Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Fixer vs. Charismatic Phantom Thief vs. Just Yuria (2)
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Rewinding time a little, to when I had just returned from work.
The Fixer Agency was unusually chaotic.
A yellow tape barred the entrance, as if restricting outsiders.
Beyond the tape, men in suits were rushing about frantically inside the office.
No matter how you looked at it, the scene was reminiscent of a crime scene where something had happened.
I couldn't see Raven or Alice beyond, so I couldn't just walk in confidently.
Standing on my tiptoes and peeking over, I nodded my head and quietly came to a conclusion.
‘Hmm, looks like Silver Cat paid a visit.’
I had only just arrived, but I could easily picture the situation inside.
The phantom thief who had recently been the talk of the city, Silver Cat, had probably made her appearance.
Recalling the original story, Silver Cat boldly comes to the agency, steals an item, and escapes.
And the party whose jewel was stolen is now frantically searching for clues to track her down.
‘At first glance, Silver Cat might seem like an attention-seeker active on social media… but her skill at stealing things and getting away rivals that of a Double-Number Fixer. For those chasing her, she's bound to be a headache.’
Well, with Raven's skills, he'll eventually catch her despite any crises.
Maybe he'll handle it on his own this time without me needing to interfere.
Standing idly in the hallway, feeling rather relaxed, I suddenly turned my head to the side.
I had heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs from below.
The person who soon appeared was a beautiful pink-haired girl in a thigh-revealing kimono.
It was Alice, as sexy as ever.
“Ah, Yuria! You're back from work!”
“Mhm. Alice. Nya.”
“Heehee, hello! Yuria, you're so cute today! Aww, it feels like all the fatigue from the day is just washing away!”
“Nyeh.”
Recognizing me immediately, she pulled me into a tight hug, looking overjoyed to see me.
Ever since the incident with Renji, whenever we met, Alice's eyes would practically drip with honey.
I thought her affection level couldn't possibly get any higher…
At this point, it seemed she really thought of me as her actual little sister.
Like how Lily obsesses over Raven, or how Renji still misses his late wife.
The affection of an oni is truly a heavy thing. The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Well… I enjoy being with Alice, too. It's better than being distant.’
As I was being swayed back and forth in Alice's warm embrace,
Raven and David came up the stairs behind her.
Both looked a bit tired, and their clothes were stained with something that looked like paint.
It seemed they had just been tracking Silver Cat.
Judging by their somewhat frustrated expressions, they must have lost her.
Raven, scratching his head in annoyance, noticed me and spoke first.
“What, is it already time for Yuria to be back? Time flies.”
“Nya.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hello to you too, kid.”
As someone living here, I have to greet them energetically in the morning and evening.
Still held by Alice, I raised my arm high to greet him.
Perhaps to return my greeting,
a rather drained Raven strode over and ruffled the top of my head.
My vision shook back and forth as if in an earthquake.
Why does this man express his affection so aggressively?
Rather than resist, I went completely limp, swaying like a reed in the wind.
“Miss Yuria, my apologies. It seems it will be difficult to enter the office right now.”
“Well, it'll be over soon. Just wait a bit.”
“Okay…”
Unlike Alice or Raven, David seems to maintain a certain distance.
He explained the situation to me in a very earnest, formal tone.
However, it seemed Raven's words about it ending soon weren't baseless.
No sooner had he said that than the men in suits came pouring out of the office.
Judging by their less-than-bright expressions as they left, it seemed they hadn't achieved much.
Well, she's a big shot who operates globally. Things were never going to be that easy.
“Let's go in.”
As soon as the men in suits left, we entered the office naturally, as if taking their place.
They weren't completely discourteous, it seemed; despite so many people coming and going, the office was relatively clean.
Though the dust all over the floor was probably unavoidable…
it was a real relief that they hadn't soiled the expensive furniture or carpet.
“Jeez, what a mess.”
“Jin, what are you going to do now?”
“What do you mean? That's for the client to worry about. Let them do whatever they want.”
Raven, sprawled on the plush sofa, said nonchalantly as he cleaned out one ear.
His attitude, as if telling the client to figure it out themselves, was nothing short of brazen.
In a way, it was a puzzling reaction.
Considering the flow of events, we were the ones who had the jewel stolen from our office, so why this reaction?
To understand, one had to know roughly how this job had unfolded.
It all started when the phantom thief, Silver Cat, boldly declared on social media that she would steal the sparkling purple gem, the Purplian.
Naturally, the gem's owner, the magnate Lord Robert, was aghast and requested a reliable fixer for the job... and that fixer happened to be Raven, who was practically a rising star.
