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

That was a nail-biting victory, but memories tend to get distorted easily.

More importantly, after that, there weren’t any proper games—just desertion, trolling, going AFK, and throwing. Even if there were, Magia herself was a troll in the grand scheme of things.

In the end, the only thing people remembered was that first match, a cinematic backdoor win that set hearts ablaze.

─ Komari (VTuber) Gallery ─

[I will never forget that backdoor for the rest of my life.]

(last_backdoor.clip)

For a moment, I forgot this was an Absurd game. LOL

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a game this intense.

[Comments]
— Komari834: FR LOL
— Komari021: Aside from that, StaffD is seriously a pest...
└ Komari245: Hey! How dare you call StaffD a pest!!!
└ Komari004: WAAAAAN
└ 🟦Komari02: Stop tagging me for this.

─ Komari (VTuber) Gallery ─

[Revisiting StaffD’s Greatest Quotes]

(Iron_is_unreliable.clip)
(I_did_my_best.clip)
(The_team_failed_not_me.clip)
(As_long_as_we_destroy_the_core_we_win.clip)
(300_gold_is_just_1_kill.clip)

Ah, so this is what it means to play Apolla...

[Comments]
— Komari385: He was so obsessed with toppling turrets, he became Apolla herself…
— Komari874: Just watching this makes my blood pressure spike. LOL
— Komari770: Why isn’t he playing more Naore? Why isn’t he playing more Naore? Why isn’t he playing more Naore? Why isn’t he playing more Naore? Why isn’t he playing more Naore?

─ Komari (VTuber) Gallery ─

[But honestly, StaffD is probably gonna hit Diamond in Naore soon.]

Considering it's his first time playing, isn't he doing pretty well?

The stealth duration when exiting Black Cloud is only like 0.2 seconds, but he was using it like it was second nature.

And even though his item build was all over the place, he figured it out on his own without asking questions, which was impressive.

I never realized full-offense Apolla’s damage was that high. LOL

[Comments]
— Komari030: Normally, no one goes full offense because she melts instantly, but combining it with Black Cloud actually doesn’t seem too bad.
└ Komari385: Don’t play ranked right now, holy sh*t.
└ Komari385: Every single game is filled with turret-obsessed Apolla wannabes.
└ Komari385: They all just sit in Black Cloud, take AoE damage, and die. LOL
└ Komari884: StaffD really unleashed a plague upon us.

─ Live Best Rankings ─

[Today’s Insane NaChalS Moment]

(Wait_Apolla_is_being_used_now.clip)
(Full_offense_black_cloud_Apolla_what_is_this!!.clip)
(AHH_MY_BASE!!_IT’S_BEING_DESTROYED!!_AAAAH!!.clip)

Bruh, did Ronje watch Komari’s stream two days ago?

Even in a second-tier tournament, this is way too fast to suddenly pop up. LOL

[Comments]
— Komari344: Wait, why is he actually good though? LOL
— Komari029: StaffD’s playstyle has a different kind of flavor.

— Unified842: No, but seriously, this actually works. LOL
└ Unified842: I tried it in ranked, and if you track enemy movements well, you can instantly wipe out outer turrets and pressure their vision.
└ Unified344: Who are you to talk?
└ Unified842: Emerald-Diamond fluctuation.
└ Unified511: Did you even read the post? This strat is already being used in pro play.

└ Unified002: But isn’t she way too fragile? Wouldn’t she just die inside the Cloud?
└ Unified842: If you time it right, you can exit the smoke and briefly enter stealth when the enemy uses their skills. That’s the key.
└ Unified842: If you can’t do that balance act, you just die and become a troll. LOL
└ Unified002: Oh, I see. Thanks for the tip!

─ Knight of Legend Gallery ─

[StaffD vs. Seong Shin-jae, honestly, StaffD wins hands down.]

(squirrel_meme.jpg)

Oh dear, my naïve friend.

I already know exactly what you’re thinking.

But be careful from now on.

Posts like this at this hour are basically nuclear bait…

This time, I’ll protect you, just this once.

Don’t bother thanking me. 😉

(Upvotes: 1422 / Downvotes: 442)

[Comments]
— Naore934: Yeah, I’m definitely not thanking you, f*ck…
— Naore841: Can you VTuber stans just make your own separate gallery and leave?
└ Naore740: LOL~
└ Naore454: LOL~
└ Naore358: Hey, just accept it—VTubers are the trend now.

— Naore742: Damn, even Seong Shin-jae is getting outshined by a no-name VTuber…
— Naore002: This gallery is a disaster. LOL

Thanks to all this, Naore spent the entire week dealing with the fallout.

A bizarre new meta had suddenly emerged, coinciding perfectly with Apolla’s buffs, leading to its adoption in second-tier pro play.

Curious about the person who first discovered this meta, people started searching—only to find out they didn’t even stream.@@novelbin@@

So where could they see it?
Parallel?
Oh, should they just wait for Komari’s stream?

