Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 74

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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 Mythical Tower Climb with an Administrator’s Cheat (74)
Moo-saeng had heard from Geum Soo-a about the battle between Geum Byeong-chul and Lee Jeong-gi.
He also possessed rumors about Lee Jeong-gi gathered during his time as a Dungeon Sherpa.
There was more than enough material to estimate his strength.
“So they’re uninvited guests. Right now, Floor 1. Eleven of them.”
“Lee Jeong-gi!? He came down—.”
The moment Moo-saeng confirmed Lee Jeong-gi’s approach, he’d been able to hide Wash behind him.
After that.
Lee Jeong-gi subdued the scene.
While Robert Kay was knocked unconscious by the Taser Gun.
Moo-saeng confirmed something too.
“There’s nothing you can do, Wash?”
[There is. Kehehehe—.]
“Shh. Be quiet. What can you do?”
Download Rate increased 2.1%
The increase was so slight it seemed almost meaningless, yet even that much was enough to show what Wash could accomplish.
[I can use my power right now, immediately.]
“……R-really? Here? Outside?”
[It would be hopelessly feeble compared to a tower or dungeon.]
Wash explained.
He could only use his abilities in a tower or dungeon.
More than that—he’d said he could only use them in a dungeon right now.
That had been when his Download Rate was at 73%.
“No, wait—. Originally you couldn’t use them at all, right? How is this possible?”
[Fool! Those primitive creatures of yours use their Awakening Abilities outside towers and dungeons all the time, don’t they? And if you can’t use abilities? Why would I have told you to pause the download?]
“Ah…….”
But he was going to use his power here, now?
Wash casually brushed past Moo-saeng’s startled whisper.
When you thought about it, the premise was obvious.
It was simply that the environment to fully unleash Wash’s abilities hadn’t been prepared.
But now, at a Download Rate of 75.1%……?
“So what can you do, Wash?” Hildegard Schmidt asked.
She’d quickly cut in with the question at his soft murmur.
Wash looked at Hildegard Schmidt and then at Moo-saeng, breaking into a grin.
Then he explained.
[I can conceal whether an ability is being used. I guarantee that even a female of your caliber won’t realize that Kim Moo-saeng has activated his power. Obviously, video recordings and such primitive technology won’t catch it either.]
Right here, right now.
He could openly defy the Nevada Accord.
“But magical skills are bound to be visually—.”
Hildegard Schmidt had wondered if it was really such a special ability.
“No……. That’s not what Wash means.”
Moo-saeng understood differently.
An explosive skill would obviously be caught on camera.
But to begin with, Moo-saeng didn’t have skills like that.
What Wash was saying was clear.
[Use it, Kim Moo-saeng.]
A skill that leaves no trace.
Yet one that could definitively control this situation.
“Good……. Berserk.”
[Select which stats to increase.]
[Depending on your ability, you can increase up to five stats.]
‘Strength and agility.’
[Select the multiplier and duration.]
[The multiplier range will be determined by your ability.]
[5%~600%]
‘Considering the backlash……. 500%, one hour.’
[Berserk is activated.]
Thump.
Just as a dark-red aura began to leak from Moo-saeng’s eyes.
Whoosh—. Wash erased it perfectly.
All that remained was watching for the right moment to strike.
“Father and daughter both look down on people like dogs, I see.”
“No, that’s not what I meant—”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
At precisely the right instant, Kim Moo-saeng could move.
“There used to be a drink back in the day called ‘When If Were Enough.'”
And now…….
Thud, thud, thud!
Kim Moo-saeng’s bare-knuckle strikes.
Lee Jeong-gi was receiving them with a twisted face.
* * *
The sound of flesh striking flesh.
The sound of bone striking bone.
And the whisper of displaced air.
“……Kim Moo-saeng……?”
It’s not that Kim Moo-saeng alone is moving.
There is Lee Jeong-gi’s reaction to Kim Moo-saeng’s action.
That’s the only reason she can perceive the speed……?
What is this?
