"[S-Stop chasing me!!]"
"[Alright, just gotta put in the battery and… wait, wait, wait, why is it moving?!]"
"[Argh… died again...]"
The most familiar voice in the world.
The same voice that made Dayeon chuckle uncontrollably whenever she heard it.
"[O-oh…? Stay back! Don’t come near me!! AHHHH!!]"
Watching Diah get devoured by the giant cat plush once again, Dayeon hastily muted her microphone.
Laughing to the point of tears wasn’t exactly the dignified behavior expected of the mature Witch Hida.
"Hah… oh my god, this is too much…."
Perhaps she’d laughed too much while watching Diah repeatedly fall victim to the monsters.
A few stray tears were already welling up at the corners of her eyes.
Diah’s desperate attempts to remain polite while screaming in terror at the jump scares were equally entertaining.
Every monster that leapt out made Ha-eun shriek, but she still struggled to maintain her respect toward Hida.
"[O-Only the Viking ride left. Nothing else, right?]"
"[Huh? Why can’t I move my feet?]"
"[Ah! Let go of me!!]"
"You really think they’ll listen to reason? Just accept your fate as their snack."
"[Grr…! Easy for you to say…!!]"
And just like that, the stone statue grabbed Diah’s avatar and swallowed her whole.
From there, Diah served as a special treat for the various monsters until she finally discovered the last clue to unlock the ending.
Naturally, the Noeulis teased her relentlessly.
After all, the highlight of any horror game stream was the death scenes.
The faster the chat scrolled whenever Diah met her end, the more obvious it became how much fun they were having.
"Well, at least the monsters won’t go hungry for a while~."
"[I-I didn’t die that much!]"
"Oh, sweetie. There isn’t a single monster here that hasn’t had a taste of Diah."
"[…You’re too much….]"
With Hida joining in on the teasing, the effect was doubled.
There wasn’t a trace of respect for her supposed senior, the legendary Diah.
Perhaps that’s why the Noeulis grew so enamored with Hida’s chaotic presence.
Her subtle yet undeniable madness had been on full display from the moment the collab began.
"[This is cheating! People will think you’re dating these monsters!]"
Diah’s frustration at Hida siding with the monsters was just the cherry on top.
And the chat’s sarcastic retorts only added fuel to the fire, making Dayeon struggle to contain her laughter.
Throughout the chaos, Diah was bombarded from all sides—verbally by Hida in their Discord call, and through relentless messages in the chat.
To Dayeon, this felt like the ultimate poetic justice.
Even though the stream ended with Diah finally reaching the Cat Playtime ending and earning praise,
the bulk of it had been filled with Noeulis gleefully munching popcorn while Diah suffered through jumpscares and deaths.
"[I just need to pull the lever and…!]
"[Die, you cursed cat!!]"
And so, the Cat Playtime end credits finally rolled across the screen.
A brief post-game chat between Diah and Hida followed.
"[I-I followed your instructions and made it to the end. H-how was it…?]"
Diah’s polite tone remained, her nerves still palpable.
Hida, meanwhile, continued to tease her with her mature, almost mocking voice.
"Everyone says you’re good at games, but that’s a load of nonsense~."
"[T-That’s because I was following your orders! If I played my way, I’d have died ten times less!]"
"Sure, sure. Excuses, excuses."
"[They’re not excuses!!]"
"Alright, let’s pretend it’s not."
Dayeon couldn’t help but chuckle at Ha-eun’s indignation.
It wasn’t as though the voice beyond the headphones was 100% genuine outrage.
She was clearly playing along with the stream’s vibe: “Hida the Noeuli who torments Diah.”
Still, Dayeon couldn’t deny the satisfaction she felt.
How many chances would she get to mess with Ha-eun ?
"Alright, then. We’ve roasted her enough; time for part two!"
A karaoke program appeared in the middle of the stream screen.
Diah’s pupils immediately began to tremble.
"[W-Wait… is part two a singing stream?]"
"[B-But I didn’t prepare…]"
For Ha-eun, any singing stream required thorough preparation.
Not only did she need to practice singing in Diah’s tone, but she also had to ensure it didn’t resemble Pinocchio’s voice.
Dayeon smirked knowingly as Ha-eun trailed off mid-sentence.
"You performed it live during its debut, didn’t you? If you could sing it live then, you don’t need extra practice now."
Just as the intro for A Staccato in Time began to play:
"[W-Wait! Stop the intro!]"
Ha-eun frantically paused the backing track.
She claimed her throat felt sore from all the screaming during Cat Playtime.
"[Let me drink some warm water first. Please, Witch-sama, I won’t be able to stream if I lose my voice!]"
When was the last time Ha-eun sounded this desperate?
Or rather, had there ever been such a moment?
‘…She’s cute, though.’
Eventually, Dayeon, acting as if she were doing a favor, agreed to Ha-eun’s request.
However, simply waiting for Diah’s throat to recover wasn’t an option.
"Well then, how about I sing something in the meantime? What do you all think?"
The chat instantly flooded with unanimous support.
"Hmm, let me think about what to sing."
To clarify, Hida’s singing talent differed greatly from Diah’s.
Thanks to her experience portraying a "child prodigy opera singer" during her childhood, Dayeon was well-versed in opera.
In other words, Hida’s karaoke streams were primarily opera-focused.
And opera, as a genre, had an undeniable grandeur compared to other styles.
The initial confusion in the chat quickly turned into awe as soon as Hida’s avatar closed its eyes and her powerful soprano voice filled the stream.
｢O──♪ Fortuna─♪ vel──♪♪ ut luna────♪｣
In short, it was a total reversal.
Moments ago, Hida had been teasing Diah alongside the chat. Now, the same chat marveled at her unexpected vocal prowess.
However, Hida’s O Fortuna performance was so overwhelming that when Diah followed up with her softer song, "A Staccato in Time," the audience’s reactions were noticeably subdued.
Although there were no harsh criticisms, Ha-eun herself had been startled by Hida’s operatic skill, so it wasn’t entirely surprising.
At least during Illusion, the responses were livelier.
"[…Thank you… for the collaboration….]"
By the time the collab ended, Ha-eun’s voice had noticeably dimmed.
Not quite depressed, but quieter than usual.
"…This doesn’t feel right."
Having known Ha-eun for over a decade, Dayeon could immediately sense when something was off.
The very next day at the Veterans set, Ha-eun’s demeanor was markedly downcast.
In other words, she was sulking.
From Dayeon’s perspective, asking why or pretending to know the reason was a dangerous move.
‘If she finds out it’s me, she’ll definitely blow up….’
Even though it was reasonable for Ha-eun to be upset, Dayeon couldn’t picture her genuinely losing her temper.
Ha-eun had never truly exploded in anger.
‘…That one time was a misunderstanding.’
Technically, Ha-eun had shown hints of irritation before, but only briefly during a misunderstanding in middle school.
Dayeon had long since filed that away as an exception.
‘If those words back then were sincere, I’d be in big trouble… but they weren’t, right?’
Regardless, Dayeon wasn’t keen on letting Ha-eun’s sulky state drag on.
"Oh, Jinsu oppa. I want to send a coffee truck."
[…A coffee truck? To whom? Where?]
"To Ha-eun. To the Veterans set."
[Hmm… alright. I’ll make arrangements and call you back~.]
Dayeon decided to cheer Ha-eun up without revealing her identity as Hida.
It was, in a way, a preemptive apology for when the "red pill" incident inevitably came to light.
By the time the coffee truck bearing Dayeon’s name arrived at the Veterans set,
Dayeon had already snuck over to surprise Ha-eun, who was visibly puzzled by the unexpected gift.
"You’re the first person I’ve ever sent a coffee truck to."
Dayeon was confident this would lift Ha-eun’s spirits.
And indeed, while the two shared warm coffee, Ha-eun seemed like her usual self again.
"Oh, yes. I’ll talk to her about it."
As soon as Ha-eun hung up the phone and turned toward Dayeon,
more specifically, after she unknowingly agreed to a "cameo" suggestion,
‘…? Something feels… different.’
Ha-eun’s entire demeanor began to shift.
And an hour later, during the shoot, it reached its peak.
"…Manager Kim. Didn’t I say… I don’t like repeating myself?"
A gaze filled with unmistakable killing intent.
A glinting dagger gripped tightly in a veiny hand.
The icy blade brushed past Dayeon’s throat, sending chills down her spine.
While her role as "Manager Kim" required her to act scared,
at that moment, Dayeon wasn’t acting.
"I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to just do your damn job."
Ha-eun’s unblinking gaze remained fixed on Dayeon’s carotid artery.
And Dayeon reached one irrefutable conclusion:
‘…This girl is really pissed.’
Ha-eun’s mood hadn’t improved after all.
There was no way someone could emit such a deadly aura otherwise.