Hobbyist VTuber

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Once upon a time, during the concept stage of [Don’t Stop People: A Special for You from the Stars].

“W-wait a moment, Geon-yeol. Who exactly did you just finish talking to?”

[Ha-eun.]

Hearing that unexpected name from the phone, PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s body jerked upright.

“H-Ha-eun? The same Lee Ha-eun I know? The one who appeared as the young Han Yu-hwa in the show?”

[Then who else could it be? Anyway, can we do it or not?]

“Of course we can! Absolutely!”

[Just as I thought.]

With that, Geon-yeol proudly claimed that he had significantly lightened PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s load.

The call ended with the suggestion that this debt will be repaid later with a special episode on [Don’t Stop People: Geon-yeol].

“Wait… really? Lee Ha-eun? Is it really her?”

For PD Choi Soo-hyeok, who was struggling to cast guests for the special episode about you from the stars, this was unexpected and delightful news.

I couldn’t help but exhale deeply in relief.

I hadn’t even known that Geon-yeol and Ha-eun were acquainted.

I certainly didn’t expect Geon-yeol to directly invite Ha-eun to appear on Don’t Stop People.

But without a doubt, Ha-eun was a hot topic that absolutely could not be missed.

What variety show PD would ever refuse a star who garners attention online and offline?

Over the next few days, amidst countless meetings, we somehow created fitting plots and missions for Ha-eun.

It was only when we ran out of ideas that I finally set up a meeting with Ha-eun to confirm her appearance on Don’t Stop People.

Still, I couldn’t shake off my worries about Ha-eun.

After all, this was her first variety show appearance, and she was only 12 years old.

No matter how great her acting skills or how huge her buzz, physical limitations were unavoidable.

Of course, while I had prepared missions with some consideration for Ha-eun, if I made it too obvious that I was favoring her, it would surely lessen the entertainment value of the program.

I also included a few missions where even an elementary school student like Ha-eun would have to put in some effort.

Though I made sure they weren’t too intense to avoid any risk of injury…

‘…Please don’t end up looking like a talent show.’

To ensure the broadcast didn’t turn cheesy, it was clear Ha-eun had to give her best effort, ‘to a certain extent.’

If she showed even a little enthusiasm, the veteran entertainers like Seong Yu-seok would guide things smoothly afterward.

The broadcasting instincts didn’t matter much.

In fact, showing her naivety as a variety show beginner would lead to fun and cheerful moments.

None of the production team, including PD Choi Soo-hyeok, expected Ha-eun to have the smooth talk of Seong Yu-seok.

Nor did they foresee her being a versatile solver like Jeon Dong-guk.

All they hoped for was simply to showcase the young Han Yu-hwa, whom they never thought they’d see again, to the viewers.

That was all that PD Choi Soo-hyeok wished for Ha-eun.

Therefore, when the opening began.

“The girl is living just fine, so why would she die? Did you perhaps have a bad dream last night?”

When Ha-eun delivered her witty ad-lib, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

If she could keep that up, I wouldn’t ask for anything more.

Even when she surprised everyone by choosing Jeon Dong-guk’s unappetizing meal during the first mission.

And even as she engaged in casual talk on the bus heading to the next mission without a hint of tension.

‘Honestly, I really need to do a special episode for Geon-yeol one day.’

I felt immensely grateful to Geon-yeol, who took the initiative to cast a broadcasting genius like Ha-eun.

Ha-eun’s current demeanor was the very best scenario that PD Choi Soo-hyeok had hoped for back in the day.

But not long after that.

To be precise, the moment the second mission, “Finding the Fake Park Do-jun,” began.

“I’ll say this one last time, but the closer Ha-eun’s flower shoes fall to the marked spot, the more points she’ll get. This isn’t a game about throwing them as far as possible.”

“Um, PD. Can I just throw them however I want?”

“Ah, yes. Ha-eun, it doesn’t matter where your shoes land.”

A question arose that hadn’t been part of any of PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s various scenarios.

Then, with Geon-yeol’s help, Ha-eun hiked up her pink outfit to reveal her knees and swung her leg powerfully—

-Whoosh!

Ha-eun sent her cute little flower shoes flying into the sky.

This was also an event that had never been in PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s scenarios.

A good 5 seconds later, her flower shoes began to descend, landing no less than 30 meters away.

‘…Is it shot put?’

Everyone had forgotten it was now the other contestants’ turn to throw shoes and just stared blankly at the shoes lying far away.

Originally, the mission concept had been that if the real Park Do-jun matched well with Han Yu-hwa, he’d throw the shoes around the same distance she did.

It was supposed to be an elementary school student’s mission that used Ha-eun’s distance as a benchmark.

“Should we decide the order first?”

“Uh, Seong Yu-seok. Just asking for clarification… does the order even matter?”

“No, you said it wasn’t a game about throwing far…!”

“Ha-eun, you rigged this! You planned with Dong-guk!”

“Now that makes sense; something felt off ever since Dong-guk selected the meal…”

No one, including PD Choi Soo-hyeok or any of the adults, expected the tension to rise among the members.

Especially when members other than MC Seong Yu-seok and the athletic Jeon Dong-guk began grumbling about this situation.

