Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 93

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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 Conquers Mythic Tower (93)
Moo-saeng had already confirmed Ye-rin’s life or death.
When the Thousand-Mile Eye and Five-Ring Eye were fixed on Floor 58 of the tower, he’d once slipped through the overlap of their fields of vision with Hildegard and Wash to Execute with Administrator Authority in the Floor 58 dungeon.
A flower blooming in an environment of indescribable bitter cold.
Ye-rin, lying upon that flower.
At the time, she was lying down. Her eyes were closed.
Communication hadn’t worked, and since the vantage was only from some distance above, there was no way to tell.
Was her condition alright? Was she healthy?
Or was she alive but unconscious?
In all the long time that had passed since the day she was reported missing, might her physical state have deteriorated?
Every time Moo-saeng thought of Ye-rin, all manner of worries and concerns swept through his mind.
And Moo-saeng knew that these were idle thoughts, that such thinking yielded no accurate answers and only wasted time.
How hard he’d tried not to think about it.
How much he’d suffered, forcing himself not to dwell on those rising worries and fears.
[Squawk-squawk-squawk, I’ll tell you one thing for certain. That girl’s mastery of her Awakening Ability doesn’t even bear comparison to yours, Kim Moo-saeng.]
Wash had just now confirmed it for him.
That she wasn’t merely alive, but healthy, and her mind was clear.
From the way Wash spoke, he’d even seen Ye-rin actively using her Awakening Ability—doing something related to slaying monsters or survival.
For Moo-saeng right now, that was enough.
Her exceptional command of Awakening Abilities? Moo-saeng had long known that.
Wasn’t he the one who’d made her generate a skill so phenomenally powerful that everyone else dismissed the base Florist as worthless?
But beyond that—all that mattered was Ye-rin herself.
[You alright, Kim Moo-saeng?]
Being perfectly fine.
That bare fact of her moving and acting.
That alone was nearly enough to make Moo-saeng’s raging emotions spin out of control.
“Yeah. Crying right now.”
So he resorted to this—to jest and banter.
[Crying? At times like this, shouldn’t you say something like, “Squawk, I must’ve got some dust in my eye” or something like that?]
Moo-saeng spitting out an answer that left Wash bewildered was exactly the sort of thing he’d do.
Moo-saeng chuckled and rubbed his eyes clean.
“Phew. Good. Thanks, Wash.”
And he spoke with genuine sincerity.
What Moo-saeng had asked Wash to do was confirm whether the Overlapping Phenomenon on Floor 58 had a time limit.
And to investigate other things—increasing the Download Rate, checking on residual logs and such.
Beyond that, if time allowed, it would’ve been nice to scout out the route from Floor 39 to Floor 58.
Yet Wash had not only done all of that, but gone beyond it.
Wash flew smoothly right up to Moo-saeng’s face.
[No need to thank me.]
Then, clicking his beak against itself, he spoke.
[This is merely our contract condition. Good Faith.]
A quiet voice.
A composed bearing, sweeping the dark-rimmed glasses into place.
Watching Wash express it all as if it were nothing.
Moo-saeng marveled.
“Hah…. So you’re putting on this hardboiled act, which I actually like. The truth is, you’re kind, you like me, and you went the extra mile—I know that plainly—but for now, I’m going to pretend I don’t-.”
[Wha—what are you—? Squawk-squawk! You’re saying ridiculous things, Kim Moo-saeng! Me? Me caring about you? Squawk-squawk, I have no interest whatsoever, you uncultured brute!]
“-Khehe, alright. Let’s call it that.”
It was obviously an act.
Moo-saeng wasn’t the type not to see it.
But pretending to believe it anyway would’ve been more embarrassing.
His banter with Wash, still squawking away, didn’t last long.
Isabel Green, who had been in her own Consciousness Separation space,
opened her eyes smoothly and returned to reality.
“The maintenance duration is short. Below the average of Reveil Grandes Écoles.”
Looking at Moo-saeng, who’d already opened his eyes and whose posture was disheveled, her smoky makeup-lined gaze hardened.
“Ah, there’s a reason for that. Normally I can hold it much longer-.”
“Practice. Continuously.”
“Yes, yes, let’s do that. We have a bit more time anyway.”
It took exactly three more days before Moo-saeng made his move.
A call came in from Park Hyun-gu.
