Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Translator: Penny
Chapter 48
The mirror covered an entire wall of the spacious practice room.
A light gray floor that was moderately hard.
And, right in the center, a small tripod.
“Um, Ha-eun. Do you really have to wear a hat and mask to film?”
Lee Ha-eun had her face completely covered with a pure white baseball cap and a black mask.
“I want the interviewers to focus only on my dancing. Besides, it’s an audition where they don’t need to see my face anyway.”
This was a strategy that also considered full-tracking activities, one of the various Virtual Youtuber broadcasting contents.
Highlighting Ha-eun’s dancing skills was also highlighting the possibility that she could handle full-tracking well.
Therefore, Ha-eun wanted only her dance lines to stand out in her application video.
For a Virtual Youtuber, appearance was nothing more or less than Real identity.
However, even Ju Jeong-yun, who had become close enough to Ha-eun to speak informally after working as her manager, still couldn’t understand why Ha-eun was trying out for an audition in such an unfamiliar form like Fantasy Home.
｢♩♩♩♪♬ ♩───｣
With only her eyes barely visible, Ju Jeong-yun watched Ha-eun dance to the music of a famous idol group’s representative song with a puzzled look.
Nevertheless, Ha-eun continued the choreography, which she had practiced for quite a long time ─ mostly in empty lots when no one was around ─ without any major mistakes.
Even to Ju Jeong-yun, who had no particular knowledge of idol choreography, it was a flawless dance.
Was this also thanks to the minor exercises that Ha-eun had been doing since she was quite young?
‘…She looks like a real idol because she has a great body and does that.’
Afterward, Ha-eun, who had stably finished all the choreography she had prepared for this moment, asked,
“Hmm…. Do you think it was filmed well, unnie?”
Wanting to hear Ju Jeong-yun’s review, as she was the first person to witness Ha-eun’s dance.
“It was filmed so well that I would believe you if you said you were a current idol. By the way, when did you practice dancing again?”
“I did it in my spare time. In my spare time.”
Ju Jeong-yun gave her a compliment with a bit of exaggeration.
As expected, Ha-eun’s shoulders lifted slightly.
Of course, her expression was as indifferent as ever.
However, perhaps it was because her expression was indifferent that she looked even cuter.
When Ha-eun was still young, Ju Jeong-yun only thought, ‘A young child is amazing,’ but.
To Ju Jeong-yun, who had been watching Ha-eun for over 10 years, Ha-eun was more like a close younger sister than a great star.
Therefore, instead of treating Ha-eun with excessive politeness, she would often make Ha-eun fidget with light jokes that lacked sincerity, like now.
“Well, I should send the video to your mom and dad.”
“?!”
“What’s wrong with parents? They’ll both think you’re cute, right?”
“No, well…. Still….”
The reactions Ha-eun showed each time were quite a sight to see.
“Just kidding~.”
“…I’m going to fire you, unnie.”
“?!!!”
“I’m kidding.”
However, today was the first time Ha-eun had retaliated.
After barely pulling up her heart, which had momentarily dropped, she grabbed Ha-eun’s cheeks with a touch of sincerity and pulled them hard.
“You, you…! This is abuse of power…!!”
Ju Jeong-yun’s eyes were filled with a small amount of tears.
At that moment, Ha-eun realized that her manager was like a glass cannon.
-Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the practice room door.
In other words, it was time to vacate the practice room.
After packing up everything, including the tripod that was left alone on the practice room floor, Ha-eun, who had boarded the familiar black van parked in the agency’s underground parking lot not long after, said,
“Then let’s go meet the Double Lee.”
“Huh…? Are you sure you don’t want to think about it more?”
“I don’t think anything will change even if I think about it alone.”
As always, she told Ju Jeong-yun, who was behind the wheel, to head to Deobeulli’s studio instead of home.
No matter how she thought about it, the sooner she finished the conversation with Deobeulli, the better.
Deobeulli, who needed to release a new album as soon as possible, couldn’t wait for Ha-eun’s decision forever.
So, she decided to wrap everything up on the same day she learned about Deobeulli’s inner thoughts.
\\
“…Should I prepare some tea? Or just juice?”
“They’ll feel more burdened if you do that. Let’s just do it as usual, as usual.”
It was right after they received Ha-eun’s call that she would be arriving at the studio soon.