That led to Komari maintaining 7,000 concurrent viewers even while casually playing Rubber Duck House the next day.

She idly watched ducks float by, got bored out of her mind, and opened video donations, which ended up drawing in more fans because her toxic commentary and exasperated reactions were hilarious.

The viewer boom lasted for several more days, peaking at 9,000 when full-offense Apolla became the hot topic in NaChalS.

[Komari: Thanks for that day, unnie.]
[Komari: Let’s hang out again sometime.]
[Komari: Or maybe after our busy November, we’re planning a trip.]
[Komari: Wanna come with our CEO?]
[Me: If the CEO says we’re going.]
[Komari: What, so if I invite you, you won’t come?]
[Komari: This is discrimination.]
[Me: I mean, if it’s for work, sure, but me tagging along just for fun would be kinda weird.]
[Komari: …]
[Komari: Okay, just wait.]

A few days later, I got called into the CEO’s office.

"Mid-November, the girls are going on a group trip for their first anniversary. Want to come?"

Ah. So this is how they’re using the CEO as a bargaining chip...

They wouldn’t have asked anyone else so brazenly.
Parallel is way too crafty.

"Where are they going?"

"The coast, apparently. Something about craving shrimp."

"Does Dora eat seafood?"

"She won’t eat raw stuff, but if it’s grilled—crab, lobster, shrimp—she’ll eat it just fine. And since they won’t see the New Year’s sunrise, they want to see it early."

Wait… shrimp season is now, but shrimp only come from the West Sea.
To see the sunrise, they’d have to go to the East Sea.

…So they’re planning to eat dinner on the west coast and then drive all night to the east?

"Is the plan to eat on the west coast and then watch the sunrise in the east?"

"No? We have to go east for the sunrise."

I shook my head and explained that shrimp don’t show up in the East Sea.

"Oh. Then that won’t work. Okay, I’ll sort it out with them. So, Gia? You coming?"

Why did Magia know that shrimp season was now and only available in the West Sea?

Because no one ever invited her, and she never had the time to go herself!

So there was no reason to turn down this chance.

If the girls were having fun and the CEO was taking a break, I wouldn’t really have anything to do that day either.

“Might as well bring our team leader along too.”

“Oh, Kang Team Leader? Sure, I’ll ask her.”

I brought it up because she was the on-site manager for all of our first-gen members’ external events.

Whether it was recording sessions at a studio under the label, trips to the motion capture studio, or any other invited appearances, she was always there. It only made sense for her to tag along this time too.

More than that, maybe because she used to be an idol manager, she was really good at filming vlogs.

Even without showing their faces, just recording their voices could turn into solid content.

The planning team might request footage later, but if we called her at the last minute, it could mess up the schedule. Better to have it ready in advance.

Not to mention, the girls were so free-spirited and unpredictable that having one more person to keep an eye on them would definitely help. But I kept that thought to myself.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

The CEO flipped through a freshly printed stack of papers, tapped them into alignment, and handed them to me.

“You heard from the team leader about the interviews tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be sitting in with the HR director, so don’t feel too pressured. Go through these files, get a feel for the candidates, and mark anyone you find interesting. It’d be good to prepare some questions in advance too.”

“Mm. Got it.”

So I was actually going to be an interviewer now.
That was... kind of nerve-wracking.

Having someone new join the team was already a strange thought, but I was going to be the one interviewing and deciding who got the job?

“The HR director and I will defer to your choice. Pick whoever you feel is the best fit. If you don’t like any of them, that’s fine too.”

“Alright.”

“During the interview, we’ll address you as Team Lead, so try not to get too flustered.”

I didn’t actually plan on rejecting everyone.

That would mean we’d have to redo the whole hiring process.

I had helped with interviews for the first-gen members and other recruitment tasks before, and every time, it was a nightmare.

Reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, coordinating logistics—so much effort went into hiring just one person.

There was no way I’d let the already overworked CEO go through that hassle again.

…Hopefully, at least one of these four candidates would be a good fit.

***

─ Parallel Gallery ─

[Sh*t, I can’t sleep. I’m screwed.]

I have an interview tomorrow, and I’m way too nervous.

Tried taking a hot bath to relax, but now I’m even more awake.

Thought warm tea might help, so I had some corn tea—but now I need to use the bathroom, and I’m wide awake again.

Tried watching Komari’s stream to fall asleep, but I kept laughing.

I’m f*cked, what do I do? LOL

[Comments]
— Parallel835: Where’s your interview?
└ Parallel067 (OP): Parallel.
└ Parallel835: For real?
└ Parallel067 (OP): Yeah, they’re hiring for a management position on the operations team.
└ Parallel835: Damn, I heard they cut a ton of applicants at the resume stage. You made it through?
└ Parallel484: Respect.
└ Parallel067 (OP): I sent in a 10-page portfolio, packed with details. LOL
└ Parallel994: Jealous.
└ Parallel994: I applied too but got rejected. LOL
└ Parallel067 (OP): I’ll do my best for both of us.
└ Parallel994: FIGHTING. Now go to sleep.

