I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

I pretended like nothing had happened and returned to the café.
Immediately, not only the part-timers at the counter but even some of the customers gave me strange looks tinged with admiration.

To them, I probably looked like a fixer who had neatly taken care of a troublesome customer.
Embarrassed by their gazes, I hurried back to my seat and started stirring my iced chocolate with a straw, waiting for the right moment.
"...There it is."

According to what that man said earlier, there should be a path leading underground beyond the door marked [STAFF ONLY] behind the counter.
I took a moment to calm myself with a cool drink, waiting for the exact moment when everyone’s attention would shift away from me and the counter.
I planned to use my high Agility and skills to get up naturally in that gap, open the door, and slip through it in an instant without anyone noticing.

Finally, new customers walked in, and the part-timers busied themselves making drinks in the kitchen area. All the other customers’ attention was fully drawn to their own tables.
In that precise moment, I used my assassination skill for the first time in a while.
As I activated the skill, I felt the air around my body subtly distort. My footsteps vanished completely, and my movements became light as a feather.

I stood up soundlessly from my chair and moved quickly, avoiding every gaze without being caught.
Maybe my body movement skill had improved?
It felt like my body was moving more naturally, exactly the way I intended.

And just like that, I easily slipped through the suspicious door.
"Wait? Didn’t someone just pass by here?"
"Huh? I didn’t hear anything."
"...Really?"
One of the part-timers seemed to have briefly glimpsed me, but it didn’t look like I’d been caught.

The inside of the door was more serious than I expected.
At the end of a narrow hallway was an old metal staircase leading down.
I peeked over the edge and saw only darkness below. It was deep enough that the bottom was completely hidden, and I could feel a faint chill wafting up.

Keeping my assassination skill active just in case, I reduced all sound from my footsteps and carefully descended, one step at a time.
After what felt like a long descent through the dark stairwell, I finally reached the bottom.
"…"
At the end of the stairs stood a tightly shut white metal door, guarded by two men.

So not only was someone watching from outside, but they’d also stationed # Nоvеlight # guards down here.
What’s more, both men were wearing the signature suits of Dongto’s exploration team.
Just what kind of monster were they keeping down here to need such tight security?

At that moment, the two men started talking to each other.
“Do we really need to be down here? Like anything’s actually gonna come out of there…”
“Forget what’s inside. Just make sure no one comes down either stairwell. We’re here to stop anyone from taking them away.”
I checked the map and saw that there was another staircase on the opposite side from where I came down.

Judging by its position, that staircase was probably connected to the Dongto building.
Was this café directly connected to Dongto?
I hid myself and examined the two men more closely.

Their equipment was on a completely different level from the guy I saw earlier.
Both had something like a pistol holstered at their waist. Whether it was an item or a real gun, it was definitely threatening.
Maybe it’d be better to summon the Return Sword?

Just then, as I stepped slightly to get a better look in the darkness, my foot accidentally nudged a small pebble on the stairs.
My assassination skill concealed any sound my body made—but not external sounds.
The pebble bounced and struck the metal stairs with a loud, sharp ting! that echoed through the silent underground space.

"There! Over there!"
"Who’s there?!"
Clack.
The two men instantly raised their guns toward the sound.

Shit. I’d been caught.
My heart sank, and my mind flooded with the need to do something—anything—immediately.
Before they could pull the trigger, I reached into my coat and threw whatever I grabbed in their direction.

Of all things, what ended up in my hand was the yellow talisman I’d been practicing with from Bora.
The talisman, carrying only a faint trace of my energy, fluttered weakly through the air toward one of the men.
The moment I threw it, I realized my mistake.

I should have opened my inventory. But it was still such a new ability that I hadn’t managed to use it in this urgent situation.
“…Huh?”
And then something unexpected happened.

The moment the yellow slip of paper flew toward them, both men screamed, “An exorcist!” and dove away from it, leaping aside to get as far away from the talisman as possible.
"...Now!"
I didn’t miss that opening.

I dashed in like lightning and knocked out the first man with a clean uppercut to the chin before he could get back up.
“Ugh…”
“You bastard—!”
The second man, startled, pointed his gun at me. I leapt in and punched the weapon directly.

CRACK!
BOOM—!
“Urgh!”

The gun shattered, and a small explosion burst from the barrel, launching the man backward into the wall. He collapsed and passed out on impact.
Seeing the explosion after the gun was destroyed, it was clear it wasn’t a real gun but some kind of item.
I had gotten caught in the blast too—but thankfully, I was completely unharmed.

