I Became the Cute One in the Problem-Solving Team

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Time had been slightly rewound, right around the moment I had just entered Night Haven.

Perhaps because I had been wandering around the city, my feet burning from the rough ground while wrapped in a musty cloth.

I realized that this was the early part of the original story.

The rogue company and gang that were supposed to be thoroughly wrecked in the beginning were still intact.

Moreover, there was no trace of the idol who had gained huge popularity thanks to the protagonist’s party anywhere to be found.

It couldn’t be said to be an ancient past of the original story, though, as the newly appointed Dragon Mayor just appeared on the TV screen.

In other words, this timeframe was definitely at the start of the original story, but only a few episodes had passed since it had begun.

‘Hmm, does this mean my plan to sneak into the protagonist’s office as a waitstaff while pretending to have lost my memory is off the table? If it were later in the story, that would have been the safest place in the world. Such a shame.’

It was the plan with the highest risk-to-reward ratio among the ones I had devised.

Yet here it was, foolishly slipping away due to mismatched timing. How disappointing.

Ultimately, no matter what I did now, the risk level had no choice but to rise.

Currently, it was a chaotic era where various factions swung betrayal and conspiracy mercilessly to establish themselves in Night Haven.

To survive in this city, I, too, had no choice but to take risks.

‘For now… It’s better to stay in the backworld as much as possible. The current me is just an identityless person. Even more so, I’m an incredibly beautiful young girl. Stepping outside is practically a guarantee to get tangled up in troublesome situations.’

Of course, I had never properly checked my identity.

No matter how I think about it, I doubt I had a legitimate identity after being trapped in an unidentified space.

If I were to clumsily check my identity and got caught…

The fact that I would be detained for various procedures and handed over to the police was a given.

And what if I got caught by the current police who hadn’t yet cut out all the rotten parts?

What if my appearance caught the eye of some twisted pervert?

‘Directly heading toward a bad ending in life. And if they find out about my powers… the risk just increases.’

The existence of my telekinetic abilities, which I referred to, was also a problem.

The Fixer’s worldview was one in which the fantasy world’s races and magic crossed over into the Earth we know.

So, in this world, powers referred to by the term ‘superpower’ indicated a separate force, neither science nor magic.

Generally, this force referred to the power of invaders who destroyed the world inhabited by other races.

Of course, thinking about the power of the invaders from the original work, my abilities were barely on the level of a child’s party tricks…

However, it was still unmistakably not magic that invoked mana or inscribed runes.

Thus, my telekinesis was bound to be treated as a superpower.

‘Now that I think about it, if I get caught, it’s too dangerous. Being caught would definitely mean getting treated as a test subject and subjected to dissection.’

Of course, it was better than having no powers at all.

If I were just a plain old pretty face with no abilities?

I would have to rely on others, trapped in a precarious situation.

So, thinking that way brought me both trouble and some relief.

Well then, my plans for the future were simple.

I would hide in the backworld and endure however long it took until the protagonist’s party managed to sort out the chaotic Night Haven!

Who knows how many months or years that could take?

But thinking about the future in a peaceful world after all the events were over,

I believed I could endure with enough patience. At least, that’s what I thought.

*

After my determination, one month had passed since entering the backworld.

In this long yet short time,

I had come to realize one fact.

That was… life in the backworld wasn’t as bad as I had thought.

“Hoho, another newbie. Hey, how long do you think that one will last?”

“I’ll say a week. By then… there’ll just be an empty shell left, rolling around somewhere on the street.”

“Hehe! That soft white fur peeking through the cracks in the cloth… I’m drooling!”

This was a conversation I overheard while wandering around when I had just entered the backworld.

It was a dialogue between a muscular Mohican and a scrawny cyber-psycho as they chatted among themselves.

Well, I guess it was just the expected talk.

The sight of me, all bundled up in rags, must have looked like a goblin.

The way I was curiously moving my head around, staring at the alleyway, must have made me seem like a naïve fool.

In a place where the weak are naturally preyed upon, it was already bad enough for me to look stronger than my actual abilities.

Being so revealing was akin to begging for death.

“AAAH! M-my arm!”

“W-what’s happening to my arm…! M-magic! This little bastard is a magician!”

“There are no chants! No incantations! It’s a monster!”

But that was only the case when I didn’t have my telekinesis activated.

My telekinetic strength was enough to tear metal doors open with ease.

Naturally, twisting the arm of the man who came at me was a piece of cake.

Of course, I didn’t tear his arm clean off or twist it in a way that’d make it break off in a grotesque manner. That would just be disgusting.

I’m weak against gore.

I only caused him enough pain to make him cry like a baby after he threatened me with a knife.

