I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work

4 AM—Four Hours After Dora’s Last Break.

And the eighth hour since she had started Pandemic Village.

Finally, from within the soundproof booth, a triumphant cry burst forth.

“I BEAT IT——!!!”

— KyaaAAAAAAA
— FINALLYyyyyyyyy
— My teeth are SHATTERED, you gotta pay for thissss
— Holy crap, she did it
— Dora wins!
— Dragon Sis takes the crown!!!!!
— She actually cleared it, lmao

Dora had finally managed to clear the game after thirteen attempts against the final boss.

She was supposed to continue dubbing the story like usual.

But she was so overwhelmed by emotion that she couldn’t even speak through her tears.

“Hhhhuuuuuhh, hhhhuuuuuuuuuh, hiiiiiiiiiic.”

:: :: Anonymous has donated 100,000 Clouds! :: ::
:: :: In celebration of the clear! :: ::

Of course, her reaction to the donation was anything but human.

“Hhhuoohiihee… iyeooo hooaaheh, hiaaaouuuu…”

— SAY WORDS, LOL
— Bro, if someone walked in, they’d think she won an Olympic gold medal
— What is this, lmaooo
— Is this a reaction or just crying?
— This is why I can’t quit watching Dragon Sis play horror games, lmao

It was cute, sure.

But with a $100 donation, some people might complain about the half-hearted reaction.

So, I took the gibberish she was babbling and translated it for the chat.

Normally, I’d wait for her to calm down, but after witnessing her struggle firsthand, I didn’t want any misunderstandings to spread.

And if I ignored it, I’d have to step in later to clean up the drama, delaying my departure for home.

“Hhhuuuhhh, Anonymous has donated one hundred thousand Clouds,” I translated flatly.

— LOL WHAT IS THIS TRANSLATION
— You actually UNDERSTOOD that? LMAO
— Being a Parallel manager is NOT easy, huh

“Hnghiiiii… haaaaah…! Hnghiiiii haaaaah!”

“She says, ‘Air. I need air.’”

— I have never seen such a lifeless reaction to a $100 donation
— Why is this so funny, lmaoooo
— Actually, this is kinda cute?
— I approve

“Eeeeuh haaeeeh!”

“She says, ‘Do it properly.’”

— She’s already doing it properly, lmao
— Why is she mad at the manager?? lol

— Delicious.

Hearing that, the $100 donor seemed satisfied, which was a relief.

But something else felt off—the chat’s mood had completely shifted.

Instead of just comforting Dora, more and more viewers were suddenly sympathizing with me.

— Must be tough dealing with these troublemakers, huh
— Just another day for Big Manager D
— King D, Emperor D, God D

:: Anonymous has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::
:: Thank you for taking care of our idiot. You must be exhausted, please clock out soon. ㅠㅠ ::

To be honest, I wasn’t as tired as they thought.

Staying up this late was nothing new for me.

The only thing wearing me down was my ears, after listening to Dora’s dragon roars for hours.

But it had been a while since I’d seen viewers act this polite.

If they were like this more often, I wouldn’t have to swing the ban hammer so much.

Yet, while the chat had turned wholesome, there was still one person whose eyes were glistening with tears—Dora, who was still trapped in the emotional flood.

“You guys… You’re only looking out for the manager… But I… I worked the hardest…!”@@novelbin@@

— Uh oh
— Why is the screen getting darker all of a sudden? ㄷㄷ
— DARK DRAGON MODE ACTIVATED!!!
— VISAAGGGGGHHHHH

But when a streamer gets emotional, viewers turn into gremlins.

Because that’s when the real fun begins.

And, just as expected, the chat immediately switched to teasing her.

… She was too fired up right now, though. Pushing her any further might be a bad idea.

:: Anonymous has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::
:: Honestly, if you were better at the game, the manager could’ve gone home earlier. ::

— LMAOOOOOOO
— yooooooo
— Y’all are savage, lmao
— Stop, she’s already soggy!!

“…Yeah. I sucked.”

