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

"If anything goes wrong, I’ll do a full dogeza stream myself."

When Magia said that, Cheon Do-hee didn’t take it seriously.

She thought it was just another one of Magia’s usual jokes.
After all, Magia was the type to jump into anything without hesitation, so Do-hee just smirked, brushing it off as her typical exaggeration.

"You’d really start your own stream?"

"If I have to, I have to. It’s not a big deal."

But after hearing the follow-up, she couldn’t laugh anymore.

The sincerity in Magia’s expression.
The unspoken why are you even worried about this?

Do-hee was caught completely off guard.

She had always assumed that Magia disliked streaming.
All of her decisions had been based on that assumption.

Even when Magia showed glimpses of potential during Dora’s broadcast, she thought it was only because Magia was trying to match Dora’s energy.

But… was that not the case?
Was she really that indifferent to streaming?

I can’t just ignore this again.

Ever since Magia’s talk about quitting, Do-hee had been handling her with extreme caution.
But this time, she couldn’t just let it slide.

A gut feeling told her she had to push forward.

"Are you serious? I thought you hated the idea of being on stream."

"...When did I ever say that?"

Magia, who had been grinning as usual, let the smirk drop slightly when she noticed Do-hee’s serious expression.

"This suddenly got heavy… But I don’t think I’ve ever actually said I hate streaming."

"Do you remember when I asked you about it before? What did you say again… Oh, right. ‘At this rate, I might as well make you a VTuber.’ What was your response then?"

Magia frowned.
She had already answered that question back then.

"I said, ‘If you told me to do it, I’d do it.’"

"...Oh."

Do-hee smacked her forehead and let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, but after that, you subtly turned it down."@@novelbin@@

"I only said that because I knew you wouldn’t let me debut. I don’t meet the qualifications. And the boss I know would never debut someone who doesn’t meet the bar. So I didn’t even consider it seriously."

In short, Do-hee had been completely off the mark this whole time.

The problem was, Magia wasn’t always completely honest either.
After all, Magia was Do-hee’s longtime fan.

There weren’t many fans who could flat-out refuse a request from their oshi—let alone when said oshi was also their boss.

So Do-hee pressed on, determined to get the truth.

"Forget all the indirect answers. Be honest. If you had to debut, what’s the one thing that would make you not want to do it?"

But Magia had never actually thought about that before.

If she ever did debut, it would be because Do-hee decided she was qualified.
And if Do-hee gave the order, Magia would follow it without question.

"Uh… Give me a second. I’ve never actually considered it…"

Still, with the boss asking her directly, she had to give a real answer.

After a brief moment of thought, Magia spoke.

"If I had to stream, I think I’d struggle with not being able to watch other people’s broadcasts as much. I just really enjoy being a viewer more."

Do-hee was surprised.

She had expected concerns about singing, dancing, or general entertainment skills.

Magia did have some talent—her voice impressions and raps proved that.
But wasn’t that what most people worried about first?

"...So singing and dancing wouldn’t be an issue?"

"I think if I learned properly, it’d be fine. The first-gen members weren’t great at both from the start either, right? Some were better at singing, others at dancing."

Magia had a point.

The first-generation talents had spent three months in training after passing their auditions, undergoing vocal and dance lessons just like idol trainees.
Even now, they continued practicing alongside their streaming schedules.

…That one little comment about quitting. That one tiny snowball Magia tossed… just kept rolling and rolling.

Looking back, Do-hee couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at how much she had misunderstood.

"Alright. Just to clear up any misunderstandings—I have no intention of giving you any orders related to debuting. Any streaming-related tasks I assign you will be strictly work-related, nothing more. Got it?"

Magia blinked in confusion.

She hadn’t been thinking much about any of this, but now Do-hee was suddenly getting all serious, lowering her voice like some kind of strict boss.

But even if she didn’t fully get it, she still listened intently.
When Do-hee talked about work, Magia knew to take things seriously.

Seeing Magia nod along, Do-hee continued.

"That said… If you ever really, genuinely want to become a VTuber, let me know. I’ll make sure it happens—no matter what."

Magia chuckled.

"I don’t think that’ll ever happen, but sure. Got it."

And with that, the mess of misunderstandings between them was finally sorted out.

With that off her chest, Do-hee wasted no time switching gears back to work.

She had hesitated to bring it up earlier, worried it would feel like she was pressuring Magia to debut.
But now that they had cleared the air, there was no reason to hold back.

Do-hee was Magia’s concerned boss.
But she was also an ambitious businesswoman.

"Alright, back to work. When you join the private match tomorrow, we’ll use the prepared placard."

