Chapter 133: Chapter 132

It was clinging tightly.

There was no more accurate way to describe Ha-eun's current state.

Her face was surrounded by a reddish aura. Her forehead was rubbing just beneath Jeong Maria's chest. Her arms were tightly wrapped around Maria's soft waist. Her hands were locked behind Maria’s back, ensuring she couldn’t escape.

And then—

"I... I really, really liked Cream... I liked you, so we used to talk on the phone a lot..."

Ha-eun had started muttering to herself at some point.

"After that day... you stopped calling me first... Why are you keeping your distance...?"

Taken aback by Ha-eun's completely different behavior from usual, Jeong Maria asked for help from the other members and Ji Hye-min. However, everyone else just watched with intrigued expressions, showing no intention of intervening. Even Ji Hye-min, at some point, was filming the situation with her phone.

"It seems like Maria has hurt Ha-eun a lot. You should listen to her~."

Ji Hye-min, who clearly had no intention of stepping in for the moment, spoke as she crunched through a snack, as if she had discovered an amusing spectacle. The other members were doing the same, watching with similar interest.

Eventually, Jeong Maria realized she would have to solve this situation on her own. She gently patted Ha-eun’s back, her mind drifting to memories of calming down her younger cousin who used to whine.

"Ugh, hmm… What could be making our Ha-eun so upset…?"

Her voice was stiff and awkward. However, Ha-eun, whose rationality had already shut down, couldn’t stop herself from blurting out the words that had been buried deep within her heart.

"Everything…! I made mistakes, apologized, said it was okay… shouldn’t we go back to normal? Why aren’t you calling me...?"

Ha-eun's voice trembled slightly. Jeong Maria was once again flustered, but ultimately, she didn’t extend a hand to help.

Instead, she kept patting Ha-eun’s back and muttered apologies like "I’m sorry, it’s my fault" or "I understand now, you were really hurt because I didn’t call..."

It was true that after the incident with Diah’s real voice, Jeong Maria had become extremely cautious about calling Ha-eun. It seemed that this shift in attitude had been noticed by Ha-eun.

For quite a while, Ha-eun’s not-quite-self-talk continued.

Still firmly held by Ha-eun, Jeong Maria could do nothing but respond to Ha-eun’s murmured voice, waiting for Ha-eun to calm down.

And then, who knows how much time passed.

Ha-eun’s head slowly moved from just below Jeong Maria’s chest to above, and then, it rose a little higher and rested on Jeong Maria’s shoulder.

Another faint murmur followed.

"Cream... you’re not mad at me, right...?"

In a soft voice that almost seemed like a whisper in her ear, Jeong Maria nodded, saying that she couldn’t possibly be angry with Ha-eun. Almost simultaneously, a voice filled with relief came from Ha-eun.

"Hehe, I’m glad... at least Cream isn’t mad at me..."

By that point, Jeong Maria thought Ha-eun had calmed down. She thought Ha-eun would release her grip on her.

But—

"Then… will you say you love me? Just once, please..."

Ha-eun, who had slowly been lifted from Jeong Maria’s shoulder, now faced her directly, making yet another request.

At this, Jeong Maria was, understandably, taken aback. After all, the only thing she could feel from Ha-eun's face so close to hers was pure sincerity.

"...Pfft."

"Ha-eun when she's drunk is all about the charm. Maria, you’re so lucky~!"

The other members, who had been watching with amused expressions, commented on the situation. Ji Hye-min’s phone was still busy capturing Ha-eun’s drunken face.

At that moment, Jeong Maria, turning her head slightly away from Ha-eun, glared at the others with a bitter expression as she silently blamed them for this situation.

-Tok.

-Tok. Tok.

"...Huh?"

Something warm started to fall onto Jeong Maria's thigh.

Almost simultaneously, a sobbing voice was heard.

"Please... really, just once. Just once, please...!"

The beautiful face that had once again been brought into view seemed precarious for a moment. It looked as if it might collapse with the slightest touch.

Tears were already quietly streaming down her delicate face, which appeared dangerously fragile.

Crucially, Ha-eun's eyes, which were already bloodshot, looked strangely hollow for some reason, as if there was no life left in them.

"I... I love you. Our Ha-eun, I love you so, so much!"

Jeong Maria, who had almost doubted her own eyes in the moment, hurriedly gave Ha-eun the answer she had asked for.

No more than a few seconds later, a soft laugh came from Ha-eun.

"...Ha, haha."

However, everyone except Ha-eun realized something was wrong, and the laughter quickly faded.

Ji Hye-min’s phone was slowly tilting downward.

"Why, why couldn’t I... just say it once...?"

Her head hung down, her hair drooping, her shoulders shaking, and tears falling in small drops.

"I couldn’t say it even once. Why... what’s so... hard about it... god..."

At first, Jeong Maria had thought this was just acting. But no matter how much she thought about it, it wasn’t.

