Hobbyist VTuber
Chapter 258

In the end, Dayeon’s idea—that Ha-eun should go to the SL Group meeting with the lead actor of The Chairman’s Youngest Grandson—was accepted.

And now, ironically, Dayeon deeply regretted suggesting it in the first place.

‘Why does it have to be Yoo Seong-jae again...’

To be fair, nothing was officially confirmed yet.

For all they knew, Seong-jae might already have another schedule on the day of the meeting.

Whether Ha-eun would attend with Seong-jae or go alone was still up in the air.

‘The problem is... if Ha-eun asks, he’ll probably rearrange his entire schedule just to go with her.’

Dayeon didn’t deny that Seong-jae might be helpful in a meeting with SL Group.

He was close with Ha-eun, and in an industry where scandals popped up every other day,

a clean-cut celebrity like Seong-jae was rare.

How many young male actors were as popular as Seong-jae?

He had earned his fame purely through acting skills—a rare feat.

Even Dayeon couldn’t deny his talent.

“That’s just because you don’t like him.”

“Hmm... I think I already do dislike him, actually.”

“I don’t hate him. I just don’t like him.”

...Is there a difference?

As an actor, Seong-jae was perfectly respectable.

And maybe that’s why Ha-eun got along with him so well.

From Ha-eun’s perspective, Seong-jae was probably one of the few actors who could keep up with her.

And that made sense.

Why wouldn’t an actor like Ha-eun appreciate someone she could truly work well with?

But that was Ha-eun’s point of view.

There was no way to know if Seong-jae saw her only as a fellow actor.

‘He said it wasn’t like that back then... but still...’

There’s a reason people say you can’t know what’s in someone’s heart.

Having seen Ha-eun get confessed to multiple times since middle school,

Dayeon didn’t want to see something like that happen again.

Not when she knew it would be hard on Ha-eun.

From what she’d seen, Ha-eun wasn’t good at turning people down.

Dayeon knew some people might call that kindness, but to her, it was just unnecessary hesitation.

“...Sigh...”

“You’re going to make a hole in the ground with all that sighing.”

“Whose fault do you think that is?”

Not knowing how to cut ties only made her more vulnerable to emotional entanglements.

Dayeon didn’t know exactly what was going on in Ha-eun’s mind, but this was how she saw it.

And so, she kept a close eye on Seong-jae.

Because if Ha-eun wasn’t going to consider the possibility of that happening, someone had to.

‘If— really if— she ever started having feelings for him, I wouldn’t know what to do... but no way. She wouldn’t... right?’*

Either way, it was pretty much decided that Ha-eun and Seong-jae would be filming together again.

For now, all Dayeon could do was warn her just a little.

After taking a sip of her strawberry smoothie, she finally spoke:

“If you guys start sticking together too much and a scandal breaks out, you’re the one who’s going to suffer.”

“Ah, right. I’ll be careful.”

“Saying you’ll be careful that casually doesn’t mean anything.”

“It’s not like we’ll even be hanging out outside the set. I’d rather stream than hang out with Seong-jae.”

“Good. If you’re going to hang out with anyone, let it be the Noeulis.”

Ha-eun didn’t want any unnecessary drama either.

And she seemed more focused on her VTuber activities as Diah right now anyway,

so Dayeon told her to just stick to that for the time being.

“Didn’t the CEO say you should stream until all your hair falls out?”

“...It would be kind of funny if I end up streaming as a grandma someday.”

And so, the conversation about the SL Group meeting ended

with the bizarre conclusion that Ha-eun should spend her time streaming instead of getting involved with Yoo Seong-jae.

After finishing her banana smoothie, Ha-eun stood up and said she had to go.

“Heading out?”

“Yeah. I need to get home before traffic gets bad. It’s Christmas—taxis are about to vanish.”

“Wait. Jin-soo oppa’s on his way. He’ll give you a ride.”

“...You’re calling your manager on a holiday?”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Such a cruel employer.”

Ha-eun shook ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) her head with a sigh,

murmuring that being Dayeon’s manager must be exhausting.

