Chapter 106

– Ding.

[ ekdus7 has donated 50,000 won! ]

: Please enjoy some cotton candy worth 50,000 won deliciously.

A substantial sponsorship amount.

This was a reaction that had no significant issue, something I had done several times before.

As a Virtual YouTuber receiving such a grand gift of love from viewers, this was a request I could certainly grant.

It was a request that had to be granted.

However, the fact that the sponsorship nickname felt very familiar was one reason.

“Um, yum~~~. This super large cotton candy is delicious─! Thank you~.”

– Click.

“…Ugh….”

As soon as I finished the requested reaction, I quickly turned off the microphone and had to cover my flushed face with both hands.

The urge to ban Da-yeon’s ID felt stronger than ever.

While I could repeatedly express my gratitude for Diah through sponsorship, the reaction as Diah felt inherently different.

The problem was that I couldn’t equate the ID ekdus7 with other supporters.

I knew that ekdus7’s sponsorship was for Diah, not Ha-eun.

Still, I felt like they might still not know that Ha-eun was Diah.

‘If someone was aware, there’s no way they would be so quiet…’

Yet still.

It was no small feat to use a cute voice with someone I had been sitting at the same table with just a few hours ago.

‘There’s no way I can just say don’t sponsor. What on earth should I do?’

For quite a while after that, the heat in my ears did not subside.

Even when I tried to collect my thoughts, the fact that I had acted cute to none other than Da-yeon kept swirling around in Ha-eun’s mind.

I felt desperately that the Virtual YouTuber couldn’t help but shy away from the viewers’ red pill, just as viewers shy away from the Virtual YouTuber’s red pill.

In the end, I had trouble sleeping until quite late that day.

And so, time passed and flowed.

When I reunited with Da-yeon at the bustling concession stand at the upcoming shoot location, I found myself glaring at her slightly without realizing it.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…It’s nothing….”

With Da-yeon behaving just as usual, I ended up easing my narrowed eyes back to normal.

It felt pointless to make a show of knowing about ekdus7’s sponsorship.

The talk of the filming for [The Sunshine] starting today came up afterward.

“Are you filming with Baek Tae-hoon?”

“Yeah. I’ve already mentioned it.”

“You told Baek Tae-hoon?”

“Ah, no. Senior Baek asked me. I thought it would be uncomfortable to use formal speech, so I requested it.”

Strictly speaking, Baek Tae-hoon was more senior than Da-yeon.

However, I just called him by name because he was someone who wouldn’t run into Da-yeon.

From the beginning, I wasn’t the type to maintain formalities in a situation where the person involved wasn’t present.

While I was contemplating whether to point this out about Da-yeon, I decided to let it go and continued the conversation we were having.

Eventually, most of the conversation that passed between Ha-eun and Da-yeon was about the scenes I would shoot as “Kim Jeong-hyun.”

“Are you going to wear a hanbok again, Lee Ha-eun?”

“It’s not just hanbok all the time. I wear western-style or formal clothes too.”

“You’re playing a rich girl from the end of the Joseon Dynasty, right? What kind of rich girl wears a suit? Are you a pro-Japanese politician?”

“Eh, I’m not a pro-Japanese politician… If I told you more, it would be spoilers.”

And so, I spoke only until I could convey what kind of appearance Kim Jeong-hyun would have on the set of shots.

“By the way, Lee Ha-eun, you went for the audition for the child actors for [The Sunshine], right?”

Upon hearing Da-yeon’s words with half-truths and half-lies, I recalled my memories of the child actors.

“At first, I thought I would just observe. But somehow, I ended up evaluating child actors next to Senior Baek.”

“Wasn’t it cheesy? By your standards, they must have all been subpar?”

“Not particularly.”

Among the child actors who auditioned for [The Sunshine], not a single one gave a stellar performance, but some of those I had helped were at a level that made it hard to distinguish between good and bad performances.

However, what weighed on my mind was the performance of the “young Park Ju-ho” who was to be ultimately cast hours later before numerous cameras.

“Hmm… If you watch me during the shoot, will I be more nervous?”

“If you want to watch, you can. Why care about the child actors?”

“Just in case.”

“Goodness….”

I wanted to be able to observe the emotional performance of the child actors if possible.

I knew better than anyone that it wasn’t an easy performance to do nonchalantly.

About five or six hours later, after finally arriving at the set of [The Sunshine], I greeted people as usual around the set.

Starting with [The Sunshine]’s director Kwon Jae-hyuk and Baek Tae-hoon, I continued to greet those I would be working with for the next few months.

“Oh, hello!”

“Hi. It’s been a while.”

In the end, I briefly met with the child actor ‘Kim Min-seong’ who would portray the sad childhood of Park Ju-ho and exchanged light greetings.

What followed were just plain conversations, nothing more, nothing less.

I tried to ease the tension for Kim Min-seong, who was making his debut as an actor.

For some reason, it seemed that the more he kept talking to me, the tenser he got, so I ended up having to leave earlier than expected.

“Well then, I’ll be going now. Good luck, Min-seong.”

“Yes, yes!”

Strictly speaking, I had met with Kim Min-seong several times during the audition preparation for [The Sunshine].

However, whether in the past or now, it seemed he still viewed me as a very senior figure.

‘Am I that intimidating?’

Ha-eun had no great interest in maintaining the hierarchy among juniors as a senior actor or singer.

Just as I treated Da-yeon as a friend rather than a senior actress, I hoped juniors like Kim Min-seong would also feel comfortable around me.

