Monster Taming Broadcast

The clinic, with its white wallpaper and soft lighting, felt almost serene.

The afternoon sunlight streaming through the window gently brushed against Ha Yumi’s face.

Leaning deeply into her chair, Ha Yumi stared at her tablet.

On the screen, a man was munching on some meat.

[Oh. This pork is delicious.]

The man’s name was Kang Geon. He had suddenly appeared in Ha Yumi’s life two years ago through a friend’s introduction.

When she first met him, Ha Yumi thought he was a patient with mental issues.

He claimed to have been to another world and firmly believed in his fantasies.

As a psychiatrist, Ha Yumi was no stranger to such cases, having conducted many consultations with patients who claimed to have returned from another world.

Most of those patients returned to their daily lives after treatment.

However, Kang Geon’s condition never improved.

He even started avoiding contact, disappearing entirely.

Ha Yumi sought help from Kang Geon’s acquaintances to reconnect with him, but…

—He’s the type to go off the grid often. There have been times he vanished for years.

—Once he goes missing, there’s no way to reach him.

That was all she could find out.

So, two years went by without any contact from Kang Geon.

Then one day, a text arrived for Ha Yumi.

When she saw the sender, her eyes widened.

It was a message from Kang Geon, who hadn’t contacted her in two years.

Ha Yumi hurriedly replied.

But Kang Geon didn’t respond.

An hour passed, and she sent another message.

Still no response.

Two hours, three hours, four hours later.

Even the next morning, she sent another text, but there was no reply.

Frustrated, Ha Yumi checked the message Kang Geon sent again.

Could this be a game invitation message?

Maybe if she entered the game, she could send him a direct message?

After some hesitation, Ha Yumi clicked on the link in the message and soon found herself tuning into Kang Geon’s broadcast.

Watching his stream, she was shocked to realize that everything he once claimed as delusions was vividly playing out on her screen.

The veil of doubt slowly lifted.

It was the moment Ha Yumi accepted the truth.

*

Ha Yumi typed a message and set the tablet down on the desk.

For a moment, she fell into thought.

‘Come to think of it, Kang Geon said he lost his entire family on the day he was discharged…’

Suddenly, the family history she’d heard during their consultation came to mind.

Recalling it, Ha Yumi understood why he wasn’t reported missing while he was in the other world.

During the time Kang Geon was gone, there was no family to notice his absence and file a report.

He mentioned he had hardly any close friends.

Even among the few friends he had, contact was sparse, so they probably saw his disappearance as just another ordinary occurrence.

‘Gi Ho said he thought Kang Geon had cut ties because all his messages were ignored.’

Gi Ho was the friend who introduced Kang Geon to her.

‘…But why didn’t I pick up on this back then?’

Ha Yumi reflected on the past.

As she did, she rubbed her forehead and sighed.

Suddenly, she felt pathetic about her former self.

She hadn’t maintained professional integrity; a sense of guilt weighed down on her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Kang Geon.

Anyone would have dismissed his claims.

The real reason behind her current guilt was simple.

She hadn’t conducted proper consultations.

In a normal situation, she should have posed questions like, ‘Kang Geon, why didn’t anyone file a missing person report while you were in another world?’

But she’d been too tipsy to hold a proper session. That was just lamentable.

‘Well… it wouldn’t have mattered anyway since Kang Geon wasn’t a delusional patient, so a real consultation probably wouldn’t have changed anything.’

Still, she should reflect on not taking him seriously.

With those thoughts swirling in her mind, Ha Yumi picked up her tablet again.

Then, just as she was about to watch Kang Geon’s stream again, a video title on the monitor screen caught her attention.

“Do Fantasy Monsters Exist? I Found a Slime in the Backyard! No Joke!!!”

‘Huh? A slime?’

Curiosity piqued, Ha Yumi clicked the mouse and began playing the video.

The footage was shot from a first-person perspective.

The shooter was filming something deep in the mountains.

Ha Yumi’s eyes widened at the sight of the creature captured on video.

It looked familiar and eerily reminiscent.

‘That looks just like the little one Kang Geon is raising! Could it really be a slime?’

Of course, it wasn’t identical.

The slime on screen had a translucent green hue, with a round something inside.

Ha Yumi could guess what that round object was.

‘Is that the core Kang Geon talked about? But why is a slime here on Earth?’

Flustered, Ha Yumi hurried to check the comments section.

With the low view count, there weren’t many comments either.

LOL the CG is so bad.

Is this fishing?

Slime nonsense, haha.

Is this for real?

It doesn’t seem like CG, does it?

Look at that person yelling in excitement after killing the slime. LOL.

