Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 43

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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 Mythic Tower (43)
Red-toned hair color.
Green eyes in contrast. Anyone could tell she was foreign.
And an abrupt self-introduction from a young woman.
Park Hyun Gu still didn’t understand—his eyes simply darted about.
“H-huh? Hildegarde? I mean, do you know the building owner or…… But even so, how did you open the door lock in the first place?”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but I was so happy to see you that I got carried away…… My apologies.”
And the young woman bowed her head deeply.
An apology?
If that settled things, the world wouldn’t need police.
“No, I don’t mean the apology—I mean how did you unlock the door lock in the first place?”
Park Hyun Gu asked again, his voice tinged with both fear and mounting frustration.
And only then could Mu Saeng see it too.
The Goggles that the woman had instinctively pulled out the moment she entered.
The Goggles left behind by the Last Archmage…… And there, displayed clearly, was:
[Hildegarde Schmidt]
―Age: 20
―Awakened Ability: [What Are You Trying to Steal a Look At So Rudely?]
―Skill: [If You’re Curious, Just Ask]
―Resistance: [But I Won’t Tell You Even If You Ask]
―Climbing Record: [ (｀⌒´) Stop, stop!]
‘What is this? How—’
A message?
It wasn’t that his ability was too low to confirm it, but what kind of message was this?
The confusion was brief.
“Ah?”
Hildegarde quickly pulled something from a jacket pocket.
A small device, no bigger than a fingertip, flashed a red light.
“Detection? Heh, is that those Goggles? I’ve never seen this type before. Is there a guild in Korea that makes things like that? But why haven’t I heard of them?”
“……Yes?”
After completing the counter-detection.
That curious expression on her face as she looked at Mu Saeng’s Goggles.
It was something that made no rational sense.
But at least one puzzle piece fell into place in Mu Saeng’s mind.
[Kyahahaha! Atria’s Hand (SR)? Wasn’t that just a toy-making ability?]
Wash confirmed it for him.
The face was unknown.
The name was unknown. The age was the same.
Even Mu Saeng, who as a Dungeon Sherpa had obsessed so much over information, knew only one distinguishing feature.
Whoosh—Mu Saeng turned his head to look at the monitor.
The massive figure in jet-black Powered Armor sitting in the VIP section of the Conference.
The only person in the entire world who covered themselves in Powered Armor—a mysterious figure shrouded in secrecy.
One member of Eight Seconds, wielding the Awakened Ability Atria’s Hand (SR).
Hildegarde Schmidt pulled something else out.
Goggles similar to Mu Saeng’s but slightly different in form.
Putting them on, she looked at Mu Saeng—or more precisely, at the empty space slightly beside him.
“Found you. Isn’t that right?”
She spoke to Wash.
“…… MetalRhine?”
A brilliant scientist and engineer.
The CEO and CTO of MetalRhine revealed themselves.
A bare face, shown for the first time to any media outlet.
* * *
Park Hyun Gu was still gripping his smartphone.
“I, I can’t believe it—no matter what, that’s…….”
The woman standing before him was the CEO of MetalRhine?
One of the members of Eight Seconds?
Park Hyun Gu’s eyes also flicked toward the TV.
Right there now, isn’t she? There’s that figure in black armor, radiating an oppressive presence even in the sprawling Conference hall—
“It works remotely too. Anyone I designate can pilot it. You won’t believe me just from me showing you a few Artifacts. Right?”
“That’s true enough. Artifacts are just a matter of money if you know where to look—”
“Ahem, yes. Do watch carefully.”
Hildegarde cleared her throat briefly.
A quick, sweeping gesture across her jacket—
Then she raised her right hand with a subtle flourish.
Mu Saeng and Park Hyun Gu found themselves mesmerized, eyes flickering between her and the television screen.
“Even if information about conquering the Tower leads to conquering a Dungeon, it won’t cause the kind of market fluctuation you’re worried about. And if there’s a problem with market-related factors, no organization in the world is as sensitive to such movements as our guild—we’re the largest purchasers of Dungeon materials globally.”
―The same words. The same cadence.
Identical phrasing. Identical breathing.
“There. Proof complete.”
And as she delivered that final line, the contrast struck them: the dignified black Powered Armor on screen versus the woman’s gentle, radiant smile.
Park Hyun Gu could only marvel at the sheer reality of it—the MetalRhine executive, unmistakably present.
“Would you care for some coffee? Korea’s actually the world’s top exporter of instant coffee, you know……”
“Yes, thank you. I’d be happy to.”
But Mu Saeng was processing something else entirely.
How was this possible?
‘She was listening to everything while talking with us? Tracking what’s being discussed at the Conference, preparing her responses, even timing when she should slip in her own words—all while maintaining this conversation?’
Dual processing, in other words.
Conducting meaningful exchanges on different topics, with different people, in different locations, all simultaneously?
[The technology itself is trivial, but…… I see now. Kim Mu Saeng, I understand why you respect this female. This creature acts as though she has multiple brains in one human skull.]
Concentration transcending human limits—that was the phrase.
Even focusing on a single thread would be extraordinary.
“I’d prefer you didn’t guard your thoughts too carefully or look shocked. The real surprise is what I’ve witnessed in King’s condition.”
While Park Hyun Gu stepped away to brew the coffee, Hildegarde spoke unexpectedly.
The contact between Mu Saeng and Steve King, and its aftermath.
“That’s why I hurried here. And in a state where I could immediately gain your favor, Kim Mu Saeng.”
She openly confessed that she’d rushed because she genuinely understood the scope of his power.
She revealed how she’d shown him a face she’d never revealed to anyone else—so he wouldn’t be wary, so he wouldn’t distance himself from her.
“Though it seems you’ve won someone else’s favor too.”
