“Then how about this if anything goes wrong, I’ll kneel and apologize.”
When Magia said those words, Cheon Dohee didn’t take them seriously.
Just her usual joking around, she thought.
As someone who never hesitated to try anything, Jiya’s words often carried a hint of exaggeration, and Dohee found herself chuckling dismissively this time too.
“You’re going to stream by yourself?”
“If I do, then I do. It’s not a big deal.”
But after hearing Jiya’s follow-up, she couldn’t keep laughing.
The sincerity in Jiya’s expression a moment ago—
What Dohee felt from it was a sense of curiosity.
‘Why is she worried about this?’
Dohee was dumbfounded.
She had always assumed that Magia disliked the idea of streaming, basing every judgment on that assumption. But perhaps that assumption had been wrong all along.
Even though Jiya had shown some potential while playing along with Dora on her streams, Dohee had thought it was just Jiya adjusting herself to suit Dora.
Was that not the case?
Was she really so unbothered by the idea of streaming herself?
‘I can’t just avoid this again… not this time.’
Ever since Magia brought up the idea of resigning, Cheon Dohee had been treading carefully. But this time, she couldn’t afford to.
She had a gut feeling, a sharp flash of instinct, that if she didn’t confront this head-on, it would be a mistake.
“Are you serious? I thought you said you hated the idea of streaming.”
“…When did I ever say that?”
Jiya, who had been grinning, noticed Dohee’s stern expression and let her smirk falter.
“Wait, this atmosphere… But really, I don’t think I ever explicitly said I disliked it.”
“Do you remember when I asked you that one time? What was it exactly… Oh, right. I said, ‘At this rate, I might as well suggest you become a VTuber.’ What did you say then?”
Jiya frowned slightly.
After all, she had already answered that question back then.
“I said, ‘If you tell me to, I will,’ didn’t I?”
“…Ah.”
Dohee slapped her forehead and hung her head.
“Well, yeah, but then after that, didn’t you politely refuse?”
“I only said that because I didn’t think you’d actually let me debut. I figured I wasn’t qualified, and the boss I know would never let someone debut without the proper qualifications. That’s why I said it that way.”
To sum up, Dohee had been misinterpreting everything on her own.
The problem, however, was that Magia wasn’t always entirely truthful either.
After all, Jiya had been a long-time fan of Dohee’s.
How many fans could outright refuse a request from their favorite?
And Dohee wasn’t just her favorite; she was also her boss.
Which is why Dohee pressed further.
She needed to hear Jiya’s genuine feelings this time.
“Stop beating around the bush and be honest with me. If you really had to debut, what would make you not want to do it?”
But Jiya had never thought about such a thing.
If she ever debuted, it would only be because her boss deemed her qualified. And if the boss told her to do it, she would follow without hesitation.
“Hold on a second. I’ve never really thought about it before…”
However, since the boss asked directly, she had to answer properly.
“I don’t think I can do my own broadcast because I’m too busy watching other people’s streams. I like watching broadcasts way more.”
Cheon Dohee was puzzled.
Her reasoning didn’t seem to stem from singing, dancing, or anything related to entertainment.
Of course, based on her mimicry and rap skills, it wasn’t as if she lacked talent in those areas. But isn’t that usually where most people start worrying?
“…Singing or dancing—those are fine?”
“If I learn properly, I think it’d be different. The first-generation members weren’t all good at singing or dancing from the start, right? Some were good at singing, some were good at dancing.”
Jiya’s explanation was logical and well-reasoned.
In fact, after passing their auditions, the first-generation members underwent about three months of intensive training, living together like entertainment agency trainees.
Even now, as their broadcasts continued, vocal and dance training were ongoing.
Anyway, it was amazing how one small snowball—Jiya’s offhand remark about quitting—had grown into such a mess.
Reflecting on her own missteps, Dohee’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“Let me clarify, just so there’s no misunderstanding about what I’ve said.
I have no intention of giving you any orders regarding debuting. Any broadcasting-related tasks I might ask you to handle are purely work-related requests, not aimed at pushing you to debut. Understand?”
Of course, Jiya, who was listening, was confused.
She hadn’t thought much of anything earlier, but now that Dohee had gotten all serious, lowering her voice and exuding an air of sternness, Jiya couldn’t help but wonder why she was acting like this today.
Still, despite her thoughts, her listening posture was earnest.
When the boss spoke about work, Jiya made sure to act like the diligent employee she was.
As Jiya nodded repeatedly, Dohee added,
“That said, if one day, you ever really want to debut as a VTuber, let me know. If that happens, I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen for you.”
At that, Jiya chuckled.
“That probably won’t happen, but okay, got it.”
With this, the tangled thoughts between the two were finally sorted out.
As soon as the worries disappeared, Dohee brought up the topic of the “board” she’d been hesitant to mention before, fearing it might pressure Jiya into debuting. Now, with their thoughts aligned, it felt easy to bring up.
Although Dohee cared deeply for Jiya as her boss, she was also an ambitious businesswoman.
“Okay then, back to work… Let’s use the board I’ve prepared when you participate in tomorrow’s internal event.”
