Chapter 162

[ Hida. So, Da-yeon said that she can’t miss this day and she hopes Diah can make some time for her.]

The general manager on the other end of the phone let out an awkward laugh and apologized for being unable to rein in Da-yeon.

Well, neither I nor Da-yeon are exactly people who can free up time frequently, so.

From the perspective of the person coordinating the schedule, it’s inevitably a bit troublesome.

Ultimately, I replied that I understood.

Honestly, I wanted to postpone it further, but I had already delayed it several times.

If I refused once again with the excuse that my schedule wouldn’t work, it would only aggravate Da-yeon’s anger.

She would find it ridiculous that my schedule works with Na-eul but not with her.

“What’s the joint content about?”

[ It’s a secret… They said they’d tell us during the joint session. ]

“…What on earth are we going to do?”

A bad feeling crept in.

I never expected it to be a secret even from the general manager.

Although I had been preparing in my own way for a joint broadcast with Da-yeon, it was still scary.

The dark history of Diah that would be created by Da-yeon was particularly terrifying.

The joint session with Da-yeon would only last for a day, but the joint broadcast video would remain forever.

‘Is she trying to tease because she likes me…’

I wanted to hope that it would be a calm joint session like when I was with Na-eul.

However, seeing the friendly chat and support messages on Da-yeon’s stream made me think a commotion would be inevitable.

At that moment, only ten minutes remained until the CF meeting with Rev.

So, I had to wrap up my conversation with the general manager.

Afterwards, I mentioned that I might have to hang up due to the CF meeting.

[ A, a meeting? ]

“Yes, a meeting.”

[ …Where are you calling from right now? ]

The general manager’s reaction seemed a bit strange.

Is there a reason I need to be on the phone for long?

“Um, it’s with Rev. There’s a cosmetics company.”

[ Rev? Are you at the Rev headquarters right now? ]

“Yes.”

[ Y, you’re not saying… You stepped out to take this call during the meeting?! ]

“No, the meeting hasn’t started yet.”

[ Th-thank goodness. I thought you interrupted the meeting. ]

Shortly after, a request to let her know when I could talk again came over.

Following that, the general manager shared a brief TMI that she also used Rev’s cosmetics.

[ So Ha-eun’s Rev CF, I’m looking forward to… Oh, no. I shouldn’t keep talking. I’ll hang up now! ]

“Ah, yes. Goodbye.”

With that, the call with the general manager ended abruptly.

‘…She wouldn’t do anything too extreme, right.’

Either way, all I could do was wait for the broadcast day.

I couldn’t possibly call Da-yeon to ask what we would do during the joint session, so I figured it would be better to keep my mind at ease.

Above all, since in five minutes the CF shooting meeting with Rev would begin.

I decided to focus on the immediate task at hand rather than the joint broadcast a few days later.

‘The deposit has already been received.’

Given that the money involved is in the hundreds of millions, this was indeed an important matter.

I couldn’t let myself show that I was distracted by anything other than Rev’s CF.

“Time’s up, Ha-eun. Let’s go in.”

“Ah, yes.”

With that, I walked with Ju Jung-yun to the meeting room inside the Rev headquarters.

Before long, we arrived at a meeting room that felt quite sophisticated.

Perhaps due to being a famous overseas brand, the scenery outside the meeting room felt more foreign than Korean.

The advertisement drafts I was presented with were tailored to Korean sentiment, though.

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask without hesitation. We brought you here to hear your thoughts today.”

After that, I looked over various drafts with Ju Jung-yun until the meeting concluded.

Everything seemed fine to me, and ultimately, we settled on the final draft based on Ju Jung-yun’s recommendation.

“Option B seems to suit you best, Ha-eun.”

“Then I’ll decide on Option B.”

“Understood. By the way, is it okay if we proceed with the shooting schedule on the dates we initially discussed?”

“Ah, yes.”

After that, the meeting wrapped up with the representative saying, “We’ll count on you during the CF shoot.”

Now all that remained was shooting in a studio prepared separately, just like during the previous Sears ad shoot.

