Holding the Leash
Mu-saeng was thoroughly caught off guard.
"[Isn't that female from back then over there? Luminous (SR).]"
Wahsh adjusted his black horn-rimmed glasses as he spoke. At the same time, a sudden prickle of heat flared at the corners of Mu-saeng's eyes, and in the next heartbeat, she came into plain view: Geum Soo-ah's flustered face and her wide, trembling pupils.
The instant their gazes locked, Mu-saeng had to fight every instinct to keep his composure intact. Looking away would be awkward, yet openly acting surprised would forfeit the upper hand. All he could do was hold a deadpan mask.
Geum Soo-ah? Since when? Out of all people, why her!
He had already broken into a cold sweat during the "Floor 67 Negligence Incident." Even though he had narrowly talked his way through it, that had been one of the most nerve-racking moments in his thirteen years as a dungeon sherpa. And now, she had caught him red-handed in a situation like this?
I shouldn't have commanded the snakes to attack just One Way personnel. I should've told them to target everyone except me... If she'd gotten bitten, at least I could've played the hero and pretended to rescue her.
Commanding serpents through Sreyken's Tongue (S) required nothing more than a stray thought. It was such an overwhelming, potent authority that he had deliberately narrowed the targeting parameters, wary that the vipers might do something bizarre like lunge at Wahsh. How could he have anticipated an uninvited third party slipping into the fray?
She was staring at him. And he was staring right back.
No, wait. Maybe this works out better...
In that regard, Mu-saeng's instincts were spot on. He understood with absolute clarity who held the initiative right now—and who was the more shaken between the two of them.
In truth, "flustered" didn't begin to describe what Geum Soo-ah was feeling. Mu-saeng's gaze was locked dead onto her eyes.
This makes no sense. How...? I told myself not to panic, but this is insane...
Her awakened ability governed light. It didn't merely mask her presence; it bent light itself. She literally erased her physical form from an observer's sight. He shouldn't be able to see her. He couldn't see her. Even S-rank Awakeners specializing in reconnaissance, tracking, and detection tore their hair out trying to pinpoint her location. So how on earth could he?!
No, stop analyzing. That's not the real problem here.
How he had seen through her didn't matter anymore. Mu-saeng had spotted her plain as day. What mattered now was her own standing and posture.
This man was an enigma—someone every instinct warned her never to make an enemy of. More than that, she had already concluded he was an asset she had to recruit as an ally at all costs. She could not afford to leave a bad impression on him.
Every calculation in Geum Soo-ah's mind converged on that single objective. Dispelling her cloaking immediately, she offered a smile as radiant as her immaculate white suit.
"Hello, Sherpa Kim Mu-saeng."
Mu-saeng deflected her greeting with a dry retort. "I figured word would get around that I checked out of the hotel... but I hardly expected you to tail me all the way into a dungeon. And the exact same dungeon, no less."
He had known what was happening when they provided the luxury suite, and he had noticed the tail the moment he stepped outside. He had merely been caught off guard by just how fast she moved. He was subtly calling her out: So it wasn't protection, but surveillance after all?
Geum Soo-ah flinched, her composure slipping.
"I-it's not like I had any ill intentions! It was more like... well, I was worried One Way's agents might try to harm you, so I hurried in after you."
Her words weren't a total lie. She simply hadn't mentioned her ulterior motive of gauging his capabilities and confirming what artifacts he possessed. She truly had intended to shield him from One Way, but...
At this point, that excuse held no water.
"While cloaked in stealth?" Mu-saeng countered smoothly. "When a single Solar Beam from you could vaporize an entire sector of the 22nd Dungeon?"
Thirteen years as a dungeon sherpa meant he knew the combat styles and signature techniques of every high-profile Awakener like the back of his hand. If Geum Soo-ah had truly entered the dungeon to defend him—if she had intended to engage One Way Group—the skirmish would have been settled in six seconds flat.
"Th-that's... well, b-because other people—like you, Sherpa Kim—might get caught in the collateral damage! I couldn't just unleash wide-area skills like that... And Solar Beam isn't even my name for it! Officially, it's the Single-Point Concentrated Photon Cannon, but people on the internet recklessly threw that around... A-anyway. Yes."
Luminous (SR) was not the sort of petty skill meant for sneaking around to assassinate targets. Its core function was devastating area-of-effect destruction. Seeing Geum Soo-ah stammer in acute embarrassment, Mu-saeng let out a quiet chuckle.
...To be fair, it was also the most impressive video I ever watched on NewTube.
