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The heroine of the moonlight that parts the clouds, “Yeongwol,” is a special guard in the Eastern Palace.

That is to say, she is the bodyguard of the male protagonist, “Crown Prince Lee Hyun.”

Originally, Yeongwol, being a woman, wouldn’t have been able to become a special guard, but with her superb disguise as a man and her outstanding swordsmanship, no one suspected her of being female.

Therefore, Ha-eun thought that in order to be cast as Yeongwol, she also needed to possess exceptional swordsmanship skills.

Although it would ultimately be swordsmanship for filming rather than real swordsmanship, both types shared the commonality of needing to handle a sword well.

Mimicking the form of Kim Gyu-tae was a continuation of that.

If she imitated the exemplary appearance of Kim Gyu-tae, she believed she could perform “visually appealing” swordsmanship.

However, in Kim Gyu-tae’s eyes—

“…Where have I seen this before?”

Ha-eun’s swordsmanship seemed closer to a different type than Kim Gyu-tae’s.

Of course, considering this was her first sword performance, she was relatively talented.

In the past, many of the other actors Kim Gyu-tae taught struggled even with mastering their stance.

Her facial expressions, which made her look just like the Yeongwol in the script, were also flawless.

Without any notable lines, she conveyed feelings of urgency, malice, and hostility purely through her expressions.

However, the sense of déjà vu felt from Ha-eun’s swordsmanship continued to bother her.

She spent a considerable amount of time trying to recall where she had seen such swordsmanship from her past memories.

“Hey, Dad. Can’t you teach me something like this?”

“Sorry, son. No matter how much of a dad I am, I can’t make waves come out of the sword.”

Only then did she realize it was reminiscent of a Japanese animation’s swordsmanship that Kim Gyu-tae’s young son had asked about a few days ago.

The trajectory of the sword forming an elliptical shape was strikingly similar to the water breathing her son had shown her.

Thus, after Ha-eun’s first sword performance ended without fault.

She began to steal glances at Kim Gyu-tae, hoping for his feedback on her sword performance, when Kim Gyu-tae said,

“While the sword techniques from ‘Demon Slayer’ are indeed cool, they differ from historical drama swordsmanship. Let’s start learning step by step from the beginning.”

He clearly stated that the swordsmanship in cartoons was different from reality.

Almost simultaneously, Ha-eun’s face turned bright red.

She began to feel flustered, and as her ears started to burn, she couldn’t comprehend Kim Gyu-tae’s lecture on historical drama swordsmanship.

She couldn’t really manage to catch a single word.

***

After the first sword class, which had begun joyfully but left her wanting to flee at the end.

“So, are we going to action school again today?”

“…Yes.”

Ha-eun, who managed to erase the shameful memories of her first day of class somehow, requested Jo Jeong-yoon to go to Kim Gyu-tae’s action school nearly every day.

After all, she couldn’t just quit the exercise she had been doing for 12 years this year.

Of course, it was quite problematic for Kim Gyu-tae.

He had several actors to teach besides Ha-eun, and having to show up to work every day was like a nightmare for an office worker.

While he fully understood Ha-eun’s desire to be cast as Yeongwol, which led her to immerse herself in sword practice every day, it was a struggle nonetheless.

Young people tend to burn fiercely when they are passionate.

“Uh, Ha-eun, I think having class every day might be a bit tough.”

“Hmm… Then, could you let me use the gym at least?”

“Uh? Would it really be okay if I just let you use the gym?”

“Yes.”

Thus, the reached consensus turned out to be something beneficial for both Kim Gyu-tae and Ha-eun.

Ha-eun was happy to have a place to work out, and Kim Gyu-tae was delighted to have Ha-eun as a learning example for the other stunt actors.

In this way, Ha-eun’s exercise time, which had briefly separated from her routine, returned to it once more.

However, there was one more decisive matter that made Ha-eun’s schedule much tighter.

“Let’s try it just one more time, Ha-eun.”

“…Are you going to take responsibility if I lose my voice?”

“Yeah. I’ll take responsibility, so let’s do it just one more time.”

Thanks to her acceptance of the featuring offer she had ultimately agreed to, she had to stay in Doubly’s studio for several times longer than usual.

While staying at the studio for a long time wasn’t too hard per se.

“Um, how about you try singing this part slightly lower than the first verse’s chorus? With your real voice.”

“You told me to sing high with my falsetto earlier.”

“Oh, that… As I listened, the real voice felt more emotional.”

Ha-eun had to change her vocal tone according to Doubly’s shifting demands, which changed every five minutes sometimes to just one minute.

“This part has to overlap your voice with the uncles’ voices, so let’s sing a bit louder.”

“Shouldn’t I just raise the volume of my voice?”

“Shh, don’t say things like that carelessly. If the harmony breaks slightly, it truly becomes unpleasant.”

Accepting people’s opinions who are never satisfied with anything related to music led to significant exhaustion for her.

The level of the feedback was on a scale entirely different from singing classes.

