I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 142

"Sure. I’ll join."

After casually confirming her participation, Magia turned to Do-hee, who looked visibly surprised.

"There was actually something I wanted to discuss with you regarding this."

"What is it?"

"Hold on—ah, here he comes."

Moments later, Ra Seunghyun arrived, having rushed over after getting the message. Seeing him take a seat beside Magia, Do-hee immediately understood—Ra Seunghyun’s persuasion had worked.

She shot him a look of disbelief.

You actually pulled it off?

Magia, however, didn’t seem to care about their silent exchange and got straight to the point.

"I talked with the team leader yesterday, and he mentioned that if I consistently participate in the company’s monthly group collabs, it would have a strong impact. Looking at today’s data, that seems to be the case. It’s only about four times a month, so it shouldn’t be an issue. That’s fine with you, right? Of course, as always, the focus will be on the members, and I’ll just be in a supporting role.

And for external group collabs where members are invited, I plan to join whenever possible as well."

That meant one thing—Ra Seunghyun had succeeded.

Which was also why Magia had so readily accepted Movgun’s tournament proposal.

To be honest, as a manager, Do-hee felt a bit emotional seeing Magia grow like this.

Back when she first hired her, Magia hadn’t known a thing about corporate structure, ranking, or formal speech.

She had just been a VTuber enthusiast who showed up to work because she loved watching streams.

And yet, here she was now.

Still, as the CEO—and as the only person in Korea who could be considered Magia’s guardian—Do-hee had to make sure she addressed the most important concerns.

"Are you sure you can handle all this? Your current workload, plus your personal interests, all within a limited work schedule?"

From the very start, Magia had been someone who influenced multiple departments. Even before her role became officially recognized, she had provided expert insight as a viewer-side VTuber analyst.

Thanks to her, even professionals who had no prior experience with VTubers now understood the industry quite well.

However, as that influence grew, it had put overwhelming pressure on Magia. To prevent her from burning out, Do-hee had initially blocked anything that might overwork her.

That was why anything involving Magia required her personal approval.

That was why Magia was made a direct-report employee under the CEO.

But since late last year, Magia’s presence had continued to grow at an unstoppable rate.

At this point, Do-hee couldn’t just control things as she had before.

That was probably why Ra Seunghyun had brought up this discussion after gathering input from other team leaders.

At this point, the entire company effectively regarded Magia as a department head.

Until now, whenever Magia was pushing herself too hard, Do-hee had been able to step in and stop her.

But now?

It was a conversation between team leaders.

Magia had to make her own decisions.

She needed to know when to say no.

Blindly taking on more responsibilities just because they benefited the company wasn’t necessarily the right move.

"And don’t even think about saying you’ll just sleep less. You know the rules. Your health comes first."

Fortunately, Magia had already discussed that with Ra Seunghyun.

"It’s strictly based on my availability. If I don’t have time, I won’t participate. Right, Team Leader?"

"Exactly. What matters is long-term consistency, so your health comes first."

"But since things are only going to get busier, I need you to hire one more person before the second-gen debuts, CEO. They don’t have to be as capable as Seung-yeon. It’s more important that their personality is compatible with him. Even if their skills are a little lacking, it’s fine."

"Just one? If you need more hands, don’t hesitate. The other team leaders will back you on this."

Seeing Ra Seunghyun nodding enthusiastically, Magia shook her head.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

"The second-gen training period is ending soon anyway. For now, one person is enough. If I feel we need more, I’ll let you know."

Do-hee was about to remind her that hiring someone wasn’t an instant process, but—

"I’ll let you know at least two months in advance."

"...You’re unusually quick on the uptake today."

"I’ve always been quick."

For someone who had always been a high-maintenance employee...

It felt like Magia had suddenly matured in just a few months.

She still looked too small to be left alone, which worried Do-hee.

But no matter how much she wanted to keep Magia under her wing, she couldn’t treat her like a child forever.

"Alright. I’ll trust you to handle things."

"I always handle things well."

"You talk big. More importantly, if you’re joining the MCN tournament, we need to make your company affiliation official. You’re okay with having your name on the official website, right?"

"You mean like the members’ profiles?"

"Yeah. Fans already know you’re the general manager, but the tournament staff needs official documentation. We’ll figure out where to place it, but for now, we’ll list you as staff."

Magia shrugged.

"As long as I’m not labeled as a VTuber, I don’t care."

***

Parallel had created an official profile page for Magia on its website, mainly as an excuse to justify her participation in the tournament.

But since the page also included her character sheet, April Fool’s lore drops, and everything else ever released about her, it naturally set the Parallel community ablaze for an entire week.