If it were acting, no one would be able to tell the difference between Ha-eun’s lies and the truth.

"...Ugh, ahhh..."

Ha-eun was truly in pain. The familiar yet unfamiliar bitter feelings gnawed at her, as she cried out, exhausted, until she fell asleep.@@novelbin@@

For a long time, the room was filled with the sorrowful sound of her sobs.

Eventually, once Ha-eun collapsed and fell unconscious, the other people, except for Jeong Maria, began to show signs of panic.

"Wh-what should we do? What do we do, Manager?"

"First... let’s move Ha-eun to the bed."

After Ha-eun was moved from the floor to the hotel bed, the others gathered together and started speculating about what Ha-eun had been hiding.

The conclusion that was reached was:

"Before she leaves tomorrow, I’ll set up a place. Maria, you should talk to Ha-eun alone."

"Me? You want me to do it?"

"I’ve thought about it, and I think it’s better if it’s you rather than me."

For some reason, it seemed like Maria was the one Ha-eun liked the most.

At Ji Hye-min’s quietly murmured words, everyone except Jeong Maria agreed.

However, in the end, Ha-eun didn’t remember at all what she had said or done.

It was no wonder.

"Ughhh..."

As always, Ha-eun was up earlier than anyone else, already wrapped in a hangover, and her head was ringing.

The only thing she could remember was the color of the can she had drunk from last night.

To figure out what caused this unknown pain, she walked over to the pile of empty cans on the hotel table.

Not long after, Ha-eun found a can that matched her fuzzy memory.

-Thud.

"...This is bad."

Jeong Maria collapsed onto the floor as she realized that Ha-eun’s memory loss had been caused by her first drink.

All of the things Ji Hye-min had warned about—about the accidents that would happen if Ha-eun got drunk—flooded her mind.

Of course, Ji Hye-min and the Illusionary Realm members weren’t the type to cause trouble over Ha-eun’s drinking.

But Jeong Maria had a bad feeling that Ha-eun must have caused all kinds of trouble in her drunken state.

Several hours later, during a shopping trip in Akihabara, Jeong Maria kept glancing at everyone else’s reactions.

But for some reason...

"Ha, Ha-eun. Aren’t you going to buy this? You said you’d get it for sure, right?"

The voice that had become noticeably awkward compared to yesterday made Ha-eun even more confused.

Her already muddled thoughts became even more chaotic.

Of course, they shopped for all the subculture merchandise they wanted.

Ha-eun had even brought an extra suitcase just for the goods.

"Ha, Ha-eun, are you sure you can bring all of that back to Korea? I don’t think you’ll be able to carry it all."

"It’s fine. I brought an extra suitcase just for the goods."

"A... a suitcase for goods?"

"Yes."

"...Are you a wholesaler?"

***

In conclusion, the vlog on the third day of the trip turned out to have a much lower tension compared to the previous days. The fatigue that had accumulated during the trip was immense, and on top of that, due to the unexpected events of the previous night, it was impossible to raise the energy levels.

"Well then, see you in Korea. Bye-bye…"

And just like that, the vlog shooting ended the moment Ha-eun and the others’ shadows reached the front of the Japanese airport.

Then came Ji Hye-min’s signal.

"I’ll be checking a few things at the airport. Everyone, when I call, come inside."

Immediately after that, everyone except Jeong Maria scattered at lightning speed. Park Mi-so and Kim Eun-hye hurriedly disappeared, saying they needed to go to the bathroom, and Lee Ye-na dashed toward a nearby convenience store.

In the end, only Jeong Maria remained by Ha-eun’s side. Ha-eun was understandably flustered by the sudden, unexpected mass exodus.

However, things only became more awkward when Jeong Maria, claiming she had something personal to discuss, pulled Ha-eun into the nearby café. Ha-eun was now even more flustered when she saw Jeong Maria’s serious face at the table.

"Hey, Ha-eun... Is something going on?"

Jeong Maria wore a very, very worried expression. However, when Ha-eun tried to retrace her memories, there didn’t seem to be any significant event or issue.

"No?"

"I won’t tell anyone. Just tell me."

"...Nothing really happened..."

An awkward silence began.

Jeong Maria started carefully observing Ha-eun.

But then, after a brief moment, Jeong Maria’s question made things even stranger.

"Are things not good with your parents...?"

"??"

Ha-eun widened her eyes in confusion and asked what that meant. That was when she finally learned about the events of the previous night.

"Ha-eun, you really cried so sadly."

"Me... me?"

"Yeah."

What followed was the story that Ji Hye-min and the others were also worried about Ha-eun. They asked her to tell them about her troubles if there was anything they could help with.

However, for Ha-eun, the breakdown she had while drunk was like a dark chapter in her history. Furthermore, the issues regarding her past with her parents were not things Jeong Maria or anyone else could help with.

