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

It was only natural.
The very next day, Maru was summoned to the company.

Parallel’s fan gallery had exploded with speculation, which spilled over into members’ livestreams. A wave of bans had been issued, and the first round of damage control had concluded.
When Magia came down to the eighth floor after wrapping up training and sending the second-gen members home, she saw Maru leaving the CEO’s office—after clearly getting chewed out.
The office was half-lit since most employees had already left for the evening.

With her long hair hanging over her shoulders and her posture completely slumped, Maru looked eerily similar to the zombies from the AR escape room they had done the day before.
For once, Magia couldn’t help but laugh as she called out first.
“Wow. Looks like a zombie virus has spread in the office.”

“….”
She couldn’t dodge Maru’s enraged chase immediately afterward, though.
But even that felt like a chase scene straight out of the AR escape room, making Magia burst into laughter again.

She ended up taking refuge inside a bathroom stall—like a mouse hiding in a hole from a cat.
“Get out here right now!”
BANG BANG BANG.

The stall door shook violently, like a real zombie was trying to break in.
“If you just yell like that, how are you any different from a zombie? Let’s talk.”
“You little—you started this!!”

Maru’s voice boomed through the office, loud enough to make the entire building ring.
Fortunately, since Momo had called her in after working hours to avoid public embarrassment, at least the trainees wouldn’t hear about it.
Otherwise, everyone would have been able to listen in as she sulked inside the stall, mumbling things like “I’m just cosmic trash…” after getting scolded.

Magia had actually wanted to tell her for over a year that the office bathroom had terrible soundproofing, but she never found the right moment.
Well, at least Maru was cute. If anyone overheard, they’d probably just chuckle and move on.
Besides, Maru was the type to burn through emotions like alcohol or gasoline—intense but short-lived.
Once Magia sensed that enough time had passed, she cautiously stepped out.

She was immediately greeted by Maru’s misty eyes and sulky expression.
“Wow. That timing was too perfect…”
“What? Right when your anger cooled down?”

“It was so perfect that I kinda wanna punch you. You okay with that?”
Magia, ever the troublemaker, leaned in even closer as if asking for a hit.
They had never joked around like this before, since there had always been a certain distance between them.

So in a way, this was Maru officially marking their real friendship.
“No way. If you hit me, I might catch the ‘Maru Virus’ and end up going live to leak all the second-gen members’ names and details.”
Parallel’s VTubers—all of Momo’s kids—had a distinct comedic rhythm.

It was as if everyone had settled into their designated roles: “In this field, I’m the best at getting smacked for laughs.”
Maru, for example, was the type to either sniffle dramatically or outright bawl if you threw just a bit of truth into your teasing.
Most of her fanbase—Donguris—were former Jup-Yudong (fans who specifically hunted down crying streamers to poke fun at them).

So by now, they had practically mastered the art of making Maru break down in seconds.
What Magia had just said? Exactly the kind of thing a Donguri would say.
If it were a donation message, it would be something like:

"I’m on night duty at GOP today, but I’m scared I’ll catch the ‘Maru Virus’ and accidentally blurt out the North Korean password over the loudspeaker. T_T"
Normally, Maru would fire back effortlessly—she had incredible banter with her audience.
But today, she wasn’t in the mood to play along.

She was already sulking about how Eona had gotten close to Magia so quickly.
On top of that, she had accidentally leaked information again.
She knew it wasn’t Magia’s fault, but the frustration kept welling up inside her.

And then—
"H-Hh… Hic… Hhhhik… Hhhiieeek…"
Magia swore she could hear the dam cracking inside Maru’s heart.

But it was too late to stop it.
She hadn’t even realized she was walking a tightrope between Maru and Eona, struggling to maintain balance.
“Wait, hold on. Just calm dow—”

"HUUUAAAAHHHH!!!"
***
Since the company’s bathroom had terrible soundproofing, Maru’s wailing reached all the way to Momo’s office.

By the time Momo rushed over, she found Maru sobbing uncontrollably while Magia stood there like a guilty puppy, nervously gauging Momo’s reaction.
Naturally, Magia had no choice but to handle the aftercare.
Not that she wasn’t planning to take responsibility, but she hadn’t expected Maru to break down this hard.

