I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

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“Ugh…”

My back hurt.
No—every time my mind began to clear, it wasn’t just my back. My entire body felt sore and heavy.
I could’ve sworn I was just about to start the game, when something flashed before my eyes and I lost consciousness.

Retracing my memory, I slowly sat up.
“…Where… is this…”
The sight that greeted me made my breath catch.

A filthy, decrepit hospital room filled my vision.
The wallpaper was peeling, and even the intact walls were smeared with bloody handprints.
The air was cold and damp. A rancid mix of antiseptic and the metallic stench of blood filled my nose.

And I was lying on the floor in the middle of that nightmare.
It looked like an abandoned, shut-down hospital.
“N-no way…”

Just this scenery alone was enough to make me faint, but that wasn’t why my mind had gone blank.
I held my breath and looked behind me.
If what I was thinking was right—

“There it is…”
Just as I’d feared, a flashlight lay behind me.
No doubt about it.

This was without a shred of doubt the opening scene from the game I’d been playing—Tale of Aberrations.
The first place the protagonist opens his eyes: the abandoned hospital room.
A scene I’d seen dozens of times on a screen.
Then, a translucent message window appeared in front of my eyes.

[Escape the hospital.]
The cold truth had just announced itself—I was inside the game.
Why now… why this…

Of all the countless times I’d played games—hundreds, maybe thousands—why did this happen now, and with this game?
A sense of injustice washed over me. But even more overwhelming was the fear—because I knew what was coming next.
My limbs turned ice cold, and my heart pounded like it was going to explode.

The hand holding the flashlight trembled violently.
Creeeeak—
“…”

From the other end of the hallway came the sound of an old iron door opening.
And then… the dragging of something heavy.
There was no mistaking it.

The game’s first monster: the Nurse.
“She… she’s coming…!”
I frantically looked around and tried to crawl under the bed.

But this was reality—not the game.
My body was paralyzed with fear and refused to move as I wanted. The space under the bed was far narrower than I remembered.
Clatter!

The hospital room door burst open, and finally, it appeared.
That monster—the Nurse—had her neck sliced clean off.
Wearing a tattered nurse’s uniform, the headless corpse moved like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

In one hand, it gripped a rusted scalpel. The other hand groped blindly at the wall and empty air as it approached.
Headless, the aberration couldn’t see or hear—but the moment it touched me, it’d be over.
“D-don’t come any closer!”

I backed away, praying it wouldn’t make it all the way to me.
My back hit the wall, but the nurse didn’t stop—she kept slowly advancing.
“I have to move… I have to move… please…”

I clenched both fists and struck my frozen thighs.
I had to run. Now.
The nurse was blocking the way, but—

Even if it meant getting stabbed once, I had to brush past her.
“Aaaaaargh!!”
Summoning every ounce of courage, I shut my eyes tight and charged straight at the nurse!

Expecting the sharp scalpel to pierce me with unbearable pain, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
…But nothing happened.
Instead, there was a loud THWACK! followed by a crashing noise.

Peeking through a squint, I saw the nurse monster sprawled on the far side of the room.
She twitched faintly, as if barely conscious.
“…Huh?”

Did… did I send her flying?
I stared blankly at the scene.
The nurse flailed for a bit as if trying to get up, then collapsed like a deflated balloon.

“Is… is she dea—”
I almost said it out loud, but caught myself mid-sentence.
I was scared that saying something would jinx it and make her spring back up.

Just in case, I picked up the scalpel she’d dropped and quickly slipped out of the room.
I did not want to be in the same space as that thing.
“But how… how did she…”

Get knocked back by just a body slam?
Technically, Tale of Aberrations was a horror game, but it was possible to fight back against the monsters.
Only under one condition, though: if the holy trinity of items, strategies, and stats aligned.

And then it hit me—like lightning in my head.
“The cheat… the cheat mode!”
The cheat mod I’d activated before starting the game.

One of its features was the absurd “All stats x100” option.
“Then that means…”
As a test, I grabbed the nearest doorknob and gave it a firm squeeze.

