I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

“T-the stairs are gone!”
“What the hell is this?!”
The surroundings erupted into chaos.

Once people realized the staircase we came down had vanished, they panicked—rushing to touch the space that was now just a solid wall.
“Alright, alright! Don’t be scared!”
As the noise escalated, the man in the work uniform tried to calm everyone down.

“Look, the exploration team’s here too, so just follow their lead—”
But the man in work clothes couldn’t finish his sentence.
Even the men in suits—supposedly from the so-called exploration team that we’d placed our faith in—were clearly panicking, whispering urgently among themselves.

“What the hell is going on?!”
“B-but there definitely weren’t any aberrations...!”
“…Shit. Fuck, we’re screwed…”
Finally, even the man in work clothes cursed under his breath.

Honestly, I felt the same—I wanted to curse right along with him.
I’d only come to this interview because they said the chance of running into an aberration was low.
This wasn’t even my first day on the job—it was just the damn interview—and this was happening.

“…Um, what’s that?”
At that moment, one of the interviewees, a middle-aged woman, cautiously raised her hand and asked.
As everyone’s attention turned to her, she pointed toward one side of the lobby.

There, a large hole was visible, and above it was a number.
[0 / 20,000]
“What’s that number…?”
“…”

Most people didn’t seem to understand it, but I had a hunch.
The quest message I’d seen earlier:
[Earn the required amount to escape.]
If I combined that quest message with this hole—

A few horror games came to mind.
Games where you scavenge items in terrifying environments, calculate their worth, and escape.
I had a feeling this was going to work the same way.

“What about the other exploration teams?”
“We can’t reach them…”
“Goddammit…!”
While the so-called professionals were panicking too, one man finally snapped and stood up.
“Aren’t we better off doing something than sitting here? Shouldn’t we at least check out the hotel front desk or something?”

He was a rough-looking guy—I remembered his face.
Some people agreed with him, but many were still too terrified to make a move.
“Th-the stairs might come back.”
“Yeah… what if we wander off and bump into one of those things…”

Opinions were split, and the decision was slowly shifting to the exploration team when the university student—clearly the most frightened one here—pointed shakily toward the far side of the hotel entrance.
“D-do you see that?”
He was pointing at the reception desk near the hotel’s front doors.

On top of the desk was a single sheet of paper.
“…I’ll go.”
One of the exploration team members, sensing something, crouched low and carefully approached, retrieving the paper and returning.

The paper read: “Hotel Guide.”
Swallowing dryly, he began reading it aloud for everyone.
“According to this guide… there are items marked with a check symbol scattered throughout the underground hotel. We’re supposed to find them and… drop them into that hole—that ‘settlement hole’—and they’ll be converted into points.”

His gaze shifted toward the large hole with the number [0 / 20,000] above it.
The hole was large enough that just about anything could fit through it.
“Once we collect a total of 20,000 points… the missing staircase will reappear, and we’ll be able to escape. And…”

He hesitated.
“…It also says we should avoid encountering ‘hotel staff’ or ‘guests’ who may be present inside.”
‘Hotel staff.’ ‘Guests.’

It was obvious. That was how they were referring to the aberrations.
The guide’s instructions were clear—but also deeply despairing.
In the end, it meant we had to scavenge this potentially aberration-infested hotel for marked items to earn points.

“Are you insane?! You want us to go rummaging through that monster den?!”
“Isn’t there another way? Do they have to be marked items? This watch of mine’s expensive!”
The crowd was thrown into confusion once again.
But this time, something was different.

With a clear goal and method laid out, some people’s expressions began to change.
Their survival instincts were starting to take hold.
“Fuck this! You all wanna stay here forever?! What other plan do you think we have?! This your first time seeing an aberration?!”

The man in work clothes—who’d brought us here—finally lost it, shouting as he stood up.
Everyone turned to look at the exploration team. They, too, offered no better alternative and backed the man’s words.
“…There’s no other way. We’ve tried contacting the outside, but…”

“Dammit! You guys said we wouldn’t run into aberrations!”
“Uuugh… I don’t wanna be here… I wanna go home…”
Everyone’s face was a mix of fear and confusion—no one had any real plan.
It was clear even the professionals were out of options.