Parallel (VTuber) Gallery

[Doomsayers shut up! 2nd-gen theories shut up! Graduation rumors shut up! Shut shut shut—!!]

This proves it once and for all.

Doomsayers are rotting this gallery from the inside out.

If the mods see one, they should be eradicated immediately.

[Comments]

— Parallel851: Yeah, just as expected lol.

ㄴ Parallel586: Dude, why do I have you tagged as an idiot?

ㄴ Parallel096: This guy’s the one who kept posting nonstop about second-gen debut theories.

ㄴ Parallel682: Spammed the board with nonsense and now says "just as expected" lmao.

— Parallel512: Honestly, half the people who claim to be Magia fans and post "concern threads" are just shit-stirrers. Banning them is the right move.

ㄴ Parallel782: This is the way.

Parallel (VTuber) Gallery

[But what makes you all so sure? Lmao]

Yeah, they put her under ‘staff,’ but—

What if Magia completely changes her voice and debuts as a second-gen?

Would you actually be able to tell if it was her or not?

I wouldn’t. Lmao.

Unless she slips up or someone leaks it, we’d have no way of knowing.

[Comments]

— Parallel005: Lowkey facts lmao.

— Parallel122: Honestly, if she goes that far, we might as well take the L and accept it.

— Parallel068: Just look at Fan_C...

ㄴ Parallel846: Didn’t that turn out to be false?

ㄴ Parallel571: Since when?

ㄴ Parallel772: Bro from Earth 884 or what?

ㄴ Parallel966: It’s obviously a different person lmao.

ㄴ Parallel601: Wtf are you saying, it’s totally the same person.

ㄴ Parallel256: ??

So while the whole "Second-Gen vs. Fan_C" debate unexpectedly stayed alive,

the rumors about Magia fighting with the first-gen, graduating, or transferring were completely erased.

For Parallel, it was the absolute best possible outcome.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

But something even bigger was heating up the Parallel Gallery—

Shorts.

Right after the Saturday Black Warning collab ended, countless Shorts of the boombox moment flooded YouTube.

Both official and fan-made clips exploded in popularity, racking up record-breaking views.

The sheer impact of that scene was so massive that One Others, the first-gen’s first-anniversary song, started charting like crazy on YouTube Music.

Not only ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ did it shoot up the domestic rankings, but it even made an appearance in international charts outside of Korea.

But the real surprise?

The entire viral wave had started from the most unexpected source.

Magia didn’t realize the truth until the following Saturday.

[Long time no see, Magia? Heard the news. You’re joining the tournament.]

The unknown number that had called her turned out to be Movgun.

Magia replied bluntly.

"Yeah. Someone had to make it six, and there was no one else."

[Damn, I guess my push for each company having exactly two teams worked out in my favor. You really are hard to get, huh...?]

"?".

[Oh, wait. That was off the record. My bad, my bad.]

So basically, Movgun had set a trap to lure her in.

Since the Battle Call tournament was an official event co-hosted with Pazijik,

even if Movgun had made an argument, the fact that the organizers accepted it meant one thing—

Movgun had a ridiculous amount of influence over the developers.

Of course, many high-profile YouTubers focused on Battle Call.

Especially overseas.

But for Movgun to hold that much sway?

It meant the developers were directly benefiting from him in some way.

Since Magia had blocked his channel ages ago, she had no idea what made him so valuable to them.

"Anyway, if you’re done talking, I’m hanging up. I’m busy."

[Whoa, hold up.]

Movgun let out a long sigh.

[Look, I wasn’t expecting a ‘thank you’ or anything. But come on, you could at least say ‘I saw it’ or ‘It was good’ or ‘Not bad’? I didn’t expect it to blow up this much either, but still—]

"...? What are you talking about?"

[Jeez. Can’t believe I have to say this myself. The Shorts. The one I uploaded last week on my channel.]

That finally jogged Magia’s memory.

Cheon Do-hee had mentioned something about it earlier—

Movgun had made a viral Short using the first-gen’s new song as background music.

She had completely forgotten.

Partly because she had been busy.

And partly because she had blocked Movgun’s channel so long ago.

She had no idea what was going on with him.

And anytime his name popped up in discussions, she just ignored it.

[I sent you the link on DingTalk. Check it out. It’s blowing up.]

She tapped the link.

“This channel is blocked.”

...Right.

Since it was apparently a huge deal, she figured she might as well see for herself.

For the first time in nearly four years, Magia unblocked Movgun’s channel.

