Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The black cat was actually a Tower administrator.

[Normal]

[Hard]

[Hell]

[Mythic]

The Tower was divided into four difficulties.

And in that Tower, this was the administrator assigned exclusively to the Mythic difficulty Tower.

Someone who did not know the truth might think that, since he had become the administrator of the Mythic difficulty Tower, he must be capable and strong, but the reality was the exact opposite.

Tower Administrator Academy.

Every year, the academy selected outstanding administrators and assigned them to Towers as administrators, and those with the best grades and greatest competence were assigned to Normal difficulty.

The reason was simple.

Because it had the largest number of adventurers.

The more registered adventurers there were, the more work the administrators had to do for them.

On the other hand, the higher the difficulty.

Naturally, the fewer adventurers there were.

And in the case of Mythic difficulty, there had not been a single adventurer.

From the appearance of the Tower until now!

* No. 350! Why are you in this sorry state?!

* Can you even work properly as an administrator like this?

* A bastard like you should go sit around sucking your thumb in the Mythic difficulty Tower, where no one ever comes.

The administrator called No. 350, the black cat, was assigned to the Mythic difficulty Tower like that.

Thinking about it, perhaps this was better.

He could not go to a Tower of another difficulty and cause trouble for everyone for no reason.

And so, he lived alone in a Tower where no one ever came.

It had been ages since he forgot the manual and everything else.

No adventurer would come.

That had been true until now.

And it would surely remain true in the future.

However, an anomaly occurred.

‘T-this is a big problem, nyah!’

An adventurer had appeared.

And a Mythic difficulty adventurer, at that!

Surely he must have an incredible level.

But... there was not just one strange thing about him.

[Lee Woo-jin][Lv. 1]

This pathetic level alone was hard to explain.

Why was a level that belonged on the 1st floor of the Normal difficulty Tower here?

If he were a Mythic difficulty adventurer, his level should have been at least 301.

Because one’s level rose by one with every floor climbed in the Tower.

The 1st floor of Normal difficulty would be 1.

The 10th floor of Normal difficulty would be 10.

The 100th floor of Normal difficulty would be 100.

The 1st floor of Hard difficulty would be 101, and so on.

‘And what’s wrong with that door, nyong?!’

The Administrator’s Door leading into the 99th floor of Mythic difficulty.

The important part was not the door, but the “wall” around the door.

A hole had been cleanly opened through it, revealing the Administrator Passage.

The black cat had a mental breakdown.

---

“Are you okay?”

Woo-jin had answered yes to the black cat’s question asking whether he was an adventurer. But the black cat did not respond properly and instead kept repeating something to himself with a vacant face.

“W-what am I supposed to do at a time like this, nyah?”

Woo-jin scratched his cheek.

“Hey, kitty!”

When he called out loudly, the black cat jumped in surprise and raised his fur on end again. He did not hiss, but Woo-jin could tell he was very tense.

“Why don’t we introduce ourselves first? I’m Lee Woo-jin. You?”

“I-I am Administrator No. 350, nyah.”

“Your name?”

“I don’t have a separate name, nyah. Just call me Administrator No. 350, nyah.”

“Okay. I’ll call you Blackie.”

The black cat blinked as if he found this absurd.

What exactly is this adventurer?

Administrator No. 350, the black cat who had suddenly become Blackie, felt himself relax far more than before.

Woo-jin asked,

“What’s an administrator?”

This was the first he had heard of it.

To think the Tower had separate administrators.

This was a fact that had not been revealed to other Awakened.

Woo-jin stared at Blackie for a moment, then widened his eyes as if he had realized something.

“Blackie! You said you’re an administrator, right?”

“Y-yes, nyah?”

“I received an invitation ticket and entered the Tower, but I ended up on Mythic Floor 99. Even though I’m level 1!”

“Is something like that possible, nyah?!”

Blackie asked back in shock.

How would I know?

You’re the administrator, so you should know, Woo-jin thought as he continued speaking.

“How would I know that? Anyway, send me back to Normal Tower Floor 1. It makes no sense for me to be here.”

But Blackie said neither yes nor no.

Then, pop! A book appeared floating in the air.

[Tower Administrator Manual]

The pages of the manual flipped rapidly.

Blackie’s eyes moved busily from left to right.

Then,

“...Th-there’s no method for that, nyah?”

“What?”

“It’s true, nyah! There has never been a case where an error occurred in difficulty or floor assignment in the first place, nyah. And it isn’t in the manual either, nyah!”

Woo-jin collapsed to the ground.

A sigh escaped him.

He thought a thread of hope had appeared, only for it to vanish.

For a moment, that was how he remained.

Then Woo-jin sprang back to his feet.

‘No. It’s too early to give up. The situation has changed for now.’

Compared to when he had first come here, the current situation had improved immensely.

The Dragon Lord, the master of the 99th floor, had spared him.

Thanks to an adventurer named Anonymous 3861, he had plenty of coins and no longer had to worry about food or survival.

Even up to that point, he had found a happy life inside despair.

And on top of that, he had now learned of the existence of a Tower administrator.

The situation was definitely changing in a positive direction.

Slide.

Woo-jin’s gaze turned toward the passage.

