Chapter 60

A sight you can’t even buy with money.

This was a sentence summarizing what people who already knew Diah’s true identity felt while watching Diah’s debut broadcast.

“Ugh, I said it’s about guessing my favorite ‘food,’ so why does Hawaiian pizza keep coming up?”

– What?

– Diah, are you saying Hawaiian pizza isn’t even food?

– Isn’t Hawaiian pizza not food at all?

– Diah, are you perhaps from Italy?

– Even a one-year-old spirit skips Hawaiian pizza ㄷㄷ

Smooth broadcast progression.

An unbroken tension.

Most importantly, that bright voice that truly showed what liveliness was.

“…Is this really a person broadcasting for the first time today?”

“She’s an actress, so she might have written something like a script beforehand.”

It made the officials from the fantasy realm feel as if they’d been hit on the back of the head.

Even knowing that ‘newbie Virtual YouTuber Diah’ and ‘actor Lee Ha-eun’ were the same person, it didn’t seem like they were the same at all.

Strictly speaking, it was indeed rare for a renowned actress like Ha-eun to do a Virtual YouTuber broadcast.

However, conducting a show that perfectly matched the term ‘Virtual YouTuber’ was an entirely different story.

Even when she had interviewed for the fantasy realm long ago.

No, even after she had passed as a member of the fantasy realm and contracted with MCN as ‘Diah,’ she had only shown her unique dignified atmosphere.

She never suspected that such a lively side was hidden within.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange to call it a split personality.

Yet, despite everything, there was nothing to say.

“Do you play LoL well? Are you talking about roll cake?”

– Those crazy League guys.

– Who’s teaching our Diah bad things?

– Protect Diah, absolutely protect her.

– That’s just nonsense.

– Roll cakes are delicious, yeah.

It wasn’t the kind of thing that merited any criticism in the first place.

Natural communication with the viewers.

A friendly tone with no noticeable distance.

There was nothing to point out.

I hoped the other two members debuting on Wednesday would do just the same.

However, unlike the fantasy realm officials who were mainly evaluating Diah’s broadcast from a business perspective.

The other members of the fantasy realm who knew Diah’s true identity:

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – Is Ha-eun… right?

[Lee Yena (Yuna)] – Seeing that she doesn’t like Hawaiian pizza, it’s probably Ha-eun.

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – Is it true that the girl who stuttered whenever I asked her something is actually her?

[Jeong Maria (Cream)] – Stuttering? She’s just shy.

[Kim Eun-hye (Ria)] – What will I do about tomorrow’s broadcast?

[Lee Yena (Yuna)] – Ah, right. How are we going to handle tomorrow’s broadcast…

It was pure admiration.

Somehow, it also sent a slight chill down their spines.

Whether it was this or that, until Diah’s debut broadcast began, to the members of the fantasy realm, Ha-eun was surprisingly a ‘young’ actress with an affinity for subculture.

I had known about actor Lee Ha-eun’s fame for a long time.

But after meeting Ha-eun directly, I thought of her as just a fun little sister to tease.

However, now, faced with the unexpectedly large viewer count of 6,000,

I couldn’t help but worry about how to tackle this greedy person who had even made a name for herself in Virtual YouTuber broadcasts.

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – I need to call her on Discord right after the broadcast.

[Lee Yena (Yuna)] – 2222

[Kim Eun-hye (Ria)] – 33333 Let’s make her pay the price for deceiving us.

[Jeong Maria (Cream)] – I bet she won’t answer.

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – Where would the maknae ignore the eldest sister’s call?

[Jeong Maria (Cream)] – In terms of viewers, Ha-eun is the eldest.

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – (Dejected lion emoticon)

[Lee Yena (Yuna)] – (Shivering duck emoticon)

Thus, with half of them feeling betrayal and half wanting to tease Ha-eun, the members waited for Diah’s broadcast to end.

[Park Mi-so (Mile)] – ? Why is she offline?

As a result, none of the members were able to contact Ha-eun.

This was because immediately after finishing the introduction of the members debuting on Wednesday, Ha-eun shut down her computer.

“…Hah.”

The breath I barely let out.

A heart still racing.

The price for burning away everything, including Ha-eun’s reason, was not light.

No matter how much time passed, it was not easy to get up from the broadcast chair due to the lingering aftereffects.

It was only after 20 minutes had passed that I sluggishly got up.

I stumbled out of the soundproof booth and collapsed onto the bed directly across from me.

I was incredibly exhausted.

So much so that I didn’t even notice the call from Jee Hye-min that had been ringing for several minutes.

But, I was incredibly happy.