“…Not bad. But the illusions created from the Thousand-Mile Eye need a bit more delicate adjustment—”
“We can fine-tune that in actual combat now. Thank you so much for everything, Professor Green!”
For Moo-saeng, too, it had been a period of achievement in his own right.
* * *
[Screech—why should I bother dragging along these primitive creatures, Kim Moo-saeng?]
On the way to the tower, Wash grumbled in an irritated tone.
He had a point.
Wash had set Moo-saeng’s tower-climbing difficulty up to Floor 38 based on a 15-person standard.
The difficulty would be 15-person standard, and the rewards would be 15-person standard too.
The problem was that no matter how many people went, it would remain a 15-person standard.
In other words, whether one person went or two, or eleven—
They’d have to clear the 15-person standard tower regardless, so what was the point of bringing multiple people?
If contributions were distributed, there was actually a risk that the rewards would shrink.
“If you think about the future, cutting them off now would be pretty short-sighted,” Moo-saeng said.
[The future? What future?]
Yet Moo-saeng had his reasons for acting this way.
“You said you’d handle things up to Floor 38. What about after that? Wash, if you can’t touch it, I’ll need to form a new team there—do you think I’ll be able to find members I can trust this much right now?”
Floors 39, 40?
Solo play?
He already knew, having climbed to Floor 25.
With each floor ascended, rewards grew progressively larger.
You could say Floors 24 and 25 weren’t significantly different.
But looking at Floors 20 and 25?
Only five more floors climbed, yet the rewards were on an entirely different scale.
And now they wanted him to solo everything beyond Floor 39, or split contributions in party play?
To apply the brakes to his own growth?
[That—that’s fine once I recover my strength! Kim Moo-saeng, I’ll even correct your future setting values—]
“But what if that doesn’t happen.”
That wasn’t who Moo-saeng was.
He wasn’t the type to sketch only rosy futures.
Could he really act on just a single scenario?
Thirteen years as a Dungeon Sherpa.
The reason Moo-saeng had earned the title of ace, the reason he could unfailingly complete every mission entrusted to him—it was this.
You had to account for multiple contingencies, planning for the worst case.
[That’s…hmm.]
Since Wash himself acknowledged that point, he had no choice but to hold his tongue.
Moo-saeng nodded.
“Right. That’s what insurance is for—that’s how to think about it. Of course it’d be better if you handle it. That’d be easier for me too.”
[Understood. Then I won’t say more. I’m leaving that judgment to you. But…don’t ever forget the risks involved in contribution management, Kim Moo-saeng.]
As Wash gave this earnest reminder, Moo-saeng chuckled softly.
He already had all the strategies and plans for Floors 26 onward mapped out in his head.
‘Since it’s 15-person standard, it’ll probably be a bit different from what I knew…but still, whatever.’
Wash had already told him about the definite changes.
There were also floors where he’d only been given rough predictions.
But Moo-saeng was confident he could manage.
Clearing itself, achieving any hidden conditions—that was something he could handle through his own effort.
“Got it. And you might not know this, but when it comes to stuff like that, he’s exactly the one you can count on. Oh! There!”
And for contribution management especially, he had someone who’d look after it even when Moo-saeng wasn’t around.
“Ah, Representative Kim. Where’d you stop by that took so long?”
Park Hyun-gu grinned broadly, waving his hand in a cheerful gesture.
At his reaction, everyone around him turned their heads like meerkats.
Shin Hyun-dong, Kim Ji-yoon, Noh Ye-rang—people who’d been with them from the start until now.
“Ah, wait. It’s been a while, everyone, right? How have you all been?”
“Yes! We’ve been waiting eagerly for when you’d contact us, sir—”
“This time it’s a week, right?! I even pushed up my summer vacation to come, Representative! This person here is a friend of mine, and he’s reliable so you don’t need to worry—”
“Yeah, yes. Well, we can do introductions on the way up…so, what’s the status, buddy?”
Though new members kept stepping forward to greet Moo-saeng, self-introductions could wait—they’d handle those during the climb.
Park Hyun-gu answered Moo-saeng’s light question promptly.
“Everyone’s payments confirmed. Procedures explained and artifact rentals complete. Twelve total including you, Moo-saeng. Two new recruits, and one couldn’t make it due to scheduling. Sound okay?”