Back when he only had the useless Transmit (X) before Wahsh arrived, her apocalyptic firepower had been among the awakened abilities he envied and coveted the most. Regardless, he undeniably held the upper hand now. Their brief exchange proved she had no intention of acting haughty or coercive. In that case, since things had turned out this way...
"Well, since you came all this way to help, would you mind lending a hand with the cleanup?"
"Pardon? Cleanup? With what?"
"We need to haul those things outside. You've got some muscle, right?"
Those things.
Mu-saeng pointed toward the thirty-one paralyzed bodies lying in neat rows across the damp ground. She was supposed to haul all of them out of the dungeon one by one in that condition? As Geum Soo-ah blinked her wide eyes in disbelief, Mu-saeng turned on his heel and walked toward the gate.
"I'll wait outside. You just chuck them through one after another."
"Huh? What? Wait a second, excuse me?!"
Mu-saeng vanished into the rippling sheen of the portal. Geum Soo-ah stood frozen in complete bewilderment.
"...What on earth just happened?"
Yet there was nothing else she could do. Following Mu-saeng's instructions, she began grabbing grown men and heaving them through the gate like sacks of grain—whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Just as Mu-saeng had guessed, she had plenty of muscle to spare.
Jang Hagook sprang from his seat and grabbed his smartphone. A video call. The caller ID read Park Dohyun. A triumphant grin spread across his face as he tapped the screen to answer.
"How did it go?! Did you catch—... Huh?"
He had expected to see Kim Mu-saeng beaten to a bloody pulp. He had hoped for a victorious Park Dohyun brandishing the antivenom. Instead...
"...Kim Mu-saeng?"
Those delusions shattered into dust the moment Mu-saeng's pristine, unblemished face appeared on the screen.
Mu-saeng casually tilted the phone camera downward. Even in the dim light, the scene was unmistakably clear: thirty-one agents, stripped of their weapons and bound tightly hand and foot.
"This... this is impossible."
Jang Hagook's mind raced, trying to make sense of the situation. This wasn't a police station. Had Geumseong intervened?
"Chief Secretary Jang Hagook?"
Before he could sort through the chaos, Mu-saeng's voice pulled him back. Jang Hagook cleared his throat, trying desperately to inject authority into his trembling voice.
"K-khem! What is this...? What the hell did you do, you bastard?"
Mu-saeng wasn't about to let that blatant panic slip by.
"Four Awakeners above the 30th floor."
"Wh-what? How do you—"
"Eleven in the mid-to-high 20s. Even for Korea One Way Group, losing fifteen elites like this would deal quite a blow, wouldn't it?" Mu-saeng asked with an amused smile.
Jang Hagook's brow twitched violently. He might be stuck babysitting and cleaning up Lee Eunwoo's messes, but he had clawed his way up to Chief Secretary through sheer political cunning and sharp wits.
"...Do you think One Way is that soft? We will hunt you to the ends of the earth and—"
"Not One Way," Mu-saeng cut in coldly. "I'm talking about you, Jang Hagook."
And Mu-saeng knew his man all too well.
What was the most important thing when working as a dungeon sherpa? Knowing the terrain inside a dungeon, the mechanics of each Tower floor, the synchronized conditions between the Tower and dungeon gates—those were baseline fundamentals. What mattered just as much, if not more, was information from the outside world: industry trends, client dossiers, guild gossip, who backed whom, how personal relationships were tangled, and whether a client might stab you in the back inside the dungeon. A sherpa had to catch every whisper of reputation, every scrap of rumor.
"You crawled up from the very gutter to get where you are. You wouldn't want to lose your seat now, would you?"
Mu-saeng knew. He knew Jang Hagook, the secretary assigned to Lee Eunwoo, was exceptionally capable. Though his personal climbing record stalled around Floor 25, he had sharp instincts and political acumen that allowed him to ride the right coattails and become the mentor and right-hand aide to the heir of Korea One Way Group.
"Y-you..."
"Actually, it won't stop at just losing your job, will it? If thirty-one operatives of Korea One Way Group—nearly your entire first-string lineup—are wiped out because of your mistake... Well, knowing Chairman Lee Jung-ki's temper, what kind of punishment do you think awaits you?"
Mu-saeng had researched everything about Jang Hagook and Korea One Way Group long before Lee Eunwoo ever hired him. In short, faced with the tipped scales of power, there was nothing Jang Hagook could do.
Jang Hagook trembled uncontrollably. Yet, swallowing his surging panic, he forced his mouth open.
"...Wh-what is it that you want, Sherpa Kim Mu-saeng?"
A capable man indeed, Mu-saeng thought, flashing a sharp grin. When dealing with someone who understood reason, everything that followed was simple.