But she sat back down all the same.

No reason to say no to a free ride home.

She ignored Dayeon’s follow-up comment about how she wasn’t going to give her a ride and should call her own manager.

“You don’t know the saying ‘a promise from a man is worth a thousand gold pieces’? You promised.”

“We’re both women, idiot. What man?”

“You’ll get canceled for gender discrimination if you talk like that nowadays.”

“What is wrong with you.”

***

Three days after the Christmas home party.

December 28th—just three days left in the year.

Knock knock.

“Excuse me...”

Summoned by CEO Jeong Do-cheol, Ha-eun entered Luna Entertainment’s main office, accompanied by her manager, Ju Jung-yoon.

And there, she saw a familiar face.

“Oh, hey there. Come on in.”

“Have a seat,” said the CEO, gesturing toward the sofa.

Ha-eun sat down carefully, not sure why she’d been called in.

She’d known Jeong Do-cheol since she was seven,

but he was still the CEO of her agency—and a man old enough to be her grandfather—so it was hard not to feel tense.

Thankfully, he’d always had a soft spot for her.

And from the look on his face today, it didn’t seem like he’d called her in for anything bad.

“Our PR team had something they wanted to propose, so I asked you to come.”

“A proposal...?”

“Yeah. You’re not just popular in Korea anymore, right? Your overseas fanbase is growing too.”

He started talking about her rising international profile,

thanks to her stage with Song Hyun-min and the success of God and the Goblin abroad.

“So I was thinking—how would you feel about starting a YouTube channel?”

“...Huh?”

“We should have an official Lee Ha-eun channel by now. You’re basically Luna Entertainment’s poster star.”

‘I... I don’t think I’m quite that important yet...’

Jeong Do-cheol quickly followed up by saying she wouldn’t have to prepare anything herself.

The agency would support her fully—main PD, editing staff, everything.

The more she thought about it, the less reason there was to say no.

A personal channel would only help her grow.

Overseas fans were already multiplying—might as well strike while the iron’s hot.

But still—

‘What kind of content would I even make...?’

Ha-eun had no clue what she’d post.

She couldn’t exactly stream like Diah.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Her daily life was just early-morning workouts with Baek-seol,

then filming on set or streaming from a soundproof booth.

‘Would that... even be interesting?’

If she uploaded footage of herself as Diah, she’d be front-page news the next day.

So she could only show her life as a celebrity—but she wasn’t sure how much usable vlog material that would give her.

While Ha-eun remained unsure—

“Our girl here is already great on camera. She’s basically a seasoned pro.”

—Jeong Do-cheol was nothing but optimistic about the idea.

He’d already seen her quick wit and on-camera charisma on various variety shows.

And more importantly, he already knew...

that she had a channel with over 600,000 subscribers.

—Slide.

"I came for my Christmas present? Uhohoho! Take this grenade from Santa—!”

“There really are only a handful of entertainers with talent like this. It’d be a waste to let it go unused.”

“!!!!”

CEO Jeong Do-cheol confidently declared that Ha-eun, who had already reached a certain level of success as a YouTuber, would absolutely thrive posting content as an entertainer, too.

Right then, a video from Diah’s channel started playing on his phone.

“C-CEO, s-stop the video for now...!”

Ha-eun’s face went completely pale.

She hadn’t expected that Jeong Do-cheol still knew about Diah’s channel.

She had briefly explained it back when signing the contract with LUX,

but she never imagined he remembered the name Diah—let alone had her channel bookmarked.

Worse, the subscribe button was already grayed out.

Maybe he didn’t fully understand what the channel was, which was a relief—but only a partial one.

“The PR team says you have a great sense for YouTube. That kind of talent is hard to come by.”

“...Thank you...”

“Don’t feel pressured. The videos don’t need to be fancy or over-the-top. If you appear in them, people will watch.”

And so, face burning red, Ha-eun gave a tiny nod and accepted the CEO’s proposal.

The fact that Luna Entertainment’s PR team had watched Diah’s channel made her heart sink all over again,

but the damage was done.

‘I feel like someone warned me they might be monitoring... ugh...’

