TRIPLE 33

Since I was put in charge of tidying up the study, I spent most of my day inside it. The space that once felt foreign was now thoroughly steeped in Siyeon’s tastes. The number of throw blankets and cushions grew, and I even had a snack basket and a large 1.8L tumbler placed there.

Thanks to that, one corner of the archive was starting to smell like a person. To put it nicely, it was “human warmth,” but in reality, it meant it was getting messier. At first, Mrs. Park seemed to look at that with disapproval, but these days, if she saw something Siyeon had dropped on the floor, she would quietly pick it up and place it on the chair.

“What should I look at first today?”

Brushing the dust off the spines of books, straightening crooked files, and pretending to organize documents that were mixed up by year—on the surface, it was work closer to killing time. In the meantime, however, Siyeon was gradually grasping the angles at which the cameras captured his image and the times of day when the staff would come down to the basement.

Of course, not wanting to invite unnecessary suspicion, he couldn’t actively search, so he moved as loosely as possible.

“Shall I do Area B?”

Standing on a ladder again today, Siyeon pulled out a book he had kept his eye on. A title related to the Beomyeong Foundation was embossed in gold on the luxurious leather spine.

But unlike the sleek cover, the inside was packed with writing so small it made my eyes ache. Even after flipping through just a few pages, my concentration would fade, seeing only “white paper and black letters.”

Siyeon frowned and turned the page.

Does Beomyeong have a family tradition of leaving behind uselessly large amounts of records? I had been digging through several files, but all that came out were materials that seemed far from what Siyeon was looking for.

“No, why do chaebols make even things like this into books?”

Is it a relief that I’m not just head-butting a wall with empty hands? But selecting the truly important stuff from these vast records was also a task. Siyeon sighed and pulled over another document file.

But the title had only changed; the content was much the same. I was searching alone, but I felt like I was just going in circles.

When will I find all this? Just as I was agonizing over whether there was a faster way to find it, that was when it happened.

Creeeak—

The sound of the archive door opening cautiously rang out.

Who is it? Siyeon reflexively covered the book he was looking at. When he turned toward where the noise was coming from, he saw Mrs. Park standing at the door. It was the first time I had run into her in the study, so I was secretly surprised. I also realized that Mrs. Park was someone allowed to enter the study.

“…You were here.”

Considering how she had avoided me as if I were a ghost, it seemed that thanks to the introductions, Mrs. Park had stopped treating Siyeon like an ornament. Because Mrs. Park spoke first for once, Siyeon also chimed in while hiding his true intentions.

“Oh, yes. I was in the middle of organizing. What brings you here, Mrs. Park?”

“I’m here to ventilate the study and do a little cleaning. Since it’s the basement, it needs air circulation.”

“Ah, I see.”

Did she really not know I was inside? Or had she been watching from outside? Seeing her look somehow uncomfortable, it didn’t seem like she did it on purpose, but…. While Siyeon was gauging her intentions with a smile, Mrs. Park’s gaze brushed over the pile of books on the floor.

“That area hasn’t been organized for a long time, so there’s a lot of dust.”

“You’re right. My hands have turned black.”

Siyeon laughed, showing his palms. It was an action he would never normally take, but he deliberately put on a harmless expression to look a bit foolish.

Perhaps because of that, Mrs. Park offered an addendum regarding the work Siyeon was doing.

“There is no need to deliberately touch materials that haven’t been used for a long time.”

“Really? But… it doesn’t seem right to leave them neglected like this. Wouldn’t the CEO be happy if I organized them neatly?”

Siyeon added, laughing without a second thought.

“I’m actually pretty good at this. I’ve even worked at a print shop before….”

The moment the words left his mouth, Siyeon thought, ‘Oops,’ to himself. It was because, without realizing it, he had brought up a story that the original Hong Siyeon could not have experienced.

But contrary to those worries, fortunately, Mrs. Park had no particular reaction. Only then did Siyeon add, with a nonchalant face.

“And smelling the paper makes me feel at ease for some reason.”

I tossed it out like a meaningless remark, but in fact, it was close to half a probe. People react more easily to their own stories than to questions.

However, Mrs. Park did not show gaps easily. She looked at Siyeon for a moment before quietly opening her mouth.

“If you insist, I will bring you gloves.”

“Gloves?”

“Because of the dust. But before that, it would be better to eat this first.”

Mrs. Park set the tray she had brought down on a side table. On the tray was a cup of tea and a small plate. Warm steam rose up, and the fragrant scent of black tea spread faintly.