Lee Gun-yeol and Lee Jun, who were flustered by Ha-eun’s attempt to wrap up the conversation faster than expected, hurriedly began preparing to welcome Ha-eun.
The problem was that they still didn’t know what to say to persuade Ha-eun.
However, unlike the two who were trying to greet Ha-eun with their usual attitude, Ha-eun’s eyes, expression, and the atmosphere she gave off were somehow very unfamiliar.
“The pre-recorded file that you played for the CEO. I’d like you to play it for me too.”
As a result, the usual familiarity and intimacy could not be found anywhere in Deobeulli’s studio.
So, as Ha-eun had requested, they played the MP3 file, which had already undergone some mixing, for Ha-eun.
As Ha-eun began to listen to the song without a word, just as Jeong Do-cheol had done a few hours earlier, Lee Gun-yeol and Lee Jun swallowed nervously and watched Ha-eun’s reaction.
At the same time, they hoped that Ha-eun would like her own voice.
More precisely, they hoped she would like her voice mixed with Deobeulli’s voice.
One way or another, the best option was to recruit Ha-eun as a featured singer.
Of course, if Ha-eun ended up not wanting to do it, there was nothing they could do….
“It will definitely be a good experience for you, Ha-eun. No, it will be an experience you will never forget.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Well, because we’ve already experienced it.”
Still, they tried to persuade Ha-eun somehow.
They wanted to confirm the results of the singing lessons that had continued for over 10 years and, at the same time, do the greatest thing they could do for Ha-eun as the singer Deobeulli.
One way or another, so many things had been able to stay the same thanks to Ha-eun.
The completeness of the new songs and the realization of their ideals as musicians, which were gained by Ha-eun’s participation as a featured artist, were undeniably important.
However, what they wanted to consider more urgently than that was the favor that Lee Ha-eun had done for Deobeulli.
‘Did I…say I’d buy Ha-eun a meal?’
‘Well, how could a guy who forgets the common sense of not driving while drunk remember the promise he made with Ha-eun?’
Whatever the reason, it was undeniable that they were able to overcome a major crisis thanks to Ha-eun, who had forcibly found Lee Jun a few years ago.
From Ha-eun’s point of view, it wasn’t something she did expecting anything in return, but simply to allow Deobeulli to continue making music.
From Deobeulli’s point of view, Ha-eun was nothing short of a benefactor.
Therefore, they wanted to repay such a grateful benefactor as much as possible.
And, in Deobeulli’s opinion, the greatest reward they could give Ha-eun was this:
“I dare to say with certainty that so many people will fall in love with the voice of Lee Ha-eun.”
They wanted to give Ha-eun the sense of accomplishment and excitement that Deobeulli had felt when he was first recognized by people as a rookie.
Strictly speaking, Ha-eun was already a celebrity with a name, but as a singer, she was still a rookie who hadn’t even debuted.
Above all, if Ha-eun’s singing skills, which she had cultivated for quite a long time, were recognized by so many people who didn’t know her name or face, she would feel a deep sense of pride that she might only feel once in her lifetime.
“We want you to succeed as a singer too, Ha-eun. Sincerely.”
They asked her once again to participate in the songs that had been produced with Ha-eun in mind from the songwriting stage.
After that, silence and stillness lingered in the studio for quite a long time.
Ha-eun’s expression was also more serious than ever.
However, about 10 minutes later, she suddenly got up from her seat, went into the recording booth, and said,
“…Both of you, put on your headphones.”
She didn’t give any explanation and just started clearing her throat.
As a result, Lee Gun-yeol and Lee Jun were both puzzled, as was to be expected.
But they put on their headphones as Ha-eun had told them to.
And, less than a few seconds later, they heard a cute voice they had never heard before.
｢I’ll kick you out if you keep saying bad things─☆｣
“…How is it?”
“How…how is it?”
“Can you tell it’s my voice?”
Almost at the same time, they shook their heads.
Soon, they added that if they closed their eyes and listened, they really wouldn’t know who it was.
However, they still couldn’t understand why Ha-eun was suddenly showing them a different voice.
So, they carefully brought up the featuring story again and asked what Ha-eun was thinking.
And then, at the moment when they made eye contact with Ha-eun beyond the recording booth, they heard her say,
“I’ll do it.”
“…Huh? Really?!”