So, Ha-eun focused on trying to resolve the awkward tension between her and Jeong Maria, which was what troubled her the most in that moment. Yet, no solution came to mind.

In the end, she had to cover it up with a ridiculous excuse. An excuse so weak that anyone who knew Ha-eun from school would immediately know it was a lie.

"Well, um… so, my relationship with my parents is actually really good..."

"Then why were you crying?"

"Uhh, um... It was because of my... boyfriend."

"My... boyfriend? Ha-eun, you had a boyfriend?!"

Jeong Maria suddenly stood up, startling everyone, and all eyes turned toward Ha-eun and Jeong Maria. Jeong Maria slowly calmed down and sat back down, while Ha-eun hastily continued with her excuse.

"I really liked him. But he didn’t care about me at all, and in the end, he cheated on me."

In that moment, Ha-eun made up an imaginary boyfriend, turning him into a scumbag. Jeong Maria, who had been thinking deeply for a moment, finally uttered a harsh phrase.

"That’s a real jerk."

"Uh, yeah... he wasn’t a good guy, huh?"

"He’s a fucking scumbag! How could he cheat on our Ha-eun?!"

Jeong Maria seemed angrier than Ha-eun herself. For the next 30 minutes, Jeong Maria vented all her frustration and anger at Ha-eun’s fictional boyfriend.

Of course, these harsh words were all meant to comfort Ha-eun. At the same time, Jeong Maria was relieved that it wasn’t related to Ha-eun’s family situation, which she had imagined the night before.

Ha-eun, completely deceiving Jeong Maria with her lie, also felt relieved. She certainly didn’t want her real parents to be misjudged.

Ji Hye-min eventually called all the members of Illusionary Realm, and after having learned the whole situation—although it was a lie from start to finish—she hugged Ha-eun tightly.

Then, Ji Hye-min lowered her head toward Ha-eun’s ear and whispered softly.

"Don’t go through this alone. If there’s anything you can tell me, just say it. I’m always on your side."

She promised to do whatever it took to help Ha-eun with any problems or wounds she might have had in her heart.

Ha-eun could only smile awkwardly and say thank you.

"...I’m grateful, at least for the words."

At that moment, Ha-eun felt that words alone were enough. She felt that Ji Hye-min’s sincere intentions were more than enough to help.

But not even two weeks later, Ha-eun found herself desperately wishing for Ji Hye-min’s help when a rather terrifying situation came up.

"Da-yeon."

"What?"

"Even so... it’s the acting awards."

Ha-eun cautiously voiced her concern, asking if it might be inappropriate to bring a VTuber keychain with her.

Her worry was met, unfortunately, with a refusal to accept it.

"It’s cute, what’s the big deal?"

"It’s not that it’s not cute... I’m just worried that it might cause trouble when the photographers take pictures—"

"I’ll handle it."

"...Okay..."

And so, Da-yeon, several hours later, was heading off to the KBC Acting Awards with a beautiful dress and an expensive luxury handbag.

The problem was that the keychain of Diah was attached to the edge of that luxury handbag. When Da-yeon stood on the photo line at the KBC Acting Awards, it would be inevitable that her handbag would be photographed too.

Still, Ha-eun didn’t have the means to solve these problems at that moment. After all, the actress Lee Ha-eun had nothing to do with the VTuber Diah.

Even pretending to know about Diah’s keychain was not an easy task.

"I’m really losing it…"

As time passed, Ha-eun’s distress didn’t end until less than two hours before the live KBC Acting Awards.

"...Ugh..."

Perhaps that was why.

"...What’s wrong?"

A slightly worried voice came from Yoo Sung-jae, who was seated right next to Ha-eun.

However, since they had to enter the KBC Acting Awards together as the two leads of The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds in just a few moments...

"It’s... nothing."

Ha-eun instinctively knew that the situation with Da-yeon was already out of her control, already a lost cause.

Telling Yoo Sung-jae about Diah would have been pointless; he wouldn’t understand at all.

At any rate, it was time to enter the KBC Acting Awards.

-Creeeek.

They finally stepped out of the limousine, with Yoo Sung-jae, the male lead of The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds, linking arms with Ha-eun.

At the same time, a barrage of camera flashes erupted.

-Click!

-Click, click!

The cameras flashed, alternating between Yoo Sung-jae’s suit and Ha-eun’s dress. It felt like she might go blind from the bright lights. Technically, she had dressed up beautifully for this very moment to be captured by the cameras.

"Walk slowly, be careful not to trip."

"...Okay."

As they walked down the red carpet in sync with Yoo Sung-jae’s slower pace, the camera flashes didn’t stop.

Ha-eun felt a shiver run down her spine, thinking that Diah’s keychain had been photographed in the midst of the flashing lights.

"...Sigh..."

"...Was my pace too slow?"

"No, no, I wasn’t sighing because of you, Sung-jae. Really."