Chapter 27:

There’s a common saying:

If you were to witness the filming of a comedy show famous for being hilarious, you’d find it so boring that you wouldn’t believe it.

Of course, that was only natural.

Comedy shows are condensed highlights of hours of footage, carefully selected and compressed into a short burst of entertainment. Naturally, the unedited raw version would feel dull.

And perhaps, that’s how life worked as well.

Enduring and waiting for long stretches of time for those fleeting moments of joy and happiness.

It’s the ordinary, uneventful days that make those moments of joy all the more precious.

Why was I suddenly thinking this way?

Well, it was because life at the Fixer Office was far more peaceful than I had anticipated.

“What even is an oversized fishbowl? Is it like high-heeled shoes for merfolk?”

I was in the middle of mopping the office hallway, which had turned into a minor flood zone.

The cause? The fishbowl of a merfolk client.

If your head is small, wear a small, snug fishbowl.

Wandering around with a loose one that spills water everywhere? Utterly inconsiderate.

Oh, right—”fishbowl” referred to the round helmet that merfolk wore on their heads.

It was a water-filled device that provided oxygen for merfolk, who felt uncomfortable out of water.

Naturally, it was standard to choose a size that fit your head.

But it seemed there was some new trend among merfolk these days about bigger being better. Who knows why? Merfolk fashion, I guess.

In any case, thanks to this mishap, I was stuck pushing a mop with my weak and feeble arms. Then, feeling something move in the corner of my vision, I glanced out the window.

“It’s snowing.”

The overcast sky was a gloomy gray, heavy with clouds.

Beneath it, pristine white snowflakes floated down, like sugar being sprinkled.

It was the first snow of the year.

It was also the first snow I was seeing as Yuria.

I didn’t feel any grand sense of sentimentality.

I wasn’t a kid, after all. I wouldn’t get excited over the sight of snow falling in the city.

Still, maybe because I’ve always liked staring blankly at the rain or snow falling, the sight of snow settling over the bustling city wasn’t bad.

“Oh my, it’s snowing.”

“Huh? Oh, it really is. Well, given the date, I suppose it’s about time.”

Alice and Raven, who had been mopping up water under the couch, must have noticed too.

They set down the couch they had lifted and stared out the window, watching the snow.

Unlike Alice, whose eyes sparkled slightly, Raven wore a vaguely annoyed expression, as if the snow was just another hassle.

Noticing Raven’s mood, Alice tilted her head in curiosity and asked,

“Mr. Jin, why do you look so annoyed? It’s the first snow of the season! Let’s enjoy it, even just for a moment.”

“Snow is something only kids—or people with pure hearts or minds—enjoy. Adults hate snow. Do you even know who has to clean that up?”

“Uh… doesn’t it just melt if you leave it alone?”

“If you leave it, it half-melts and turns into solid ice where it fell. Then you have to break the ice or spread a ridiculous amount of dirt on it. It’s twice the work in the end.”

The snow falling now didn’t seem like the kind that would pile up, though.

Still, Raven scratched the back of his head as if the thought of it was tiring.

Was this what it meant to lose one’s sense of wonder as an adult?

Considering he had been a soldier before becoming a Fixer, it wasn’t hard to guess where such thoughts came from.

Well, cleaning up snow was certainly a hassle.

Acknowledging his point, I gave a small nod, and Raven, who was already tired of watching the snow, turned to scold Alice.

“Enough. Alice, lift the couch again. The floor’s still wet.”

“Ehh, just a little longer. Mr. Jin, you’re so cold-hearted. Don’t you have any sense of emotion?”

“Shut up. If mold starts growing on the floor, are you going to take responsibility? Do you have any idea how much it costs to maintain this office every month? My wallet’s already thin from fixing the door handle you broke last time.”

“…Ugh. Yes, yes, I’m so sorry for breaking the door handle! But if you’re so worried about money, maybe stop gambling on those dragon races all the time? Your wallet’s thin because you keep throwing your money away!”

And there they go, fighting again.

I watched the sudden argument between Alice and Raven with mild disbelief before shrugging it off and continuing to mop the floor.

This was my seventh day working here.

This kind of small event happened almost daily.

How much material could there be to fight over in this tiny office?

There was even a time they bickered for over an hour about toilet paper.

Since they always made up quickly and acted like nothing had happened, I stopped trying to mediate by the third day. Worrying about it just left me drained.

“If money’s so important, then sell that impulse-buy you got from the home shopping channel….”

“Now hold on! I may have two young kids as employees, but taking away my only hobby—!”

“Hah! Yuria, maybe, but calling me a kid is ridiculous! What about me looks like a kid—!”

“….”

Ah, I don’t hear anything. I don’t hear anything.

Taking the opportunity to wring out my soaked mop, I slipped out through the office’s back door.

The Fixer Office occupied the entire second floor of an old building.

Because of that, the back door led directly to an outdoor staircase.

In other words, stepping outside meant I could immediately face the falling snow.

“It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen snow.”

There’s a different feeling between watching it through a window and being right in front of it.

Hugging the mop that was nearly as tall as me, I extended a hand, letting the snow fall onto my palm.

“….”

The snowflake that landed melted almost instantly from my body heat.

Leaving a tiny droplet of water in its place, I stared at it quietly before wiping it off on my skirt and carefully descending the stairs.

A life filled with amusing people and constant, lively commotion.