“I heard you hardly ate breakfast.”

Siyeon’s gaze naturally went to the teacup and returned to Mrs. Park.

“By any chance, did you prepare this for me on purpose?”

“That is my job.”

What’s this? I almost felt a little touched.

Whether it was goodwill or surveillance, I couldn’t tell. But seeing that she brought tea, it seemed she really had sought out and followed Siyeon in.

Siyeon lifted the teacup Mrs. Park had handed him. The warmth of the porcelain touching his fingertips was hotter than he had thought. As he swallowed a sip, the bitter taste of black tea mixed with milk slowly warmed his throat.

“Thank you. It’s delicious.”

“Take your time.”

While Siyeon was emptying the teacup, Mrs. Park had already opened the window a little. He could feel the cool air seeping in through the smell of old paper.

As she turned to leave, as if her work were done, Siyeon urgently called out to her.

“One moment, Mrs. Park.”

Mrs. Park, who had stopped walking, looked back slightly.

“Is there something else you need?”

“Ah, I just wanted to ask who usually managed this archive.”

It was a short moment, but Mrs. Park seemed to be choosing her answer. After a brief silence, she looked at Siyeon for a moment as if gauging something, then opened her mouth as if she didn’t want to.

“…There is no one specifically assigned.”

“Really? Then, I’ll take care of managing it from now on. The ventilation and the cleaning, too.”

“Why would Mr. Hong Siyeon do that….”

For the first time, a question came back from Mrs. Park’s side. Siyeon swallowed a laugh to himself. Because he felt like he was finally getting a proper reaction.

“The CEO told me to organize the study, didn’t he?”

“He told you to organize it, but he wouldn’t have told you to clean it.”

“Aren’t they in the same category?”

Siyeon smiled harmlessly, as if he knew nothing. Then, he continued acting the part of the innocent, pitiable Omega with a deep backstory.

“Please let me do this much work. I don’t even know how much longer I have to be here…. I have no one to talk to and nothing to do all day, so I’m bored. The time just doesn’t pass.”

His voice slowed a little at the end. It wasn’t that he was forcing himself to seem pitiful. Half of it was genuine. It was true that he felt stifled by the life of being confined inside the mansion, no matter how vast it was.

Mrs. Park did not answer immediately. She looked at Siyeon for a moment. With a gaze that seemed to be calculating whether to brush off Siyeon’s request-that-wasn’t-a-request or to accept it.

And perhaps having reached a decision, Mrs. Park let out a short, sigh-like breath.

“…All right. Just don’t overdo it.”

Thankfully, it worked. As expected, this type of person is weaker to someone who looks a bit lacking and lonely than to someone who approaches them head-on. Thanks to her backing down more easily than I thought, I was relieved inside.

“Yes, please let me know in advance if there are any materials I shouldn’t touch. It would be troublesome if I made a mistake, you know.”

“There is nothing in particular. It will be comfortable if you organize focusing on visible areas.”

“Then, that means I can touch anything? That’s a relief.”

Siyeon replied in a dragging voice. He could feel Mrs. Park’s gaze pass him and linger on the shaded bookshelf in the back. But Siyeon only toyed with his teacup with a nonchalant face.

Eventually, Mrs. Park spoke first.

“…Don’t touch the files with red labels on the very top of the bookshelf.”

“Red labels?”

“Yes. They are old internal materials. They aren’t subject to organization, so it’s best not to touch them for no reason.”

What. Now that you say that, I’m even more curious.

Not “don’t touch,” but that they aren’t subject to organization—that smells very suspicious. However, Siyeon smiled brightly while hiding his true intentions.

After looking at Siyeon for a moment, she turned and walked out of the archive.

Creeeak—

Following the noise of the cart, the door closed. Once even her footsteps faded away, Siyeon turned around immediately.

Red labels. A stack of files thinly wedged between black book spines caught his eye.

As he approached, the first strange thing he noticed appeared. Unlike the books Siyeon had been organizing, there was almost no dust on them. That probably meant… someone had touched them recently.

Suppressing his racing heart, Siyeon pulled out the file right away.

「Report on the Nagwon District Urban Renewal Project」

Seeing the title written in small letters at the top of the document, he couldn’t help but flinch. As expected, it was Nagwon-dong.

As he turned the pages, most of the documents were filled with records related to Nagwon-dong. Among them, something else caught Siyeon’s eye.

「Deacon Seong Wonjin of Nagwon Church」

A name engraved in a corner of the donor list at the bottom.

“…Seong Wonjin?”