Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Director - 4
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There was no more information to extract from Park Sua about the Director.
If possible, he had wanted to dig into the footage captured by her cameras, but she had neither seen nor heard anything about that.
Instead, the Director was waiting at the entrance to the inn.
"Have you heard everything you needed from Sua? It ended quicker than I expected."
"……."
"If the drinks had been any later, we might have missed each other."
Seo Ji-woo ostentatiously shook the half-drunk red potion in front of him.
It seemed he had bought another glass of the same flavor in the meantime, finding it to his taste.
His tone suggested he had already anticipated Park Sua spilling her information so readily.
"Now we can finally have a proper conversation."
Did he want Park Sua out of the discussion?
Satisfaction radiated from the Director's expression as things unfolded according to plan.
Yeah, that's more like it.
To the Director, 'Amelia' was his most valuable card.
Her overwhelming popularity directly translated to attention focused on the entire Tower.
Her signature firepower-based magic was perfect for delivering visually stunning spectacles.
With no physical flaws to speak of, her character was completed with flashy witch attire that highlighted her uniqueness.
Her playful, somewhat instinctive personality had always been tempered to appear mature and serious in the public eye.
Her leadership guiding the Crimson Flame Guild and the prestige befitting the top rank.
They curated only her ideal image, excising the rest for the footage.
This approach made it easiest to package escapes as adventures.
"How about we try some actual negotiation?"
The Director had no intention of giving up Amelia so easily.
Her goals weren't so easily shaken.
If a few words would have convinced her to let Sua go, she wouldn't have come to the first floor in the first place.
If Amelia stopped appearing in his videos, unverified rumors about the vanished Guild Master would spread.
The Director wanted to show the outside world that those living in the Tower were thriving more glamorously than reality.
The nonsense comments under footage without Amelia would become a major headache for her objectives.
He'd want to maneuver Sua back into the starring role by any means necessary.
"What do you think you can gain from me?"
"Right now, you should be thinking about what you'll lose, not gain. Don't you know what's on the negotiation table?"
He tapped the camera with his finger.
Negotiation? More like he planned to blackmail with the saved footage.
"Picked up something useful in there, have you?"
"To shift interest away from Amelia, you need a distraction elsewhere. Wouldn't a Regressor pique everyone's curiosity?"
"……."
"For your information, smashing the camera won't help. As you probably know, broadcasting is a trait. It can send out recorded footage just fine without the camera."
The device was packed with material that could shatter his peaceful daily life.
Once word spread that a Regressor was lingering on the first floor, attention on him would skyrocket beyond comparison.
"You don't want that either, do you? Wasn't it exhausting when the Guild Masters kept coming around with offers?"
He had experience and know-how conquering not just the 61st floor, but hundreds more beyond.
If that valuable fact became public knowledge, it wouldn't end with a few days of annoyance.
"You've put quite a bit of thought into this."
"I'm not the type to act without thinking. Climbers in the Tower tend to develop this personality, don't they?"
"The moment I regress, new footage unlike anything before would record on your camera. If negotiations fail, you'd spread it immediately?"
"You catch on quick."
Seo Ji-woo had anticipated this scenario from the moment he descended to the first floor.
In case he couldn't persuade the abruptly retired Sua with words, he planned to leverage him.
He even had a counter ready for regression.
Even if he returned to a point before remembering this plan, that plan itself might be captured on video.
"No footage or leaks about me—including regression—in exchange for compensation. Something like that?"
For a 60th-floor strategy, it wasn't bad.
"What you want most is for Sua to resume activities as Amelia, right?"
"Well, that would be the best outcome if possible."
"Of course it's possible. The Tower is full of mind-manipulation items. And I know how to obtain them."
"……."
"You don't really want to puppet Sua like a marionette, do you? Even if you did, I wouldn't help with that."
Seo Ji-woo was a Director, but an adventurer first.
Not the same faction, but there was camaraderie.
Even if her Director priorities dominated most decisions, she didn't want to treat Sua like an object.
"There are simple memory-wipe items, but I think there's a better way."
"Don't stop—keep explaining. No teasing."
"If there's no Amelia, just replace her with a substitute. Like how you'd spread my footage if things go south."
What was the root problem here?
On the surface, it was Sua learning about regression, but deeper down, it was over-reliance on Amelia in the videos.
"Even without this mess, Sua could die while conquering the Tower."
"Amelia disappearing was inevitable someday?"
