Using Diah's voice was a last-ditch effort.
She thought that if she spoke in a cute voice, maybe Gyu-jae's wariness would lessen, just a little.
Even though she knew Gyu-jae’s mother was watching right next to her, Ha-eun changed her expression to one that looked completely innocent.
With candy and chocolate—treats that kids around this age usually love—she made her offer.
‘...I don’t think he’s watching broadcasts yet, right?’
Honestly, Ha-eun herself thought it was dangerous to openly use Diah’s voice in front of someone.
However, since both Gyu-jae and his mother likely didn’t know much about VTubers, she figured it would be fine.
“Alright, Gyu-jae☆ How about we pinky-promise? Let’s promise to do the shoot bravely!”
“...Okay...”
Even when Gyu-jae awkwardly extended his pinky and linked it with Ha-eun’s, she didn’t feel reassured.
She held the promise with him, step by step, keeping Diah’s voice tone all the way through, right up until the seal was made.
‘...I wonder if anyone like me exists.’
Thinking back, Ha-eun had first watched broadcasts at a younger age than Gyu-jae.
But Ha-eun was always a special case.
There was little chance that Gyu-jae or his mother would recognize Diah’s voice.
Even though her ears were burning from speaking in such a cute voice, it was a separate issue.
So, with a cheerful farewell, Ha-eun left the waiting room.
At the same time, she called Ju Jung-yoon to ask if she could prepare some candy and chocolates for Gyu-jae.
“Ah, busted.”
Ha-eun noticed Yoon Si-hyuk standing at the end of the hallway.
His explanation, which wasn’t quite an excuse, followed.
“Um, well, Ha-eun, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”
For some reason, the gears of reason seemed to have stopped.
Yoon Si-hyuk’s words were barely comprehensible.
Still...
“Did you hear it?”
“...Yeah.”
It was clear that Yoon Si-hyuk had heard Diah’s voice.
Maybe he even saw Ha-eun soothing Gyu-jae with her cute voice.
Perhaps that was why.
“Ah, it was impressive, though. I thought you were an animation voice actor─”
“Grave.”
“...What?”
“Take my secret to the grave, or head there right now.”
With a deadly look in her eyes, Ha-eun said this as she roughly pushed Yoon Si-hyuk against the wall.
Yoon Si-hyuk, instinctively shrinking back, nodded several times.
Once he swore not to tell anyone what he’d heard, Ha-eun’s legs finally gave out.
She collapsed to the floor, her voice trembling as she asked one more thing.
“Can you forget? Can you just forget...?”
“Ah, well... I’ll try.”
With a slightly awkward expression, Yoon Si-hyuk looked down at Ha-eun, who was still sitting on the floor.
‘Her voice was fine, so what’s the issue?’
To Yoon Si-hyuk, Ha-eun seemed to have completely lost her mental composure.
It was the first time he had seen her like this since meeting her.
Before he could ask more, though...
“Uh... Ha-eun?”
“...What?”
“Um, Gyu-jae’s mother is looking at you with a very startled expression. Could you please stand up?”
When Gyu-jae’s mother approached to speak with Ha-eun, Yoon Si-hyuk, who had been sitting in front of her, watched as Ha-eun quickly stood up.
She hurriedly adjusted her slightly messy hair and turned her gaze toward Gyu-jae’s mother.
As soon as their eyes met...
Gyu-jae’s mother apologized, bowing slightly in front of Ha-eun for Gyu-jae’s NG (No Good) moments.
She also promised that this wouldn’t happen again.
“I know you must have been quite startled, Ha-eun. Thank you for calming Gyu-jae down instead...”
To be honest, Ha-eun was in an awkward position.
After all, it was because of her acting that Gyu-jae had started crying.
While child actors are still actors, they’re also still children.
It wasn’t surprising that Gyu-jae was startled by Ha-eun’s acting.
Even Yoon Si-hyuk had honestly admitted that Ha-eun had scared him.
‘Da-yeon was also scared. What’s the difference with a 9-year-old? If anything, it’s worse...’
The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.
Ha-eun, after much contemplation, finally mustered the courage to speak up.
“Please don’t scold Gyu-jae.”
“...Huh?”
She slowly began to share her thoughts, despite the awkwardness of criticizing someone’s parenting.
She couldn’t just stand idly by without saying anything.
Ha-eun had her reasons, but the most crucial one was still the vivid memory of her past life.
“Being startled isn’t a bad thing. Rather than scolding him, I think it would be better to encourage him to be brave...”
In her past life, Ha-eun never allowed herself to cry when she wanted to.
She never allowed herself to feel fear when she was scared.
So, she wanted to ensure that the same mistake wouldn’t happen again.
She wanted to make sure she didn’t mistake suppressing natural emotions as something necessary.
“Gyu-jae will do well. We pinky-promised.”
Instead of repression, she wanted to offer trust.
It was the best she could do as someone who happened to act in the same scene, in the same filming location.
Thankfully, Gyu-jae’s mother responded positively.
When she mentioned that Ha-eun’s maturity had impressed her, Ha-eun couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and didn’t lift her head.
“Well then, I’ll see you later.”
“Ah, yes, mother. Please tell Gyu-jae to stay strong.”
When Ha-eun parted from Gyu-jae’s mother, she mustered the courage to lift her head and greet her properly.
It was then that she momentarily forgot about Yoon Si-hyuk’s presence.
As she turned her head slightly to the side, she met Yoon Si-hyuk’s gaze, who had been silently watching her.
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well, I just... I thought I really saw the person I should have seen.”
“??”
“Well, anyway. The time’s getting late.”
“Let’s go.”
Yoon Si-hyuk lightly tapped Ha-eun on the shoulder and said this, then started walking toward the filming set.
