Chapter 119

Jee Hye-min and Ha Eun have now met for half a year.

If we include the time when Ha Eun was still an avid listener of Da Ramji, it has been a long time of over ten years watching Jee Hye-min.

Thus, he knew well that Jee Hye-min was a person who clearly distinguished between work and personal matters.

It was a long period of time that one could not help but understand well.

Crucially, Jee Hye-min is the representative of LUX and the head of Fantasia.

One would not expect someone in a so-called “responsible position” to insert personal motives into important projects like Fantasia merchandise.

However, that meant:

“Ugh, I’m sorry… Actually, I’m not sorry at all~!”

The example lines on the monitor in front of Ha Eun were all results produced by strictly distinguishing between work and personal affairs.

They were not just collected as a joke to tease Ha Eun.

It meant that the lines were actually deemed to fit well with Diah’s voice pack.

“Are you really saying these things suit me? These kinds of lines?”

“You’re the first to raise an objection, Ha Eun. The other members have also said that these lines suit you really well, you know?”

Ultimately, he even received the surprising truth that other members of Fantasia thought these types of lines suited Diah quite well.

He realized that Ha Eun was the only one who found them strange.

Nevertheless, he could not immediately agree but instead raised another question because he couldn’t accept that.

He could not bring himself to acknowledge that Diah, the embodiment of innocence, had become a character well-suited for such mischievous lines.

Of course, he would not deny that he had playfully teased other members like Noeul who were worse gamers than Diah.

However, that was for entertainment purposes during broadcasts.

Ha Eun thought there had been no other reason for it.

But for Jee Hye-min, who had monitored Diah’s broadcasts countless times, such thoughts from Ha Eun were:

“I didn’t get the sense of being forced to tease you at all.”

“But still, that’s just too much…!”

“Hey, Ha Eun. Those were slightly toned down. There were even harsher ones.”

It was neither denial of reality nor more than that.

“Sort Diah’s YouTube videos by popularity. Then you’ll see why these lines suit her well.”

He ruthlessly shattered Ha Eun’s stubbornness or misconception with facts based on accurate statistics and indicators.

As a result, Ha Eun had to acknowledge something he didn’t want to accept without being able to make any logical rebuttal.

The discussion about merchandise other than the voice pack began after that.

“For now, I’m thinking of acrylic stands, keychains, character files, and pin buttons.”

A question quickly followed about what kind of designs would be good for the merchandise.

What appeared on Jee Hye-min’s monitor were various illustrations of Diah.

Of course, there were the concept arts submitted when creating Diah’s virtual avatar.

The waiting screen for Diah’s broadcasts, SD emoticons, and various other variations were all displayed on the monitor.

After pondering for quite some time, the first illustration Ha Eun chose was Diah in a sweater.

“I think this kind of character file illustration would look pretty.”

Following that, Ha Eun continued to select illustrations that appealed to him among the many options to be used for Diah’s merchandise production.

Among them, the one he put the most effort into selecting was the illustration to be used for the acrylic stand.

Since it would be made as a full-body LD illustration, he hoped it would have higher quality.

He made a note separately of elements he wanted to be expressed beyond what was depicted in the sample illustration.

“Really, you’re putting in a lot of effort.”

To Jee Hye-min, the enthusiasm for virtual YouTuber activities had not changed at all, whether it was the old Ha Eun or the one in front of him now.

In any case, the more detailed Ha Eun’s requests were, the higher the quality of the finished products would be.

Thus, the goods other than the voice pack were completed as a first draft without any notable interference.

The designs for the other Fantasia members were already finalized.

Having also pre-selected the company to produce the merchandise, all that remained was to send the drafts via work email.

They concluded that the samples, which would be completed in a few days, would be delivered to Ha Eun’s house.

“I need to receive it while I’m home, so please contact me as soon as the delivery date is confirmed.”

“Okay~.”

Then they began talking about Diah’s cover songs.

Strictly speaking, the recording of Diah’s cover song had already been completed a while ago.

The production of the music video was being handled by LUX.

And the product was completed just two days ago.

“Hm, where did I put it?”

-Tap tap.

-Tic tac.

“…Ah, found it.”

“Looks good, doesn’t it?”

With confidence in the quality of the final product, Jee Hye-min finally showed Ha Eun the music video for Diah’s cover song.

Just a few seconds later, Ha Eun’s eyes began to widen.

‘Looks like he likes it.’

There were no loud exclamations of admiration from Ha Eun, who was intently staring at the music video on Jee Hye-min’s monitor.

There were no intense outbursts of excitement like jumping up and down in place either.

However, the mere fact that his sharp gaze was completely captivated by the monitor was enough.

“I’ll send you the thumbnail via chat. Ah, since the thumbnail can be released ahead of time, feel free to show it off during the broadcast if you want.”

