I'm rather a newbie regarding electronics but I came here to seek for a simple response.

I realized that a electronic appliance I have doesn't work anymore. I tried to investigate the issue and found that a SMD component was missing.

Starting from this I searched for the schematic and found the missing piece, which is a SMD 33pf 5% 25V 0201 capacitor as shown here:

Now, I don't have a replacement part and in any case I wouldn't know how to solder a SMD component (I have a rather old and standard soldering iron) so I was wondering if short-circuiting the connection could do anything useful or tragic.

The missing piece is evidenced here: