- Ding-dong.

    “I’m home...”

    The house was dark. The only light came from the hallway lamp that had just been turned on.

    Still, out of caution, Ha-eun quietly opened the door to her room, hoping she wouldn’t be noticed.

    “...Phew.”

    Fortunately, both Na-yeon and Seong-yoon were asleep.

    After all, there was no reason for them to be awake at 3 a.m.

    Ha-eun, relieved, headed straight to her own room and fell asleep.

    Five hours later.

    “Ha-eun.”

    “Yes?”

    “Sweetie, it’s great that you’re making money, but... don’t you think working so late already is a little... too much?”

    As she sat down for breakfast, Ha-eun heard a concerned voice she had never heard before.

    Simultaneously, her body froze from head to toe.

    “W-wait, what do you mean...?”

    “No, it’s just... lately, you’ve been working really late.”

    There were so many things on Ha-eun’s mind, but the one thing that stood out the most was, of course, the Illusionary Realm-related activities.

    Ji Hye-min had done her best to cover for Ha-eun, but...

    The problem started when Na-yeon made that call to LUX instead of Luna Entertainment.

    LUX wasn’t just any famous entertainment agency—it was an MCN, a company for people involved in internet broadcasting.

    That meant Na-yeon had started to suspect that Ha-eun’s late-night returns had something to do with LUX’s internet broadcasters.

    ‘How much does she know...?’

    Ha-eun couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

    It was no surprise—people from her generation, like Na-yeon, often didn’t have the best opinion of internet broadcasting.

    Of course, Na-yeon might not have any prejudices against it, but even if she didn’t...

    “Couldn’t someone else do the performance simulation for you?”

    “Well, it’s something only I can do.”

    “Does it have to be you, Ha-eun?”

    “...Yes...”

    Ha-eun was certain that Na-yeon couldn’t find out about Diah. That’s why, she carefully looked for a way to tell Na-yeon that she would try to schedule as much as possible during the day moving forward.@@@@

    “Still, I’ve wrapped up most of the urgent stuff. The Sunshine shoot is completely done too.”

    “Is it because of the people you’ve met while working? Are you so attached to them that you can’t quit?”

    “Yeah, they’re people I like... but... I’m really doing something I enjoy.”

    Ha-eun smiled softly as she said this, nervously checking Na-yeon’s expression.

    For Na-yeon, this was not the usual Ha-eun. Still, Na-yeon didn’t ask any more questions because she knew Ha-eun wasn’t doing anything bad.

    No matter what, Ha-eun hated making others worry about her.

    Na-yeon, who knew this better than anyone, decided not to interfere with the "puppet show" things any further.

    However, not interfering didn’t mean...

    “But, Ha-eun.”

    “Yes?”

    “Are you doing puppet shows on YouTube lately?”

    “...What?”

    But after dinner...

    - Click.

    [ Illusionary Realm Quote World Cup☆ ]

    DiahWelcome, babyOf course, I’m confident we’ll make it to the 128th round.Is this the broadcast that started out as a grand challenge and turned into reality?

    As always, Ha-eun turned on the stream in her soundproof booth, which was now familiar to her. By now, the 1st anniversary of Illusionary Realm was fast approaching.

    [ Cream: “Ah? Ice avocado?”

    VS

    Mai: “If you can’t break it, take it.”]

    “Oh, the black-and-white with quotation marks gives it such a vibe, even though it’s nothing special!”

    The lineup from the start was hilarious ??????Let''s not make bad comments about questioning someone''s intellectual levelMai, who tried to steal a car after saying that, was hilarious when caughtI have no idea how that avocado line came up, but it’s confusing

    These days, Ha-eun focused most of her content on interacting with the Noeulis. While she occasionally did gaming streams like Battle Island, as Illusionary Realm''s 1st anniversary drew closer, she prioritized more interactive communication with her fans.

    One thing Ha-eun particularly focused on was dropping hints about the 1st anniversary live concert.

