Three Peaches (5)

"Hmm."

Droplets of water fell from my still-damp hair. Hongyeon was holding some documents, and I carefully read through them.

"Hey."

"…?"

"This doesn't seem to be the part I was supposed to handle, does it?"

"What, really?"

A troubled look appeared on Hongyeon's face. Even after checking the documents again, it was clear that this was not the task I had been assigned.

She quickly skimmed the documents in her hand, then narrowed her brows, realizing her mistake.

"Sorry. It seems I've been forgetting things here and there with all the work lately."

That could happen. It's easy to make mistakes when you're suddenly overwhelmed with work.

I took the documents from Hongyeon's hand and read through them carefully.

Ah. Suddenly, a familiar name caught my eye amidst the long sentences.

-Cheondo.

Among the newcomers starting tomorrow was the name Cheondo.

'Why is she here?'

I was puzzled. It would be hard to find time for training, so why?

Cheondo was known to dedicate herself entirely to training, except for the occasional shift at the inn.

It seemed she had decided to assist with this stressful task.

'I'll ask her tomorrow.'

Since we were going to meet tomorrow anyway.

I handed the documents back to Hongyeon after finishing reading them. Hongyeon took the documents with both hands.

"...."

The hands that received the documents were trembling, for some reason.

Her eyes, filled with fear, were bright red. Anxiety was evident in Hongyeon's complexion.

"Aren't you going to scold me?"

After a while, she finally spoke.

"Scold? Why would I scold you?"

"Thinking my eyes are bad, that I should be able to handle something like this properly."

What?

As my voice rose, Hongyeon hastily shook her head from side to side.

"No, no! Sorry. I guess I was talking nonsense."

Hongyeon apologized again, looking disheartened and pressing her brow.

"I always thought that's how it was, so I assumed it would be the same today."

"What do you mean 'always'?"

"...."

She looked at me earnestly.

"What, why?"

When I stood my ground, Hongyeon looked down like a dog who had lost a fight.

No matter how much I tried to be nice, it always ended up like this. I sat down next to Hongyeon and pulled out a few file folders.

"I'll help out for today. Go to bed early. You don't need to stay up all night following me. I'm a special case, and you're not."

I started organizing the documents, holding the pen firmly.

Hongyeon stared at me, then gave a bitter smile and bowed her head.

"Thank you."

"What would you do without me here?"

The sound of the pen was pleasantly crisp. The sensation of dipping the quill and writing was incomparably satisfying.

Hongyeon also held a pen and focused on processing the documents.

"It's funny. To start all this and then run away alone."

"What are you talking about? Wasn't this what you intended to do?"

"Right."

Hongyeon chuckled softly, laughing out loud like a hearty colleague at work.

I raised an eyebrow. Have I ever seen this woman laugh since I came here? All I remembered were faces grimaced in pain or soaked in fatigue.

"Are you actually resting?"

"I am. When I sleep."

"So, you're saying you work whenever you're awake."

The more I saw Hongyeon, the more I thought that she was someone politicians and businessmen would go to great lengths to accommodate.

"Dowon is a place created by that old man. I only have affection for it. Working there is hardly different from playing."

She had a sense of responsibility for her work and was wise beyond what one might expect for someone at Dowon.

She learned how to use a computer, which was completely foreign to her, in just a few days and taught others, proving her intelligence was nothing short of genius.

Even considering political factions to corner me was a smart move. The problem was that her opponent was me.

"Working more these days, I can clearly see the changes happening. It feels like a golden age is just around the corner. What could be more enjoyable than laying the groundwork for that?"

Despite her eyelids trembling from accumulated fatigue, Hongyeon smiled.

The way she spoke, it was as if she had come straight from the martial world of the past.

"That's why I'm thankful to you. Without you, Young Demon, it might have taken years to get this far."

"Not too long ago, you were the one who wanted to cut off my arm."

"I'm sorry for that."

I responded harshly to the embarrassing admission, but she apologized sincerely.

Since she was this gentle, I had nothing to say. It seems like spending almost all day working together, Hongyeon had grown fond of me.

"Just checking, you haven't forgotten that I won't be here in two months, right?"

"Of course. Didn't I mention it earlier?"

Dowon, destined to disappear.

Only the old man and I knew about it.

This place, Dowon, was doomed to vanish in the near future. I knew because I came from the future, and the old man had a vague suspicion of it.

That's why I knew. The reforms I was leading now were, in truth, utterly pointless.

What would Hongyeon think when Dowon falls?

I thought about it but decided it wasn't my concern.

-Scribble, scribble.

The reason I continued to work, despite knowing the future couldn't be changed, was simple.

It's the unease lingering in the back of my mind.

If, in the timeline I lived in, the actions I took now in the past were recorded in history…

Then I couldn't change the present, yet I was changing it.

A terrible paradox.

When I first arrived in this world, I lived in a house prepared by someone I didn't know.

Now, in the past, I had arranged for that house and identity myself.

What was once a thoughtless act now seemed to fit together like a puzzle.

The World Tree of Time told me I couldn't change the present.

[You can influence, but no matter what you do, the outcome remains the same.]

That's the conclusion I had reached while living here, in what was known as the past.

After realizing I could exert some influence, I became more cautious in everything I did.

What if, by some chance, the present were to change?

There might have been a hiccup somewhere during the long gap, causing the World Tree of Time to provide incorrect information.

'My head hurts, and now I'm overthinking.'

My frontal lobe felt like it's on fire.

Keep it simple. Being in the past has been beneficial for me.

Since the flow of time differed between the present and the past, training or gathering information had been more efficient here.

That was enough for now.

-…If you're disgusted by me, then just step on me and go. I'll keep following.

The thought of the present kept coming back.

I took a deep breath and erased Jin Dallae's voice that had come to me unconsciously.

Still, my hands continued to work on the documents.

About an hour later, splitting the work between the two of us, we finished quickly.

"Done. You?"

"I'm almost done too."

Click, click. Putting away our pens simultaneously, we concluded our work.

Working together often, we became efficient in our tasks.

I stood up, stretched, and reached for the light switch.

"Then go in and rest well."

"Aren't you sleeping?"

"I end up facing trouble whenever I sleep. I really don't feel like sleeping. Maybe I'll do some magic training before going to work. Whatever."

I couldn't afford to fall asleep carelessly and dream again.

-Creak.

I opened the door. The cold dawn air seeped into the room. Unlike the present, the weather here was quite chilly.

Just as I was about to step out, a voice came from behind me.

"So… how about a drink? I too find it hard to just go to sleep tonight."

Alcohol.

The enticing word lingered in my ears. It had been quite some time since I last had a drink, enough to develop a craving for it.

"There's a fruit wine brewed from peaches. The sticky aftertaste and the overwhelming fragrance are exceptional."

What a sales pitch.

"Deal."

"…Deal?"

"It means I'm in."

Sometimes alcohol was the best medicine. Now was one of those times.

The day after drinking with Hongyeon, I received training from Cheonma and went to work in the morning, where I immediately noticed a new face with a familiar look.

Even compared to those around her, she had a radiant face.

One of the three beauties of Dowon, Cheondo, was smiling brightly at me.

"How are you doing, Young Demon~"

When I showed a dumbfounded expression, Cheondo gestured with one hand as if asking me to play along.

I asked her softly, trying to match her tone.

"Why did you start working?"

"…I wanted to learn about work."

The strength in her voice made it clear that she was sincere in her desire to learn about work.

I had other questions, but it seemed I would only be able to ask them after her work was done.

I called over a woman who was awkwardly fumbling with the printer.

"You."

"Yes? Did you call me, Young Demon?"

"Teach her how to work. Start with what you do."

Simple tasks like document processing that could be learned on the first try. Or listening to complaints from people living in Dowon.

Cheondo was all ears, her shoulders tensed with eagerness.

"...Can you do it?"

"I have to."

"Hey. You don't have to do this. It's just manual labor."

I whispered so that the other employees couldn't hear, but Cheondo didn't respond.

She was stubbornly determined. I sighed and lightly tapped Cheondo on the head.

"Go ahead and try. You'll get used to it. You might get scolded at first, but that's how everyone learns."

"Understood… Should I follow this lady?"

Given it was her first time, she would inevitably make some mistakes, but her pretty face might save her from getting scolded too harshly.

I watched Cheondo until she was out of sight, and then Hongyeon asked me a question.

"Is that girl the one you called for?"

"Eh? No, that's not it."

"I thought it was clear you had a special interest in her since she's new. Guess I was wrong."

Sometimes, I directly recruited promising newcomers to work as laborers.

Hongyeon must have thought I was doing the same with Cheondo.

"She'll figure it out, right? She'll find her own work to do in three days."

Cheondo was one of the few women in Dowon who had received some education.

Hongyeon looked at Cheondo and shrugged her shoulders.

"If you say so… it must be right."

Hongyeon seemed much friendlier after we shared a drink yesterday.

We looked around, shared a cup of tea, and then went back to our respective tasks.

During breaks from work, I checked on Cheondo and, as expected, found her sweating profusely every time she showed her face.

"If you can't do even the simple tasks, what will you do?"

"I'm, I'm sorry."

"...I'll teach you again. Come here."

A civil servant scolding the Young Demon.

In some way, it was quite a spectacle.

Fortunately, due to the interest of many people, there was no shortage of work to be done.

There's nothing more painful than coming to work and not finding anything to do.

I finished my tea and went back inside the office.

-Slurp.

After hours of processing documents, eating, and occasionally answering external calls, the day quickly turned to dusk.

The end of a day at Dowon without overtime.

I left the office to look for Cheondo.

I saw the lonely back of a girl, not sensing any presence from her.

"...Ugh."

As expected, Cheondo was leaning on the desk with a soulless expression.