Route leaking on R13 and R9 is required so the Level 1 area can make a better exit decision toward the server. In an IS-IS hierarchy, Level 1 routers know detailed topology only inside their own area. For destinations outside the area, they normally follow the closest attached Level 1/Level 2 router, which can produce suboptimal latency when another exit has a better end-to-end path. Route leaking selectively injects more specific Level 2 reachability information into Level 1, allowing routers in the New Office area to evaluate a better path instead of blindly following the nearest attached-bit exit. Changing metric style on R8 alone does not import the external-area route information needed for better path selection. A static route could force a path but would not be a scalable dynamic IS-IS design. Making R8 Level 1/Level 2 does not solve the need to expose the relevant route through the correct area boundary. Reference topics: IS-IS Level 1 and Level 2, attached bit, route leaking, interarea optimization, latency-aware routing.