I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

Clack!
Creeeak––

A sound like ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) a key turning came from outside.
The door slowly began to open.
From beneath the table, I stared at the grotesque figure entering the room.

It had the shape of a human, but it wasn’t human.
Wearing an old uniform, its skin gleamed like a mannequin’s, and with each movement, its joints bent at unnatural angles, making crick, crick noises.
Through the open crack of the door, I could see the cleaning cart in the hallway—filled with kinds of horrific “garbage” that should never be in an ordinary hotel.

Unlike the mannequin monster, the “garbage” had real human skin.
It’s coming in...!
The monster slowly stepped into the room and began to move.

It gave the area a light scan, then grotesquely extended an arm and mimicked wiping the window and the tabletop.
When its hand moved toward the tabletop, my heart nearly dropped—but thankfully, it didn’t bother to check underneath.
Then, it approached the bed and began straightening the blanket.

With stiff, unnatural hand movements, it grabbed the edge of the blanket and folded it as if aligning its corners.
I was sure we were going to be caught, but the university student hidden beneath the blanket still hadn’t been discovered.
And then––

“Hu... Hnngh...”
A small sob escaped from under the blanket.
She must have reached her breaking point, terrified by the monster touching the blanket.

Crrrk, crk-crk-crk.
The monster’s neck twisted at an impossible angle as it searched for the source of the noise, glancing around the room.
Then its gaze locked onto the blanket.
And––

FWAP!
The blanket was yanked away in an instant.
“KYAAAAAH!”

The university student screamed, her face now exposed.
I could already imagine what kind of horrific thing would happen next, so I sprang out from under the table.
“R-Run!”

Tatatak!
Shouting, I mustered my courage and lunged at the mannequin monster.
I grabbed both of its arms tightly as if hugging it.

A hard, cold sensation spread through my hands.
At my shout, the middle-aged woman burst out of the wardrobe.
She hesitated for a moment, glancing between me and the monster, then quickly grabbed the terrified student’s arm.

“I-I'm sorry!”
Nearly in tears, she yanked the girl and bolted out of the room.
I felt their mixture of grief and fear on my back as I remained alone in the room with the mannequin monster.

Crk-crk, crk-crk-crrk...
The mannequin struggled, its joints twisting grotesquely as it tried to escape my grip.
Its movements were more flexible than expected, making it hard to keep hold of.

“Ugh, uuuu... don’t do this...!”
Its joints twisted this way and that at impossible angles—it was like watching a horror movie.
Shuddering, I tightened my grip with everything I had.

Then, a strange noise started coming from within my arms.
Creak, creak—!
Crunch! Crack!

“Don’t... do this...?”
The mannequin’s waist began to crumple under my strength like paper.
Then its body split in half—the lower half collapsed weakly to the floor.

Only the upper torso remained in my hands.
It trembled as if spasming a few times, then fell completely still.
“Ah... um...”

Awkwardly, I placed the upper half of the monster on the table.
Seen like this, it almost looked like a grotesque yet expensive ornament.
Silence filled the room.

“Hm? This is...”
On the separated torso’s uniform was a small name tag.
The name had been blacked out and couldn’t be read.

“It’s a check mark?”
It was marked with a green check.
Could this be another item that could be submitted into the Settlement Hole for points?

For now, I tore the name tag off and stuffed it into my pocket.
Brushing the fragments of the mannequin off my clothes, I walked in the direction the two women had fled.
***

“Huff, huff...”
The middle-aged woman dragged the terrified university student all the way to the lobby.
While he had held the mannequin back, they had sprinted madly down the hallway and reached the Settlement Hole.

“Huuuk... hnnngh...”
As soon as they reached the edge of the dimly-lit lobby, they collapsed to the ground.
The university student burst into the tears she’d been holding back, while the woman stared blankly into space.

The image of that young man shouting, staying behind to fight that grotesque monster—it played vividly in her mind.
He had stayed behind in that room to save them.
“...At least this...”

With trembling hands, the woman pulled out the jewelry box she had clutched to her chest.
It was the jewelry box they had obtained thanks to his sacrifice.
Staggering slightly, she dropped it into the deep, black Settlement Hole.

