Chapter 308: Chapter 308

While Diah was down in the mines breaking rocks and exploring, Hida was up on the surface digging up dirt and flattening land to make a massive field. You could call it a division of labor between the two.

After all, they'd need to make money first if they wanted to someday open the best dessert shop on the Dream Server— Or even build a massive landmark called the Sugar Candy Building. By combining Diah’s mining with Hida’s farming, they hoped to earn income more efficiently.

That’s why Hida’s inventory was currently stuffed to the brim with dirt blocks.

“Hmm... Well, I’ve finished leveling out the remaining areas, but I’m not sure what to plant first.”

– Watermelons are the hidden gold mine.

– Sugarcane! You don’t have to replant it, just harvest and go!

– I saw Imu start with strawberries.

– Cabbages are worth gold right now, Hida!

– Isn’t wheat the OG Minecraft crop?

She had successfully expanded the farmland, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ flattening a much larger area that Diah had marked beyond the small initial patch. Now, she had to actually plant something to start earning.

But there were no seeds available to sow in the new field just yet. So she planned to sell the ores that Diah had left behind earlier in order to buy the seeds she needed to lay the foundation for farming.

She stashed the mountains of dirt in a chest on the edge of the field, then headed off toward the marketplace in the center of town.

Wouldn’t you know it—of all days, the market was packed with other star-level streamers chatting away. All names she recognized, but none she’d interacted with directly before.

“There’s... a lot of people. I wonder why all the big names are gathered here.”

– Go say hi! Go go go!

– LMAO out of everyone here, Hida’s the biggest name

– <<<<< Most famous person here

– .It’s her~ Please sign something~

– !! The great actress Min Da-yeon has arrived !! The great actress Min Da-yeon has arrived !! The great actress Min Da-yeon has arrived (This user has been banned.)

“...Anyone who keeps spamming weird chat like that will be banned.” Content orıginally comes from 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩

– Let’s keep things clean and chill~~

Hida stood frozen at the entrance of the market, quietly observing the avatars inside. It was just... awkward.

Da-yeon had already experienced a massive collab server the previous summer—Fantasy Server. So she knew full well that when someone like Hida popped up mid-chaos, people tended to initiate conversation on their own.

From the beginning, Da-yeon had always been shy with strangers. Even with her fellow second-generation members of Illusionary Realm, it had taken a long time before she could speak comfortably.

So approaching these streamers in the market on her own wasn’t going to be easy. But waiting around for their conversation to end wasn’t a viable option either.

If I waste time here, Ha-eun’s going to say I’m losing farming time...

After a brief internal struggle, she made a decision. She’d just have to go for it. If she wanted Hida’s stream to grow, she had to break through the awkwardness and start talking to people.

Or so she thought—but the very moment she took a step forward—

Both her donation window and the Dream Server notification panel lit up at the same time.

[ Diah has d 100,000 won! ]

[ LUX_Hida has been launched high into the sky thanks to a ₩100,000 donation! ]

“PfffffoooaaaAAAHHH!!”

With the sound of fireworks, Hida’s avatar was launched straight into the sky. The sudden, unexpected high-altitude leap caused her to let out a high-pitched scream completely involuntarily.

[ Who screamed just now? ]

[ Gasp. It was Hida. Congrats on the 100k won~ ]

[ H-Hello Hida! Welcome! ]

Naturally, all eyes in the market turned to Hida. Everyone had heard her scream, and a donation as large as 100,000 won got broadcast across the entire server.

And most importantly, not a single one of the streamers in that market didn’t know who Hida was. Or more accurately—who Hida really was.

So every last one of them wanted to say something.

In other words, for someone like Da-yeon who was already introverted, this was a living nightmare.

[ I really enjoy your streams— ]

[ What class do you plan on choosing, Hida?— ]

[ Your voice is amazing— ]

[ Could you share what mic you’re using— ]

[ What are you buying at the shop today— ]

That damn Lee Ha-eun...!

To skip to the result—Hida did manage to chat a bit with the streamers surrounding her. It’s not like she was so shy that she couldn’t speak at all.

But being able to talk and being comfortable talking were two very different things.

“I’m here to... buy some seeds. My hubby told me to prep the farm while he goes mining.”

