Hobbyist VTuber-Chapter 270

First off, Diah and Lucid’s collab test stream ended smoothly without any major issues.

It was broadcast normally not only in Japan, where Ha-eun currently was, but also in Korea.

[ Ha-eun, wanna try rolling the dice once? ]

“L-like this?”

[ Yep. And now just toss it a little. ]

–Whoosh!

–Clatter, clatter...

[ It’s working fine. What a relief. ]

Even the check for interactable objects in the VR system went off without a hitch.

Diah and Lucid’s 3D avatars also moved fluidly without any glitches.

However, once all the test streaming wrapped up,

and even the online call with LUX fully ended—

–Grab!

“Ha-eun-san! Look at me for a sec! I’ve got so many things I want to ask youuu!”

She was suddenly grabbed by Aqua, who’d been staring holes into her since earlier.

In the blink of an eye, Ha-eun was dragged into what looked like Aqua’s personal room.

The only saving grace was that Lucid and her manager had followed after her.

The unfortunate part was that even those two couldn’t stop Aqua entirely.

“Ha-eun-san! Are you really close with Song Hyun-min?”

“Umm, I don’t know if I’d say really close... but we are pretty friendly.”

“D-do you have... his number?”

“Ah, yeah... I got it when we were in Europe—”

“Eu—Europe? Europe?! You went to Europe with Song Hyun-min? H-how did that happen? How close do you have to be to travel together?! Wait, where’d you first meet?!”

Every time Ha-eun answered, Aqua hit her back with two or three more questions at once.

It was a full-on question bombardment.

She already looked adorably tiny, and when her eyes sparkled like that, it was impossible to fight back.

Part of it was because Aqua was a legendary top-tier VTuber in Japan.

That’s also why Lucid and her manager hadn’t been able to stop her.

The best they could do was gently ask Aqua to try to calm down a little.

❮Hanazawa-san, Ha-eun-san’s not going anywhere, so please settle down a bit...❯

Ha-eun, still dazed by the overwhelming scene, had no choice but to just answer honestly.

And either way, it was true—she was close with Song Hyun-min.

“I first met Hyun-min at the airport. We got close after traveling around Europe together.”

“I-I’m so curious! What happened in Europe?!”

So Ha-eun started explaining everything step by step, from how they met.

But with Aqua’s ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) never-ending stream of questions, she figured it’d be faster to just show her rather than keep explaining.

So she pulled out her phone.

“It’s a music variety show called Start Again. I didn’t go just with Hyun-min—we were in a group of four—”

Ha-eun then played the Start Again highlight reel uploaded to YouTube and showed it to Aqua.

Thankfully, Aqua was fluent enough in Korean to understand the gist without needing subtitles.

“Oh, busking. They’re busking.”

“Yeah. All four of us performed together.”

After handing her phone over to Aqua for a bit,

Ha-eun finally felt some relief once Aqua, her eyes brimming with curiosity, began watching the Start Again highlights.

But then—barely a few seconds later—

“Uh—uh... gasp!”

Aqua sharply inhaled, eyes going wide,

and even Lucid and her manager, who were watching the highlights next to her, had their eyes practically bulging out.

‘What the heck?’

Ha-eun, who couldn’t see the screen from her angle, had no clue why they were reacting like that.

But the next thing they said jogged a memory she’d buried deep.

“Ha-eun-san’s swimsuit is, like, super sexy... I thought she was a swimsuit model for a second.”

“Her abs... are amazing. Woah...”

“!!!”

And just like that, the vivid images that had flashed through Ha-eun’s own mind—

moments when she’d been a little too excited playing in a European pool, in some pretty revealing swimwear.

In a matter of seconds, her ears went red-hot.

At the same time, she lunged to snatch the phone back from Aqua.

｢Lenny unnie, wanna bet on who can hold their breath longer?｣

｢A bet? What’s at stake?｣

｢Hmm... thirty-minute massage voucher?｣

｢Deal!｣

On the screen was a video of Ha-eun and Lenny in swimsuits,

soaked from head to toe, laughing and splashing in the pool.