Behind Blackie stretched a narrow passage.

“Blackie. How far does this go?”

“That is not allowed, nyah.”

“What isn’t allowed?”

“It says Tower administrators must not provide convenience to specific adventurers, nyah! If another administrator finds out, I’ll be stripped of my administrator qualifications, nyah!”

Tch. How fussy.

“There are other administrators too?”

“That’s right, nyah. I’m Administrator No. 350, nyah. There are up to No. 1,000, nyah!”

“Wow, that’s a lot.”

Woo-jin looked around.

“But I don’t see any other administrators?”

“I’m the only one in Mythic difficulty, nyah. Everyone else is in Normal, Hard, and Hell difficulty, nyah.”

At those words, Woo-jin was startled.

The sole administrator of Mythic difficulty.

“Whoa! You must be incredibly capable!”

“...Nyah?”

“You were assigned alone to the highest difficulty, right? Doesn’t that mean you’re incredibly outstanding?”

Blackie’s heart pounded after hearing Woo-jin’s praise.

Because he had never once been praised by someone in his entire life.

This was the first time.

Was that why?

Before he knew it, Blackie had lied.

“Th-that’s right, nyah! This great me is the most outstanding administrator of all, nyah!”

“I knew it. An administrator of Mythic difficulty. That’s amazing.”

“Hoo... hoohoo.”

Woo-jin said,

“But if there are no other administrators and you’re here alone, wouldn’t it be fine if you gave me a little information? Other administrators won’t know anyway.”

Woo-jin sent Anonymous 3861 a chat.

- Me: Hey.

- Me: Can you get cat Churu?

- Me: Right now.

- Anonymous 3861: ?

- Anonymous 3861: For now, okay.

[The trade has been completed.]

Woo-jin held a stick-type Churu in his hand.

It felt like a stick of instant coffee mix.

He tore off the top.

“It’s fate that we met like this. Here, it’s a gift.”

“What is this, nyah?”

“Churu. You’ve never had it?”

Woo-jin lightly pressed the Churu stick.

Then a little of the contents squeezed out and looked ready to drip down.

Before he knew it, Blackie had licked the Churu.

Because an unbearably delicious smell was coming from it.

Lick.

The moment he licked it once with his tongue.

He felt an electric jolt shoot through him.

‘Wh-what is this, nyah?!’

It was food so deliciously stimulating that it was shocking.

He had never once eaten food like this since he was born.

“Nyah, nyah, nyah.”

He ate all the contents of the Churu, then even sucked on the stick.

The corners of Woo-jin’s mouth curled up in a grin.

“How is it? Your impression after tasting Churu.”

“I-it’s so delicious, nyah. It tastes like a fantasy, nyah.”

Blackie watched Woo-jin’s expression.

“Could you maybe give me more of that thing called Churu, nyah?”

“Well. Depends on how you behave?”

Blackie fell into deep thought.

Helping an adventurer was clearly grounds for being stripped of his qualifications as an administrator.

If another administrator found out, it would be a huge problem.

In truth, meeting face-to-face with an adventurer like this was not a good look either.

The existence of administrators was not exactly a secret to adventurers.

But there had never once been a time when they had deliberately revealed themselves.

However, as Woo-jin had said, there was no reason another administrator would ever come to the Mythic difficulty Tower anyway.

In other words, even if he helped Woo-jin, there would be no chance of anyone raising an issue with it.

“You said you were curious about this passage, nyah?”

“Yeah.”

“This place is called the Administrator Passage, nyah. It’s a route administrators can use to move around, nyah! And this door is called an Administrator’s Door. It can be opened with an Administrator’s Key, nyah.”

Blackie spilled everything with remarkable ease.

“Then is there no way to return to Earth through the Administrator Passage?”

“If you want to return to Earth, you have to clear your current Objective, nyah.”

It was an extremely by-the-book answer.

The problem was that clearing the current Objective, “Slay the Dragon Lord,” was impossible.

“Tch.”

Woo-jin clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Are you giving me Churu now, nyah?”

“No.”

“Th-that’s unfair, nyah! How can you just take the information and run, nyah?!”

“That’s not it. Churu is something you’re only supposed to eat once in a while. Otherwise, you’ll become a fat cat.”

In any case.

“Can I look around the passage?”

“Give me one Churu in exchange, nyah.”

This guy.

His obsession with Churu is pretty serious.

Woo-jin chuckled and took out one Churu for him.

Blackie smiled brightly and began eating the Churu.

Meanwhile, Woo-jin?

He began exploring the Administrator Passage.

“Soil Tilling, Soil Tilling!”

THUD! THUD!

He began shoveling along the path without hesitation.

At its current width and height, it was hard for Woo-jin to pass through, so he was expanding it.

After finishing the Churu, Blackie stared in shock at the “expanding Administrator Passage.”

Something far too absurd was happening.

Naturally, it was not in the manual either, so he could only stand there doing nothing.

The Churu had been delicious too.

“Soil Tilling!”

THUD!

As he kept moving like that.

A wooden door appeared before Woo-jin’s eyes.

He expanded the passage toward it while shoveling.

It had 98th Floor written on it.