I had been lying down, resting comfortably, when out of nowhere, I was called up to the ninth-floor broadcast room. Not long after, the company president followed me with a puzzled expression.
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
“Oh, Maru requested support.”
“Maru did?”
“Yeah. They’re about to play I’m Wolf, but they’re short on people right now.”
The president tilted his head slightly at the mention of the game title but didn’t say much.
“Alright, just don’t push yourself too hard.”
And so, I waited in a small private streaming room next to the ninth-floor motion studio, without even bothering to prepare a signboard.
Ding, ding.
[Maru: But hey, Jiya-nim]
[Maru: Are you streaming by any chance?]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: No]
[Maru: Huh]
[Maru: What a waste of virtual presence]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: I’m not a VTuber, though]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: And even if I did stream, it’d just split the viewers unnecessarily]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: It’s better not to]
[Maru: Oh]
[Maru: Hmm… What if I just have you stand next to me?]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: This game is a solo competition]
The maximum number of players in I’m Wolf is twelve, and the roles are divided into three factions: Werewolves (up to two), Humans, and a Neutral faction.
So, in most cases, teaming up isn’t an option.
The only scenarios where you can form a team are if both players end up as Werewolves or if they get paired as Lovers among the Humans.
Maru seemed to understand my point soon enough and sounded disappointed.
[Maru: But still, can’t you just stand next to me?]
Of course, she wasn’t about to give up.
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: Convince me with a logical reason why I need to stand there]
[Maru: It could bring in more viewers]
That’s… an extremely capitalist approach.
…But, it’s not a bad one.
Sure, VTubers make a living by bringing joy and happiness to their fans.
But at the end of the day, they’re human too, and they can’t ignore financial concerns entirely.
Maru, along with Dora, is one of the top vocalists from the first generation, so she gets tons of requests for cover songs.
She pays for all of them out of her own pocket, and because of copyright issues, they can’t even be monetized.
That means her channel needs a steady flow of subscribers and donations just to keep releasing covers.
On top of that, aside from the officially planned company projects, every other piece of content is self-funded.
In the end, it all comes down to money, money, money.
VTubers live in modern Korea, after all—they laugh and cry over money just like everyone else.
Think I’m being too cynical?
Well, do idols make a living by digging in the dirt?
Maybe the best analogy is this: VTubers are like clerics who heal and buff others for a price.
People work hard, find comfort in their favorite VTubers, pay for the buffs, and in return, the VTubers use that money to spread even more happiness.
A positive, self-sustaining cycle.
And as someone working behind the scenes, my job is to keep that cycle running smoothly today, too.
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: Alright.]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: Send me the V-Studio entry link.]
[Maru: Yesss!!!]
I put on the motion capture equipment—a helmet with straps and a net-like structure—then checked if my model was moving properly. Once I confirmed everything was functioning normally, I clicked the link Maru sent me and started syncing up.
To make sure the broadcast was going smoothly, I pulled up Maru’s stream on mute.
— ?
— What the…
— Huh?
— LOL
— Omg, say something before you pop in! LOL
Gasp.
— Cuckoo bird alert!!! LOL
— Let’s keep this to ourselves.
The moment my model suddenly appeared and started moving around, the viewers were the first to react.
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: I told you to introduce the guest before showing my model.]
[Maru: Oh, whoops.]
[Maru: Sorry, I got too excited LOL.]
[Maru: Okay, let’s do this properly!]
Maru quickly repositioned me next to her and enthusiastically announced,
“Alright, everyone! Guess who’s here!”
— We can already see them, what do you mean ‘guess who’ LOL.
— Omg LOL.
— Murasaki?
— Aka?
— Ugh, lame.
“Ahem. I filled the last spot with none other than Deputy Manager Magia, and yet, I don’t hear any praise.”
— Okay, good job.
— Yes, yes~
— Fine, good job.
— Just this once.
— See? You can do things right.
“Hey! What kind of half-hearted praise is this? Do it properly!”
:: An anonymous donor has sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Oi, Dong, stop yapping and just introduce yourself already. ::
:: An anonymous donor has sent 10,000 Clouds! ::
:: Maru, my ears are about to explode. Lower the volume and buy some coffee with this for you and Jiya. ::
[Wow, thanks! I’ll enjoy it! Man-gu-reum, Dong-geul-dong-geuri~!]
“Maru” means “circle” in Japanese, which is why people call her “Dong” (from donggeul, meaning round).
Her last name constantly changes sometimes she’s Gong Maru (Round Maru), other times Won Maru (Circle Maru).
Occasionally, she even adopts the president’s last name and becomes Cheon Maru.
Before long, Maru passed the mic to me, so I gave a quick introduction.
“Hello, everyone. Somehow, I’m back again after just a few days.”
— Maha
— Jiha
— Aha
— What’s with this synchronized brainwave LOL?
The Dark Magia Squad ᄃᄃ
“Here to fill in again today. I’ll try my best not to get in Maru’s way.”
[It’s fine. I suck at this game anyway.]
“Still, you’ve played way more than I have, right?”
[Huh? Jiya-nim, is this your first time playing?]
“I’ve watched a lot, but this is my first time actually playing.”
[Whoa. You’re a total newbie. Do you need an explanation?]
