I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

"Khk...!"

The man, having had his escape device taken from him, groaned in frustration—but with the electric pen pressed to his neck, he didn’t dare resist any further.
And then—
Creak, scree-eak.

The sound of monsters approaching from afar echoed through the hall.
Just like the man had said—if we lingered here any longer, we really could be surrounded by monsters.
If we were going to get a proper conversation out of him, we needed a safe place.

"The other Exploration Team members..."
"...They were all inside the freezer storage. Those people are already..."
Mr. Choi shook his head at my question.

It seemed the other members of the advance team had already been dealt with—by him.
"...Let’s go. We don’t have time to stand around here."
I glanced once more at the register the man was clutching, then gestured to Mr. Choi and led the way.

As Mr. Choi gave a firm tug, the man reluctantly followed.
We left the chaotic restaurant area and headed down a hallway lined with guest rooms.
At least the hotel rooms offered some sound insulation, which would make them better for talking.

Creak, scree-eak.
"Those are..."
Not far down the hallway, two mannequin aberrations pushing cleaning carts appeared.

The moment they spotted us, they screeched with an eerie grinding sound and charged.
"M-Monsters!"
"Minjun—watch out!"
The man shouted in panic, and Mr. Choi tried to warn me—but before he could finish, the situation was already over.

I casually threw a punch at the gut of the first charging mannequin.
To me, it was a light blow—but my fist pierced its plastic torso like it was paper.
With a loud cracking sound, the mannequin folded in half and crashed to the floor.

The second one still came at me despite seeing that, so I pulled a mop handle from the nearby cleaning cart and swung it.
Bang—!
Thunk, thunk.

Roll...
The sharp sound echoed as its head flew through the air, bounced off the far end of the hall, and rolled across the floor.
It wasn’t even worth calling a fight.

I casually dusted off my hands.
I didn’t forget to grab the name tags for the points, either.
"Let’s go in."

"A-ah, yes..."
The two of them stared at me blankly before flinching and hurrying to my side.
We stopped at a room that seemed decent enough. I grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

Cre-eak.
The door let out a chilling sound as it opened—and the moment it did, a guest-type monster appeared from inside.
"Kiii-giik!"

It shrieked and rushed toward us.
In a flash, I darted forward and struck it in the neck with a knife-hand blow to silence it.
With a wheeze, it dropped to the floor without a twitch.

Then, from beside the bed deeper in the room, another guest monster watched all of it unfold—looking between me and its fallen companion.
It didn’t lunge. It looked like it was trying to back away.
I stared at it for a moment, then approached the downed one and searched its clothes.

Inside the pocket was an old wallet with a faint green check mark.
It didn’t have a name tag—it wasn’t staff—but even guest monsters sometimes carried point-worthy items.
I took the wallet and walked over to the second, trembling guest monster.

It showed no signs of attacking.
Click, clack.
Instead, it was loudly chattering its teeth in fear.

I quietly patted down its clothing.
There was a pocket watch with a check mark on it, so I took that as well.
Then I gave it a silent signal to leave.

The monster nodded frantically and fled the room like it was escaping.
"...That monster just ran away."
"What the..."

Mr. Choi, standing beside me, stared in stunned amazement, his mouth half open. The man we had dragged here was pale and trembling violently.
To him, I must have looked ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) like something far scarier than an monster—like a monster in human skin.
Good.

I tossed him onto a worn-out couch in the corner of the room.
He still clutched the register tightly in his arms.
"Alright. Now we can have a quiet talk."

I dragged a chair across from him and sat down, speaking in a calm but firm tone.
"...First, set that down."
I gestured toward the old register he was still hugging like treasure.

The man flinched and clutched it tighter, but resistance was pointless against me.
I casually grabbed his arm. With a small groan, he had no choice but to surrender the register.
It was a heavy, antique iron cash register.

"What the hell is this..."
It looked like something out of an old Western movie.
I opened the drawer without hesitation.