And when she finally saw it—

Oh.

[🥔Nutube Shorts]

@Movgun

Mov Wick #Movgun #BattleColosseum

👀 52.29M / 👍 6.45M / 💬 45,611 / 🔄 221K

♬ Original Sound (Music Source: Finish Line - Parallel Another (Feat. Fan_C))

The most recent Short, uploaded just a week ago, had already surpassed 50 million views.

More than 200,000 new Shorts had been created using its audio.

An absolutely ridiculous level of virality.

The clip itself wasn’t anything unusual for an FPS video—just someone using a relatively weak pistol to land headshots with perfect precision.

That kind of video was common in the FPS community.

Even if the creator was Movgun, Magia couldn’t understand why it had blown up so much.

Movgun, however, gave all the credit to Parallel’s song.

[This new song is literally made for Shorts. CAT really knows their stuff.

The beat is optimized for easy listening and syncs perfectly with the video... Oh, I’m not saying your previous songs were bad or anything!

Just that, relatively speaking, this one works exceptionally well as background music for videos.

Check the comments. People instantly recognize it as a CAT song. A big name is a big name.]

Movgun’s influence in the short-form space, combined with a song perfectly suited for the format,

had propelled it into a full-blown trend.

Some people might wonder why a random clip suddenly went viral,

but this was just how Shorts-driven trends worked.

YouTube Shorts, TT, Facebook Queue—

No matter the platform, once a video hit the algorithm and charted,

an avalanche of similar videos using the same audio would follow, spreading it globally.

This was now one of the most effective ways to promote music.

That’s why artists deliberately composed songs optimized for short-form virality,

why idol groups maximized their exposure by uploading multiple variations of the same clip,

and why even Parallel’s first-gen members had been strategically dropping their own pre-recorded Shorts after the song’s release.

But the real jackpot wasn’t hitting the domestic algorithm.

It was cracking the global algorithm.

Movgun’s 50-million-view Short was the perfect example.

And as a result, the original Finish Line MV had skyrocketed in views as well.

Magia only checked analytics once a week to avoid distraction,

but now, three weeks post-release, the numbers were staggering—

[🥔Nutube]

Finish Line | Parallel Another (feat. Fan_C) - Official MV

Parallel Official | 337K subscribers

8.84M views | 3 weeks ago | #Parallel #CAT #Finish_Line

Just last Monday, it had been slowly approaching 3 million views.

Now, in under a week, it had nearly tripled.

It wasn’t just on track to break 10 million views before the one-month mark—

it was already trending on YouTube’s Rising Music charts, accelerating its growth even further.

No wonder the office had been so lively all week.

For once, Magia was genuinely shocked.

"...When did this happen?" she muttered.

[? I thought you already knew?]

"I only check once a week. I had no idea."

Movgun sounded even more dumbfounded.

[Wait. You didn’t join the tournament because of this?]

"...To be honest, I had your channel blocked until just now. I had no clue."

[Okay, that’s just mean...]

"Don’t worry. I’ll block you again after this."

[Dude.]

If the song’s performance hadn’t been directly tied to Parallel’s future deal with CAT,

Magia really would have blocked him again on the spot.

But turning away someone who had helped Parallel just because of a past grudge against O.C.?

That wasn’t the right move anymore.

More importantly, Magia was now one of the company’s public faces—

even if it was just her name and a placeholder avatar on the website.

Which meant she had to manage public perception.

Even if she personally found someone intolerable, she couldn’t just avoid them forever.

Because that wasn’t what being a good professional was.

Or what being an adult was.

"...I’m joking. I’ll stop by and thank you in person after the MCN tournament.

Do you have a favorite food?"

The moment she asked, Movgun hummed in thought.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

[Forget the food. How about a collab before the MCN tournament?

Probably sometime next Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.]

In the past, Magia would have declined without hesitation.

But now?

"Doesn’t matter to me. Is it another internal match?"

**[No, more of a pre-tournament event.

We’ll have one representative from each major MCN join me for a three-man squad,

playing ranked matches while discussing the tournament.

It’s meant to build hype.

You’re not the only one I reached out to.

I’ve also contacted other MCNs with ongoing rivalries.]**

"Oh?

Then my co-player would be... Lapits?

Would it be Eona?"

Movgun immediately shut that down.

[Nope. It’s going to be the person you shouted out during the Combative tournament.]

In that moment, Magia already knew who he meant.

3.5 million subscribers.

A second-gen member of BachuuBachuu KR.

Shiraho Momo’s real-life friend.

The undisputed queen of Korean VTubers.

"...Taro, huh."