I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad

Chapter 32

While I was sorting out my plan in my head and calculating the perfect timing to put it into action, Sabrina, who had been walking briskly ahead, suddenly turned her head sharply to look at me.

“You… What’s your name? Oh, wait, you can’t talk, can you?”

“….”

“Then I’ll just call you Fox. You’re wearing a fox mask, after all. That works, right?”

“…!”

Sure, call me Fox, I don’t mind.

I nodded as if to say just that.

Did she understand my meaning? Sabrina made a pouty expression, scrunching her thick eyebrows adorably, and said, “Fox. 

If you’re following me, I’ll take that as your agreement to help. But if things get dangerous, ditch me and run. Got it?”

“….”

“Answer me! Oh, right.”

I can’t answer, remember?

As I stared at her quietly, silently asking who she thought she was talking to, Sabrina awkwardly twitched her round ears and cleared her throat.

“Ahem, anyway! If you slow me down, I won’t let you off.”

“…!”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t worry? Geez, for someone who looks so fragile, you sure are confident.”

Seeing me nod again, Sabrina chuckled briefly before returning her gaze forward, her expression turning serious as if the momentary levity had never happened.

Not that I blamed her.

If someone found us here, it wouldn’t just be a matter of getting scolded—David’s entire plan could be jeopardized. It wasn’t the time to be chatting idly.

Looking around quickly, Sabrina explained, “According to my brother’s files, this is an unused passage. It’s a space abandoned after the hotel was remodeled.”

The place we had entered was a tall, empty corridor.

This was part of what people commonly called the hotel’s “back of house” area, a staff-only zone. It had been turned into a dead passage during multiple remodeling phases. 

No CCTV, no human presence—an ideal spot for someone planning something shady.

Hehe, this feels like something out of a ninja movie.

As I followed Sabrina closely, I couldn’t help but feel amused. But then, a question popped into my mind.

Come to think of it… how exactly does Sabrina plan to act here?

“Why are you staring? Are you asking what my plan is?”

“…!”

“Oh, right. You should know too, huh? Alright, I’ll explain my idiot brother’s ‘great’ plan first!”

I already know it, though.

While Sabrina began gushing about David’s plan like a runaway train, I let her words flow in one ear and out the other, mentally recalling the details myself.

In short, David’s plan was simple:

Create chaos in the hotel, make an opening, and use brute force to rescue Reine.

Then, escape with Reine using a prepared getaway vehicle to lose pursuit. That was it.

Of course, the chaos involved cutting power to the entire building and releasing sleeping gas. 

The obstacles to be overcome included Nemesis’ army of battle robots and the absurdly powerful Triple Number Fixer, Lexi.

Even if the plan succeeded, the pursuit they’d face from the city’s police force—a formidable power in their own right—would be another significant challenge.

From what Sabrina was saying, it sounded like her idea was to get ahead of David, who was currently installing gas emitters throughout the hotel, and join him where he would pass through.

Hmm… that’s not a great idea.

If I were to grade it, it would score about 5 out of 100. On a scale of 10, it wouldn’t even get a single point.

David’s plan relied on boldness and speed to catch everyone off guard.

Who would expect someone to cut power to an entire building and burn through a corporate worker’s annual salary in sleeping gas just to rescue one person? You’d have to be crazy to anticipate something like that.

But adding two nearly useless extras to the mix?

That would only ruin the sharp edge of David’s plan.

So I crossed my arms, pretending to think hard about it before decisively shaking my head to indicate that her idea wasn’t good.

“What’s your problem, Fox? Got an issue? Or are you scared? Then go back!”

“….”

“You don’t have any better ideas, do you?”

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

What did she think I was? Some clueless teammate objecting for the sake of it?

Wanting to show the utterly uninformed Sabrina the right way, I confidently opened my mouth… only to close it, realizing with dismay that no sound would come out.

Not being able to argue with words was frustrating beyond belief!

All I could do was scratch my head in frustration as Sabrina glared at me, clearly annoyed.

Thud!

At that moment, a sound echoed from nearby—something heavy had fallen.

Wait a minute, wasn’t this supposed to be an unused passage?

Sabrina widened her eyes as if silently asking the same question.

Well… Nemesis isn’t stupid. No way they wouldn’t notice a bothersome space like this.

It wasn’t surprising.

If David, an external hacker, could discover this place, there was no way Nemesis wouldn’t know about it.

Especially on a day like today, when VIPs were gathered for an important event. They’d be on high alert, ready to squash any potential incidents.

This had even happened in the original story, so I wasn’t particularly shocked.

“…W-wait! That’s a robot…!”

From the distance, a giant spider-shaped robot appeared.

With eight metallic legs and a sleek, mechanical frame, it was an autonomous search unit.

Startled, Sabrina clenched her fists, ready to fight. But I quickly grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

If David’s plan had already begun, it might be different, but attacking the robot now would ruin everything before it even started.

“Then what do we do?! We can’t just run away—!”

“….”

Shh.

I brought a finger to my lips to quiet her.

It was a gesture with two meanings: keep quiet so we don’t draw attention, and don’t tell anyone about what you’re about to see.

“E-EEK?!”

Using telekinesis, I pressed down on the backs of Sabrina’s knees, causing her to collapse. Before she could fall completely, I caught her in a princess carry.

Then, using telekinesis again, I hurled both of us upward, leaping over the crawling spider robot below.

…Of course, since Sabrina and I were nearly the same height, with me being the more petite one, the scene looked a bit absurd.

But what I lacked in strength and balance, I compensated for with telekinesis, so it worked just fine.

“KYAAA!”

“…!”

Sabrina tightly wrapped her arms around my neck, letting out a faint scream.

