* * *
The zombie ravenously tore into the man’s flesh.
When his head was ripped off, his limbs went limp.
He was dead.
Heesoo was barely breathing, her mind utterly blank.
She was surviving on sheer instinct, her legs frozen stiff from the overwhelming tension.
She didn’t run because her body and mind already knew there was no hope of escape.
She knew with chilling certainty that as soon as the zombie was done with the man, it would turn its sights on her.
The man who had seemed unstoppable as he overpowered Heesoo now looked like a hopeless, frail butterfly caught in a spider’s web as the zombie held him.
‘Perhaps dying here would be easier than enduring any more of this.’ she thought bitterly.
But deep inside, she didn’t want to die like this.
Still, she couldn’t imagine surviving even one more day in this horrid world.
“Ugh.”
A wave of nausea surged up.
She had grown used to the metallic smell of blood, but now, as she resigned herself to death, her stomach churned violently.
She didn’t want to die.
She wanted to live.
Desperately.
Thoughts of her mother flashed through her mind—how she never got to say she loved her, only bitter words exchanged.
She remembered her friends and how she never got to say goodbye.
Her stomach twisted painfully as if boiling over.
She wanted to run, but her body wouldn’t obey, leaving her to shed silent tears.
“Maenok.”
“Je pense que c’est la dernière. (I think that’s the last one.)”
Voices echoed from behind her.
Heesoo’s vision blurred as she began to lose consciousness. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Her mind jumped to conclusions—it must be more men here to assault her.
But to her surprise, their attention wasn’t on her.
“Dépêchez vous. Je veux aller à la maison. (Hurry up. I want to go home.)”
As soon as one of the men finished speaking, a blue flame shot from his hand, setting the zombie ablaze.
The zombie’s body burned quickly, consumed by the blue fire.
The man’s corpse smoldered like firewood, while the zombie itself crumbled away like paper.
Soon, only the man’s scorched remains were left.
With the zombie gone, Heesoo’s taut nerves finally snapped, and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
Those men might assault her too, but at least they were human.
Nothing was more terrifying than the zombie.
Her blackout was inevitable.
Severe dehydration, hunger, and repeated exposure to extreme terror had pushed her ordinary body to its limit.
The two men crouched by the charred remains and picked up the silver trinkets left behind: a necklace, a ring, a bracelet, and a watch.
It was a common trait for anyone who survived the Dark Hole—they all carried silver ornaments.
Hunting Maenoks and collecting such trophies was their purpose.
They were holy knights of the temple.
The two men glanced down at the unconscious woman.
“Hey, It’s an Outsider.
And a pretty one at that.”
“Hmm…
Yeah, it’s tempting.
But if we get caught, we’ll be stripped of our titles.”
No one will know but us.”
“Get a grip.
That woman could turn into a Maenok herself.
And you still want to sleep with her?
Just thinking about it makes me sick.”
“Wow, look at you—a true knight of the temple!
Fine, let’s just send her to the mines and call it a day.”
Unlike the temple’s true knights, these men were replacements with mercenary backgrounds patrolling the wastelands.
* * *
When Heesoo opened her eyes, she found herself in a cramped room full of women.
‘This could be a brothel.’
She thought.
She should have been panicking, unsure of where she was, but instead, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
“You’re from another world too, aren’t you?”
A voice in her native tongue.
As soon as Heesoo heard the familiar language, she burst into tears.
Relief hit her like a tidal wave, almost as if it were too much to bear.
This woman, too, had been dragged into this world.
The memories of everything she had been through, the zombie, her captivity, her helplessness—all of it came rushing back, leaving her sobbing uncontrollably.
“Stop crying!
If you seem even a little off here, they’ll burn you alive.
So stop!”
“B-Burn me…
alive?”
“Yes.
If you don’t want to end up burned at the stake, get it together.”
Heesoo managed to stifle her sobs and calmed herself.
The woman seemed to have been here for some time.
Patiently, she began explaining the situation to Heesoo.
“This is the women’s quarters. All the women who work in the mines live and sleep here.”
Fortunately, the laborers’ living quarters were segregated by gender.
“For now, let’s get to work. If you’re late for morning labor, the overseers will whip you. I’ve been whipped before—it hurts like hell.”