The world of Fixer could be divided into three major factions:
The human forces, centered around governments and corporations; the non-human forces, led by beings from other worlds; and the Invader forces, focused on dimensional invaders.
Explaining their relationships in a lengthy, textbook-style manner felt tedious, so here’s the simplest way to sum it up:
"Humans and non-humans were at odds, locked in conflict, until they belatedly realized the existence of Invaders. They formed a temporary alliance out of necessity, just to prevent their mutual destruction."
Imagine two people viciously pulling each other's hair and fighting to the death, only for a deranged psychopath, incapable of reason, to show up. Suddenly, they’re forced to band together against the greater threat.
Humans couldn’t handle the Invaders without information, and the non-humans lacked the strength to confront them alone. So, they shelved their old grudges and agreed to cooperate for survival.
But the emergence of the Invaders, which once brought a sense of urgency, was already several years ago by this point. Naturally, as time passed, the patched-up conflicts from the temporary alliance began to surface again, and tensions rose. By the time the original story began, the factions had once again started pointing guns and swords at each other.
It was only after several large-scale incidents involving the entire city that the real threat of the Invaders came to light. The true enemy, still lurking in the shadows, hadn’t disappeared—they were merely lying in wait, biding their time.
And that led me to my current predicament:
“This... shouldn’t be here right now.”
The fragment in my hand was unmistakably connected to the dimensional Invaders—something that wasn’t supposed to appear at this point in the timeline.
Of course, I couldn’t be 100% certain. I could only sense a similarity between the fragment and the Tesseract. There weren’t any actual Invaders nearby, and nothing explicitly confirmed their presence.
However, since becoming Yuria, my intuition had sharpened unnaturally, and it screamed that this metal fragment was strongly tied to the Invaders.
“What’s that? Jin, did you leave something weird in your pocket and wash it again? I told you not to do that!”
“Huh? When did I even put that there? I don’t remember.”
“Sure, sure. You always throw your stuff haphazardly into the washing machine.”
It seemed Alice and Raven couldn’t feel the ominous aura faintly emanating from the fragment.
Not surprising. In the original story, very few characters could sense the precursors to an Invader attack, and neither of them were among that select group. Perhaps this sensitivity was due to my newly acquired psychic abilities.
"Should I just pretend I didn’t see it?"
I gripped the cold metal shard tightly, closing my eyes.
Should I overlook this ominous sign of the Invaders, which seemed to have surfaced far too early? Or should I investigate further to understand what was happening?
What if it didn’t matter? The original story would progress just fine without my interference, right?
Well… not when it came to the Invaders. At this point in the timeline, Raven was almost a complete version of himself, but Alice and David still had much room for growth.
Even the strongest heroes couldn’t deal with a second-village miniboss sharpening their sword right out of the gate.
"I really hope this is nothing serious… or maybe it’d be better if it were serious?"
Both possibilities had their merits, and that was the real problem.
If the Invaders were doing something beneath the city, that would be a catastrophic emergency. Calling in the Dragon Mayor and the Elf Queen wouldn’t be an exaggeration. In a life-or-death situation, secrecy was irrelevant—better to expose everything than die quietly.
On the other hand, uncovering the Invaders’ plans might earn me enough credit to gain official protection from the Dragon Mayor. Of course, that was just wishful thinking.
If this was merely a coincidence or an insignificant event, blowing it out of proportion could expose me as a suspicious psychic with too much foreknowledge. Worse, Raven, Alice, and Greg might all get dragged into the fallout.
That was the last thing I wanted.
So, my best option for now was to figure out how this metal fragment ended up in his pocket. I could decide what to do afterward.
“Do I have no learning capacity? Why do I keep getting involved in this stuff?” I sighed. “If only I hadn’t noticed…”
Yet, here I was. A potential ticking bomb right under my nose—how could I possibly ignore it?
Anyone in my position would feel the same unease and anxiety. It wasn’t my fault; it was this messed-up world’s fault.
“Okay, stop overthinking it. On the bright side, staying at the office will make investigating easier. I’ll examine the fragment discreetly, and if it’s nothing, I can just move on.”
If it turned out to be serious? That was a problem for future me to solve.
I slipped the fragment into my skirt pocket and glanced at Raven and Alice, who were staring at me with bewildered expressions.
They had just witnessed me rummaging through Raven’s pocket, pulling out a metal shard, and then silently brooding over it. I could only imagine how strange I must have looked.
Oh no. Thinking about it from their perspective made my face flush with embarrassment.
And now, I had to ask if I could stay at the office. Ugh, this was so awkward.
“You know, suddenly doing something like that is shocking,” Raven said, breaking the silence. “If you want something, at least ask first. You almost gave me a heart attack—I was about to call the cops.”
“Jin, are you serious right now?” Alice glared at him.
“Ahem. Just joking! Relax, no need to make things weird.”
He laughed lightly, trying to diffuse the tension. Surprisingly, it worked—his easygoing attitude reassured me somewhat.
Right. I wasn’t being selfish. My actions were for the greater good.
With newfound determination, I walked up to Raven, tugged on his sleeve, and gazed up at him pleadingly.
Raven’s face paled, while Alice’s lit up with excitement.
“Wait… huh?”
“Jin! Yuria wants to stay at the office!”
“What? She was against it just a moment ago!”
“Thoughts can change suddenly! Let’s not stand around in the hallway—inside, now!”
Alice pushed us both into the office with a cheerful smile.
Raven grabbed my shoulders, looking flustered. “Wait! Let’s think this through again. Wouldn’t it be better if she stayed at Alice’s place instead? Listen to me—”
Thud!
“Jin! Watch your mouth! What kind of nonsense are you spouting in front of a kid?!” Alice snapped, elbowing his side.
Raven doubled over in pain, muttering something about unfinished hologram magazines. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all.
In the end, Raven reluctantly agreed to let me stay in an unused office room, with food costs deducted from my wages.
Two weeks. That was the time I had to uncover the truth behind this fragment and its connection to Raven.
As the clock ticked down, unease settled in my chest. Whatever the outcome, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to spiral out of control.