But even so, the die was cast.

No, Han Yu-hwa’s shoes had already been thrown.

“Oh, oh! Si-hyeok stepped on the line!”

“I didn’t!”

The second mission kicked off in a buzz far louder than PD Choi Soo-hyeok had expected.

Meanwhile, Ha-eun, the source of all this chaos, sat with an innocent expression on a folding chair, watching the members desperately trying to throw their shoes as far as they could.

“Uh, Soo-hyeok, do we really not need to re-shoot this?”

“…For now, let’s just observe. After all, something unexpected is bound to be entertaining.”

Afterward, the shoe-throwing continued without a break, and the ultimate victor was none other than the physically gifted Jeon Dong-guk.

Once again, clues for the final mission were distributed unevenly, based on Dong-guk.

As the members got back on the bus to move to the next mission, it came as no surprise.

“Ha-eun, just to check, do you happen to be in a sports club at school?”

They began discussing the extraordinary kicking skill they had just witnessed from Ha-eun.

“No, wait a minute, Geon-seok. Do elementary schools even have sports clubs nowadays?”

“Huh? They don’t? There were some when I was a kid.”

“There must have been since it was called a national school back then.”

While there was a bit of playful banter between the members, it was inevitable that the conversation mainly centered around Ha-eun.

Of course, there wasn’t anything wrong with the discussion revolving around our guest, Ha-eun.

However, during the third mission, “Protect Han Yu-hwa Dodgeball,” things went a little awry.

-Whoosh!

-Whoosh, whoosh!

“What’s with all the dodging? That defeats the purpose of Park Do-jun protecting us!”

“Hey, Se-young. You’re just terrible at throwing!”

“Then you throw it!”

“It’s not that hard! Watch closely; if you feint and then throw suddenly—”

-Splat.

“Oops. This time, I caught it perfectly.”

“I told you so!”

Only absurd scenes, far from PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s envisioned scenario, were captured by the camera.

Once more, the anxious voice of the rookie PD found its way to Choi Soo-hyeok’s ear.

“S-Soo-hyeok, are you sure this is okay?”

“…It’s not like it’s a bad thing.”

“Well, I mean, it’s not bad by your definition, but…”

Currently, PD Choi Soo-hyeok’s mind was too busy revising the editing direction he had previously thought out.

Thus, he had no time to console the anxious rookie PD.

Either way, Ha-eun was truly flying high.

What she looked like was, without a doubt, captivating enough to mesmerize viewers.

Although it might captivate people in a different way than it did in episode 5.

Still, what did it matter?

As far as PD Choi Soo-hyeok was concerned, as long as the viewer ratings were good, he couldn’t have cared less.

There was no sign of a serious problem that required halting the recording.

It was from that point that recording continued without any interruptions until it was finally time for the last mission.

“Um, Boram. Has Ha-eun received her label?”

“Oh yes, we’re about to move to the final location with writer Kim Hyeon-jin.”

“Understood. Please let him know to contact me when they arrive.”

Not long after that, PD Choi Soo-hyeok received news that they had arrived at the final location along with Ha-eun.

At that point, he had the members waiting on the bus step out one by one and revealed today’s final mission.

“Currently, Han Yu-hwa is hiding somewhere in this hanok village to escape the fake Park Do-jun. The first person to find Han Yu-hwa before the fake Park Do-jun, and then take her to the final stage to escape in a UFO will be today’s winner.”

After that, it was a matter of separating all the members with the designated writer around the village.

Once all the members were confirmed to have scattered, only then did he contact the writers to reveal the identity of today’s villain.

That is, who the fake Park Do-jun was.

“Before escaping in the UFO, today’s ultimate goal for the fake Park Do-jun is to remove Han Yu-hwa’s label to eliminate her. Ah, but please tell them not to engage in any physical confrontations with Ha-eun.”

He informed all the members of the conditions for the member playing the role of the fake Park Do-jun to win.

And a tension began to swirl around all their faces.

However, unlike the others, there was Ha-eun, who remained calm as usual, quietly hidden somewhere in the vast hanok village with her VJ.

“Excuse me, Ha-eun…”

“?”

“I mean, we still have about 3 minutes until we start shooting. Would you mind taking a photo with me?”

“Oh, sure.”

After standing next to the friendly-looking VJ and making a peace sign, they had just finished preparing for the commemorative photo.

At that moment, I was only thinking about which member would find Ha-eun first.

‘Still, it’ll probably be Jeon Dong-guk, right?’

I hadn’t really considered what Ha-eun would do if that member happened to be the fake Park Do-jun.

In the first place, I hadn’t been informed of who the fake Park Do-jun was.

All Ha-eun knew was that the fake Park Do-jun would try to remove her label.

But, really, out of the seven members, six were the real Park Do-jun.

I hadn’t really thought that the one fake Park Do-jun would find Ha-eun first.

Then, exactly 20 minutes later.

“Haah, haah…”

The person who finally discovered Ha-eun, hiding in a relatively deep spot, gasped for air.

More precisely, it was a piercing gaze solely focused not on Ha-eun but on her label.

‘…They say expecting the unexpected can lead to calamity.’

No matter how low the chances may be, I realized late that I could not let my guard down.