I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

"Look at this."
"Did it come toward us?"

Cheolsu and Younghee were still marveling like children, reaching out to touch the ghost lights that had drifted near them in fascination.
They hadn’t noticed the giant mouth of the monster, yawning open at them from the shadows.
Shun was off a short distance away, inspecting other gravestones. The only one who could save them now—was me.

There was no more time to hesitate. I raised the very red talisman I had imbued with my killing intent and aimed it at the creature.
The texture of the talisman against my fingertips felt nothing like regular paper. It pulsed subtly, almost like a living heart, reacting to my energy and glowing with an ominous red light.
Feeling that heartbeat made me hesitate for a second—was it really okay to throw this? But there was no choice.

"Hup!"
Frrrip!
I hurled the talisman toward the open maw, the center of the darkness.

At first, it flew in a straight red arc.
But the farther it flew, the more violently the red energy inside began to erupt outward.
The talisman turned into something like a blazing crimson meteor, making a searing noise as it scorched the surrounding air. The light was so intense that the original yellow paper vanished from sight, appearing only as a pitch-black core, like the dark sun of a total eclipse.

Finally, the blood-colored talisman filled with my killing intent shot straight into the gaping maw of the anglerfish-like monster.
And in that moment—
Flash.

A brilliant burst of red light, deeper than the color of blood, exploded in total silence, sweeping across the entire graveyard.
As the red wave passed over me, I felt a chill along my spine, a crushing pressure that made my heart feel like it would stop.
It was a sensation of overwhelming force taking on form—like something was gripping my heart with unrelenting pressure.

Is this what monsters feel when they face me?
A moment later, the red light began to fade. I gathered my senses and looked back toward where the monster had been.
Its massive body had already crumbled into nothing, disintegrating like a sandcastle into dust that blew away and sank into the earth.
The countless ghost lights that had painted the night in eerie beauty were gone, and silence and darkness once again blanketed the graveyard.

And lying unconscious in that silence—overwhelmed by the aftershock of my talisman—were Cheolsu and Younghee.
I blinked in surprise at the unexpected result and ran to them.
"Are… are you okay?"
"Uuugh…"

I rushed to the fallen pair in alarm, but thankfully, they had no injuries.
When I shook them awake, they blinked drowsily, then slowly sat up.
"Ah… my head. What happened? My chest suddenly got heavy, I couldn’t breathe… then I just blacked out."

Cheolsu held his head and groaned. Younghee, too, gave a sheepish laugh, saying it felt like a dizzy spell, or maybe she’d just been too startled.
Their hands were still trembling.
It seemed the killing intent embedded in my talisman had become an unbearable pressure for normal people like them.

I glanced off toward Shun, who had been farther away—he was dusting dirt off his clothes and standing up again.
So Shun had been knocked down too. Even he hadn’t escaped the full brunt of the talisman’s effect.
Now that the ghost lights were gone, the graveyard had sunk back into deep darkness.

We would have to rely on our phone lights to find the gravestone of Lee Yeondong and retrieve the keepsake.
The search itself wasn’t difficult.
We finally found the headstone, and in front of it, a small box had been respectfully placed.

"Luckily… the ghost lights didn’t attack us."
"...Something scarier than that was here instead."
"I think I felt it too. Like… I suddenly couldn’t breathe. What was that?"
On the ride back, I quietly reflected on the power of the red talisman I had used.
Its overwhelming destructive force was satisfying—but the fact that it could affect allies as well was something I had to remember.

I would have to use that talisman with far more caution in the future.
Having completed Cheolsu and Younghee’s request without incident, I got into a taxi.
And just then, a notification I had completely forgotten about popped up in front of me.

The quest that had started a countdown several days ago.
[The Main Quest has begun.]
The timer had reached zero—and the new Main Quest had revealed itself.

[Dongto is pursuing you due to the traces you left behind. Survive while evading Dongto Exploration Team 2.]
Dongto Team 2. The moment I saw the name, I remembered what Choi Yerim had told me not long ago.
The elite search team from Dongto, infamous for specializing in human targets.

And now they were coming for me.
Well, I had been a bit flashy lately. I’d cut off Dongto’s funding, dismantled their search team, and even wrecked a few of their buildings. No way they’d let that slide.
"...Wait."

