Chapter 28: But Employee D is a Diamond Tier…

···— Parallel (Virtual YouTuber) Gallery — — — — —···  

[?]  

What the heck, seriously.  

What’s going on with the mod panel????  

(Upvotes: 395 / Downvotes: 0)  

[Comments]  

– Parallel784: Mod panel?  

L 🟧 Parallel1 (Author):LOOOOL  

ᄂ Parallel385: Is the admin sick or something? LOL  

ᄂ Parallel711: This guy is so bored with no streams that he’s even watching reruns LOL  

ᄂ Parallel784: LOL, the entire Parallel team is on a break right now.  

ᄂ Parallel784: Seriously, WTF is this?  

ᄂ Parallel242: What’s going on?  

ᄂ Parallel784: [https://www.pazizik.com/movgun_mooving | Special Guest Internal Match, Week 4 of October]  

ᄂ Parallel784: Go watch it.  

*     *     *

[무건/MovGun ]  

@movgun_mooving | 1.81M Followers  

Former Battle Colosseum pro, this is MovGun.  

[(🔴Live) Internal Match Week 4 of October with a Special Guest] 👪22,994 viewers  

#BattleColosseum #Parallel  

The speed at which the chat was scrolling surpassed even the peak viewer counts from when the boss streamed.  

Is this what 23,000 viewers looks like?  

Moreover, the number keeps climbing in real-time.  

I remember Libia from VachuVachu, who I still watch occasionally, hitting 40,000 at her peak. The chat speed back then felt about the same as it does now.  

The boss once said that even with just 5,000 viewers, reading all the chat messages becomes nearly impossible. Streaming clearly requires sharp reflexes, perhaps even the kind that makes someone good at FPS games.  

I waited for the chaos in the chat to calm down a bit before calmly introducing myself.  

“Somehow, I ended up being invited by MovGun today as part of the internal match lineup. Nice to meet you all. I’m Employee D from the Parallel operations team.”  

Chat exploded  

– OMGGGGGGGGGG!  

– LEGENDARY MOVGUN  

– MovGun really pulled this off!  

– Bro, what do I do? I think I’m starting to like you.  

– So, what’s with the mod panel?  

– Are you debuting?  

– LOLOL  

– Your voice is absolutely perfect for the panel LOLOLOLOL  

– Where does this guy stream?  

– He’s so cute!  

– Is he debuting??  

– No prior announcement, yet this level of panel mastery 🤯  

– Is he part of the 1.5th generation?  

– Employee D! Employee D! Employee D!  

– What is this unbelievable charisma with a cutting board? LOLOL  

“By the way, the illustration was done by Akari Dora, a first-generation member, who generously took time out of her schedule to work on it. The boss said that as an employee of a VTuber company, it wouldn’t make sense to appear on an official promotion with just my voice, so here we are.”

The chat was still chaotic, but the mention of promotion, official, and employee flipped the mood completely.  

– Promotion?  

– What do you mean by that, Employee D?  

– ???  

– This is a debut stream, stop lying LOL  

– It’s not, right?  

– Oh, so it’s not a debut?  

– lies…  

– Dora-mamaaaaaa 💕  

– Who reveals a panel on a promotional stream?!  

– It’s a debut, isn’t it? You’re tricking us!  

– Stop lying!  

– Noooo…  

– Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.  

– I’m blacking out, I’m blacking out, I’m blacking out.  

:: Anonymous supporter has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::  

:: LOL, you’re totally debuting later—we all know it. ::  

:: Anonymous supporter has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::  

:: See you as “Employee D” in the 1.5th generation! ::  

I chose not to react to the flood of debut-related comments and donations.  

Acknowledging it even once would only fuel the viewers’ imagination, leading them to think, “They’re pretending not to, but they’re planning something.”  

This kind of hype fizzles out on its own if left alone, so there was no need to poke the hornet’s nest.  

I stayed silent, signaling my desire to move on, and MovGun stepped in at the perfect time.  

“Alright, alright! Fans from the Parallel community, let’s calm down. I’ve received a message from their boss asking you not to overwhelm Employee D, who’s kindly joined us for this official promotion and internal match. Got it?”  

– Siiigh  

– It’s you again, Momo!  

– Release Employee D!  

– Down with the dictator Momo!  

Of course, not everyone welcomed my appearance with open arms.  

– Haven’t they only ever brought in skilled players?  

– What is this, the Mureo Village special admission or something?  

– Is MovGun running out of people to invite?  

Now, this was the more normal response.  

Many in the chat didn’t know who “Signal Flare” (my nickname) was, and even among those who did, plenty thought, “Isn’t this guy just a Diamond-tier player?”  

The internal matches of Crew Moving were notorious for only featuring top-tier talent, and this group of 23 participants was entirely Master-tier or higher—true elites of the gaming world.  

Perhaps aware of the skepticism, MovGun quickly moved on to provide a more detailed introduction.  

“So, why did we bring Employee D here today? Of course, it’s for the internal match. What’s our internal match famous for? Skill-based gameplay.  

In other words, I specifically invited Employee D, a busy professional, because I have high expectations for their performance today.  