Crunch—
The iron doorknob groaned and warped, crushed into the shape of my fingers.
“…It’s real…”

No wonder the monster got knocked back like that.
Knowing the cheat mode was active gave me a little relief—but still, the atmosphere of this hospital chilled me to the bone.
And this was still just the tutorial.

I’d never even escaped this hospital before.
Something far more terrifying than that nurse could be lurking around the halls.
“I-it’s fine… As long as I use all the cheats…”

Muttering to myself for comfort, I pushed ahead with nothing but a flashlight to light the pitch-black hospital.
My voice shook pitifully as I tried to reassure myself.
Crouching low, I moved carefully through the halls.

After passing several rooms, I spotted a staircase.
Beside it, a map of the hospital was posted on the wall.
“Third floor right now… If I go down just two more…”

I peered down the stairs.
Call it a gut feeling, but—
A creeping, ominous energy was wafting up from below.

There were other cheats…
I racked my brain, trying to remember the rest of the cheat mod’s features.
Stats, stealth, and—the one that showed enemy locations.

Right. The map!
In the game, pressing ‘M’ would pull up the map. When I visualized it in my head, the display actually appeared.
A translucent overlay stretched before my eyes, just like in the game.

Hospital layout—and red dots.
There aren’t many…
Maybe because it was the tutorial, only one red dot showed per floor.

The dot on the third floor wasn’t moving.
That had to be the nurse I knocked down.
I cautiously descended the stairs, keeping track of the dot’s location.

“Second floor… ah.”
So they weren’t going to let me get out that easily. The way from the second to first floor was blocked by a pile of rubble.
According to the map, the stairs I was on were the central ones—I’d have to use the emergency stairs instead to reach the first floor.

“Ugh…”
Meaning, I had no choice but to roam the second floor.
The smell of blood was even thicker here than on the third.

Just when I’d thought I was getting used to it, the stench hit me again like a wall.
Thanks to the map, I avoided running into any red dots and made it to the emergency stairwell.
But the entrance was blocked by a tightly shut iron door.

Clank. Clank.
I jiggled the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge.
In a horror game, I’d probably have to run around looking for a key—

…What if I just use a little force?
Remembering how I crushed the earlier doorknob, I gave this one a gentle tug—just a little strength.
CRACK!
CRASH!

“….”
The entire door ripped off its hinges and crashed to the floor.
It hadn’t opened easily, so I used a bit more force—and… well.

I smiled awkwardly and leaned the broken door against the hallway wall.
I could see the stairs leading to the first floor now. I checked the map and started down carefully.
One red dot stood still near the main entrance.

Looked like the kind of monster I’d have to confront to get out.
…Please, let it be something weak. Like the nurse…
I crouched down, peeked at the dot’s location from cover, and looked into the first-floor lobby.

A wide-open space, tall ceilings, shattered glass scattered across the floor—
And something wearing a doctor’s gown.
“…What the hell is that…”

It had to be over two meters tall.
An emaciated frame wearing a blood-soaked doctor’s coat, face hidden by a shredded surgical mask.
In its hand was an unreasonably massive bone saw.

“Ugh…”
Just looking at it crushed any desire to fight.
“…No, wait.”

There was no need to fight it.
The nurse wasn’t meant to be fought either.
This was the tutorial.

The intended strategy was to hide, avoid detection, and escape.
But if it’s standing guard [N O V E L I G H T] at the exit—huh?
That’s when I noticed something.

Large rocks—unnaturally large—scattered across the floor.
My mind immediately jumped to a few games I knew.
In those, you could throw rocks to make noise and lure enemies away.

Was this a tutorial meant to teach that?
“…Alright.”
I crawled across the floor, careful not to make a sound, and picked up a rock.

I aimed for a spot behind the doctor—away from the exit—and tossed the rock.
“…Ah.”
Whizz—!

But thanks to my terrible aim and poor strength control, the rock flew straight at the doctor.
It hit the monster’s head dead-on.
SPLAT!

Like it had been shot with a shotgun, the doctor’s head exploded.
Its body crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
“…Okay.”

Acting like I’d totally meant to do that, I clenched both fists and strode toward the main entrance.
[Quest Complete.]
[You have achieved an impossible feat.]
[Reward increased.]