I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

We couldn’t stay in the bookstore any longer, with the flames and smoke quickly filling the place.

In a hurry, we evacuated to a slightly larger building next door—it looked like an office building.
Fortunately, the inside was empty, and we managed to take refuge on the second floor to catch our breath.
I walked over to the window, cleared away the grime and broken glass as best I could, and looked back toward the bookstore we had just escaped.

And there, once again, something astonishing was unfolding.
“…W-What are they doing now…?”
A man standing beside me murmured in a stunned voice as he peered out the window.

The flower-faced and tree-like monsters that had been charging at us just moments ago were now throwing themselves into the flames to try to put them out.
One of them hurled its body directly onto the blazing fire, trying to smother it by cutting off the oxygen. Another one was spitting out some sort of thick, sticky sap from its body in an attempt to suppress the flames.
We could only stare, horrified.

Then Cheolwoo and Younghee approached me. First, they thanked me profusely for saving them. Then they hesitantly voiced the question they’d been holding back.
“Really… thank you so much.”
Cheolwoo paused, then looked at both me and Shun as he asked:

“But… who are you two, really? How can you fight like that? And with that kind of power… why would you be working part-time at a small office like ours…?”
His question was the same one other survivors from the smaller monster offices were now asking our Baekho exploration team throughout the building.
At this point, no half-hearted cover-up or lie would work anymore. As if we had agreed on it in advance, we all looked at each other.

Then we nodded.
We decided it was time to tell them everything honestly.
***

“I see…”
We explained that we were from Baekho’s exploration team—and that we’d been assigned to monitor the smaller monster offices due to a string of mysterious disappearances.
At first, Cheolwoo, Younghee, and the other survivors looked a little hurt.
They were upset that we hadn’t warned them about the danger sooner.

But in the end, they understood.
After all, we were here because we wanted to protect them.
Right now, we had to focus on resolving the crisis in front of us.

Cheolwoo spoke up first.
“From what I saw earlier, fire seems pretty effective against the monsters… but using it again feels too dangerous.”
Everyone agreed.

We could see the reason clearly just by looking out the window.
The black smoke billowing from the bookstore was acting like a signal flare, drawing in /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ every kind of monster in the area.
Not just the flower-faced and tree-like ones we’d seen before, but unfamiliar ones too—some looked like twisted knots of vines, and there were even humanoid monsters with massive mushrooms blooming out of their backs.

Even at a glance, the numbers were overwhelming. Fire might be effective, but used carelessly, it could easily isolate and trap us.
Then came the inevitable question.
“…So what do we do now?”

A quiet, uncertain voice.
How were we supposed to escape this phenomenon?
I asked the other Baekho team members trapped here with us if anyone had brought an item that could contact the outside—or allow escape.

They all shook their heads. None of them had expected something like this to happen today, so they hadn’t packed emergency items.
I quietly pulled an item from my inventory.
A one-time-use escape item I’d obtained long ago, back when I dealt with the exploration team inside the haunted hotel.

It could only evacuate one person from this space.
I handed it to the eldest-looking Baekho exploration member.
“Use this to get out and report our situation to Baekho. Maybe they can help us from the outside.”

Truthfully, I wanted to give it to Shun. But his Korean still wasn’t fluent enough to explain this complicated situation to headquarters properly.
The man who took the item looked grim with responsibility. He gave a solemn nod.
The item activated with a faint crackling sound, and the man vanished.

Then I turned to the others.
“There’s a place I marked. Let’s head there first. It’s dangerous to stay here.”
I checked the map and confirmed the location of my other teammate—Bora.

We had to regroup first, then figure out how to escape the city.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
I took the lead at the head of this large group.

I wasn’t bothered by the idea of fighting the monsters first. But knowing that all these people were depending on me… that weighed heavier.
We became a single large strike force, pushing our way through the plant-infested city.
Since we were moving as a group, more monsters spotted us and charged than before—but the resistance wasn’t as bad as I expected.

