I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

Provoked by Hanul, now possessed by the General Spirit, Shun and I moved into battle stance at the same time.
Even I—someone who knew nothing about exorcists or possession—could feel the overwhelming pressure pouring from his body.

It felt as though the peaceful garden of this ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) grand estate had transformed into a battlefield.
In stark contrast to our solemn readiness, Park Sunja and Bora casually sat themselves down on nearby garden chairs like they were watching a fire from across the river.
Where the hell was that composure coming from?

Only Hanbit was restless, shouting at Bora in alarm.
“The General Spirit is on a whole other level from ordinary monsters! We have to help them, somehow—!”
But Bora waved him off mid-sentence, cutting him off with a firm hand.

“Don’t make a fuss and stay put. If we clumsily jump in, we’ll just get in their way.”
There was a strange confidence in her voice.
She really seemed to trust Shun and me that much.

She simply watched in the direction of the camera’s lens, slow and unshaken.
Park Sunja shared the same opinion.
“She’s right. Let’s see if we can find another way to escape this phenomenon instead.”

Park Sunja stared intently at the script in her hands, scanning it for any hidden clues.
Neither of them seemed particularly interested in the battle.
“You little shits! Where do you think you're looking?!”

It happened in the next instant.
Hanul sprang off the ground and charged at Shun with terrifying speed.
Thud-thud-thud!

His massive frame moved with impossible swiftness.
Leaping lightly into the air, he unleashed a powerful kick aimed straight at Shun’s head.
The air shrieked as it split from the force.
Whooosh!

“Hup!”
But Shun wasn’t an easy target.
With a motion as fluid as flowing water, he twisted his body to narrowly evade Hanul’s kick. Immediately, he shifted into what looked like a karate stance and countered with a sharp blow to Hanul’s side.

Thwack!
A solid thud echoed as the sharp kick landed against Hanul’s flank.
But—unexpectedly—Hanul didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, it was Shun who winced and let out a strained grunt, quickly withdrawing his leg and retreating several steps.

His face held a mixture of pain and disbelief.
“His body… It’s as hard as wood!”
Shun growled, beads of sweat forming across his brow.

The General Spirit’s possession seemed to have reinforced even his physical body to unnatural levels.
“Really?”
I asked, as if to confirm it for myself.

Shun glanced sideways at me with an expression that screamed “are you serious right now?” but still gave a terse reply.
“Yeah!”
That answer gave me some idea of how much force I could use.

I didn’t want to go all-out right away.
If I did, like with other monsters before, it could result in catastrophic physical trauma.
I didn’t want to create another scene so horrifying it’d haunt my dreams for nights.

As Shun stepped back, I surged forward toward the opening Hanul had left.
Using the information I’d just learned, I adjusted my strength accordingly and drove a kick into his heavy abdomen.
KA-BOOM!

My kick landed squarely in his gut.
Even though I had held back, the force behind the strike was considerable.
The sound that rang out wasn’t the sound of flesh striking flesh—it was more like something collapsing.

Struck by the powerful blow, Hanul stumbled backward several steps, letting out a guttural scream.
“Gurgh!”
His blood-red eyes widened with shock.

As if it had never even occurred to him that someone could land a hit like that.
“You bastard! How dare someone like you possess that kind of strength—?!”
Hanul roared, his face flushed with rage.

Inside, I was actually impressed by his reaction. Even with my power carefully held in check—
Very few had ever taken my attacks head-on and remained standing.
It was true—this “General Spirit” or whatever was possessing him had made his body something else entirely.

…Maybe I could hit a little harder next time.
“You brat!”
Hanul, utterly consumed by fury, charged at me again in a blind rage.

I almost flinched at the sheer momentum—but I forced myself to focus on his movements.
He still looked like a normal human.
I could overcome the fear.

Swish—!
A massive hand came flying toward me—I twisted my head and narrowly dodged.
Hanul’s attacks kept coming. He didn’t let up.

Just dodging wasn’t going to cut it.
Boom!
My counterattack struck him square in the chest, only to make him fly into an even greater frenzy.

What followed was a full-blown slugfest.
His blows came fast and furious—far too fast and powerful for someone of his size.
He launched a relentless barrage, but I used my speed to weave past each one by a hair’s breadth.

And then, I struck back.
Elbow, leg, ribs—every part of his body became a target for my counterblows.
It was a slugfest in name only—my blows were the only ones connecting.