When Magia had appeared on Dora’s stream, it had been as an unofficial guest.
They had let it slide.

But this time, she was officially invited by Mugeon.
And as the stand-in for Momo, the face of Parallel, she needed a proper visual representation.

It was an unspoken agreement between the fans and the company.

Fans would immerse themselves in Parallel’s worldbuilding.
In return, the company would minimize anything that could break that immersion.

This was just basic VTuber business strategy.

Magia nodded immediately.

"Because it’s official?"

"Yeah. You don’t need to stream separately, but tomorrow, you’re representing the company."

"Got it, got it. But wait, what’s this placard thing? I’ve never heard of it."

"You know the fanart Dora was working on? It’s supposed to be done today."

Magia counted on her fingers.

"Wait… It’s only been four days since she started."

"Yeah. She’s been pulling all-nighters to finish it."

Magia clicked her tongue.

"That explains why she’s been yawning so much on stream lately. Did Dora seriously stay up just to draw this?"

Do-hee nodded, and Magia—ever the manager—immediately pulled out her phone to send Dora a message.

"Don’t be too hard on her. She did it because she wanted to."

"Still. Prioritizing fanart over rest when she’s a streamer first… What if she oversleeps and I have to cover for her again?"

…That was the part she was worried about?

Do-hee couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! But aren’t you at least a little curious about how it turned out?"

"Dora’s skilled. I’m sure it looks great. Honestly, my placard isn’t a big deal. What matters more is how people react to the first-gen anniversary teaser."

"True. That’s the real priority."

People would come for Magia.

The spark from her sniping Mugeon had already set off a chain reaction.
The audience numbers were going to be huge.

The unexpected reveal of Magia’s official placard, combined with the fact that Parallel was on a full-company hiatus that day, would only drive even more viewers to Mugeon’s stream.

They had originally expected around 20,000 viewers.
Now, they could easily hit 30,000—or even higher.

Numbers rarely reached that level unless something major was happening.

"Tomorrow, we’re going to have a massive audience. Are you nervous?"

Do-hee would have understood if Magia got cold feet.
After all, even she had nearly hyperventilated the first time she saw her viewer count break 10,000.

But Magia just laughed like it was nothing.

After all, whether it was 30,000 or 50,000 viewers…

They were all just fellow otakus to her.

A six-year veteran in fandom.
A six-year menace in online culture.
A five-year manager in the industry.

To Magia, viewers were just friends.

Annoying, stubborn, but still friends.

"Eh… At the end of the day, they’re all just fellow nerds like me."

***

That Evening.

Before starting her stream, Dora called.

[Magia, Magia! Can you check your email right now?]

“Yeah, one sec.”

She had actually finished the illustration in under a week.

People always say artists burn with more passion when drawing fanart than when doing paid commissions—at least, that was Magia’s theory—and maybe that’s why she worked so fast.

"Alright, I’m opening it…"

Downloading the file from her inbox, Magia tilted her head.

"Wait, isn’t this a character sheet? Dora, I think you sent the wrong file."

It was a full-body character reference, with front, side, and back views, separated into different parts—the kind of thing usually prepared for a new VTuber debut.

And right in the center was a character wearing a huge witch’s hat.

Bright blue eyes, slightly lighter than Magia’s own.
A mischievous smirk tugging at her lips.
A broomstick clutched in both hands, her posture curled up like a small animal.

Even the long hair was tied into low twin tails, making her look even cuter.

…She kind of looks like me?

Something about the design kept pulling Magia’s attention.
It was as if she had just been hit by a 2.5-ton truck.

It was the exact same feeling she had when she first saw the concept art for the first-gen members.

For a brief moment, she thought—
If the boss ever needed another "small but tough" archetype for second-gen, this would fit right in.

Then, Dora spoke.

[Nope! You got the right file. That’s the fanart.]

Magia blinked at the screen.

It really did look like her.

…No, now that she was actually paying attention, it was almost identical.

Even after spending so much time adjusting to her new appearance, staring into the mirror every day, she still hadn’t realized it at first.

“This? This is fanart?”

Dora started rambling, almost as if she was trying to justify herself.

[Ah, well, I started with just fanart, but it felt like something was missing! So I kept adding more and more, and, um… I kinda lost control. Once I finished the front view, I had to see the side view. And then the back view. And then I wanted to see it without the hat. And without the robe—
…So yeah! That’s how it happened! Hehe.
I even separated everything into PNG layers so you can pick whatever version you want to use tomorrow!]

This was a legendary situation.

Magia was getting hit by her own reference sheet.

But honestly, it wasn’t like this was a problem.

