Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 85

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Cheating Administrator Climbing the Mythic Tower (85)
[CX-Ω-74 Tower Administrator: Codename ‘Wash’]
Kim Moo-saeng didn’t know exactly what the 74 referred to.
‘Administrator number? Or the tower’s number? The seventy-fourth tower? I don’t know. But what matters is—’
74 Tower Administrator = Wash.
That was the crucial fact.
From that perspective, how could he interpret the phrase [Detection Target: CX-Ω Series Administrator Residual Log]?
‘…… A higher category. An upper classification?’
Within the concept that included Wash—Administrator Residual Log.
In other words, it meant that some residual trace of an administrator other than Wash had been detected?
‘Damn it, without knowing what a log is, what its specific function actually is—’
But he was certain.
At least this direction had to be right.
Above all, this was a dungeon.
Not a tower.
Even though it was a space where Wash could operate like an absolute being, if communication had broken down to this extent, the problem that could arise compressed into one possibility.
Gulp.
‘There’s another administrator. Someone…… came.’
One of the scenarios he’d feared most.
Had Wash’s download, which was meant to disguise itself within the Geumseong Raid Headquarters’ skill, been discovered by the tower’s administrator?
‘But if that were the case, Wash would have told me to cut it. Having gone through it once before…… he would have proceeded even more carefully than anyone else.’
Wash, and Hildegard too, weren’t fools.
If they could verify the exposed metrics, they would have adjusted them.
If the metrics suddenly spiked, or if the efficiency of disguise and concealment dropped, Wash would have consulted with them and then stopped the download.
He had more than enough judgment and skill for that much.
‘Yet it was caught? Despite everything, it was discovered?’
Kim Moo-saeng fidgeted with Blue Lightning.
What about the states of Hildegard and Wash?
Already……
“Phew, let’s kill them! Two left, give it your all!”
Geum Su-ah shouted.
At the word “kill,” Kim Moo-saeng felt his heartbeat accelerate.
‘Of course it’s not reaching 100%…… Damn it.’
Could they be dead?
Wash and Hildegard who’d been with him?
Had the newly arrived administrator killed them?
Light flashed, the final cry of the giant conger echoed, and the voices of those cheering and roaring……
“Good, the last one! Concentrate! Lead it so the commander can use Ice Drill!”
“Without using ice walls, focus all strength on offense—defenders in order with overlapping shields, reduce the power!”
Boom, boom, booooom——————!
The underwater waters remained chaotic with the coordinated efforts of the Geumseong Raid Headquarters personnel to eliminate the final giant conger.
But even amidst that cacophony, Kim Moo-saeng’s attention was fixed solely on Wash.
“Moo-saeng! Once we eliminate this, the 67 Dungeon is finished, right?”
Still, he couldn’t ignore Geum Su-ah approaching directly to ask.
Kim Moo-saeng nodded with an awkward smile.
“Huh? Ah, yes. That’s what Steve King…… told me. But I am curious why the number of bosses increased.”
Kim Moo-saeng deliberately tossed out a different topic to divert her attention.
Geum Su-ah tilted her head several times with a thoughtful hum, then murmured.
“Well, from Floor 60 onward, unforeseen situations keep happening like the commander said. Maybe it’s party-play difficulty adjustment? Could that be how the bosses increase? Steve King, that bastard goes around boasting that he solo-cleared it, so maybe there was only one for him. But it’s funnier that a dungeon has party-play difficulty adjustment like a tower. Should we just think of it as a special circumstance like a dungeon trick?”
When tower floors were grouped into certain ranges—Floors 10, 30, and so on—the difficulty spike starting from Floor 60 was particularly pronounced.
Though only one floor separated Floor 59 and Floor 60, the clearing difficulty differed several times over—this rumor was far from exaggeration.
So if such a thing happened, there was no reason for it to be strange, was Geum Su-ah’s reasoning.