With a clearer smile than ever, I closed my eyes.

The community, which had started to get louder from the start of Ha-eun’s broadcast, didn’t matter.

Just like always, I did my best, and there was not a grain of regret or lingering attachment.

I had no thoughts.

There was no need to have any thoughts.

I was loved as “Diah.”

Without any distracting thoughts, I entered dreamland, and no other reason was needed.

***

After Diah’s successful debut broadcast.

Ha-eun’s already tight schedule became even more packed.

She would go to school early in the morning and then head to the filming set of “Moonlight Through the Clouds” or to Kim Gyu-tae’s action school.

She occasionally stopped by Daulby’s studio to practice singing in Diah’s voice instead of Pinocchio.

After these tight schedules ended, there were brief broadcasts lasting about two to three hours.

Though she wanted to broadcast all night, she couldn’t extend the broadcast hours, knowing it would definitely harm Ha-eun’s health.

No matter how much she loved broadcasting, she couldn’t let her daily routine crumble.

If her regular life pattern collapsed, it would ultimately affect the broadcasts as well.

Academics.

Actress.

Virtual YouTuber.

To catch these three rabbits, maintaining Ha-eun’s health was vital.

So, today too, I started the day healthily with breakfast like any other day.

“Our daughter, are you dating?”

“Gehk!”

The question I’d never heard before caused Ha-eun to choke.

After calming her startled heart with lukewarm barley tea, she replied,

“I-I’m not doing anything like that…”

She spoke nothing but the truth, with not a hint of a lie.

Yet Sang-yoon’s gaze, still fixed on her, continued.

“Hmm, lately when I see our daughter, I feel like she has become a lot softer.”

“…How so?”

“From head to toe. It’s as if she has completely fallen for some incredibly handsome guy.”

“??”

After this, a playful voice persistently inquired about Ha-eun’s changed appearance.

At least Na-yeon defended Ha-eun, saying she was busy filming a drama lately.

However, for some reason, when Na-yeon defended her, it strangely seemed like Ha-eun was hiding a boyfriend.

In truth, what Ha-eun was hiding was another side of herself, yet looking into Sang-yoon’s eyes felt burdensome.

Eventually, unable to endure much longer, Ha-eun made a hasty getaway.

“…I’m off to school.”

“If you come home holding a boy’s hand later, you won’t be spared~.”

With that, the half-serious, half-joking voice following Ha-eun was something she intentionally pretended not to hear.

However, unfortunately for Ha-eun,

“Ha-eun, do you have a boyfriend?”

As soon as the morning assembly ended, a question from one of her classmates perfectly shattered her indifference.

Of course, she quickly denied it firmly, leaving no room at all.

– Whoooosh…

‘…What exactly has changed?’

As soon as break time in the first period started, she hastily headed to the bathroom to wash her face more roughly than usual.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for quite a while, trying to find any changes.

Yet the only conclusion she reached was ‘I have no idea’ at all.

Strictly speaking, there was only one person among Ha-eun’s acquaintances who could clarify this type of question, but…

“Hey, do you know where Da-yeon went?”

“Um… Sorry, I don’t know.”

Even when Ha-eun went directly to Da-yeon’s class, she couldn’t encounter her.

For some reason, nobody seemed to know Da-yeon’s whereabouts.

Although she hadn’t forgotten Da-yeon’s request to act as if she didn’t know for a while.

No matter how hard she thought, there was no one other than Da-yeon who could relieve Ha-eun’s doubts, so she kept looking for Da-yeon.

In the end, she found Da-yeon not at school, but at the filming set of “Moonlight Through the Clouds.”

More precisely, at the end of the waiting room corridor for filming.

Regardless, she finally spotted Da-yeon.

Hoping to engage in a brief conversation to understand what had changed about her, she noticed Da-yeon was intently staring at a video.

“Thank you for the 5000 won gift─☆ I’m going to have to buy cotton candy for a snack tonight!”

The protagonist of the video Da-yeon was fixated on for some reason.

On top of that, the voice that was seeping from the white wired earphones in Da-yeon’s ears was also…

‘Huh?’

So very familiar to Ha-eun.

“…What is it?”

“Oh, no. It’s just…”

By the time Da-yeon finally realized Ha-eun’s presence and opened her mouth with a sharp voice, she couldn’t say anything.

The expression Ha-eun was facing was not the usual playful one of Da-yeon, but rather the heavy expression of Queen Yoon.

Da-yeon’s phone was displaying a paused clip of Diah’s broadcast, still watching Ha-eun with sharp eyes.

It was confusing.

She had no idea what was going on.

---