“But, I have a few conditions.”
They heard the answer that she would conditionally accept Deobeulli’s featuring offer.
Soon, Ha-eun’s conditions were added.
“I’m going to participate under a pseudonym. So, don’t go around telling people that I’m the featured artist.”
“Hmm…. Okay, I understand for now.”
“And, one more thing.”
“?”
-Sigh.
｢Please help me sing with this kind of voice too. I was originally going to sing with my real voice to give it a twist, but I can’t use my real voice because of you Double Lee.｣
Strictly speaking, they didn’t really understand what Ha-eun was saying now.
Among them, the hardest thing to understand was why she was asking them to help her sing with another voice when she had a good original voice.
However, as long as they could show Ha-eun’s voice to the world, it didn’t matter.
Neither Lee Gun-yeol nor Lee Jun said that it was difficult to accept Ha-eun’s conditions.
\\
“It was really good to separate the first and second application emails.”
“I know, right? People who applied as a joke are all filtered out in the first round, so it’s easier for the staff and us in many ways.”
It was late spring, when various flowers were slowly beginning to fall.
The eyes of the broadcaster Daramji, whose real name was Ji Hye-min, who was personally reading the second application emails for Fantasy Home that had closed just yesterday, were also filled with cherry blossoms that had just begun to flutter in the spring breeze.
However, from the mouth of the broadcaster Gangjeong, whose real name was Lee Dong-jin, who was reading other second application emails right next to Ji Hye-min, came the question,
“Hey, noona. What is this email with the emphasis mark?”
Because she heard a question about an application email that was in a different form from the other application emails, she told Lee Dong-jin about the email that she was most concerned about.
“Well, I still don’t know if it’s real or if it’s an impersonation…. Someone I know well applied to Fantasy Home this time. I set aside that person’s email to read last.”
Lee Dong-jin, who was curious, asked Ji Hye-min who the owner of the emphasized email was.
However, the answer that came back from Ji Hye-min was,
“Um, Dong-jin. Would it make sense that a kindergartner was connected to New World TV when I first started broadcasting?”
It was just strange words that she couldn’t understand the true meaning of at all.
Lee Dong-jin just tilted his head and gave an answer that he didn’t know.
“Um, wasn’t that a site that only people who really knew it knew about at that time? No, how would a kindergartner even know about internet broadcasting in the first place?”
“You think so too, right? So, it’s an impersonation….”
From Ji Hye-min’s point of view, this doubt was, in a way, natural.
That’s because the applicant named Dia, who was the owner of the emphasized email, was currently only 18 years old and a minor.
The viewer Dia appeared on Ji Hye-min’s broadcast 11 years ago.
Considering that New World TV was closer to the shadows than the light at that time, no matter how she thought about it, it didn’t seem like Dia, who was only 7 years old at the time, was the same person as Dia.
Nevertheless, the reason why she was worried for no reason was because the person who had given an unusual impression with a long email from the first application showed the sincerity of enclosing one dance video and two song recording files in this second application.
‘…To be honest, I didn’t know she would be this sincere.’
Strictly speaking, she hadn’t even viewed the dance video or the song recording files yet.
But, just in case.
If Dia, who had watched Ji Hye-min’s broadcast for the longest time, and Dia, who was showing more sincerity than anyone else in the Fantasy Home project, were the same person, she wanted to make her join the Fantasy Home project even if it somewhat damaged the fairness of the audition.
“I have to make her pass no matter what. No, I’ll beg her to come to Fantasy Home.”
That’s how much Dia had so much meaning to Ji Hye-min.
At the same time, she was also the most mysterious person.
She couldn’t find any information that could tell her about Dia’s identity.
Other broadcast managers knew the contact information as a basic, and they sometimes even sent holiday gifts to each other’s homes.
Dia, who appeared late at night and watched the broadcast for about 2-3 hours before disappearing, couldn’t be reached no matter how hard she tried to contact her.
The fact that she had a real existence but didn’t know her identity made Ji Hye-min regard Dia as a Virtual Youtuber.
Not just any Virtual Youtuber, but her favorite Virtual Youtuber.
Therefore, it was literally impossible not to care about Dia, whose nickname was the same as Dia.
Even though all Ji Hye-min knew about Dia was her gender, age, and the Virtual Youtuber nickname she wanted.
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny