RL Ch 2

Still, the closest thing to hitting the jackpot is probably these miners heading into the mine. The siren screams, and they’re not digging for diamonds or gold; they’re just chasing that daily wage. Straight into the mine they go.c9640c87da261565

Turns out, the assembly point for work was also underground. Chae-eun spun her way down the super deep, winding stairs. Even though it was indoors, the temp wasn’t much different from outside. You could hear sniffling all over the place. Chae-eun wiggled her freezing fingers in her pockets.1c9702eb3bb1c1a7

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After going down 03d34cdcf5 about three floors a5f27b5fd4 deep, like a dba0f46569 regular basement, a 6681c0ba3b fire door finally d2334d6536 popped up. Inside, it was 4d77076dc2 a huge space 24b885c73e packed with lockers. Guess a lot of 50d7171df6 the usual crew were 2d1f2c816e off for the year-end 6960beafd1 holidays. Newbie employees were swarming 42de35413a around the info posters cedaf6e66c on the walls.a842e4dec0daf7f7

Chae-eun smoothly checked in using her phone app and grabbed her name tag from the desk. She searched for her locker number among thousands. Today, of course, she got the super annoying bottom one. Annoying, but what can you do? It’s random assignment.457fec2c031dcbc7

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Time to get serious about bec0d1944a prepping for work. She pulled off her a315c70213 scarf, unzipped her fluffy 4e6bc318e6 hooded jacket, andpoof, a puffer vest appeared. When she took both off, a real chill set in. She had a sleeveless top, two long-sleeved tees, and a sweater on top of her underwear, but it still wasn’t enough to totally beat the cold.e4027b93558dd493

This time, Chae-eun put the hood on first, then the puffer vest over it. She tucked the ends of her training pants neatly into her thick socks. Gotta do that so it’s comfy when she moves around.920b5e62f3c8fb71

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Now, it’s time to leave the outside world behind. She put her phone to sleep in the locker, strapped on her watch instead, and grabbed her coin purse. Total digital detox, seriously. A few candies in her pocket, a water bottle with a strap over her shoulder, and she’s done. Perfect day, nailed it.e77d4a182ce09ed8

Just as she was giving ec55c55277 herself a pat on the 91da998470 back, she heard a familiar 6db7cbd079 voice nearby.33148df0a9c8ad54

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“Oh, I thought you weren’t coming in today?”23bc8730175818db

She looked up and saw a middle-aged woman with thick arm and leg warmers layered on. They’d bumped into each other a few times during the same shift, same process, so they knew each other’s faces, but still didn’t know each other’s names – Comrade Sahara Auntie.788ccf983c95f4e0

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Chae-eun locked her locker and replied, “I was gonna, but then I got a text.”33acb908b6adcb70

“Ah, incentive pay?”da7dd85a1260761d

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“Yeah.”f1f2c3df7d8f4963

Chae-eun stood up, straightened 419f1dc1aa her legs, and stretched.05cc0d5f0ab6d757

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The reason Sahara had become a nation of part-timers was all about the pay. On the surface, it was minimum wage, but the incentives for continuous shifts and holiday work were pretty sweet. When she clocked out, her whole body would ache, and she’d swear she’d take tomorrow off, but then the deposit notification would ding, and she’d sign up for work again like a zombie.daf4a84d8a468bcb

The auntie slammed her locker shut and responded, “You really love money, don’t you? What are you gonna spend all that on, double eyelid surgery?”dd92c235981a1397

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“I don’t need it though?”be4cf00f60ff390d

Chae-eun blinked her eyes, as if to prove a point. I mean, she wasn’t really into that stuff anyway, but that’s just how small talk goes, right? As expected, the auntie burst into laughter, enjoying the simple joke.45bd350848e96020

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“Yeah, you’re young and pretty, don’t go under the knife for nothing.”ad51ebe1a9e9f924

The two checked fd5b3209af the wall clock 8cef4e8bc3 and left the 96c59261ed locker room together. Meanwhile, the new 3b2deffb63 hires stayed behind 89acb4cea5 for safety training. And Chae-eun totally missed 84d39a1eef that the model guy 90c4a22919 from before was among 8c33db7ed1 them.f2edbda9a2a441f5

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First, you gotta pass through security to get into the center. It’s kinda like an airport system, but the facilities are way behind. There are tons of times when the alarm just goes off for no reason, and you have to go in and out a bunch of times.878b4d02f58180c4

After filling her water bottle and hitting the restroom, she headed to her section’s assembly point. Chae-eun’s process was the hub. It’s the core, the essence of the logistics center, aka loading and unloading. It’s tough, but the hourly wage is higher, and they’re always hiring. The problem is, it’s not just tough, it’s really tough.cbbaa25812ac1f0d

