Illusory Prison

"It is good that you know," Hee-won rolled her eyes as the others laughed, The moment may have been born out of a misunderstanding but they meant what they said and that was all that mattered to them.

A few minutes later Dok-ja came back in, he didn't look exhausted or hurt which was a relief for most of the group, Gil-young was hugging his leg not wanting to let go since he thought Dok-ja will run away again if does so.

"What is that in your hand?" Hee-won seemed interested in what Dok-ja brought with him.

[Samyeongdang's Prayer Beads]

[Samyeongdang's Straw Mat]

"Oh, this? I went out and got these as presents from a great person," Dok-ja said as he gave the beads to Sang-ah as it help in the recovery of mana, he offered it to Queresha first but she declined.

'Come to think of it she already has a metal band on her hand, Haru-ssi is the same,' Dok-ja thought while giving the Straw mat to Hee-won since it helps in increasing a sense of justice and will.

"Did you go to the statue of Great monk Sam-Yeong at the 6th gate?" Haru asked, he remembered there being a bronze statue of the monk here.

"Huh, who is that?" Hee-won looked the most out of touch from this and Sang-ah was the only one who seemed to recognize the name.

[A constellation wearing a robe is surprised you know of his statue]

And it wasn't just the constellation that was surprised by Haru's actions.

"Ah, yes I went there and prayed, which led to these items falling from the sky," Dok-ja was shocked as well since Haru remembered something like that. Even he only remembered it because he re-read it in the novel.

"He was a monk from the mid-Joseon dynasty, he defended Korea during the Japanese invasion and won the battles of Nowonpyeong and Ugwandong," Sang-ah spoke excitedly since she had studied this before.

[The constellation wearing a robe is touched by the acknowledgment of the incarnation Yoo Sang-ah.]

"These items are imbued with the great monk's power," Dok-ja said getting a surprised reaction from Hee-won and Sang-ah as they looked at the items they got in a new light.

Hee-won didn't seem to like it at first, since it wasn't stylish and Haru's laugh after she tried it on didn't make her want to wear it even more. But now that she felt that it had an effect on her strength she thought was ok.

"I think… it was sent by Samyeongdang for South Korea. He might've left his belongings to save the country, just like how he did in the past," Dok-ja said with a bright smile, Sang-ah seemed to buy it along with Hyun-sung and Gil-young.

But Hee-won and Nam-woon weren't having it, they thought this was plain bullshit. And it was all bullshit, what Dok-ja did was break the statue and these items came out of them.

All of the idols are sealed with the power of their respective constellations, once the seal is broken, one can obtain skills or items that belong to the corresponding constellation.

Dok-ja broke the statue as undoing the seal normally would take too long, this does make the constellation angry but it was easy to offset that by spreading their name.

'No constellation would pass up the chance for their name to be praised,' Dok-ja thought as Hee-won, Sang-ah, and Hyun-sung offered their words of praise for the great monk Sam-Yeong.

[A constellation wearing a robe has revealed his nickname.]

[The Constellation 'Bald Leader of the Peasant's Army' forgives Incarnation Kim Dok-ja's transgression.]

[100 coins have been sponsored.]

Haru just laughed which actually made Dok-ja sweat in nervousness since he wondered if he was caught lying, but it seems like he was safe since Haru didn't say anything.

'It looks like there are a lot more conditions to the activation of stigma than I thought; maybe there is also a limit to how many times he can use it?' Dok-ja thought while looking at Haru, But he didn't want to take any more risks than he already had.

"Is something wrong Dok-ja?" Haru asked as Dok-ja was staring at his face for quite some time.

"Ah, no I was thinking that Haru-ssi looks….different," Dok-ja spoke while looking at the red flame-like mark that was on Haru's forehead.

'I nearly said he looks more handsome there,' Dok-ja sighed since he somehow held himself back. You can't blame him Haru made Jung-hyeok look like a normal person after all.

"Ah, you must be talking about the mark, It just appeared suddenly two days ago, Do you want to know about it perhaps?" Haru asked with the same smile.

