There weren’t many women in the mines; most of the workers were men.
As such, men handled the heavier labor.
The women worked outside the mines, washing dirt from the rocks or preparing meals like boiling potatoes.
Heesoo followed the woman around, helping with odd jobs.
Having someone she could talk to was a lifeline, and through her, Heesoo learned more about this world.
While they worked, they whispered to each other in secret.
“How long has it been since you fell into the Dark Hole?”
Heesoo tilted her head in confusion.
“Dark Hole?”
“Oh, that’s what they call it here—the Dark Hole. It’s like a gateway into this world. You probably got pulled into some kind of vortex, didn’t you?”
A vortex.
As the woman spoke, Heesoo’s memories clicked into place, and she nodded frantically.
Yes, that was it!
The last thing she remembered was a flock of birds being pulled into it.
The plane she had been on had been sucked into it, too.
“I know it!
I saw it!
The plane I was on—”
“Shh!
Keep your voice down!”
When Heesoo’s voice rose, an overseer stomped over from a distance.
“Ta gueule! Arrête de râler et mets-toi au travail! (Shut up! Stop whining and get back to work!)”
Snap!
A whip cracked across her back, and Heesoo let out a scream.
The pain of her flesh splitting was unbearable.
The woman beside her quickly turned back to her own work, avoiding any further attention.
She followed the woman to gather firewood, terrified of being struck again.
The woman cast her a quick, pitying glance.
‘It hurts, doesn’t it?’
Her sympathetic look brought tears to Heesoo’s eyes, yet it also offered an unexpected solace amidst her despair.
In this foreign place, there was someone who shared her pain and stood beside her.
‘I’m not alone here.’
And most importantly, at least in this place, she didn’t have to fear zombies appearing at any moment.
The situation forced Heesoo to adapt.
She began quietly following orders and adjusting to her new reality.
She still couldn’t believe she was stuck doing menial labor in a mine, but she had no choice.
Ironically, Heesoo was now afraid of being thrown out of the mine.
There were no incidents of men assaulting women here—because the overseers, armed with whips, were always watching.
For the women, this supervision also served as a form of protection.
The work was grueling, but it was far better than encountering zombies outside the mine or being tormented by men trying to assault her.
And at least she had someone to talk to.
“You said you’re 28, right? My name’s Minjoo. I’m younger than you.”
Minjoo estimated that she had been here for about four months.
Without a calendar, she couldn’t be sure of the exact time.
Every night, after the day’s labor ended and just before they fell asleep, the two would sit quietly and talk.
“The overseers started wearing black uniforms recently.
Something big must have happened.
Ever since then, they have been on edge.”
“Black uniforms?
Did someone die?”
“I don’t know.
This place…
it’s so different from where we’re from.
But strangely enough, their writing uses the English alphabet.”
Heesoo’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The fact that they used the English alphabet was hard to fathom.
“But it doesn’t sound like English when they speak.”
“It’s not English.
Even if you write out words, they don’t understand them.”
“Could it be a European language?”
“I saw a French woman try to talk to one of the overseers once, but it didn’t seem like they could communicate.
She said only the swear words sounded similar.
So, no, I don’t think it’s a European language.
Most of the people who seem to be from ‘our world’ appear to be European, yet even they can’t understand the overseers’ language.”
Was it mere coincidence that this otherworldly place used the English alphabet?
And the similarity in curses?
Heesoo tilted her head in confusion.
As she observed life in the mine, Heesoo noticed that most of the people here appeared to be white.
But not all of them fit neatly into that category—some had unusual eye colors that made them stand out.
“The people in this mine are either criminals from this world or, like us, people who came through the Dark Hole. See that woman with the necklace over there?”
Minjoo gestured toward a blonde-haired woman with striking red eyes, chatting and laughing with one of the overseers.
“She’s one of the locals. The overseers don’t treat them as harshly as they do to us. They don’t beat her either.”