Hobbyist VTuber

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– Ding.

[ User ekdus7 donated 50,000 won! ]

: Please enjoy some cotton candy worth 50,000 won!

A significant donation amount.

Reacting to such a request, which I’ve done a few times before, is certainly not a problem.

As a VTuber receiving a grand gift of affection from viewers, I could definitely grant such a request.

It was a request I had to fulfill, after all.

However, merely because the donation nickname felt extremely familiar.

“Um, nyam~~~. This cotton candy is huge and delicious─! Thank you~.”

– Click.

“…Ugh….”

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

The urge to ban Dayeon’s ID felt stronger than ever before.

I could give multiple reactions as Dia for the grateful Sohee, who expressed her affection through donations.

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

I knew ekdus7’s donation was meant for Dia, not for Ha-eun.

Still, it seemed like they didn’t know that Ha-eun was Dia yet.

‘There’s no way someone who figured it out would be this quiet….’

But, still.

It’s no simple task to show a cute voice to someone I had been sitting across from just a few hours earlier.

‘I can’t just say don’t donate. What on earth should I do?’

Even after a long time, the heat in my ears hadn’t settled down.

No matter how I tried to calm my mind, the fact that I had acted cute to none other than Dayeon kept swirling in Ha-eun’s head.

I felt acutely that just like viewers shun a VTuber’s red pill, a VTuber must also avoid the viewers’ red pill.

In the end, I couldn’t sleep until quite late that night.

Time flowed and flowed.

When I finally reunited with Dayeon at the bustling snack bar of the rehearsal studio, I unknowingly glared at her.

“What’s with the stare?”

“…Nothing. Just….”

Seeing Dayeon, looking the same as always, I had to return my squint to its original state.

There was no benefit in pretending to know about the donation from ekdus7.

Anything about today’s filming of [The Sunshine] came up only after that.

“Are you shooting with Baek Tae-hoon?”

“Yeah. I already talked to him.”

“Did you talk to him, Baek Tae-hoon?”

“No, he talked to me. I thought using formal language would be more uncomfortable, so I asked him not to.”

Strictly speaking, Baek Tae-hoon was even senior to Dayeon.

However, I called him by name since he was someone I wouldn’t particularly run into.

I wasn’t even the type to be polite in situations where the person involved wasn’t present.

As Ha-eun pondered whether to point out Dayeon’s behavior, she decided to let it go and continued their conversation.

Eventually, most of the dialogue exchanged between Ha-eun and Dayeon revolved around the scenes Ha-eun would shoot as “Kim Jung-hyun.”

“Ha-eun, are you wearing a hanbok again?”

“I’m not wearing a hanbok all the time. I’ll wear Western-style or formal clothes too.”

“You’re supposed to be a rich girl from the late Joseon era. What’s with the formal wear? Are you a collaborator?”

“Cheh, I’m not a collaborator…. If I tell you more, it’s a spoiler.”

Thus, I could only share until the point of what kind of appearance Kim Jung-hyun would display in front of the cameras on set.

“By the way, you went to audition for the child role in [The Sunshine], right?”

Hearing Dayeon’s words mixed with truth and lies, it triggered memories of the child actors.

“At first, I thought I was just observing, but somehow I ended up evaluating the child actors beside Baek-sunbae.”

“Wasn’t it childish? They would definitely not meet your standards.”

“Not particularly.”

None of the child actors applying for the [The Sunshine] auditions performed excellently.

Still, some child actors, including the ones Ha-eun had helped, acted so well that it was hard to distinguish who was better.

However, the acting done by the child actors at the audition and the content they had to perform in a few hours in front of countless cameras kept weighing on my mind.

“Hmmm… Would I be more nervous if I watched them while I’m filming?”

“If you want to watch, then just watch. Why look at the child actors?”

“Just in case.”

“Geez….”

I really wanted to watch the emotional performances of the child actors.

I knew better than anyone that it wasn’t easy to perform without any worries.

About six hours later, upon arriving at the filming set of [The Sunshine], I walked around the filming location as usual to greet everyone.

Starting with the director Kwon Jae-hyup and Baek Tae-hoon, I continued to meet the people I would work with over the next few months.

“Oh, hello!”

“Hello. It’s been a while.”

Finally, I briefly met the child actor who would portray the bittersweet childhood of Park Joo-ho, “Kim Min-seong,” and exchanged light greetings.

The following conversation was nothing more than ordinary small talk.

I tried to ease Kim Min-seong’s nerves, as this filming was his first debut as an actor.

For some reason, the more our conversation continued, the more nervous he seemed, so I had to leave earlier than I expected.

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

“Yes, yes!”

Strictly speaking, I had already met Kim Min-seong a few times while preparing for the child role audition for [The Sunshine], but it seemed he still regarded me as a distant sunbae.

“Am I that intimidating?”

Ha-eun still had little interest in imposing a strictness as a senior actress or a singer on her junior actors.

Just as Ha-eun treated Dayeon as a friend rather than a senior actress, she hoped that juniors like Kim Min-seong could treat her comfortably as well.

Although she couldn’t directly say that telling someone who’s awkward around her to lighten up sounded too much like a troublesome manager.

