I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 121

And so, the official Parallel broadcast was about to begin.

Even Cheon Do-hee, who had been brimming with confidence, couldn’t help but be stunned by the explosive surge of viewers ten minutes before the stream.

She had gathered 100,000 viewers for a personal concert before, but pulling this many people in for a 30-minute surprise announcement? That was a first.

[ (🔴Live) Surprise Announcement ] 👪 35,559

#Parallel #???

Since the first-gen members hadn’t started their own streams yet, the maximum number of viewers that Parallel’s fandom alone could mobilize was estimated to be around 30,000.

But that didn’t mean all of them would actually show up...

Yet Magia had pulled it off.

Considering Crkemang’s live viewership averaged around 15,000, and assuming about half of them had tuned in, that meant Parallel’s core fanbase had already accounted for 28,000 viewers.

This was solid proof that Magia’s trajectory had captured the fandom’s full attention.

And the numbers kept climbing.

Thanks to some well-placed highlighted chat messages, even more people were joining in.

— 🗡Crkemang: My heart’s going doki-doki, sanki-sanki, yonki-yonki~

— Wait, that’s actually Crkemang?

— Bro, why aren’t you streaming lmao?

— 🗡Movgun: Sigh This isn’t even a Magia debut confirmation, why am I watching this?

— LMAOOOO

— Movgun, my guy...

— 🗡Movgun: It’s literally April Fools’. No one actually believes this, right?

— Yeah, well, I believe it.

— April Fools’ is just a meaningless day humans made up.

— What I believe is the truth.

— Damn, the Magia cultists are deep in here.

Usually, when a streamer set VIP tags for their close friends or group members, those names stood out in the chat.

And here were two VIPs—one with 3 million subscribers, the other with 2 million.

Even though this was a Parallel official announcement, speculation was already flooding online communities with posts titled things like:

“A VTuber who hasn’t even debuted has connections like THIS?!”

And right before the stream actually began...

[ (🔴Live) Surprise Announcement ] 👪 40,559

#Parallel #???

Over 40,000 viewers.

Cheon Do-hee clicked her tongue in disbelief.

“...Well, this is one hell of a PR boost for the new song.”

“Looks like it,” Magia replied.

Do-hee briefly wondered if Magia was nervous, but... nope.

She was perfectly calm.

In fact, if anything, she seemed pleased, knowing that this meant even greater exposure for the Parallel x CAT collaboration.

Still, just in case, since Do-hee was taking responsibility for today’s show, she reassured Magia with confidence.

“Alright. Let’s do this. I’ll stay on high alert, so you just take it easy. Got it?”

“Yes.”

But there was one thing Do-hee hadn’t accounted for—

She had told Magia to go all out.

Did she truly understand just how chaotic Magia could get?

— What’s happening?

— It’s starting!

— Open the door!!!!!

— HI HI

— PARALLEL SECOND-GEN MAGIA

— ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT!

— JUST HURRY UP AND TELL US!!!!!

— MAGIA DEBUT, RIGHT? IT’S THE DEBUT, RIGHT? THE DEBUT, RIGHT? THE DEBUT, RIGHT?

The waiting screen faded to the live broadcast.

And then—

Momo and Magia appeared... moving strangely.

As if something was... off.

The first to speak was "Magia"—except it wasn’t Magia.

It was Cheon Do-hee wearing Magia’s overlay.

“Hello, ahem. Everyone. I’m Deputy Magia. Ahem. Khu-hmm.”

Her naturally husky voice made it painfully obvious that she was forcing it, and the way she strained her vocal cords resulted in a series of awkward throat clearings.

The audience instantly picked up on the bad impression and erupted into laughter.

— LOLOLOLOLOLOL

— LMAOOO

— WHAT THE HELL IS THIS

— GET OUT

— GET OUT OF MAGIA’S BODY, YOU EVIL CEO!

— OH GOD, THIS IS TERRIBLE

— IF YOU’RE GONNA DO AN IMPRESSION, DO IT RIGHT LMAO

So far, the audience was reacting with amusement, not shock.

Body-swapping streams were fairly common among VTubers in both Japan and Korea, especially during offline collabs.

If anything, the low-effort scuff made it even funnier.

But then it was Magia’s turn.

And Magia wasn’t the type to do a half-assed impression.

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com.

She was the kind of maniac who would meticulously refine her voice until she could mimic someone perfectly.

And the target this time?

A person she had watched for five years straight.

Not even April Fools’ was an excuse to mess this up.

