Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Fooling the Ice Age Anomaly
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Excluding deaths by anomalies, if I had to pick the number one cause of mass human extinction, I could answer without hesitation.
Freezing to death.
Death by hypothermia, literally.
Even setting aside the Ice Age anomaly that had now arrived in the Korean Peninsula's New York—New New York had a weird ring to it, so they'd changed it to Shin New York—winter alone was more than enough to kill humans at vanilla purity levels.
How much worse was a winter enhanced by an anomaly?
Even in this regression, where the National Highway Management Corps members' aura proficiency had leveled up across the board, enduring the brutal cold was no easy task.
“Fuck, it’s freezing…”
For No Do-ha, who hadn’t invested a single point in the aura branch of the Awakener tech tree, it was even worse.
Sixty minutes since the Ice Age anomaly's arrival.
A puff of white breath leaked from No Do-ha, who was huddled under a blanket, rising like chimney smoke. She was shivering so badly it was pitiful.
“Corps Leader. Please come a little closer.”
“…For real. If it was gonna be like this, we should’ve just brought the Great Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds. Why drag someone who’s perfectly fine working in Busan all the way here and make a fuss? If she sang here, the mood would’ve been way better.”
“We absolutely needed No Do-ha Corps Leader for this operation. Bringing Dang Seo-rin would’ve been a disaster.”
“I don’t know what kind of operation this is, but thanks to it, I feel like I’m gonna freeze to death…”
I reached under the blanket and took No Do-ha’s left hand. Her fingers were ice-cold.
Twitch. No Do-ha’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she didn’t pull her hand away.
Soon, my aura flowed through our clasped hands into her body.
“…”
No Do-ha shuddered, her shoulders twitching as if ticklish. She wasn’t proficient with aura.
Her lips moved as if to complain, but she knew I wouldn’t stop, so she clamped them shut.
In an instant, the space under the blanket warmed up.
I controlled the dark blue aura to circulate only under the blanket, out of sight from the others.
“…”
“You can say thank you honestly.”
“Bullshit.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…Tch. Feels like I’ve been through something like this before. …Ah. It’s exactly like turning on the ondol floor heating, covering up with a blanket, and then turning on the AC.”
“My god. You indulged in that absurd luxury? Do we have resources to spare?”
“Hmph. That’s because a true boomer like you can’t even remember when civilization was intact. Everyone in Korea did it at least once… Anyway, Awakener Undertaker. Just one question.”
No Do-ha pointed steadily in one direction with her right hand.
“What the hell are those cameras…?”
There stood a row of recording devices filming the interior of the Statue of Liberty.
Mostly cursed items contaminated by anomalies—precious relics—they hummed along perfectly.
“As you can see, filming equipment.”
“That’s why I’m asking—why are you wasting these precious materials filming us shivering in the cold…?”
“Ah, of course, it’s related to the ultimate strategy for defeating the Ice Age anomaly. Corps Leader, just sit tight and don’t worry about a thing.”
“Sigh. Something feels off…”
That was when it happened.
“—We’re all screwed!”
Someone in the middle of the Management Corps members shrieked. Their eyes had lost focus.
“We can’t even communicate with the outside, and food’s running out! Staying holed up here like this, we’re all doomed to die anyway! All of us!”
“H-Hey. Cha Jae-hee. What’s up with you all of a sudden?”
Moments ago, the comrade had been perfectly fine, emitting aura via bio-lantern, but now they were freaking out. The others looked on in confusion.
The deranged member started wildly stripping off the blankets and winter gear wrapped around their body.
“If we’re all doomed anyway, I’ll sacrifice myself. Yeah. Reducing mouths to feed means my comrades live a little longer. Ahh, I’ll head outside just like this…”
“Shit! Void contamination!”
“Stop Cha Jae-hee!”
As expected of seasoned elites, the Management Corps swiftly subdued the deviant.
No need for me to intervene—the incident wrapped up. Only No Do-ha, whose hand was linked with mine, glanced over suspiciously.
“Awakener Undertaker.”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you helping the members—instead, you’re filming the chaos with your smartphone…?”
Indeed.
I sat calmly, capturing the scene unfolding before me on camera.
And it didn’t end there. Even as Void poison spread further, causing multiple members to hallucinate simultaneously, I didn’t step in.
“We’ll all die like this! We need a suicide squad to request aid from outside!”
“No, we have plenty of food—what—”
“He’s right! Even if the rescue request fails, we have to let survivors survive!”
“Let us go outside!”
They weren’t in their right minds.
Outside, a -120°C blizzard raged. Charging out without securing a path, even Management Corps elites would face total annihilation.
Clearly, their judgment had been stolen by the anomaly.
Normally, this would be the moment for squad leader Yoo Ji-won to step up and make an example.
“…”
Glance. Yoo Ji-won checked my expression and stayed quietly at attention.
Naturally. Yoo Ji-won’s principle was ‘win my favor to hold onto power.’ Duties as squad leader were far down the priority list.
If I judged no response needed, Yoo Ji-won stayed put. She just stared at her smartphone, surfing SG Net.
“Ah. Fuck…”
Seeing our reactions, No Do-ha caught on and sighed.
She understood this was part of the strategy.
