Chapter 214 – Hallucination Trap

Finding the boss room in the Ancient Temple of Magic is no easy task. It’s as if one is trapped in a maze of mirrors, with illusionary barriers disrupting any attempt to locate it.

‘Even if you stumble upon it by chance once, it won’t be in the same place the next time.’

The pattern of the barriers changes each time, so it’s common to return to what you thought was the same spot only to find nothing there.

‘No wonder the boss’s existence remains unknown.’

Yet, as with any dungeon, a boss does exist here. And if you know the method, finding the boss room becomes surprisingly simple.

Slash!

As the body of a guard, sliced through its armor, fell, a brief blue flame flickered from it.

‘The direction the flame points to is the way to go.’

Every monster in this place emits a blue flame upon death. And the direction in which the blue flame flickers indicates the location of the boss room, acting like a kind of compass.

‘To someone unaware, it might just seem like a chemical reaction unique to the monsters here, leading them to wander aimlessly.’

Sure enough, the leader, Kang Hyuk-su, started moving in a direction opposite to where the flame pointed. Without knowing the flame’s significance, it’s natural to head the wrong way.

‘I’ll have to correct their course.’

Since he couldn’t outright say to go in a specific direction, Min Do-jun pretended to have spotted something.

“Leader, I see something over there.”

“Huh? What is it?”

The party moved toward the direction Min Do-jun indicated, but nothing was visible at first.

“There’s nothing here?”

However, after waiting a bit longer, guards emerged from beyond the hill.

“Enemies!”

Immediately taking combat stances, they dispatched the guards. Afterward, Kang Hyuk-su approached Min Do-jun.

“Do-jun, how did you know there were enemies beyond the hill?”

“I thought I saw something for a moment.”

In truth, he had detected them with his Presence Detection trait, but there was no need to reveal that.

“You’ve got sharp eyes. If you notice anything suspicious again, let me know.”

“Will do.”

“Alright, let’s rest for one more minute and then move forward!”

After the break, Kang Hyuk-su took the lead, shield raised. It was the direction Min Do-jun had intended.

‘Since he’s just charging straight ahead, it’s easy to guide them.’

Whenever the direction veered off, Min Do-jun would mention spotting a monster, subtly steering the party.

‘If I guide them like this, I can smoothly lead them to the boss room.’

After a full day of adjusting their course, they finally arrived.

“There’s something over there!”

They had reached the ancient temple where the boss resided.

“What’s a temple doing here?”

“It’s painted red… feels kind of ominous.”

“Leader, what do we do? Should we go in?”

Kang Hyuk-su, who held the decision-making power, stroked his chin in thought. Since this building wasn’t mentioned in any guides, his deliberation took longer.

“Hmm… It’s not in the guides, so I don’t know if it’s dangerous or not, but since we’ve found it, let’s go in. The boss might be inside, right?”

“Huh? Isn’t it dangerous if the boss is there?”

“How dangerous could it be? Besides, we have Hunter Min Do-jun, the boss killer, with us, don’t we?”

Mentioning Min Do-jun, the team members nodded in agreement. With him on their side, they believed they had a chance even against a boss. Perhaps he could even solo-kill it.

‘That’s right. Go in, guys.’

Unaware of the trap awaiting them, the team members stepped into the temple.

“Shall we head in there?”

The group moved toward the largest building within the temple grounds.

‘They’re heading straight for the boss room on their own.’

Everything was going according to Min Do-jun’s plan.

Fwoosh-

At that moment, a robed mage appeared, firing flames from behind a pillar, but…

Thwack-!

It couldn’t stop the advance of a party that easily dispatched even the guards. Especially not with Min Do-jun, who already knew their positions and shattered their heads with precision.

‘Don’t interfere. I need to get the party members to the boss room safely.’

Cutting through the monsters’ interference, Min Do-jun led the party into the building.

‘The hallucination trap hasn’t activated yet. We need to go deeper.’

They walked for a while, following the torches lighting the dark corridors. Just when Min Do-jun thought it was about time for the boss room to appear, his vision went black.

* * *

“Oppa? Oppa.”

Someone shook him awake with a sweet voice.

Slowly opening his eyes, Min Do-jun saw someone who shouldn’t be there.

It was Cha Ye-rin.

“Why are you looking at me with such a surprised face?”