“Hello, Woldungies! This is Parallel’s shining star in the night sky, Shirahoshi Momo~”

— ???

— Wait. That’s actually her???

— NO, THAT’S Momo. WTF??

— Bro, she’s too good at this

It was so accurate that some viewers genuinely believed Momo was playing both roles.

But then—

A donation came in.

:: An anonymous supporter has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::

:: “Boss, I want to see you say ‘I love Tiddyburgers!’” ::

“Guys, I wanna eat a Tiddyburger~! A Tiddyburger~!”

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Cheon Do-hee instantly shouted in outrage, breaking character on the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) spot.

And Magia immediately countered.

“Magia. Did you just say ‘hey’ to your boss?”

— LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO

— OH MY GOD

— TODAY, I AM THE CEO!!

— I WAS JUST A CORPORATE SLAVE, BUT IN ANOTHER WORLD, I’M A BLACK COMPANY CEO?!

— THIS IS LEGENDARY

It was pure chaos.

But Magia wasn’t doing this out of spite toward Do-hee.

She simply had a vision—

A very specific vision of what she wanted to see unfold.

This was April Fools’, and Do-hee had promised to take responsibility.

So Magia was going all in.

Her first objective?

To farm as many clips as possible of Do-hee responding to cutesy viewer requests.

:: An anonymous supporter has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::

:: “Boss, do a Facial Test! LOL” ::

“...Fine. Just this once.”

“What are you talking about... Y-you didn’t even prepare the audio...”

[VTuber Facial Test, START ♪]

“WHEN DID YOU TURN THE MUSIC ON?!”

The infamous VTuber Facial Test meme had begun.

It was a viral test that evaluated a VTuber’s facial tracking—how well their model responded to expressions.

[Blink! Smile!]

And Magia flawlessly went through every expression.

— LOLOLOLOLOL

— SHE’S SO GOOD WTF

— I’VE NEVER SEEN HER LOOK THIS EXPRESSIVE

— DAMN, THIS IS GOLD

— THIS IS REAL VTUBING, BABY!

For Momo, this must have been infuriating.

Because she had NEVER shown half these expressions on her own stream.

Magia had clearly memorized every expression trigger and was executing them perfectly.

It was almost like watching a younger, carefree version of herself—before she got buried under CEO responsibilities.

[FINAL MOVE!]

And at the very end—

Magia even did Momo’s old signature move.

A screen kiss.

— HNNNNGGGGGG

— COME HERE. COME TO ME.

— THANK YOU, GOD.

“...Alright, thanks for watching. And by the way, that Facial Test clip? It’s banned.

I’m saving it for myself.”

— Uuuu

— Dictator Momo, step down!

— Now she’s even controlling her own cute clips?!

— How are we supposed to survive without them?!

Momo had no idea how she had suddenly become the dictator when it was Magia who had banned the clips.

But at the very least, the broadcast was proceeding exactly as planned.

The most impressive part was that viewer retention was nearly perfect.

They’d need to analyze the data later, but it seemed that the "casual banter with the boss" dynamic had made the stream engaging even for viewers unfamiliar with VTubers.

So sure, Momo was currently in a rather painful situation.

But what could she do?

She was the one who told Magia to go all out.

As long as Magia didn’t push things too far and smoothly transitioned into revealing her transformation form, Momo’s work for the night would be done before the new song teaser dropped.

And honestly, calling this "going all out" was an exaggeration.

She had been through worse.

After years of enduring pure VTuber chaos, Cheon Do-hee had built up immunity.

...Or at least, she thought she had.

She didn’t realize that the worst was yet to come.

Because Magia’s second objective was still in play.

“By the way, Gia. Why are you speaking so casually today?”

“Ahem. This is how I always talk.”

“That won’t do. As punishment, say, ‘I’m the cutest little puff-cheeked cutie, pwoo~’”

“...What?”

“What? What did you just say to your boss? Say it twice.”

“......”

“This is so weird. You never act like this. Usually, you just do as I say without a fuss.”

“When have I EVER done that?! No, seriously, when?!”

Magia’s model had been crafted with the same high quality as the first-gen members, with excellent facial tracking.

But just as she had thought when she first received it—

To her, this model was like a pearl necklace on a pig.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

She used it because she had to as an employee of a VTuber company.

And sure, she appreciated it.

But—

Magia was practically expressionless by default.

Her gaze always half-lidded, barely moving except to speak.

Even when she smiled, only her mouth moved.

