Playing the Part
"What...? What do you...?"
Hanayuki freezes, utterly dumbfounded by Jihun's sudden, drastic change in demeanor.
"Yeah, having trouble wrapping your head around this, aren't you?"
"No... I... uh..."
"Stop fucking mumbling."
"Ah... ah..."
Overwhelmed by Jihun's sudden, overbearing aggression, Hanayuki shrinks back, completely cowed.
"Listen to me carefully, you fucking bitch."
Jihun grinds his teeth, glaring down at Hanayuki.
"Just because I'm an otaku doesn't mean I'm a brainless, pushover piece of shit, you worthless cunt. Did you think I didn't know VTubers are fake? I know all about the 'red pill' bullshit behind the screen..."
Jihun spits out the venomous words, then abruptly stops as if momentarily choked by his own rage.
He pauses to collect his thoughts, then continues.
"You fucking whore. What? A feminist? You're going to 'retire'? Do you have any fucking idea how much money I donated to you?"
"I... I don't know... I don't know... anything about that..."
Hanayuki is paralyzed with terror by Jihun's terrifyingly volatile shift.
"The username 'HalfBound'. Do you remember it?"
"Ah! HalfBound! Yes, I remember! I remember now!"
Of course, she has no memory of it. Sohyun desperately squeezes out the lie, trying anything to appease him.
"Wrong."
Jihun's face hardens once more.
"I've never used a username like that, and no one else does either."
He wears a fleetingly sorrowful expression before spitting out,
"You fucking liar."
He grinds his teeth in pure, unadulterated malice.
"Fuck! Fuck! How the hell am I supposed to remember every single one of you?! I was losing my mind trying to cater to you pathetic, delusional otaku bastards!"
Sohyun suddenly snaps, her fear giving way to a burst of hysterical defiance as she screeches at the top of her lungs.
"What the fuck even is Hanayuki?! It's all just your pathetic fantasy anyway! You fucking weebs don't know your place, hyping yourselves up over nothing, you absolute pieces of shit!!"
Is she acting out because she has already lost her limbs and has nothing left to lose, or is the lingering anesthesia clouding her judgment of the situation?
"You retarded weeb! Get a grip on reality! There was never any Hanayuki! It was just a fucking 2D avatar puppet show, and you losers were jerking each other off over it!"
Forgetting the chilling terror Jihun had exuded just moments ago, her temper flares up again.
"You have zero grasp on reality! You have no fucking money, and you're goddamn... ugly! You should be grateful I even humored you pathetic, virgin otaku losers and your sad little fantasies! Know your fucking place, you piece of trash!"
Tears stream down her face as she continues to scream with venomous spite.
"Is that so?"
Jihun, who had been quietly listening to her tirade, suddenly brings his foot down, stomping hard on her stomach.
"I fucking told you. I know it's fake. Do you really think I didn't know you were just clowns putting on a show to appease a bunch of otakus?"
He grinds his heel into her abdomen—careful not to rupture anything vital, but applying just enough pressure to inflict agonizing pain.
"Just because those pathetic losers put you on a pedestal and called you 'goddess' or whatever, you thought you actually became someone important? You stupid bitch. I know you're all fake. Do you think I'm an idiot? But you see... the thing is..."
Jihun pulls a cigarette from his pocket and slips it between his lips.
He flicks his lighter, drawing in a deep breath until his cheeks hollow out, before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke directly into Hanayuki's face.
"Cough... cough..."
Choking on the acrid smoke, Hanayuki winces, her eyes welling with tears.
"If you're going to take our fucking money and play the clown, then you should have committed to the act until the very end. Since you're a fake anyway, let's make sure you play the part properly."
Jihun pauses, lost in thought.
He needs a spot that is highly sensitive and painful, yet hidden enough that it won't ruin the aesthetic of his precious onahole...
"Aaaaargh!!"
Jihun lifts Hanayuki's arm and grinds the lit cigarette directly into her armpit.