To be fair, those were happy memories for Ha-eun too.

But still—

they were way too embarrassing to show so casually to people she looked up to.

–Beep.

“...Please pretend you didn’t see that...”

In the end, Ha-eun powered off the video completely and bowed her head low,

pleading with Aqua and Lucid to erase those last few minutes from memory.

She even added that if they didn’t forget, she might have to erase their memories physically.

Maybe her desperation worked.

–Whisper whisper.

❮Physically? What does she mea... oh.❯

❮...Ha-eun-san’s muscles were no joke, Yume. If she hit us, we’d be dead meat...❯

The two whispered something to each other in Japanese, then nodded and said they hadn’t seen a thing.

Nobody in the room actually believed that, of course.

But nobody wanted to keep talking about Ha-eun in a swimsuit either—not for their own sake, or hers.

So the conversation around Start Again was finally wrapped up.

Then came the next question, this time asked in a much more cautious tone—

about Num0, the song Ha-eun and Song Hyun-min had just released a few hours ago.

“Um... Ha-eun-san. How did you end up releasing a song with Song Hyun-min? When did you film the music video?”

“We filmed the MV a few weeks ago. As for deciding to release the song... oh, wait a sec.”

Ha-eun unlocked her phone again and pulled up the Lee Ha-eun channel.

There it was—a brand new video uploaded just a few minutes ago.

｢We’re here at the Num0 MV shoot. Wow, this place is bigger than I expected. Oh, and over there’s Hyun-min—｣

“This is the behind-the-scenes video. It has subtitles in other languages too, so just turn them on and watch.”

Ha-eun played the short BTS clip of the Num0 music video on her phone.

Only after that did she tell Aqua and Lucid about the Lee Ha-eun channel.

“I’ll be uploading lots of content there, so check it out when you have time.”

“Whoa, Ha-eun-san. You’re already at 1.5 million?”

❮Celebrity YouTube really is on another level...❯

She watched as Aqua and Lucid both hit the subscribe button right in front of her.

Then, just in case, Ha-eun asked if they could also subscribe to her Diah channel—

only to be told they already were.

“I’ve already subbed. I mean, the Battle of Legends video on Diah’s channel? It’s super popular in Japan too. It even hit number one on Twitter trends the other day.”

“I subscribed a while ago. Long time ago.”

“...!”

Knowing that even Japan’s top VTubers were already subscribers to Diah’s channel filled Ha-eun with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Was this what success felt like?

Her mood brightened instantly, a clear smile blooming on her face.

Even 30 minutes later, when they finally left the Prism Live studio, her lips were still slightly curled up.

“Looking forward to the collab stream on Wednesday.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Even as she climbed into the car that would take her back to the hotel, Ha-eun still hadn’t wiped that smile off her face.

Maybe that’s why—

“Um, um! Ha-eun-san!”

“Yes?”

“Would it... be possible to get Song Hyun-min’s autograph someday? I’m, like, a huge fan.”

Ha-eun nodded right away at Aqua’s request for an autograph.

They weren’t so distant that she couldn’t ask him for a favor like that.

“I’ll send it to the studio here as soon as I get it from Hyun-min. Or next time I come to Japan.”

“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”

Seeing Aqua light up just from that promise made Ha-eun feel oddly proud.

Even as she finally returned to the hotel, where Ju Jung-yoon was waiting, a soft smile still lingered on her face.

“Something good happen?”

“A bunch of things, honestly. I’m really glad I came to Japan early, unnie...”

“...You seem... different, Ha-eun. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

***

Time passed, and by the time Kang Sun-woo, who had flown to Japan, finally arrived at the hotel—

“Ah, Mr. Sun-woo. Over here!”

Ha-eun, who had come down to the hotel lobby in advance to wait for him, quickly walked up to greet Kang Sun-woo.

She looked happy, in more ways than one.

“Did you go to Disneyland or something? You look way too cheerful.”