Wasn’t it natural for an otaku to get excited over a really well-drawn model?

“…It’s just a shame.”

This was the kind of character design that deserved to be brought to life.

But asking someone else to stream with the illustration Dora had made for her was out of the question.

All she could do was silently admire the art.

Thinking to herself,
If this had been given to anyone else, they probably could’ve gone much further…

“Well, anyway, thanks, Dora. You really didn’t have to go all out, but I’ll use it well tomorrow.”

[Yay! And you have to use it when we collab in the future too!]

“The best thing would be if you just stopped playing horror games.”

[Whaaa?! Don’t say that! I really want to play something with you—]

Click.

Magia hung up and stared at the character sheet again.

It was definitely cute.
Maybe because it was a drawing Dora had poured her heart into, but the little details were amazing.

Especially the outfit.

A business-style slit skirt, but on a tiny chibi-like character, giving it an unintentionally cute effect.
A slightly oversized witch’s hat and robe, emphasizing the "clumsy rookie witch" vibe.

“…Man. This is so wasted on me.”

To have something this high-quality and just sit on it…
It was like putting a pearl necklace on a pig.

But there was nothing to be done.

Even Magia hadn’t expected Dora to go this far.

Still, since Dora put in so much effort, she’d have to use it whenever she showed up on stream.

***

… ─── [MOOVING] Re: Hello, Mugeon. This is the Parallel Operations Team. ─── …

From: Mugeon
To: Parallel Operations Team
Attachment: "Untitled_5_NoHat_NoRobe_EmployeeBadge.png"

Hello,

I’ve received the image file you sent.

I’ll set it up next to my cam during the stream.

Thanks,
Mugeon
MOOVING Crew

There wasn’t much preparation left to do besides sending over the placard.

All Magia had to do was wait for the signal in the pre-registered voice chat and then join the stream.

She’d be playing from the company’s solo streaming room, but she had purposely brought her personal mouse from home, so gameplay wouldn’t be an issue.

Just to be safe, she ran a few rounds in the training mode.
Shotgun—boom, boom, boom.
Running through the smoke—smooth movements.

Mouse sensitivity? Perfect.
Keyboard responsiveness? No issues.

"Hopefully, I get lucky with my team."

The best-case scenario was ending up on the opposite team from Mugeon.

If they were on the same team, his presence might overshadow hers.

But if she took him down in front of thousands of live viewers?
And her username was "1stGen1stAnniversarySongReleasesNov5"?

The audience would be forced to remember that date.
And they’d associate it with Parallel.

Mugeon gets eliminated = Parallel employee = Parallel’s 1st anniversary song drops Nov 5.

"Perfect."

Team selection was up to luck,
but if the gods of marketing were listening—
please, just this once, let everything line up.

Magia clasped her hands together, praying for a PR miracle.

Just then, a message popped up in the private match chat.

[Mugeon: EmployeeD, please standby.]
[EmployeeD: Understood.]

After a brief pause, Mugeon switched the screen to the waiting room and addressed the audience.

[Alright, folks. As you can see, we have 23 players instead of 24 today. You know what that means, right?]

— Guest?
— So who is it??
— Hurry up and tell us, bro.
— I’ve been holding my breath for three days for this.

[Okay, okay, don’t rush. I’ll introduce them now. First, here’s what they look like…]

The first reveal was Magia’s placard.

Dora had chosen the most businesslike version of the illustration.
No witch’s hat, no robe—just a tiny but professional-looking office worker with a company badge.

— ?
— Who???
— Cute.
— Who is this???
— Omg, a new VTuber?
— Where did they come from?

[Alright, are any Parallel fans in the chat?]

— ㅔ
— Yeah, we’re here.
— Wait… is this EmployeeD?
— Parallel’s on a break today, I’ve got nothing else to watch.
— I’ve never seen this placard before??

[Hmm. Even the fans don’t recognize them, huh? Alright, let’s just bring them in directly.]

It was time.

Taking a deep breath, Magia joined the voice chat.

A quick mic test—then she spoke.

“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

For a moment, the chat went completely silent.
The kind of silence that happens when everyone is too stunned to react.

But it didn’t last long.

Within seconds, the chat exploded.

— ??
— EmployeeD???
— Wait.
— Is this Signal Flare???
— WHAT?
— ?????
— SIGNAL FLARE????
— ????????
— What is this art quality, holy crap.
— WAIT WHAT
— ???
— This is actually EmployeeD???
— DID THEY JUST DEBUT?!?!?!?
— WHAT IS GOING ON????
— NO WAY
— I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!!!
— ????
— EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D!