So, Employee D, how about it? As the only Diamond-tier participant in today’s match, do you think you’ll be able to showcase your skills?”  

By adding “Diamond-tier” to his praise, MovGun managed to strike a balance and keep the mood light.  

I shared a similar sentiment, so there was no need to respond defensively. But…

“Everyone here has at least heard of these heavenly-tier players, but you never truly know until you try, right? I was lucky enough to be invited, so I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”

How could anyone not get excited about someone like me, a mere “cutting board” player, stepping into the domain of top-tier elites? These players inhabit a league of their own, one where even running into them in ranked matches is a rare occurrence.  

Yet, do I see them as unreachable beings from another world, like Momo or the first-generation members? No.  

When I won that bet against MovGun, a new horizon opened up for me too. Since then, strategizing ways to beat them has been fun in itself.  

As for losing to anyone else? That doesn’t bother me.  

My sole goal today is to crush MovGun’s head.  

It’s a mix of personal spite and professional duty to promote the first generation’s anniversary song.  

My plan: Topple MovGun. Sneak up in the smoke. Land a clean shot to his head.  

Whether MovGun knew I was targeting him or not, he clapped his hands and said,  

“Alright, I hear you loud and clear. So, Employee D, when’s the company promotion happening? Now, or after the internal match?”  

I subtly glanced at the viewer count.  

[(🔴Live) Internal Match Week 4 of October with a Special Guest] 👪25,132 viewers.  

The stream had started at 23,000 viewers, meaning another 2,000 people had tuned in after hearing the news.  

:: Anonymous supporter has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::  

:: So, is the guy who sniped MovGun and Employee D the same person? ::  

The buzz was growing, with more viewers speculating if “MovGunIsAFamousMomoHater” (the account that sniped MovGun 60 hours ago) and I were the same person. This curiosity was driving even more people to tune in.  

That’s when I decided, It’s better to save the promotion for later.  

The more people watching when MovGun loses to me, the more minds will remember the promotional message: “1st Gen Anniversary Song – Releasing November 5th!”  

I wouldn’t dare assume I couldn’t take MovGun down within two rounds.  

While screen-peeking (stream-sniping) for an unfair advantage was out of the question, I’d already analyzed his landing preferences and routes on several maps.  

“I’ll do it after the match. As I mentioned earlier, I brought some news to share from Parallel, so I’d appreciate it if you stayed tuned until the match ends.”  

Hopefully, I wouldn’t end up on the same team as MovGun.  

But, as with most things in life, nothing goes exactly as planned.  

[Team Drafting Phase]  

“And now, onto the team draft! We have eight captains left. It seems natural that those with weaker results in recent matches ended up in the second phase. Let’s proceed with the draft!”  

Because most participants cared deeply about winning, internal matches in the Moving Crew used a draft system to form teams.  

The process was straightforward: each of the eight team leaders would pick two players. The order was determined by rolling dice, where the first pick went down the line, and the second pick was reversed.  

Predictably, since my skills were unproven, I was pushed into the second phase alongside others with less impressive results from previous weeks….

One, two, three… After filling the team with three members up to the seventh team leader.  

[Oh dear. How did this happen? Nice to meet you, Employee D. We meet again so soon.]  

— Hahaha.  

— So this is how it ends.  

— I kind of expected this when you rolled the best number, though, hahaha.  

— Oh boy, hahaha.  

— Still, it looks like you’ll be riding the bus comfortably.  

— Hospitality protocol on.  

By sheer coincidence, I ended up joining Moogun’s team as the last member…  

[Perhaps it’s because the other team leaders weren’t familiar with your skills, Employee D, and avoided picking you. However, I recognize your abilities. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have brought you here. Since we’ve ended up on the same team, let’s give it our best shot, shall we?]  

— That just makes it sound even sadder!  

— It’s not like they don’t want to master this, though.  

— So mean, man, hahaha.  

As the viewers said, that’s hardly encouraging.  

I came here to crush your head!  

This is absurd.  

It’s rigged.  

It has to be Moogun’s evil scheme to mess with my plans.  

To drop the mask of civility for a moment:  

Honestly, the former pros and streamers gathered here…  

Even if you combined all their average viewer counts, it wouldn’t match the number of people currently watching Moogun’s stream.  

Taking Moogun down would undoubtedly have the greatest impact, but instead, I’m on the same team as him.  

The heavens are cruel. Do you dislike parallel success so much?  

“Well, no choice then.”  

But if I were the type to give up just because of an unexpected variable, I wouldn’t even be here.  

This is a task my boss entrusted to me.  

It’s even my first-ever official promotional job.  

I wasn’t about to half-ass it just because things weren’t going my way.  

“I just have to win first place.”  

With things as they are, I’ll crush everyone else and take first place.  

That way, even if there’s a disparity in streaming scale, I can make up for it.  

And so, my goal for today shifted from “crushing Moogun’s head” to “winning first place within two rounds.”  

Burning with determination, I boldly declared,  

“Moogun, just don’t hold me back, okay? I’m aiming for first place today.”