Eventually, the consensus shifted: we’d carefully search for items, bit by bit.
Quietly, I reopened the map in my head.
The layout of the underground hotel was surprisingly detailed.

Guest rooms, hallways, a restaurant, even a mechanical area that looked like a boiler room.
A single, long hotel floor stretching horizontally.
And… the red dots were still there.

Aberrations.
Luckily, there were none near the lobby, but several dots were blinking near the guest room corridors.
Item locations aren’t showing… I guess we really do have to search manually.

Still, my strength would help carry or retrieve items.
And having a map that showed where the aberrations were—that was a huge advantage.
Maybe I really could collect points faster than others.

Just then, the man in work clothes raised his voice again.
“…We can’t sit around forever! Let’s split into a few teams and move out.”
It was a practical suggestion, and one of the exploration team members nodded.

Fortunately, the back of the hotel guide had a simple map.
Using it, we divided the hotel into zones and split into groups to search each one.
I tried to stay as low-key as possible, sneaking into a group with the frightened university ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) student and the relatively calm middle-aged woman.

Naturally, since I was the only man in the group, I became the de facto leader.
“We’ll search the hallway starting over there. Let’s keep quiet and stick together.”
My voice was tense as I gave instructions.

And with that, we finally stepped out of the lobby and into the hallway on the hotel’s left wing.
The flashlight beams illuminated the worn carpet and stained wallpaper.
The hallway was unnervingly silent—only our uneasy breathing and cautious footsteps echoed in the stillness.

“Let’s check Room 105 first.”
I whispered as we stopped in front of the nearest door.
Quickly, I checked the map again.

“…Ugh…”
My heart sank.
Just one room over—in Room 106—was a red dot. Unmoving, but unmistakably there.

Shit, it’s right next door…!
I swallowed hard.
Should I say something now? But how would I explain it?

As I hesitated, the middle-aged woman cautiously reached for the doorknob of Room 105.
Creak…
With a skin-crawling sound, the door slowly opened.

Our flashlights swept into the dark room.
The space inside was neatly arranged—expensive-looking furniture and elegant decorations.
But not everything here could be turned in.

Only items with a check mark were eligible for settlement.
“…Be careful.”
I whispered.

The student nodded fearfully, and the middle-aged woman calmly crawled in, shining her light into the corners.
I kept a wary eye on the surroundings while watching the map in my head.
The red dot in 106 hadn’t moved.

Was it one of those types that never leaves its room?
“Hey, could this be it?”
The woman held out an item she’d found on the vanity.

It was a jewelry box with a colorful design.
She carefully lifted it up and showed the bottom.
There, faint but clearly visible, was a green check mark (✓).

“I-I think that’s it.”
“Looks like it.”
Anyone could tell this was the right item.
Our first find.

Even the student and I started to smile in relief.
And that’s when—
Thud!
Creeeaaak—!

A heavy sound came from Room 106, followed by the creak of a door opening.
“…Mm!”
The three of us froze in place.

My heart pounded up into my throat.
Since the hotel was divided by search groups, if we hadn’t made the noise…
That meant only one thing had.

An aberration.
The student swallowed her scream.
I had expected this, so I forced my frozen body to move and quietly shut the door.

Click. The lock turned.
I held up a finger, signaling them to stay quiet.
They both nodded, covering their mouths with their hands.

Thump… Thump…
Slow, heavy footsteps passed from 106 into the hallway.
Thump.

And stopped in front of Room 105.
“…H… Housekeeping… here…”
Clack, clack!
Bang! Bang! Bang!

The doorknob rattled violently. Something started pounding on the door.
Thanks to the lock, it couldn’t get in—for now.
That’s when a terrifying thought crossed my mind.

“…Hide. Everyone, hide…!”
“…Huh?”
“Now, hurry!”
Startled, the two of them scrambled to hide.
The middle-aged woman slipped into the wardrobe, the student crawled under the bed, and I ducked under the table.

There was a reason I’d moved so urgently.
That voice outside—the way it had said housekeeping in that slow, slurred tone.
If that thing really was in charge of cleaning this hotel—

Clack—!
Creeeaaak—.
It might have a way to open the door.