Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 78

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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 Manager with Cheat Powers Climbing the Mythic Tower (78)
Kim Moo-saeng surveyed the office with the mixed air of familiarity and strangeness.
Robert Kay smiled faintly and spoke.
“It’s been a while since you’ve visited the Association, hasn’t it?”
The Korean office of the World Awakened Association’s East Asia branch.
Though called the Korean office, it was hardly modest in scale.
After all, they leased five entire floors of a massive office building in Yeouido.
Even within East Asia, where the proportion of Awakened Ones was unusually high, Korea—particularly Seoul with its considerable population density—held strategic importance accordingly.
The management of various incidents and accidents was routine, as were the dense connections between the Association, guilds, and government agencies.
Moreover, because they sold officially certified Artifacts by the World Awakened Association, it was a place where countless people came and went.
“Right, well. I came once during the Awakened ability assessment, and there’s been little reason to visit since. I had no particular need to buy Artifacts either.”
Of course, for Kim Moo-saeng there had been no real reason to visit from any angle, so now he was surveying the interior with a mixture of nostalgia and mild surprise.
“Ha, as for Artifacts, if you wish, we could provide them through loan at any time. That wouldn’t be an issue at all.”
“Thank you for the kind words.”
Kim Moo-saeng laughed off Robert Kay’s attempt to curry favor from the start.
Certainly, the Association’s certification mark had its merits, but ultimately wasn’t Metal Rhine supplying the bulk of those deliveries?
He maintained an open relationship with Metal Rhine’s CEO and CTO—that faceless genius.
The fact that Robert Kay still recognized Hildegard as “Emma,” an American Awakened One, was almost enough to make Kim Moo-saeng laugh.
[Hmm, search functions are operating in various places here……. About the same level as that beast’s network. No, actually this one’s a bit more refined.]
That said, the Association’s capabilities were by no means mediocre.
‘Better scanning capability than Geumseong……. Well, this is basically a collective of Awakened Ones from across the globe. That makes sense.’
The latest scanning technology of Geumseong, installed in the direct elevator to Chairman Geum Byeong-chul’s office.
Yet according to Wash’s assessment, the scanners deployed throughout the Association’s facilities possessed even superior functionality, and so Kim Moo-saeng could freshly grasp the stature of the World Awakened Association.
Click.
Robert Kay guided Kim Moo-saeng to the conference room.
A space perfectly soundproofed and shielded from outside observation and noise alike.
One could tell at a glance it was far more than a simple business meeting room.
“The two beside me are people I met two days ago, aren’t they?”
“W-well, yes. Please accept my gratitude once more.”
“Back then, I was truly…… grateful, Kim Moo-saeng.”
Besides Robert Kay, there were four other people present.
Two of them were those who had come to Hildegard’s underground space with Robert Kay—individuals who had experienced the Lee Jung-gi incident together with him.
And the remaining two: a man and a woman.
Robert Kay made no special introduction of them.
Nor did they introduce themselves.
Rather, they clasped each other’s hands?
The two opened their mouths simultaneously, as if they were one person.
“[Meeting in person for the first time—we apologize that we can only greet you this way.]”
A male voice and a female voice spoke in perfect synchronization?
Kim Moo-saeng understood.
Not “as if” they were one person.
“……Telepathy, or—Possession ability users!?”
They were actually one person.
The Awakened ability: Possession.
Robert Kay nodded, his expression somewhat taken aback.
“I heard from Miss Geum that you’re quite famous in the Dungeon Sherpa industry, but I hadn’t expected you to recognize Possession. That’s correct. I provided the guidance, but you’ll be having a direct conversation with them.”
From the headquarters of the World Awakened Association.
In some unknown floor, in some unknown room.
A space accessible only to those at the highest levels of the Association.
No one knows their name, face, gender, nationality, or age—nothing.
“[They are called Orin-an within the Association.]”
Orin-an spoke to Kim Moo-saeng.
* * *
Gender must be hidden.
Age must be hidden.
Nationality, speech patterns—all must be concealed.
All the while, eavesdropping and surveillance by other forces must be prevented.
‘That’s why they recruited two Possession ability users to serve as speakers of sorts……. The Association really does have good resources. There can’t be more than a handful of Possession users worldwide.’
Kim Moo-saeng found himself newly in awe of Orin-an’s capabilities.
To maintain such thorough security while maintaining contact with the outside—a being with observation powers over the Tower so unique they were essentially singular…….
“I’m Kim Moo-saeng. As for my Awakened abilities, you’ve already seen them, so you know.”
Moo-saeng spoke, suppressing any note of wonder.
There was also that air of ‘I already showed you, so you understand’—
Not so much unpleasant as it was a tone suggesting there was no need for either of them to waste breath on what was already plain.
After all, it was Moo-saeng himself who had approached Robert Kay two days ago, requesting collaboration on the Floor 58 search and demanding command authority over it.
“I apologize for the rudeness as well. The nature of our work requires certain measures, so… I wanted to ask you something directly about that Awakened ability of yours.”
That request would have been relayed to Orin-an’s side, and Orin-an was now seeking a direct conversation with Moo-saeng in order to accept—or negotiate—those terms.
“Of course. Please, go ahead.”
“I’ll be blunt. We’ve ruled out the eyes. Could it be… the brain?”
Robert Kay flinched visibly.
But the others present couldn’t even begin to fathom what such a question meant.
Not the eyes. The brain.
‘All organs are vital, true, but the brain…’
Most living creatures can survive without eyes.
But a living thing with no brain and only eyes? That doesn’t exist.