Had I not reinforced myself with telekinesis, my neck might have snapped right then and there—a chilling thought.

Breaking out in a cold sweat internally, I landed softly and silently on the floor.

The spider robot creaked as it moved further down the corridor, eventually disappearing from sight.

Still in my arms, Sabrina looked up at me, her expression dazed.

“You—you! That just now, was that magic…?”

“….”

I don’t know. I’m not telling you. Not that I could even if I wanted to.

Feigning nonchalance, I shrugged my shoulders, sticking to my steadfast silence.

Oh? Why would I blatantly use telekinesis like that?

Well… why not? Knowing her personality, Sabrina didn’t seem the type to go blabbing about it, and even if she did, who would believe her?

Besides, unless I knocked her out and dragged her along, there was no avoiding her discovering my telekinesis. My plan was impossible without it anyway.

So, there was no need to go through the trouble of hiding it.

It was purely a rational decision.

“…Hmph! I’m not going to thank you!”

As I was sorting my thoughts, Sabrina suddenly blushed and hurriedly stepped out of my arms.

Oh… was she embarrassed about being helped by someone who looked as weak as me?

I brushed off the borrowed suit, just in case it had gotten dusty, and quietly fixed my gaze on her.

My look conveyed a silent question: I have a better idea—how about it?

“…Do you have another plan? Something better than me awkwardly trying to join my brother?”

“…!”

“Then… let’s go with your plan. What’s on your mind?”

It worked?

At her cautious inquiry, I nodded confidently.

Your plan? Five out of 100 points. But my plan? A solid 150 points.

Still, time was tight. There were potential variables that couldn’t be ignored.

‘We should hurry just a bit.’

I extended my hand to Sabrina, indicating she should take it.

She hesitated, looking uncertain, but eventually reached out and grabbed my hand.

Gotcha.

The moment her hand was in mine, I tipped her off balance, pulling her back into my arms.

Then, I used telekinesis to cling to the ceiling upside-down and darted forward at high speed.

“Eek! I—I knew this would happen! I told you I hate stuff like this!”

Tuning out her whining, I swam gracefully through the small gap between the ceiling and floor, making my way to an elevator shaft in no time.

“Huff… huff… is it over now?”

Oh, this next part’s going to be even scarier.

Like giving her a warning shot, I gently patted her head as she whimpered in shock. Without hesitation, I hurled us into the vertical shaft, a tunnel stretching endlessly downwards.

By now, Sabrina didn’t even have the energy to scream. She just gaped like a goldfish, her lips opening and closing wordlessly.

I ignored her, savoring the stomach-dropping sensation like I was on a rollercoaster, and used telekinesis to propel us upward through the shaft.

How far did we ascend?

As soon as I instinctively sensed we’d reached the right floor, I dodged sideways just as an elevator came roaring down. I tucked us neatly into the space between the ceiling and floor.

Ahh, how do I describe this feeling?

It was like crouching for a long time and then breaking into a light sprint. A perfect mix of exhaustion and exhilaration left me smiling.

“…Ughhh… sis… bro…”

Oh, quit being so dramatic.

Carefully, I set Sabrina, still sniffling and ghost-like, onto the ground. Then, I glanced around.

The area was a dusty, cluttered mess of wires and machinery.

Not surprising—it was the ceiling.

We’re almost there.

I moved cautiously to avoid making noise and began examining parts of the ceiling, using telekinesis to loosen and peek through different panels.

‘Not here. Then here? No, not this one either. What about this…?’

Opening, peeking, closing, securing. I repeated the process about four times until—finally—I found the right spot.

“…Hey, Fox, what are you doing? Why are you… oh, that!”

By now, Sabrina had recovered enough to shuffle over. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight below.

Her reaction was understandable.

Directly below us stood a massive cluster of battle robots, their sleek, lethal frames lined up like soldiers awaiting orders.

If memory served, there were twenty in total in the original story.

Sabrina’s face grew serious at the overwhelming sight.

“With those things moving around… even my idiot brother…”

Exactly.

Calling them battle robots almost felt misleading—they were practically killing machines.

Their armor was so tough that bullets could barely scratch them, and even specialized explosive rounds struggled to dent them.

Their arsenal? Guns, missiles, and even monomolecular cutters that could slice through nearly anything.

With my telekinesis’s low output, I could handle one, maybe two. Any more, and running would be my best bet.

‘But… it’s a different story if they’re just sitting there.’

Of course, that was assuming the robots were active. Right now, they were dormant, waiting for a signal in their storage bay.

For me, they were the perfect targets—simple and easy to disable.

‘My telekinesis can interfere internally if I focus!’

From my hidden perch above the robots, I extended my hand and let my telekinetic energy thread out like a fine wire, reaching deep into the machinery.

They were waterproof, dustproof, and even warded against magic, it seemed.

But apparently, they hadn’t accounted for psychics.

After about four minutes of concentration, I felt my telekinesis infiltrate one robot’s system.

‘Break it. Boom.’

While fixing something might be hard, breaking it was always easy.

I crushed the circuits inside the robot’s head with a heavy, clumsy telekinetic grip.

One down. Nineteen to go.

‘Time’s tight… but I can manage.’

As I gained experience, I found ways to shave down the time for each one. By the end, I had successfully neutralized all twenty battle robots in just 40 minutes.

The sense of accomplishment felt like conquering a mountain.

Now, only Lexi stood in the way. If I could deal with her, David’s plan would face no further obstacles.

As I exhaled a long sigh of relief, suddenly, the lights around us flickered and went out.

Sabrina, who had been quietly watching me work, jumped in surprise and looked around nervously.

But I knew right away what was happening.

This was David’s doing.

The Nemesis terror incident was finally kicking off for real.

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