Chapter 176: Choi Arin was kidnapped

Choi Arin was seriously sulking.

The playful pranks had snowballed, growing uncontrollably, leading to this situation.

Hayoon genuinely felt sorry for Choi Arin.

“Eeeing, I’m sorry.”

“No, go away.”

Hayoon tried to appease her with a cutesy voice, but Choi Arin pushed her away, her tone dismissive.

However, the push itself wasn’t rough.

Choi Arin knew her own mistake had contributed to the situation.

So…

‘Young ladies having fun.’

The taxi driver, glancing at them in the rearview mirror, chuckled, thinking they were just friends playing around, and continued driving towards Seoul.

And why wouldn’t he?

“I was wrong, unnie. I’m sorry. Really.”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to be sorry. This is just…”

“Just? Just what?”

“Ugh…”

Every time Hayoon whined and clung to Choi Arin, her anger visibly diminished.

By the time they reached the familiar streets of Seoul, her anger had completely dissipated.

It didn’t look good for her to keep insisting she was angry when she had been partly at fault.

“Whatever, do what you want. I’m going home now.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Sigh.”

Choi Arin got out of the taxi, her voice no longer sounding angry.

Hayoon waved goodbye and then headed home in the same taxi.

However, it felt a bit regretful to let Choi Arin go just like that…

“Blehh…”

She stuck out her tongue, winked, took a selfie, and sent it to Choi Arin.

Since her anger seemed to have subsided, she sent it hoping to make her laugh.

– ?

– I’m mad, okay? Do you think it’s right to send this to someone who’s mad?

Huh? Hayoon? Huh?

Choi Arin tried her best to maintain her angry demeanor in her messages, but she couldn’t escape Hayoon’s perceptive radar.

“Pretending to be mad when you’re clearly over it… so cute.”

She knew that when Choi Arin came to the Igloo, she’d mention how cute the selfie was and they’d talk about other things.

“Hmm…”

The next day.

Hayoon went to the Igloo and checked on Trinity, who were about to debut.

They were fully prepared, and their debut stream had achieved decent results.

“The investment was worth it. Heehee…”

She was pleased.

Scraping together every penny to invest in Trinity had paid off.

However…

“Now what?”

Now that Trinity was on track, Hayoon didn’t have much to do.

“Promotion?”

Merchandise was selling well, so she had funds, but investing more in simple promotion would be excessive.

“Then, additional merchandise production?”

That was also difficult.

They had already made a lot from merchandise at the end of the year. BGG Company could produce more, but the fans’ purchasing power was limited.

And, it could inadvertently give the impression that BGG Company was greedy.

That had to be avoided…

“Vtuber activities… I want to take a break…”

She couldn’t rest.

She had sold Haru merchandise to recoup some money.

Of course, it was a small amount compared to other merchandise, but it had sold out nonetheless.

In this situation, she would have to stream for another year or two.

“Still, I should probably stream three times a week, right? If I stream three times, that leaves four days. Out of those four days, I’ll dedicate two purely to illustration work, and the remaining two can be flexible, either resting or working…”

She thought about it carefully, but it didn’t feel like a real break.

“I guess I can just do a behind-the-scenes talk stream tonight at 11 PM, share some stories, get some feedback…”

What if she just did the behind-the-scenes stream and then went on a trip somewhere?

No matter how she thought about it, being a CEO wasn’t easy.

Everything required Hayoon’s approval, and she had to take the lead. She couldn’t truly relax unless people’s attention was focused elsewhere, like on new members or Hong Seo-hyun’s concert.

Furthermore.

“It looks better if I just do a talk stream and then step back. The CEO steps back, and the focus shifts to the new members who are starting their careers. A clean and stable flow.”

With that thought, Hayoon started browsing the web.

She was looking for a short trip, about 3 nights and 4 days.

“Jeju Island? I don’t know when I’ll have free time like this again, so Jeju seems a bit… underwhelming. I could go there for a day trip or a 1-night-2-day trip.”

Jeju Island was out.