Somehow, it all felt like snowflakes—vanishing the moment you tried to grasp them.

Well, snowflakes or whatever.

As long as spring came, it didn’t matter.

—

I secretly used telekinesis to wring out the mop in a secluded spot before returning to the office.

By then, the fight had cooled off.

Raven and Alice sat on opposite ends of the same couch, each focused on their smartphones.

If they were going to do that, why sit on the same couch in the first place?

Suppressing a laugh, I squeezed myself onto the narrow space between them.

“Hey, why are you sitting here? It’s cramped.”

“Y-Yuria? There’s room over there….”

The couch was too small for three people to sit comfortably.

Even though I was on the smaller side, the couch was clearly meant for two.

The couch was uncomfortably small for three people to sit on together.

But that’s what made it meaningful.

I glanced at the awkward expressions on their faces, then quickly grabbed both of their hands and placed them on my lap.

As their hands naturally touched, Raven and Alice averted their gazes, looking flustered.

“Uh…”

“Ahem…”

See? These fools.

Realizing how trivial their fight had been, they probably just didn’t know how to reconcile.

If left to their own devices, they might’ve dragged this out until tomorrow morning.

For the sake of the office’s peace, I had resolved to sacrifice myself.

After all, fights that start for silly reasons can also end just as easily.

“Come on… geez.”

“Uh, um….”

I pressed down firmly on the backs of their hands as they tried to pull them away. It was my way of silently declaring that I wouldn’t let go until they made up.

Perhaps overwhelmed by my commanding presence, they eventually surrendered. Looking sheepish, they began to apologize to each other.

“Sigh… Mr. Jin, I’m sorry about the door handle. I should’ve been more careful.”

“No, it’s my fault. If I hadn’t spent so much on dragon racing, a broken door handle wouldn’t have been a big deal. I share the blame here. Sorry about that.”

Of course, I didn’t take their words too seriously.

For all I knew, Alice might accidentally break something in the office again by the end of the day.

And Raven? There was no way he’d give up dragon racing, the most thrilling sport of this era.

But that didn’t matter to me.

All I wanted was for the awkward atmosphere to dissipate before the end of the day.

After all, I only had three weeks left working here.

Whether they fixed their bad habits or not was up to them.

Good, the reconciliation seemed sufficient.

Satisfied with myself, I nodded at both Alice and Raven, who still looked slightly uncomfortable.

Stopping fights in the middle was hard, but getting them to make up afterward? Not so much.

I felt a quiet sense of pride at maintaining the office’s peace once again.

‘See? I’m as rational and reasonable as ever. Where else can you find such a sensible little adult?’

(And no, it absolutely wasn’t because I was irked by Raven calling me a kid. Really, honestly, purely.)

“Actually, maybe I should take an interest in dragon racing too. I wonder what makes it so exciting….”

“Now that’s a good idea. I’m not planning to bet again anytime soon, but dragon racing is worth experiencing at least once. Especially with the current star, Andreas No. 11—his leg strength is just….”

Just as the office atmosphere returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, a familiar voice from the TV grabbed my attention.

[…And in other news, Nemesis Corporation has made headlines for developing the world’s first prosthetic arm capable of channeling magic. The ABP-1137, unveiled by Nemesis, achieves what was long thought impossible: merging magic with machinery. By demonstrating that their unique method allows magic to flow through artificial limbs, they’ve marked the beginning of a new era in history….]

Oh, that.

I recognized it from the original story.

Curious about the news, I straightened up like a meerkat and leaned closer to the TV.

Noticing my reaction, Raven and Alice paused their conversation about dragon racing and turned their attention to the screen.

“A prosthetic arm that channels magic? Mr. Jin, is that even possible? Magic isn’t supposed to work outside of a living body.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“No idea. But if it’s on the news, I guess it works? I wouldn’t know much about it.”

“Wow… this means people from other species who have physical disabilities can use prosthetics freely now!”

Alice clapped her hands with joy, clearly excited about the breakthrough.

After all, the main reason many non-human species avoided prosthetics was the backlash caused by incompatible magic.

As she said, this opened up a whole new horizon of possibilities for them—assuming it was true, of course.

“Are you interested in this sort of thing?”

“Hmm, I guess you could say I am….”

“What about you, part-timer?”

“….”

I nodded silently at Raven’s suggestion.

If this moment matched the one in the original story, I could already guess where this was headed.

“In that case, want to come with me to the party Nemesis is hosting? It’s in four days.”

“Huh? How’d you get an invitation to something like that?”

“I got invited about a week ago. A few months back, one of our clients was affiliated with Nemesis.”

“That must’ve been before I started working here. I’d love to go! I’m really curious about Nemesis’ prosthetic!”

“Alright. Part-timer, are you coming too?”

“…!”

The launch party, Beyond the Metafuture, was being held to celebrate Nemesis’ new magic-adaptive prosthetics.

Honestly, there was no reason to say no.

A glamorous party hosted by a prestigious corporation like Nemesis, with free food galore? How could I resist?

And there was one more compelling reason to attend.

This party was….

‘The moment the Fixer Office crew finally becomes complete! No way am I missing that!’

It marked the introduction of the Fixer Office’s third member into the main storyline.

Not that they needed me for things to go smoothly. I’d just blend into the crowd and enjoy the show.

It was going to be fun! The anticipation alone made my heart race.

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