Viewed in that light, Orin-an’s question could be rephrased differently.
‘Is he asking if I have a higher-tier Awakened ability than Orin-an? Is Orin-an himself asking that?’
He was asking whether Moo-saeng possessed a superior variant of a similar lineage of power.
‘Lee Jung-gi was handled with skill that was unmistakably extraordinary. That technique… it impressed even Miss Geum. Yes, I can acknowledge that. But—’
An Awakened One capable of defeating Oni (SR)?
Even within the Association alone, there would be several.
But even within that pool, Orin-an stood utterly alone—singular, one person.
This Asian Awakened One right before his eyes, with that somewhat smooth demeanor, possessed such power?
No—even greater than that?!
While Robert Kay stood paralyzed with astonishment, dry-swallowing hard.
[Tch~! How damning a word. The brain of that cursed bastard, no less.]
Moo-saeng had to exert effort not to react to Wash’s utterance.
Moo-saeng knew the true name of Orin-an’s Awakened ability.
‘The Absolute Being’s Right Eye… So Orin-an is asking me now whether I possess something like the Absolute Being’s Brain?’
What was registered with the Association was Transmission (Invalid).
If Orin-an could examine the precise structure of an Awakened ability, he would have already confirmed it as Transmission (Valid).
Yet he’s asking this anyway?
Effectively, he’s asking whether Transmission itself isn’t a trick of the eye.
That suspicion wasn’t entirely off the mark.
[Tell him he’s someone you’d like to strike that brain of his down, Kim Moo-saeng.]
The question was, how should Moo-saeng convey such a message?
In any case, Moo-saeng found satisfaction in the equation: ‘Absolute Being = a being that can only be expressed this way in Earth’s language = an existence Wash despises’—yet all the same…
“Well, that’s not quite the case, I’d say.”
“I see. I’m not sure whether to feel relieved or more astonished. The truth is… ‘the Flower of Floor 58’ was so vivid in my mind, as if burned directly into my brain, that I felt compelled to ask.”
Orin-an disclosed what might be called top-secret information within the Association without hesitation.
A statement that left the others completely baffled as to what was transpiring.
[Kya kya kya kya! Yes. You saw that while looking at Ju Ye-rin, and these bastards saw it too. Damn those eyes of theirs.]
‘What? Ye-rin was already seen by them?’
This time it was Moo-saeng’s turn to be startled.
Back when he confirmed Ju Ye-rin in the Floor 58 Dungeon through Wash’s power.
Cheon-ri-an and Orin-an had also witnessed Ju Ye-rin?
Clear enough to refer to her as ‘the Flower of Floor 58’?!
That detail was something Wash himself had only just learned, so it was knowledge beyond Moo-saeng’s reach as well.
Yet one thing became certain.
If they had seen Ju Ye-rin. And if they had approached him because of it.
Moo-saeng’s expression turned deadly serious.
His voice steady and unwavering.
He spoke.
“My terms remain unchanged. Grant me full command authority over the search of that floor. Along with a control mechanism ensuring I will refuse no orders.”
Absolute command authority over the Ju Ye-rin search was not a negotiable item.
And those people, whom he’d previously thought might make things easier if they came along, now had to be brought with him at all costs.
‘To ensure they don’t move without me.’
He had to hobble them, force them to wait upon his own growth, so they could not act independently.
[Hmm~. What problem could arise if those bastards search for Ju Ye-rin, Kim Moo-saeng? Leaving it to them might actually be more convenient.]
Wash muttered, but Moo-saeng pressed his lips firmly shut instead of responding.
On the surface, that reasoning seems sound.
But Ju Ye-rin’s unique circumstances had to be considered.
‘There’s no precedent for someone vanishing from the Tower for such an extended period and returning alive. Tower Entanglement itself is an extraordinarily rare case, yet Ye-rin experienced it. Whether Ye-rin knows the secret behind it or was simply caught up in it… if the Association secures Ye-rin first, they’ll never let her go easily.’
Of course, the Association wouldn’t execute Ju Ye-rin.
They’d certainly conduct a rescue.
But what happens after that?
There’s every possibility they’d effectively confine her under the guise of experiments, research, investigations, and interviews.
Wasn’t Orin-an herself being “protected” in exactly that manner right now?
That’s not all.
What if, after stripping Ju Ye-rin of her freedom that way, they used her as a bargaining chip against him?
Call it negotiation if you will, but it would amount to blackmail.
In essence, it would mean the Association was putting a leash around his neck.
‘A person’s heart changes between going in to take a shit and coming out. After everything I’ve seen as a Dungeon Sherpa—the sweet, the bitter, the foul—I can’t just stand by and watch.’
So he must never surrender the initiative.
Ju Ye-rin couldn’t be allowed to fall into their hands for rescue.
Under the pretense of cooperating with them, he’d have to tie their hands.
He had to secure absolute control and pull Ju Ye-rin to safety.
Before they could secure her themselves.
[Kim Moo-saeng.]
The moment Kim Moo-saeng reached his conclusion, he nearly asked why—such was the abruptness of Wash’s call.
It caught him completely off guard.
Kim Moo-saeng’s eyes widened as he turned to Orin-an.
“Do you sense it?”
“[Sense what, exactly?]”
“Cheon-ri-an is looking this way.”
Wash had just told him the same thing.
That the left eye was watching them here.
The pupils of both individuals wielding the Possession ability widened simultaneously.
It meant that Reverse Detection was impossible while in a Possession state—and simultaneously,
it meant that Orin-an was startled enough that such emotion and condition were transmitting to them.

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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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