Something felt profoundly wrong.

It was like sketching a shape only to find that its ends refused to connect—a gnawing sense of disjointedness.

I scrambled to piece together the original sequence of events from my foggy memory of the source material.

“How did the early part of the storyline go again?”

First, I mentally outlined the timeline of the original story.

The initial episodes focused on Alice, chronicling her journey from an aspiring police officer to becoming a member of the Troubleshooter Office. Following her introduction, supporting characters such as her sister Lily were gradually woven into the narrative. Then, the regular cast began to expand in earnest with this episode: the Nemesis Party Terror Incident.

The event involved an attempted act of violence aimed at exposing a dark secret behind Nemesis’s latest product.

Despite being labeled a “terror incident,” it wasn’t as catastrophic as it sounded. No mass casualties or rampant destruction occurred—just a skirmish in a VIP lounge that left several security robots in pieces.

Compared to the Night of Blood arc, which involved a massacre and nearly claimed the protagonist’s life, this was relatively tame—a not-so-uncommon occurrence in Night Haven.

“Let’s think through the timeline…”

Here’s how the sequence originally unfolded:

1. Raven and Alice received an invitation to the Nemesis-hosted party and arrived at the hotel.
2. Inside, they encountered a suspicious girl wandering the halls.
3. It turned out the girl was the younger sister of the man planning the attack. She approached Raven and asked for help to stop her brother.
4. Finally, the protagonist team discovered the man’s motive: Nemesis had imprisoned his childhood friend. They helped expose the corporation’s conspiracy, saving the friend and wrecking Nemesis’s schemes in the process.

By now, if events were following the original timeline, the client should have already appeared, even before the encounter with Lexi.

Had I remembered something wrong? Or had the chain of events been severely derailed?

Either way, this was a problem. Without the client’s appearance, the Troubleshooter Office wouldn’t recruit their new hacker and mage—an essential addition to the team.

“Can he handle everything on his own without the protagonist team? No, definitely not.”

I thought of Lexi, the intimidating woman in the skull eyepatch and bikini.

On the surface, she might seem like an over-the-top eccentric, but she was a Triple Number Fixer—a top-tier operative recognized for her exceptional skills.

Even Alice would barely hold her own against Lexi, and it would take Raven going all out to stand a chance. The man behind the terror incident wouldn’t be able to fight her alone.

“So… where did it go wrong?”

Then it hit me. Of course, something had already gone off track—the Night of Blood arc had been pushed forward in the timeline, throwing everything into disarray.

That explained the current predicament. What I needed to focus on now wasn’t figuring out the exact cause but finding a way to set things right.

Yet the task felt daunting. Could I even fix this?

I sighed, recalling how I had sworn not to meddle with the main story. But here I was, knee-deep in yet another plotline that was falling apart because of me.

Should I have left the vampire alone in the alleyway? No.

I couldn’t have ignored that. Seeing the situation firsthand, knowing I had the power to intervene—I couldn’t just walk away.

“So, the priority is finding the client.”

I had a plan now.

First, I needed to locate the client—the younger sister of the man behind the incident—somewhere in this hotel. Then, I would arrange for her to meet Raven, giving them a reason to intervene.

With their help, the incident would resolve, and the hacker-mage would join the Troubleshooter Office. After that, I could leave everything on autopilot and let the story cruise toward its happy ending.

“Alright, just this once… I’ll patch things up and get out. No more meddling after this.”

I made a firm resolve and allowed myself to daydream about the future for a moment.

Corporate bounties, rogue artifacts, monster invasions, serial killers, wartime grudges, large-scale corporate wars, liberation armies, assassination squads, interdimensional invaders…

Nope, I wasn’t cut out for any of that.

I felt a little guilty, knowing I was planning to skip out while fully aware of what lay ahead. But I was just a temporary worker—surely I could be forgiven for drawing the line here.

“You okay? Need to use the bathroom? Want me to come with you?”
“….”
“Alice, let her go to the bathroom alone. Just don’t get lost, Yuria.”
“…!”

Using a restroom excuse, I slipped away from Alice and Raven and quietly left the banquet hall.

Once I was a safe distance from the entrance, I turned in the opposite direction and started walking briskly.

“A small girl with braided green hair… I have to find her before the attack starts.”

There was only about an hour left before the planned attack. I didn’t have much time.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hotel…

“Whew, much better. Huh? Who are y—”
“Stun.”
“Argh!”

Crack!

Blue sparks crackled as a man’s glove emitted a jolt of electricity, rendering the security guard unconscious.

The glove bore what looked like random scribbles, but the runes were, in fact, modernized magic—spells interpreted through contemporary mathematics and programming.

Unlike traditional magic, it sacrificed raw power for efficiency, requiring minimal mana to achieve maximum effect.

“My apologies. I’ll just be borrowing this for a bit.”

The man stripped the unconscious guard of his uniform, donned it himself, and stashed the guard in a bathroom stall to remain undetected.

He checked his watch. Security rotations were hourly, meaning he had just 60 minutes to complete his task.

A tight deadline, but not impossible. With every move already mapped out in his mind, he was confident he could pull it off.

“This is my one and only chance. I have to get Reyne back.”

David’s jaw clenched as he recalled the face of his childhood friend, missing for the past six months. His anger flared anew.

Somewhere else in the hotel, a small girl with braided green hair sat on the floor, tears streaming down her face.

“Now what… What am I supposed to do…?”

It was Sabrina, David’s younger sister, feeling utterly helpless.

The turn of events seemed unfixable, as if fate itself had abandoned her.

But sometimes, miracles come to those who least expect them.

“…”
“Wah! What?!”

From above, a figure dropped silently to the ground—a child dressed in a sharp suit.

It was me.

“Is this where I start fixing things?”

I was the specialist here to repair the broken gears of fate.