Hobbyist VTuber-Chapter 190

After Ha-eun and the other members finished exchanging their birthday gifts, Jung Maria’s party began to wind down.

As they enjoyed the rest of the food, casual conversations started bouncing around the room.

Unsurprisingly, the topic that took up most of the discussion was Veterans.

All of them had seen the movie, and since Ha-eun had played one of the leads, there was no shortage of things to talk about.

“Ha-eun, the way you cursed sounded so natural.”

“I know, right? The moment I heard you say fuck, I was shocked. You never curse, so it was terrifying.”

“T-that was just... in the script....”

Even the members were surprised by how drastically different this side of Ha-eun was from the person they knew.

Just a few months ago, she had left them all emotionally wrecked with her delicate, heart-wrenching performance in The Sunshine.

The contrast was jarring.

The conversation about Veterans continued for quite a while.

They talked about how they were caught off guard by the first on-screen murder happening within five minutes of the film starting.

How unsettling yet intense it was to watch Ha-eun fight the detectives while laughing.

“To be honest, I thought Ha-eun playing a murderer would be kinda cute? But nope. Not at all.”

“That scene where you smashed your old classmate’s face? The guy sitting next to me at the theater got so startled he spilled his popcorn.”

“That’s technically Ha-eun’s fault, then. Shouldn’t she compensate him for the lost popcorn?”

“Ahaha... I’ll think about it.”

And just when the conversation was starting to wind down—

“Oh, right. One of the second-gen members is a huge Ha-eun fan.”

“You mean the one who collabed with her?”

“Yeah. Apparently, they did a review of Veterans too.”

With Park Miso bringing up Nael, the topic naturally shifted toward the second-generation members of Illusionary Realm.

A few moments later, they had Nael’s Veterans review playing on the living room TV.

“As you all know, Lee Ha-eun is such a sweetheart, right? I mean, even her charity work at the coal briquette service made the news. So I totally thought she wouldn’t be able to curse properly, but—my god. The way she unbuttoned her blouse and cursed? I almost lost my mind.”

“Oh wow, Nael really likes Ha-eun.”

“She even came to that fan meeting! I was so surprised when I saw her in person.”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“Yeah. She answered a quiz question, took a photo with me, and even won a prize.”

“Wow. Certified fan.”

Then, shortly after, another name came up.

A name Ha-eun had not expected.

“Hida, was it? Didn’t she also say she was a Noeuli?”

“Cough!”

Caught completely off guard, Ha-eun choked on her drink.

It made sense for Hida’s name to come up since she was also a second-gen member.

Still, hearing it out of nowhere threw her into a panic.

“W-water....”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ha-eun suffered because of Hida before. I think this is PTSD kicking in.”

“Oh, right.”

Hida was an incredibly sensitive subject for Ha-eun.

The only saving grace was that the first-gen members had no idea about her true identity.

“I wonder if Hida saw Veterans yet.”

“She probably did, right?”

“If so, she’s going to lose her mind once Diah’s real identity is revealed. Imagine her realizing she’s been messing with an actual terrifying person.”

Because they didn’t know the truth, their misunderstandings were growing out of control.

Ha-eun’s mind spiraled into chaos.

What would Hida even think if she found out she was in Veterans too...?

As she quietly sipped her water, that thought lingered in her mind.

Trying to explain this later was going to be hell.

So she said nothing and simply listened as the conversation shifted to other second-gen members.

Then—

“The second-gens have a roleplay collab next week, right? Did you guys know about it?”

“Huh? That was confirmed?”

The topic moved to the first full-group collab between first and second-gen members of Illusionary Realm.

Lee Yena, sitting next to Ha-eun, provided more details.

“They’re playing ‘Cops and Robbers.’”

“What about the teams?”

“At first, they wanted it to be first-gens versus second-gens. But they figured that would be too unbalanced, so they’re mixing the teams instead.”

Honestly, it sounded fun to Ha-eun.

It would also be a good chance to get to know the second-gen members outside of Nael.

However, there was something that had been weighing on her mind.

Something Ji Hye-min had asked of her.

‘If you ever end up in a group collab with them, could you help bridge the gap a little?’

...How do I even do that...?

In the end, she figured the best way to handle this was to end up on the same team as Hida.

Whether as cops or robbers, it would be easier to act as a bridge if they were on the same side.

Then—

“If Diah plays a cop, won’t the robbers just immediately give up?”

“Oh my god, you’re right.”

“I swear, if Diah starts chasing me, I’ll scream for my life.”

“W-wait, you’re actually planning on screaming?”

***

Less than a month after Veterans premiered, online communities were still buzzing about the movie.

That day, a new wave of headlines flooded the internet:

“Veterans Surpasses 10 Million Viewers, First Korean Action Film to Achieve This Milestone”

“Veterans Breaks 10 Million in Just 22 Days”

“Seo Jin-tae, Yoo Sung-jae, and Lee Ha-eun Make History with Veterans”

A ten-million-viewer film.

And a ten-million-viewer actor.

It was one of the highest achievements in the Korean film industry.

Naturally, the frequency and intensity of discussions surrounding Ha-eun skyrocketed.

I figured it’d hit 10M, but seeing it actually happen is insane.