Park Hyun-gu’s way of handling matters—CEO of a company he’d operated for years, someone you could even call a brother—was efficient.
Thanks to Wash’s additional adjustments, compensation for three more people would be coming in.
That much would suffice for now.
“Right then, let’s go! Make sure everyone has memorized everything!”
Kim Moo-saeng took the lead.
[Checking climbing record of target.]
[Climbing Record: Floor 25]
[Attempt Floor 26?]
[Participants: 12 (Kim Moo-saeng, Park Hyun-gu, Shin Hyun-dong, Kim Ji-yoon, Noh Ye-rang, Hwang Jun-seo, Lee Ha-eun, Lee Jin-won, Cha Jin-pyo, Kim Woo-min, Jo Sang-gyu, Park Min-joo)]
[Mid-attempt Withdrawal is not permitted.]
This Tower Climbing was scheduled for one week.
The target was around Floor 30, early to mid-range.
“Attempt.”
Light flashed across the twelve people who entered the Tower.
[Floor 26]
[Darkness that devours light—the Black Forest]
[Eliminate the Queen of the Black Forest.]
[Arachnella: 0/1]
[Time Remaining: 50:00:00]
“Floor 26 usually ends once you dispatch the humanoid spiders, so. The stage is dark, but it shouldn’t be much of a problem. You’ll be fine if you just stay at the forest’s entrance—”
[Scaling for Multi-person Climbing has been applied.]
[Contribution Rate calculation has begun.]
[Additional target has been added.]
[Time limit has been changed.]
Difficulty set for fifteen people.
The Tower would never let them advance easily.
[Arachnella: 0/1]
[Petit Hydra: 0/1]
[Time Remaining: 24:00:00]
“—……what?”
“Huh?”
“P-Petit Hydra?”
A name that threw everyone into confusion had been added.
* * *
Originally, Floor 26’s problem started with just navigating a forest where no light penetrated.
Dog-sized spiders were scattered everywhere, and those creatures had set all manner of web-based traps to catch Awakened Ones—the problem compounded exponentially.
Making progress through such an impossibly dark space while dismantling those traps would take more than an hour to cover a hundred meters, and for those unfamiliar with it, it might as well be hell—yet now?
“The t-time got cut! The time—”
“Twenty-four hours? That’s insane! Just defeating Arachnella alone usually takes thirty hours—”
“Now, now, CEO Kim has already accomplished so much! Everyone settle down, settle!”
The time limit had been cut in half.
And an additional boss on top of it.
“But bosses don’t usually get added like this—this kind of thing barely ever happens, does it? And to announce it so openly? I thought only twenty-person, thirty-person raid groups experienced this……”
“And Hydra shouldn’t even spawn here in the first place! That monster with the twelve heads—”
“Now, quiet. Quiet. Everyone focus on CEO Kim!”
Park Hyun-gu calmed them down.
Kim Moo-saeng nodded as he watched Park Hyun-gu.
Perhaps it was because it had been so long.
He had Resistance to Confusion, so it wasn’t quite a Debuff, but it was more like practical unease in an unfamiliar situation.
In any case, that wasn’t what mattered.
“Petit Hydra has six heads. That’s why Petit. Well, I’ve only heard rumors myself—I’ve never actually seen one.”
If someone else leaked information about Petit Hydra?
The Contribution Distribution could shift.
Controlling the situation—and the information about it—had to always fall to Kim Moo-saeng himself.
“In any case, you don’t need to worry much……. Actually, this is good timing. We have newcomers, and some of you might be a bit shaky from being away so long……. Perfect moment to put on a little show.”
“A show?”
Kim Moo-saeng pulled something out of his Sherpa’s Backpack.
Something like a coiled whip.
The members who’d cleared Floor 22 together recognized it.
“Oh, that’s—”
“Shh.”
What it was, I couldn’t say.
But I knew what happened when Kim Moo-saeng swung ‘that’ thing…….
Screeeeeech───────……!
Kim Moo-saeng swung it.
A sound like thunder rang out, but only for a moment.
From the depths of the forest’s darkness.
From somewhere far below. Likely a considerable distance away…….
Roooooooaaar…….
A roar came echoing back—the kind that raised your hackles just to hear it.
Kim Moo-saeng shouted.
“Let’s go see the Obsidian King!”

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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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