NOVEL NEXT Chapter 231
◈ I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell
Chapter 231
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The Winter Soldier V
Let's briefly shift focus to the warm haven for Awakeners: SG Net.
As befitting its title as the 'only community in the country,' SG Net always radiated a cozy warmth.
- Anonymous: This guy's probably a loser who can't even get past 200 meters in the tunnel lol
└Anonymous: What's a wannabe Awakener who's only ever had Americanos talking about? haha
└Anonymous: Lol, I'll be having a cafe latte at 600 meters tomorrow. Feel free to join if you've got the guts^^Maybe a little too warm at times.
The main issue was that title it had, the 'only community in the country.' Back when civilization still stood, the internet addicts had each of them staked out their own turf online, yet now, they were all forced into this one big, messy quarantine zone.
Community identity? That didn't exist.
The members ranged from kids under 10 to elderly over 90, from Inuanki Tunnel newbies at 100 meters deep to veterans at 1,000 meters. Everyone was jumbled together.
There was an old saying from the martial arts world: Beware of the elderly, children, and women. In SG Net, you had to be wary of everyone. The only exception was the administrator, Seo Gyu.
It was truly an age of chaos, with countless factions vying for power.
In this hellish reality, one misstep could send you plummeting into ruin.
(There was still a huge mystery surrounding OldManGoryeo, who had lost both legs but somehow managed to survive with his neck intact. Some even seriously debated whether OldManGoryeo was the strongest entity in Korea.)
Today, as always, everyone was fully engrossed in community activities. Not a single person raised a reasonable question about why anyone would be so dedicated to it.
And then, the post appeared.
- Anonymous: [Live Broadcast] Surviving the Ice Age - Day 1: Current Status of the National Road Management Corps' Northern Expedition.avi
It was a video I, the Undertaker, had posted anonymously.
The reason I didn't upload it under my usual nickname, ZERO_SUGAR, was simple: I was meticulous about managing my posts.
If you checked my profile, you'd find an assortment of scholarly posts such as [Shocking! Was Lü Bu Actually Considered a Man of Loyalty in His Time?!], [Military Genius or Just Connections? A Cold-Hearted Analysis of Cao Ren's True Abilities in the Three Kingdoms], and [Why Yuan Shao Failed to Manage His Faction].
Even in the apocalypse, my posts were packed with high-quality educational content.
Views? Likes? I didn't care about those at all. Did Nietzsche whine about poor sales after writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra?
A sage's words being ignored was just the fate of humanity. And I accepted humanity, foolishness and all.
- Anonymous: ?? What is this?
- Anonymous: I see Noh Do-hwa and Yu Ji-won?
- SergeantNerd: Wow, so Team Leader Yu disappeared from Busan because she got sent on a long-term expedition to the Void? sigh
- Anonymous: Even Undertaker is there lol
- [Baekwha] SixthGrader: Hoeee >_<);;
On the other hand, the video I uploaded quickly gained views.
My editing skills, honed over countless regressions, combined with the Anomaly's distortion, created a terrifyingly immersive atmosphere. Despite not having a professional crew, it had the gritty vibe of found footage, much like a documentary horror film, in the vein of The Blair Witch Project.
- Anonymous: Where the hell is this? Why's the assault team packed with all-stars? Has the Commander of the Road Corps ever gone on an expedition to the Void herself?
└[Samcheon] IceIsMagic: Without Dang Seo-rin or that Baekwha Girls' High cosplayer, it's not really all-stars.
- Anonymous: Still, it's the first time I've seen the Commander on a live stream.
└Anonymous: ?? That person is the Commander? Where's my shadowy tall, mustached figure hiding?
└dolLHOuse: As I've said many times, the Commander of the National Road Management Corps is a petite woman who always wears black gloves and a monocle.
└Anonymous: Why is that actually true???
└[Baekwha] JournalismClub2: Wow, no offense, but she looks completely different from how I imagined.
The Noh Do-hwa making a personal appearance shocked many of the members.
Surprisingly, what she looked like wasn't well-known. In fact, over on the Busan side of things, most people wouldn't recognize her at all.
I mean, who could identify a workaholic who spent 365 days a year holed up in a dark office at NRMC headquarters, buried in paperwork?