"Focusing interest on one person means a huge blow when they're gone."
This method would inevitably steer the Tower's perception in a direction the Director didn't want.
"I'm not oblivious to that. But no other guild has the Crimson Flame Guild's reach. They need to conquer up to 60 first, and 61 would take ages."
The Crimson Flame Guild, with its leadership change, had no choice but to postpone 61st-floor.
Other guilds suitable for filming would have to wait ages for the next episode.
"We have to center on the strongest guild. It's natural for the Guild Master to appear frequently."
"Never thought of helping other guilds directly? Your camera must have plenty of reference footage."
"I got plenty of inspiration. Especially the idea of guilds and adventurers dividing into factions and competing—that came from there."
This time, without even touching the adventurer alliance, guilds had naturally formed because the Director had manipulated events from behind the scenes.
"But not all footage is released. Videos from the 60th floor weren't viewable until we conquered it."
That was why Seo Ji-woo hadn't known the Tower spanned at least hundreds of floors.
His camera had captured many scenes over repeated cycles, but only up to 60th-floor recordings were accessible for now.
"You have no idea what's on 61 or 70?"
"……."
"I'll tell you. Whether it's 61 or 70."
Having lost the strongest card in Amelia, he just needed to build up others to match her scale.
"Manage your guilds as you like. Leak info to underperformers, pit them in competition, make situations more dramatic."
"That won't quietly bury Amelia's disappearance."
"It's to divert attention as much as possible. If another guild pulls off the first 61st-floor clear, no one would bat an eye at the Crimson Flame Guild's absence."
Amelia's fans would keep questioning, but repeatedly featuring other guilds and boosting interest in unexpected high-rankers could suppress it maximally.
Public opinion is ultimately decided by the majority, and the adventurer poster child could simply be swapped out.
"I can even share easier ways to clear already-conquered floors. Not a bad deal, right?"
"Well, not bad."
The Director wanted the outside world even more captivated by the Tower, perceiving it as an ideal realm.
If she could steer future developments freely, nothing could better achieve her goals.
"I'll wrap up what I need to prepare and come back down. Right now, with the Moonlight Guild rivalry, summarize 59, 60, and 61."
The first negotiation concluded like this.
I immediately launched the second.
"Sit."
"Why? More to say?"
"What's on the table this time is my right not to smash your camera."
Seo Ji-woo's expression hardened.
"Isn't that settled? I thought it was straightforward."
"I understood perfectly. Even if smashed, you can still upload the footage."
As Seo Ji-woo said, climbers in the Tower become calculating and meticulous.
But after countless ascents, they become the type who won't just take it lying down.
The first negotiation was imbalanced, but her threat-not-threat made it viable.
In truth, revealing another's trait wasn't a strong threat.
Rien had disclosed hers without caution, and vaguely sensing others' traits happened often while climbing.
Here, it worked because it threatened her life's purpose.
Adventurers climbing the Tower held no interest for him; he wanted peaceful village life.
Knowing an opponent's ultimate desire made leveraging it simple.
"If the camera breaks, you'll bundle and spread all the regression evidence as you said. My desired life would grind to a halt."
"Someone who knows that—"
"Then what?"
I knew what Seo Ji-woo desired in life.
Naturally, I knew how to ruin it too.
"Unable to film anything more, you couldn't send even news to the outside, let alone videos."
"……."
"You seem to have more to lose than me?"
For a 60th-floor strategy, not bad.
"……I can just remake a filming device."
"You think I'd sit idle seeing that? I could loop back to the past repeatedly, preempting your plans."
Deep down, he didn't want that scenario.
Better for both to gain what they could and avoid losses than mutual destruction.
The threat just needed to show how ugly he could get—the possibility sufficed.
It wouldn't actually happen.
"If you ruin my life, I'll smash your camera. If you refuse my negotiation, I'll smash it anyway. Repeatedly."
Staying in the tutorial village now, regression was useless anyway.
But if the opponent believed it possible, it worked as a threat regardless of fact.
"If that's the case, you didn't need to agree to my negotiation. Why bother…"
"Wouldn't it be nice if we could both benefit?"
Seo Ji-woo had no choice but to yield to the second negotiation.
We each held weapons to destroy the other, ready to strike the moment one fell.
No one wanted their life ruined.
Thus, neither could ruin the other's.
"What I want is three things."
In the end, the scales balanced once more.