"I'll let you live. You, personally."
"What?"
"This is the antivenom."
Jang Hagook's eyes bulged as Mu-saeng held up a shed fragment of Sreyken's Molt. What was on display wasn't the antivenom for Lee Eunwoo.
"What in the... No, this wouldn't come free. What is it that you want?"
This was Jang Hagook's salvation. The secretary's survival instincts fired on all cylinders, which was precisely what Mu-saeng had aimed for.
How was he going to sever his bad blood with Korea One Way Group? Why hadn't he slaughtered all thirty-one agents? Simple.
"I'll give you the antivenom. In exchange, you will feed me real-time reports on One Way's internal intel, any plans to attack me, and every single move Lee Eunwoo makes. On top of that... hand over all the raid intel on the Tower's 50th floors that One Way has collected. Every scrap of data, every rumor, including Floor 58."
Because there was a far better way. A dungeon sherpa's job was to find the optimal move even in the worst imaginable circumstances. Fastening a leash around One Way Group's neck—that was the supreme move, and Mu-saeng had seen it clearly.
"D-don't screw with me! You want me to commit treason?!"
"The choice is entirely yours, Chief Secretary. Either become my eyes, or have your own gouged out. Though knowing Chairman Lee Jung-ki, he won't stop at merely gouging out your eyes."
Jang Hagook couldn't even summon the courage to lash out. After a suffocating silence, he finally squeezed out an excuse.
"Even so, your demand is impossible. Korea One Way is still pushing through the 40th floors. We don't have intel on the 50th floors to begin with—"
"Oh? Did you hear me say 'Korea One Way'? I said One Way. Sure, Korea One Way is in the 40s, but I'm well aware Thailand One Way reached Floor 60 not long ago. Vietnam One Way is attempting to breach Floor 59 as we speak. As the chief secretary assigned to the Korean branch's sole heir, it's an open secret that you have top-secret clearance to shared corporate network archives... Let's not waste each other's time, shall we?"
Mu-saeng cut him off without mercy. Korea One Way was merely a mid-tier domestic guild, but it belonged to an international conglomerate sharing brand licensing and data networks. There was no way Mu-saeng wouldn't keep tabs on the movements of One Way Group, which held immense sway across Southeast Asia.
The instant those words fell from Mu-saeng's lips, Jang Hagook's pupils darted wildly. Noticing his panic, Mu-saeng added with courteous venom:
"Oh, and by the way. The moment you try to stab me in the back, this video recording will be delivered straight to Chairman Lee Jung-ki's office. So don't bother playing cheap tricks. Understood?"
If you want to live, you only have one choice.
Jang Hagook's face twisted into an ugly grimace. The outcome had been decided from the very start. This was an opponent he could neither overpower with force nor outmaneuver with cunning.
"...I'll... do it."
Jang Hagook conceded total defeat. Mu-saeng broke into a broad, satisfied grin.
"Excellent. These fellows will wake up in about five hours, so I'll send the antivenom back with them. Oh, and I'll be helping myself to a few of their artifacts, alright? Handle the missing equipment write-offs on your end. You should already have the 50th-floor intel organized to some degree, so send it over right away."
"Wait—what? Hey, hold on—"
Click.
"—You thieving gangster bastard!"
Screaming at a dead call changed nothing. His collar was firmly gripped in Kim Mu-saeng's fist.
After panting in rage for several long minutes, Jang Hagook finally regained his breath.
I do have files compiled on the 50th floors, but... why did he specifically single out Floor 58?
Only now did the request strike him as peculiar, but that was as far as his thoughts could reach. There was nothing more Jang Hagook could possibly deduce. In reality, the climbers in their 30s like Park Dohyun represented Korea One Way's true core vanguard. He could not allow them to be "discarded."
Lost gear? Those artifacts were undeniably pricey... but juggling the company ledger to write them off was well within his administrative power.
"Stepped right in dog shit. Dammit all."
In the end, if Jang Hagook wanted to survive, he had no choice but to comply unconditionally with Mu-saeng's demands. It didn't take long for several files to be extracted and transmitted from One Way Group's Class-1 Classified shared drive. After meticulously scrubbing and falsifying his access logs, Jang Hagook slumped back and let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
And what of Mu-saeng?
There was no longer any need to return to the Geumseong Group hotel. Sitting at his own computer in the comfort of his home, he rapidly skimmed through the documents Jang Hagook had sent.
Then...
His finger froze on the scroll wheel.
"...Wahsh. Is this... Ye-rin?"
Mu-saeng asked, his gaze fixed on the lines of text glowing on his monitor.