Mu Saeng tilted his chin toward Park Hyun Gu, who was stirring his instant coffee.
Another person who now knew his identity.
Was that acceptable to her?
Hildegarde’s eyes remained steady.
“That risk paled beside what I stood to gain.”
Fixed entirely on Mu Saeng.
One thing was certain, at least.
The way Hildegarde’s mind worked.
What she was likely pursuing……
“Give first. Show sincerity through action.”
Wasn’t that the same approach Mu Saeng himself had taken with the sorcerer Maia?
Whether this was genuine sincerity or a calculated psychological maneuver to obtain something specific.
“Yes. Once you’ve lied, people won’t believe the truth next time—and that’s far more dangerous. Especially with someone like you, Manager.”
Hildegarde spoke before Mu Saeng could even deliberate.
Not psychology. Sincerity.
[Hm~m. Reciprocity, then. You understand reciprocity, female?]
And perhaps that was what pleased Wash.
Adjusting her black-framed Goggles with a smooth motion, Wash drifted closer to Hildegarde’s side.
“Yes. I’m not sure if my translation was accurate, but ultimately it’s simple.”
[Simple? Reciprocity is simple?]
“‘As you have done unto me, so shall I do unto you’—isn’t that it?”
Hildegarde spoke with absolute confidence.
“Huh? But that—”
No, wait.
It was close enough, though subtly different from the precise meaning of reciprocity.
[Kya-kya-kya-kya! You can interpret it that way?]
But Wash simply laughed.
Hildegarde smiled softly in return.
Then, immediately, she proved it through action.
“So, first things first…… I should give. In sincere faith. Is there anything you need, Kim Mu Saeng? Anything MetalRhine can provide—anything at all, I’ll arrange it.”
Everything MetalRhine could offer.
Clang!
“Oh, s-sorry, I apologize, oh dear, this won’t do. I’ll have to get another one.”
Park Hyun Gu, who had struggled up the stairs with coffee in hand, dropped the tray at the sheer force of it.
It was a proposal both shocking and overwhelming.
* * *
Mu Saeng’s deliberation didn’t take long.
Though he had no Sherpa bag since it was his day off, there was still one item among those he carried with him always—and he drew it out now, setting it on the table.
“……This isn’t company property.”
A small beetle-shaped guardian of silvery gray.
Hildegarde picked up the creature—uncannily resembling a dung beetle—with careful hands.
“That’s right. Maia, our mage, made it. Both this and the Goggles.”
Mu Saeng tapped the Goggles lightly as he spoke, and Hildegarde’s eyes flickered with interest.
“Powered armor… no, a Dungeon. But can something like this really be brought out from Dungeon 55?”
“Normally, no. And even if you did, it probably wouldn’t have been useful.”
Mu Saeng glanced sideways at Wash.
An implicit nod to the existence that had made the impossible possible.
Hildegarde could hardly have missed it.
In fact, her eyes began to gleam all the more brightly.
After all, there was no reason she wouldn’t be thrilled—she’d come here because of Wash in the first place.
‘And she’s sharp too. The moment my brother arrived, she stopped using that particular word.’
Geum Byung Chul, Wigo, Steve King, and Hildegarde.
Each had made their own proposal, but fundamentally they were all similar.
Yet there was one difference. Only one.
A small one—but to Mu Saeng, a critical difference he would not overlook.
Because of it, he’d shown an attitude different from the others in Eight Seconds.
An openness from the start, laying bare everything as though standing naked?
A proposal rooted in Good Faith—thinking not unlike Mu Saeng’s own?
No. That wasn’t it.
‘She was the only one who called Wash an administrator.’
All the others had called him a key.
Strictly speaking, Geum Byung Chul had never even referred to Wash directly, but judging by Wigo’s and Steve’s reactions, one could infer roughly what he meant.
He’d likely said the same to Hildegarde.
Eight Seconds’ shared sense of their administrator was probably something like a ‘key’—a tool.
Yet Hildegarde was designating him precisely. Accurately.
‘Either she knows something different……or she respects Wash……. Either way.’
Moreover, to obtain what Mu Saeng himself now wanted.
She was someone worth showing a degree of goodwill to—even if not joining hands completely.
“I see. You’re not giving these to me, then. So what should I do?”
Hildegarde asked.
Mu Saeng shrugged lightly as he spoke.
This wasn’t Eight Seconds testing him.
“Replicate them. After I see what you can do, we’ll discuss the rest.”
A challenge directed at Eight Seconds themselves—at the Master of the world’s largest Artifact manufacturing guild.
Park Hyun Gu, standing nearby, widened his eyes in alarm and moved to stop Mu Saeng.
“Mu, Mu Saeng, what are you doing now-? What even is this? Forget about some bug—why don’t you ask her to make something like that armor instead-.”
“No, thanks. I don’t need that. Oh, and while you’re at it, could you ‘look’ at something too? You said you’d show your sincerity, but you’re keeping things so hidden that—well, it feels a bit strange, you know?”
But he wasn’t listening.
In fact, Mu Saeng was already adding to the test itself.
1. Replication of the Dung Beetle Guardian.
2. Disclosure of information that Maia’s Goggles had rendered undetectable.
Hildegarde had no chance to object.
“You’re seeing everything about me through those Goggles, aren’t you? What did you say a moment ago? ‘I’ll give as much as you give me,’ something like that? To be fair. Right?”
There was something she had said.
In other words: the moment Mu Saeng’s proposal was rejected, the deal was off.
Hildegarde’s green eyes wavered for only an instant.
Master of the world’s greatest Artifact manufacturing guild.
The young prodigy’s surprise was brief.
“Call me Hilda.”
Information about one member of Eight Seconds began to unfold, stark and naked, through Mu Saeng’s Goggles.

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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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