‘This must be the job he was agonizing over with his terminal yesterday. It makes sense. Lord Robert has a reputation for being a villain with bad conduct in many ways.’
One of the reasons Silver Cat is so popular is that she mainly steals from villains.
The fact that he became her target made his usual conduct obvious without needing to look into it.
There's no real good or evil when it comes to a fixer's job.
As long as it wasn't the type of job that involved killing someone or causing major societal problems,
just a request to protect something precious, Raven wasn't one to turn it down.
Thus, after some deliberation, Raven had accepted the job, but…
the problem was that the client, Robert, didn't fully trust him.
‘The Purplian hidden in the safe was a fake. He belatedly realized his daughter had the real one, and Silver Cat, who came to the office, flawlessly made off with it… that's probably where we are now. From our perspective, the whole thing is completely absurd.’
It was a situation that made you want to scream, "Why did you even hire us, then?"
I could fully understand why Raven, sprawled on the sofa, looked so displeased.
Still, perhaps David could find a silver lining even in this situation.
He spoke to Raven with a remarkably calm demeanor.
“With this, we can certainly refuse any unreasonable requests from the client.”
“That's true. They can't possibly blame us for this. Hah, although we'll have to wait until we hear from them again.”
The silver lining was that, no matter how you looked at it, this whole fiasco was the client's fault.
It meant we had a reason not to be held responsible even if we failed to catch Silver Cat.
Having witnessed how tricky Silver Cat was—appearing once and then vanishing without a trace—
Raven seemed to have decided that he couldn't be blamed even if he ended up abandoning the job altogether.
A brief silence fell as everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.
Alice, who had been sitting demurely and pondering, glanced at Raven and asked.
“That Silver Cat person… now that she has the jewel she wanted, will she leave the city?”
“Probably. There's no point in staying in the city, she'd just be hounded by her pursuers.”
“Hmm…”
But perhaps because Alice didn't have much experience with failing a job so spectacularly,
she seemed unable to shake off her unease, pressing her lips together and hugging me even tighter.
It's not like I'm some comfort doll she hugs whenever she's feeling conflicted…
Still, if holding me comforted her, I suppose that was a good thing.
‘Well, the one she stole this time is also a fake. They'll clash again soon enough. Round two won't be so easy.’
I swayed my body limply from side to side, intrigued by how the situation was unfolding.
Then I picked up one of my personal snacks from the table and brought it to my mouth.
Crunch, crunch.
The cookie had an addictive taste that wasn't just sweet, but left a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Its sticky texture clinging to the inside of my mouth made me forget my evening hunger for a moment.
But a snack could never provide the satisfying fullness of a proper meal.
I stared at Raven so intensely it felt like my gaze could pierce his skin, silently asking when we were going to eat dinner.
Thankfully, he seemed to quickly notice my passionate, hunger-filled gaze.
Lying on the sofa, he glanced at the time and said in a casual voice.
“Ah, now that you mention it, we haven't had dinner yet. Ahh, it's a bit of a hassle to cook… Yuria, wanna go to the restaurant downstairs?”
“Okay.”
“You two come as well. Looks like we'll be running around until late tonight.”
“Ahaha, so overtime is confirmed…”
“In that case… I will be back after contacting my family.”
How long has it been since the four of us ate together like this?
Pleased with the situation, I nodded and tapped Alice on the shoulder.
It was a signal for her to let me go for a moment so I could change into comfortable clothes now that work was done.
Understanding my meaning, Alice reluctantly let me go.
Now free, I scampered to my room with light steps.
And when I threw open the door and casually stepped inside,
I immediately felt a sense of unease.
‘…That's strange. The arrangement seems subtly different from how it was this morning.’
Tiny changes, as if someone had touched everything just a little.
Narrowing my eyes and scanning the room, I clutched the Echo in my pocket.
I immediately asked if there were any devices like cameras nearby.
But Echo only replied that it couldn't find any such device.
In that case, was the unease I felt just my imagination?
I opened the drawers and the closet just in case, and after confirming there was nothing amiss, I slipped out of my clothes.
After changing from my maid uniform into some light casual wear for going out,
on the off chance, the very slim chance, I hurried to Raven's room.
‘No way, it can't be, right?’
I didn't have anything that would be a problem if stolen.
I always carried the Tesseract with me, and the same went for Echo and the fox mask.
But there was just one thing. One thing that worried me, which I left at the agency.
The crescent-shaped object that I hadn't managed to awaken yet…
“Ah.”
After opening the closet and rummaging through the bedding for a long time,
I finally used my psychokinesis to shake out the blankets and had no choice but to admit it.
The object I had hidden so carefully inside the bedding had been taken by someone.
For me… this was the worst possible emergency.