Chapter 47

A large mirror covered one entire wall of the spacious practice room.

The bright gray floor was moderately firm.

And in the center, there was a small tripod.

“Hey, Ha Eun. Do you really have to wear a cap and a mask while filming?”

Ha Eun, whose face was completely covered by a white baseball cap and a black mask.

“I just want the interviewers to focus on my dance. After all, it’s an audition where they don’t need to see my face anyway.”

This was a strategy also considering her full-tracking activities, which were one of the various contents of being a Virtual YouTuber. Highlighting Ha Eun’s dancing skills also indirectly showcased her potential to pull off full-tracking well.

Thus, in Ha Eun’s application video, she wanted only her dance lines to stand out. For a Virtual YouTuber, appearance was neither more nor less than just a minor aspect.

However, even Ju Jung-yun, who had grown close enough to drop formalities while working as Ha Eun’s manager, still couldn’t understand why Ha Eun wanted to participate in such a strange audition like this one.

The gaze was fixed on Ha Eun, who was dancing in tune with the track of a famous idol group’s hit song, her eyes barely visible.

Nevertheless, Ha Eun continued the choreography she’d practiced for quite some time—mainly in an empty lot when no one was around—without any significant errors.

Even Ju Jung-yun, who had no particular expertise in idol choreography, found no flaws in her dance.

Perhaps it was due to the various sports she had been doing since she was quite young.

‘…She dances so well, she really looks like an idol.’

After successfully finishing all the choreographed routines she had prepared for this moment.

“Um… Do you think it was shot well, unnie?”

She wanted to hear Ju Jung-yun’s opinion as the person who witnessed her dance for the first time.

“It looks so good that I would believe you’re an active idol. By the way, when did you practice your dance again?”

“Here and there when I had the chance. Just little bits.”

She received a slightly exaggerated compliment.

As expected, Ha Eun’s shoulders lifted slightly.

Of course, her expression remained the same as usual—indifferent. However, it was almost cuter because of that indifference.

Back when Ha Eun was young, Ju Jung-yun thought of her just as an impressive kid. But after watching her for over ten years, Ha Eun was more like a close younger sister than a remarkable star.

Thus, she no longer treated Ha Eun with excessive formality.

“Well, I should send the video to your mom and dad.”

“What?!”

“It’s only fair since they’re your parents. They’d find it cute too.”

“I mean, even so…”

Sometimes, light-hearted jokes with no sincerity like this made Ha Eun fidgety.

Every time that happened, Ha Eun’s reactions were quite amusing.

“I’m kidding~.”

“…I’m going to fire you.”

“What!!?!”

“I’m just joking.”

However, it was the first time Ha Eun fought back against her, so Ju Jung-yun, momentarily taken aback, struggled to regain her composure and then playfully pinched Ha Eun’s cheeks with a bit of sincerity.

“You, you…! This is abuse!!”

Ju Jung-yun, who somehow had a few tears welling up, realized in that moment that her manager was like a fragile cannon.

– Knock, knock.

Somebody knocked on the door of the practice room.

In other words, it meant they needed to clear the room now.

After gathering everything, including the tripod that had been sitting on the practice room floor.

Not long after, Ha Eun got into the familiar black van parked in the underground parking lot of the agency.

“Now, let’s go meet the gentlemen.”

“Um…? Do I not have to think about it any longer?”

“I don’t think it’s going to change much if I think about it alone.”

As usual, Ha Eun said to Ju Jung-yun, who was gripping the steering wheel as they headed to Daulby’s studio rather than home.

The sooner they wrapped up the discussion with Daulby, the better.

From Daulby’s perspective, they couldn’t wait indefinitely for Ha Eun to decide on something since he needed to release a new album as soon as possible.

So, she decided to finalize everything on the day she realized Daulby’s true feelings.

***

“Should I prepare some snacks? Or just juice?”

“Then they’ll feel more pressured. Let’s just do it like usual, like usual.”

It was right after receiving a message from Ha Eun that they were about to arrive at the studio.