So where were they heading now?
A chilling thought crept up my spine.
My home. My sanctuary. The place where my little family lived.

My precious monster family.
But the moment that thought settled in, my worry disappeared instantly.
"...They should be fine."

I pictured the three monsters in my home.
Three of the strongest monsters I had ever met—all living under one roof.
***

"Target confirmed: Kim Minjun. Location: the new apartment provided by Baekho."
The team leader’s calm, low voice echoed through my helmet via comms.
We sat in silence inside a matte black tactical vehicle, each of us checking our equipment.

Outside the window, the nighttime cityscape of Incheon passed in a blur.
"This guy’s pretty interesting. Took out our search teams and monsters all by himself. Even wrecked a supermarket and a lab. Real bold type."
The senior agent sitting beside me muttered with interest.

I didn’t respond. I just ran my thumb over the surface of my custom-forged combat dagger.
Our mission was simple: eliminate the target. Whatever resistance or variables we encountered along the way didn’t matter.
We never failed.

"Team leader, there are three additional life signs at the target’s residence. Based on readings… likely monsters."
The comms officer’s report was met with the team leader’s expressionless response.
"If they interfere, eliminate them as well. Equipment check—prepare to disembark."
"Yes, sir."

A faint smile tugged at everyone’s lips.
The boring wait was over.
At last—it was hunting time.

The information that three monsters resided at Kim Minjun’s home would be noted as a special condition, but it wouldn’t change our plan.
We primarily dealt with human targets, yes—but we were still Dongto’s elite exploration team. We’d been trained in monster data analysis and combat protocols.
Besides, judging by the state of the apartment and the containment field, those monsters were likely incapable of manifesting proper monster phenomena.

Threat level: negligible.
We infiltrated the apartment building silently.
Moving in three two-person cells, we watched each other’s blind spots and followed standard breach protocol.

Then, unexpectedly, two people appeared in the hallway.
It was a Baekho staff apartment after all—maybe that’s why they didn’t flinch at our uniforms and instead raised their voices to stop us.
"Who are you people?!"
"Do you even know where you are?!"

At that moment, the team leader’s quiet command came through the comms.
“Eliminate hostiles.”
The lead operative from Team B moved without hesitation.

He raised his silenced pistol and fired two clean shots—one between the brows and one to the chest of the man who had spoken.
Pft, pft. The suppressed shots were barely audible.
The man collapsed to the floor without a scream, and the dark blood leaking from his body slowly filled the cracks between the hallway tiles.

"Khck…!"
The other person was taken down by another member of Team B, who stabbed their throat clean through with a custom combat dagger.
There was no hesitation.

None of us looked back at the fallen bodies. They were simply obstacles to be removed per protocol.
Emotion gets you killed. We stepped over the corpses without pause, maintaining formation as we advanced toward the target’s apartment.
We aligned silently in front of Kim Minjun’s identified unit.

The team leader’s countdown came through the comms.
"Three. Two. One. Breach."
On cue, our tech specialist used a miniature plasma cutter to melt the digital lock on the front door.

No alarms, no destruction. We followed regulations, minimizing all traces of forced entry.
But the moment we opened the door—we all stopped.
"Pause."

It wasn’t the ordinary apartment interior we’d expected.
Instead, a massive workshop—far too big to exist in such a small unit—unfolded before us.
Shelves lined «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» with dolls, cloth, and spools of thread filled the space chaotically, and the air carried a faint scent of old wood and cotton dust.

"Reporting. Target residence is manifesting a monster phenomenon. Spatial distortion confirmed."
The team leader’s steady voice came through the comms.
An unforeseen complication.

The monster inside this home had enough power to create a self-contained monster phenomenon.
So why was it still in captivity?
Following protocol, I turned to secure our rear—

And felt a cold chill run down my back.
The front door we had just entered through—was gone.
In its place stood another wall lined with shelves of dolls and wallpaper.

"Exit blocked."
"Begin perimeter sweep."
We had walked willingly into an unknown monster phenomenon.
"...This pattern… it’s familiar."

While the team leader tried to recall something, I gripped my dagger tighter and stared into the darkness of this bizarre workshop.
This hunt was going to be more troublesome than we’d thought.