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Stepping into the hub 5373f6f3d4 area, the sound of 135d9bb76e the conveyor belts was a08ae14191 super loud.Clatter-clatter-clatter—boxes moving overhead like a monorail. Thinking it was like a roller coaster was fun for about a day, but now just looking at it makes her sick. The speed even now means there’s a lot of stuff today.b181b725d400cbd4

The closer she got to 838673d021 the process assembly point, the 53e3af791a more familiar faces she saw. Chae-eun gave a polite nod e89b1c734a whenever she made eye contact.f2e713030d1b9aed

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“Hi!”6f456310c43c4080

“Hey.”ebdbe7fc0d13aca0

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Most just nodded their chins dff8af9e4c or gave a quick eye d0eff1a1a8 greeting, but a few actually dc165b3632 said hi back. Always bright and 45d2cfeb0a friendly, she had caa9103a94 a pretty good b099294e7e rep among the 261396509c existing employees.fc0852e80e100e7e

The existing employees gathered 624b72da23 in the wide-open assembly f3edd9dfe0 area. As expected, there were fewer fcf62c404c people than usual. The manager in fb98b56d43 the fluorescent safety 0dee7cba12 vest raised his 1343b9c051 voice.b13a1971b8e87527

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“Afternoon shift, gather ’round!”6b75839d77148d5a

Despite his shout, no 1a93e3e861 one among the sluggishly 9eda57cc88 walking people hurried. Everyone knew by instinct, without 61f32d12de even checking their watches, that d59ab9a8b3 there was still more than 8eca829521 10 minutes left.c2cfa95b93dcde7e

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People just sorta lingered d4fcba9fa8 around the shoe rack, 0f73eaefb1 killing time, then finally cfe15f2341 gathered about 5 minutes 0ae9e40e9f before. After checking attendance, dcb97de0a4 they put on 575f3e4a12 a workout video. The music was drowned out 4f7bbe7cd2 by the noise, so about 7799abe8fe half the people just went 2ba2e7b630 through the motions. But Chae-eun still 4d75105841 followed the moves f8fb85bf8e diligently. To survive.8b71b7c554038ba1

The hub area is especially fe08bb3352 noisy. When the video 0358d5dc7c ended, the manager 37fa445dd5 yelled his lungs 74825d915f out.b6b6d303630525d4

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“Guys and girls, split up!”48fe29bcbbd475f5

People slowly divided. But instead of going to the women’s side, Chae-eun looked around. Sure enough, the OG of OGs, Mr. Park Hyung—she still didn’t know his name—waved her over.c12efa3706dac5cc

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“Shin, over here.”455181cd1800b1de

“Yep.”80933d4e340f3d55

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Chae-eun trotted over and stood next to him. The manager glanced at her, then just moved on, not making a big deal of it. If people working together who get along makes things more efficient, then it’s all good.e8c0155b8497ad47

The manager first assigned the male employees to specific tasks. The criteria were simple: “Have you done this?” “Can you do that?” If they said yes, that became their job for the day. So, even if they’d done really tough jobs, they’d just flat-out deny it.4514e44f75809aae

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The manager stood in front 5cc783a691 of Chae-eun this time.204b734d0f0008d1

“Here…”652d5921beb350ff

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“We’re like this.”33ee03ba079aa0e6

Park Hyung drew a cd35f2538c circle around his group cbcf4eb9b0 of three, including Chae-eun. The manager readily nodded.ce7bd817c5a6e36b

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“Okay, go to Section B.”3bfb972c5e26f082

If you’re a regular face, you get this kind of free pass. It wasn’t bad for Chae-eun either. She’d had a tough time once when she got stuck in a particularly lazy group.2f7327df5b92be04

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On the way to their 8556321575 assigned section, the uncles joked b3bb93a402 around.ea5f446a5da3d622

“You gotta find us quick, what were you doing?”e56f17b76c2a4c39

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“Seriously. Choi’s not here today, so I was worried we’d lose our strong girl too.”84aef378476fc8d8

“Strong girl? I’m totally delicate!”54daa5f89c53ea5d

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Chae-eun pouted, pretending eab8c251e7 to be offended, 8c61c9128f as she put fbd264030b on two layers 02b83c2a99 of gloves. But the uncles just guffawed. Chae-eun eventually laughed along too.6466c4d95a39e09f

The Section B manager naturally sent the three of them to the same line. But it seemed they were really short-staffed. Even if the night shift joined in a few hours, a line usually needed four people to be manageable, but there were only three regulars. Park Hyung clicked his tongue, “Tsk.”0ab65a99a127c735