“Let’s break through the tundra for our comrades! If we reach the southern base, we can return with a rescue team!”
“Don’t fear death! If we don’t sacrifice, who will?”
The Void contamination spread uncontrollably.
Ten out of twenty Management Corps members instantly turned into ‘escapees.’
Even accounting for us three leaders letting go, the contamination speed was excessively fast, and the brainwashing depth profound.
“T-Team Leader! Your Excellency Undertaker! They’re really going out!”
“Let them.”
This was the decisive reason I’d mobilized Yoo Ji-won and No Do-ha for this op.
Resistance to brainwashing.
These two had thicker mental barriers than anyone I knew.
Yoo Ji-won, holder of the unprecedented feat of ignoring the unspeakable pink bold Voldemort. A wailing wall to mind-control anomalies.
No Do-ha needed no explanation—top-tier mentality.
Never once contaminated by countless politician-linked anomalies like ‘Rulers always corrupt’ or ‘Dictators always fall.’ Impeccable record.
I didn’t entrust the Management Corps leadership to these two flawed personalities for nothing. In a pink-hair superpower, they’re the answer for politics.
The Saintess lounging in the armchair here was superhuman in mental fortitude too.
In short.
The interior of this Statue of Liberty now housed the Korean Peninsula’s toughest-minded Awakeners.
“Forward! For our comrades!”
“Let’s go! Save humanity!”
“Ooooooh!”
Conversely, the ten ordinary-minded brainwashees pried open the bunker blast doors themselves.
Whoosh—
The moment the doors cracked, an enormous blizzard poured in. The brainwashees faced the snow barefaced, laughing gleefully for some reason.
Soon, the brainwashees vanished into the Ice Age tundra. Their laughter buried in the snow noise.
The survivors left in the bunker looked our way, at a loss.
“Y-Your Excellency…”
“Mm.”
That’s enough footage.
I stopped the smartphone recording.
“Ji-won. I’ll step out briefly—keep No Do-ha Corps Leader warm in the meantime.”
“Yes. Leave it entirely to me.”
Handing bio-lantern duty to Yoo Ji-won via baton pass, I bolted from the bunker to track the brainwashees.
Outside was a blinding white snowscape.
Unlike the serene scene in Kawabata Yasunari’s *Snow Country*, the snow blanketing this mysterious Shin New York cesspool was chaotic. White noise flickered ceaselessly from all directions.
Flicker—not a guiding lighthouse beacon, but punches like camera flashes shoving away humanity at a red carpet. A snow country tyrannized into ruin.
Shhh—
Amid the distant white noise, red specks like t-shirts dotted the path.
Half-buried in snow, they floated like debris on a white river.
I followed the trail, stepping across the stepping stones of clothing.
“E hahaha haha ha.”
“It’s getting warmer and warmer. Look, the sun. We’re heading south.”
“Not cold. See? It’s really not cold!”
“The sun protects us!”
Soon, the Void’s white noise and human laughter formed a bizarre chorus.
The ten brainwashees marched through the snow in underwear, shedding layers.
Clothes sank into snowdrifts like quicksand; naked humans sank deeper too.
“Good work.”
Thwack.
I lightly thumped their heads with aura. The brainwashees collapsed unconscious without a scream.
I stacked the fainted members like hamburgers, hoisted them one-handed, and dashed south.
“Ah! It’s the old man over there!”
“G-Guild Leader! We’re heeeere…!”
After a few minutes.
The moment we crossed Shin New York’s border, the blizzard stopped ghost-like. Looking back, it domed the city sky-high.
At the sharp border like a national line, the ‘backup team’ led by Sim A-ryeon and O Dok-seo waited.
“Euuugh. Old man, what’s this? Why are they all stripped naked? They go crazy or what?”
“The Ice Age anomaly has brainwashing powers—they got charmed. Without aura, they’d have frozen solid ages ago.”
“Ehhh…”
“A-ryeon. Heal them, please.”
“Ah. Y-Yes!”
“They’ll snap out of it fine, but they might rush back for snow sacrifice. Watch them closely till subjugation ends. No SG Net access either. Got it, Dok-seo?”
“Ah, shit! I said I remember everything! Stop nagging.”
“Alright. I trust you two.”
“Film it well!”
Leaving the injured, I returned to the blizzard snowscape. On the way back, I collected every piece of clothing the brainwashees dropped.
Thud.
Opening the main doors to the Statue of Liberty, all eyes snapped to me.
No Do-ha. Yoo Ji-won. Saintess. Plus ten remaining members. Thirteen total stared.
One Management Corps member spoke.
“Y-Your Excellency? What’s that in your hand…?”
I glanced around.
The cameras still rolled.
Good, no issues.
“Clothes from the missing. Found them outside.”
“Huh? Th-Then our comrades…”
“Sorry. Chased to the end, but endless tundra—nothing else.”
“…”
“Everyone. Seems the Ice Age anomaly’s threat level exceeds my estimates. Stay alert.”
Terror flickered across the Management Corps members’ faces.
No suspicion I’d lied—expressions brimmed with perfect realism. Pros couldn’t fake it this well.
Right.
You’ve figured it out by now.
To deceive the enemy, first deceive your own.
—I planned to completely fool the Ice Age anomaly that descended on this city.