Tbh, there’s nothing else worth watching right now aside from Veterans lol.

Lee Ha-eun’s acting was terrifying af.

So if Yeong-wol and Yoon Seung-jae fought, who’d win?

ㄴ Yeong-wol, no contest.

ㄴ That’s the female lead from The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds

ㄴ Bro, are you dissing Joseon’s strongest swordswoman?

ㄴ Yoon Seung-jae wasn’t weak either, though.

ㄴ Kim Jung-hyun with a gun wins, no arguments.

Isn’t this Ha-eun’s first 10M film? Crazy.

ㄴ Min Da-yeon hit 10M when she was a kid in To Busan

ㄴ That doesn’t count, she was a child actor.

ㄴ What.

ㄴ A child actor is still an actor.

Film forums were exploding with discussions about Ha-eun and her role as Yoon Seung-jae.

But even non-movie communities were starting to see conversations about Veterans pop up.

────────────

Title: If You Haven’t Watched Veterans Yet, Go Watch It NOW

Posted by NaelFanatic | 20:11

(Screenshot of Nael’s review stream)

(Clip of Nael passionately talking about the film)

Even Illusionary Realm’s 2nd-gen VTuber Nael approves of this movie.

She even referenced Insert Hand Son (Korean meme for sudden realization).

It’s Game Over.

(Veterans movie poster)

(Yoon Seung-jae solo poster)

Go book your tickets right now.

────────────

ㄴ Bro, this is a Gundam forum.

ㄴ Saw this and canceled my ticket.

ㄴ Goddamn VTuber fans keep tainting Lee Ha-eun’s name smh.

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

ㄴ Okay, but the movie actually slaps.

ㄴ Who the hell is Nael, you damn weeb.

Some users started aggressively promoting Veterans in unrelated communities.

Naturally, there was some backlash.

But because of that, discussions about the movie spread everywhere.

And as the Veterans craze reached its peak—

-♪──♫──♫~

“Alright, nice work, everyone! Collect your OMR sheets from the back~.”

Ha-eun was sitting in her classroom at Narae Arts High, having just finished her first semester finals.

Before being a ten-million-viewer actress, she was still a high school student.

Strictly speaking, Narae’s internal grades didn’t matter much to her since she was aiming for college through the CSAT.

“Still, if I’m gonna take an exam, I might as well get a good score.”

“God, I hate you.”

She had approached the test with sincerity, even if her seatmate, Da-yeon, was shaking her head in despair.

But now that the third-year first-semester finals were over, she was officially done with school exams for good.

And to celebrate, Da-yeon invited her out.

“Let’s go to a karaoke place. A new one opened at the intersection, and the facilities are amazing.”

Karaoke?

Da-yeon asking Ha-eun to hang out wasn’t unusual.

But Ha-eun knew Da-yeon never went to karaoke.

“...Last time, you wanted to go to a PC café. Now, it’s karaoke... You’re kind of going off the rails, huh?”

She mumbled to herself, puzzled by the changes in Da-yeon’s behavior.

She still didn’t realize that all these shifts were because of Hida’s stream content.

Hearing Ha-eun’s comment, Da-yeon nearly choked—it felt like she had just been caught red-handed.

She tried to act natural, but her heart was racing.

Regardless, she dragged Ha-eun to the karaoke place.

Stress relief was important, after all.

And so, they arrived at the new coin karaoke room.

“Can I go first?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Without hesitation, Ha-eun selected one of the pop songs she’d be singing on the streets of Europe in a few weeks.

She wanted to perform it for Da-yeon and get her feedback.

───♪──♬

She carefully sang the popular English song she had been practicing.

Then, with a hint of anticipation, she asked, “How was it?”

“...It sounded like your tongue was buttered.”

“...Huh?”

“You can sing, but it feels like your tongue is rolling too much.”

It was an ambiguous response—was that praise or criticism?

She tilted her head in confusion.

But to be fair, Da-yeon wasn’t exactly confident in judging English pronunciation.

She wasn’t great at English speaking herself.

She sings English songs fine during streams, though...

Having listened to Hida’s opera streams before, Ha-eun was baffled.

But since she couldn’t bring up Hida’s red pill, she focused on just having fun singing Korean songs with Da-yeon.

The same was true for Da-yeon.

She had no intention of critiquing Ha-eun’s English pronunciation—she just wanted to blow off steam.

But less than a week later—

BANG BANG BANG!

[ “FBI, OPEN UP—!!” ]

BOOM!!

Diah’s avatar burst onto the screen with a massive explosion.

And in her hands—a baton.

[ “HEY HEY! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! MOVE AND I’LL SHOOT—!!” ]

“...Why is ‘move and I’ll shoot’ in Korean?”

[ “S-SHUT UP!!” ]

Caught off guard by Hida’s question, Diah swung her baton furiously.

Since she was playing the cop role in the “Cops and Robbers” collab, she was chasing after Hida, who was a robber.

[ “STOP!! DON’T RUN!!” ]

“Your pronunciation sucks. I can’t understand a word, Officer~.”

[ “I’LL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU!!” ]

“Ai’ll Faine-dyu En Kille-yu~.”

[ “AAAAAH!! GET BACK HERE!!!” ]