I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

Before our eyes stood an antique mansion with a wide, meticulously tended garden.
It was the polar opposite of the dingy, grimy room that man had been in just moments ago.
The garden, where trees, stones, and vibrantly colored flowers had been arranged in perfect harmony, looked like a work of art in and of itself.

“Wow...”
“…It’s beautiful.”
Most of the team, myself included, were briefly entranced by the breathtaking sight in front of us, murmuring soft words of awe as we curiously looked around.
A peaceful scene like this, in the middle of a horrific monster phenomenon—it didn’t fit at all.

Each of us took a step forward, scanning various parts of the garden.
For a brief moment, we all wore expressions that had let go of tension.
“…”

But there was one exception: Hanbit.
His face had grown even darker than before, and he looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
The usual indifference in his expression had vanished completely.

Bora, the first to notice the change, cautiously asked him,
“You look pale... Do you recognize this place?”
With a trembling voice, Hanbit barely managed to open his mouth.

“This is the house of the chairman of Jinmyeong Group... my grandfather’s house.”
The house of the Jinmyeong Group chairman.
It was the very heart of the family conflict Hanbit had always wanted to escape from—and now he’d been forcibly dragged back to it.

We had arrived at the place that struck directly at the core of Hanbit’s deepest trauma.
This monster was digging mercilessly into Hanbit’s most vulnerable wound.
Everyone was at a loss for words after Hanbit’s shocking confession. Hurriedly, we all glanced down again at the script in our hands, checking the fourth scene.
The script stated: to get revenge on Shun, the man would eliminate those close to him.

And in the next line, new and specific instructions had been added—who the first target was, and how the story would proceed.
SCENE #4 - 2.
The man designates Hanbit, Shun’s ally, as the first target. But he doesn’t dirty his own hands. Instead, he chooses to manipulate another individual with a strained relationship to Hanbit. Lured in by the man’s deceitful whispers and schemes, a figure named Hanul locates Hanbit and attempts to eliminate him.

“Hanul...?”
It was a name none of us had heard before.
While we looked around at each other in confusion, not knowing who that was, Hanbit spoke up in a quiet voice.

There was despair and resignation carved deep into his expression.
“Hanul… is the name of my uncle—my father’s older brother.”
His uncle?

His own blood relative—an immediate family member—was going to try to kill him?
Even I couldn’t believe it, and the other team members looked just as disbelieving as they stared at Hanbit.
Bora gently asked,

“Does your uncle have any reason to go after you?”
The script had only mentioned a “strained relationship.”
But if someone was trying to kill him, clearly that relationship wasn’t just strained.

After a moment’s hesitation, Hanbit let out a heavy sigh and began to speak about his family situation.
“My father… passed away a few years ago during a monster attack. Ever since then, there’s been a lot of talk about the successor to the Jinmyeong Group. Officially, there are three candidates. First is my uncle, Mr. Hanul. Then there’s my older brother, Hanbeom. And finally, me.”
He paused briefly, then added with a bitter smile:

“As you probably know, our Jinmyeong Group made its name through items and exorcists. Unfortunately, my brother isn’t particularly talented in either area. On the other hand, my uncle is an outstanding exorcist. As for me… I’ve been told I have some talent for identifying and using items. So within the group, the successor debate usually comes down to my uncle and me.”
Talent with items, huh.
I’d just assumed he was decent with items because he was from Jinmyeong Group, but this sounded like something else entirely.

I raised a puzzled brow, and Hanbit, as if reading my mind, continued:
“I can tell, more or less, what an item does and how to use it just by looking at it. Even without any special identification procedure.”
That was an incredible ability.

In this world where item information was everything, Hanbit’s talent was immensely valuable.
And it was precisely because of that gift that he had ended up in a position where his own family wanted him dead.
Rustle.

“Huh?”
I suddenly noticed a subtle movement from the lens of the camera that had been following us all this time.
It was strange.

The camera was no longer focused on us. It was pointed at a corner of the garden, as if trying to capture another subject.
Following its gaze with a sinking feeling, I saw a man standing there—completely different in appearance from the unfamiliar man we’d seen before.
“…That hanbok…”
“What is it?”
“It’s a special kind of hanbok. I know a little about this stuff.”