Reluctantly, Ha-eun had no choice but to follow him.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the set, but the sight of Yoon Si-hyuk still smiling made Ha-eun uneasy for no reason.
However, since Yoon Si-hyuk hadn’t revealed her secret to anyone, Ha-eun was able to breathe a sigh of relief—for now.
After a brief break, the filming of S#131 resumed.
More specifically, after Gyu-jae, looking slightly nervous, apologized to Director Kim Hong-seon, the scene began again.
‘...I feel bad for him.’
Thinking about it, Ha-eun realized that the people suffering the most from the NG were the actors playing the bodyguard and Seo Jun-hyeok, not herself or Gyu-jae.
It wasn’t easy to swing punches as if they were real or to fall like you’d actually been hit.
Nevertheless, as Lee Ye-seo, Ha-eun had to watch this spectacle with amusement.
At the same time, she had to make Gyu-jae more frightened by watching the brutal assault on his father.
“Come on, Min-woo. We have to cheer for Dad, right? He’s trying so hard to support you.”
After forcing Gyu-jae, playing Min-woo, to fix his gaze forward, Ha-eun whispered chilling lines into his young ears.
Gyu-jae flinched and trembled but didn’t burst into tears as he had before.
The scene then ended with Lee Ye-seo clapping lightly while mocking the bloody Seo Jun-hyeok.
Finally, the filming of S#131 was concluded.
Strictly speaking, Ha-eun still had some scenes left to film, but—
a promise is a promise.
“Alright, Ha-eun. The stuff I asked for.”
“Ah, thank you, Unnie.”
Ha-eun received a bag of candy and chocolates from Ju Jung-yoon and immediately headed for Gyu-jae.
She handed the promised snacks to Gyu-jae and thanked him for keeping his promise.
“Thanks to you, Gyu-jae, we’re going to have a great movie. Thank you, Gyu-jae.”
“...Thank you for the candy...”
It seemed like Gyu-jae still hadn’t completely shaken off the effects of the S#131 filming, as he didn’t make eye contact with Ha-eun.
Nevertheless, he bowed, holding the bag of treats Ha-eun had given him.
Ha-eun responded by lightly patting Gyu-jae’s head.
She flinched without realizing it when she felt Yoon Si-hyuk’s gaze on her from nearby.
“Ha-eun, you really like kids, don’t you?”
“...There’s no reason not to.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Yoon Si-hyuk’s lips curled slightly upward.
Ha-eun couldn’t help but feel like he was teasing her, probably thinking about Diah’s voice and planning to tease her further.
Still, as long as he didn’t say anything out loud, she could tolerate it.
“Does Da-yeon know?”
“What?”
“The voice.”
“...Grave.”
“Oh, she doesn’t know. I get it.”
Once Yoon Si-hyuk mentioned Da-yeon and Diah’s secret, Ha-eun’s face turned red again.
And once again, Yoon Si-hyuk opened his mouth.
“Sorry for asking so much, but is it something Da-yeon should never know?”
“...Yes.”
“Can you tell me... what’s the reason?”
With that, Ha-eun forcefully sealed Yoon Si-hyuk’s mouth.
She then took out a piece of candy, the sweetness helping to suppress her growing embarrassment so she could continue filming normally.
However, even as she did this, Ha-eun could feel Yoon Si-hyuk silently observing her.
His thoughts seemed to be swirling, though he didn’t say anything.
‘Ha-eun, why do you do such a good job? Did you practice for this?’
‘...I did. But you wouldn’t know. You probably never will.’
‘So, what is it?’
‘If I was going to tell you, I wouldn’t have brought it up.’
“...Hmm~.”
Ha-eun didn’t realize that Yoon Si-hyuk was reflecting on memories of the times he would soon spend bound by Lee Ye-seo.
She had no idea why he was smiling quietly at that moment.
***
A few days after the first highlight shoot for Veterans,
Ha-eun was currently practicing a song requested by a fan, Noeulis, in the Doublely studio.
Of course, she was practicing in Diah’s voice tone, not her usual voice.
The song she had received was somewhat close to rap.
“───♪─♬─”
Beep.
“Ugh, the rhythm keeps getting slightly off.”
“...Really?”
Throughout the practice, feedback from Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol echoed.
After all, this was Ha-eun’s first time rapping.
It was Lee Jun’s suggestion to try rapping in her original voice tone after that.
His reasoning was to focus on getting the rhythm first, then change the voice tone for practice.
Not even 10 minutes later,
“You're doing really well with your original voice!”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. You’re good at controlling the strength and weakness of your voice. Maybe the voice tone is the problem?”
Ha-eun’s rap passed Doublely’s baseline standards.
However, when she rapped in Diah’s voice tone, it always slightly fell short of the standard.
It seemed like changing the voice tone also affected Ha-eun’s breathing rhythm.
Despite this, there was no option of giving up, so Ha-eun continued practicing as hard as she could to rap in Diah’s voice.
After about ten practice runs, she took a break.
“Hey, Ha-eun.”
“Yes?”
“Umm... How about performing at the university festival with the uncles?”
“...What?”
Lee Gun-yeol’s gaze, which had been focused on Ha-eun, had changed completely.
He realized that Ha-eun’s rap was better than he expected.
The parts that had originally been meant for another female singer—parts with rap in the middle—seemed like something Ha-eun could handle too.
“If it’s just you, Ha-eun, we don’t even need to use AR for the featuring parts anymore.”
“What... What’s the difference if we use AR?”
“There’s nothing worse than watching a performance and hearing AR. It just kills the energy.”
“Yeah, festival performances should definitely be live.”
“...Hmm...”