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

Parallel’s group chat was usually the busiest when no one was streaming.

It was basically the company-wide group chat.@@novelbin@@

People would talk about collabs, content ideas, which games were fun, and even random dinner recommendations.

But on nights like this, when there was a group collab, everyone was too focused on the stream to chat.
The only exceptions were Momo, who was monitoring the stream, and the occasional message whenever something important happened.

"Oh, hell, yeah, puddles! Drop the rain from the sky! I’m here to drench this dry land once again!"

But the moment Magia’s absurdly perfect Rain impression—backed by a voice changer—came through the broadcast, the group chat exploded.

[Komari: What the hell?]
[Komari: Is that really Magia unnie?]
[Komari: Rain unnie isn’t doing two roles, right?]
[Maru: ?]
[Maru: Wow, I thought that was actually Rain talking.]
[Maru: That’s really Magia???]
[Maru: Magia, what the hell!!!]

With Rain too shocked to even speak, Momo immediately sent a message to snap her out of it.

[Momo: Rain, focus. Keep the stream moving.]

Only then did Rain shake herself out of it, scan the chat, and start ad-libbing.

"Phew~ You guys are so surprised, huh? I, uh? I prepared a hidden technique! A secret move! My own copy! So get ready!"

Even with her quick reaction, there was no denying she was shaken.

Momo had given her a heads-up before the stream, but she hadn’t expected a full-on doppelgänger.

Sure, Magia was using a voice changer.
But that meant that outside of the filtered tone, everything else—her accent, filler words, and delivery—was completely accurate.

The chat clearly felt the same way.

— Wait, weren’t we supposed to not know the last actor’s identity?? WHO IS THIS??
— Momo… Rain… where the hell did you find another one of her?
— A-Rain is fake, right?
— It’s obviously A.
— Are you all deaf?!
— D is real, wtf.
— IT’S A.
— HELLO?? A is LITERALLY THE HOST.

But Rain had been streaming for eight months now.
She wasn’t about to let chat sway her.

If Magia was this good at copying her, that was perfect.
Because if she played along and made Magia seem like the real one, the big reveal would be even better.

This content was about to go from great to legendary.

The fun of Find Rain came not just from the actors trying—and failing—to imitate her,
but also from the sheer amazement of the contestants when they got completely fooled.

So Rain kept both her mouth and hands busy.

"Hey, hey. Everyone, shut up. Calm down. Obviously, I’m real. A-Rain is the real one. Why don’t you get it? I’m so disappointed."

[Rain: Magia.]
[Rain: Play along. Pretend you’re the real one.]

But Magia, the one person who needed to play along, wasn’t responding.

Momo, watching the situation, finally gave her a nudge.

[Momo: Magia, match Rain’s energy.]

Right on cue, Magia reacted.

[What the. I’m losing my mind. A, cut it out. No matter how hard you try, the puddles won’t fall for it. It’s me. D is the real one.]

Hearing that, Rain was floored.

It wasn’t surprising that Magia listened to Momo over her.

But the fact that Magia even remembered her old pronunciation mistake? That was something else.

For the first week after debut, Rain had struggled to pronounce Puddles, her fan name, accidentally saying Undungs instead.

And now, Magia had even copied that.

And the way she gestured with her hands as she spoke—
She had that same swag Rain had when talking with old friends.

'This isn’t an impression. This is a full-on copy.'

***

[Momo: Magia, match Rain’s energy.]

I had stayed quiet, unsure if I should even be involved in this kind of content as a non-VTuber.

But then Momo sent her usual razor-sharp message.

That being said, I didn’t think I was wrong for hesitating.
This was just part of my mindset as a Parallel employee.

In other VTuber agencies like BatchuBachu or YoruAsa, there had been cases where staff let their egos slip into broadcasts—only to get completely shut down.
Employees should always act like employees.

— Private Messages —
[Momo: Looks like Rain is trying to go along with you.]
[Momo: So if she starts messing with you—]
[Momo: Wait, "messing" sounds weird.]
[Momo: If she tries to do a bit with you, just play along, okay?]
[Parallel Ops Team Magia: Got it.]
[Momo: Damn, I was gonna use you as a joke character, but you’re way too good.]
[Momo: Rain was actually speechless lol.]
[Parallel Ops Team Magia: It’s just thanks to the voice changer.]

But if the streaming genius herself was telling me to do it, then I had to.

There was a saying among the first-gen members:
"If you listen to the boss, you gain subscribers even in your sleep."

So, like the obedient employee I was, I was going to do exactly as I was told—
and make sure Rain gained more fans tonight.

She had been in a bit of a plateau lately.
Maybe tonight would be the turning point.

'She’s saying I’m doing well. And that I should fool them even harder.'

Come at me, Puddles.
Let’s see who knows Rain best.

This was exactly why I practiced that rap.

***

The first Puddle entered the chat.

[Ah, ah. Good evening.]

The moment viewers saw his username, they started whispering among themselves.

It was none other than Rain’s undisputed number-one donator—the chairman of Rain’s fans. He never missed the top spot in her donation rankings and was known for hopping between Parallel’s streams, leaving his name in the rankings of every single one.

Even Rain was surprised that he was the first contestant. She was excited.

[Puddle, are you confident? Ready to start?]

But despite all the hype, Chairman Puddle was visibly nervous.

Because when the actors introduced themselves earlier, he couldn’t tell the difference between the real Rain and Magia.

[I don’t know who it is, but there’s a voice impression god in here… I’m kind of worried, but I’ll try.]

[Okay, let’s go!]

And so, the Find Rain challenge began.

First up was A-Rain.