Bora whispered quietly after spotting the man’s hanbok.
At a glance, the embroidered patterns and vivid colors made it obvious how expensive it was.
He was a large, broad-shouldered middle-aged man, wearing that luxurious hanbok as if it were nothing.

The moment he noticed us, the man let out a loud snort of disapproval, then clicked his tongue at Hanbit and spoke.
“Clicking with lowlifes after joining some trash company, huh? So this is the kind of crowd you run with now.”
His voice was soaked in open contempt.

Hanbit clenched his fists but said nothing. His profile trembled faintly with restrained anger.
Then, loud enough for all of us to hear, Hanbit said quietly,
“…That man is my uncle.”

The first one to flare up at the man’s insult was Shun.
“Watch your mouth.”
“Lowlifes…?”
Shun and Bora raised their voices in unison, ready to confront Hanul.

Just then, Hanul’s eyes flipped grotesquely, leaving only the whites gleaming.
It was a chilling sight.
“Well now…”

Hanul swept his ghastly white eyes across us one by one, letting out a twisted chuckle.
“A scrap with some strength… A washed-up exorcist tossing talismans… And a girl cursed with the most wretched fate…”
He assessed Shun, Bora, and Park Sunja one by one, spitting the words out like evaluations.

Each of our expressions stiffened in discomfort and unease.
So this was the so-called “talent” Hanbit had mentioned—Hanul’s prowess as an exorcist.
And finally, his gaze landed on me.

I waited for what he’d say. But after staring intently at me for a while, Hanul tilted his head in puzzlement.
“I can’t see it… I can’t see anything… How curious…”
Then, as if losing interest, he turned away and muttered, “Just a worthless little nothing, I guess.”

Something felt off about that, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
Unable to hold back any longer, Hanbit stepped forward.
“…You’re being rude to our guests, Uncle.”

Hanul scoffed at that.
“Rude? And just who’s being rude to whom here! I gave you access to the Jinmyeong Group’s item storage, gave you escorts, raised you like royalty! And now you repay that kindness by breaking your promise and eyeing the successor seat again? You’re the ungrateful one!”
Hanbit raised his voice in protest.

“You gave me access to a useless storage full of junk! And those escorts—don’t pretend they weren’t surveillance! And I’ve never had any interest in the successor position!”
“Silence! I already heard everything from someone I trust about your little schemes behind my back!”
Hanul glared at Hanbit with furious eyes.

Then, slowly, his eyes began to glow a terrifying crimson.
“I will never hand over the Jinmyeong name to a half-baked exorcist like you!”
In that moment, Hanbit’s face turned pale, and he shouted urgently:

“Everyone, back up! He’s... he’s about to perform a spirit possession!”
“Spirit possession…?”
As if answering my question, a dark crimson aura began to rise from Hanul’s body.

His facial muscles twitched violently.
Anger, mockery, madness—emotions flickered across his face in rapid succession.
Then, with a face twisted in rage, he bellowed at Hanbit:

“You wretch!”
His voice had completely changed.
Gone was the cold and condescending tone. In its place was a booming, resonant voice that echoed through the air.

Even his posture had changed. His shoulders squared, back rigid, his presence radiated overwhelming authority.
“Stand back, all of you!”
Hanbit’s shout made us instinctively retreat.

In that instant, Hanul’s fist swept through the spot we had just been standing in, whipping up a violent gust of wind.
It was only a split second, but the force and speed behind it were far from ordinary.
“Be careful… That’s a General Spirit.”

Hanbit panted as he spoke.
I didn’t know what a General Spirit was, but just as he said—Hanul wasn’t someone we could take lightly right now.
Despite being human, his aura and movements were like something out of a nightmare.

After swinging his fist, Hanul scanned us with amusement, then pointed at Shun and me with a deep, thunderous voice.
“Well, well! Two decent ones, huh? Good! Come at me both at once! Let’s finish this today, starting with °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the two of you!”
His eyes glowed with blood-red madness.

Shun smirked.
“Doesn’t look like we’re going to lose.”
Shun stood beside me.

He clenched his fists, facing Hanul.
I tightened my fists just like him.