[ Oh right, Diah said she’s the husband~ ]

[ You two must be really close frie— Ah! Sorry! ]

[ N-No, potatoes are great right now! If you harvest with a Fortune pick, you can get up to 7 at once! ]

– Minecraft’s version of a hundred handshake event LOL

– Breathe, Hida. Just breathe

– How many people are there??

– .It’s her~ Please sign something~

– Roen’s loving this lmao

Every time Hida said one word, she got ten back. Technically, she didn’t have to respond to all of them, but even just listening was draining.

Roughly ten minutes later, she finally returned to her sprawling farmland. She’d managed to complete her original goal of buying seeds, but she was mentally exhausted.

“Whew... Alright, let’s start with sugarcane...”

And so, using the ore Diah had mined, she planted her newly bought seeds in the freshly prepared field. Then she pulled the stacks of dirt out from the storage chest and began constructing more plots.

From beside the small cabin that she and Diah shared, her husband appeared—

The very same one who had sent her flying earlier in front of dozens of other streamers.

The moment she saw the familiar avatar approaching, Hida’s hands froze.

[ I brought back lots of diamonds, so now we can make you diamond armor and a diamond hoe— ]

As Diah took one step closer—

“YOU ABSOLUTE MENACE OF A HUSBAND!!”

Hida’s avatar, wielding an iron hoe, launched herself straight at Diah’s. Maybe it was her actress instincts kicking in, but even in that rage, she stayed in character for the couple RP. Though she hadn’t forgotten how mortifying it had been to be humiliated in front of the other streamers.

[ Ow! OW! Hubby’s dying! You’re gonna kill me! ]

She chased Diah in angry circles around the field.

Only when the repeated blows finally knocked Diah to critical HP did she stop.

“Try pulling that kind of stunt again, and I’ll rip out every single one of your precious husband hairs!”

[ I just... I just wanted to help you open up to the others... ]

[ I’m sorry! Love you! Loveyyy~! ]

– He’s totally whipped

– Witch-wife is terrifying ㅠㅠㅠ

– That voice shift tho lol

– The tension is REAL

Diah’s voice wavered slightly under the pressure of Hida’s cold fury.  But then came the flood of sweet-talk, weaponized into a barrage of affection. Da-yeon’s lips trembled with frustration.

Because no matter how you looked at it, Diah was Da-yeon’s Oshi.

Back when she first started watching, she hadn’t even known what "Oshi" meant—

But if anyone asked now, she'd say Diah was her ultimate favorite VTuber.

And she had zero immunity to hearing that kind of voice come from the Ha-eun inside Diah.

[ Agh! Nooo! Stop!! ]

Unable to handle her rising embarrassment, Hida silently pummeled Diah’s avatar again.

And just a few seconds later—

[ LUX_Hida has killed LUX_Diah. ]

– Ro_N: That was one brutal couple fight, whoa

– Emu: Hope you two settle things peacefully... ^^

– Double_Z: That love fight got intense

– Ohah: What on earth happened just now?!

As the wife murdered her husband in a historic first, a flurry of chat reactions from other players exploded across the screen. Da-yeon’s face burned red all over again.

Maybe it was a good thing the stream was about to end soon.

[ Honey, are you still mad...? ]

“...Shut it. Don’t act all cute now.”

She told Diah—who had respawned in the town square and returned to the fields—that she was logging off. But just as she was about to end the stream, another suggestion popped up.

[ Honey, let’s go spend today’s donation coins on a random draw before we log off. We might get an invite ticket. ]

“C-Can you please stop calling me ‘honey’? It’s tickling my ears.”

[ What else would I call my honey, if not ‘honey’? ]

“...Grmph blurghrrrh...”

– 1-year-old baby puts the 600-year-old grandma in her place

– Why is the junior disciplining her senior lol

– Aaah the witch is scary now

– omg omg omg omg omg

– Hrrghblurgh~ Blrghkoinkk~

Anyway, off they went to the donation coin shop together. They dumped all the donation coins they’d earned from that day’s Dream Server stream into the random draw.

Altogether, Diah and Hida spent ₩■■ million worth of donation coins. The sheer volume reflected the massive scale of their broadcasts, so it took quite a while to go through the draws.

The 100th draw, done 10 at a time.

“Ugh... Still nothing.”

[ Why is it only giving me dog poop stickers... ]

“Ooh, I got a Secret Treasure Map Fragment. What’s this?”