"No, it won't be a good idea to tell something like that," Dok-ja meant it as in not giving out information on your skills and the likes, but in reality…

'I don't think I should ask that,' Dok-ja quickly wanted to avoid the situation since it seemed nothing good will happen if he tries to find out about this. It felt like a trap.

A big trap at that. Dok-ja wouldn't be surprised if that mark is a symbol of the stigma, there are cases when a stigma causes a change in the incarnation's body, In Haru's case, it seemed like it left a flame-like mark on his forehead.

"I see," Haru didn't push it further and accepted it

'I want that,' Nam-woon was of course jealous, he wanted something like that on his arm so that he can have a real excuse to wrap bandages on it.

But all of this was suddenly interrupted.

[A new Sub Scenario has arrived.]

[Sub Scenario – Phantom Prison]

Category: Sub

Difficulty: D~F

Clear Conditions: Escape from Phantom Prison within the time limit.

Time Limit: 1 hour

Compensation: 300 coins

Failure: ???

"What the hell?" Hee-won quickly took out the katana pointing it forward. Everyone got alert looking at the scenario window but they didn't even know what hit them.

'It is this one,' Dok-ja thought as a heavy and cold wind passed by everyone enveloping them in complete darkness.

"A mind attack," Haru muttered as he wasn't affected by it, the darkness that tried to surround him was blown away and he was able to see others clearly.

"It would seem so," Queresha confirmed while looking around.

"P-Private Lee Hyun-sung, Did not copy SIR!" Hyun-sung was standing straight with a scared look as he shouted.

"I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry Mom," Gil-young was covering his ears mumbling the same thing over and over.

"What the hell? Why is this katana glowing?" Hee-won shouted as the katana was glowing surrounding her with its light, but this helped her avoid the illusory prison.

"Haru-ssi, Dok-ja, Gil-young, and Hyun-sung are acting weirdly," Sang-ah looked at Haru, she also wasn't affected by the illusory prison and it was because of the prayer beads on her hand.

"I think I can dispel it," Haru said as a wave of red mana left his body and passed through the area blowing away the darkness like it was nothing.

"Huh, What am I doing here?" Hyun-sung was shocked as he regained himself and looked around to see where he was. His head was pounding like crazy right now.

"It is ok Gil-young," Sang-ah was looking after Gil-young who was still trembling in fear huddled on the ground.

'This is a zone that triggers someone's past trauma in order to drive them insane,' Dok-ja broke out of the illusory prison with the help of the skill 'The Fourth wall' but…

'Haru-ssi has too many abilities, no I guess this one makes sense,' Dok-ja saw Haru break apart the illusory prison, he likely used a skill like dispel evil which he got himself after breaking Sam-yeong's statue. But it seemed like he didn't need to use that skill to break the prison.

"We still have to kill the monsters in the...front," Dok-ja's words got slower as he looked in the front.

What he expected was a swarm of tier 8 ghost species 'Specter' coming at them but what he saw was [Specter Spirit stone].

'When did they die?' Dok-ja wondered as he looked at the dark green and purple stone on the ground.

"You ok Dok-ja? You look a little pale," Haru looked at Dok-ja letting the latter know who was responsible for what he was thinking.

"Y-Yeah," Dok-ja didn't know why he stuttered but he felt something quite dangerous from Haru even though he was just asking about his condition.

"I see, then should we welcome the ones that have come," Haru said pointing ahead and making Dok-ja turn around.

"Who are you people?" Everyone saw a familiar girl standing in front of them pointing her katana at them with a frown.

Aside from Haru and Queresha no one even felt her arrival, she was like a ghost.

"Ah, this girl…!" Yoo Sang-ah exclaimed looking at the girl.

The girl that was in the video that was shown to them during the first scenario, The only survivor of Dae-pong Girls High School, Lee Ji-Hye.

'It was because she was one of the main characters of Ways of Survival.' But Dok-ja knew her for another reason. She was one of the reasons why Yoo Jung-hyeok went straight to Chungmuro in the shortest time. That was how much potential she held.

Dok-ja quickly used his skill 'Character list' to see her profile.

.....

530 powerstones and you get a bonus chapter.