Of course, as they were working on actual songs that would go on the album, it was understandable that they would put in more effort.

But still.

-Beeep.

“Uh, Ha-eun, when you sing the last line, try to cut it slightly short.”

-Beeep.

“Hmm… This time, could you try to sing it as if your voice is fading away?”

-Beeep.

“That sounded really good just now, Ha-eun. Let’s just raise the pitch a bit while keeping that intensity.”

-Beeep, beeep, beeep, beeep, beeep, beeep…

Ha-eun couldn’t comprehend why they needed to re-record the same part 20 times in a row.

To her ears, all 20 recordings sounded identical, so what’s the difference?

“…This is child abuse.”

“Eighteen years old is hardly a child. Plus, it’s no use saying that now~.”

“Right, those comments are made before signing the contract.”

Feeling like she had to shut her mouth because the usually harmonious words from Ikon-yeol and Lee Joon were perfectly aligned once again.

So, even if she was bound to regret it, it was better to leave no disappointments behind.

In total, Ha-eun participated as a featured artist in three tracks on Doubly’s new album, including the title track “Tunnel,” which consisted of 13 songs.

In typical cases, only up to two songs would have the same featured artist, making Ha-eun’s case exceptional.

“Ha-eun, your voice alone is unusual. So, I’m saying, just one more song—”

“Someone told me that those words are what you say before signing the contract.”

“Tsk.”

By making a new case like Ha-eun, the pros outweighed the cons by several times.

From the start, her voice fit perfectly with Doubly’s songs.

However, the issue causing Ikon-yeol and Lee Joon to furrow their brows seriously arose outside of the featuring.

“Uh, Ha-eun, do you really have to participate under a pseudonym?”

“Yes.”

“Rather than a pseudonym, how about initials instead, Ha-eun? It would also be somewhat beneficial for you to hint that it’s you who participated as a featured artist—”

-Zing.

“…If you don’t like it, then there’s no helping it. No, it can’t be helped…”

Thus began the discussion about Ha-eun’s pseudonym.

Because her voice perfectly matched Doubly’s unique sensitivity and atmosphere, it seemed only right that the name should be special as well.

However, the owner of the voice, Ha-eun, didn’t particularly care about any name.

“How important is an image to a singer?”

“To a singer who only has a pseudonym, how important is an image?”

“Names have images too. If a singer’s name is ‘Tone-Deaf,’ would people want to listen to their songs?”

‘…I feel like I might want to listen at least once.’

The individuals who made Ha-eun the featured artist began to seriously discuss her pseudonym with unusually earnest expressions.

However, shortly after that, for some reason, their voices began to rise slightly.

“My pseudonym will be decided by me. So, both of you, stop it.”

Ha-eun, who thought it wouldn’t be good to have feelings hurt over such a trivial matter, forcibly interrupted the discussion about her pseudonym.

“Do you have any names in mind?”

“…Pinocchio. I want to go with Pinocchio.”

The quintessential character that comes to mind when thinking of lies, and it seemed to fit well with Ha-eun, who dreamed of being the best liar in the world.

“English or Korean?”

“If I do it in English, it’ll be too long, so let’s go with Korean.”

“Got it.”

Thus, the phrase “feat. Pinocchio” was included in all tracks that Ha-eun featured in.

As time passed and the day of the new album’s release finally arrived, Ha-eun was.

[ I feel sad, Ha-eun. On days like today, you should be with the uncles. ]

“It’s a really important appointment. But I’ll definitely drop by the studio tomorrow.”

She was standing in front of a certain MCN building instead of Doubly’s studio.

Because the long-anticipated meeting with the Fantasia members was also scheduled for today.

After soothing the uneasy voices over the phone somehow.

“Phew…”

Ha-eun moved forward for the most anxious yet exciting meeting of her 18-year life.

The first person Ha-eun faced was Ji Hye-min, who was also the overall leader of the Fantasia Project.

“Oh, welcome, Ha-eun!”

With a slightly excited face.

Dressed in a neat suit contrasting sharply.

And the prominent chest protrusion still showcased its tremendous presence, once again catching Ha-eun’s eyes.

After that, she learned that the other members of Fantasia had already arrived.

“Everyone’s just waiting for you, Ha-eun, so let’s go greet them first!”

There was an addition stating that the other members were already aware of Ha-eun’s identity.

This made Ha-eun feel even more nervous, but.

After walking down the long hallway, she eventually arrived in front of the room where the other members were.

-Creeeak.

And so, with an unwavering touch from Ji Hye-min, the opaque glass door opened.

Sure enough, under the gazes pouring toward her, Ha-eun—

-Bow.

Unconsciously bent her waist to greet them politely.

At that moment, the women beyond felt more like celebrities than any actual idols.

Of course, the women who had received such a greeting from Ha-eun awkwardly thought.

‘…Shouldn’t we be the ones greeting her?’

Ha-eun’s polite greeting was burdensome to them.