A circular burn mark forms on her smooth, freshly waxed underarm—a sight so pristine it would make any degenerate crave a deep sniff.
"It hurts... ah, it hurts..."
"..."
Jihun watches Hanayuki writhe in agony from the searing burn.
"I wonder if this will leave ash on my face when I bury it in there later."
He chuckles to himself, recalling a vulgar internet meme about sniffing armpits.
"Listen to me, you fucking bi—no, Hanayuki-tan."
Jihun leans in close, his face inches from hers.
"You're fake anyway. Just think of it as continuing the act. This time... let's see. Let's set the contract for the rest of your life. You have to live out the remainder of your days as a fake. Just like you've always done."
He smiles warmly.
"Got it?"
He continues.
"Now, let me ask you a question."
Jihun's expression softens into a gentle, doting mask once more.
"Who am I?"
He points an index finger at his own face.
"I... I don't know... I don't know..."
Hanayuki stammers, utterly lost and unable to read his intentions.
"Sigh..."
Jihun lets out a soft sigh and presses the button on the remote.
"Aaargh!"
In an instant, white-hot lightning flashes before Hanayuki's eyes.
The agony of an electric shock delivered directly to the spine is far beyond what an ordinary woman like her could ever hope to endure.
"Who am I?"
"I... I don't know... I don't know... I don't know anything..."
Hanayuki shakes her head frantically, her words dissolving into incoherent babble.
"Habung-i. And... well, my name is Jihun. But I prefer Habung-i. Call me Habung-i."
'Habung-i'—the collective nickname the VTuber Hanayuki used to address her viewers during her streams.
"Habung-i...?"
"Ha. Bung. I."
"Agh!"
"I... I said Habung-i... sob..."
"Speak casually to me. You always spoke casually on stream, didn't you, Hanayuki-tan? You are Hanayuki, so you must live as Hanayuki."
Every time he emphasizes the name 'Hanayuki', Jihun presses the button on the remote.
"Ah! Gah! Stop! Please stop!"
Muffled, broken whimpers escape Hanayuki's lips, failing to even form proper screams.
"Do you understand now?"
"I don't know... sob... I'm not Hanayuki... I'm not Hanayuki... Please send me home... I want to go home..."
The pain, far exceeding her threshold, temporarily short-circuits her brain, causing Sohyun to babble deliriously.
"You're not Hanayuki?"
"I'm... sob... not Hanayuki... I'm not... Please send me home... Please let me go home... sob..."
Sohyun continues to shake her head in desperate denial.
"I guess you aren't."
For some reason, Jihun accepts her words without any argument.
"Huh...?"
Sohyun blinks, utterly bewildered.
"Yeah, I guess you really aren't Hanayuki after all."
Jihun shakes his head with a look of deep, mock disappointment.
"In that case, I'll send you home."
"Th-thank... you..."
"Don't mention it."
Jihun roughly yanks the wig off her head.
Her real hair, flattened and messy beneath the wig cap, is revealed.
The damp, musky scent of sweat tickles his nose.
Jihun feels an overwhelming urge to bury his face in her scalp and inhale deeply, but he restrains himself and tears off the wig cap as well.
"Let's go home."
Lifting the disheveled Sohyun in a bridal carry, Jihun walks out of the room—
"Why... why here...?"
But instead of heading toward the front door, he walks straight into the bathroom.
"Why... the bathroom...? Why are we in the bathroom... Ah!"
Jihun carelessly tosses her into the empty bathtub.
"You said you were sending me home! Why...? Why... sob..."
Sohyun writhes helplessly in the tub, her stubby, amputated limbs flailing in vain as she struggles to sit up.
"Yeah, I am sending you home."
Jihun smirks, turning the handle to blast water through the showerhead.
"Gurgle... cough!"
Freezing cold water pours directly into Sohyun's mouth and nose.
The powerful spray of the showerhead relentlessly batters her face, and with her limbs gone, she has absolutely no way to shield herself or turn away.