“Ye-rin… is that really you?”

“What are you talking about? What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“You’re supposed to be dead…”

“What? Did you have a nightmare or something?”

“Nightmare…?”

Min Do-jun let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah. It was a nightmare.”

“Hurry up and get up. Come down and eat. Didn’t we agree to go into a dungeon tonight?”

“Got it.”

As Cha Ye-rin left the room, Min Do-jun got out of bed.

‘It’s started. The nightmare called hallucination.’

The moment he saw Cha Ye-rin, Min Do-jun realized it. The hallucination trap set before the boss room had been triggered.

‘Seeing Ye-rin in front of me is already impossible.’

Moreover, this place was his honeymoon home. A place he shouldn’t be in, as he hadn’t even married yet.

‘If I hadn’t realized this was a hallucination, I might have been fooled.’

The way to discern a hallucination was surprisingly simple. You just had to keep reminding yourself that if a specific situation occurred, it meant you were in a hallucination.

‘In my case, Ye-rin was the key to breaking the hallucination.’

Before reaching the boss room, Min Do-jun had continuously thought of Cha Ye-rin. He kept telling himself that if he ever saw her, it meant he was in a hallucination. As a result, the moment he saw her, he recognized it as such.

‘If you predict the scene the hallucination will show and set a trigger accordingly, that’s all it takes.’

Predicting the scene a hallucination might show wasn’t difficult. You just had to think of either your happiest or most painful moments.

‘Right now, it’s showing me the happiest moment of my life.’

Min Do-jun looked around the room with a sense of nostalgia. He wanted to linger a bit longer, but his body moved downstairs against his will.

‘Even though I’ve realized it’s a hallucination, my body isn’t under my control.’

That was to be expected. This was a replay of a happy memory from the past. There was no way he could act outside the script.

‘But someone who’s aware can act out of script once. Of course, doing so will break the hallucination immediately.’

He could escape the hallucination right now if he wanted to, but Min Do-jun chose to savor the moment a little longer.

‘It’s been so long since I’ve seen Ye-rin’s face. I can’t end it so soon.’

Since the hallucination had just begun, there was no rush yet.

‘Right now, the other hunters must be floundering in their hallucinations.’

At this very moment, they were all experiencing the same thing. Not the same vision, but the same kind of trap.

‘They probably think it’s reality. Unless they prepared like I did.’

If they didn’t realize it was a hallucination, they couldn’t do anything. They’d have to stand idly before the boss room until the dungeon run ended.

‘They’ll keep seeing the same memory over and over without even realizing it’s repeating.’

Mistaking the memory for reality, they wouldn’t notice the loop. They were completely ensnared by the boss’s trap.

But Min Do-jun could escape this memory whenever he wanted.

‘Not that I want to just yet.’

Descending to the first-floor kitchen, Min Do-jun sat at the dining table.

“Wow, you made so much. It’s not even my birthday.”

“Just because. To cheer you up, oppa.”

Looking at the meticulously prepared 12-dish spread, Min Do-jun swallowed in anticipation.

“Come on, let’s eat together.”

“Wait a sec. Let me grab this.”

Cha Ye-rin brought a pot from the kitchen.

“My favorite doenjang jjigae?”

“Yeah. You can’t eat without soup, right?”

‘I eat just fine without soup now.’

Min Do-jun almost retorted but held back, not wanting to break the hallucination.

Clink, clink.

He started eating, facing Cha Ye-rin. Though the food entered his mouth, he felt no taste.

‘As expected, once you’re aware, you don’t feel any sensations.’

Even though he was seeing, hearing, and speaking in first-person, it didn’t feel like himself.

‘It’s like playing a well-made VR game on auto mode.’

He could break the auto mode by interfering, but he didn’t want to. It was more like watching a scene unfold.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“I went to the hospital the other day…”

“Hospital? Are you sick?”

The Min Do-jun in the memory looked alarmed, but the aware Min Do-jun remained calm. He knew what she was about to say.

“It’s not that. I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant? Really?”

“Yes. They said I’m five weeks along.”

The stunned expression on Min Do-jun’s face quickly turned into a bright smile.

“Hahaha! I’m… I’m going to be a dad…!”

Clenching his fists in joy, the aware Min Do-jun also smiled inwardly.

‘This was my happiest memory…’

Looking at Cha Ye-rin smiling back at him, he savored the happiness of that moment. But then, the scene shifted.

* * *

The two who had been at the dining table were now sitting on the sofa.

“Su-ho, Su-ho. How are you doing?”

“Oppa, you’re already calling the name?”

“Of course. Now that we know the gender, why wouldn’t I?”

Min Do-jun gently rubbed Cha Ye-rin’s belly.

“Su-ho, let’s go to the bathhouse with Dad later and scrub each other’s backs, okay?”

“Pfft, oppa. The baby hasn’t even been born yet.”

Even though the child wasn’t born, Min Do-jun couldn’t help but feel overjoyed imagining a future with his son.

At that moment-

Ding-dong-

Hearing the familiar doorbell, Min Do-jun casually glanced at the video intercom.

“Huh? It’s Hunter Shin Kyung-min?”

“Your colleague? Why is he at our house?”

“No idea. Maybe it’s about the dungeon run tonight?”

Min Do-jun approached the front door.

‘Don’t open it. Don’t open it!’

The aware Min Do-jun shouted with an agitated face, knowing what would happen, but-

Click-

The memory from the past couldn’t be changed.

Slash-!

“Urgh, arghhh!”

The moment the door opened, one of his arms was severed. Seo Jin-cheol, waiting outside, had swung his dual swords without hesitation.

Thud!

A kick sent him rolling back into the house.

Bang!

Dozens of hunters stormed in instantly.

“Kyaaa!”

Amid Cha Ye-rin’s screams, Min Do-jun struggled to his senses and equipped his hunter gear. With one arm left, he intended to resist somehow.

“Stop right there and put your weapon away. If you don’t, this woman’s life is over.”

At the time, in the chaos, he hadn’t known who spoke, but now he could see clearly.

‘Shin Kyung-min, that bastard…’

Looking now, it was evident that the hunters were moving under Shin Kyung-min’s command.

“Won’t put your weapon away?”

Seeing Cha Ye-rin held by the hunters, Min Do-jun had no choice but to comply.

“Stomp on him.”

Dozens of hunters began to beat Min Do-jun.

He felt no pain. An aware person couldn’t feel sensations in a hallucination.

But the rage from that moment was as vivid as ever.

‘These bastards…!’

Most of the hunters beating him were already dead, but not all of them. For instance, Kang Hyuk-su was still alive.

“Move aside! If you’re going to hit him, do it like this.”

Kang Hyuk-su charged in, delivering a soccer kick to Min Do-jun’s face. Then, taking a ground-and-pound position, he hammered down with his fists like a mallet.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Min Do-jun, beaten to a pulp like tenderized meat, was dragged to the center of the living room by telekinesis.

“Even the domestic rank 1 Min Do-jun is helpless against a surprise attack.”

“Urgh, you bastards…”

“Hyung-nim, look at this guy’s eyes.”

“Looks like he hasn’t learned his lesson yet.”

At those words, Shin Kyung-min smirked wickedly and said, “Then let’s make him learn.”

Shin Kyung-min reached out toward Cha Ye-rin, who was held by the hunters.

“Guh!”

As telekinesis choked her, Cha Ye-rin writhed in pain.

And Min Do-jun knew what would happen next. Because of that, he no longer wanted to watch this nightmare.

Ssssh-

Holding a one-handed sword, Min Do-jun struck suddenly.

Slash!

Shin Kyung-min’s head fell off.

In an instant, he also severed the heads of the other startled hunters.

Thud- Thud- Thud-

Heads rolled across the living room.

The only person left alive was Cha Ye-rin.

“Huff, huff.”

Trying to calm his excitement with deep breaths, Min Do-jun felt the surroundings darken.

And soon, he found himself standing before the boss room.

‘Has the hallucination broken?’

By acting out of script, he had escaped the painful memory.

‘Phew. I’ll never come to this dungeon again.’

The happy memory was fine, but the painful one was something he could never get used to.

‘What about the others?’

Turning his head, he saw the four party members standing blankly. Their eyes lacked focus, still trapped in their hallucinations.

‘Shin Kyung-min, Kang Hyuk-su.’

Seeing the faces of those still alive, rage surged within him.

‘I’ll kill you right here and now.’

Min Do-jun raised Excalibur.