And the moment we saw what was inside, both Mr. Choi and I let out a low gasp.
"This is...!"
Inside were gleaming chunks of gold and a scattering of colorful jewels.

Even at a glance, their value was obvious.
For a moment, I wondered if it was fake—but remembering how desperately the man had guarded it, it clearly wasn’t.
The glittering treasure shone as the only bright thing in this damp, rotten hotel room.

"Huh?"
And beneath the dazzling pile of treasure was a single neatly folded sheet of paper.
I carefully picked it up and unfolded it.

On it were strange numbers and symbols.
M 20 6. W 20 3.
M 30 3. W 30 4.
M 40 4. W 40 3.
"...Hrm."

Letters and numbers.
What was this? A code?
I tilted my head as I stared at it—until Mr. Choi, who was reading it beside me, suddenly tensed up.

His expression froze cold.
In the next moment, he grabbed the man by the collar and shouted.
"...What the hell is this?!"

"Khgh! W-what are you doing?!"
The man struggled in panic at the sudden outburst.
Even I was startled and asked Mr. Choi what was going on.

His voice trembled with anger as he interpreted the code.
"If my guess is right... M stands for 'Man', W for 'Woman'."
"...Man, woman?"

"And the numbers after that are age ranges—20 means twenties, 30 means thirties... And the last number is the count!"
The moment I heard his explanation, a cold chill ran through my body.
I looked again at the paper.

6 men in their twenties, 3 women in their twenties... 3 men in their thirties, 4 women in their thirties...
These weren’t just random numbers.
It was a transaction list.

A record of human trafficking between Dongto and the monsters.
Mr. Choi gripped the man’s collar even tighter and shouted like a scream:
"You bastards... You were selling people like this?! These jewels were the payment?!"

Dongto was trading with monsters.
They were handing over living humans as offerings—and taking gold and jewels in return.
The Transport Team. Mr. Choi’s so-called punishment.

All the pieces had just locked into place.
Thud. Thud.
"...Huh?"

There was a faint disturbance outside the door.
Then the door creaked open slowly.
Click, click.

Amid the silence, the distinct sound of high heels echoed.
Turning toward the door, I saw a figure unlike any of the mannequin monsters we’d seen so far.
A mannequin monster in an elegant dress.

In one hand, she held a bright green pen.
With the posture and dignity of a living person, she strode confidently into the room and pulled up a chair, seating herself with casual elegance.
At her overwhelming entrance, the other two froze in fear, eyes locked on her.

Mr. Choi stepped back instinctively.
The man shrank into the corner of the sofa.
I simply looked at her.

I’d seen this monster once before.
The same unsettling one who had marked Rahee’s arm with a check.
I stared silently at her.

She lifted the green pen and began to write something on the table.
The tapping of the pen echoed louder than it should have. Under its tip, hesitant but unmistakable letters appeared:
[Please, just leave.]
[What do I have to do... for you to go?]

"Oh..."
As expected from an monster conducting deals with Dongto and humans alike, she was proposing a trade with me as well.
I had no interest in making deals with a creature like her.

But right now—at this moment—I found Dongto even more detestable than this grotesque being.
This organization, committing such filth as if it were nothing.
I locked eyes with the dress-wearing monster, then looked coldly at the trembling man in the corner.

"Who planned all this?"
Sensing the coldness in my voice, the man trembled even harder.
The monster also tapped her pen rapidly, urging him to answer.

He glanced between me and the monster, calculating his options—then finally, as if resigning himself, he spoke.
"Ex... Exploration Team 5."
"Exploration Team 5, huh..."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly added with urgency:
"And... since I didn’t make it out, they’ll come in soon under the pretense of sending a backup team to retrieve the register! Don’t say I didn’t warn you when the time comes...!"
Exploration Team 5.

The masterminds behind all of this were walking right into my hands.
I let my lips curl slightly.
Then I turned back to the monster with the green pen.

"Let’s make a deal."
Because I wanted them to pay for everything they had done.