I was still a bit concerned about Lee Yeo-seo from <The Veterans>, but since I had established a decent image with my first album.

At least until the commercials aired prominently, I would have an image fitting for a cosmetics CF.

Anyway, now that everything that needed to be done before the CF shoot was taken care of.

I could simply think about what atmosphere would be good for Rev as I learned a bit more about the company.

So in the van heading home, I ended up searching for Rev’s history on my phone.

“Oh, right, Ha-eun.”

“?”

“From next week, we have action scene practice for The Veterans. With Seo Jin-taek and Yu Sung-jae.”

I received news from Ju Jung-yun that a new schedule for filming <The Veterans> had been set.

I wasn’t thinking much of it until then.

“Just in case. I’m saying this just in case, but don’t make any mistakes, okay?”

“Mistakes? What do you mean?”

“Don’t actually hit people. It’s one thing with Yu Sung-jae, but Seo Jin-taek has his 60th birthday in a couple of days.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly at the words treating me like a dangerous person.

No matter what, I wouldn’t actually hit anyone.

Especially not a senior like Seo Jin-taek.

“Yu Sung-jae said to be careful around you, Ha-eun.”

“…Why does he keep saying that?”

“He’s just thinking about you.”

“It sounds like teasing…”

“Well, I can’t say it’s not. Still, there’s no harm in being careful, so control your strength.”

Honestly, the suggestion to control my strength still didn’t resonate with me.

I only have a bit of muscle, and my grip strength is just average for a woman…

…No, perhaps it’s upper middle range among women.

In any case, overestimating my strength isn’t very convincing.

The only thing I want to be overestimated is my health.

Just one week after I voiced my complaints to Ju Jung-yun.

[ Kyaaaaaaaaaa!! ]

“Ahhh!!!”

– Snap.

“…Huh?”

I broke the VR controller purely out of grip strength.

To be fair, I was playing a horror game, and the plastic controller wasn’t particularly sturdy.

However, I had to retract my words about my strength being only average.

Upon careful evaluation, I seemed to be at least semi-pro athlete level.

“Um, Witch… the controller broke…”

[ Are you making excuses because the game is scary? If you keep this up, I’ll really eat you! ]

“Ah, no, it’s true! It really broke…!”

*

One hour before Ha Eun’s VR controller broke.

Ha Eun was clearing her throat repeatedly in anticipation of the upcoming joint session between Hida and Diah, which was approaching fast.

Although I wouldn’t be meeting Hida in person, since meeting them would surely result in a disaster.

Whether I liked it or not, I had to be on a call with Hida and thus, with Da-yeon via Discord throughout the joint broadcast.

In the unlikely event that Da-yeon were to discover the real identity of the voice she was talking to…

‘A broadcasting accident would occur the instant I got caught…’

There was a high possibility that the explosion Da-yeon had done so well to avoid in the past would occur.

During the broadcast, the chance of revealing the true nature of Hida and Diah was also extremely high.

Thus, I tried to make Ha Eun’s voice sound as different from Diah’s voice as possible.

The moment the broadcast started, I raised my voice in greeting for this exact reason.

“Ah, hello…! So you’re Hida? I’ve heard a lot from Na-eul─”

However, before Ha Eun could finish her greeting.

[ Hmm, you shouldn’t be talking informally to an elder, right? ]

Hida’s voice shifted to a slightly more mature tone and demanded a different form of greeting.

She wouldn’t allow Diah, who was 1 year old, to speak informally to someone who was 600 years old.

And so, ultimately…

“Ah, um…. …Hello, Witch….”

[ That’s right. ]

Hida began to speak in formal language as required.

After all, today was Diah’s free use broadcast.

‘S-starting off strong, huh…’

Unfortunately for Ha Eun, she had no power to refuse.

Of course, if something was truly unreasonable, I would refuse somehow, but as long as it wasn’t recognized as unreasonable by the others, I had to follow Hida’s lead.

In other words.

[ 1. You should enter Steam. ]

“……Yes.”

