I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

[Quest Complete.]
[You have achieved an impossible feat.]
[Reward increased.]
“Reward increased…”
I blankly read the message.

I’d never cleared the tutorial before, so I had no idea what kind of reward I was supposed to get.
There was even a message saying the reward had been increased for achieving an “impossible feat.”
Impossible feat?

That phrase made a scene replay in my head.
The grotesque creature in a doctor’s gown whose head had exploded from the rock I threw.
Yeah. Without cheat mode, that would’ve definitely been impossible.

[Reward granted.]
[Check your status window.]
“…Status window?”
The moment I spoke, a translucent window popped up in front of me.

[Name: Kim Minjun]
[Stats: Strength 5, Intelligence 7, Agility 5]
[Skills: Cheat Mode, Weak Spot Detection Lv. 1]
It was a simpler status window than I expected.
Was this Weak Spot Detection skill the reward?

“…”
Why would they give me such an offensive skill when I didn’t even plan on fighting?
I just ended up with a useless skill.

I stood before the hospital’s front entrance.
The rusted glass doors barely budged, but I shoved them open with force.
Creeeaaaak—
The door opened with a loud screech.

If the doctor monster had still been alive, that sound alone would've sent it charging at me from behind.
A cold, damp night breeze rushed in.
“This fucking…”

Why did it have to be nighttime again?
I hesitated at the thought of going outside, but it still seemed better than staying inside the hospital.
As I stepped outside, it felt like the crushing weight pressing down on me had lifted.

Even the dim street lined with dead streetlights felt like a sanctuary compared to that hospital.
Just in case, I opened the map again.
“…Nothing… whew…”

Guess even this game has some conscience—there were no red dots on the map.
Yeah. If monsters like that roamed around everywhere, it wouldn’t even be a game anymore.
I only relaxed for a moment before I found myself walking blankly down the street ahead.

No destination…
I was too scared of the dark, so I just walked toward wherever the streetlights were on.
And then—

[Head home.]
“…So I do have a home.”
Just seeing the word home gave me some comfort.

Even the most soulless horror game would make home a safe zone, right?
Just like I’d been doing so far, I followed the streetlights.
I couldn’t say for sure it was the right move, but it felt like the right thing to do.

It’s not that I was scared of the dark, or of empty shops, or graffiti-covered walls with creepy drawings.
I just liked well-lit roads, that’s all.
Still gripping the flashlight tightly, I walked until I came upon an apartment building.

The moment I stood in front of the one that drew me in, the quest was completed.
[Quest complete.]
[Reward granted.]
I felt something heavy in my pocket. When I reached in, I found a wallet, a smartphone, and a set of house keys.

On the key was the number 201.
“…”
I grabbed the key, went up to the second floor, and inserted it into the door labeled 201.

Click.
With a satisfying sound, the door opened—
And revealed a surprisingly ordinary home.

A one-room studio with a bed, a computer, and a kitchen that featured a prominently displayed aluminum pot.
“Phew…”
Only now did I finally relax.

Who knew something so normal could feel so precious?
The electricity worked. The water ran just fine.
I turned on the hot water and, like I was possessed, stepped into the shower.

I washed away the foul stench of antiseptic and blood from the hospital—and along with it, the trauma.
“Phew…”
I changed clothes, opened the fridge, and made myself something to eat.

It wasn’t anything fancy—there were eggs, so I fried them and made soy sauce egg rice.
After warming my body and eating, the emotions I’d been holding back surged to the surface.
“Fuck…”

What did I even do to deserve this?
It’s not like I wrote some angry review trashing the game out of spite. I didn’t even slaughter dozens of monsters while playing.
So why the hell did I get possessed and thrown into this mess?

It made me feel so unfairly treated.
Sure, I had activated cheat mode—
But that was the only desperate move a coward like me could make.

If they were going to possess someone, they should’ve possessed the asshole who made the cheat mod.
“Ugh…”
I shoved spoonfuls of tear-soaked soy sauce egg rice into my mouth and finally began to calm down.

And then, I came to a conclusion.
I need information…
What kind of world is this? What was that hospital? What are those aberrations?

I remembered the computer I’d seen earlier.
Booted it up—thank god, it still worked. Even the internet was connected.
I opened a news site, but… the articles were kind of like the real world, and kind of not.

There were stories about mysterious disappearances and disasters.
But all of them seemed to skirt around something essential.
I changed my search keywords and tried “aberration,” “Tale of Aberrations,” and similar phrases.