From a business perspective, it made sense that Luna would keep an eye on Diah.

They wouldn’t want Diah’s activities to hurt Ha-eun’s career as a celebrity.

She understood that—rationally.

Emotionally, though, she was mortified.

Her ears were practically throbbing with heat now.

The best she could do was beg Jeong Do-cheol to keep Diah’s identity a secret.

“If it gets out that this channel is mine, it’ll be a problem... Please, I’m begging you.”

“Of course, of course. Legal already briefed me. You signed the contract under a separate persona.”

With that, the meeting wrapped up with the CEO telling her to come back tomorrow—not for another chat with him,

but to meet with the YouTube production staff.

Awkwardly, Ha-eun stood and gave a stiff bow, her face still glowing red.

She mumbled a quiet goodbye and practically fled the office.

Only when she made it into the long hallway of the Luna Entertainment building did she hear—

“You’re red as a tomato.”

“...!”

Only then did Ha-eun remember that Ju Jung-yoon had been with her the entire time.

Which meant... she’d seen the video, too.

Her eyes trembling, Ha-eun turned toward her manager.

“U-unnie... you knew?”

She asked if Jung-yoon had known about Diah all along.

Unfortunately, the answer was yes.

“Managing your social media is kind of my job, you know.”

“...Ugh...”

“It’s fine, Ha-eun. Everyone has a few hobbies they don’t want people to know about.”

“It’s not a hobby!”

“Well, for a hobby, you sure seem pretty committed.”

Jung-yoon patted her on the shoulder and assured her that neither Seong-yoon nor Na-yeon knew.

It was meant to be comforting, but it didn’t help at all.

“Okay, okay. Let’s cool off and think about what you want to upload to YouTube.”

“...Yeah...”

Before long, they arrived at Ha-eun’s personal office.

She usually used this room to review project proposals.

It was equipped with a computer, whiteboards, and everything she needed to plan.

“I’ll talk to the PD tomorrow, but I’ve got a few ideas,” Jung-yoon said, booting up the computer and motioning Ha-eun to sit beside her.

On the screen, she pulled up a list of Ha-eun’s upcoming events and schedules.

“If you just do it like your Instagram posts, you’ll be fine. For starters, maybe some behind-the-scenes clips from the『Num0』music video shoot...”

“Oh, and your birthday café opens next week. A surprise appearance video would be great too.”

Ha-eun just blinked at her in silence.

Come to think of it, Jung-yoon had been the one running her Instagram all this time.

Clearly, anything related to social media was right up her alley.

All that time she’d spent taking professional-level photos of Ha-eun suddenly made sense.

“Do you have any ideas, Ha-eun?”

“Hmm... maybe a video of me making rice cake soup on New Year’s Day?”

“Ooh, I love it. That’s exactly the vibe I’m talking about.”

‘That was originally a Diah cooking stream idea...’

One way or another, she was now planning YouTube content outside of her work as Diah.

It felt... weird.

Maybe not in a bad way, just unfamiliar and complicated.

Still, lots of celebrities had their own channels these days.

And if she just thought of it as filming longer versions of her Instagram clips, it might not be so hard after all.

Or so she thought—until less than a week later...

“Hi everyone~! I heard some fans prepared a birthday café for me, so I came to take a peek—huh?”

“.............”

Ha-eun froze in front of her YouTube filming crew.

Someone very familiar was inside the birthday café... taking selfies.

Ding.

Ding ding ding.

[Lee Ji-hye (Nael)] – If the CEO sees me I’m dead

[Lee Ji-hye (Nael)] – I can’t appear in any YouTube videos

[Lee Ha-eun (Diah)] – (sweating otter emoji)

[Lee Ji-hye (Nael)] – I’m gonna run out the back

[Lee Ji-hye (Nael)] – Please wait three minutes before coming in

[Lee Ji-hye (Nael)] – I’m so sorry!!!

“U-um, I’ll just... run to the bathroom real quick.”

“Oh, okay! Go ahead!”

“Cut~! We’ll resume filming once Ha-eun’s back!”

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