I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 156

The next day.

We were on our way to the KG Dragons headquarters in a car driven by Seunghyun.

You might wonder why "we" instead of just me, but there was one more person invited to KG besides me.

Aoyagi Rain, the Parallel first-generation talent who liked Battle Colosseum the most.

“Hell yeah... It’s my first time going up against a pro!”

“Just in case, don’t use the phrase ‘going up against’ when we # Nоvеlight # get there.”

“Oh. Understood. Then I ‘had a good time’ with a pro?”

“That’s not quite right either. Just say you ‘experienced’ it. Let’s go with that.”

“Experie-mat!”

“Experienced.”

“Experi-smacked!”

“....”

“Pfft. Haha....”

Since I had the Final MVP privilege to choose a team visit, I decided on the KG Dragons, and they reached out first.

Aside from the visit itself, they considered Parallel a promising business partner.

They wanted to know if I’d be interested in becoming a partner streamer for their broadcasts.

Of course, I never watched anything outside of VTuber streams.

Naturally, that right was passed to someone else—Rain.

She also happened to be a KG Dragons fan.

So, originally, it was supposed to be me and two pro players on a team.

But now, the team was me, Rain, and one pro player instead.

That one player was none other than Boron.

He was a first-string pro gamer who voted for me in the Final MVP poll, leaving behind the legendary(?) remark,

"A VTuber roleplaying as a corporate worker can exist too."

There were also two more people with us today.

On KG’s side, a front office employee and official KG Dragons broadcast VTuber, Regon, would handle filming and guiding us.

On our side, Seunghyun was driving and handling insert shots—focused footage that showcased background elements or key information.

Originally, Team Leader Kang was supposed to drive, but she had to be absent due to vocal lessons for the second-generation talents.

So the responsibility naturally fell to Seunghyun.

"By the way, Seunghyun, you drive really well. I was a bit worried when you said you got your license just last year before joining the company. Did you take any extra lessons despite your busy schedule?"

"Oh, this is genetics! Both my mom and dad are best drivers. Plus, I practiced a lot through games."

"What the—so you can inertia drift too?"

"Uh, no. This car’s front-wheel drive, so drifting’s a bit tough..."

"Too bad."

"Too bad? What’s too bad? You wanna flip the car over and end up in the hospital just for content?"

"Sometimes life rolls you around for a chill experience."

"Haha! Rain, you’re seriously hilarious!"

"Thanks! Maybe this is the true essence of a superstar?"

Since it was my first time going on an external activity without Team Leader Kang, I was feeling a bit anxious.

Middle management really isn't easy.

But I had no intention of saying anything to Seunghyun.

The person who worked until 3 AM and still showed up first thing in the morning to drive us deserved nothing but gratitude.

Seunghyun was doing her best.

So as today’s acting team leader, I had to do my best too.

***

“Haah... I was almost late.”

Middle management is an exhausting position.

There’s an endless amount of work coming from the top.

But only so much of it can be passed down to subordinates.

And when even that small portion falls through, the middle manager is the one who has to take responsibility.

Why doesn’t upper management take responsibility, you ask?

Well, if people only worked under responsible bosses, you wouldn’t see so many complaints about companies.

That’s why Regon, the VTuber and KG Dragons front office staff, was constantly getting smacked from both directions.

"Ah, Player Changhoon. You’re waiting downstairs, right? The Parallel members should be arriving soon. Can you wait for them in the Battle Colosseum team lobby? Yes, yes, thank you."

Becoming a VTuber? It wasn’t exactly a grand career decision.

While working in the club’s front office, upper management had suggested,

"Why don’t we try hosting some co-watching events and other interactive promotions? It’d be good for marketing."

And when the question of "who should do it?" came up,

everyone, as if on cue, pointed at Regon.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The reason? Simply because she had the best voice among the staff.

Apparently, a good voice was the most important thing for a broadcaster.

But streaming with a camera on was too overwhelming for an ordinary employee like Regon.

And doing a stream without a camera was dismissed as too dull.

After several discussions about possible compromises, they settled on VTubing—

strongly recommended by none other than Boron.

They took a commercial model, added KG Dragons’ signature red hair and a team jersey,

and since it was "Dragons," they threw in some horns and a tail.