Thankfully, she remembered something that Momo and Team Leader Kang Ji-ho had told her before:
"No matter how upset a girl is, a bit of sugar can work wonders. If she looks like she’s in a bad mood, try offering her chocolate first."
And sure enough, it worked.

The moment Magia mentioned cake, Maru immediately stopped wailing.
And once she had a bite of chocolate cake, her eyes practically sparkled.
“Mmmm… This is so good…”

Even with her eyes still swollen, she inhaled the cake in an instant.
“I want cheesecake too…”
One slice wasn’t enough.

This translation is the intellectual property of .
She started sampling one of each from a café famous for its desserts.
After devouring six different slices, she rubbed her full stomach, her expression finally softening.

Then, out of nowhere, she blurted out a heartfelt apology.
“Sorry. I totally overreacted. It wasn’t even worth crying over…”
“No, I didn’t realize you’d take it that seriously either. You were already stressed after getting scolded.”

“No, I should be apologizing. I wasted so much of your time with this…”
Sigh.
Maru let out a deep breath and muttered,

“Our five-member group song is dropping next week… And here I am ruining the mood. If I hadn’t slipped up, the fans would’ve been hyped about the news this weekend…”
While Magia had been busy managing the second-gen training schedule, the first-gen members had also been hard at work preparing for their first collaborative song with CAT.
— Since Magia was swamped, she had only attended the vocal lessons, simply requesting that they include more lines for the other members. She hadn’t been involved in the mid-production check or part distribution.

Their key content had been a karaoke stream.
They had deliberately cut down on the usual J-pop songs, focusing on Korean tracks from CAT artists and pop songs to subtly plant the idea of something different.
“Huh? This karaoke session feels kinda different.”
“Wait, why are they suddenly all singing Korean pop songs?”

They had planned to drop the bombshell reveal once enough curiosity had built up:
"Surprise! CAT and Parallel are releasing a five-member group song!"
The original plan was for the first-gen members to do a karaoke collab in the practice room on Saturday.

Then, on Sunday, they would reveal the teaser for the new song.
But thanks to Maru’s accidental leak, the mood had turned chaotic.
Now, even the internal staff were debating whether to push the announcement back.

That was the real reason Momo had chewed Maru out.
It wasn’t exactly a leak, but it had disrupted the company’s schedule—especially for their first collaboration with CAT.
Magia, already somewhat aware of the situation, asked,

“Should I go live and clear things up for the fans?”
“Ah, no! You’re already super busy with second-gen training. I remember how hectic it was when we were trainees…”
“Still, it kinda feels like I should step in this time.”

It was the logical conclusion.
What the fans wanted was simple: for Magia to come forward and clarify the situation.
But with nearly six months left before the second-gen debut, there was nothing concrete Magia could confirm at this stage.

If she spoke now, all she’d be left with was the equivalent of a pile of fishbones—stripped of all substance.
It would only frustrate both her and the audience.
Even if she did explain, people would just respond with “How do we know you’re telling the truth? Give us a proper answer!”

It would accomplish nothing.
Maru understood that too, shaking her head.
“You don’t need to get yourself in trouble with the boss just because of me…”

“Well, if I can’t convince them, then whatever. Either way, the karaoke stream and teaser reveal are getting pushed back a week. There’s no way Momo would let it drop at this timing.”
“Right, so there’s no need to bring this up with her and start an unnecessary argument—”
This time, Magia shook her head.

Because this whole mess had happened while she was too exhausted from the escape room attraction and had handed everything off to Gong Seung-yeon before promptly passing out.
If she had been there instead, she would’ve caught onto Maru’s slip and immediately called her—screaming at her to shut her mouth.
“I knew that once the second-gens came in, I wouldn’t be able to handle everything myself.

But that doesn’t mean I can just ignore things when they go wrong.”
“…Yeah.”
“So let me handle this. You just go home and start your stream. Your Donguris are waiting for you.”

The dam holding back Maru’s tears threatened to crack again.
Because who else would go this far for her, after she had been the one to screw up and make things worse?
Instead of sulking about Magia getting closer to the second-gen members, she should have been more careful while Magia was busy managing them.