And when she tried to force different expressions, it felt awkward and unnatural.

Despite having such a good Live2D model, she couldn’t fully utilize it.

Still—Magia loved her model.

From the moment she received it, she had thought:

One day, I need to find someone who can actually make full use of this.

...And what do you know?

Today, Cheon Do-hee was inside her body.

How could Magia possibly let this opportunity slip?

This was her one chance to test every feature of her model—on her favorite oshi.

“Gia, I’m starting to feel dizzy. Hurry up and say it.”

The funny part was that the chat immediately jumped in to support Magia.

— Magia, stand at attention.

— What are you doing?

— Where’s your workplace discipline?!

— Hurry up and do the puff-cheek thing!!!!

— Kyaaa, do it NOW!!

— What kind of black company is this?

— Tsk, tsk, disobeying the boss?

— All hail Supreme Leader Momo!

One moment, they were calling Momo a dictator.

The next, they were praising her absolute rule.

They flip-flopped constantly to suit their mood.

But ultimately, this only proved one thing—

The audience was dying to see Magia’s full range of expressions.

Of course, why Cheon Do-hee had to be the one to show them was a mystery.

But a promise was a promise.

At this point, I might as well roll with it and smoothly transition into the reveal...

In fact, at this rate, she could do a full facial test using Magia’s model and then trigger the transformation sequence during the “Final Move” segment.

“Gia. Are you ignoring a direct order from your boss? You keep hesitating.”

Whether or not Magia actually understood the deeper plan behind Do-hee’s actions was unclear.

But hey, she was going for it.

Cheon Do-hee took a deep breath, clenched her throat to try and mimic Magia’s tone, and forced the words out.

“...I-I’m the... cutest... puff-cheeked... cutie... pwoo....”

Silence.

— KYYYYAAAAA

— IMMERSION. IMMERSION.

— WE HAVE CASUALTIES. MEDIC!!

— CARDIAC ARREST!

— SOMEONE CALL 911, PEOPLE ARE DROPPING DEAD.

Absolute chaos.

Magia had never shown this expression before, so the viewers were losing their minds.

And seeing Magia’s actual reaction in real-time only made it better.

Shock. Delight. Pure satisfaction.

And since Momo’s model perfectly reflected every single emotion, it became part of the comedy.

— HER EXPRESSION, LMAO

— SHE’S SO SHOCKED, LOL

— SHE’S ENJOYING THIS WAY TOO MUCH

— LOOK AT HER FREAKING OUT

— ACTUAL PURE ECSTASY ON HER FACE

— DEADASS, THIS IS THE FUNNIEST SHIT I’VE SEEN ALL YEAR

And then—Magia dropped her next bomb.

“You know, doing the same thing twice would be lame.

So how about you do a full facial test, Gia?”

Cheon Do-hee froze.

...That was exactly what she had been planning.

Despite zero prior discussion, their intentions had aligned perfectly.

She felt oddly satisfied.

Without hesitation, she started the audio.

[VTuber Facial Test, START ♪]

Blinking.

Wide open mouth.

Wink. Confidence. Happiness. Sadness.

And then—

Final Move.

Do-hee tapped the table twice, signaling Magia.

Get ready. It’s happening.

[Final Move!]

The sound cue hit.

And with a special control key, Do-hee triggered the transformation animation.

No sparkly magical girl effects.

Instead, dark storm clouds spread like ink on glass, swallowing the screen in deep blue-black particles.

— ?

— ??

— HUH?

And then—

BOOM.

A shotgun blast shattered the screen, leaving a massive, gaping hole.

Amidst the shattered black glass fragments—

A gun barrel aimed directly at the viewers.

The one holding the long double-barrel shotgun?

None other than Magia.

Wearing a loose-fitting robe, a wide-brimmed witch’s hat, and a mechanical staff strapped to her back.

“Final Move... Witch Transformation!”

Cheon Do-hee’s awkward impression of Magia barely registered—

Because the entire chat was in SHOCK.

Even though everyone KNEW it was April Fools’—

The moment they saw the transformation,

A long-running rumor slammed into the forefront of their minds.

— WHAT THE FUCK;

— ???

— NO WAY SHE’S ACTUALLY DEBUTING

— ??

— SHE’S REALLY DEBUTING?!

— HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

— MAGIA IS REALLY A SECOND-GEN MEMBER?!?!

— NO WAY I DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING WTF

— ARE YOU KIDDING ME, WHY IS THIS REAL?!?!