“Gah! Gah… Y-you’ll pay for this!”

That should be enough.

As I thought this, I relaxed my grip lightly, and the man, who I had been holding, scrambled to his feet.

In no time at all, he fled beyond the alley.

His speed was remarkable.

It almost reminded me of a cockroach.

Well, there was no real reason for me to stop him.

While he was writhing in pain, I had already pickpocketed his wallet using my telekinesis.

‘Money was just rolling in. I might actually be cut out for this backworld life.’

On the outskirts of Night Haven, the so-called backworld consisted mostly of third-rate punks who had been left behind in the urban competition.

They weren’t wearing cutting-edge equipment, which was the pinnacle of science.

Nor were they enhanced humans through special drugs and training.

They were also not special races with extraordinary bloodlines and talents.

They were just regular weaklings with pathetic powers, akin to goblins or kobolds.

Most of them didn’t even need to exert their telekinetic powers at full capacity.

Just a light press would suffice to cause them to surrender and flee.

Nevertheless, seeing them approach me first based purely on appearances provided me with a chance to give them a light scare and pocket some cash, yielding rather decent gains.

Looking at the thickness of the wallet I just snatched,

it seemed to have been a good haul.

‘Oh… this is worthless. I can’t even buy a cheap sandwich with this.’

However, contrary to my expectations, this latest wallet was severely lacking in funds.

I never thought that the wallet itself would be thick material.

Feeling disappointed, I tossed the wallet, now devoid of cash, to the ground.

The slimy exterior had a repulsive feel to it, likely due to the greasy hands that usually handled it.

It couldn’t be helped.

Usually, I would stop at just scaring the punks and stealing their wallets.

But it seemed today, I would have to seek out better prey.

‘There doesn’t seem to be anyone watching… good, let’s go.’

Once I confirmed that no eyes were upon me,

I leaped effortlessly to the roof of a nearby building using my telekinesis.

Because I had suddenly moved from below to above,

the cloth covering me fluttered slightly, but with my newfound proficiency in using my telekinetic abilities as if they were my own limbs,

the cloth remained tightly secured against my body as if it were affixed.

‘Alright, now let’s search. Where’s today’s naughty child hiding~?’

I quietly traversed between buildings, keenly observing the nooks and crannies of the alleys.

The outskirts of Night Haven’s back alleys were disappointingly vast.

At this slow pace, it would take half a day to scour the whole backworld.

However, there was no need to inspect every nook and cranny.

In a world where fights broke out dozens of times per day,

surely something terribly dull was happening somewhere.

“AAAH!”

‘Found it.’

Almost immediately after my thought, a woman’s piercing scream echoed.

I swiftly slid toward the direction of the scream.

Thankfully, it was not too far, so I didn’t even have to strain my telekinesis too much to arrive at the scene of the ruckus.

“Don’t come here! Stay back!”

“Hmm? Strange. We were fine just until now. What’s happening~?”

“Y-you psycho! Where is everybody?!”

In the dark alley, there stood a man and a woman.

The fairly handsome man with thick lips was dressed in a host-like uniform, while the half-naked woman was trembling, threatening him with her heels.

What on earth was going on here?

As I leaned against the rooftop railing, cautiously straining to grasp the situation,

the man, tilting his head in confusion at the woman’s demeanor, spoke.

“Come on… if you claim you love me, I’ll give you anything! Then, is it not okay to pull out a finger or two? Why are you being so picky, you whore?”

“Ugh, cough!”

Ah, I see.

Seeing the woman unable to respond properly due to her tears,
I faintly grasped the turn of events.

The woman was a prostitute selling her body in the back alleys.

The man was a customer who had purchased her wares.

However, unexpectedly wanting to pull out a finger was a decidedly hardcore play, prompting the woman to flee.

The man chased her into this cornered alley.

‘This guy is absolute trash, isn’t he?’

To me, it was painfully obvious who the villain was in this situation.

No matter how much the woman sold herself, pulling out a finger was too much to ask.

If she really couldn’t do something, she could just refund and walk away, right?

Was it really worth cornering her like this?

‘Okay, villain confirmed. Should I just pickpocket him today?’

I didn’t really aspire to be a paragon of justice like a hero from a comic book.

Stealing from a bad guy doesn’t prick my conscience, so I could prefer to do that instead.

Without hesitation, I braced myself against the railing and hurled my body over it.

And I landed quietly between the psycho and the woman.

“What the…?”

“H-games? Huh?”

Perhaps it was such a sudden development.

I could feel the gaze of the flustered man and woman penetrating through the cloth covering me.

If only I had a cool line to deliver right then, it would have been spectacular.

The fact that I couldn’t speak felt particularly regretful.