Chapter 29: Haruka (edited)

26 years old.

The age when a woman’s beauty reaches its peak.

The vibrant liveliness of youth and the mature scent of adulthood naturally blend together, and that ripe charm alone is enough to capture anyone’s attention.

A few years ago, she would have been hounded by relatives during holidays to hurry up and get married before it was too late, but that didn’t apply to Han Seo-yoon.

Part of it was probably thanks to her relatively open-minded family.

However, even though she had never introduced a single man as a boyfriend to her family, no one had ever pressured her.

The reason was simple: she had always been a sharp, capable child who handled everything on her own, and more than that—she was the most successful person in the Han family, including extended relatives.

As always, in family gatherings, annual salary equals authority.

At first, her mother lamented how the world was going downhill because “some anime character chats away on a tiny screen and somehow earns tens of millions.”

But not long after, she began respecting her daughter—now the head of the household before even turning 25—and felt proud of her.

To her family, she was a source of pride.
To her relatives, her parents’ acquaintances, and the people from her hometown, she was the object of jealous admiration.

Her morning (well, late afternoon, actually) was quite busy.

Riiing—

“Mmm…”

As the alarm rang, she woke up, first checking that the humidifier was working properly, then making sure the air purifier was clean.

An unmaintained air purifier can be worse than not using one at all, so ensuring it’s clean was a crucial task.

Next, she checked the fine dust level in the air, removed the mask she wore all night, opened the window, and took in a breath of fresh air.

That’s when she noticed the sharp scent of the propolis extract she had dropped into her throat before bed (or rather, early that morning) had fully dissipated.

Propolis is a natural antibiotic that has been used as folk medicine since ancient times and is a byproduct of beekeeping.

Bees use it to seal small gaps in the hive, protecting themselves from harmful microorganisms.

Its primary benefits are antioxidant effects and oral antibacterial properties.

It’s also known for antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal effects—basically, it’s considered very good for the throat, which is why someone like her, who sings for a living, uses it religiously.

Being a natural product, it’s quite rare and expensive, but for someone who earns money at levels ordinary people in their 20s can’t even imagine, it’s not really a burden.

After brushing her teeth, she mixed about ten drops of the extract into lukewarm water and drank it down.

After eating, she took the medication prescribed by her doctor that was safe to take with the propolis.

The reason she took such care of her throat was, of course, because singing was her life.

Her vocal technique was particularly taxing on her voice.

Without proper care, her already overused vocal cords might have permanently lost their function.

—Then why not just use a technique that’s easier on the voice? one might ask.

But she had her own standards.

Compared to her intelligent, decisive on-stream persona, her reasoning was surprisingly simple and childish.

“Coolness.”

That was the only thing she pursued in her singing.

If her vocal cords weren’t pushed to the brink, she couldn’t bring out that “flavor.”

That’s why she couldn’t give up her current destructive, romantic vocal style.

But even for someone who lived to sing, the dreaded “throat rest period” eventually came for her too—

—“Your vocal cords are strong, yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re made of steel. Even steel wears down over time. So how do you think human vocal cords would fare?”
—“…They’d wear out too?”
—“It’s more than that. Look at this photo. Your vocal cords have narrowed significantly. Even if they recover, I can’t guarantee your voice will ever be the same. Are you planning to stop singing entirely?”

Even Haruka had to tread carefully when it came to vocal cord nodules.

Like David from Cyberpunk, shouting “I’m special” while recklessly using Sandevistan, she once believed she had been blessed with special vocal cords and sang as hard as she wanted.

But after getting thoroughly scolded by her doctor, she couldn’t continue like that anymore.

She had no choice but to quietly wait until she healed.

Technically, the doctor told her not to speak at all.

But since she was a streamer, this was the best compromise she could make.

Swoooosh—

“Ahem— Ah~ Ah~”

Completely naked, Han Seo-yoon stepped into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and did some simple vocal warm-ups.

Still, she felt a tight, suffocating sensation in her throat.

She frowned slightly and turned her head.

“I could probably sing one or two songs.”

She murmured calmly and tied her hair up with practiced ease.

Water droplets from the shower hit her smooth, elastic skin and trickled gently down.

They splashed along her long neckline and delicate shoulders, slid across her slim waist and down her long legs.

Watching her reflection in the mirror in a daze, she suddenly thought of a certain girl.

The girl who looked at her with more concern than anyone else a month ago, when she first revealed her diagnosis.

And the plan that followed, cautiously proposed by her and CEO Kim Kang-hyun.

“…She wants to temporarily replace me.”

How bold.

But it didn’t come across as rude—especially from someone she had liked from the start.

