Monster Taming Broadcast

A sunny afternoon.

Seo Dan-bi busily finished getting ready and opened the front door.

As she stepped outside, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and launched a messaging app.

Then she connected to the ‘Assistant Group Chat’ and typed a message.

Today was the day of the first Assistant Meeting.

Under Ha Yumi’s lead, the assistants had promised to gather and chat.

Seo Dan-bi was nervous about meeting people for the first time in real life and decided to bring a friend along because going alone felt daunting.

Of course, she had already informed her friend about going together.

Naturally, if the other assistants opposed it, she planned to go alone.

‘Why is there no reply?’

Just as Seo Dan-bi was anxiously glancing at the group chat.

Messages from the other assistants popped up in real-time.

Seo Dan-bi quickly moved her finger and sent another message.

With Ha Yumi’s permission, Seo Dan-bi let out a sigh of relief.

It’s scary alone, but she feels more confident with a friend.

So, before heading to the meeting place, Seo Dan-bi made her way to her friend Hwang Mir’s house.

*

In front of a quiet café.

Two girls reflected in the glass door.

It was Hwang Mir and Seo Dan-bi.

“Is it really okay for me to be here?”

“It’s fine. The majority agreed.”

Seo Dan-bi replied and pushed the glass door open, entering the café.

A small bell ding-donged as soft coffee aromas greeted them.

Seo Dan-bi’s eyes quickly scanned the café’s interior.

‘Ah. There they are.’

She spotted two girls sitting in a corner.

Shin So-mang and Ha Yumi.

Shin So-mang looked pretty much the same as in the photos.

Ha Yumi looked just a tiny bit different from the pictures.

‘Guess they didn’t do much editing after all.’

Both of them were beautiful.

While Seo Dan-bi was momentarily lost in thought, she shook herself awake and gently tugged at Hwang Mir’s sleeve.

Pointing discreetly towards the assistants, Hwang Mir lowered her voice and asked Seo Dan-bi.

“Are those them?”

“Yeah.”

“But why aren’t we going over?”

“You go first.”

“Are you kidding? You have to lead the way, Dan-bi. I don’t know any of those people.”

“I’m meeting them for the first time today too.”

“But you know them at least. Don’t hesitate, just go ahead.”

With Hwang Mir’s urging, Seo Dan-bi swallowed hard.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly began to walk towards Ha Yumi and Shin So-mang.

Standing in front of them, Seo Dan-bi said,

“Hello···.”

Unlike in the chat, she greeted them using formal speech.

Ha Yumi and Shin So-mang, who had been quietly looking at their phones, raised their heads.

“···Hello.”

Shin So-mang nodded in greeting.

“Uh? Pururu? Why are you so late! We’ve been waiting forever!”

Ha Yumi also stood up with a bright expression to welcome Seo Dan-bi.

“But Pururu, you look so different in person than in the photos.”

“······.”

Is that a compliment?

Seo Dan-bi’s brows narrowed slightly.

“Why did you edit the photos? If you look this good in person, the original must have been much prettier. If you can’t edit properly, just don’t do it at all.”

“Oh.”

So that was a compliment.

Seo Dan-bi’s lips curled up slightly.

Next to her, the awkwardly standing Hwang Mir looked a bit lost.

Noticing her existence, Ha Yumi tilted her head and asked.

“Um… Is this Dan-bi’s friend?”

“Oh, yes. Hi, I’m Hwang Mir, Dan-bi’s friend.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ha Yumi.”

Ha Yumi smiled and extended her hand for a handshake.

Behind her, Shin So-mang introduced herself to Hwang Mir.

The four girls ordered drinks and surrounded a round table to start their conversation.

The topic was naturally about Kang Geon’s broadcasts.

*

While the broadcast of Kang Geon continued to play.

In the midst of a lively conversation among the assistants.

Seo Dan-bi tightly gripped her cup with both hands, sipping her drink through the straw while gauging the atmosphere, then carefully opened her mouth.

“Um, should we just talk casually like in the chat? Speaking formally feels a bit awkward.”

“Yeah. I think that would be more comfortable.”

Shin So-mang agreed with Seo Dan-bi’s suggestion.

The formalities had created a sense of distance.

“I used formal speech in the chat too.”

But Ha Yumi didn’t seem pleased.

In real life, she preferred that they used formal speech.

Not for any special reason, but simply because she didn’t want to hear informal speech from those younger than her.

“It’s fine if you two want to speak casually. I don’t mind. But I think it’s not right for you to address me informally given our cultural mindset. I’m much older than all of you.”

“Who cares? The majority already agreed.”