[ Hmm... an Easter egg, maybe? ]

At the 1070th draw, precisely—

《Special Invite Ticket x1》

《Special Invite Ticket x1》

“Oh... oh! I got it!! Two!!”

– Holy, they pulled two at once

– So this is pay-to-win...

– Two tickets, wow wow wow

In total, Diah and Hida pulled three special invite tickets between them. Which meant they could now invite three more players to the Dream Server.

Under normal circumstances, that kind of result would’ve been statistically impossible. But their donation coin budget had pretty much bulldozed those odds. Not to mention the repeated ₩100,000 donations they’d fired at each other earlier.

Anyway— They invited Cream as their top pick. Then came Daramsi, leader of Illusionary Realm. And finally, Nael, who had been waiting on standby.

[ Alright, my babies! Mom and Dad are going to bed now, so hurry up and get to work! ]

Da-yeon was genuinely stunned when Hida and Diah called the invitees their children.

[ I—I’m the boss, okay?! ]

[ I-I’m Diah’s child... and she’s my senior...? ...Heh... ]

Granted, there was a general in-game culture of invitees being assigned as children or juniors. But she didn’t think they’d actually start calling them "kids" and ordering them to work the moment they joined.

[ If you don’t work, no dinner! Chop chop! ]

[ Isn’t this child labor?! ]

[ What kind of dad is this?! ]

“...This is chaos. Absolute chaos...”

– This whole household is nuts

– ???: From now on, I will stand above the heavens

– I wanna be Diah’s kid tooooo

– So the 1-year-old baby is the dad and the 3rd-gen trainee is the child? wtf lol (User has been banned)

– The dad just sees the kids as slaves

– Wait, are they kids or are they... actual slaves?

[ Well then, honey~. See you tomorrow~. Smooch smooch~ ]

– That’s not easy to pull off...

– How committed is she to this RP??

– WHY IS ONLY HIDA GETTING SMOOCHES WHY IS ONLY HIDA GETTING SMOOCHES WHY IS ONLY HIDA GETTING SMOOCHES

– If her husband turns up in real life tomorrow I’ll die laughing

– I WANT A SMOOCH TOO

– Surprise kisses are her specialty huh

The day after their first Dream Server play session.

Yeryeo University campus.

Da-yeon was currently waiting for someone to eat lunch with. Loud cheers from guys playing soccer echoed from a distance. And nearby, murmurs from students who’d recognized her.

No sound could compete with the voice whispering ticklishly into her ear from behind—Ha-eun’s voice.

She spun around, startled, only to meet Ha-eun’s usual deadpan expression.

“Were you waiting long?”

“...Who are you calling ‘honey’?”

“Just a joke. English joke.”

Not long after, Da-yeon and Ha-eun began walking toward the campus cafeteria together. For some reason, Da-yeon kept glancing sideways at Ha-eun’s face as they walked.

‘...I know it was a joke, but still...’

Her long hair flowed neatly down her back. Sharp, intelligent eyes and long lashes. A navy V-neck knit over a pale blouse, tucked into a black A-line skirt.

Ha-eun looked so elegant, she drew people’s gazes just by existing. It left Da-yeon feeling strangely uneasy. She wasn’t exactly sure why—but she was definitely more conscious of her than usual.

“...What are you doing?”

“...You kept staring, so I looked back.”

Moments , where Ha-eun teased her, reminded her that it really was Ha-eun. But even then, that emotionless expression just made yesterday feel even more surreal. This same person had gone full-on cutesy and called her “honey” over and over yesterday?

‘It’s like she has a split personality or something...’

Whether now or in the past, the contrast between Diah and Ha-eun always threw Da-yeon into confusion. Sometimes, she truly didn’t know how to deal with her.

Like now, when they were just chatting casually...

“W-Watch out over there!”

Without even turning her head, Ha-eun caught a flying soccer ball one-handed. With the other hand, she gently supported Da-yeon, who had flinched from the sudden impact.

Her calm voice checked on Da-yeon—

And in that moment, she made you forget completely that she was also Diah.

“...Y-Yeah, I’m fine...”

Even just having Ha-eun look quietly at her felt strange somehow. There were times when Da-yeon genuinely couldn’t figure out who the real Ha-eun was. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t take her eyes off her now.

“...How dare they scare my honey like that.”

There. She’s doing it again.