Lee Geon-yeol and Lee Jun hurriedly started preparing to welcome Ha Eun, surprised by how quickly she was trying to wrap things up.

The issue was, they still had no idea how to persuade Ha Eun.

Yet, unlike the two of them who made an effort to greet her normally.

“Can I listen to the demo recording that the representative told you about? I want to hear it too.”

The intensity in Ha Eun’s gaze and demeanor felt very unfamiliar.

As a result, the usual familiarity and comfort that both Lee Geon-yeol and Lee Jun had in Daulby’s studio was nowhere to be found.

Thus, they played the MP3 file that had already undergone some mixing as Ha Eun had requested earlier.

And as Ha Eun began to enjoy the song in silence, just like Jeong-cheol had done a few hours ago.

– Gulps.

Lee Geon-yeol and Lee Jun swallowed dryly as they cautiously watched Ha Eun.

At the same time, they hoped that Ha Eun would like her own voice. More precisely, they hoped she would like her voice merged with Daulby’s.

Regardless, their best option was to recruit Ha Eun as a featured artist.

Of course, there was nothing they could do if Ha Eun ultimately refused…

“This will definitely be a great experience for you, Ha Eun. No, it’ll be an experience you’ll never forget.”

“…What makes you so sure about that?”

“Well, it’s because we’ve been through it ourselves.”

They needed to persuade Ha Eun by any means.

They wanted to confirm the fruits of the singing classes that had lasted over ten years while giving her the biggest opportunity they could as artists in Daulby.

Regardless, many things could have changed because of Ha Eun.

The quality of the new songs that could be achieved by having Ha Eun feature on them and her realization as a musician were undeniably significant.

However, before all of that, they wanted to consider the favor that ‘Lee Ha-eun’ had granted to Daulby.

‘I… told Ha Eun I would treat her to a meal, right?’

‘Well, a guy who’s so wasted that he forgets the common sense of not driving while intoxicated, how could he remember a promise made to Ha Eun?’

Whatever the reasons, it was undeniable that they had survived a major crisis thanks to Ha Eun, who pushed Lee Jun to seek help a few years ago.

From Ha Eun’s perspective, it was simply a matter of supporting Daulby to continue its music activities without expecting anything in return.

However, from Daulby’s point of view, Ha Eun was truly a benefactor.

Thus, they wanted to repay that grateful benefactor in the best way possible.

And for Daulby, the best way they could repay Ha Eun was to make her realize:

“I assure you, a multitude of people will fall in love with the voice of Lee Ha-eun.”

Giving Ha Eun the feeling of achievement and excitement that Daulby had experienced the first time they were recognized by people when they were rookies.

To be precise, Ha Eun was already a celebrity with a name, but as a singer, she hadn’t even debuted yet.

Most importantly, if Ha Eun’s singing skills, which she’d honed for quite some time, were recognized by countless people who didn’t know her name or face, she would feel a sense of pride that’s rare to experience in a lifetime.

“We genuinely want you to succeed with your singing too, Ha Eun. From the bottom of our hearts.”

They once again asked her to participate in songs they had started producing from the songwriting stage with Ha Eun in mind.

After that, a long silence enveloped the studio.

Ha Eun’s expression was more serious than ever.

However, about 10 minutes later, she suddenly stood up and walked into the recording room.

“Um… both of you, put on headphones.”

Without providing any explanation, she started to warm up her voice.

Naturally, this made Lee Geon-yeol and Lee Jun feel confused, but they obediently put on the headphones as Ha Eun said.

Then, just a few seconds later, a cute voice that they had never heard before filled their ears.

“I’ll kick you out if you keep saying bad things─☆”

“How is it?”

“W-what do you mean ‘how is it’?”

“Can you tell it’s my voice?”

Both of them shook their heads almost simultaneously.

Then, they added that if they closed their eyes and listened, they wouldn’t really know who it was.

However, they still couldn’t understand why Ha Eun suddenly decided to show them her different voice.

So they cautiously asked about her thoughts on the featuring again.

Thus, the moment their eyes met with Ha Eun on the other side of the recording room.

“I will do it.”

“…Oh? Really?!”