[Yay! Hello! It’s A-Rain!]

The chairman hesitated for a moment before making his judgment.

[Fake. Get out.]

[No, no! It’s me! I’m Rain!]

[Rain doesn’t use that much English these days. Komari, you’re out.]

— LMAO
— A, get out.
— Komari, I can smell the grass from here.

The first elimination: first-gen member Midori Komari.

As soon as she was shot down, B-Rain stepped in.

[Yay, it’s B-Rain! Puddle, I missed you! How have you been? Are you feeling okay?]

[Your pronunciation is way too Korean. Out.]

[No, no! It’s B-Rain! You don’t believe me?!]

[You’re messing up your B and V sounds. That’s not Rain. And she doesn’t roll her tongue like that. Out. Also, Maru, my ears are bleeding—stop yelling.]

[WAAAAAH!!]

— Get out.
— I turned the volume down, but it still muted my speakers.
— Honestly, this is way too easy for the chairman.
— EZ pizza~

Second elimination: first-gen member Nezumi Maru.
It took less than two minutes to cut them both.

Momo, who had been watching, couldn’t help but laugh.

"I thought they were both pretty good..."

Thanks to the sudden comet known as Magia, these first-gen members—who were supposed to be decent—had instantly been reduced to joke characters.

The original plan was for Magia to be the obvious weak link and make it funny.

But this wasn’t bad either.

Impressions were relative. If someone was overwhelmingly good, someone else would naturally become the comedic relief.

So while the roles had changed, the flow of the show was perfect.

And the viewers were hooked.

The contestants were chosen at random, but the fact that the first contestant happened to be Rain’s number-one fan made it even more exciting.

If even he couldn’t tell the difference?

This was huge.

— But now the real challenge begins.
— For real.
— Honestly, that was too easy.
— Alright, let’s gooooo.

And so, it was time for C-Rain.

Magia’s turn.

Would the chairman guess correctly and win his pizza?

Everyone on the stream was waiting for C-Rain to speak…

[Puddle, I can’t remember my in-game name. What was it again? The squirrel thing? You remember, right? The one I promised I’d stream?]

Silence.

Just like earlier, when the actors introduced themselves.

— Okay, this one is real. I just know.
— ??
— There’s no way this is an impression.
— Is this just a really good voice changer, or is the impression actually cracked??

And then D-Rain spoke, throwing the stream into complete chaos.

[Puddle, C-Rain is obviously fake. Don’t fall for it. This is the real one. So tell me the name.]

— Wait, but this one sounds real too???
— ??
— The voice is too even.
— Holy shit… domain expansion.

No matter how good an impression was, the more someone spoke, the more differences would slip through.

But the amount of data Magia had collected from watching Rain’s streams was insane.

And she had practiced everything to near perfection.

It was eerie how few mistakes she made.

To anyone who didn’t know better, it really did sound like there were two actual Rains.

Even Momo, who had done countless collabs with Rain and memorized her unique speech patterns, took a moment to figure out who was who.

[Hey, D! Stop being a baby. No way Puddle picks you.]

[Who even gave you permission to speak? You’re way too obsessed with C. Calm down.]

With both Rains arguing back and forth, Chairman Puddle could only watch in disbelief, repeating, "No way. No way."

Where the hell had they found this person?

All he could do was be amazed by Momo’s scouting skills.

Finally, he gave up and raised his hand.

[I can’t do this. I’m using my Song Chance.]

:: Anonymous Puddle has donated 5,000 Clouds! ::
:: You’re giving up pizza for this?! ::

[I seriously have no idea.]

— If he can’t tell, what hope do we have?
— Dude, same. I’m completely lost.
— Let’s just say both are correct.
— Pizza is a lie.

Using a Song Chance meant that instead of pizza, the prize would be downgraded to a Mama Burger Set.

But the reward didn’t matter anymore.

The number-one Rain fan couldn’t tell who the real one was.

Losing was one thing, but he couldn’t afford to fail this challenge.

[Sing a short part of the original song’s rap verse. I’ll judge from that.]

— OHHHH.
— That’s actually a smart request.
— The chairman’s dignity is at stake.
— Yeah, if they rap, it’ll be obvious.
— Alright, LET’S GO.

Rain’s original song—released two months after her debut—was peak K-pop:
Power vocals, heavy belting, and a rap verse stuffed with English slang and abbreviations.

It was nearly impossible to imitate.

Even Rain had struggled with the recording.

If the impostor messed up even one syllable, it would be obvious.

[Ahem. Let’s get it. One, two, three, four.]

But the Puddles had made a fatal assumption.

Because the person currently playing C-Rain wasn’t just a Korean VTuber fan.

This was Magia.

An absolute menace.

Someone who had sniped Momo’s overseas broadcasts using VPNs, just to keep up with her content.

Someone who had trained her pronunciation to perfection just so she wouldn’t get caught as a domestic fan.

She hadn’t expected those efforts to pay off here, but—

[Voices in the shadows, we’re risin’ loud,
No more silence, we’re standin’ proud.]

An explosive display of rapid-fire rap.

The viewers immediately mistook it for Rain’s actual rap and started waving glowsticks.

Their ears and brains had already decided this was the real one.

— KYAAAAAAAAA!!
— HOLY SHIT.
— (Glowstick) (Glowstick) (Glowstick) (Glowstick)
— C is the real one, right???
— (Booty shake) (Booty shake) (Booty shake)
— QUEEN OF K-HIPHOP.
— KOREAN HIPHOP IS DEAD.

It was only four seconds, but the impact lasted far longer.

Momo, watching from the sidelines, was already slack-jawed.

"Magia… What the hell are you?!"