‘When exactly—. No, how?’
How did Kim Moo-saeng’s ability become like this?
She knows he has an Artifact from Dungeon 66.
She also knows there was contact with the remarkable Eight Seconds.
But there’s no conceivable way he could be moving like this.
‘Even if he wrapped his entire body in an S Grade Artifact from Metal Rhine……it would be impossible with these stats.’
If it’s not a Skill, then it’s a pure increase in raw ability—a Stat increase.
The baseline is that only those who’ve climbed the Tower high can move like this.
So even the ice-cold Geum Soo-a couldn’t hide her shock.
If his speed is hard for her eyes to track properly, he’s already in the sixties.
‘Far faster than our Strategy Headquarters’ elite guild members……and those are Awakeners with physical enhancement abilities, faster than our own members!?’
And the fact that he’s faster than the Strategy Headquarters’ elite guild members—most of whom had climbed through party play—means he must have climbed that far through solo play alone.
Of course, that premise itself is nonsensical.
Even if he climbed the Tower for the entire conference period, it would be impossible.
‘The maze-like sections? There are naturally certain floors that require time—. Even climbing as fast as possible now, the early twenties would be the limit, wouldn’t it? No, the early twenties doesn’t even make sense. For a typical Awakener, even with flying or crawling S Grade, SR Grade Awakening Abilities, shouldn’t they be in the late teens by now?’
Kim Moo-saeng, the Dungeon Sherpa who stopped climbing after Floor 3.
No matter how fast he climbed, he shouldn’t have reached Floor 20 at all!
What situation is this?
How is this unfolding?
Lee Jeong-gi was thinking the exact same thing.
Whoosh—!
Index and middle finger to pierce both eyes.
But they strike against Kim Moo-saeng’s hand edge, held up like a blade.
Lee Jeong-gi’s fingertips had been aiming to pierce Kim Moo-saeng’s throat, but he can’t maintain that trajectory.
Bang——……. Against Kim Moo-saeng’s defense—a sharp upward strike of his forearm—he can only furrow his brow.
‘Even if my son is stupid and dull, he wouldn’t have gotten the investigation wrong!?’
Dungeon Sherpa. Holding an Artifact from Dungeon 66. Estimated to have climbed below Floor 20.
There’s nothing else to change from here that would account for this.
A low hum as Lee Jeong-gi’s leg swept up to kick Kim Moo-saeng’s groin.
“Kagh!?”
Kim Moo-saeng’s fist came down hard on his shin.
It’s certain.
‘Pure Stats higher than mine……?’
This loose-looking young bastard has higher Stats than he does.
“Are the Association people watching!? Nevada Accord violation—.”
“I told you I didn’t use a Skill. You said it yourself and now you don’t remember?”
It’s a Skill. One that even Lee Jeong-gi himself cannot analyze.
So now Lee Jeong-gi shouted at the Association to verify whether a Skill was used.
Of course, Kim Moo-saeng simply shrugged.
With that shrug came a punch, tearing through the air toward Lee Jeong-gi’s jaw.
“Kgh—. That doesn’t make sense! Where does this punk get off surpassing me!?”
He barely managed to turn his head to dodge, but he couldn’t help catching the blow across the bridge of his nose.
A sharp, stinging pain—the kind that shoots from the most sensitive nerve endings, making your vision blur.
Disbelief written across his face, Lee Jeong-gi’s fist drove toward Kim Moo-saeng’s heart.
“Growth isn’t a salary ladder, after all. Having more years under your belt doesn’t automatically make you stronger, does it, Chairman?”
Kim Moo-saeng slipped past it with a light chuckle.
As he widened the distance with a crisp backstep, Lee Jeong-gi’s fist lost its momentum and snapped back to guard.
Watching Lee Jeong-gi clench his teeth and refuse to give an opening, Kim Moo-saeng spoke.
“Actually, thinking about it that way, we’re the same. I’m a First-Generation Awakener too. This year makes twenty-nine. Same as you, right?”
“Bullshit, word games won’t—”
Whoooosh—crack!