“No, I’m good. I know the rules well enough.”
I’m not Naore.
That game had over 100 playable characters and way too many items, so I just gave up on memorizing everything.
But I’m Wolf was relatively simple.
Three main factions.
Thirty or so different roles within those factions.
That much, I could easily memorize.
Plus, I’m Wolf collabs always produced a ton of legendary moments.
I’d personally given high ratings in my post-stream reports multiple times because of that.
With so many different streamers coming together, each with their own agendas and playstyles, the entertainment value had a naturally high floor.
In other words, even if I messed up and died early, it wouldn’t ruin the stream.
Dying early could be funny in itself.
And honestly, it’s better for me to die than for an actual streamer to get eliminated too soon.
But if I somehow survived longer than expected, I figured I’d take the chance to practice leading conversations.
Until then, I’d just observe and get a feel for everyone.
Half of the collab members were VTubers I already knew.
The other half? I needed to learn who they were so I wouldn’t slip up later.
Recognizing someone first and greeting them by name was a simple yet effective way to make a good impression for Parallel.
Remember: DKNS.
Don’t ask, don’t speak, just watch and learn.
Works in social situations, online forums, and collabs alike.
[Oh, by the way, Jiya-nim, you’ve never been invited to the Bbzzt Streamer Talk Code, right?]
“Oh, right. Can I join?”
[Hmm, the invite requirement is at least 1,000 followers. Let me check with Ronze, who organized today’s collab!]
Wait, Ronze is the one running this collab today?
That’s unexpected.
Even the president, who was sitting next to me, tilted his head at the news.
Ronze was a second-string pro gamer for Knight of Legend.
Naturally, he had more connections to Komari than to Maru.
I remembered Komari once going around asking for advice because she wanted to escape Emerald rank.
She’d ended up crossing paths with Ronze and got a lot of tips from him.
Since tournament season had wrapped up, he was probably just trying out different games during his break…
But inviting Maru instead of Komari?
That was unusual.
Thankfully, the mystery didn’t last long.
Apparently, Ronze had sweet-talked the server owner, and I was granted temporary access.
Once I clicked the invite link and entered the Bbzzt Streamer Talk Code, I checked the collab tab.
There it was an extremely familiar name.
[Komari (Parallel): Wait, what??]
[Komari (Parallel): Jiya-unni, what are you doing here??]
[Maru (Parallel): I invited her.]
[Komari (Parallel): Ugh, I should’ve asked first…]
Ronze was the first to call Komari, then Komari called Maru, and finally, Maru filled the last spot with me.
Since this kind of multi-step(?) process was common in large-scale server collabs, it wasn’t all that surprising.
Soon, Ronze appeared and greeted me.
[Ronze (Pro Gamer): Hello, Magia.]
[Ronze (Pro Gamer): Your server access will be valid until noon tomorrow, but you can leave after the collab ends if you’d like.]
[Parallel Operations Team, Magia: Okay. Thanks for letting me know.]
[Ronze (Pro Gamer): Could you change your nickname to match the server regulations?]
[Komari (Parallel): Just set it to “Magia (Parallel)” unnie.]
[Maru (Parallel): Oh, is this a queue-jumping meetup?]
Following his request, I changed my server nickname and waited for a bit in the collab lobby.
Before long, I stepped into a space filled with eleven streamers.
[Oh! The last member is here!]
[Whoa, you finally made it.]
[Hello.]
[At last…! Welcome!]
[Hi there!]
Greetings poured in from every direction, voices overlapping in a chaotic mix.
I had participated in many broadcasts before, but I had never experienced such a multi-layered and complex soundscape.
For a moment, I felt awkward, like I was being welcomed into a crowd of strangers all at once.
But the surprises didn’t end there.
[Wait a second… No way. Are you Jigwon-D?]
During the Mugeon civil war event, there were 24 collab members, but most of them hadn’t paid much attention to me.
Back then, I was just one of the many toxic viewers sniping at Momo, nothing more than background noise.
But whether it was because of the recent concert or the pre-event broadcast, someone recognized me the moment they saw my nickname.
“Hello, Serena. I saw your Infinite Jump recently. It was great.”
[What?! You watched that? Thanks! I actually watched the entire Parallel pre-event broadcast from start to finish. I’m a fan of yours, Jiya!]
Wait.
Did she just say… she’s my fan?
Serena—this streamer who just claimed to be my fan—was actually a mid-tier creator with 130K YouTube subscribers.
For a second, my brain completely froze.
I had never experienced a conversation flowing in this direction before.
Fortunately, since I had a natural knack for quick comebacks, my words shot out on their own like an ad-lib.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not really a streamer, so I don’t think ‘fan’ is the right term.”
[Oh. Is that so? Then should I say this instead? I really like you, Jigwon-D. The pre-event was amazing.]
…Hold on.
Wait.
Uh.
…..What am I supposed to say to that?
Since stepping into the VTuber world, this was the first time I had been so utterly lost for words.
I wanted to respond, but my thoughts were scattering everywhere, refusing to form a coherent sentence.
With no structured words coming out, I could only manage a series of awkward noises.
“Uh. Um. Uh… Uh………..”
Hearing this, Komari spoke up.
[…Jiya unnie just broke down?]
TL/N : Jigwon in korean means Employee.