[500 / 20,000]
The number above the hole changed.
500 points. That hard-earned jewelry box, risked for with their lives, was worth just 500 points.

The road to escape still stretched far ahead.
What about the other teams?
Had they found any items with check marks?

Had they encountered the same grotesque mannequin?
Then––
“Did you put the jewelry box in?”

At the familiar voice, both women flinched and looked up.
A man stepped out from the direction of the lobby.
He looked slightly tired, but otherwise completely fine.

“H-How...?”
“Are you okay, oppa?”
The two women hurried over and began to speak to me.

Their eyes darted over my body, asking what had happened.
Scratching the back of my head, I awkwardly made up an excuse.
“Ah, well... I just shoved it away and ran. It was slower than I expected. I got lucky...”

I spoke while making a frightened face.
I couldn’t exactly say I’d hugged the mannequin so hard I crushed it.
“Thank goodness... really, thank goodness...”

The student grabbed my arm, nearly crying.
Her sincere worry made me feel guilty.
I looked at the number above the Settlement Hole.

500 points.
Still a long way to go.
“...What do we do now?”

“We’ll have to... keep looking.”
There was still one room left in the section we were assigned.
Room 106—the one where the monster had come from.

At my words, the two women’s faces stiffened.
“W-Wasn’t that the room the monster came out of...?”
“Precisely. That’s why it’s more likely to be empty now. It already finished cleaning.”

And I slipped in a small lie.
“When I ran out earlier, I think I saw it heading down the opposite hallway.”
The two hesitated, but with no better idea, they trusted me and followed.

We headed back to the place we’d escaped from.
Creeeeak—
Just as I’d checked on the map, there were no longer any “moving monster” nearby.

Only that horrid cleaning cart the mannequin had used was left in the hallway.
We deliberately avoided looking at it.
“Why is this cart here...?”

The middle-aged woman voiced a quiet question but seemed to drop it after glancing at the horrific contents of the cart.
Inside Room 106, we were able to find two more marked items.
A silver candlestick and a worn pocket watch.

“Do you think they’re expensive?”
“Let’s hope so.”
That’s what I said, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t be.

In games like this, the bigger and rarer something is, the more valuable it tends to be.
A pocket watch small enough to fit in a pocket probably wasn’t worth much.
The candlestick, at least, seemed promising.

“...Oh.”
When we returned to the lobby, the situation had changed.
Besides us, a few others had come back from their searches.

We had originally split into six teams—now only about four seemed present.
One person was leaning against the wall, staring blankly into space, while others were comforting someone quietly sobbing.
Listening in, I learned that one of them had returned alone.

Which meant—of their team of three, two hadn’t made it.
Even without asking, it was clear what that meant.
“So the monsters are real...”

“We were really lucky, huh...”
Some teams were whispering after returning unscathed.
They had been fortunate enough not to encounter any monsters.

Among them were the man in the work clothes who had taken charge earlier, and a tough-looking man with a rough face.
The number above the Settlement Hole in the center of the lobby now read:
[6,800 / 20,000]

It looked like the other teams had submitted items as well.
We approached and dropped in our pocket watch and candlestick.
[8,000 / 20,000]

As the number increased, some people glanced our way.
“Which section were you in...?”
A man nearby asked carefully.

He was the one who’d returned alone.
“The guest rooms down the left hallway.”
“Did you see... an monster?”

“...Yes. We encountered a ‘hotel staff’ member doing cleaning duties.”
“I-I see... W-We were in the dining area, and there were ‘guests’ and a ‘chef’ and... urgh...”
The man clamped a hand over his mouth and collapsed.

His shoulders were trembling.
A heavy atmosphere settled over the group.
“...The teams sent to the pool and the mechanical room still haven’t returned.”

“No way... already...?”
“L-Let’s wait a little. They might just be delayed...”
Even as he said it, the man in work clothes held his head in his hands.

Nearly half the people hadn’t returned.
At this rate, everyone might die before we even reach 20,000 points.
“...”

Then I remembered the name tag in my pocket.
The item with the green check mark that had been on the mannequin’s torso.
Just in case, I tossed it into the Settlement Hole.

[10,000 / 20,000]
“Huh?”
“W-What the hell?”

Gasps spread through the group as the number jumped up by 2,000 points.
I was surprised too.