Unlike Seo-rin, who occasionally uploaded photos (usually to show off), or Yo-hwa, who would post pictures of people tied up in front of a campfire while flashing a peace sign, Do-hwa didn't even log into SG Net.
Those who had only ever heard rumors about her but never seen her in person were glued to the video, half-convinced she might not even be real.
- Anonymous: Noh Do-hwa aside, this Ice Age Anomaly? This looks pretty dangerous.
- ZhaoYong-soo: Judging by the Statue of Liberty that appeared in the video, the location is definitely Sinuiju. We've received reports that strange statues have been popping up there recently.
- Anonymous: If it's -120 deg with wide-area freezing and brainwashing abilities, isn't that basically a mobile Great Void? I heard the Commander is basically powerless. Is she even supposed to be there?
└OldManGoryeo: If it's Sinuiju, the Saintess of the North should be nearby, so as long as they don't die, they'll be fine lol
└Anonymous: I'm saying they might die...
- Anonymous: Damn, they just took out all the prisoners in one shot. Nice.
For three days, I uploaded one part of my "docu-series." It amounted to 120 minutes of dense content. Both in length and substance, it had the potential to dominate all discussions on SG Net.
- Anonymous: Holy shit; half the Corps members just got wiped out in one blow!
└[NationalRoad] ForbiddenBookDepartment17: I heard Cha Jae-hee was one of the top aces among her peers...
- Anonymous: Fuck, seeing them get dragged away by ghosts is bringing back trauma. One of our guild members got dragged away like that and came back with just his wrist lol
└Anonymous: Same here...
- [Baekwha] JournalismClub2: Baekwha Girls, please don't reply to posts using your nickname. Log in as guests only; this is Directive 004. And don't respond to this either.
- LiteraryGirl: KYAAAAAA Noh Do-hwa and Undertaker are trending as a couple!!!
└Anonymous: ?
└LiteraryGirl: Everyone, you have to see this black-haired chemistry! I've lived just to witness this moment! I suddenly feel like my life hasn't been wasted, and it's all so moving. 😭😭😭
└Anonymous: ?
└OldManGoryeo: ?
└Anonymous: ??
└Anonymous: What's wrong with this chick all of a sudden?
└dolLHOuse: ──
└[Samcheon] WitchJudge: Hm...
- Anonymous: Who's that blue-haired Awakener over there? Is that a Road Corps member?
└[NationalRoad] ForbiddenBookDepartment17: No? Probably a local collaborator.
As the video progressed, the number of survivors rapidly dwindled.
On Day 1, there were still ten members of the Corps, but as time went on, they grew increasingly mentally unstable. Grabbed by the apparent ghosts, some began self-harming while others destroyed the bunker's supplies.
- Anonymous: Now I get why the National Road Corps elites suddenly went to Sinuiju. If a monster like that showed up, of course they'd have to go.
└[Samcheon] IceIsMagic: Agreed.
└Anonymous: I thought it was an all-star team, but now I'm getting worried...
On SG Net, posts like [Analyzing the Objective Danger of the Ice Age Anomaly] and [Why the Ice Age Assault Team Is Fucked] began flooding in.
By the time the video showed the evening of Day 2, only four survivors remained: Noh Do-hwa, Yu Ji-won, the Saintess, and me.
Just as unease began spreading among the viewers, worrying that the mission would fail, what were we, the flesh-and-blood members in question, actually doing inside the Statue of Liberty?
"It's ready. Let's call Dokseo and Ah-ryeon and get out of here."
"Yes."
We had already leisurely prepared for our escape.
As I said before, the Ice Age Anomaly was an otaku type. It didn't distinguish between 'imagination' and 'reality' and instead treated them as one and the same.
That's why the video I uploaded to SG Net—the Surviving the Ice Age series—wasn't just some made-up tall tale to the Anomaly. To it, the video was a legitimate truth. The Ice Age Anomaly truly believed it had killed the members of the National Road Management Corps.
In reality, after turning off the camera, I had personally carried all the wounded out of New York, one by one.
But from the Anomaly's perspective, there were now two truths:
A. The National Road Management Corps members weren't dead. They had simply been transported beyond the snowstorm's boundary.