"Glub... gurgle... gh...!"
Sohyun can only make choked, sputtering noises as she desperately thrashes her blunt stumps in the air.
After a moment,
"Cough... wheeze... cough..."
Sohyun shudders, coughing violently.
The water is still running, but Jihun has pointed the showerhead downward, so it is no longer blasting directly into her face.
"Why... why are you doing this... cough... You said... you said you'd send me home..."
Sohyun looks up at Jihun through her tears, hacking violently.
"Yeah, home."
Jihun grins widely.
"Where else would a bitch stripped of her human rights go besides the afterlife?"
With that, he tosses the showerhead into the tub.
The showerhead thrashes like a snake, spraying water in every direction before settling at the bottom.
With a dull clunk, the drain plugs up, and the tub begins to fill, inch by inch.
"Ah... ah... no..."
Finally realizing exactly what Jihun intends to do, Hanayuki's face turns completely pale.
The water level rises steadily, licking at the edges of her ears.
"N-no... please..."
Sohyun desperately tries to swing her torso to sit up, but without her arms and legs, she cannot find her center of gravity.
"Ah... aaaargh! No! No!"
Like a seal flopping on dry land, Sohyun thrashes wildly inside the tub.
She slams her body against the porcelain so hard that bruises begin to form across her back, but she is too terrified to care.
"Ah... ah!"
The water level reaches her cheeks.
Sohyun's pupils dilate to pinpricks in sheer, unadulterated terror.
"I... I'm sorry! I'll be Hanayuki! I am Hanayuki! Please!"
But Jihun only stands there, wearing a broad, amused grin as if watching a comedy show.
"Ta-da-da-dah! ☆ Hello, Habung-i! Today, Hanayuki is... gurgle... ah... please..."
Sohyun desperately recites her stream's signature intro catchphrase, begging to appease him, but Jihun completely ignores her.
"Nope, not quite. Not yet. Think about it a little more seriously."
Jihun sneers, then steps out of the bathroom and shuts the door.
The light clicks off, plunging her into pitch darkness.
"Ah... I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
She can't see a thing.
The water keeps rising.
It laps against her temples.
An suffocating dread squeezes her chest.
"Please save me! I don't want to die! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't even play the part of a fake properly when I'm just a pathetic VTuber!"
Water begins to seep into her nostrils.
"*Cough*... *gurgle*..."
Sohyun thrashes like a wild animal again, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Ah... Habung-i! Habung-i! I'm sorry I didn't remember you! I am Hanayuki! I am! *Cough*... *gurgle*..."
She keeps thrashing, coughing, and screaming.
"Ta... Ta-da-da-dah! ☆ Ha... *cough*... Habung-i! Let's do a gaming stream! It'll be so much fun! You like horror games, right? Me too... *cough*..."
The intervals between her thrashing grow longer.
Strength is rapidly draining from her body.
"Habung-i... if you don't like... *gurgle*... horror games... I... I really am Hanayuki... Please... so... Ta-da-da... *cough*... let's... save me..."
Water fills her lungs.
Her consciousness begins to fade into the dark.
Just before everything goes black—
The light clicks back on.
"Are you alright, Hanayuki-tan?"
Jihun lifts Sohyun out of the water, his face wearing a mask of mock concern.
"*Cough*... *wheeze*..."
Sohyun shudders violently, her limbless body writhing like a maggot.
"No answer? Maybe you need to drink a little more water."
As Jihun begins to tilt her body back down toward the water—
"*Cough*! I'm okay! I'm okay! Hanayuki is okay!"
"Oh, you're okay? What a relief."
Jihun gently strokes Sohyun's cheek.
"Yes... *cough*... I'm okay, Habung-i!"
Sohyun forces an exaggerated, bright smile onto her face as she answers him.
"Then what should we do today?"
"Ta-da-da-dah! ☆ Hello, Habung-i! Today, we're going to play the horror game, B*ohazard, together!"
Sohyun has completely become Hanayuki.