I Became the Cute One in the Problem-Solving Team

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It was a world where different races had emerged, and decades had passed since Earth as we knew it.

Maybe that’s why. It was clear that there were many technological advancements compared to where I originally came from.

For instance, anyone could swap their body parts like shopping, if they were human.

Just implant a chip at the back of your neck, replace your eyes with mechanical ones, and you’re shopping—how neat is that?

Plus, giant airships floated silently in the sky over the city without making a fuss.

But here I was, in Night Haven, packed with races that had very different body structures from humans.

If I looked far enough, I could definitely feel that this place was a future world.

Although such perks were likely only for the rich who had plenty of money.

However, perhaps due to the impact of war, cultural development seemed stagnant compared to technological advancements.

In reality, it didn’t feel all that unsettling.

Social media and online communities were still actively buzzing, making it all seem familiar.

In fact, familiar works popped up as if they had just changed the titles of existing creations.

Of course, the big difference was that there were non-humans scattered everywhere on the internet.

But even considering that, I adapted pretty well to the internet for a world that was decades behind.

‘Hmm, interesting. Almost half of the rising influencers are from different races. In reality, these races are avoided, but online, they’re super popular.’

It was quite an intriguing story.

Surely in offline reality, they would be scary and deemed avoidable.

So why were so many people fond of them online?

But if I thought about it differently… it made sense.

Life is a tragedy when seen up close but a comedy when viewed from a distance, right?

Being near a different race could be daunting and off-putting.

Yet through a screen, they might just feel like beautiful, unique beings.

And looking at the list of rising influencers, it was mostly stunning elves and succubi. Or those beastmen who satisfied questionable tastes. I guess they were more honest about their desires.

‘Okay, analysis done. So this is the vibe of the internet in this world. Got it. Now… Echo, where do regular folks hang out? Can you find out?’

[ I will investigate…! Oh, according to self-reported traffic from humans, the Metahuman category on a site called Pionia seems to be the most popular! ]

‘Hmm, really? In the end, what’s popular turns out to be the different races. I’m curious. Let me see,’

[ Connecting right away! ]

I was super curious about what they were talking about.

Holding the screen upside down with both hands, I urged Echo to connect already.

Then Echo seemed to initiate a connection to the site, spinning icon and all, but right after, a notification popped up that access had failed. What gives?

[ This community appears to block access from anonymous accounts for non-members. You likely need a verified account to enter… ]

‘Then just make one already. I just want to browse today.’

[ Yes! Then I will create a verified account based on the most frequently used information on the site. ]

Beep. As soon as Echo’s words finished, the community interface shot up on my terminal screen.

Wait, how is it this fast? Is this legit?

I poked at the screen with my finger to check the account details, revealing some super basic personal information.

The name was Jane Smith, gender female, age 25.

It had an email address that seemed plausible where I could pay money to access various features, including becoming a plus member.

In that brief moment, to whip up such a believable account was quite impressive.

Is it okay for it to be this capable? It was starting to feel scary just how far it could go.

But hey, it’s a good thing for me since I was planning to toss this account away anyway.

With a strange feeling, I tilted my head and scratched my cheek, deciding not to worry too much.

Besides, expecting common sense from an Invader is just wasting time.

After all, they had wiped out an entire world already, so this was pretty much to be expected!

‘So… I wonder what they’re discussing in the most popular online community, shall I take a peek?’

Gathering my thoughts, I looked at the titles of the posts sorted by popularity.

> [ Photo ] A huge fight broke out between a lumberjack and a mermaid at our local mart, then an orc suddenly barged in – Upvote (29k)

> [ Video ] A mermaid’s shocking method of changing the ocean environment – Upvote (23k)

> [ Video ] Do you know how elves react when you touch their ears? – Upvote (21k)

> [ Photo ] Seems like there’s been a major shift in the fixer rankings since the end of the year 💥 – Upvote (18k)

> I got dumped by my significant other because of my taste in different races… – Upvote (17k)

What a show of enticing bait; it was hard to resist the urge to click on everything.

Especially the top one, ‘Lumberjack vs Mermaid vs Orc,’ it was impossible to look away.

What had happened? Why was an orc showing up during a fight between a lumberjack and a mermaid?!

Suddenly, I found myself forgetting about the original plan of messing around on the internet through Echo and instead rolled around on my blanket, happily enjoying the posts and reactions.

This was much more satisfying than those brief videos I had seen earlier.

Seeing bizarre events happening across the globe from the comfort of my closet was far too amusing.

‘Hehe, debating who the stronger fixer is is a blast. But just because they’re ranked high doesn’t mean they’re the strongest.’

Amongst all of that, what captured my attention was, unsurprisingly, the posts about fixers.

Since many fixers were of different races, it was no surprise that discussions about them would pop up here in this community.

And the hottest topic was, of course, who the strongest fixer was.

Huh? With a ranking, how could there even be room for debate?

Tsk tsk, such a naive thought!

The fixer rankings were merely collections of performance and popularity scores arranged in a list.

Not knowing that just because someone is ranked high doesn’t necessarily mean they’re strong is a rookie fan’s misconception.

Then there were also issues of fighting styles and their match-ups.

Many circumstances can make one character stronger or weaker in specific situations.

