Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 87
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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 (87)
Wash, who had refrained from using even her abilities in the Tower for fear of being exposed to those at the top, was now being asked to initiate a download. Here? Was that even possible?
That was exactly what she suggested—downloading right here, right now.
[It’s possible if I have Baibei, Kim Moo-saeng.]
Wash spoke as though she already knew what sort of doubt was forming in Moo-saeng’s mind.
Her beak tilted upward in an insufferably cocky pose, her expression brimming with pride.
“W-what exactly is Baibei?”
[My beloved.]
“……Excuse me?”
His bewilderment was so complete that formal speech slipped from his lips.
Beloved?
Had Wash just called something her beloved?
[Cackle-cackle-cackle! My infinitely wise beloved has left behind a Residual Log—that makes it possible. Once will be enough. And in the meantime…… if Murometz transmits all the remaining two Residual Logs, well, inside the Tower we won’t even need that. I can absorb everything myself. The only question is where to do it.]
By now, Moo-saeng had lost even the will to speak.
Watching him gape wordlessly, the yellow rubber duck let out a soft laugh, then pulled the Black Horned Glasses down across her eyes and spoke.
[Haven’t you figured it out yet, Kim Moo-saeng? If there’s a single opportunity to use something inside the Tower, isn’t there one place that stands out as completely foreign to everything else?]
Then Moo-saeng understood.
The most special and unusual space in the Tower.
The floor where the Distortion had occurred.
“Floor 58…….”
[Where Ju Ye-rin is. We’ll absorb all the Residual Logs there, together with Baibei.]
Wash and Moo-saeng’s eyes met.
Bound though they were by the Abyss Contract.
They had become something more than mere contractual parties.
The two of them nodded in unison.
What followed held nothing particularly remarkable for Moo-saeng.
Dudu and Wash exchanged a few more words known only to them.
Dudu left Murometz’s message with Moo-saeng.
The teddy bear made of light gradually scattered and faded away.
The moment that entire sequence concluded.
An excited Hildegard addressed him.
“Kim Moo-saeng! Kim Moo-saeng!? Can you hear me? This is huge, seriously—. Wow, this is seriously huge!”
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“Eek!”
Hildegard jumped in shock at Moo-saeng’s immediate reply from right beside her.
It made perfect sense.
From her perspective, time had simply progressed without incident.
And yet Hildegard was still Hildegard.
She looked at Moo-saeng, who had just answered.
Then she quickly turned her head and looked at the Moo-saeng standing in front of Geum Su-ah.
Two Moo-saengs.
“A clone? A split? What’s the reason? Recorded footage you’re watching? Or—don’t tell me it’s a timeline split or something?”
In that instant, every conceivable possibility came rushing to mind.
Moo-saeng simply let out a quiet laugh.
“……Well, I’m too exhausted to explain right now. Anyway…… Wash! But this other me and this me—we’re not going to stay split forever, right?”
[Cackle-cackle-cackle! A joke as dull as you, Kim Moo-saeng. I’ll send out the less civilized one first—now get going.]
Wash laughed heartily.
Hildegard blinked for a moment, then quickly donned the Invisibility Cloak.
Wash flapped her wings once, and Hildegard was hurled out of Dungeon 67.
Moo-saeng found himself standing before Geum Su-ah.
Carrying every memory of those moments spent with Hildegard and Wash.
‘……The Administrator really is something extraordinary.’
The Tower.
It rose from countless places across the globe, and whenever anyone entered from anywhere in the world, they shared the same lobby.
The structure within was nearly impossible for human knowledge to comprehend, and yet it granted even humans Awakening Abilities.
In other words, standing over such an immense structure and concept was the [Administrator].
Now, freshly, Moo-saeng grasped just what the Tower’s Administrator truly was.
He understood now how terrifying the [Execute with Admin Authority] ability they wielded could be.
“Moo-saeng……? Are you alright?”
“Ahem, yes. Let’s head out.”
Kim Moo-saeng answered Geum Su-ah’s question.