“Age is just a number.”

No matter her objections.

Seo Dan-bi and Shin So-mang switched to informal speech with Ha Yumi.

Since the majority had agreed.

“No. You can’t just speak informally without permission! I continue to use formal speech because I respect you, and I think it’s not right for you to address me informally. Let’s go back to formal speech.”

“You can speak informally then.”

“Right. You’re an oldie.”

“······.”

Are these people crazy?

Fine, do as you wish.

While Ha Yumi thought that with disbelief in her eyes.

“Then can I speak informally too?”

Hwang Mir, who was crunching ice, chimed in.

“You can’t! Who do you think you are?”

“You can’t.”

“Mir isn’t one, so that’s a no···.”

Seo Dan-bi, Shin So-mang, and Ha Yumi simultaneously rejected her in unison.

Adding that she could speak informally only when she became an assistant.

After that, they continued their conversation.

They talked about what happened when they couldn’t watch Kang Geon’s broadcast or shared the latest information with anyone who missed it.

Hwang Mir listened intently to the conversations, her eyes sparkling with interest.

As they shared information, the awkwardness slowly melted away.

Their conversation naturally flowed into more commonplace topics.

Personal stories that had nothing to do with Kang Geon’s broadcast began to circulate, and they started to learn about each other and open their hearts little by little.

And as time passed, the topic of their conversation naturally shifted yet again.

After discussing everyday topics.

This time, they started talking about the monsters that appeared on Earth.

The slime video uploaded to YouTube.

The goblin Shin So-mang encountered in an alley.

The undead spirits of the Hedgehog Summoner that had caused quite a stir in the news.

Finally.

The murder that occurred yesterday.

The perpetrator of the murder was not human.

The CCTV footage released on the news showed a grotesque creature, not human at all.

Naturally, Kang Geon had already been informed about it the night before.

Anyway, the appearance of the perpetrator was causing quite a stir on the internet.

Ordinary people, who had lived their entire lives without knowing about monsters, may have suspected it was fabricated, but the current public opinion was leaning towards accepting the existence of monsters as reality. After all, there had been instances of enormous undead spirits appearing over Seoul’s city center.

Still, many people believed it was a fabrication or some giant hologram···.

However, there were now more people who believed in the existence of monsters.

And it’s no wonder.

The appearance of monsters wasn’t just a one-time event.

Regardless of the country.

Various large platforms have continued to share videos claiming to have spotted monsters and videos capturing monsters.

Of course, among countless videos.

Most of them are fake, but still.

In any case, the first casualty officially attributed to monsters had surfaced.

The assistants living on Earth were discussing whether they should devise any countermeasures, wondering how to respond when monsters appeared.

During this discussion on finding ways besides asking Kang Geon for help, the name Kang Geon slipped from their mouths.

Just once.

The name they had used in the Other World, Gauntlet, popped out.

Why would someone choose such a weird name?

As they were discussing that.

At that moment.

“Kang Geon··· Gauntlet···?”

An exotic-looking employee cleaning cups reacted.

The employee stopped what they were doing and blankly stared at them, repeatedly muttering the name Gauntlet.

Noticing the unusual behavior, the café owner’s hand rested on the worker’s shoulder as they asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel like… something is coming back to me…”

“What? Really?”

The owner couldn’t hide her surprise upon hearing the employee’s words.

This exotic-looking employee had originally been an illegal immigrant who collapsed in the back alley behind the café.

When the employee woke up, they had lost all memory.

Rather than reporting the illegal immigrant to the authorities, the café owner extended a helping hand. On paper, they had pretended to be officially employed under the name of a Korean relative.

It was purely an act of kindness.

Born from deep compassion in their heart.

The owner was someone who had a particularly strong sense of empathy towards others.

Had it been an ordinary illegal immigrant, they would have reported it as if it were a criminal.

But they could not simply abandon a pitiable person who couldn’t remember their origin or name.

Therefore, the owner had harbored that employee for a while.

One day, they vowed to help them recover their memory.

After that, they planned to send them back to their home country.

The café owner clenched their fists tightly.

Watching the employee strive to regain their memories, they silently cheered them on.

“Kang Geon is Gauntlet··· Gauntlet is Kang Geon··· I came to this world for a reason······.”

“Are you alright? Your eyes look weird!”

“Ugh··· My head······.”

Crash!

The cup the employee was holding fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

Thud!

As the employee collapsed to the ground, fragments of memories that had been scattered began to gather one by one in their mind.

The employee’s name was Sage Lunaris.

A dimension magician from Elemenzia who had come to Earth seeking Kang Geon’s help.

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