And then, one website appeared.
[Aberration Gallery]
“Gallery?”

I hesitated, then clicked the link.
A crude, old-style forum interface appeared—one I vaguely remembered from looking up game guides.
Fuck, another one to add to the blacklist...

Why the hell doesn’t this place filter out aberration posts?
Updated aberration info (ver 1.7)
Sorry but seriously… can someone help me

I wanna move too…
Unlike the news, this site was directly talking about aberrations.
It felt like the kind of place that might actually have the information I was looking for.

I slowly began reading through the posts in the Aberration Gallery.
The more I read, the more I both learned—and despaired.
There weren’t just doctor or nurse aberrations—this world had all kinds.

Some couldn’t even be harmed with physical attacks.
Some could disguise themselves as humans and mimic voices.
“…Ugh…”

Just imagining it gave me chills.
From now on, I’d probably be suspicious of everyone I met.
There were also a few posts that caught my interest.

[I wanna move too…]
Aberrations barely show up around Seoul. I wanna grind my ass off and live in a studio there too…
Seoul rent prices are an urban legend lol
ㄴ fr, maybe I should try joining one of the companies that research aberrations
ㄴ That’s just suicide, bro lol
ㄴ But honestly, there’s no other way.

“There’s a place where aberrations barely show up…?”
That really caught my attention.
Sure, the best outcome would be going back to the real world—but I had no idea how to do that yet.

For now, having a goal like “move to Seoul” felt more realistic than anything else.
“Seoul…”
Even in a world swarming with monsters, in the end—it was still about money.

I searched the internet for companies that researched aberrations, like they mentioned in the comments.
More names than I expected popped up one after another.
Some of them were apparently considered major corporations in this world.

“Starting salary: 800,000 won a month. Daily pay: 300,000 won.”
Looking at that suspiciously high pay, I checked what the job actually entailed.
[Duties]

Investigate aberrations and abnormal zones
Manage aberrations
Test manuals

Play ball with aberrations
“…Play ball?”
Anyway, any job with unusually high pay was obviously some sketchy aberration-related work.

“Huh?”
That’s when a different job caught my eye.
[Simple loading and unloading]
[Requirements: Physically healthy person]

“Moving stuff?”
It was exactly that.
Once the exploration team secured a monster zone, your job was to transport items out of it.

You had to move a lot of stuff, so it was physically demanding—but there were no strict qualifications, and it explicitly said aberration encounters were rare.
Sure, it was a job ad, so I couldn’t take it at face value—but compared to the others, it sounded way better.
“…Maybe I’ll try it once?”

Now that I had a goal—get a place in Seoul—I felt a little more motivated.
***
…Should I go back?

“Okay, everyone gather up here. Once those guys in suits come out, just follow them, alright?”
A man in work clothes—he looked like a site foreman—shouted like he was at a construction site.
Getting hired the same day as the interview… was this really one of those major companies?

Even a small business wouldn’t treat people like this.
They said this counted as the “final interview,” but honestly—I wasn’t so sure.
“Why are we in front of a hotel…?”
“Wait, is this a haunted hotel or something? Isn’t this place famous?”

I was sitting at the entrance of a hotel, wearing a yellow safety helmet, surrounded by other interviewees.
Guests entering the hotel gave us weird looks as they walked past.
Everyone else had a similar “what the hell is going on” expression as they glanced around.

There were all kinds of people.
Nervous-looking college students, desperate types, and even some rough-looking middle-aged men.
How long had we waited?

Finally, sharply dressed men in suits began to emerge from the revolving door of the hotel.
Big guys who looked like bodyguards looked us over and gestured.
“Alright! Up on your ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) feet! Let’s go!”

The man in work clothes called out.
We all glanced at each other and then hesitantly followed the men in black suits into the hotel basement.
There should’ve been a parking garage—but the stairs just kept going down.

“This is kinda long, no?”
“Right? How many basement floors are there…”
The deeper we went, the dimmer the lights got. The air grew thick with dampness.
Eventually, we reached the bottom of the stairs.

And there—
“Whoa…”
“What the hell is this place…?”
Another hotel lobby.

It looked just like the one aboveground, but more elegant, almost vintage—yet perfectly maintained.
As we stood there, bewildered, a translucent message window appeared in front of our eyes.
[Earn the required amount to escape.]
[0 / 20,000]

The moment I turned around after reading it—
The stairs we’d come down had vanished.