Of course, the question remained of why this was occurring in a dungeon rather than a tower, but regardless, at a point where the situation had turned out well, it wasn’t something for her to worry too much about.
“That’s right. Yes, in cases like that…… it might be possible?”
Kim Moo-saeng offered a lukewarm agreement.
But that very demeanor was what sparked deeper suspicion in Geum Su-ah.
“…… What’s up? Why are you reacting like that? Even though something unexpected happened, as a result you achieved a First Clear, didn’t you? You’re the type to put your shoulders back and joke around. It’s not like…… self-reproach or anything, right? Rather, you even found out that secret about those big manta rays that Steve King didn’t even tell us, so shouldn’t you be bragging about it and carrying yourself like the Moo-saeng I know?”
It wasn’t that she’d been watching for an incredibly long time.
Yet she’d spent a considerable span of time together, weathered intense incidents.
Even when facing Lee Jeong-gi, even after facing him, he’d carried himself shamelessly—so why was he so dispirited now? Was there any reason for him to shrink back like this?
“Heh, self-reproach, is it? I’m just thinking about how much of a bill to send to Geumseong, you know. Nothing more than that.”
Hearing this, Kim Moo-saeng answered with a smile.
A feigned smile. A salesman’s grin.
He spoke in a light tone, but Geum Su-ah saw through it immediately.
“That’s a lie. Something’s wrong, isn’t it? You’ve got something else on your mind.”
“Well, 67 Dungeon is my first time too—where would I find time for other thoughts? Besides—”
Kim Moo-saeng deliberately craned his neck forward, his gaze shifting to what lay behind Geum Su-ah.
She spun around immediately.
The last goliath fish’s mouth spewing dark crimson blood in great gouts into the sea.
[No boss monster exists within this dungeon.]
At the same moment, a hologram window appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Dungeons are different from towers. There are no quests.
What floor level this dungeon corresponds to, what the boss monster’s name is, what its structure entails—such information is naturally kept from them.
“We—we did it! We cleared it!”
“Everyone survived! First Clear of 67 Dungeon!”
Yet there is one thing the system always reveals: whether a boss monster exists within the dungeon.
From the standpoint of those who could deduce much from this single fact alone, their joy was inevitable.
“Ah! Director! Vice Director! We’ve done it!”
“The administrative authority again this time… no, if this is how it goes, challenging Floor 77 now—”
“Everyone, please calm yourselves. We must first analyze the cause, conduct a Clear with the 1st Army’s B Team, and then perform at least three coordinated full-scale Clears before we can challenge Floor 77.”
Yun Pyo calmly laid out the schedule ahead.
A debriefing had to come first. Only half of the 1st Army had Clear experience.
Moreover, they would need to run through the dungeon three more times to confirm what variables, if any, might emerge.
It seemed at first like a cold dose of reality, but everyone at the Raid Headquarters understood perfectly.
“Yes, understood!”
“Heh, congratulations, Director!”
“I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time, haven’t I?”
Yun Pyo’s mouth had lifted perhaps three millimeters.
What a ‘vast smile’ and ‘immense joy’ he was savoring in that moment.
Yun Pyo felt suddenly self-conscious and turned to look at Kim Moo-saeng.
“Ahem, well then. Before we prepare to leave—we should first offer our thanks to Kim Moo-saeng, who brought us such valuable information. Kim Moo-saeng?”
But as he moved to express his gratitude, he stopped short.
Geum Su-ah had also been gazing at Kim Moo-saeng with a bright face, but her expression hardened at once.
“Mm? Moo-saeng? Suddenly—what?”
Kim Moo-saeng’s mouth hung open wide.
His eyes had lost their anchor.
Kim Moo-saeng was not one to panic easily.
An Ace Dungeon Sherpa’s job was not to bare his heart and be read.
Yet was Kim Moo-saeng showing such a reaction?
This was more bewildering for Geum Su-ah and Yun Pyo, but at this moment, Kim Moo-saeng had no mind to spare for them.
