Chapter 561: Real Red Pill
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 561: Real Red Pill
Nasu nigate desu.
"I hate eggplant."
It didn't just end with a simple dislike for eggplant.
In fact, most people hate eggplant.
They say it tastes good when fried, but I just don't like it.
Should I say the texture is just... meh?
To begin with, saying eggplant tastes good fried means the frying is what's tasty, not the eggplant itself.
Let’s not get that twisted.
Anyway, the conversation continued.
"I'm not a fan of eggplant. The texture is off."
"I-I see."
I nodded awkwardly at Hanae's words. It seemed Senior Ju-hee and Oh Yun-ji were also quite taken aback.
Since she was a broadcaster—and specifically a VTuber—I knew they usually created a 'role' for themselves and stuck to it.
I figured this was just part of that.
But is it really necessary to go this far?
I wondered if there was a need to broadcast while claiming to have the exact opposite taste in something as trivial as eggplant.
In fact, if even these minor preferences were different, wouldn't it lead to errors or get complicated later on?
Hanae continued her meal as if nothing were wrong.
Honestly, I wanted to have a quick private chat amongst ourselves, but since she understood Korean quite well, we couldn't even whisper.
After eating in silence for a while, Senior Ju-hee glanced at me.
"Woo-jin, want to go out for a smoke?"
I don't smoke.
However, the reason Senior Ju-hee said this was because she wanted to talk outside.
My eyes brightened at her words.
As expected of Senior Ju-hee.
It was this quick wit of hers that had earned my absolute trust since our college days.
"Ah, right aw—"
Just as I was about to stand up for a cigarette I didn't even smoke.
"Oh, me too."
"……?!"
Hanae pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.
"We can just smoke here."
Hanae shrugged and prepared to light up. At that, Oh Yun-ji smiled and made a polite request.
"I'm sorry, but I'm a non-smoker. Could you please be a bit more considerate?"
"Ah, okay."
Hanae stepped outside, looking annoyed. As she stood up, she looked at us as if asking if we were coming, so I answered Senior Ju-hee awkwardly.
"I... I think I'll pass."
"……Alright."
And so, Senior Ju-hee ended up going out to smoke with Hanae.
It wasn't intentional, but with Hanae gone, I could finally talk to Oh Yun-ji.
"Hey, is this right? Something's weird."
Before I could even speak, Oh Yun-ji was already sighing deeply with her hand on her forehead.
It meant she also realized things were taking a strange turn.
"Sigh. I know VTubers tend to hide their true selves more than regular broadcasters. But like you said, this seems a bit extreme."
"……."
Oh Yun-ji added as she stared at the door Hanae had exited through.
"On her stream, she even said she was a non-smoker and couldn't even stand being near people who smoke."
"……."
I held my breath for a moment, dumbfounded, and asked in all seriousness.
"Shouldn't we take her to a hospital?"
At this point, it was a split personality.
She needed a medical diagnosis.
"I've heard there are a lot of creepy incidents and mysteries in Japan. Is she one of those? I'm starting to get scared."
"Don't say such weird things. More importantly, we need to put the contract on hold... or clarify things. Honestly, if we sign like this, I can already see a future where a controversy breaks out and we face a massive backlash."
It takes an enormous amount of effort and time for celebrities to rise, but they can fall in an instant.
It's even worse for online broadcasters, so she clearly didn't want to invest resources into someone who might lose everything later.
But how should I put it?
I'd been having a strange feeling for a while now.
Why do I feel like I'm missing something?
It's a bit much to say it myself, but I have good intuition.
Not just good, but exceptionally good.
Whenever I felt like this, I was right nine times out of ten, so I couldn't just let it slide this time either.
Did she sense something from my expression?
Oh Yun-ji glanced at me and asked with a tilt of her head.
"What is it? Is there a problem?"
"No, I'm not sure. I feel like I'm missing something."
Just then, Senior Ju-hee and Hanae walked back in.
The two were chatting quite amiably, but seeing Senior Ju-hee steal glances at us, it seemed she had intentionally tried to buy us some time.
So that Yun-ji and I could talk.
Hanae and Senior Ju-hee took their seats.
Oh Yun-ji pondered for a moment before finally making up her mind to ask.
