includegraphics is missing a number, treating it as zero

Question

Here is the entire code for my document:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\includegraphics{‌image.pdf}
\end{document}

When compiling, I get the error

! Missing number, treated as zero.

EDIT: Thanks to Marijn for help with formatting.

EDIT 2: Bonus points to whoever can reproduce the phantom character.

Answer 1

What's going on is that there's a phantom character between the { and the i, that's causing the code to not compile. I figured out that the character was there by pasting the code into Overleaf: it displayed the phantom character immediately.

I don't know where this character came from, and I don't know where it will go, but I figured I'd post here in case someone else is struggling with the same issue.