For Da-yeon, Hida was a golden ticket.
Unlike before, when she was just another faceless fan among many Noeulis, as Hida, she was an official member of Illusionary Realm.
More importantly, it gave her a VVIP pass to interact with Diah.
Of course, Da-yeon wasn’t just messing around.
Getting into Illusionary Realm’s 2nd generation was a huge achievement, considering the competition.
So she dedicated herself to fully embodying the Hida persona.
She genuinely enjoyed it.
The absolute chaos in Hida’s broadcast was NOT a welcome sight.
"Wh-what the hell is going on?!"
For the first time since she started streaming as Hida, Da-yeon was completely thrown off.
Her usual 3,000 viewers had suddenly exploded to over 13,000.
The chat was moving so fast that it was unreadable.
She had no idea how to control it.
But this was exactly the kind of moment she had been trained for at LUX.
"H-hold on a second~. Let’s switch to subscriber-only mode~."
With a few swift mouse clicks, the overwhelming flood immediately slowed down.
For the next 20 minutes, she focused entirely on stabilizing the chat.
Gradually, the chaos died down.
With the chat finally under control, only her regular viewers, the “Hansels,” remained.
But then, the thought hit her.
Why the hell was Lee Ha-eun being spammed in the chat earlier?
"Wait, hold on—what do you mean, Lee Ha-eun watches this? Isn’t she an actress?"
"H-hold on, something’s on the forum? Let me check real quick."
While chanting to herself "I don’t know Lee Ha-eun, I don’t know Lee Ha-eun"* over and over,
Da-yeon clicked into Illusionary Realm’s official cafe.
She opened a thread titled:
[ Hida, Now an Official TV Star ]
Title > Hida on National TV
Author: CrispyCrispyHoneyCheese | 20:58
(Start Again Episode 1 Highlight Reel - LINK)
🕒 Timestamp: 11:07 - 11:41
Lee Ha-eun has officially declared Hida cute.
ㄴ Is Lee Ha-eun “just anyone” though?
ㄴ What if Iyeo-seo decides to slice her up?
ㄴ …That’s actually a fair point
"She… she called me… cute?"
Da-yeon had just been watching Start Again a few moments ago.
There was no scene of Ha-eun watching a VTuber.
How the hell did this happen?
She couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore.
The YouTube link loaded up.
It was a highlight reel from Start Again Episode 1.
But because it was a highlight reel, the first clip wasn’t even about the VTuber segment.
"Leni-unnie, want to bet on who can hold their breath longer?"
"A bet? What’s on the line?"
"Hmm… A 30-minute massage?"
Right in front of her, on her own stream, a scene played of Ha-eun and Leni in their swimsuits.
The chat was completely out of control again.
She slammed the skip button.
There was no way she was letting over 10,000 people watch her best friend in a bikini on her own stream.
The chat was in flames again.
But she kept skipping until she finally found the scene she was looking for.
She had seen this exact scene before.
"This stream just started Animal Village. But they got stung by a bee, so now they’re going in and out of the river to reduce the swelling. So cute—"
A slightly flustered Ha-eun was gushing about Hida.
Next to her, Song Hyeon-min looked awkward but interested.
Ha-eun was basically evangelizing Hida’s content to him.
It was the exact same thing Da-yeon had done when she introduced Diah to Ha-eun.
Her entire face went red.
Seeing it from a third-person perspective was embarrassing beyond belief.
"L-Lee Ha-eun, you crazy btch…!!"*
She wanted to call her.
If she confronted Ha-eun, that would basically be admitting that Hida = Da-yeon.
"A-ah, wow… that really is my stream, huh. I never expected a celebrity to watch my content… This feels kinda surreal."
She forced herself to sound mature and composed.
But inside, she was dying.
She finally started preparing to return to her actual stream content.
[ Diah d 200,000 KRW! ]
Message: "Hida, the national TV star, has officially arrived."
The culprit of this entire mess had appeared.
And she d a huge amount.
Da-yeon, now beyond panicked, did the only thing she could.
Hida had just banned the most chaotic force in her stream—Diah.
With a long sigh of relief, she finally resumed her originally planned content—
A "Fantasy Wedding" segment featuring Illusionary Realm members.
But the very next day, after wrapping up her stream, Da-yeon found herself face to face with Ha-eun at school.
"Lee Ha-eun, are you out of your damn mind?! What were you thinking wearing this little scrap of fabric on national TV?!"
She shoved her phone screen in Ha-eun’s face, displaying a still from Start Again.
On the screen, Ha-eun was smiling in a bikini.
"...That was the most modest option available…."
Da-yeon’s next question was whether Ha-eun’s swimsuit scenes would appear in Episode 2 or 3.
Instead of answering, Ha-eun looked away.
Da-yeon immediately facepalmed.
"T-There’s not that much more! I just took sunset photos with Jung-yoon unnie while playing around in the water."
"I’m seriously going to lose my mind…."
Honestly, Ha-eun felt wronged.
So what if she wore a swimsuit?
She was just playing in the water.
It wasn’t like she was posing for a photoshoot.
Da-yeon wasn’t her girlfriend.
So why was she acting so possessive?
But Ha-eun didn’t say that out loud.
Because she knew exactly why Da-yeon was this upset.
"She literally banned me… She must be really mad."
Normally, Hida would just grumble whenever Diah teased her.
But this time, she instantly banned her.
She was genuinely pissed.
Even if she wasn’t supposed to treat Hida and Da-yeon as the same person, she couldn’t ignore the tension.
While Start Again was dominating online discussions,
the production team of Gods & Goblins was holding an OST meeting.
"What if we have Ha-eun sing the theme song?"
After all, Ha-eun was not just an actress—she was also an outstanding singer.
She had been cast in Start Again as a musician, not an actress.
"Her voice is so clear, just like in A Certain Spring Day."
"Plus, if Baek Seol-hwa herself sings the OST, the emotional impact will be even stronger."
And so, just like that, Ha-eun was basically confirmed to record a song for Gods & Goblins.
But at that exact moment—
"Watching over you all night long—♪"
"This is you, isn’t it?"
Ha-eun was in Leni’s studio… stuck in a VERY awkward situation.
"You really thought you could fool a singer’s ears?"
"…Who showed you that video?"
"My niece. Apparently, all the forums are talking about a YouTuber covering my song."
Leni had recognized Ha-eun’s voice immediately.
After all, she had heard it before—in this very studio.
Now, she was asking Ha-eun for a favor.
"Can you help me contact this person?"
"The company suggested we reach out directly. You said this person was a fan of mine, right?"
And so, exactly one week later,
Diah’s “red pill” moment was about to get a LOT more complicated.
Diah & Leni’s Hospital Visit
"The camera’s on, right? So I just hold it , like I’m video calling?"
[ Ah, yes. Just make sure I’m facing the front properly. ]
Against all odds, Ha-eun found herself appearing as Diah…
Today was the day of the hospital visit.
Leni was scheduled to visit Park Yeon-woo,
the cancer patient whose story had spread across multiple communities.
The arrangements had already been made with Park Yeon-woo’s guardian.
But the patient themself had no idea Leni was coming.
As an extra surprise, Ha-eun decided to join as Diah.
Leni didn’t need to bring her.
"If Yeon-woo is my fan, wouldn’t this make them even happier?"
So, a few minutes later—
The hospital room door quietly opened.
Inside, Park Yeon-woo, looking slightly pale but awake, instinctively glanced up.
Standing there was Leni.
The real, actual Leni.
And inside her iPad screen,
Diah was waving awkwardly.
Yeon-woo’s brain completely shut down.
This was way too much to process.
"…What the hell is happening?"