“…Yes.”

It was immediately apparent that Ha Eun liked Diah’s music video.

Though his expression remained calm as always, his lips quivered slightly, indicating that Ha Eun was a bit excited.

The unexpected part was that Ha Eun, who had already recorded a cover song of excellent quality, expressed a desire to re-record it for some reason.

“Umm, Director. No, Hye-min unni.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s just… I want to record the cover song just one more time. Is that okay?”

His eyes were filled with mixed longing.

His voice had noticeably become cautious.

It seemed that having watched the music video with his own eyes had led to a change in his feelings.

And so it was that he ultimately permitted the re-recording.

This was not solely because Jee Hye-min knew about Ha Eun’s singing ability.

If it were the other ordinary members, it would be one thing, but Ha Eun, a proper singer, would wrap up a re-recording in no time at all.

“Can I ask how you want to re-record it?”

“Well, the last recording had a bit of an active atmosphere, so this time I want to try singing it in a slightly calmer mood.”

Then came the words that this re-recording would also be in Diah’s voice, so there was no need to worry about that.

To be honest, he did wonder if a calm atmosphere could be achieved with Diah’s voice.

‘Really, who’s worried about whom?’

To Jee Hye-min, if Ha Eun said it was possible, then it was possible.

Even if Ha Eun had a slight tendency to overdo it with enthusiasm, he never clung to the impossible.

Thus, the meeting about Diah’s merchandise and cover song had completely wrapped up.

However:

“We should record the voice pack at the company.”

Given that Ha Eun was already busy, it would be quite difficult for him to separately carve out time for the voice pack recording.

While Diah’s cover song could be recorded in Daulby’s studio without issue, recording the voice pack there would be a bit too much.

“Maybe it’s better to keep the voice pack hidden from the Daulby guys? I’ve heard they’re pretty playful.”

“Ah, yes. It’s absolutely necessary to keep it a secret.”

In the end, Ha Eun had to record several lines for Diah’s voice pack in the recording studio inside the LUX building.

Since Jee Hye-min was there to watch Ha Eun’s recording directly, there was enough feedback.

The only problem was that the type of feedback was related to Diah’s cuteness, innocence, and cheerfulness.

“Happy~~Birthday~~~!”

“Hmm, just a bit cuter.”

“Happy~! Birthday,!

“Good.”

Ha Eun knew very well that it was a necessary task.

There were indeed quite a few ordinary lines besides the mischievous ones he had seen in Jee Hye-min’s office before.

However, since he was reviewing Diah’s youthful and cute voice live for Jee Hye-min outside the recording studio, no matter how he tried, Ha Eun’s ears inevitably turned red.

“Why, why are you laughing…?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just cute.”

“…Can’t we record at home?”

In the end, he even considered escaping from this embarrassing situation.

Unlike the cover song where he could delegate all authority to the singer Ha Eun, the voice pack was firmly rejected as Jee Hye-min was the expert.

“It’s better for me to give feedback when I can. Now, let’s move on to line 23.”

“…Ugh…”

Thus, he ultimately had to engage in voice pack recording while clenching his fists tightly.

After that, there was no option left for Ha Eun, who was blushing in the studio, to run away until the end.

***

“Hey, Lee Ha-eun. What are you thinking so deeply about?”

The time and place were right after lunch at the academy.

More precisely, on the long bench in the corridor.

Ha Eun, who had wanted to chat casually as usual with Da-yeon, found himself unable to speak after a certain point and was submerged in deep contemplation.

“Um, Da-yeon.”

“?”

“Um, that goods you showed me earlier? Is it necessary to buy that?”

No matter what, Da-yeon was a devoted listener of Diah.

That meant it was quite likely she would end up purchasing something like Diah’s merchandise.

Eventually, it suggested that she would even come to buy Diah’s voice pack.

When Da-yeon had shown the preview post for Diah’s merchandise with a perfectly shameless expression, Ha Eun felt a sudden pang of realization.

For some reason, Da-yeon’s hand had been tightly clenched in a fist, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

Should he put Da-yeon’s ID, ekdus7, on the blacklist of the merchandise purchase website?

Or should he find a buyer whose delivery address is Da-yeon’s home and process a refund citing it being sold out?

“Is there a problem? It’s not even that expensive.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that there’s a problem, it’s just…”

Ha Eun pondered deeply about how to dissuade Da-yeon, who seemed resolute in her intention to buy Diah’s merchandise.

Still, the conclusion reached was ‘there’s no solution.’

“Haah…”

“The ground is going to sink. Why has there been more NGs during Sunshine lately?”

“…This moment is an NG…”

“…??”

In the end, it turned into a situation where it would just happen as it would.

Ha Eun, sitting right next to Da-yeon, failed to notice that Da-yeon was suppressing laughter with a very firm resolve.

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