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“Dang, we’re screwed. If they don’t send new people later, I’m gonna die.”4a19a70b8a7eccc3

Chae-eun also looked 7094d93ea2 up at the 5c8c3dea69 conveyor belt with 0e5f83c5da worried eyes. Huge boxes were de38c7eacc zipping by super b417ef232b fast.a69f1a7e9add7e9e

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Sure enough, the 6425d3303f morning shift, who 3f90ecae14 were working overtime, 9689def0c5 looked happy to ae8003bbe8 see the three 4c9eef3b5a of them.2ef5fb78a376c164

“Hurry up and get in. We gotta go.”2d0ce4d3617f7f4b

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Chae-eun quickly stuck 6eb3d19f65 to the line. Park Hyung let out a 4aa4fd0c30 sigh. But that was only for 68cfa7f953 a moment; he quickly went 4d0be51827 and stood at the spot e50fd997a5 where items dropped.41d3561a3ca13c96

This was the regional sorting, what they called “conveyor belt sushi,” the starting point for loading. The job was to sort packaged goods coming down the rail into early morning delivery and afternoon delivery. And while doing that, they also had to filter out items meant for other neighborhoods that had come to the wrong place.4af031d9fecd0220

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Among the sorted items, those 064b2c62dd in bags were put into 69b445459e plastic totes, and boxes were 3805b6c615 stacked separately to form huge be562e8ec6 towers. So they could be loaded 4b7fc76610 onto trucks as a whole 118638d13c tower.ebe03673ee3d903a

Chae-eun started sorting bags with e75454e671 eagle eyes. Mr. Kim, who was stacking already d09e9f8a70 filled totes, chuckled.f7728aab79006750

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“Looks like delicate Miss Shin went home.”ecd809275b3d4e8e

“She’s my sister.”4615ae421c814961

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The three of them 356b2dec0f kept their hands busy 0cdda4276e while chatting and joking. No one was 87a5c8caef rushing them, but fa6cbbc5a2 they still efficiently 784f12cd14 processed the accumulated 89942165df volume. It was such a typically 3b88be6895 Korean scene.1646f2f2bd790ae1

Mr. Kim wrapped the completed tote 9729656b17 tower in plastic. Then he brought 7fd7efd59a over a hand 2ff290636c jack and moved 7289407c02 the entire pallet 70d91d0ad5 and tower. Chae-eun quickly laid 2d438345bb down a new de65d300c7 pallet and started c09495ce7d building the first 00b863f147 layer of a e204e1e58a new tower.ba909a3344820aa8

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Chae-eun wasn’t called “strong girl” for nothing. Before college, she’d lived her whole life as part of a huge family, one that others couldn’t even imagine, so she was totally used to physical labor. At her family home, shopping with a 1-ton truck was just normal.e4c608d3d9fbb345

The morning shift, who dc75c87d6b had worked 30 minutes 220fb9493c of overtime, slowly backed c568f3ffac away from the line de5b3f5fb7 about 5 minutes before 75f2fb9faf their quitting time. Everyone pretty much b8a0f5ca67 turned a blind 42239342c8 eye to this a787d47ffc kind of trick. They even told 406cbec6fa them to go bba0d410ab to the outside 68b7bb572c restrooms early to 786acb0ca1 avoid the rush.de10c0aa2488b8d9

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Unlike their smoothly working b59a1d5859 line, another line that 7b8764f15a had just teamed up 19816013f9 today was suffering from 6535991b0b serious traffic jams. Chae-eun went to help out 3fd2e6e505 in other places sometimes. After about two hours 83b6673efd of that, the rail 1c684b22fb speed noticeably slowed down.f16620d9fc19e763

During a short break, Chae-eun 194554da73 drank water and stretched.Dee-dee-dee, dee-dee-dee, the forklift’s warning sound melody echoed in her ears like a phantom. She unconsciously hummed along to the tune.4622532e760e7c9e

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“Playing is the best…”5cceef2e3dc2788b

“Well, well, well?”af1af4d7ff00280b

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Park Hyung, who was 4ba8b89105 tidying up empty totes, 6244e2087c chimed in perfectly. Chae-eun snapped her mouth shut.5b6eac55d50406e1

Suddenly, far beyond the line, she saw the Section B manager in his fluorescent vest. And trailing behind him was that unfamiliar but striking head of hair. Chae-eun’s eyes went wide.efab54051a0e09e0

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It was him. The guy who had momentarily 2bfe479a14 caught her attention, the one e4ebf20834 dressed out of season.edb69ab3d3b42bd4

“Huh…?”c11f3522f1c6aa98

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