It wasn’t that I could outright say he should act comfortably with me because forcing my way into friendship with someone who was intimidated by me felt like a bossy superior.

‘Nothing is easy.’

Anyway, it was time for Ha-eun to get her makeup done, so I moved to the dressing room with my assigned writer, who I happened to meet.

Soon, after quite a while, I felt the itch of the makeup brush.

Ha-eun’s long hair began to transform into Kim Jeong-hyun’s elegant long hairstyle under the careful hands of the makeup staff.

“I felt it when the moonlight broke through the clouds. But, Ha-eun, you really have the kind of looks that suit anything. You can pull off any makeup because the base is all good.”

One of the staff members, tidying Ha-eun’s eyebrows, spoke in admiration.

Ha-eun simply looked at the face of a rich girl reflected in the mirror with a shy expression.

Around 30 minutes later, when all the makeup was finally done, after changing into Kim Jeong-hyun’s sky-blue jeogori and light pink skirt, I looked exactly like a noble girl.

‘This is a different feeling from Yeom Wol.’

If Yeom Wol from the latter part of [The Moonlight Breaking Through the Clouds] had an aura of sharp charisma coupled with alluring beauty, Kim Jeong-hyun from [The Sunshine] appeared relatively youthful yet expressed a definite simplicity.

Perhaps because the overall skin tone was made to look bright, it was evident that she had been raised gently.

Shortly after, I heard Ju Jung-yun’s request asking me to turn towards him for just a moment.

“Ha-eun, I’m going to post this on your official Instagram, so you can’t blink, okay?”

“Ah, okay.”

With that, click.

Ha-eun, who had completely transformed into Kim Jeong-hyun from head to toe, was photographed by Ju Jung-yun about five or six times.

“By the way, do people actually see the photos when you post them on Instagram?”

“Your follower count is over a million, so what are you talking about?”

“Y-yes? A million?”

I was aware of the existence of the Instagram account.

However, I hadn’t paid much attention to it since I had left it in the hands of Luna Entertainment to manage, so I didn’t know the follower count well.

‘That’s more than five times Diah’s… Should I be happy about this?’

As I carefully scanned the posts or comments that Ju Jung-yun had made on my behalf with a serious expression, the announcement came that the first filming of [The Sunshine] was about to begin, which prompted me to step out of the dressing room.

“Oh? Why are you here so early? It’s not your turn yet, Ha-eun?”

Kwon Jae-hyuk looked at me with a puzzled expression upon seeing me appear earlier than the scheduled time.

I honestly answered that I thought I would be bored just waiting in the waiting room, so I came to look around.

In the end, since no one told me that I couldn’t be in the filming area, I cautiously sat in an empty chair in the corner of the set.

I watched the scenes, which I had encountered during the audition for [The Sunshine], now unfold in a more vibrant format across the vast set.

What soon met my eyes was the young Park Ju-ho’s desperate cries, which had become even more realistic than what I had seen during the audition.

“P-please save me, my lady. If this continues, I really will die!!”

The guilt over causing Park Ju-ho’s two parents to suffer harsh beatings due to his mistake.

The unfairness of his parents’ lives being worth less than a small scratch on Kim Jeong-hyun’s hand.

The desperate wish to somehow save his parents.

Every single emotion was devoid of awkwardness.

Even from a distance, I could comprehend what kind of emotions the current Park Ju-ho was feeling.

“My lady! Please!!”

The struggle of the young Park Ju-ho, desperately trying to hold off the strong hands of the servants trying to drag him away from the young Kim Jeong-hyun.

All that could be felt from his already reddened eyes was only helplessness.

Yet still, the intense beatings toward Park Ju-ho’s parents did not cease.

Even to mere slaves, there was no compassion granted until the very end.

Not long after, seeing the completely limp slaves and the helpless face of the young Park Ju-ho, the scene cut.

With Kwon Jae-hyuk’s voice signaling the end of the take, the atmosphere on set began to grow lively once again.

Following that, the camera angles and positions began to be meticulously adjusted by the filming staff.

Staff members other than the filming crew busied themselves as they dashed around the set attending to their respective tasks.

In truth, such sights were nothing new for Ha-eun.

– Step.

‘…Where is he going?’

Kim Min-seong, who began to head somewhere alone, caught my eye.

Before I realized it, I found myself following him.

Before long, he stopped.

After looking around for a moment, Kim Min-seong seated himself on the empty traditional tiled house set, he began to breathe heavily and groaned.

I quickly noticed that Kim Min-seong’s hands were trembling.

“Ugh, h-huh…”

I still did not understand why Kim Min-seong was struggling on his own.

However, I felt that it wouldn’t be right to let him endure the emotional burden alone.

Instead of silently watching, I cautiously walked toward him.

– Slowly.

Thus, casting my shadow over Kim Min-seong’s pale face, I slowly bent down to match his eye level.

“Close your eyes. Breathe slowly.”

In a calm voice, as usual.

I gently held his small, trembling hand, which had been shaking just a moment ago.

“Don’t worry about anything. There’s no need to pay attention…at all.”

I slowly helped him out of the emotional swamp he had unknowingly fallen into.

Having been someone who had long ago let himself sink to the bottom of a deep quagmire, I could easily tell what state Kim Min-seong was currently in.

“You’ll be alright. For sure.”

I had many questions I wanted to ask the child who had been struggling alone.

And there were many people I wanted to confront who had caused this child to struggle alone.

“But it’s okay to not be okay.”

What mattered more right now was to prioritize what needed to be done.

Instead of asking about the reason for the tears glistening in the corners of his youthful eyes, I merely wiped them away carefully.

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