Dungeon 67 in South Korea had been cleared for the first time by Geum Sung.
A stir erupted among guilds like Future, Hana, and JK.
Yet when the World Awakener Association confirmed the clear data for Dungeon 67, none of them could voice any objection.
* * *
“Good grief, I’m utterly exhausted…….”
Kim Moo-saeng collapsed onto the bed.
Even after leaving Dungeon 67, he couldn’t part ways immediately with Geum Sung’s personnel.
He had to assist with testimony and evidence related to the dungeon clear, and on top of that, he’d received a call from a figure he couldn’t possibly ignore.
—Heh-heh, it sounds like Hyun-gu and Su-ah owe me a debt.
Geum Byeong-chul.
Just before parting completely with Geum Su-ah, his call had come through on her smartphone.
Despite it not being a video call, there was something about his charisma that made you instinctively bow at the waist.
“I’m the one who owes the debt, sir.”
—Is that so? Then something else must have progressed, it seems?
The ability to seize upon a casually thrown remark was remarkable.
Of course, Kim Moo-saeng wasn’t about to reveal everything.
“It’s just a matter of courtesy, sir. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t read too much into it.”
—……Then our children owe me a debt, don’t they? Heh-heh, no need to be shy about it.
“Of course. I’ll accept it gracefully then.”
Kim Moo-saeng deliberately straightened his posture as he spoke.
Geum Su-ah couldn’t begin to guess what conversation this man was having with her father—his words and bearing were utterly opaque to her.
—Then you must have some idea why I’m calling.
“An invoice……? If so, I’d mention it through Su-ah. But beyond that—perhaps some sort of gift? Are you planning to give me one?”
The moment Kim Moo-saeng spoke in that light tone, laughter erupted from the other end of the line.
—Tee-ha-ha-ha! You’ve become quite brazen since we last met, haven’t you?
“Well, you’ve thought me brazen since our first meeting, haven’t you? Strange to bring it up now.”
—Fair point. Heh-heh, a gift…… Yes, if it qualifies as a gift at all, I suppose it does.
“Really?”
By then, Kim Moo-saeng was genuinely bewildered.
A gift, really?
And that peculiar phrasing—if it qualifies as a gift at all—what did that mean?
Geum Byeong-chul offered little explanation.
—I’ll send it your way shortly.
“Ah, yes. Since you know where I’m staying…… well, I appreciate the straightforwardness.”
Kim Moo-saeng didn’t bother mentioning that he was still occupying Geum Sung’s hotel suite, or that Geum Byeong-chul knew this as well.
That was the end of the call.
Geum Su-ah tilted her head in confusion, but could only ask, “Your father’s sending you a gift? What kind of gift?”
After all, the only answer Kim Moo-saeng could give was, “I have no idea. He said he’d send something to the hotel.”
So Geum Su-ah had left only a brief instruction with the hotel lobby staff—”If anything arrives for Mister Kim Moo-saeng’s room, please let me know”—before departing.
[So what am I going to do for now, Kim Moo-saeng?]
At last, Kim Moo-saeng had secured some time to rest comfortably and sprawl about.
“Nothing special. I’ll just lounge around and organize information about the tower up to Floor 38. Depending on how things look, I might slip into a dungeon or two.”
Kim Moo-saeng replied, fiddling with his smartphone.
He was checking information related to Dungeon 67 and reactions across various online communities.
〈Geum Sung is seriously insane…… When’s recruitment? FML〉
〈ㄴDo you even meet the requirements? All stats 500 minimum?〉
〈ㄴㄴFloor 37 is 503. Tough luck〉
〈ㄴㄴㄴKKKK Party contribution rate is ridiculous too KKKK Total wipeout〉
〈If Geum Sung takes Floors 66 and 67, what’s Future supposed to live on?〉
〈Heard JK and Hana are forming an alliance? Anyone know about that?〉
〈But they released all the clear strategies at the conference, right? So will they release 67’s too?〉
To Wash, this seemed like far too leisurely an activity.
