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

"I’ll do whatever the boss wants."

A silence followed.

We spent a moment with our gazes locked, as if each of us had cast a fishing hook into the other’s eyes.

After all, it’s been five years since I became the boss, and with three years of experience, one can quickly catch on to things. No matter how much the boss keeps silent, it’s not hard to read her intentions.

When she first mentioned needing help with the broadcast, there was a sense of tension.

Later, when I made a joke, I could sense a real feeling of disgust.

Behind my words, “I’ll do whatever,” there was a sense of relief...

"Then I’ll take it as a yes and start preparing. If you have any materials, could you send them to me?"

"... I haven’t said anything yet?"

"Well, judging by how your expression’s been changing, it’s clear you said yes."

"No. Don’t just assume what I’m thinking based on my expression."

"What else am I supposed to do? I’m in the middle of work here. If I leave Gong Seung-yeon alone and something happens to the broadcast, it’ll be my fault."

"That’s not going to happen all of a sudden…"

"But there’s always a ‘what if,’ right? By the way, if you have the PPT for the pre-party, could you send it to me? I’ll take a look at it after work today or tomorrow afternoon."

The boss chuckled and gently messed up my hair.

"Let’s just look at it together tomorrow. Come to my office first thing in the morning."

***

The first day had its ups and downs, but Gong Seung-yeon adjusted very quickly.

She didn’t seem bothered by the 3 pm to 12 am work schedule.

After all, someone who rarely misses a first-generation broadcast wouldn’t wake up before 10 am, right? I’m still a night owl, even after becoming the boss’s manager.

Usually, people like this are most active around midnight, and sure enough, after the broadcast ended at 12 am, while I was writing the report, Gong Seung-yeon kept throwing questions at me, full of enthusiasm.

"But these sentences feel very direct... is it okay to write them like this?"

"This is what the boss wants. From the agency’s perspective, the planning team and the boss handle things on their own."

"Ah, I’ll make a note of that..."

Not wanting to leave her to go home alone so late and have her parents worry, I made sure to take a cab with her and dropped her off in front of her house.

The next day, on the way to work, I ran into Gong Seung-yeon again in front of the company.

Coincidentally, she was holding a fish-shaped pastry bag, so I instinctively handed her a fish-shaped pastry.

Gong Seung-yeon carefully cradled the pastry as if it were a sacred relic, struggling not to drop it even though it was hot. It was almost pitiful to watch.

Still, she seemed much more relaxed compared to yesterday, so I casually teased her.

"Anyone would think you’re holding a goldfish-shaped pastry."

"Well, I can’t just drop it, can I? By the way, did you skip lunch?"

I slightly lifted the pastry to answer.

"This is my lunch. I’m not much of an eater, so three of these are enough to fill me up."

Gong Seung-yeon, her voice full of concern, asked,

"What if you faint from hunger? You should eat properly."

"If that was going to happen, I would have collapsed long ago. If I’ve been fine so far, there’s probably no problem."

I smiled and pushed the company door open with my shoulder, struggling a little since I was holding the fish-shaped pastry bag in one hand. Gong Seung-yeon helped me, and the door swung open easily.

"But, Part Leader, your body’s so delicate... Considering what you mentioned when we were going over the handover yesterday, it seems like you often stay late at the office, so I’m worried. Do you get regular check-ups?"

"It’s still a little early for me to need a check-up."

"What do you mean? With the high rates of cancer among young people these days! Regular check-ups are the best way to stay healthy and live a long life!"

"If I get sick, I’ll go then. I haven’t been sick so far."

"Ugh, that’s not good."

It would have sounded like we were arguing if someone heard us, but we climbed into the elevator with no tension.

As the door was about to close, we heard someone’s voice from outside.

"Wait a minute!"

Ah, it was the boss.

I immediately pressed the open button, and sure enough, the boss slid in gracefully with her long black hair flowing.

Seeing her dressed lightly, it seemed like she’d just run to the convenience store nearby.

Her gaze shifted between me and Gong Seung-yeon, then to the fish-shaped pastry bag in my hand.

"... That was Jia, wasn’t it?"

"Please don’t give me that disappointed reaction, like when you get the same toy as a gift that you already had."

"Why such a detailed description?"

"Well, if you don’t get in, I’ll close the door."

"Hey, hey!"

The boss stepped in, and the elevator smoothly started to rise.

Gong Seung-yeon seized the opportunity to greet the boss.

"Hello, Boss! I didn’t get to greet you properly yesterday. I’m the new member of the operations team, Gong Seung-yeon!"

The boss gave a light nod.

"I saw you yesterday, you seemed to get along well with Magia, the Part Leader. Sharing fish-shaped pastries and heading to work together today. Looks like you two hit it off?"

"Yes! Part Leader has been really helpful, so I think I’ll be able to adjust quickly!"

At that, the boss glanced at me with a slight smile at the corners of her lips, as if saying, 'Hmm, seems like you're managing your junior well.'

... Did I manage her well?

If nothing else, I’d be lucky if I don’t get reported for workplace harassment with the fish-shaped pastries and pineapple pizza.

"Anyway, please continue to help Gong Seung-yeon. Once she gets used to things, we’ll start rotating her shifts."

"Yes! I’ll learn quickly and ease the burden on Part Leader!"

I added, half-jokingly,

"I think it’ll take at least six months of working together. We’ll have to deal with all kinds of issues, and once the second-generation recruits are selected, I’ll be showing Gong Seung-yeon the ropes. Until everything’s properly covered, late-night shifts are out of the question."