Sure, it was a little embarrassing and hurt her pride…

But during their time at the amusement park, she’d seen how genuinely that girl admired her like a devoted fan.

Plus, the way she tried so hard to protect her when she was scared of ghosts—it was pretty endearing.

More than anything, she was her first fan encounter.

And given the nature of VTubing, possibly her last.

Sure, there might be future fan meetings, but those Kana-ris would be meeting Haruka—not Han Seo-yoon.

Anyway, it was heartwarming to be loved and worried over by such a sweet little canary.

So even if the declaration was a bit unexpected, she had already heard about Usou from the CEO.

She was actually looking forward to it quite a bit.

“She said… her singing resembles mine.”

She grew curious about how similar it really was—enough to make the CEO so excited.

So she planned to watch Kotori’s debut stream live.

Still, she couldn’t help thinking something else.

Even if Kotori’s singing was similar to hers—

Even if she had the talent to reach Haruka—

“…She can’t replace me.”

Han Seo-yoon—no, Haruka—was confident.

“The only person who can sing the best and be loved the most by fans is Haruka.”

Her obsession with singing bordered on madness, and even Woo Seo-woo, who was madly obsessed with her, couldn’t have predicted it.

Midnight had passed.

The long-awaited debut day had finally arrived.

Technically, Sumire, Mao, and Hoshino were debuting in one-hour relay streams today, and I would be doing a relay stream with Azusa tomorrow.

So strictly speaking, it wasn’t my debut day,
but since today marked the first debut of the second-generation members, it still counted.

However, the immense attention that had been directed toward the second-generation debuts had temporarily died down.

On fan sites like the Bellus gallery, MyTube, fan cafés, and even Twitter—
no one was talking about the second-generation debut at the moment.

This kind of situation was highly unusual.

Normally, when a new virtual group debuts, there’s always a degree of hype,
and this was Bellus’ second generation, no less.

But once people heard the reason,
everyone responded with a short “Ah.” and nodded in understanding—
because a massive piece of news had dropped.

So massive that it dominated Twitter’s real-time trending list.

The identity of this shocking event—

#Haruka_NewSong
(1 • Trending in South Korea)

AdultMija
(2 • Trending in South Korea)

#Bellus_Haruka_CoverSong
(3 • Music • Real-time Trend)

#Haruka_MusicReturn_Congrats
(4 • Music • Real-time Trend)

TemporaryHoliday
(5 • Trending in South Korea)

It was the announcement of Haruka’s return with a new song—
the return of the face of Bellus, and the best vocalist in the virtual YouTuber world.

“…Huh?”

Even though this was the news I had been desperately waiting for,

I couldn’t help but be confused as soon as I heard it.

Hadn’t this already been discussed with Kim Kang-hyun?

When we exchanged messages, Haruka herself had said everything was settled.

There were rumors in the company about a minor disagreement between the two,
but trust between Bellus members and the CEO was well-known,
so I hadn’t thought much of it.

But now I was certain—
even Kim Kang-hyun didn’t expect Haruka’s music return.

Because she wasn’t supposed to be singing in her condition.

So what on earth was happening?

Even though I was confused,
my hands were already heading to her MyTube channel on their own.

Sure enough, there it was—
a newly uploaded cover song on her channel,
posted less than thirty minutes ago.

With trembling fingers, I tapped the video.

“Wow… holy crap.”

The moment I heard the first line, I let out an involuntary exclamation.

It was a song made famous by a Japanese utaite singer,
used in a popular anime movie.

The first line, perfectly capturing the confident and destructive charm of the movie’s protagonist,
resounded in my ears through Haruka’s voice.

“…!!!”

Without any warning, a sudden burst of high notes sent shivers down my spine.

Her voice—clear and cathartic,
despite her supposed vocal cord nodules—
swept away all the doubts and worries I’d had up until that moment.

But as I kept listening,
my expression grew more serious.

The lyrics—

They felt like they were aimed at me and Kim Kang-hyun.

As if to ask,
Do you really think you can replace Haruka?

“…Ugh.”

Why did the word “rotting” in the lyrics sound so self-deprecating?

She had always been my proud, confident oshi.

As the lyrics continued, my chest began to ache.

I could feel her emotions through the song.

It felt like she was scolding us
—for trying to replace her just because she wavered for a moment.

Then came the line about needing to meet expectations—
and I realized something.

What she wanted to say through her singing.

Who she was shouting out to.

Haruka wasn’t just addressing Kim Kang-hyun and me.

She was crying out to everyone who doubted and worried about her.

She screamed through the lyrics—

That she would answer again and again and again.

And that—

Vocal cord nodules were nothing to her.

So—

Don’t even think about replacing her.