“However, I have a few conditions.”

She responded that she would accept Daulby’s featuring offer conditionally.

Followed by Ha Eun’s conditions.

“I’ll participate under a pseudonym. So, you should not go telling anyone that I was the one who featured.”

“Uh… I understand for now.”

“And one more thing.”

“Huh?”

– Hoo.

“Please help me sing with this voice. I originally intended to give a twist by singing in my real voice, but I can’t use my real voice because of you guys.”

To be honest, Lee Geon-yeol and Lee Jun didn’t quite understand what Ha Eun was saying.

Among them, the most difficult to comprehend was her request to help her sing with another voice instead of her pleasant original voice.

However, as long as they could showcase Ha Eun’s voice to the world, they didn’t voice their difficulties in accepting her conditions.

***

“You did a great job separating the first and second application emails.”

“Exactly. Those who applied as a joke got filtered out in the first round, making it easier for both the staff and us.”

It was late spring, when the various flowers began to wilt slowly.

Broadcasting under the name Da Ramji, Jee Hye-min was reading the second round of emails for the “Virtual World” at the end of the deadline yesterday, and saw the cherry blossoms beginning to fall in the spring breeze.

However, at that moment, Kang Jung, known as another Da Ramji and with the real name Lee Dong-jin, was reading through other second application emails beside her.

“Hey, unnie. What’s this highlighted email?”

Hearing the question about an application email of a very different type than the others, Jee Hye-min explained.

“Well, I’m not sure if it’s genuine or a fake. Someone I know well applied to ‘Virtual World’ this time, so I saved that email to read last.”

She explained about the email that had caught her attention the most among all the applications.

Curious, Lee Dong-jin asked who the owner of the highlighted email was, but the only answer he received from Hye-min was.

“Uh, Dong-jin. Does it make sense that a kindergarten kid was logged into New World TV when I first started broadcasting?”

With nothing but perplexing words that he couldn’t grasp, Lee Dong-jin simply tilted his head and replied that he didn’t know.

“Well, it was really a site only known to people back then, right? How would a kindergarten kid know about an internet broadcast in the first place?”

“You think so too? It must be fake…”

Such doubts were entirely reasonable from Hye-min’s standpoint.

After all, the applicant with the highlighted email, “Diah,” was still only 18 years old and a minor.

The viewer known as [D.A] had appeared in Jee Hye-min’s broadcast a whopping 11 years ago.

Considering that New World TV was closer to obscurity than fame during that time, it was hard to believe that the 7-year-old Diah could be the same person as [D.A].

Nonetheless, the reason she felt oddly concerned about it.

‘…Honestly, I didn’t expect this person to be so sincere about it.’

This was because the individual who gave an unusual impression with a lengthy email from the very first application had shown a dedicated spirit by including one dance video and two song recording files in this second application.

To be precise, she hadn’t reviewed the dance video or the song recording files yet.

But, in the rare chance that [D.A], who had watched Jee Hye-min’s broadcasts for the longest time, and the sincere applicant Diah for the “Virtual World” were the same person.

“Absolutely, they need to be accepted. No, I’ll make sure they get into the Virtual World even if I have to plead.”

She wanted to bring Diah into the “Virtual World” project, even if it meant slightly compromising the fairness of the audition.

[D.A] held tremendous significance for Jee Hye-min.

At the same time, they were also one of the most mysterious individuals.

There was nowhere to find information that could shed light on [D.A]’s identity.

In contrast to the other broadcasting managers, who usually knew the contact information and sometimes sent holiday gifts home, [D.A] would appear late at night, watch the broadcast for 2-3 hours, and then disappear, leaving them unable to reach out no matter how hard they tried.

Knowing there was a real entity who they didn’t know the identity of made Jee Hye-min regard [D.A] almost like a Virtual YouTuber.

Not just any Virtual YouTuber, but her favorite one.

Therefore, it was virtually impossible not to be concerned about Diah, who shared the same nickname as [D.A].

Despite the fact that all Jee Hye-min knew about Diah was their gender, age, and desired Virtual YouTuber nickname.

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