"Too long. Cut it down to three months."

The boss's demands were oddly picky.

But I also didn’t want to just teach Gong Seung-yeon half-heartedly and throw her into the deep end.

What we do is directly tied to public opinion and the company’s reputation, so when teaching, I had to make sure I was thorough.

"No, that's not going to work."

"You listen well when you want to, but not when it’s important, huh?"

I leaned close to the boss’s ear and whispered.

"When I’m not around, if Gong Seung-yeon makes a mistake and the broadcast goes down without being fixed, what would we do?"

"... She’ll manage it."

"She’s the one I picked because she’s most like me, but you know Gong Seung-yeon isn’t exactly me, right?"

The boss shot me a glare and reluctantly responded.

"... Fine. Do it your way."

"See, I knew I could count on your understanding, Boss."

"At this point, saying that doesn’t really help, you know?"

At that moment, I thought maybe today was the day, but when I went into the boss's office, the real culprit was someone else.

I brought my usual notebook and pen to jot things down when the boss asked.

"Is the fish-shaped pastry good?"

"Yeah. It’s good because it’s cold out."

"I see~."

With that one comment, which almost seemed to say, You're eating something tasty by yourself, I realized what was going on.

... Could it be because I didn’t share the fish-shaped pastry?

The boss really doesn’t like sweet foods, so I hadn’t offered it to her.

"How about we go out for dinner later and buy some?"

"You just ate. Are you going to eat again after dinner?"

"But it's tasty. Or I could just eat less for dinner."

"Ugh. How do you eat sweet things like that in a row?"

Look at her. She acts like she doesn’t like sweets, yet here she is thinking about the fish-shaped pastry.

Or maybe? Did I need to offer her one, just to be polite? We’re friends, so I thought that kind of formality wasn’t necessary.

"... Ah."

The realization hit me soon after.

It wasn’t about the fish-shaped pastry; the boss was probably upset that I didn’t show respect for her authority in front of Gong Seung-yeon.

With the youngest employee standing next to me, I treated her like a friend, and from the boss’s perspective, it must’ve seemed disrespectful.

I had let my guard down, thinking it was okay because we hung out at PC bangs together, but I realized I needed to be more careful at work.

First, I had to restore the mood.

The tension in the air felt like needles pricking at my skin.

"Anyway, let’s look at the PPT. Isn’t there a lot of material? I heard from Team Leader Ra that it’s four hours long."

"... Yeah. Bring the chair over here and sit."

"Yes."

I pushed the swivel stool in front of the boss’s desk and sat next to her.

The screen was already showing the Parallel logo and a new group illustration of the first-generation talents, waiting for us.

"What’s this? Is this a Prezi?"

"For the first anniversary, Team Leader Ra really went all out."

Unlike the usual PPT slides that go from one page to the next, Prezi allows the perspective to shift back and forth across a wide game board, zooming in and out, immersing you in a journey that explores deeper layers before returning to the world map. It felt like traveling with the first-generation talents.

Apparently, Team Leader Ra, who had spent ten years working in a big company’s marketing team and always got the top reviews, had made this material just as meticulously as her sharp personality.@@novelbin@@

It was clear this was the best approach for an event celebrating the first-generation talents' journey.

Each time the scene changed, there was a new GIF of the talents walking, running, or flying on Dora, who had transformed into a dragon. It really felt like going on a journey with the first-generation talents.

As we moved from one slide to the next, the background shifted smoothly, and the first-generation talents did their thing.

"Honestly, with four hours of material, I was a little worried about what I should say while you’re helping out. But with this presentation, I could talk for eight hours straight."

"... Really?"

"Yeah, imagine someone made a fan documentary about Parallel's first year. Watching it from start to finish, all we’d do is comment. Like, for example, this one scene—I was eating ramen in the break room during a broadcast, and Maru screamed so loudly that I spilled the soup all over the floor. I ended up cleaning it up and didn’t get home until 4 AM. I could totally talk about that. Viewers would probably have reactions like, 'I woke up late and hit my head,' or 'I bumped my knee on the desk,' just like I did."

After hearing my story, the boss laughed and, in a slightly elevated host tone, said,

"No wonder when I came to work that day, the office smelled like ramen."

It felt almost like we were rehearsing for the broadcast, and I responded in kind.

"Wait, it smelled like that?"

"Honestly, if it was just the ramen smell, that would’ve been fine. But with the air freshener you sprayed, it smelled so weird that I got scolded for trying to air out the place."

"Eh? I didn’t spray the air freshener."

"... Wait, then was it two culprits?"

We weren’t even prepared with a script, but the conversation kept flowing naturally without any pauses.

The boss looked quite relieved.

"The direction isn’t bad. I think if we keep going like this, it’ll work really well for the pre-party broadcast."

"At least I’m good at responding to your comments, Boss."

"That’s something to be proud of."

"But if we keep going like this, I feel like our conversation will never end. We’d end up talking for 10 minutes about just one scene."

"I’ll know when to cut it off at the right moment, so just keep doing what you're doing."

"Yes."

We didn’t say anything explicitly, but our expressions spoke volumes.

It felt like the pre-party broadcast would go smoothly if we kept this up.

And so, our rehearsal in the boss’s office continued without us noticing the passage of time.

"Here, I’ll throw in a tackle. 'If you speak to the others like that, you’ll hurt their feelings!'"

"In that case, I’d probably say, 'If that’s toxic, then your feedback would be like pouring acid on them.'"

"Your expression’s too harsh. In that situation, I’d rather..."