“I sucked, so it took longer. That’s true. But—”

“These NPCs run around way too much, okay? Even if the manager played, it wouldn’t have been much different.”

— Oh?
— That’s a direct hit.
— Even if you’re bad, you wouldn’t take fifteen minutes. lol
— You sure you wanna talk when you took 15 minutes??
— Uh oh?
— Sssssss that’s gonna sting
— Oh ho.
— Is this a challenge?
— Why would you provoke them??
— Did she just call out the manager?

:: Anonymous has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Honestly, the real MVP is the manager for not backseating the entire time. If it were me, I would’ve snatched the keyboard and mouse immediately. ::

— FR lmaoooo
— This is so true
— I’m Signal Flare, and yeah, that’s exactly what I’d do
— Crying and smashing the like button ㅠㅠ

As expected, things were getting too heated.

Dora’s lips were trembling, on the verge of bursting into tears again.

I debated whether I should step in to de-escalate, but then—

:: Anonymous has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Lol, if the manager played, she’d clear the final boss in three minutes~ ::

That lighthearted donation finally made Dora snort.

But, dear donor, are you aware that the "Anonymous" donation function isn’t actually anonymous?

Streamers can see all donor usernames, so when you try to throw sneaky punches from behind the veil of anonymity…

Sometimes, you get hit back.

I learned that the hard way when my old boss publicly dissected my donation history.

…At least my username wasn’t as bad as this guy’s.

[Donation History]

• dydWbWb: 1,000 Clouds
• “Lol, if the manager played, she’d clear the final boss in three minutes~”

— AAAAAAAAAAA
— Protect the hatchling!!!
— His username is killing me, lmao
— …Wait, what?
— Did I just read chu chu…?
— FURRY ALERT.
— He’s done for.

Dora, after pinning the donation screenshot on stream, turned to me.

She was laughing, but her annoyance hadn’t completely faded.

“Manager, can you really clear it in three minutes?”

I blinked, silently pleading for my right to go home.

But then—

“Ohhh, are you scared? Worried you’ll clear slower than me, so you’re pretending not to hear?”

— Wow. That’s low.
— lmaooo
— As if she’d be slower than YOU, lmao
— I don’t think the manager can ignore this one
— Honestly? Just show her and leave in style.
— My brain: Go home.
— My heart: I need to see this.
— Dragon Sis, is this your final form?
— YOU TRASH.

Dora had successfully transformed into a villain.

…She was literally crying five minutes ago.

What even is a streamer?

Of course, after eight hours of grinding, seeing chat suddenly praise someone else had to sting.

Especially when the one being praised was me.

After struggling for so long, she got zero spotlight, and instead, the chat was hyping up the manager.

Honestly, it made sense.

Anyone would be jealous.

… But if I actually clear it in three minutes, won’t everyone be watching only me?

I couldn’t afford to hold back. Now that it was public knowledge that I was Signal Flare, even the slightest effort to go easy would make people assume I was throwing on purpose.

And if I did hold back, it would only make Dora look worse.

If people started comparing her emotional meltdown to my calm execution, she’d inevitably come across as immature and pathetic.

Sure, viewers who actually watched the whole stream would understand the context.

But the problem was that people who hadn’t watched would still spread distorted rumors.

“Manager! Be honest! You’re scared, aren’t you? You’re afraid you’ll do worse than me!”

Dora kept pushing me, and since I’d never been in this kind of situation before, I had no pre-made response.

But outright avoiding it wasn’t an option either.

At the rate things were going, I was going to keep getting dragged into interactions with the members whether I liked it or not.

Even if I dodged this today, it was just going to happen again.

Which meant that, if I wanted to last as General Manager, I needed to develop quick thinking for handling these situations.

Without manipulating the narrative of Dora’s stream, I had to find a way to get out of this.

And the best way was…

“Alright. Let’s make a bet.”

“A bet? I’m in! What’s on the line?”

“If I clear it in under three minutes, you have to do your big sis voice for the chat.”

