Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 39

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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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The Admin Who Uses Cheats Climbs the Mythical Tower (39)
At Geumseong’s headquarters, no one’s eyes went wider than Geum Sua’s.
“I—impossible! Wait—Chairman! Kim Moo-saeng—you mean…? Really!?”
“…Should I understand that we’re abandoning our efforts to recruit Kim Moo-saeng, Chairman?”
Yun Pyo felt the same shock.
The briefing on Kim Moo-saeng’s immeasurable abilities and his value was already complete.
Both of them had confirmed that Geum Byung-chul was quite taken with him.
What remained was the direct recruitment, the negotiation of terms—or rather, if Geum Byung-chul was this interested, there would be no need to haggle.
Payment on demand. They’d thought they’d follow that very procedure!—yet here they were.
Geum Byung-chul simply smiled, a low chuckle, and turned the question back.
“Why do you think I called this Conference in the first place, you two?”
“That is… well…”
Geum Sua and Yun Pyo still didn’t know.
What Kim Moo-saeng’s true Awakener ability was.
What would become of Wash.
A secret he hadn’t even told his own daughter or his most trusted right hand.
The Tower’s administrator.
Recruit Kim Moo-saeng to Geumseong?
And in his current state, no less?
That would actually be dangerous. Impossible to conceal, given what he was.
That wasn’t the method Geum Byung-chul had in mind.
So what was the most effective approach?
It meant Geum Byung-chul had already made his judgment.
From having met Moo-saeng once.
From having had a conversation with him.
“Besides, that fellow… heh, he’ll definitely squeeze something out of it.”
Not just what Geum Byung-chul himself could offer.
“You’re speaking of Eight Seconds, sir?”
“That man seems like he could extract even more than that, though…”
What he needed most.
Where his shortcomings lay.
From whom, and how, those gaps could be filled.
And by what means they could be secured.
Geum Byung-chul’s conviction that Kim Moo-saeng could do it.
That was what drove this decision of his.
“But what if Kim Moo-saeng decides to join hands with someone else?”
Still, Geum Sua couldn’t shake her misgivings.
Certainly, if it were Kim Moo-saeng, he wouldn’t lose a grain of sand in his dealings with Eight Seconds—he’d get what he wanted.
But if, by some chance, he simply ended up affiliated with them instead?
Becoming an Awakener for Windbloom.
Becoming a tester for Metalline.
Becoming a student at Réveil Grandes Écoles.
Once he began climbing the Tower, what would they do?
Geum Sua asked carefully.
Geum Byung-chul shrugged with a soft laugh.
“You’ve got two hands. Holding on to multiple places just makes things better, what’s wrong with that?”
“Pardon? No, that’s not what I meant!”
Geum Sua bristled, but she couldn’t press further.
Geum Byung-chul’s demeanor shifted in an instant.
“Anyway, leave that fellow to his own devices. You two—Sua and Pyo—focus on your work. Make sure the Conference runs without a hitch. Watch closely and investigate. Not just those who’ve arrived, but the movements of others.”
What followed was instruction to oversee the event’s smooth progression.
Geum Sua and Yun Pyo began the briefing, clearly having already prepared contingencies for potential problems.
“Yes. We’ve already confirmed that large numbers of Awakeners from the Vietnam and Philippines One-Way Groups have entered the country.”
“Thailand too. The Korea One-Way Group has kept quiet, but… we can’t predict what might happen if Chairman Lee Jung-gi joins hands with those Southeast Asian interests either.”
Hearing the report, Geum Byung-chul laughed.
“Heh, it’s nothing of that magnitude. ‘That magnitude’ gives me no concern whatsoever.”
The Conference’s ordinary participants?
Or candidates already openly poised to harm Kim Moo-saeng?
Those could be stopped easily enough.
“…Yes? Then—”
“Eight Seconds.”
The problem was Eight Seconds.
At Geum Byung-chul’s terse reply, both Geum Sua and Yun Pyo’s minds raced.
It was a foregone conclusion that Eight Seconds would make contact with Kim Moo-saeng.
Their earlier conversation had already revealed that Geum Byung-chul himself had orchestrated such circumstances.
So why was he now warning them to be cautious of Eight Seconds again?
The two of them finally grasped Geum Byung-chul’s intention.
“We’ll strengthen communications protocols and elevate all security measures across the board.”
“I’ll contact the authorities immediately regarding counterintelligence.”
Eight Seconds didn’t consist solely of the four individuals currently in Korea.
Those who hadn’t yet entered the country.
And those who didn’t need to enter at all.
It was those very people Geum Byung-chul was instructing them to watch out for.
* * *
Across television broadcasts, news outlets, online communities, and portal sites alike, the most closely watched topic was undoubtedly the Awakener Conference hosted by Geumseong.
[‘You’re not going to that conference, Moo-saeng?’]
“Why would I?”
But Moo-saeng had little interest in the event itself.
He’d already extracted Geum Byung-chul’s methods for growth, verified them, and found ways to improve upon them.
[‘What good information could you possibly—’]
“Wash, with you around, do you think I’d get any decent information about the tower from those people?”
[‘……Kekekeek! I see your point. It really is best to rely on me.’]
“Right, think whatever makes you happy.”
So why bother going there.
Eight Seconds.
Practitioners of skill comparable to Geum Byung-chul’s.
The thought occurred to him that exposing Wash to them would offer nothing of genuine benefit.
[‘Your words seem barbed, yet……. Grawk, so? Where are we headed now?’]
Thus, having parted ways with Park Hyun-gu and completed a full inspection, Moo-saeng was now driving not toward some conference hall.
“The 12th Dungeon.”
[‘Losing your nerve?’]
“Just clearing it is one thing, but……this time won’t be like that, will it.”
It was preparation for the 12th floor.