    “Our group song really turned out well. Especially Cream’s part—it’s so amazing, I can’t help but say ‘wow!’”

    Here comes the Cream lover again.So when are you and Cream getting together?Everyone except you said Diah’s part was the best.Diah, Yuna says a lot of bad things about you.

    - Ding.

    [ eternalyg donated 30,000 won! ]

    “Was it really you who said the Demon King in the tights looked like a Power Ranger henchman the moment you saw them?”

    “No, I wasn’t making fun of them. You guys would say the same if you saw them dressed like that too, I swear.”

    Then show us first?Why only you? Why only you? Why only you?We’ll judge for ourselves, show us the photo ??

    This way, Ha-eun used her 1st-anniversary live concert and the upcoming 1st-anniversary special broadcast to shift the focus of the Noeulis.

    Other members besides Diah also checked out the 3D avatars and the teaser for the group song Illusion during the broadcast.

    However, aside from that, there was also a growing interest in Illusionary Realm''s 2nd-generation debut, which was mentioned frequently.

    This was all part of the strategy from Daramji, the project leader for Illusionary Realm.

    Just as Daramji had done before the debut of Illusionary Realm’s 1st generation, Daramji was now dropping hints about the 2nd generation.

    The problem, however, was that some of these hints were related to Diah. More specifically, the hints were about Diah’s free pass for content access.

    So, there were often moments when the Noeulis became interested in the dopamine-filled content about Diah''s free pass.

    - Ding.

    [ WithCoin donated 10,000 won! ]

    “I heard that among the 2nd-generation members, there are not one but two Noeulis—is that true?”

    “...Yeah.”

    ???????????Yeah, go ahead, we won’t greet youLet''s go with some ‘tough love’ training ??If the junior tells you to bark, do you bark like a dog?

    “Pfft! Who do you think you are, junior? This is Korea, Korea! The land of courtesy!”

    You were speaking casually to me from the startGot roasted ?????Territorialism ???If you’re scared, just say you are, babyDaramji said both Noeulis are grinding their teeth like crazy

    For the next few days, Ha-eun’s broadcasts focused on both the 1st-anniversary of Illusionary Realm and the upcoming debut of the 2nd generation.

    What Ha-eun hadn’t anticipated was that there were people watching her broadcasts in preparation—such as Nael, one of the 2nd-generation members.

    One of the Noeulis, Nael, frequently referenced Diah’s streams. This included looking at Diah’s stream chat.

    So, whenever the Noeulis mentioned Nael, Ha-eun would respond in a quiet mutter, not meaning to but unable to stop herself.

    Though Nael’s name hadn’t been officially revealed, Ha-eun could get the gist of it from the context.

    Then one day...

    [ Off day or late notice (Drama issue...!) ]

    Diah posted an announcement in the official Illusionary Realm cafe about taking a break for just one day. This was due to Na-yeon’s request to watch the final episode of The Sunshine together.

    The content of the announcement was about how she’d been hooked on a drama recently and couldn’t resist watching it, asking for the Noeulis’ understanding.

    At least, for Nael, it had a slightly different meaning.

    “Wait, you watch The Sunshine too, senior?”

    Later, during a cooking stream collaboration with Diah, they decided to talk about The Sunshine. Having common interests made it easier to get closer, which Nael saw as a great opportunity.

    Time passed, and the long-awaited final episode of The Sunshine began. However, what Nael saw wasn’t what she had been expecting.

    [ “I told you I lost. But why...?” ]

    In the later part of the episode, the atmosphere began to feel ominous, and despite Nael''s belief that it would end on a happy note, that wasn’t what happened.

    - Thud.

    [ “...This can’t be. You can’t be like this...?” ]

    “No, no... this isn’t...”

    As the world around them blurred, Nael couldn’t watch the scene she had been waiting for. That iconic scene, which had a 27% viewer rating, was now painful for Nael to witness.