“Hmm, I didn’t go out for fun, but... a lot of good things happened. Related to that thing I mentioned last time.”

Kang Sun-woo, who knew—albeit vaguely—that Ha-eun was doing something besides acting, gave her a simple, “That’s great to hear.”

Talk of the God and the Goblin promo event came up a little later.

“Tomorrow’s the interview variety shoot, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Seeing how relaxed Ha-eun seemed, with nothing in particular to worry about, Kang Sun-woo offered a bit of advice.

Compared to Korean variety shows, Japanese variety shows could be a little more extreme.

Though Ha-eun was quite popular in Japan, so it probably wouldn’t be too over-the-top.

“You should at least mentally prepare for it.”

“Hmm... but it’s just an interview...”

“There’s no just in Japan. Take it from me.”

Ha-eun’s slightly uncertain expression made Kang Sun-woo chuckle, adding that he was looking forward to seeing how it went.

To be honest, he was kind of curious to see Ha-eun flustered.

From what he’d heard, there was even a hidden camera prank planned for Ha-eun.

Of course, Ha-eun had no idea about that yet—so he figured he’d give her just the tiniest heads-up.

And then, finally, the day of the interview variety show shoot with Japan’s largest broadcaster, NBH.

“You’ll be watching from here, Mr. Kang Sun-woo.”

“Ah... I’m really looking forward to this. Can’t wait to see how Ha-eun reacts.”

Kang Sun-woo entered the staff room behind the set with NBH’s Producer Nozawa.

They were there to observe the hidden camera prank that was about to unfold on Ha-eun.

Watching Ha-eun’s surprised reaction on camera was his first mission on this Japanese shoot.

‘Is she gonna be mad that I didn’t warn her?’

Just as he was imagining how Ha-eun might react to the prank,

Ha-eun stepped onto the set at last—and was greeted with applause from the interviewer and interpreter.

“Hello, Ms. Lee Ha-eun! I’m Inoue Megumi, and I’ll be interviewing you today!”

“Ah... hello.”

She greeted them a little awkwardly at first.

But once the actual interview started, she quickly settled into her usual composed demeanor.

That was thanks to the interpreter, whose fluent Korean really helped take the pressure off.

Ha-eun had been a bit worried about not having a translator, so just knowing someone was there helped her relax.

But then—barely five minutes into the solo interview—

“So, is it that person now?”

“Yes. The set wall behind Ms. Lee Ha-eun will break apart, and he’ll suddenly pop out. She’s going to be so surprised.”

From the staff room, Kang Sun-woo and Producer Nozawa got the signal that the hidden camera prank was about to begin.

Kang Sun-woo leaned in toward the monitor, eyes gleaming with interest.

Then, a famous Japanese comedian crept up right behind the interview set.

At the exact moment—

–CRACK!!

A massive fist burst through the set wall and appeared on either side of Ha-eun. The tension spiked.

The interviewer and interpreter both screamed in shock.

But—

–Grab!

“Huh?”

With a completely blank expression, Ha-eun calmly grabbed the comedian’s right fist with both hands.

–CRACK-CRACK!

–WHUMP—!

❮Wh-what the hell?!❯

Still holding the fist, Ha-eun yanked hard—

ripping down the set wall entirely and slamming the massive comedian over her shoulder in a full-on judo throw.

And just as he was flying through the air—realizing a second too late what she’d done—

she caught him in midair in a bridal carry.

“S-sorry! Are... are you okay?”

As she asked in clumsy Japanese whether he was alright,

everyone else was too stunned to speak.

They couldn’t get the image out of their heads—Ha-eun flipping that giant man over like it was nothing.

***

｢How did it feel to get thrown by Lee Ha-eun?｣

｢This was the first time I’d been lifted like that by anyone since I was five years old... I seriously didn’t think that tiny girl could pick me up.｣

｢Wait, so that scene just now—wasn’t acting?!｣

｢No way. No freakin’ way~.｣

“...What the hell is Lee Ha-eun even doing out there...”

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