Meaning I had to reply in respectful language no matter what Hida said.

At the same time, as ekdus7 had warned multiple times in the chat and support messages on Diah’s stream.

[ 2. Install the VR version. You know what game it is, right? ]

“Um, are you referring to the screenshot you sent over Discord? I-I don’t know which game this is. I truly have no idea…?”

[ Hmmm. If you keep saying that, I don’t know if the second broadcast will turn into a third or fourth—? ]

It meant I had to silently comply with playing a VR horror game.

‘O-of all the games…’

The problem was that the game Hida sent a screenshot of was one that Ha Eun had never played before.

To be precise, it was less grotesque and violent than the horror games Ha Eun had played before.

However, since it was a VR horror game, it would inevitably be scary.

It was even a game that involved an escape strategy, where you were pursued by monsters popping up all day long, which made it even more tense.

[ Are you installing it? ]

“Yes, yes. I’m installing Cat Playtime….”

[ VR version, right? ]

“Yes… But it says it will take about 15 minutes, Witch. So I was wondering—”

At that moment, when Ha Eun’s last request to excuse the delay in the broadcast and ask about another game was caught on the broadcast mic.

[ Then, while the game is downloading, we can do something else. ]

Hida instantly rejected Ha Eun’s last request and began preparing content for the time being.

As expected, the chat room that was filled with praises for Hida.

– The Witch of Kiss

– A steadfast will to ensure Cat Playtime happens

– I love you, Hida

– I’m so excited

– So what are we doing while the game downloads??

[ Ah, what we’re going to do is. ]

At almost the same moment, ta-da!

The list of viewers for the broadcast appeared on the screen, adjusted slightly by Hida.

[ I’m thinking about doing a 1:1 special service, temporarily opening for Diah the Maid~. ]

“Y-yes?!”

I was flustered.

Very flustered.

Despite that, Hida’s mouse started moving and inevitably brought one viewer’s nickname right into Ha Eun’s view.

Soon, a 1:1 chat room was opened by Hida, with just Diah and the viewer entering.

I started receiving instructions on what Diah should do right after that.

[ Alright, Diah Maid? First, ask your master if they’ve eaten. ]

“No, Na-eul isn’t a master—”

[ Ah ah. ]

“…M-master, have you eaten?”

[ Let’s do that again. Master, have you eaten? ]

“Master… have you eaten?”

[ alswwkd83] – I was just about to eat.

[ Oh my, this is perfect timing. Please wait a moment. Our maid is going to provide a special☆ service. ]

To be honest, I thought it was impossible until that moment.

I had already figured out the lines I was supposed to say, but I trusted that Da-yeon wouldn’t actually make me say such a thing desperately.

[ Alright, Diah Maid. Please cast a spell to make the meal delicious. The lines are written on Discord, so just read them~. ]

Ultimately, Da-yeon betrayed Ha Eun’s trust.

As was to be expected, the numerous fans in the chat hurried Diah for her lines.

– Let’s go

– At this rate, the omelet rice will get cold, Diah!!!

– If you keep stalling, the Witch will eat you.

– Clip ON

[ Diah Maid. Are you trying to make your master hungry? ]

And so, ultimately.

“U-ugh, N-na-rae…. Mo-e, mo-e… Ahh!!”

– Bang bang bang bang!

The voice of Diah reciting a very famous line with great difficulty, along with Ha Eun’s sincere shotgun sound, was captured by the broadcast mic.

– LOLLLLLLLLL

– This is hitting hard, lol.

– From now on, Hida is the GOAT.

– Hida, can you handle this?

– I’ve never seen a junior like this in the world.

But even when tears of shame welled up in Ha Eun’s eyes at that moment.

No, until the joint session with Hida was completely over.

[ Hm, hehe…. ]

She remained unaware of the truth that Da-yeon was concurrently connected with another ID on her phone while broadcasting with Hida’s ID.

She also failed to notice that the timing of Da-yeon’s silence and the transmission of the 1:1 chat coincided perfectly.

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