[Quack-quack? You already know everything anyway, don’t you? Why bother?]
A dungeon sherpa—given everything that’s happened so far, there’s no way he doesn’t know.
If anything’s missing, Wash can fill him in.
Spending an unknown number of days just on how to monopolize 100% contribution rate?
Wouldn’t Kim Moo-saeng’s usual style be to hurry toward Floor 58, toward Floor 38 where the distortion occurred?
“I need to check people’s schedules too. Until I hear from Park Hyun-gu, there’s not much I can do. Besides, the Thousand-Li Eye will be watching, so I don’t want to move around too actively.”
Like making additional contact with Geum Sung.
Any contact with Hildegard carried its own risks.
Unless there was something truly urgent to discuss, minimizing contact was the only way to shake suspicion.
[Hmm, I suppose you’re right.]
“The Chinese Central Party already knows about clearing Dungeon 67. They’ve probably even figured out who went in. Especially since the Thousand-Li Eye was watching me the whole time.”
He couldn’t afford to provoke them further.
Low-key. Understated.
‘Keep everything as loose as possible. Let suspicion fade gradually.’
It would be enough to occasionally explore dungeons solo that were in the twenties or thirties tier, or to meet with Park Hyun-gu and show he was simply reconnecting, catching up on old business.
That much would suffice.
“Even so, it should only take a few days. I’ve already asked some of those decoy people from last time to keep making the rounds with other guilds.”
Kim Moo-saeng was doing his part too—laying down smoke screens from another angle.
Robert Kay, after all, couldn’t easily refuse a request when the Five-Ring Eye was involved.
It was a somewhat complex arrangement, but several of the decoys would operate especially actively.
If the Thousand-Li Eye saw them moving consistently through high-tier dungeons alongside major domestic guilds.
Naturally, more attention and focus would fall on them.
And if that focus narrowed to five or ten other people?
If surveillance shifted entirely away from Moo-saeng?
‘Just to monopolize the Contribution Rate, I have to finish the work before then.’
Then he’d be able to hoard a hundred percent of the Contribution Rate again.
Ten people, eleven people entering the tower, everyone else isolated and useless, while he alone cleared the quest!
Something so obviously wrong, so suspicious, that it would never get caught!
[You’ve got to give credit where it’s due—the scheming mind at work.]
“Scheming? I prefer to think of it as excelling at building growth platforms. But sure, let’s skip the prettier words—”
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
“-Hm?”
Suddenly, the phone in the room rang.
A phone call? At the hotel?
“Yes, hello?”
Moo-saeng picked up the receiver carefully.
It was from the hotel’s front desk—the message was simple.
—Chairman Geum sent a gift, and we were wondering if we could bring it up to your room, sir?
“Oh, already? Yes, yes—goodness, how fast you people work!”
The gift Geum Byeong-chul had mentioned had arrived sooner than expected.
Had it been two, maybe three hours since they’d hung up?
Moo-saeng couldn’t help admiring how decisively the chairman of Geum Sung moved—truly befitting his position.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door.
Though still somewhat weary, Moo-saeng approached with genuine anticipation and opened the room door.
And he saw her.
“Oh—”
Standing before him was a blonde woman with strikingly heavy smoky eye makeup.
Eyes already large, deepened by the intensity of her makeup, she stared straight through him—an unsettling, piercing gaze.
“A gift… ah, no, I’m not trying to make some crude joke here. The gift from Chairman Geum—if you’re carrying it—um!?”
Whoosh—————!
In that instant, a white aura enveloped her body.
“I can’t ignore violations of the Nevada Treaty. If you mean any harm, I’ll stop you immediately—”
Already gripping the Dagger of Poison, Moo-saeng warned quietly.
But he couldn’t finish the sentence.
“This isn’t an Awakening Ability. No Nevada Treaty violation.”
The woman’s heavily shadowed eyes shifted slightly to one side.
To the side of Moo-saeng’s head.
“A key… yes. Confirmed. Duck-shaped.”
More precisely, she was looking at 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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