That’s how Regon was born. (This process is called a "debutech" in industry terms.)

But even if they had the model, running a VTuber channel flawlessly was another matter.

The hastily thrown-together "dragon fantasy personality" was an issue.

But the biggest problem was that she hadn’t chosen to be a VTuber herself.

Since the streams weren’t running smoothly, feedback poured in.

Even when she tried, there were limits to both time and skill, and the only thing that piled up was exhaustion.

She had followed management’s orders and set things up, but it never really went beyond that.

Her nickname, "Keyboard Warrior?"

It came from the fact that she spent more time typing reports than actually talking on stream.

She was enduring for the sake of the players she supported,

but juggling both front office duties and a streaming schedule meant her workload was absolutely insane.

No one knew how long Regon’s career as both a VTuber and front office employee would last.

And now, on top of everything, there was yet another urgent assignment—

hosting today’s visit from the Parallel VTubers.

She had originally joined a sponsorship event just to match other teams showing their faces.

Who could have predicted that Magia would not only acknowledge the baseball team but also pick KG’s Battle Colosseum team?

‘Please don’t let the fans request more collabs. Please don’t let the fans request more collabs...’

Regon was here as a VTuber to welcome her new partners and guests.

But she didn’t actually know much about Magia or Parallel.

Rather than leaving room for future guest appearances, her top priority today was to get through the event flawlessly without any slip-ups.

She already had way too much piled up.

Finalizing cost reviews for the ad agency’s approval, chasing down the delayed production of merch...

The workload was already suffocating.

‘Please, let this be over soon...’

However, even though Regon had been chanting “get off work, get off work” in her head, she was completely stunned the moment she met the three visitors.

Aoyagi Rain, with her bleached white hair and blue eyes.

Gong Seung-yeon, who had an oddly striking presence despite being "just" an office worker.

And Magia, who stood out in an entirely different way.

“Oh. You’re Regon? Good morning-ida!”

“Hello! I’m Gong Seung-yeon from Parallel!”

“Hello. I’m Magia, Assistant Manager at Parallel.”

A small child standing confidently in front of two adults was impossible to ignore.

But what shocked Regon even more was how much Magia’s real appearance resembled the model she used on stream.

Black hair with a subtle blue tint under the sunlight.

Light blue eyes that peeked out from beneath her bangs, vanishing and reappearing.

Pale, almost ghostly, smooth skin.

‘Why did the character itself show up...?’

Aside from wearing a KG Dragons team jersey,

if someone were to render Magia’s VTuber model into a semi-realistic version, it would look exactly like this.

Like a kid model perfect for a commercial.

That was the kind of vibe she gave off.

But Regon couldn’t afford to just stand there dumbfounded while the guests waited.

She quickly regained her composure and began her introduction.

“Hello. I’m Regon, guide for today and part of the KG Dragons Battle Colosseum team. You must be Rain?”

“That’s right, Let’s bibi!”

“And this must be Magia... and Ms. Gong Seung-yeon.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“Alright, confirmed. Since it’s hot outside, why don’t we talk as we head inside?”

She was doing her job as a guide.

But the shock wouldn’t fade so easily.

‘Aren’t VTubers supposed to be... well, virtual?’

Rain also had bleached white hair and blue eyes, making her look strikingly similar to her VTuber model.

But Magia took it to a whole new level.

It was as if she had just transferred herself directly onto a VTuber screen.

Like she was declaring, “Whether it’s reality or virtual, I’m just me.”

‘Is this really okay...?’

Regon felt worried just looking at her.

It was because of a well-known VTuber issue—when the real person had an extremely high sync rate with their character.

Back when she was preparing for her own VTuber debut,

Boron had once given her this advice:

"Make your RP as different from yourself as possible. That way, when the character gets criticized, you won’t feel like you’re the one being insulted. Especially since you didn’t choose to do this, I think that would be best for you."

It was true that some VTubers deliberately designed their characters to resemble themselves, hoping to be loved for who they really were.

But didn’t that also come with huge risks?

If people judged her looks, ridiculed her, or outright flamed her...

Wouldn’t she take all that damage directly?

Was Magia prepared to endure all that?

Was this what it took to be a true VTuber?

Regon, who had stumbled into VTubing by chance,

couldn’t help but dwell on these concerns.

So she had to ask.

