Chapter 148: Chapter 147

After the coal briquette volunteer work with Jang Seong-ho, Ha-eun’s schedule had a gap of about a week.

This was because the filming schedules for The Sunshine and Veterans were slightly delayed due to the other actors’ schedules.

By the end of February, Ha-eun was preparing for the new school year at Narae High School.

In other words, she was preparing for the special transition into being a “senior” in high school.

‘Already a senior in high school... Time really flies...’

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t anything extravagant.

It was just about extending the study time she had been fitting into her filming schedule.

‘Last year, I could study at the café…’

But that was no longer feasible.

As she briefly missed the sweet desserts from her regular café, Ha-eun eventually opened her study books in her room instead.

No matter what, if Ha-eun went to the café now, she wouldn’t be able to study at all.

Like in her past life, The Sunshine, which had just started airing, was rapidly gaining popularity.

As a result, Ha-eun could no longer go out easily without using Ju Jung-yoon’s van.

‘It’s great that the drama is doing well, but...’

More people recognized Ha-eun than she had anticipated.

It was probably also because the buzz from Infinite Challenge Song Festival hadn’t completely died down.

After briefly reminiscing about the people who had asked for autographs and photos, Ha-eun focused on studying for about three or four hours until lunch.@@novelbin@@

However, after a simple lunch, as she sat back at her desk, ready to flip through the pages of her study book,

Vroom, vroom─!

[Min Da-yeon] - Hey

[Min Da-yeon] - Hey

[Min Da-yeon] - I’m bored

[Min Da-yeon] - Let’s play LoL

A message from her friend, who had no interest in studying, came into Ha-eun’s phone.

The problem was that this friend was the one who had somehow passed the audition for Illusionary Realm season 2.

Ha-eun didn’t want to make her friend feel bad, especially since she was about to gain a free pass to Diah's world. Who knew what might happen if she made her friend upset?

So, in the end, Ha-eun turned on her computer.

‘...Should I ask what she’s thinking?’

Since things had gotten this far, Ha-eun decided to test her friend Da-yeon a bit, though she wouldn’t reveal her identity as Diah.

[Hello? Can you hear me?]

“Yeah, I can hear you.”

After connecting to Da-yeon’s Discord call — using a newly made Discord ID — Ha-eun finished a regular game of LoL.

“Da-yeon.”

[The jungle with no ganks should stay quiet.]

“Why all of a sudden, I’m curious why you started enjoying games. You didn’t really care about them back in middle school.”

With a hint of curiosity in her voice, Ha-eun asked why Da-yeon had taken up gaming as a hobby.

The cheeky tone came after that question.

“Is it because of someone named Diah?”

[Huh?]

“I searched on YouTube, and all I found were videos of you playing games.”

A brief silence followed for about 10 seconds.

Ha-eun could tell that Da-yeon was visibly flustered on the other end of the call.

Ha-eun still believed that Da-yeon didn’t know Diah’s true identity.

Therefore, Ha-eun thought there was no problem referring to Diah as if she were someone else.

Of course, for Da-yeon, it was the most confusing thing Ha-eun could say.

She had no idea why Ha-eun would mention Diah.

The question Ha-eun had actually wanted to ask Da-yeon came right after.

“So, are you really into LoL now? Not interested in other games?”

Ha-eun was trying to find out what games Da-yeon might want to play during a future collaboration with Diah.

Pretending to recommend fun games as Ha-eun, not as Diah, was her way of testing the waters.

“I once saw someone play Civilization and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and they seemed fun.”

[Well, I’d rather not play those kinds of games─]

“Oh, Rainbow Six is fun too. It’s a shooting game like Battle Island.”

Da-yeon knew well that Ha-eun had enjoyed many games in middle school, so Ha-eun recommending different games didn’t seem odd to her.

Ultimately, Ha-eun needed to find out which horror games Da-yeon was interested in.

So, after talking about various games for a while, they finally circled back to horror games.

“Well, there are lots of fun horror games...”

[Horror games?]

“Yeah.”

[...Can you recommend something scary?]

Ha-eun threw the bait lightly.

As expected, Da-yeon showed interest.

She began naming some popular horror games after that.

“How about Biohazard City?”

[How scary is it?]

“It’s not that scary, but the game’s story is really well done─”

[Pass.]

Click.

Tap, tap.

“There’s also a game called Backrooms. It’s an escape game.”

[Is it scary?]

“At first, it’s not that scary. But when ghosts start popping up, it gets really terrifying.”

[Hmm... okay.]

Ha-eun recommended several horror games, carefully noting down the ones Da-yeon seemed interested in.

Those games were now neatly organized into a list.

In other words, Ha-eun had successfully narrowed down the range of games Da-yeon could ask Diah to play.

Ha-eun’s Steam wishlist was already filled with the games Da-yeon had shown interest in.

‘Guess I’ll have to play these games when I get the chance.’

After Ha-eun’s successful fishing attempt disguised as game recommendations, Da-yeon returned to the LoL screen and began to start a duo game with Ha-eun.