“It’s not easy.”

Still, it was time for Ha-eun to get her makeup done.

So, she walked with the writer in charge of her to the makeup room.

After a long-awaited reunion with the tickling of the makeup brush.

Ha-eun’s long hair was transformed into the simple dangly hairstyle of Kim Jung-hyun with careful hands of the makeup staff.

“I felt it before when the moonlight pierced through the clouds. Ha-eun, you truly are the type where nothing seems out of place. Any makeup works because your base is solid.”

One of the staff members, tidying up Ha-eun’s eyebrows, couldn’t help but exclaim.

In response, Ha-eun just looked silently at her reflection in the mirror, a rich girl’s face, with an embarrassed expression.

At that moment, after about 30 minutes, all the makeup was completely finished.

Upon changing into Kim Jung-hyun’s light blue jeogori and pink skirt, I looked just like a noble lady.

‘It’s a different vibe from Yeongwol.’

If Yeongwol from [The Moonlight Piercing Through Clouds] depicted sharp charisma with enchanting beauty, then Kim Jung-hyun from [The Sunshine] appeared relatively youthful yet poised, highlighting her grace.

Was it due to the overall light makeup on my skin tone?

It was clear that I had grown up delicately.

Just after I heard Ju Jeong-yoon’s request to turn slightly towards her.

“Ha-eun, I’m going to post this on your official Instagram, so don’t blink!”

“Ah, okay.”

And with that, click.

From my head to my toes, the appearance of Ha-eun transformed into Kim Jung-hyun was captured several times by Ju Jeong-yoon.

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

“You have over a million followers, what are you even asking?”

“Yes, yes? A million?”

I knew of the existence of my Instagram account.

However, I had let Luna Entertainment manage it on its own, so I didn’t know the follower count well.

‘It’s over five times Dia’s… Should I be happy about this?’

Having spent some time seriously skimming through the posts Ju Jeong-yoon had uploaded or the comments attached to them.

Just as I heard that the first filming of [The Sunshine] was about to begin, I stepped out of the dressing room.

“Oh? Ha-eun, you’re early. You still have some time before it’s your turn.”

Kwon Jae-hyup’s puzzled question regarding Ha-eun, who had appeared earlier than scheduled.

To that, Ha-eun openly answered that she thought it would be boring to stay in the waiting room, so she came to look around.

In the end, since they didn’t hear that she shouldn’t be at the filming location, she carefully took a seat in an empty chair in the corner of the set.

I watched the scene I had encountered during the audition for [The Sunshine] unfold in a more vivid form in the vast set.

What came next was the younger Park Joo-ho’s anguished cries, which had evolved into something even more realistic compared to what I’d seen at the audition.

“P-Please save me, Miss! At this rate, I’ll really die!!”

The guilt of Park Joo-ho, born from his mistake that led to his two parents being severely beaten.

The frustration of feeling like his parents’ lives were worth less than the small cut on Kim Jung-hyun’s wrist.

And the desperation of wanting to save his parents at all costs.

Every single one of these emotions was expressed with such fluidity and without awkwardness.

Even from afar, I could clearly sense what the current Park Joo-ho was feeling.

“Miss! Please!!”

The sight of the young Park Joo-ho struggling against the vigorous hands of the servants who were trying to pull him away from young Kim Jung-hyun.

The tears at his already reddened eyes spoke only of his despair.

Yet, the relentless beatings toward Park Joo-ho’s parents didn’t stop.

There was no mercy to be found in the hands of mere servants, even until the very end.

Before long, witnessing the despondent expression of young Park Joo-ho as he stared at his completely limp parents, the scene ended.

With Kwon Jae-hyup’s voice signaling the end of the take, the atmosphere on set began to bustle again.

Following this, the angles and positions of the cameras and lights were meticulously adjusted by the filming crew.

Other staff members hustled around the set, busy with their respective tasks.

Strictly speaking, this scene was nothing new for Ha-eun.

– As she took a step toward somewhere alone,
“Where’s he going?”
Ha-eun was inadvertently following Kim Min-seong.

After a while, he came to a halt.

He glanced around, and then, sitting down in a deserted tiled house set, he began to emit labored breaths.

Ha-eun noticed then that Kim Min-seong’s hands were trembling.

“Ugh, huuh….”

I still didn’t understand why Kim Min-seong was struggling alone.

However, it felt wrong to let him endure the emotional strain by himself.

Instead of watching silently, I walked cautiously toward him.

– Slowly.

With that, I cast my shadow over Kim Min-seong’s pale face.

I gently stooped to match our eye levels, speaking in the calm tone I was used to.

“Close your eyes. Breathe slowly.”

I softly held his small, shaky hands that had been trembling just a moment ago.

“Don’t worry about anything. You don’t have to think about anything.”

I slowly pulled him out from the emotional mire he had unknowingly fallen into.

Having submerged deep into that muddy pit long ago, I knew precisely what state Kim Min-seong was in.

“It’ll be okay. For sure.”

I wanted to ask the child who was struggling alone so much,
And I had plenty to say to those who made him suffer in solitude.

But right now, I needed to focus on what came first.

I carefully wiped away the tears pooling in his youthful eyes instead of asking him why.