sound that was neither quite admiration nor quite a curse.
“What?”
[Party Play yielding greater rewards than Solo Play — there’s a method for that? I never designed anything like that.]
Information that Geum Byeong-chul had given to Moo-saeng.
A condition that seemed impossible even to the Tower’s administrator.
What was that condition, and how had Moo-saeng come to understand it?
“Ah, phew. Right. You probably never designed for something like that. You couldn’t have imagined a human like this existed. Koreans are amazing, aren’t they?”
[What are you talking about?]
“Hold on, let me think……”
Moo-saeng watched Wash tilting his head in confusion, then reached for his phone.
The voice that came through the line belonged to a man Wash recognized well enough.
―Hey, Moo-saeng! What’s up?
“How many floors did you climb the Tower to? Ten, right?”
With Park Hyun-gu, there was no need for the pleasantries of asking how he’d been.
Moo-saeng got straight to the point.
―Why are you rubbing salt in an old wound? Yeah, fine, it’s ten. Why?
“I mean, even if it’s the Dungeon Sherpa Company, the CEO stopping at ten floors? We need to climb higher for better publicity. Don’t you think?”
―…… What are you saying? Just get to what you want.
At Park Hyun-gu’s urging, Moo-saeng’s lips curled upward.
Park Hyun-gu—the exact person he needed to make Geum Byeong-chul’s promise of greater reward a reality.
“From the eleventh floor on, let’s climb together.”
―Me? The Tower? Just like that? You’re not thinking something bad about party climbing, are you?
“Come on, don’t say unlucky things. I’ll make sure you’re comfortable, but you just have to promise me one thing.”
The Tower operates on either Solo Play or Party Play. One or the other.
And when you challenge a floor in Party Play, the difficulty increases, and so does the reward.
However, when Contribution Score is divided based on that influence, the result is a reward slightly lower than Solo Play—that’s usually how it works.
But what if?
“Don’t move. Just stay still. Let me clear it alone.”
What if he could secure 100% of the Contribution Score?
What if he climbed with a party member who literally said nothing?
If he could only find a party member who couldn’t even take 1% of the Contribution Score, no matter how stringent the Tower’s standards were!?
The difficulty would definitely be higher than Solo Play.
But the reward.
―Hey, does that even make sense? Regardless of whether I’m weak, the moment the party size increases, the difficulty spikes—
“That’s why we’re testing it, isn’t it? You only need the Climbing Record from higher floors anyway. We can use it for company publicity and build up your profile at the same time. Right?”
―I get that, but…… there’s no point in saying it’s crazy, is there?
“Heh, when have you ever seen me pull off something crazy without evidence?”
Moo-saeng grinned widely as he spoke.
Park Hyun-gu’s grumbling about having seen plenty of times was barely audible, but neither Moo-saeng nor Wash had time to hear it properly.
Vroom—!
The vehicle raced down the road without obstruction.
In other words, verifying the Tower’s Contribution Score distribution system.
And more than that.
‘At least in Korea, a Growth Method that no one else but Geum Byeong-chul has used……that’s what it is.’
A hypothesis that had become the foundation of Chairman Geum Byeong-chul’s unbelievable growth, aside from Elixir.
They were going to verify it.

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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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