My crimson Recall Sword carved the path, and the others—including Cheolwoo and Younghee—followed, protecting themselves capably.
“…Urgh!”
While passing through a narrow alley, I was momentarily startled when vine monsters clinging to the walls lashed out their tendril-like vines at us.

Shwik!
Caught off guard, I swung my sword too quickly—only slicing through a few of the vines.
But that was enough.

Where the sword passed, a crimson afterimage lingered. And as the other vines touched it, they withered and fell to the ground, dissolving into black smoke and fine dust.
“Something ahead?”
“…I handled it.”
I calmly resumed walking.

Soon, we arrived at the place marked on the map—where Bora and Park Sunja were located.
It was a giant movie theater.
Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be many monsters around. A few flower-faced creatures lay dead near the entrance, and a decent number of people had gathered around them.

They looked startled by our sudden arrival and went on guard—but then a familiar voice called out:
“Oppa!”
It was Bora.

She spotted me and shouted out in joy—but quickly realized everyone was staring at her and gave an awkward smile.
“A-Ah, I mean… you’re okay…”
She cleared her throat and gave me a warm welcome.

And with that, we successfully reunited most of the people who had been scattered by this bizarre phenomenon.
The relief on the survivors’ faces was palpable—but so was the lingering anxiety.
We gathered in the movie theater’s central lobby and began discussing how to escape.

It was… a hopeless situation.
With no obvious plan, we started sharing memories of other monster phenomena we’d experienced—looking for patterns or methods of escape.
“…We need to kill the monster.”
“All of them?”
“There must be a core one behind all this…”
“If we follow the rules or guidelines…”

As expected, most agreed that the standard way out of a phenomenon like this was either:
Kill the core monster behind it,
Or find and follow some kind of hidden rulebook or guideline.

Some people hoped there might be an exit somewhere in this massive city that would lead back to the real world.
“…I’ve never seen a monster phenomenon this big.”
“Me neither.”
We all agreed on one thing: none of us had ever seen a phenomenon of this scale before.

I sighed and stared at the map.
There were just too many red dots covering the entire city.
No rulebook in sight. No sign of an exit. The possibility existed—but with how massive this place was, it felt hopeless.

Then, from near the window, Park Sunja began muttering under her breath, pointing and tapping her fingers against the glass.
“The movie theater at the intersection… convenience store next door… there was a gukbap place around that corner… the building sizes match…”
Then she turned to face us, a mix of certainty and disbelief in her expression.

“Everyone—I know where we are.”
“Huh? Really?”
“I thought this was just some monster space…”
Everyone turned toward her.
“This place is identical to the area around Dongto headquarters. The buildings, the roads—everything matches. It’s like that whole area got swallowed by nature.”

Dongto.
The moment she said it, everyone rushed to the windows.
Those familiar with Dongto’s geography nodded.

“…She’s right.”
She was.
This wasn’t just some unknown space.

It was the real world—twisted and consumed by the monster phenomenon. A warped replica of the area surrounding Dongto HQ.
Thanks to Park Sunja’s discovery, our next destination was clear.
We would head for Dongto’s headquarters—the possible source of everything.

We gathered ourselves, ready to march once more.
And just then, I noticed the system notification blinking in front of me.
At last—the main quest had been cleared.

[You survived against Dongto Team 2.]
[Reward: +1 Stat Point (Intelligence)]
[Stat Update: Strength 9, Intelligence 9 → 10, Agility 7]
Intelligence was now at 10.
And as soon as it hit double digits, I unlocked a new skill.

[Intelligence stat 10 achieved.]
[You have acquired Passive Skill: Inspiration.]
[Inspiration Lv.10: More easily perceive spiritual abilities, grasp their nature, and use them more efficiently.]
A new skill.
For some reason, it had already reached level 10 the moment I acquired it.

What kind of effect it had—I couldn’t quite tell from the description alone.
And then, one final system message appeared.
[Escape safely from the current monster phenomenon.]

Escaping this city—that was now my main quest.
With my enhanced stats and the new skill in hand, I prepared to head once again toward the ruins of Dongto.