And not something to tackle alone.
Not just Park Hyun-gu—at minimum one person, possibly several.
[‘You didn’t train the 11th floor that way, and yet here you are, kekekeek!’]
“The 11th floor is a defensive siege, right? Awakener tents are available there now. And once I got Hyun-gu dug in, the job was done—simple as that. But the 12th floor isn’t like that—or am I wrong?”
To ensure their contribution registered as precisely zero percent.
Shouldn’t he meticulously, painstakingly inspect the replica environment of the 12th floor, this 12th Dungeon?
But Moo-saeng never finished the thought.
‘A crowd? Celebrities……there’s no way they’d come here. What’s this? Who are all these people?’
By the time he pulled into the public parking lot near the 12th Dungeon, the bustle around him was already unmistakable.
The moment he stepped out of the car, the commotion reached his ears.
“Do you not accept foreign applicants?”
“Of course we do. If they can demonstrate potential.”
“I’ve cleared up to the 29th floor! My solo record is the 21st, though I specialize in Party Play, and the Awakeners I’ve worked with say I provide help without needing to be asked—”
“Well, if it’s Party Play, you’d need to clear at least the 40th floor.”
“Then what about me!? I’ve cleared up to the 44th floor, and my solo record is the 25th! Surely that—”
“That would be a minimum requirement if you’d achieved it before age twenty.”
Korean Awakeners desperately hoping to join.
Their pleas and proposals being crisply dismissed by a rather weathered voice.
The substance itself had nothing to do with Moo-saeng.
He’d planned to slip quickly into the 12th Dungeon, but——.
He couldn’t ignore even Wash’s voice.
[‘……what’s that? That beast-like bastard’s here again, isn’t he?’]
That beast-like bastard.
The person Wash was referring to was Geum Byung-chul, chairman of Geumseong.
That same man was here?
Only then did Moo-saeng spot the figures that stood out amid the milling crowd.
A figure hidden by the throng on account of his small stature.
“…… That one—.”
An old man with a white beard stretching to his chin and blue eyes.
Moo-saeng recognized him.
‘Eight Seconds.’
An Awakener capable of annihilating an entire nation in eight seconds.
Whether that was fact or fiction held no interest for him.
He didn’t even know who’d attached such sensational claims.
Yet the renown and prowess of those called Eight Seconds were undeniable.
Of course, since it wasn’t an official ranking, the roster varied slightly depending on who did the selecting.
And yet.
Regardless of who chose.
There were certain names that always appeared.
The man before him was one of them.
The blue-eyed figure with a benevolent smile approached Moo-saeng and called out.
“Monsieur Kim!”
As though they were old acquaintances.
Or more precisely, as though to say ‘I already know exactly who you are’—watching him approach this way.
Moo-saeng murmured.
“The Blue-Eyed Buddha……?”
From Geum Byung-chul in his younger days, he’d even heard the words: “Too filthy to bother fighting that old man.”
The dean of France’s premier Awakener academy, Réveil Grandes Écoles.
[Jean Francois Hugo]
―Age: [Unable to verify due to insufficient user ability.]
―Awakening Ability: Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara (SSR)
―Skills: [Unable to verify due to insufficient user ability.]
―Resistances: [Unable to verify due to insufficient user ability.]
―Dungeon Clearing Record: [Unable to verify due to insufficient user ability.]
―Special Notes: [Unable to verify due to insufficient user ability.]
And a master of such skill that even Geum Byung-chul’s clearing record could be hidden from the sorceress Maia’s Goggles!
“Do you enjoy Madeleine, Monsieur Kim?”
As though greeting a grandchild, the Blue-Eyed Buddha produced bread.
When Geum Byung-chul was young, this man was already old.
And he remains old still.
To an unknowing observer, the age gap between him and Geum Byung-chul appeared hardly significant now.
Considering the time that had passed since their first clash, it was almost unbelievable—the transformation.
‘…… Setting aside everything else, he can even hide his age?’
And such truth didn’t even register on the sorceress Maia’s Goggles.
Though various media outlets ran stories about him, his identity remained largely opaque—the age varying slightly between reports—a First Generation Awakener whose true nature had never been fully revealed.
“Ah, yes, thank you.”
Moo-saeng accepted the Madeleine offered by such a being, bewildered yet without hesitation.
Even in that moment, calculation crystallized in his mind.
‘There’s no reason for him to pull anything here. Not given the Blue-Eyed Buddha’s nature.’
Not merely because of his known temperament.
This was the entrance to a Dungeon.
More than that, it was already widely known that he’d come to Korea for the global Conference related to Geumseong.
In such circumstances, there was no reason for him to attempt anything against Moo-saeng.
Hugo displayed a compassionate smile.
Yet Moo-saeng could hardly smile in return.
“Is there something you wish to say?”
He already knew why the man had come anyway.
Monsieur Hugo, the Blue-Eyed Buddha, had no intention of concealing it.
To onlookers, it would have seemed he was simply staring into empty space for a moment.
“There is. I have things to say.”
The Blue-Eyed Buddha was looking.
At the yellow rubber duck.
‘As expected. Not even startled. Of course not.’
Above all, the reason they’d rushed to Korea must have been that they’d received word from Geumseong.
Calculating that he would already know to some degree, Moo-saeng hadn’t bothered to hide Wash in the first place.
[What are you looking at? Act like you’ve aged that much? You’re still just human, after all.]
Perhaps unconsciously, Moo-saeng wanted to see the mighty Eight Seconds dismissed by Wash’s manner.
Hugo showed no sign of surprise.
He simply opened his mouth slowly, his expression serene and unchanged.
“Monsieur Kim. Won’t you consider joining Réveil Grandes Écoles?”
At those words, everyone around them could not help but murmur.

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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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