For the same reason, places like Busan were also out.

Domestic trips could be done in a day or two.

So, what was left…

“China?”

No.

She didn’t know any Chinese, so the quality of the trip would suffer.

“The US is too far…”

Ultimately, there was only one option left.

Japan.

“But going to Japan alone is a bit…”

No matter how independent Hayoon was, she wasn’t radical enough to travel abroad alone to an unfamiliar country.

Honestly, even Hayoon felt a bit burdened by the thought of traveling overseas by herself.

She needed someone to share the load, but Hong Seo-hyun and the Trinity members, who needed to focus on streaming, were out of the question.

Do Jin-ho was helpful, but if she was going to Japan, she might as well go alone.

“My parents are also a bit…”

It felt wrong to ask her parents, who were busy with their own businesses and jobs.

Besides, a filial piety trip would defeat the purpose of Hayoon’s trip, which was to relax and unwind. A filial piety trip was for her parents, not for her.

Then, ultimately…

“Is that person the only one left…”

Hayoon had only one choice.

She immediately dialed a familiar number.

– Ring, ring, ring.

After a few rings…

“Unnie.”

– Huh? Why?

“Do you have a passport, unnie?”

– I have a passport, right? Why the passport?

She had called Choi Arin.

Her cheerful voice suggested she had already forgotten about what happened that morning.

“Unnie, this week… no. Can you clear your schedule from December 31st to January 3rd? I was originally planning to go this week, but I need to consider your situation too.”

Huh? I think that should be fine, but why?

“Do you have some money?”

– I have plenty of money, since Hayoon gives me a nice salary every month, right?

“Good then. Get ready for a 3-night-4-day trip to Japan.”

– Uh, uuh…?

“You agree to that, right?”

– Ah, no, hey…!

The 3-night-4-day trip to Japan with Choi Arin was confirmed.

It was 100% true that she had originally planned to go on a 3-night-4-day trip to Japan the week immediately following AGC.

However, even while talking to Choi Arin, she felt it wasn’t right.

Taking a long break after only streaming for a day looked strange, and Hayoon also needed to play the role of MC in the collaboration content introducing the Trinity members.

Ultimately, Hayoon sporadically streamed, acting as a collaboration regular in the joint content, and then…

“Alright, it’s the end of the year, right? The members will probably spend Christmas and New Year’s doing individual streams with their viewers, right?”

– Probably.

– You stay too.

“But I’ve been running non-stop preparing for AGC without any time to rest.”

– ??

– Hey.

– Are you serious?

“I’ll stream on Christmas, and maybe one or two more days after that, then I’ll take a break starting December 31st. Sorry.”

She boldly announced her long break and wrapped up the stream.

After that, during her Christmas stream, she drew some R-rated art, got banned, and couldn’t stream until the New Year, an unprecedented situation…

– Yeah, this is your purpose, Haru.

– It’s okay if you only come occasionally, just do this.

– You worked hard today, Haru.

For some reason, the viewers’ reactions were positive.

Hayoon had trained them well; as long as she provided good content, they became her most ardent yes-men. After that, Hayoon spent a few days packing for her Japan trip, and…

“Hah! We’re here!”

At 6 AM on the last day of the year.

She arrived at Incheon Airport and stretched.

And from behind Hayoon…

“Hey.”

“Ah, unnie.”

“You, you’re crazy, seriously.”

Choi Arin appeared.

Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking, hanging up on me like that and then booking the hotel and plane tickets? Huh?

“Hehehe…”

“Hehehe? What’s so funny? Do you seriously want to get hit?”

“I did it because I didn’t think you’d come otherwise. Right now, you’re the only person I can go to Japan with, so I had to do this.”

“Ugh.”

“Aww, my head…”

Choi Arin berated Hayoon, asking if she was sane, but Hayoon was unfazed.

Well, whatever the method, she had managed to find someone to go to Japan with.

The result was certain.

‘I should use this again next time.’

The image of Choi Arin being stuck with Hayoon became quite vivid.