Dora’s “big sis voice” was a $500 donation reward, meaning it was extremely rare.

The chat exploded immediately.

— Signal Flare playing the mind game~~
— MANAGER! MANAGER! MANAGER!
— OH MY GOD ㅠㅠㅠ
— Our Great Manager, how could we ever repay this kindness!!!

Dora, who had been so emotionally charged before, visibly calmed down at my words.

After a long pause, she smirked.

“Alright, but if you don’t clear it in three minutes, you have to play a game with me before the end of the month.”

“Deal.”

— KYAAAAAAAA
— QUEEN DORA
— W G G G G G
— This is actually a good bet, lol
— LET’S GOOOOO

And just like that, the bet was set.

What was about to look like Dora being a brat while I suffered through the aftermath had suddenly flipped—now, both sides were offering rewards for the viewers.

The atmosphere completely reversed.

Now, all I had to do was win, give Dora and the chat their wholesome moment, and peace out.

I sat down in the chair Dora vacated, adjusted the height, loaded the save file, and—bang, bang.

I fired a few rounds into the air while swiveling the mouse, checking my sensitivity and turning radius.

'This angle should be enough…'

With that set, next was the battlefield itself.

The boss room was a tangled, multi-layered cave filled with shortcuts only I could use.

Meanwhile, the boss was constantly crawling toward me, its speed increasing over time.

If I didn’t keep moving, it would catch up instantly.

Basically, a forced hit-and-run boss fight.

But I had four health bars, meaning I could tank up to three hits before going down.

There were no healing items in this final fight, but that just meant I could go full berserker mode while taking three hits.

“Ready.”

Dora grinned.

“You sure? This is really hard. Its weak point is tiny, it moves super fast, and—”

The boss was a giant spider, with two glowing, human-sized eyes as its only weak points.

As Dora said, it was insanely fast, and it swerved unpredictably, making it a nightmare to aim at.

Most speedrunners didn’t even bother aiming for the weak spot since trying would actually slow them down.

But I wasn’t the type to ignore a weak spot just because it was hard to hit.

“Starting.”

The moment I entered the boss room, it rushed toward me from the distance.

I unloaded a full magazine into it on the approach.

Each time it got hit, it climbed between the walls, floor, and ceiling, causing its glowing eyes to swing wildly.

But just because they moved didn’t mean I couldn’t predict their path.

They weren’t moving completely at random.

Whenever it moved from a wall to the floor, or from the floor to the ceiling, the angles and motion patterns were predictable.

My first magazine emptied—I reloaded.

The boss was closing in fast, but I didn’t run.

I landed three more shots before it bit into me.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Then, after the QTE escape, I used my brief invincibility window to empty the rest of my clip.

I immediately dove into a shortcut.

— ???
— Wait, weren’t all twelve shots headshots?
— HOLY—
— That just woke me the hell up
— ?
— At this pace, she’s clearing it in under two minutes.

Reload.

Then repeat until I was down to one HP.

Too easy.

… ─ Live Discussion Boards ─

[Manager D is actually cracked]

(Final Boss Cleared in 1:51.clip)

I asked the Pandemic Village forum,

And apparently, in speedruns, a 2:30 clear is considered optimal…

Because of how hard it is to hit the weak spot.

But Manager D just hit every single shot and casually clocked out.

Watching it straight up flooded my brain with dopamine.

(Source: Dora (VTuber) Gallery [View Original])

[Comments]

— Dora915: This was INSANE
— Dora531: Even watching it again, I’m losing my mind

— Dora375: (Manager_D_Landing_All_Headshots.clip)
ㄴ Dora375: Slowed it down, and yeah, all headshots.
ㄴ Unified831: TAS?
ㄴ Unified241: Bro, it was live.

— Mugun: Who is this?
ㄴ Mugun: She’s insanely good.
ㄴ Unified151: Wait.
ㄴ Unified381: Is that the Mugun?
ㄴ Unified414: Search Signal Flare on TriWiki.
ㄴ Mugun: Thanks.