"Hanae-san, this might be a bit uncomfortable, but I have to ask. Your image seems very different from your broadcasts."
"……."
"Of course, I'm not talking about your appearance. It's just that there's a severe disconnect from your persona in many ways."
"……."
"Food preferences, smoking, and so on. There are too many differences between the character 'Hanae' and yourself. Of course, I'm not saying that's a bad thing."
"……."
"But we are about to sign a contract, and I want to know. What is your reasoning for showing such a blatantly different side of yourself?"
Hanae hesitated for a moment, took a sip of water, and then confessed honestly, as if releasing something she had been hiding.
"I wanted to make myself and 'Hanae' distinctly different people. I mean... the current, pathetic me is a different person from the 'Hanae' that everyone loves."
In a way, it was a quite desperate and pitiful confession.
She admitted she was Hanae, but because she felt she didn't live up to people's expectations, she denied her own identity as Hanae.
"That's why I have to be a different person from Hanae. I intentionally chose settings and preferences that were the opposite of mine."
Honestly, it was a story that tugged at the heartstrings.
On the flip side, it also showed how professional she was.
"……."
A soft smile formed on Yun-ji's lips.
It seemed the anxiety she had felt until a moment ago had been somewhat resolved.
Senior Ju-hee, perhaps feeling bad for the misunderstanding, added a comment.
"Is that also why your voice sounds a bit different?"
"……Yes. I use a bit of voice modulation to create a distinction between my voice and Hanae's."
It felt a bit too different for just that, though.
Anyway, now that the conversation had progressed this far, the contract was moving forward in a positive direction.
Now that her suspicions were gone, Oh Yun-ji smiled even more kindly.
In fact, this side of Hanae seemed much more attractive to Oh Yun-ji.
Since Yun-ji was so serious about her work, she naturally felt a sense of kinship with someone like Hanae.
"Then we'll proceed with the operations in Japan. As for the separate broadcast incentives—"
Senior Ju-hee, who was watching from the side, leaned in and whispered to me.
"That's a relief. It worked out well."
She seemed happy that the contract was being successfully concluded.
As we headed toward this happy ending, I finally pinpointed the source of that strange sense of dissonance I'd been feeling.
"……Excuse me, Hanae-san."
"Yes?"
I manipulated my phone and slowly held out the screen. A video from Hanae's Neutube channel was playing.
— I, Korean, speak a little. Shibal (Fuck).
— This, right? Shibal.
— Huh? Is that a swear word?
— Sorry, sorry. I'll do, something else.
— I, like this. What is this, in Korean?
It was the same ordinary content I'd seen earlier.
But both Oh Yun-ji and Senior Ju-hee were quick-witted people.
"Huh?"
"……."
Both of them noticed the oddity in the video and stared intently at Hanae.
Perhaps because it was her own business, Hanae had already realized it, and her expression was grotesquely distorted.
This wasn't just a simple "Red Pill" situation.
It wasn't about a true roleplay where she disconnected herself from the character Hanae.
Hating seasoned eggplant.
Smoking.
Those weren't for some noble purpose; she and her partner just hadn't coordinated their stories properly.
"This video is from two weeks ago... but your Korean has improved an incredible amount since then, hasn't it?"
At my words, the woman in front of us hung her head low, her eyes darting around.
Seeing her break into a cold sweat and her lips twitching several times, it was clear she was searching for something to say.
"You—"
I declared in an annoyed voice.
"You're not Hanae, are you?"
* * *
A Hanae imposter.
No, to be precise, she couldn't exactly be called an imposter.
Because she had been asked by the real Hanae to do this.
"S-she just asked me to sign the contract for her. She said she couldn't come out in person."
"……."
"I-I don't even know who Hanae is. I've never watched the broadcasts."
"……."
"She made me practice the answers to expected questions... The p-pay was just so high for the effort, so I..."
"So you're signing a contract by proxy? Do you realize this is blatant fraud?"
Oh Yun-ji pressed her, tapping the table violently with her finger.
She seemed quite furious at the fact that she had been deceived.
Exactly ten minutes.
Yes, exactly ten minutes later.
"……."
The restaurant door opened, and the person who stood before us...
"S-sorry. P-please forgive me."
Speaking in the clumsy Korean I had heard in the video...
"……A middle-aged man?"
A man in his 40s was standing there.