“Ugh—”
For one moment, distracted by the words.
Kim Moo-saeng’s fist found Lee Jeong-gi’s rib with surgical precision—snapping it clean.
The Oni’s face twisted.
With a fractured rib came no scream, not even a proper gasp—just saliva trickling from the corner of Lee Jeong-gi’s mouth.
Lee Han-il, whose eyes couldn’t even track the exchange between Kim Moo-saeng and Lee Jeong-gi, belatedly tried to act.
“Father! The taser! At least the tas—”
“Move, and you die.”
One sentence from Kim Moo-saeng. With Lee Jeong-gi all but knocked down, no one from Korea One-Way Group could afford to budge.
The gun had already been taken.
Would a remote Taser Gun even work against someone like Kim Moo-saeng?
Could they even land a shot?
If he could break ribs with enough force to leave Lee Jeong-gi gasping, what would he do to them?
Death ceased to be a threat and became a probability.
“Hgh… hgh…”
Lee Han-il could only grit his teeth.
A lifetime spent under his father’s thumb had made him incapable of moving—not from courage, but from fear.
His father, Lee Jeong-gi, was trembling uncontrollably.
Not just Lee Jeong-gi and Lee Han-il, but every member of Korea One-Way Group began to shake.
“He… he isn’t using an Awakening Ability at all.”
“How is this possible? Someone on par with the Oni’s stats—how could the World Awakeners Association have never heard of him…?”
Even the people from the World Awakeners Association couldn’t hide their trembling excitement.
It was astonishment touching on ecstasy.
Was he using a skill?
Before Lee Jeong-gi even needed to say it, Robert Kay—who’d just regained consciousness—ran the verification immediately.
[Awakening Ability Application: N/A]
[Skill Usage: Negative]
And it was confirmed.
Their instruments and scanning made it unmistakably clear: Kim Moo-saeng was not using any skill.
Which meant he was overwhelming Lee Jeong-gi on sheer stats alone.
One of Asia’s monsters—someone the World Awakeners Association knew well by reputation.
The Oni, infamous for cruelty matching his power, was comparable or inferior to this nameless youth.
‘So that’s why the senior officials wanted to make contact. For Association membership?’
‘This abnormal level of strength—is that what the Five-Sight Awakener confirmed…?’
‘We can’t let another faction scout him. Even if he’s not actively engaged. He’s an asset we cannot afford to lose.’
Robert Kay suddenly felt the weight of the mission he’d been given.
Lee Jeong-gi breathed through the pain distorting his face.
Curled into a protective crouch—but Kim Moo-saeng knew better.
He was feigning agony while reaching into his jacket pocket for a Healing Potion.
“Your moves are predictable because they’re similar to mine. Were you planning to drink that, sir?”
Kim Moo-saeng rushed in again.
But Lee Jeong-gi, at seventy-seven, was an old hand at this too.
“You thought it was a Healing Potion?”
Crash—!!
He crushed the bottle in his grip with raw strength.
The liquid inside made contact with air and began vaporizing instantly.
Steam?
‘Poison?!’
It shouldn’t have been possible.
The only stroke of luck was that Kim Moo-saeng merely frowned.
[Resisted the toxin.]
Kim Moo-saeng, who already possessed SR Grade Resistance, was unaffected by the poison.
Rather, it was a gift.
[Understanding of toxins has increased.]
[Skill 〈Toxin Mastery〉 Enhanced]
“How wonderfully useful.”
Now Moo-saeng too knew how to vaporize it.
Yet he couldn’t fully express that joy.
Moo-saeng charged forward regardless—
[Krackle, you barbarous thing. Never a thought for yourself, just reckless chaos.]
Wash, viewing the toxin as a threat, had put distance between himself and Moo-saeng’s body.
Wash’s crackling voice echoed through the underground space.
And within that space, only three people heard those words.
Moo-saeng. Hildegard. And…….
“An otter?”
Lee Jeong-gi’s eyes widened as he finally spotted Wash.

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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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