I Activated Cheat Mode in a Bizarre Game

“Under these stairs…”
One of the Monster Gallery posts that Choi Yerim had sent me mentioned these exact stairs.

The post’s author said that, after finding the first-floor restroom too crowded, they went downstairs looking for another one. There, they claimed to have smelled the metallic stench of blood coming from oddly named rooms, and even saw a mysterious, unidentified monster.
It wasn’t the most credible post, but—
“Grrng…”

“Alright, I’ll check it out.”
I gently calmed Leo, who was shifting around inside my hood, and carefully descended the stairs.
There were no lights, so I had to step slowly, deliberately.

The farther I went, the more I was surrounded by a cold, damp air entirely different from the peaceful atmosphere aboveground.
“Ugh…”
And then it started.

A foul smell.
But it wasn’t the blood scent the gallery post had mentioned.
It was a sharp, chemical odor—like disinfectant from a dentist’s office mixed with something acrid and stinging—that made my head ache.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw a dim corridor under the glow of emergency lights, with several doors lining the hall.
The suspicious room names mentioned in the post began to appear.
[Isolation Room 1], [Isolation Room 2], [Operating Room], and at the very end, [Dispensary].

“…Those names aren’t that suspicious.”
I walked quietly down the corridor, deep in thought.
Some things didn’t match the post.

Instead of a blood smell, there was that chemical stench. The room names weren’t particularly strange.
And most notably—there was no monster in sight.
But what struck me as most suspicious was this:
Why was it so damn dark down here?

Were they doing something secret here?
It felt like someone was deliberately avoiding light. The darkness in this basement was unnatural.
Of all the doors, only one—[Isolation Room 2]—had a faint light leaking from beneath it.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, I found myself slowly approaching that door.
As I took silent steps closer and closer, faint sounds I hadn’t noticed before began to reach my ears.
“Whimper… whimper…”

A soft, pitiful cry from an animal.
And alongside it, the gentle voices of a man and a woman, as if soothing it.
“There, there… It’s okay, little one. It won’t hurt anymore.”

“Just a bit longer, alright? It’ll all be okay soon.”
And when I finally reached the door—I caught it.
That smell the gallery post had described.

Piercing through the chemical stink was the sharp, unmistakable scent of fresh blood.
No doubt about it—it was blood.
I stopped right there and quietly opened the map.

And there it was.
A vivid red dot glowing just beyond the door of [Isolation Room 2].
The gallery post had not been lying.

Right behind that door—behind those kind, soothing voices—a monster waited.
I swallowed dryly and focused all my senses on the light seeping through the door crack and whatever was happening inside.
I gently pushed open the metal door—slowly, carefully, to avoid making any noise—and peered inside.

What I saw under the dim light was not exactly what I’d expected.
Inside the isolation room was a large table, like a surgical bed, and lying on it was a huge wolf.
It was wounded—its side was bleeding—and it was letting out soft, pained whimpers as it struggled and writhed.

Next to it, inside small glass cases, several other animals were curled up, sleeping peacefully.
It was exactly the sort of scene you'd expect from something labeled “isolation room.”
“Whiiine…”

“There, there. Just a moment more.”
A man and a woman—probably a veterinarian and a nurse—were treating the wolf with practiced hands, stopping the bleeding and administering an injection.
At a glance, it seemed like an ordinary medical procedure for an injured animal. But something about their movements felt nervous—urgent.

They were constantly glancing around, trying to finish quickly, as if afraid of being caught.
Then—the vet must’ve noticed the door was slightly ajar.
His expression instantly hardened.

With a sharp, wary tone, he called out toward me.
“Who’s there… beyond the door?”
I’d been spotted. There was no point hiding anymore—I stepped fully into the room.

Leo ducked behind me inside the hood.
And then, as if he had been waiting for this moment—or had been prepared for it all along—the vet spoke first, hurriedly stringing words together like a plea.
“Please, listen to me first.”

I didn’t know what situation I’d walked into, but I nodded.
“This one… this one has never attacked a human. And we’ve never been attacked, either. It’s a gentle monster. We were just sheltering it until it healed. Please… please…”
He was almost begging.

“Please don’t turn it into a doll!”
…Turn it into a doll?
At that line, my mind went blank.

“Doctor, this one’s condition—”
As I stood there reeling from that shocking sentence, the nurse called out to the vet, clearly concerned about the wolf’s worsening state.
The vet looked at me.

I gave him a silent nod—go ahead.
He looked briefly surprised by my response, but quickly moved to act. He placed an oxygen mask over the wolf’s snout, sedating it almost instantly, and began stitching its bleeding side with practiced hands.
The wolf drifted off into sleep.

Just who did this guy think I was?
While I stood puzzling over ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) that, the vet finished and wiped his hands clean. He approached me cautiously.
“Are you… from the Exploration Team?”

I nodded.
There was something oddly familiar about him.
He feared monsters, but at the same time, he treated and protected them.

I decided to trust him—and told him who I really was.
“I am. But not with Dongto—I’m from Baekho’s team.”
“Baekho…”

He hesitated, then asked how someone from Baekho’s team had ended up here. I told him the truth.
“I’m looking for a place called the laboratory.”
“The laboratory…”

His brows twitched slightly at the word.
He paused—then, as if a thought occurred to him, he finally spoke.
And he offered me a deal.

“I’ll tell you where the laboratory is—or at least what I know about it. But I have a favor to ask in return.”
“A favor?”
“Yes. That place… it’s horrifying. Please—I’m begging you. Destroy it.”

His voice was filled with quiet grief.
I hesitated.
Leo’s quest had only instructed me to find the laboratory, not to destroy it.

Was it okay to promise this?
I turned toward my hood. Leo peeked his head out and licked the tip of my nose.
As if giving permission.

I accepted the vet’s request—but added one of my own.
“Alright. If that place really is as horrible as you say, I’ll do something about it. But in return—I want your word. Keep helping monsters like this, just like you are now.”
He didn’t hesitate.

“If it’s in the shape of an animal and doesn’t attack humans first—then yes, always.”
That was a satisfying answer.
I’d just found a place that could treat both Leo and Daeho if needed.

And so, in that dark basement ward, we formed a strange alliance for our shared purpose.
According to the vet, the laboratory wasn’t here—it was at the doll shop I’d already marked as my next destination.
He explained that it was a secret facility hidden behind the shop, where they created living dolls—items made from monsters—as custom products for wealthy clients with twisted tastes.

His story matched some of what I’d read in the Monster Gallery posts Yerim had sent me.
One post described how the author, thinking they were just shopping for a fox doll, was taken to a “special” room in the back. There, they saw a living doll—and fled in terror.
All clues now pointed to a single location: the doll shop.

“…Be careful.”
“Ah… thanks.”
It struck me that it had been a long time since someone told me to be careful.

After parting ways with the vet, I headed straight to the doll shop.
***
The shop looked ordinary—just a slightly worn storefront.

But the moment I arrived, I felt a chill crawl over my entire body.
I cautiously opened the map—and confirmed my suspicions.
Inside the store, the screen was crowded with red dots.

This wasn’t just one or two monsters.
How many were crammed into this tiny shop?
…Could they all be the dolls—once-monsters—like the vet said?

“Grrrr…”
Leo growled lowly from inside my hood, sensing something.
If he was reacting first, whatever was inside wasn’t ordinary.

I tightened the front of my hood, hiding Leo again, and rolled my shoulders, loosening up.
What I was about to walk into wasn’t just a search.
There might be a fight.

I took one deep breath—
—and pushed open the creaking door.