[Ah, so you’re the one who made the Abyssal Contract?]
A voice sounded in Kim Moo-saeng’s head.
It was neither Wash nor Hildegard Schmidt.
* * *
Confusion.
He had no idea how to respond.
Yet Kim Moo-saeng’s hand had already drawn Dok-Sa and gripped it.
The motion was swift enough to make Geum Su-ah flinch.
“Moo-saeng…? Why?”
He wouldn’t attack her, surely.
But his demeanor and reaction were unmistakably different from his usual self.
It was only natural that Geum Su-ah felt tension rising.
And Kim Moo-saeng was not the only one being watched.
“Vice Director!?”
“Sherpa—or well, you said you weren’t a Sherpa—Kim Moo-saeng! What are you doing?”
“Put the sword away! Now!”
The guild members of the 1st Army at Geumseong Raid Headquarters.
Not yet knowing Kim Moo-saeng well, they hastened toward Geum Su-ah and Yun Pyo.
“We are certain he is not a man to act without cause.”
Yun Pyo restrained the other staffers, who had grown excited from their struggle with the goliath fish, and spoke gently.
Only then did Geum Su-ah nod in agreement.
“Right, I mean… what is it? What’s going on?”
She directed the question at Kim Moo-saeng.
Kim Moo-saeng couldn’t answer.
[Anyway, since it’s just residual data, there’s no time for a long conversation. Hmm… I never thought Wash would move alongside someone like this. The creature always seemed cunning, but it’s found its own way to survival with remarkable skill.]
What are you talking about?
What is this?
Who are you?
His body reacted instinctively, and he gripped Dok-Sa, though at this point the gesture felt less like resolve and more like quiet relief.
It was another Administrator.
[Either way, I kept my promise. Or rather, your contractor kept theirs.]
But you’re not hostile?
Promise? Contractor?
It was at that moment Kim Moo-saeng finally understood.
Kim Moo-saeng had entered into a contract with Wash through the Abyssal Contract.
A contract grounded in good faith, containing the mutual duties and rights of both parties.
Yet the Abyssal Contract hadn’t been used only by Wash.
‘Could it be… could it really be…?’
[Murometz told me to relay this message, at least.]
Murometz.
The one who ruled over all the Giants on Floor 77 of the Tower.
Had Kim Moo-saeng not also entered into a contract with Murometz using the Abyssal Contract!?
‘This is insane!’
He wanted out of the Tower.
When he heard that condition, what counteroffer had Kim Moo-saeng made in return!?
[‘Human Kim Moo-saeng, in response to your request that I make my utmost and finest effort to restore Wash’s abilities to their original state, I, Murometz, hereby gather and send to you the data of those Administrators who remain in the Tower and were on favorable terms with Wash. But know this well: restoring Wash’s body outside the Tower is an exceedingly perilous undertaking, and had I not made contact with this deceased Administrator first and secured this signal, neither your plan nor mine would have come to pass.’]
It was a request to cooperate in recovering Wash’s abilities to one hundred percent.
The specific method and timing had been left unspecified. After all, neither Kim Moo-saeng himself nor even Wash could know the details with certainty.
Only one thing.
That he do everything in his power to succeed—that had been Kim Moo-saeng’s condition.
And now it meant Murometz had found his own way to fulfill it.
[I’ve already spoken with Wash. I’ve delivered all there is to deliver… so I go now. Do well, you primitive creatures.]
The unknown voice spoke.
He still couldn’t know who this was, or what manner of situation this was.
But what mattered to Kim Moo-saeng now was none of that.
A hologram window appeared, visible only to his eyes.
[Download Rate 81.9%]
“Damn it.”
“What did you say?”
It was the kind of development that warranted an involuntary curse.
—Kim Moo-saeng! Kim Moo-saeng!? Can you hear me? This is huge, seriously—. Wow, this is seriously huge!
Hildegard Schmidt’s voice came through next, brimming with excitement.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————