“You… you damn gnat!”
“Over here, too.”
“Ghhk…! You little pests!”

Shun, taking advantage of Hanul’s tunnel vision on me, began systematically targeting his joints, dealing focused damage.
Unlike the blows to his torso, Shun’s precise strikes to the joints actually seemed to work.
The garden floor cracked. Branches and flowers were shattered and torn apart.

With each hit Hanul endured, I increased my strength little by little.
How long had it gone on?
Eventually, Hanul—who had been attacking without rest—began to visibly slow down.

And then, his voice burst out—not with his usual overpowering tone, but with a desperate, pained scream.
“S-Stop…! Please, stop!”
As he cried out, the red aura that had flooded his eyes began to dissipate.

Like a dying ember, it faded.
Had the possession ended?
“Ghh… Gaaahhhh!”

When the crimson aura fully vanished, Hanul let out a tortured scream and collapsed on the spot, unconscious.
His body trembled in small, spasmodic jerks.
“…Is it over?”
“…What about the script? What does it say now?”

Shun asked through ragged breaths.
All of us scanned our surroundings warily.
Would time rewind again, like before? Or would something even worse appear?

But contrary to our fears, a familiar voice rang in our ears:
[Th-This is…!]
The director’s voice was shaking.

Was it anger? Or something else?
His voice was thick with emotion.
[I never saw this coming! What an ad-lib! Perfect! Let’s run with this!]

“…That was unexpected…”
Praise? We exchanged bewildered looks.
Then the script in Park Sunja’s hands began to shift again—shhhk—rewriting itself.

The previous scene was erased, and the events that had just unfolded filled the space.
We didn’t know why our actions had pleased the director, but at the very least—it looked like Hanul wouldn’t be getting back up.
“For a ‘possessed by a General Spirit’ uncle, he went down kinda easy…”

“Our team’s practically general-level too, you know.”
Hanbit stared at us with wide eyes, and Bora gave a nonchalant smile as she looked at Shun and me.
But filming hadn’t ended yet.

We couldn’t let our guard down.
Sure enough, the scenery around us began to warp again.
“I’m starting to get motion sickness.”
“Urgh…”

When we opened our eyes, the ornate mansion was gone.
We now stood before a small, modest rural house nestled deep in the mountains.
There was a weathered wooden bench in the dirt yard, and the house itself gave off a plain, unpretentious warmth—a far cry from luxury, but oddly soothing.

“Where is this?”
Park Sunja gently brushed a leaf off a fallen branch that had drifted from the mountain.
Coming right after that sprawling estate with its grand garden, this place looked especially small and humble.

Yet it carried a strangely calming atmosphere.
As we stood there blinking and scanning the unfamiliar surroundings, Bora was the first to speak—her face stiff.
Her voice, normally brimming with confidence, trembled just slightly.

“This place…”
She paused, slowly surveying the area as if she couldn’t believe it.
Then she exhaled and continued.

“…Looks like it’s my turn now. This is my childhood home.”
Bora’s childhood home.
It seemed the monster phenomenon was now dragging her past into the spotlight.

The script had changed again.
SCENE #5.
The man’s first attempt at revenge ends in failure. But his thirst for vengeance remains boundless.
He now targets both Bora and Minjun, members of the same exploration team as Shun.
This time, he chooses to manipulate a vicious monster lurking in this region.
He is not afraid to make a deal with a monster—if it means fulfilling his revenge.

“So it’s your turn now.”
Park Sunja looked up from the script and turned to Bora and me.
Bora scoffed, as if the idea were ridiculous.

“Tch. Revenge on an exploration team using a monster? What kind of garbage script is this?”
There wasn’t a shred of tension in her voice.
She radiated confidence.

And that was fair enough.
Both at Dongto and now under Baekho, we were assigned to teams that specialized in handling monsters.
Bora pulled a few talismans from inside her jacket, murmuring thanks to the script for the heads-up.

“But… why my hometown of all places?”
“…Yeah. The script says he’s using a vicious monster hiding in this area…”
Park Sunja voiced the question.
I, too, was bothered by that line in the script.

A vicious monster, hiding here?
I glanced subtly in Bora’s direction, wondering if she might know.
“…No way… No, there’s no way it could be that…”

Bora wore a serious expression for a moment—but then shook her head.
As if to say, “That’s impossible.”