“I… I… n-need to b-become… a b-better… s-senior… Hhk…”
“You should become a better senior. That’s a given.
And if you start crying again, I’m leaving you here.”

“Hhhuuup—”
For the record, Magia wasn’t just squeezing time out of her schedule to clean up Maru’s mess.
That Saturday, she had already scheduled a major collab she had promised a while ago.

It was technically just an excuse to avoid making a separate plan for damage control.
But the fact that she even thought to use this as a distraction tactic was proof enough of how she consistently won over the trust of her members.
The moment Momo heard Magia’s proposal, she leaned on her chin and nodded.

“So, since the teaser is already getting delayed, you’re planning to divert attention by going to a baseball game with Crkemang this weekend?”
“Yes.”
The fans still didn’t know that Magia was going to the game with Crkemang that Saturday.

Crkemang had only mentioned that he was attending the opening match and that he had secured a guest ticket for someone.
But he had deliberately kept the guest’s identity a secret.
Because Magia was no ordinary guest.

Crkemang was a giant in the industry, boasting over three million subscribers.
His streams often featured famous idols and celebrities, so fans always speculated who his next guest would be.
If he had revealed in advance that Magia was coming, other attendees at the stadium might start shouting, “Magia’s here!”

Crkemang didn’t know much about VTubers.
But he did know that Magia was like a daughter to him, and he wanted to ensure she could enjoy the game without interruptions.
The fact that their collab and tournament appearance still hadn’t leaked was a testament to Crkemang’s skills.

He hadn’t grown to three million subscribers by accident.
After going through every possible hardship on his way up, he had learned to slow down his speech—prioritizing never making slip-ups.
“So, what’s your angle? Lay it out for me first.”

“I don’t have a huge plan yet… But I do have one solid idea.”
Even if Magia revealed herself during the game, some people might still recognize her.
So Crkemang had offered to give her a chance to promote Parallel after the game, during their car ride back.

Magia planned to use that moment to say:
"Next week, a huge surprise will be revealed. Stay tuned."
In other words, she wanted to fan the flames further.

Right now, the fans were already on fire, convinced that Magia was debuting as a second-gen VTuber.
By Saturday, the speculation would likely start dying down naturally.
But Magia?

She was going to pour gasoline all over it.
Because no one—absolutely no one—would expect that the real announcement was ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) a collaboration song with CAT, one of Korea’s biggest record labels.
It wasn’t even a lie.

They would simply let the fans assume it was a debut announcement, only to drop the real bombshell at the last second.
And any complaints about “What?! You baited us into thinking it was a debut!” would be drowned out by the sheer excitement of CAT supporting Parallel.
Momo analyzed the pros and cons before speaking.

“So basically… If people are going to make a fuss either way, we might as well burn everything to the ground and redirect it to our advantage?”
It was such a villainous strategy that she couldn’t help but chuckle.
But no matter how much she thought about it, there really wasn’t a better alternative.

“…Damn. Have I been around you too long?
Why does this seem like the best idea?”
Magia lowered her eyes playfully.

“That’s not good. You’re supposed to stay objective, Boss.
Otherwise, who’s going to stop me when I start going too far?”
“I am being objective.

And I still think this is the best option.”
“Well, if you say so, then it must be right.”
Momo gave her a long, knowing look.

“I appreciate that you always trust me.
But if you ever think something isn’t right, you have to speak up.
Don’t just say ‘yes, yes’ and go along with everything.”

“I always speak up when I don’t agree—”
“Yeah, but you can’t do it in that ‘devil’s advocate’ way where you nitpick or start breaking things down just for fun.”
“Then I’d rather just not—Ow, ow, ow!”

THWACK.
A light flick to the forehead.
Magia rubbed her head before asking,

“So, what’s the plan?”
Parallel’s approach to Magia-related speculation had always been consistent.
Complete denial.

Total radio silence.
A firm stance that we are not doing that.
And this time was no different.

They were simply adding one extra ingredient—Magia’s infamous wordplay, cranked up to the max.
And Momo wasn’t joking earlier.
She knew what Magia was capable of.

Which was why, even before everything unfolded, she was already excited to see what would happen.
“Alright. Do it.”