"..."
Honestly, the fact that my body was this durable even left me speechless.
They say a strong body houses a strong mind.

Maybe my body had gotten so sturdy that my sense of danger or fear had faded.
Lately, I’d found myself thinking things like:
Why am I supposed to be afraid of monsters, anyway?

Maybe it was because of the monster from the choir, or maybe I was just drunk on power.
Thoughts like that had started creeping into my mind more often.
And every time, I tried to push them away as far as I could.

In horror games, the moment you let your guard down was when the worst happened.
So I would keep that thought far away.
At least, for now.

Still, the way those two jumped back just at the sight of the talisman, thinking I was an exorcist—that was a pretty decent reaction under pressure.
Honestly, I even felt a bit sorry for them.
If it had been one of Bora’s talismans, jumping away like that would’ve been the correct answer.

Unfortunately, mine didn’t summon lightning or bind anyone.
It was just a flying piece of paper.
Still, it felt worthwhile to have practiced talisman throwing regularly.

I checked that both men were unconscious and approached the white metal door again.
And as always, the way to open the door was with brute strength.
Lately, it felt like I was opening more and more unfamiliar doors not with passwords or keycards—but by tearing them off completely.

I wedged my fingers into the edge of the heavy door and pulled with all my strength.
Grrrk!
With a loud crunching sound, the door crumpled like paper and ripped free.

And beyond that door was something I hadn’t expected.
A long hallway made entirely of white walls, lined on both sides with rooms that had small windows—like prison cells.
The windows were designed to allow people in the hallway to observe the inside of each room.

I cautiously approached one of the windows and peeked in.
Inside, I didn’t see a monster.
Just a regular human in ragged clothes, staring blankly as they tapped away at a computer monitor.

The other rooms were similar.
Only the last room had a woman who looked a bit younger and had a somewhat clearer expression.
These, then, were the hacker “monsters” the Dongto agent had spoken of.

Just then, thunk!—the door I’d crushed earlier finally hit the ground.
“…What was that sound just now?”
“I heard it too.”
Voices came from inside the rooms in response to the noise.

Two of them called out, clearly startled.
“E-Excuse me… what’s going on?”
“Don’t tell me… someone else is here? Right?”
They seemed to think I was a guard.

After a brief pause, I answered.
“…I’m here to help you.”
As soon as I said that, the two of them responded in near unison.

“R-Really? You’re serious? Please, get us out of here!”
“We’re not monsters! But those bastards locked us up here, calling us monsters…!”
They must have been waiting desperately for someone to say they’d come to rescue them.
They poured out all their resentment without even doubting my words.

That’s how desperate they were.
And I could tell they weren’t lying.
On my map, they weren’t marked with red dots.

At the very least, they weren’t monsters.
There was no need to persuade them.
They weren’t monsters. And they didn’t want to work for Dongto.

They were just being held here, forced to do hacking and media manipulation.
But one thing was strange.
The woman in the other room, even after hearing all that, didn’t react at all. She just kept staring at her monitor.

Every now and then, she clicked her mouse.
When I told her I was here to help her too, she replied, clearly annoyed.
“Help? I don’t need it. I’m fine just being in this room all day, on the computer, looking at all sorts of monster data.”

She liked looking at monsters?
Then one of the others spoke to me.
“…Don’t mind her. She’s nuts. Total monster fetishist.”

…So that’s real. A monster fetishist actually exists.
Once again, I was struck by the sheer variety of people in this world.
I paused, trying to figure out how to handle this bizarre situation.

I couldn’t leave her behind—this was a quest.
Normal persuasion didn’t seem like it would work.
After a moment of thought, I decided to target her preferences directly.

“…Hey.”
When I called out, the woman didn’t even look up from her monitor.
“What? I told you, I’m not leaving.”

“What if… you left this place, and I let you see real monsters, not just monitor footage?”
At that, her hand on the mouse stopped moving.
She slowly turned her head toward me—toward the door. Her eyes held a mix of doubt and a hint of curiosity.

“How exactly can you show me real monsters?”
“I’m with the Baekho exploration team. If you want, I can give you opportunities to observe all kinds of monsters from a safe distance.”
When I mentioned Baekho’s name, her expression shifted slightly.

“…Really?”
Under normal circumstances, I would’ve had no reason to make such an offer.
But I needed to complete the quest—so I had no choice.

I brought all three of them out, including her.
[Quest Complete: Human Rescue — 3 people saved.]