However, Ha-eun spoke up again.

[So, you’re worried that the older people might misunderstand and think you’re a psycho?]

“I’m not really worried, just... it could happen, I guess.”

Ha-eun had to talk to Da-yeon about the incident during the coal briquette volunteer work.

After all, Da-yeon was the actress who had played Queen Yun in The Moonlight That Parts the Clouds.

“When you played Queen Yun, didn’t people say anything around you?”

[Not really.]

“Or did people look at you differently?”

[Hmm... Ah, after the scene where I slapped Yeong-wol, a little kid called me ‘the bad noona who bullied Yeong-wol.’]

“…Is that kid still alive?”

[What do you mean?]

“Oh, never mind. Forget I said that.”

Almost immediately, click.

Ha-eun quickly changed the subject and clicked to start the game in LoL.

Ha-eun was jungle this time.

Her role was to roam the map, keeping track of her five teammates, but...

‘...I’ll make sure we finish this well.’

Unlike the first game, where she had neglected Da-yeon as the top laner, Ha-eun decided to focus entirely on taking care of Da-yeon this time.

Making Da-yeon happy would mean less trouble when they did a collaboration as Diah and Da-yeon in the future.

[Hey, hey! If you don’t come, I’m going to die!]

“You won’t die. Don’t worry.”

Ha-eun spent almost the entire game by Da-yeon’s top lane.

Whenever Da-yeon’s HP dropped below 50%, Ha-eun made sure to stay near her to prevent Da-yeon from dying.

However, since LoL is a 5v5 game...

Is this a top-jungle duo?

Jungle, can you please come help? I don’t have cleanse anymore, haha;

Top, make sure to carry this.

(Ignoring the chat from An-Opens.)

Ha-eun’s other teammates were understandably upset with her for staying in the top lane.

They kept expressing their frustration that Ha-eun wasn’t helping the rest of the team while the enemy jungle kept showing up.

Of course, they won the game.

LoL was a game Ha-eun had once dove deep into, even trying to hold herself back from playing it too much.

‘It was because of the streamer LoL tournament.’

Losing a game against someone like Da-yeon, who was a beginner, was almost impossible.

At least Ha-eun believed so.

The good thing was that Da-yeon sounded satisfied with the game too.

[See? It’s so easy when you just focus on me.]

With her bright voice, it almost sounded like Da-yeon was claiming to have carried the game herself. Ha-eun kept her thoughts to herself.

Looking at the KDA, it was clear that Ha-eun’s Lee Sin had done all the work, but she decided to hype up Da-yeon, who had destroyed the enemy Nexus as Darius.

“Da-yeon, you’re really talented. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

[I know.]

***

Three days after the online duo with Da-yeon.

Once again, Ha-eun was focusing solely on studying before Diah's streaming time, when Ji Hye-min’s call came through.

[Hello?]

"Yes, unnie. What’s going on?"

[Ah, about that. There’s a content idea for Illusionary Realm season 2.]

What Ji Hye-min conveyed through the phone was about a "getting to know each other" content idea for the season 2 cast of Illusionary Realm.

It was a content idea to help the somewhat awkward season 2 members become closer with each other.

[If we do something like an avatar blind date, I think it’ll look great for the YouTube angle.]

"So, would we be controlling the Illusionary Realm season 2 members?"

[Yeah. The seniors will ask questions to help the new members get to know each other. Are you up for it?]

To cut to the chase, Ha-eun immediately agreed.

She had never turned down any proposals related to Illusionary Realm content before.

Of course, Da-yeon’s character would be excluded from Diah’s control.

Originally, the Illusionary Realm season 2 members didn’t know who was controlling whom, but just in case, Ha-eun wanted to avoid that confusion.

And so, an interesting situation arose.

‘...Wait. Come to think of it, this is anonymous.’

Through the Illusionary Realm season 2 members, Ha-eun could talk to Da-yeon.

In other words, Ha-eun could say anything to Da-yeon, and Da-yeon would have no idea that it was Ha-eun speaking.

Was this the reason?

[Ah, hello!]

"Hey~! So, you’re Nael?"

The moment the conversation with Nael, the season 2 member who would be controlled by Diah today, started, Ha-eun asked Nael to repeat whatever she said.

"I’ll make sure to give you great YouTube content, just trust me!"

[Ah, okay!]

Not long after, Getting to Know Each Other started.

The content, which would first be recorded and later uploaded to the official YouTube channel after the official debut of the Illusionary Realm season 2 members, began.

"Question for Hida~!"

[Question for Hida~!]

"Your avatar’s chest is huge, but doesn’t it look a bit too different from the real thing?"

[The avatar’s chest is... um... S-senpai?!]

"Chest. Really. Is. Way. Too. Different. From. Reality. Come. On. Quickly."

From the first question, Ha-eun’s revenge plan began to unfold.

Nael, who had once faced the famous actress Min Da-yeon — known as Hida in Illusionary Realm — was terrified to speak up.

However, Diah’s voice kept commanding her, repeating the same sentence again and again.