069. Helpers' First Gathering: A Sunny Afternoon
On a bright afternoon, Seo Dan-bi finished her hurried preparations to head out and opened the front door. As she stepped outside, she pulled her phone from her pocket and opened a chat app. She accessed the "Helpers Group Chat" and started a new message.
With Ha Yu-mi's approval, Seo Dan-bi let out a sigh of relief. She was scared to go alone, but with a friend, she'd feel more confident. Before heading to the meeting spot, she made her way to her friend Hwang Mi-reu's house.
In front of a quiet café, two women's reflections appeared in the glass door. It was Hwang Mi-reu and Seo Dan-bi.
"Is it really okay for me to come along?"
"It's fine. The majority approved."
Seo Dan-bi replied as she pushed open the glass door and entered the café. A small bell tinkled softly, and the faint aroma of coffee welcomed them. Seo Dan-bi's eyes quickly scanned the interior.
Ah. There they are.
In the corner seat sat two women who caught Seo Dan-bi's eye: Shin So-mang and Ha Yu-mi. Shin So-mang looked much like her photos. Ha Yu-mi was subtly different from hers.
I thought she'd edited hers a ton, but it was just a little after all.
Both were pretty. As Seo Dan-bi had that fleeting thought, she snapped back to reality and lightly tugged Hwang Mi-reu's sleeve. She nodded toward the helpers' table, and Hwang Mi-reu whispered,
"Those are them?"
"Yeah."
"Then why aren't we going?"
"You go first."
"What? You should lead, Dan-bi. I don't even know them."
"This is my first time meeting them in person too."
"Still, you know them. Stop hesitating and go."
At Hwang Mi-reu's urging, Seo Dan-bi swallowed hard. She took a deep breath and slowly walked toward Ha Yu-mi and Shin So-mang. Standing before them, she said,
"Hello..."
Unlike in chat, she used polite speech. Ha Yu-mi and Shin So-mang, who had been staring at their phones, looked up.
"...Hello."
Shin So-mang nodded in greeting.
"Oh? Ppururu? Why so late! We've been waiting forever!"
Ha Yu-mi stood with a bright smile to welcome Seo Dan-bi.
"But Ppururu, you look way different in person than your pics."
"......"
Was that an insult? Seo Dan-bi's brow furrowed slightly.
"Why even bother editing? With looks like yours, the original would've been way prettier. If you don't know how to edit properly, just don't."
"Ah."
It was a compliment. The corner of Seo Dan-bi's mouth twitched faintly. Next to her, where every emotion showed on her face, stood her friend Hwang Mi-reu, awkwardly staring off. Ha Yu-mi noticed her and tilted her head.
"Um... is that your friend next to you, Dan-bi?"
"Ah, yeah. Hi. I'm Hwang Mi-reu, Dan-bi's friend."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ha Yu-mi."
Ha Yu-mi beamed and offered a handshake. Behind her, Shin So-mang introduced herself to Hwang Mi-reu as well. The four women ordered drinks, sat around a round table, and began chatting. The topic was, naturally, Kang Geon's broadcast.
With Kang Geon's broadcast playing in the background, the helpers' conversation was in full swing. Seo Dan-bi gripped her cup with both hands, slurped her drink through the straw while glancing around cautiously, then hesitantly spoke up.
"Uh, we... I mean, us... should we just talk casually like in chat? Polite speech feels kinda awkward."
"Yeah. I prefer that too."
Shin So-mang agreed with Seo Dan-bi. The formal talk had created distance.
"I even used polite speech in the chat."
But Ha Yu-mi wasn't thrilled. She wanted polite speech in person. No special reason—just didn't like casual talk from younger people.
"You two being casual with each other is fine. Not my business. But dropping honorifics with me too? That's not right in our culture of propriety. I'm way older than you all."
"So what? Majority already agreed."
"Age is just a number."
Whether she objected or not, Seo Dan-bi and Shin So-mang went casual with Ha Yu-mi. Majority ruled.
"Hey, no permission and you're just doing it anyway? I'm respecting you all with polite speech, but only you go casual on me? That's not fair. Raise it back up?"
"You go casual too then."
"Yeah, boomer."
"......"
Are they crazy? Fine, do what you want. As Ha Yu-mi stared in disbelief,
"Then can I go casual too?"
Hwang Mi-reu chimed in, crunching her ice.
"No, you can't. Don't butt in."
"Not yet for you."
"Mi-reu isn't a helper, so..."
Seo Dan-bi, Shin So-mang, and Ha Yu-mi rejected her in unison, adding she could once she became one. After that, they resumed chatting. They asked about events they'd missed on the broadcast, shared new info with anyone absent, and so on. Hwang Mi-reu listened eagerly, eyes sparkling with interest. As they shared info, the awkwardness melted away. Their talk naturally shifted to everyday topics. Personal stories unrelated to the broadcast flowed, helping them learn about each other and open up. As time passed, the conversation flowed to another topic: monsters appearing on Earth.
Slime videos on Nutube. The goblin Shin So-mang encountered in an alley. The undead spirits of the Hedgehog Summoner God that made headlines. And finally, yesterday's murder.
The killer wasn't human. CCTV footage released by the news showed a grotesque, inhuman creature. They'd already told Kang Geon last night. Anyway, the internet was in chaos over the perp's appearance. Ordinary folks who'd never known monsters might've called it fake, but public opinion was accepting them as real. Giant undead spirits had hovered over Seoul's skyline already. Some still thought holograms or fakes... but believers outnumbered them. Monsters weren't just that one event. Videos claiming sightings flooded platforms worldwide, nonstop. Most were fakes, sure. But with the first official monster casualty, Earth's helpers discussed countermeasures. How to handle encounters? Beyond asking Kang Geon for help, were there other ways? As they brainstormed, Kang Geon's name came up... and once,
His isekai name, Gauntlet, slipped out.
Why such a weird name? they wondered. And at that moment—
"Kang Geon... Gauntlet...?"
A foreign-looking staff member wiping a cup reacted. She froze, staring blankly at them, muttering "Gauntlet" over and over. The owner, sensing something off, placed a hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Something... my memories are coming back..."
"What? For real?"
The owner couldn't hide his shock. The foreign-looking staffer had been found unconscious in the alley behind the café—an illegal immigrant with total amnesia. Instead of reporting her, the owner quietly helped. He faked papers using a Korean relative's name to hire her legally. Pure goodwill, born of deep compassion. He pitied strangers easily. A normal illegal would've been reported as a criminal, but he couldn't abandon someone so pitiful, memoryless. He'd sheltered her, vowing to help her remember. Then send her home. The owner clenched his fists, silently cheering her on inwardly.
"Kang Geon is Gauntlet... Gauntlet is Kang Geon... The reason I came to this world..."
"Y-you okay? Your eyes look weird!"
"Ugh... my head..."
Crash! The cup fell and shattered.
Thud!
The fainted staffer hit the floor. In her mind, shattered memory fragments began reassembling. Her name: Sage Lunaris. The dimensional mage from Elemen西亚, come to Earth seeking Kang Geon's aid.