When they visited Dora’s stream before, it was easy to brush things off since Jiya wasn’t officially a guest.
But this time, under the company’s banner, she’d be officially attending on behalf of Parallel as both its employee and the substitute face for the president, Momo. They needed a representative face (the “board”) to maintain the immersion of the company’s lore.
This was part of an unspoken agreement between the fans and the company.
The fans would fully immerse themselves in Parallel’s world-building, while the company would exclude anything that broke that immersion.
It was a natural consideration for anyone running a VTuber business.
Jiya nodded immediately.
“Because it’s an official event?”
“Exactly. You don’t have to stream it separately, but tomorrow, you’re representing the company.”
“Got it. But do we already have something prepared? This ‘board’ thing is new to me.”
“I’m talking about the fan art Dora said she’d draw for us. She mentioned it’d be finished today.”
Jiya counted the days in her head. It had only been four days since they discussed it.
“No wonder you’ve been yawning so much during your streams lately. Dora, have you been staying up all night drawing that picture?”
When Cheon Dohee nodded, Jiya, ever the manager at heart, immediately sent Dora a message on TingTalk.
“Don’t scold her too much. She did it because she wanted to, for you.”
“Still, it’s not right. She’s someone who should prioritize her broadcasts, but she’s losing sleep over drawing fan art for a coworker? And what if she ends up late tomorrow? I’ll be the one who has to cover for her.”
Ah, so that’s the issue, huh?
Dohee couldn’t help but burst out laughing—it had been a while since she laughed this freely.
“Hahaha…! So, aren’t you curious about how the fan art turned out?”
“Dora’s good at what she does; I’m sure it’s great. But honestly, is my board really that important? People reacting to the first-gen’s new song teaser is what matters more…”
“That’s true. You’re right about that.”
Still, people would undoubtedly show up to see Jiya.
The metaphorical fireworks, ignited by the sniping directed at Moogun, had drawn countless eyes.
On top of that, the unexpected reveal of Jiya’s board tomorrow would drag all the fans starving from Parallel’s company-wide broadcast break straight to Moogun’s stream.
While they had initially anticipated around 20,000 viewers, now they might hit 30,000—or even higher.
Numbers like that were extraordinary, unless something truly special was happening.
“Tomorrow, there’s going to be an enormous crowd. Aren’t you worried?”
If Jiya had gotten cold feet and run away at this point, Dohee would have understood completely.
Even she had once felt so nervous when her viewer count first surpassed 10,000 that she’d briefly hyperventilated.
But Jiya simply chuckled as if it were no big deal.
Whether it was 30,000 or 50,000 people, to her, they were just viewers.
To Jiya, who had spent six years as a dedicated fan, six years dealing with trolls, and five years as a manager, viewers were just like friends.
Sure, they could be annoying and hard to handle sometimes, but they were friends who shared the same hobby of loving VTubers.
“Well… no matter how many people there are, they’re all just fellow fans like me.”
* * *
That evening, Dora called me before the broadcast began.
[Gia, Gia! Can you check your email right now?]
“Sure, just a moment.”
She had finished an illustration in less than a week.
I had heard people say that artists pour more passion into fan art than paid commissions. Maybe that applied here—at least, that’s what Marzia thought. Could that explain how she worked so quickly?
“I’ve opened…”
Downloading the file from my inbox, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Isn’t this a character sheet? Dora, I think you sent me the wrong work.”
It was a full character sheet with the front, back, and side views separated into full body and individual parts. Normally, these are prepared for debuting virtual YouTubers.
Among the designs, a character wearing a large witch hat immediately caught my eye.
Bright blue eyes that seemed even livelier than my own in real life.
A mischievous glint at the corners of her mouth, though the shape of her eyes was similar to mine.
Crouched like a small animal, clutching a broomstick with both hands.
Even her long hair was tied in low twin tails, which made her look even more adorable.
‘She kind of looks like me, doesn’t she?’
Either way, the design was incredibly eye-catching.
If I had to describe it, the impact was like being hit by a 2.5-ton truck.
It reminded me of the feeling I got when I first saw the illustrations for our Gen 1 crew.
The design seemed perfect for our company’s balance, which mixes glamour with distinctive characters. I thought for a moment that she could easily fit as the archetype for a Gen 2 member.
Dora spoke up.
[Nope, I sent the right one. That’s fan art.]
I blinked a few times and looked at the character again.
It really did resemble me.
No, wait. Now that I was paying closer attention, it was clearly modeled after me!
Even after staring at myself in the mirror every day, I hadn’t noticed the resemblance at first.
“Fan art? This is fan art?”
Dora started explaining in a tone that sounded like she was making excuses.
[Ah, well… I was just going to draw regular fan art, but it felt a bit lacking.
So, I kept adding more and more details, and I kind of… spiraled out of control. While drawing the front view, I wanted to see the side view.
Then the back view. Then I wanted to see her without the hat and robe… So, yeah! Hehe.
I also made separate PNG files of the outfit variations, so you can pick what you want to use tomorrow!]
A legendary situation had unfolded.
I was being floored by an illustration of myself on my own broadcast.
But, honestly, it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with that.
If a fan of virtual YouTubers gets excited over a pretty design, can you really blame them?
‘Well, it’s just a shame, really.’
I kind of wanted to see this much effort put into a character brought to life.
But asking someone else to stream using an illustration gifted to me was out of the question.
All I could do was silently appreciate the art.
If it had been given to someone else, maybe it could have gone further…
“Anyway, thank you, Dora. You really didn’t have to go this far. I’ll make good use of it tomorrow.”
[You’re welcome! And make sure to use it when we collab, okay?!]
“The best thing would be if you stopped playing horror games, though.”
[Aww, don’t say that! I really want to play games with you…]
Click.
I hung up on her mid-sentence and went back to examining the character sheet.
It was undeniably cute.
Maybe it was because of Dora’s sincerity, but all the small details were so well thought out.
Especially the outfit.
A mini skirt styled like an office worker’s pencil skirt, but worn by a petite figure—it somehow made the design even cuter.
Then there were the oversized witch hat and robe, emphasizing her clumsiness as a witch.
“…Hmm. This is seriously too good to waste.”
Getting such an amazing design felt like casting pearls before swine.
But what could I do?
I never expected Dora to go all out like this.
Still, since she put in so much effort, I’d make sure to use it on my broadcasts whenever possible.
* * *
···— — — — — — — — — —···
[MOOVING] Re: Hello, this is the Parallel Operations Team
Sender | Moogun <[email protected]>
Recipient | Parallel Operations Team <parallel official [email protected]>
📎Attachment: Untitled_5_HatOff_RobeOff_IDBadgeOn.png
Hello,
Thank you for sending the image file.
I will set it up next to my webcam during the broadcast.
Thank you.
Moogun
MOOVING Crew
···— — — — — — — — — —···
There wasn’t much to do in terms of preparation for the broadcast beyond delivering my Mirinae illustration.
All I had to do was monitor Moogun’s stream in the pre-registered Talkcode room and enter the chat when the time came—nothing complicated to memorize.
Even though I’d be joining the broadcast from the company’s solo streaming room, I’d brought the mouse I usually used at home to ensure smooth gameplay. Just in case, I went to the practice range to test things out,
Bang, bang, bang.
I fired the shotgun and ran through smoke clouds.
The mouse moved well, the sensitivity was perfect.
The keyboard worked fine, and my movement felt smooth.
‘If only my team luck holds up.’
The best-case scenario, of course, would be ending up on a different team than Moogun.
If I were on the same team, his presence might overshadow mine.
But if I managed to take him down in front of tens of thousands of viewers?
And if my username was something like ‘1stGen1stAnniversarySong_Nov5Release’?
Everyone watching would have the anniversary release date drilled into their heads.
The one who defeated Moogun would be a Parallel employee.
Together, it’s Parallel 1st Gen Anniversary Song – November 5th Release!
“Perfect.”
While team assignments were up to luck, I couldn’t help but pray for a little divine marketing intervention. Folding my hands, I silently wished for a promotional miracle when a ping came through on the internal Talkcode chat.
[Moogun: Employee D-nim, please standby.]
[Employee D: Got it.]
After a short wait, Moogun began introducing me to the audience while showing an empty seat in the lobby.
[Alright, everyone, as you can see on the screen, today there aren’t 24 players, but 23. You know what that means, right?]
– Guest!
– So who is it?!
– Hurry up, man!
– I’ve been holding my breath for 3 days for this!
[Now, now, don’t rush me. Let me introduce them properly. Let’s see… first off, here’s what they look like.]
My illustration appeared on screen.
Dora had put so much thought into the design, and the version chosen today showcased a professional, office-worker vibe.
Instead of a witch hat and robe, the character wore an ID badge, resembling a small yet adorable office employee.
– ?
– Who’s this?
– 700
– What the—who is it?!
– A Vtuber?
– Never seen this face before…
– Cute, though.
[Have you warmed up to today’s guest a little? Any Parallel fans in the chat?]
– eh
– Yes, there is.
– Could it possibly be a staff ID?
– There’s nothing to watch today since it’s an off-air day.
– What is this, a panel I’ve never seen before?
[Oh dear. Fans might not know either, right? Can’t help it. I’ll call them now to introduce themselves.]
It’s time, so join the voice chat calmly.
Hehe, after doing a mic test, I asked Moogun.
“Ah, can you hear me?”
The chatroom goes as silent as if it had entered the eye of a storm upon facing a shocking situation.
However, this silence is temporary.
Soon, the characters rapidly build up like climbing the sky.
– ??
– Staff ID?
– What?
– Is it Hotan?
– Huh?
– What what?
– A signal?
– What?
-?
-???
– What’s up with the illustrator quality? dddd
– What is it?
-??
– Is it really staff ID?
– Did staff ID debut???
– What
– What is it dddd
– No, what?!!!!!!!
-?
– I’ve been waiting, darn it!!!
– What what;
– Is it really staff ID?
– jd!jd!jd!jd!jd!jd!