“You really look exactly like your Live2D model, Magia. It’s honestly kind of shocking.”

Magia answered, but the response wasn’t what Regon expected.

“I hear that a lot. Do I really look that similar?”

“...Wait. You didn’t design it to look like you on purpose?”

“No. Akari Dora did all the illustration work from start to finish.”

“Even the witch outfit?”

“That’s also Dora’s work. It came out great, so I just use it.”

So it wasn’t an extreme case of self-love.

In fact, judging by her tone,

it sounded less like her own preference and more like an external decision forced upon her.

‘Now that I think about it... she never even had a debut stream, did she?’

Boron had brushed it off as part of her character concept.

But at least Regon had a proper debut stream.

And there was something else odd.

This event was important for both Parallel and KG Dragons.

Even if Parallel wasn’t a massive company, it still felt strange for them to just send a single employee for management purposes.

‘Shouldn’t at least a higher-up be here too?’

But Magia’s title was Assistant Manager.

Her business card even had "Team Lead" printed on it.

So... she was an actual corporate employee?

She looked way too young to be one.

Was this just a next-level RP?

Or was everyone just assuming it was RP?

Regon was getting more and more confused.

“Can I ask you something?” she finally said.

“Oh. Sure. Ask away.”

As they waited for the elevator, Magia launched into a barrage of questions.

All of them were about dormitories.

“So this building serves as both a team dorm and the main headquarters, right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the approximate budget for running the cafeteria?”

“Sorry, I don’t know that. You’d have to ask the finance team, but I don’t know if they’d share that info.”

“Do the players ever feel trapped in the dorms?”

“When practice sessions get intense, they do sometimes feel a bit confined. But since there are lots of entertainment options nearby, we encourage them to go out.”

“Oh, so nearby businesses also factor into the equation.”

“Yeah, that’s something we have to consider.”

At this point...

wasn’t this just an actual corporate employee, not someone roleplaying as one?

Was "Assistant Manager" not a character title but her real job title?

Regon didn’t have enough experience as a VTuber to make that call herself.

She figured she’d need to ask an expert like Boron.

The funny thing was, even Boron—who had helped Regon debut—wasn’t much different in this regard.

From the moment he met Magia, he had been grinning.

And when Magia handed him her business card and greeted him, he outright burst into laughter.

“This isn’t just RP at this point. This is who you actually are. I watched your collab with Crkemang, and I had my suspicions... but you’re incredible.”

“I’ve never roleplayed anything.”

“That’s the whole template. If someone says you’re a VTuber, you deny it. If someone asks if you’re a corporate worker, you confirm it. If someone asks if it’s all RP, you say it isn’t. No gaps in the act. I respect it as a listener.”

“Hmm....”

Magia frowned, clearly unamused, while Rain was cracking up beside her.

“Hey, hey. Magia’s not a VTuber. She’s just a corporate grunt. My lackey.”

“What are you talking about? Who’s whose lackey? And where did you even learn that phrase?”

“A viewer taught me. Wol-Dungi is bad.”

“There you go again, blaming Wol-Dungi.”

Since Boron wasn’t questioning anything, Regon’s doubts only grew stronger.

She was a corporate employee herself.

And Magia’s words didn’t sound like an RP at all.

They had the unmistakable nuance of someone who actually worked a corporate job.

Could it be...?

Was she not a VTuber?

Was Magia actually just a regular office worker?

Avoiding the playful bickering between Rain and Magia,

Regon discreetly approached Gong Seung-yeon, who was recording from behind them, and whispered,

“Um... Seunghyun.”

“Yes?”

“...Magia... she’s a Parallel employee, right?”

“Yes. She’s our Team Lead.”

“So when she says she’s a manager, it’s not because she’s roleplaying a corporate worker... She’s actually a manager?”

“Yes. The business cards she handed out are real.”

“Then... she actually goes to work every day, does overtime, and still somehow does streams and tournaments on top of that?”

Seunghyun nodded. Then, as if worried about a misunderstanding, she added,

“Just to clarify, we’re not some black company or anything. She’s not working herself to death. But she is very dedicated.”

“...Wow. If it were me, I could never do that.”

Seunghyun smiled slightly before delivering the final blow.

“Our Team Lead... well, she’s kind of obsessed with the company.”