That same night.

After all the girls’ streams had wrapped up, I casually browsed through Parallel’s gallery.

If someone was dedicated enough to apply for a job at our company, chances were they’d post about it somewhere.

Sure enough, some people were easier to track than they realized.

“A 10-page portfolio… must be this person.”

I only had four candidates to interview, and after scanning through their files earlier, one stood out right away.

Her resume was thick for a fresh graduate, so it was hard not to remember her.

[Resume]
Name: Gong Seung-yeon
Age: 23
Education: Bachelor’s Degree (Chungnim University, Electrical and Electronics Engineering)
Work Experience: None
Languages: Japanese / JLPT N2, English / TOEIC 950, OPIc IH

Two things stood out.

First, her language skills.

Among the four candidates, she was the only one proficient in both Japanese and English—and not just at a basic level. Her English writing and speaking scores were high, which was rare.

Second, the infamous 10-page portfolio.

It was basically a record of her VTuber viewing history.
That might sound strange for a portfolio, but it made sense.

[First-Gen: Komari Midori] [Subscribed: 10 months]
— 1/28 Viewer Participation: Knight of Legend
— 3/14 Viewer Participation: Knight of Legend
— 5/7 Viewer Participation: Knight of Legend
— 7/17 Viewer Participation: Knight of Legend
…

[First-Gen: Nezumi Maru] [Subscribed: 9 months]
— 2/11 Viewer Participation: Fighting Spirit
— 4/24 Viewer Participation: Relay Drawing
— 6/27 Viewer Participation: Fighting Spirit
…

[First-Gen: Aoyagi Rain] [Subscribed: 5 months]
— 5/22 Viewer Participation: Mini Rider
— 6/13 Viewer Participation: Battle Colosseum
…

[First-Gen: Akari Dora] [Subscribed: 5 months]
— 5/29 Viewer Participation: Animal League
— 8/14 Viewer Participation: 64 Cubics
…

Her participation rate was impressive.

Not only was she skilled at games, but her knowledge was broad—she never skipped over any genre.

More than that, her comments on every stream she’d been part of stood out.

She noted what could have been improved, what adjustments would’ve helped, and even suggested operational tweaks for handling stream hiccups.

She’d considered things only an insider would think about.

That’s why I remembered her.

I wasn’t thinking I have to hire her no matter what, but at least if she got nervous during the interview, I’d be more inclined to give her a pass.

I flipped back to the first page to memorize her face.

And then—

“Yawn…”

Considering I usually went to bed around 5 AM, yawning at 2 AM was unexpected.

Maybe it was because I’d been extra busy lately, appearing in the girls’ streams and handling other behind-the-scenes tasks.

Deciding to sleep right away, I shut down my monitoring computer, set up a portable bed, and spread out a sleeping bag.

Sometimes, when I worked late, I just crashed at the office—tonight was one of those nights.

The interviews started at 10 AM, and I wasn’t about to waste precious sleep commuting.

I set my alarm for 8 AM, an hour before employees started arriving.

The CEO told me not to worry about electricity costs, but I still kept the heater at 27°C…

Just as I was about to lie down—ding!

A KakaoTalk notification.

[Eunha Building Security Guard: Gia.]
[Eunha Building Security Guard: Uh… there’s someone hanging around in front of your office right now.]
[Eunha Building Security Guard: Just stay put, okay? I’ll go check it out.]

It was 2 AM.

Who the hell would be at the company at this hour?

Curiosity got the better of me.

I carefully crept between the partitions toward the glass door.

Sure enough, a shadow was lingering at the corner of the hallway.

A homeless person?

Before long, ding—the elevator chimed, and the security guard arrived.

After a brief exchange, their voices didn’t escalate—it seemed like a calm conversation.

I hesitated, then unlocked the door and stepped out.

The security guard gave me a respectful nod.

I returned the gesture and turned toward the person illuminated by his flashlight.

It was a young woman.

The guard continued speaking.

“So, yeah, I get that you’ve got an interview tomorrow, but you can’t just stay out here. You need to book a place to stay.”

“No, um. The thing is… if I fall asleep, I won’t wake up in time. So I figured I’d just wait here…”

I’d assisted with enough interviews to recognize it instantly.

A job candidate.

Her neatly tied ponytail and formal attire made it obvious.

And even in the dim light—her face was familiar.

It was the same face I’d just seen in the resume photo.

“…Are you Gong Seung-yeon?”

The woman, who had been anxiously glancing between me and the security guard, snapped to attention.

“Yes! That’s me—Gong Seung-yeon!”