┗Happy voice sounds awkward. Totally staged.
┗WTF, the acting is terrible. I just want to tear you apart and dump you in the Han River, you bastard! YouTuber, where do you live?
┗Why did that dude fly off the handle?
┗Looks like a troublemaker.

No, can a monster die that easily? You smash the core, and it just drops dead? If you’re going to fake it, at least think it through.
┗Slimes usually die when you break their cores. That’s what I saw in a manga.
┗Does manga and reality equate?

Begging the question. Haha.
┗Your post is pointless.
┗[Link] Famous idol’s murky past revealed. All the surgical mishaps exposed, and it’s causing chaos among fans! Secret dates were rampant.
┗What is this?
┗Even the trashy channel has ads now.
┗If you access the link, Halcas shows up. Don’t click on it;
┗Thanks! Heading over right now.

Wow. To think there are people who believe in this.
It clearly looks like an AI-generated video.
No way there are genuinely dumb people who believe this?
You should quit YouTube. You have no talent.
I enjoy your videos! Keep up the great work… Come check out my channel, too. ^^

Reading the comments, Ha Yumi pondered.

Ah, maybe it was a fake video made using AI technology?

I mean, there couldn’t possibly be monsters on Earth.

But soon, that thought wavered.

‘Could there actually be?’

Just like traveling from Earth to another world, it was possible for creatures from other realms to come to Earth.

In other words, monsters could exist here as well.

‘For now, I should ask Kang Geon.’

Just to be sure, I decided to talk to an expert.

*

Having devoured the entire pig, there weren’t any leftovers.

The bones and entrails were all consumed by the monsters.

“It’s nice to eat my fill after a long time.”

Muttering, I wiped my mouth.

The aroma of the grilled pork still lingered in my nostrils.

Would there be more of the same kind in Passage No. 8?

If there are several Pig Kings, I’d need to feast on them regularly.

I sprang up from my seat.

As I was stretching to aid digestion, a message popped up.

“Drifter Appears!”

“Five mortals have stepped into the Ancient Labyrinth across the dimensions.”

“Number of Drifters: 5”

Text floated before my eyes.

It was the same message about Drifters as before.

‘They’re coming here more frequently than I thought.’

It seemed like Drifters appearing in this labyrinth was quite a common occurrence.

I wasn’t particularly interested.

I had planned to give them a Transferable Return Ticket for a price, but that was only if our paths crossed during exploration.

I had no intention of actively searching for Drifters who I didn’t even know where they were.

“Number of Drifters: 3”

Ten minutes into my stretching routine, the number of Drifters dropped down to three.

It seemed like this batch of Drifters was also not worth meeting.

When I finished stretching, Ha Yumi dropped a message.

It was an unexpected question.

Why was she asking that all of a sudden?

There were no monsters on Earth.

According to the Dimension Magician, the world I lived in was protected by a “dimensional barrier,” preventing entities from other dimensions from crossing over.

Naturally, I was an exception as a native.

Using the portal created by the Dimension Magician was also an exception, of course.

Anyway.

I confirmed that my world was one where beings from other realms could not set foot, so I chose to return, even sacrificing my powers.

Not that I had any desire to wield powerful abilities.

I only wanted a peaceful life.

Nevertheless, I had prepared “insurance” just in case.

In the event the dimensional barrier on Earth were to tear.

In case I were to encounter beings from other realms on Earth.

I had set it up so that my seal could be released then.

There were also other ways to break the seal, but I had no idea what they were.

Therefore, at this moment, I had no means other than finding a monster with the ability to unseal.

In response to Ha Yumi’s question, I answered.

“As far as I know, there aren’t any. Why do you ask?”

“Pardon?”

【Mysticism】—

I was somewhat taken aback.

A slime in Earth?

That couldn’t be!

The peace-seeking Dimension Magician would never have opened a portal and sent monsters over.

There was no benefit to doing such a thing.

If monsters truly existed on Earth, there would only be one reason:

In case the dimensional barrier had torn.

“Maybe it is fake? There’s no way a slime could exist on Earth.”

I didn’t know that.

I just thought there was some difference with the rank going up, but it came with additional functionality.

【Yumi】—[Link]

Ha Yumi posted the link.

Naturally, I couldn’t access it.

The link was just a block of text to me.

After a little while.

Pururu’s message popped up.

It seemed he had also watched the video.

“Let me see it, quickly upload the video.”

“Does it also cost coins…? Then use the coins I charged in my name to send it.”

【Pururu】—[Video]

This really works.

A square video window suddenly floated in the air.

I lightly touched it with my finger, and the video began playing.

I slowly observed the video.

Focusing on the slime featured on the screen.

“Hmm….”

【Mysticism】—

“This… it doesn’t seem fake, though?”

No matter how I looked at it, it appeared to be a real slime.

---