B. The National Road Management Corps members were all wiped out, and the remaining survivors would soon be brainwashed and die.
With these two truths coexisting, I edited the live broadcast and uploaded it to SG Net.
Almost immediately, the perception that 'Truth B is real' skyrocketed. No one intervened from the Corps' side to claim the video was fake, and the distortion added by the Anomaly made it feel all too real. Though there were some skeptics, they were a minority. The people who believed in Truth A could be counted on one hand, while those who believed in Truth B numbered well over a thousand.
"With this, we can control the Anomaly's perception," I explained to the remaining team, keeping the camera off. "SG Net works well here, in the Void where the Ice Age Anomaly resides. In other words, the Anomaly sees SG Net as part of reality."
"...So whichever truth the SG Net users believe, that becomes the truth for the Anomaly, right?"
"Exactly, Saintess." I smiled. "The Ice Age Anomaly must be thrilled right now. Well, I'm speaking metaphorically, since it doesn't actually feel emotions. But it thinks it has cornered Noh Do-hwa, the real power behind the peninsula, as well as the Constellations and even me, the Undertaker."
"Right."
"So from the Anomaly's perspective, the best possible ending is playing out. If we all die, it will believe it has reached a perfect ending and will remain forever trapped in the video instead of in reality."
"...I see."
That was why I edited and uploaded the video. This strategy would let us defeat an Anomaly capable of summoning -120°C weather in the middle of summer, all in just three days. The plan was to lull the Anomaly into a sweet dream and seal it away, making it live in that dream forever.
"All that's left is to upload the final ending video. Before that, though, I'll need two of you to take on the roles of attempting an escape and going missing, while the last one will stay with me until the end, freezing to death."
"Ah. In that case, I—"
"I'll do it, " Do-hwa cut off the Saintess. "I'll stay until the end."
"You, Ms. Do-hwa?" the Saintess asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes. If the Saintess of Yongsan is the last one standing, SG Net viewers will think it's strange. No one knows her true identity... Besides, if I leave someone behind to die while I escape, it'll hurt my image as the Commander of the National Road Management Corps."
"Ah. That makes sense."
"I'm not particularly interested in managing my image, but it would be good for people to see that a high-ranking officer of the Corps stays in the most dangerous place until the very end." Do-hwa glanced at me through her monocle. "Isn't that right, Undertaker?"
"Hmm."
Even though we'd had an intense conversation the other night, neither of us brought up that topic again. As if nothing had happened.
It made sense. After all, both Do-hwa and I already knew everything we had discussed. We had merely voiced what we already understood that night.
I nodded. "That makes sense. When the camera starts rolling, Team Leader Yu Ji-won and the Saintess will head out."
"Understood."
"You should pretend to go searching for the missing people, as if you've been hypnotized by the Anomaly."
That left only Do-hwa and me alone in the Statue of Liberty's bunker.
Making it through the raging snowstorm would be no easy feat, but for the Saintess and Ji-won, it was definitely possible.
I filmed their silhouettes as they opened the door and walked out, editing it to be as dramatic as possible. Now, all that was left was to shoot the final ending.
"......"
"......"
Silence fell.
With just the two of us remaining in the bunker, which had once been filled with over 20 people, the frozen air felt even colder.
"So, how are you planning to film the final scene...?"
"Oh, I'm thinking of destroying the Statue of Liberty. The two of us will get trapped under the debris and slowly freeze to death."
"Hmm. And how do you plan to film the freezing part?"
"I'll control my Aura. I'll keep the warmth circulating through my internal organs while letting frost form on the surface of our skin."
"Well, as always, I'll leave it to you to handle the Anomaly..."
"Yes. But I'll need you to handle the filming with your smartphone. My hands will be full."
After distributing our roles, I gently knocked over the miniature Statue of Liberty model that had been placed on the world map.
It tumbled to join the pile of rubble, along with the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben from Paris and London.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
As expected, the Ice Age Anomaly, which had perceived the Statue of Liberty as the "real deal," began to rage.
The snowstorm intensified, and the entire statue, where the bunker was located, started to shake violently like in an earthquake. In less than ten seconds, the outer walls of the statue began to tear apart, crashing to the ground with a deafening thud-thud-thud.
"Don't leave the range of my Aura under any circumstances."
I pulled Do-hwa close with one arm, shielding her from the falling debris with my Aura.
Thud! Crash! Thud!
The shattered pieces of the statue piled up around us, deflected by the Aura.
Rumble, rumble...
The Statue of Liberty had completely collapsed. We were now trapped between the wreckage, like survivors of a collapsed building. The narrow, dark crevice was filled with dust.
Do-hwa's face was mere inches from mine. Thankfully, she didn't seem hurt.
"Is it recording?"
"Seems to be. Well enough, at least. Not that I have any experience with this kind of thing..."
"As long as it's recording. The editing will take care of itself later. Let me know if you feel any pain or cold."
"Sure."
Do-hwa looked down at her hand and observed the thin layer of frost that had formed on her skin. "This is interesting. It really does look like frost, but I don't feel that cold. Seeing something like this makes me want to learn Aura myself..."
"This is a trick only I can pull off. You don't have the talent for it, so you're better off giving up."
"Hah." She half-closed her eyes. "If you stop controlling your Aura even for a moment, the cold will penetrate my skin and kill me, won't it?"
"......"
Do-hwa placed her hand over my heart, and the outer edges of my chest felt cold.
From that moment on, she said nothing more. She simply rested her hand over my heart, feeling the rhythm of my heartbeat, and gazed into my eyes.
Ssssshhhh...
Snowflakes gently fell through the cracks in the rubble.
When I looked into her eyes, reflected in mine, my skin appeared frozen. Both Do-hwa and I were encased in a layer of fabricated cold, using it like armor to keep the warmth inside.
"Not bad."
After filming for what felt like hours, Do-hwa finally murmured her thoughts.
"It's not bad at all."
There's a short epilogue.
Later that day, I edited the scene of Noh Do-hwa and the Undertaker freezing to death and uploaded it to SG Net. By then, the debris had long been cleared away, and we were sitting on the rubble as if it were a bench.
While sipping warm coffee beside me, Do-hwa commented, "Well, it looks like people will think the two of us are dead for a while. Is that okay?"
"I've already told Seo-rin and Yo-hwa, so if there's any chaos, it'll just be a storm in a teacup. In two days, the Constellations will announce that it was all staged, and that will be the end of it."
I checked my phone and saw SG Net was in absolute chaos, with members going wild over the final video. The apocalypse seemed to have arrived, with people screaming about the fall of Korea, the collapse of Busan, and the doom of the National Road Management Corps.
A perfect success at baiting them!
"I'll let the view count rise for a while, then lock all the videos as private."
"Ohhh..."
"Once that's done, the Anomaly will be trapped inside those private videos, living out its existence only within them, like an urban legend."
"The internet as a prison for Anomalies... How fascinating."
Of course, I had deleted all copies of the videos outside of the SG Net posts.
How would I describe it?
The Ice Age Anomaly had been, quite literally, 'immortalized on the internet.'
No one would ever see it again, but still.
"All we need to do now is wait for more people to click the videos."
"Hm." Do-hwa took another sip of coffee. "So, for the next two days, we'll officially be dead..."
"Yes. Consider it a long-overdue vacation. Any place you'd like to visit?"
"Well..."
She stretched her arms overhead, the winter thawing somewhere in the stretch of her fingertips. Then, she glanced at my hand.
"For now, since the hunt is over, could you turn off your phone? It's distracting."
I shrugged and powered off my phone.
From this point on, everything was off the record. I'll just add that the two busiest people on the Korean peninsula, Do-hwa and I, enjoyed a rare, blissful vacation.
"Hello, Undertaker. Long time no see."
"Oh, hey, Seo-rin. Thanks for taking care of Busan while the Ice Age Anomaly stirred things up."
"Don't mention it. But, about that video..."
"The Surviving the Ice Age series?"
"Yeah. In the last part, you and the Commander shared a kiss just before you died. Care to explain what that was about? I'm just curious, that's all."
"Oh."
...Let's just say that explaining to her that the kiss was not part of reality, but merely a 'fictional scene' distorted by the Anomaly's editing, turned out to be quite the challenge.
Footnotes:
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