In reality, debating who the strongest fixer is, in the grand scheme of things, was an exercise in futility.

But arguing about who’s stronger, be it lion vs tiger, baseball bat vs dagger, shark vs alligator…

Has been entertaining content for eons.

Of course, I welcomed the chance to join this debate!

‘My pick is the Dragon Mayor at his prime. After all, under a dragon, everyone else is just a stepping stone.’

In the end, it all boiled down to mere commoners beneath the greatness of a dragon.

With that conclusion, I slipped away from the endless debate arena that was still ablaze.

There was no need to engage with amateurs who couldn’t even understand what happens when fixers fight.

What do you know? Have you seen it happen? I have! Sure, it was in a cartoon.

As I enjoyed this overwhelming sense of superiority while humming a tune and browsing other posts, suddenly a comment showed up that made me frown.

ㄴ 00apart: I can’t believe there are still people who take this seriously. I mean, different races are one thing, but thinking magic exists? That’s just naive, no? As if they’re not low-intelligence individuals, scientifically proven impossible. Tsk tsk.

What now? A new type of attention seeker?

I tilted my head and casually browsed their comment.

To my surprise, there were about 100 replies to that comment.

As I dove into the heated argument, it seemed this troll genuinely believed magic couldn’t possibly exist.

Yikes, there’s really someone like this.

To be fair, some characters in the story probably never encountered a different race in their entire lives.

Claims like “It’s all just made-up nonsense” wouldn’t be that shocking.

But still, this was way too aggressive. What a nasty piece of work; it kinda put me in a bad mood.

Eyeing the relentless troll being battered by numerous commenters, I furrowed my brow, then finally smiled.

‘Ah, I’ll take this guy. I was feeling a bit guilty for wanting to do something bad, but this one seems fair game.’

So you’re provoking attention with nasty comments? You really chose the wrong day!

Staring at 00apart, who was firing off trolls in real-time, I brought Echo to my forehead.

‘Echo. This site sends notifications whenever a comment gets made, right?’

[ That’s correct. ]

‘Then comment something randomly on this person’s post and delete it right after. Let’s say… about a hundred times?’

[ That’s… quite an easy task! ]

The so-called infinite hell notifications!

Hehe, I can’t wait to see the reaction! I fixed my gaze on the troll who was currently embroiled in a comment battle.

One minute, two minutes, and then five minutes…

It was starting to feel excessive. Where’s the ping?

Just then, a personal message showed up from someone.

Surprisingly, the message was from that troll I had seen earlier.

[ 00apart: Who the hell are you?! Is this some sort of macro? My terminal is freezing up! You must not be able to beat me with logic, so you come here to my secondary account and terrorize me? Go ahead, keep it up! You jerk! I’ll report you and make sure your account is banned! ]

Oh wow, looks like it actually worked!

I giggled at the flailing troll’s desperate messages and brought Echo to my forehead again.

‘Let’s send a hundred more!’

[ It seems they’ve blocked notifications from you. ]

‘Can you lift the block?’

[ …Of course. ]

Oh wow, you can lift the block? That’s seriously impressive.

Nodding in satisfaction at Echo’s response, I wondered if I’d sent yet another hundred notifications to the troll.

This time, the troll took about ten minutes to respond, sending back a much deflated message.

[ 00apart: How did you un-block my notifications? You hacker bastard! I have other accounts besides this one, so deleting this one won’t matter. Go on and sweat your hard work; it won’t end well for you, you trash! ]

‘Echo, restore that person’s account.’

[ Yes. The account deletion has been reversed. ]

‘This time, let’s hit them with three hundred!’

Don’t think you can flee while feeling victorious. I won’t let you go until I hear what I want to hear.

I bombarded the troll with three times as many notifications as before.

Just thinking about how their terminal must be utterly incapacitated by endless notifications made me feel a bit bad for them… but hey, they should have spoken nicely from the start.

While I wasted time exploring posts with attention-grabbing titles, a while later, I received another personal message from the troll.

[ 00apart: How did you even do this? ]

[ Jane Smith: (spinning wheel emoji) ]

[ 00apart: No matter how many times I delete this account, the app, or even disconnect from the internet! Why won’t the notifications stop?! What did you do?! ]

[ Jane Smith: (ugly chicken pecking at the ground emoji) ]

[ 00apart: I’m sorry, please stop! What do you want from me!!! ]

Oh, wow, looks like I broke them. Seeing the troll utterly lose their composure made me roll my eyes before I swiftly closed the message window.

Well, they seemed to have learned their lesson, so that’ll do for today!

As I quietly thought that and tried to turn my attention back to browsing the posts, suddenly, a rather alarming red notification appeared at the top of the screen.

[ The admin has permanently restricted your account. If you wish to contest this, please send a message to (link). ]

Oh no, I was banned. How did they know?

After getting kicked out of the community, I blinked in surprise.

Permanently restricted? Did they figure out that I was a fake account? They were quick thinkers.

I again pressed Echo to my forehead and thought for a bit.

So then, how about I see if I can prank the admin without getting caught this time?

‘Hey, Yuria… were you using your Rift Energy just now?’

Oh wow, so you can use abilities with Rift Energy too?

This was somewhat surprising news.

 

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