I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 193

“Orca, looks like your opener got totally downloaded by a newbie, huh?”

Normally, this kind of sudden momentum shift would’ve been poison to Orca.

She would’ve panicked at the flood of “dead weight” comments in chat, her chest tightening with anxiety.

Her focus would’ve dropped, she’d lose her composure, and—like magic—suddenly be playing like an Iron-tier.

...But today’s Orca was different.

[That’s cute! But I’ve got more than one pattern, sir!!]

Apparently, getting called “dead weight” in Soul Clash really hit a nerve.

Even though I’d landed a surprise parry at the start and combo’d her hard, she quickly pulled herself together and started pressing again.

Her follow-up assault was brutal.

Looked like a low? It was a mid.

Looked like an opening? Nope—just baiting the timing.

It was like she wanted to prove, in Soul Clash at least, that I didn’t know everything.

She spammed every feint in the book and pummeled me with glee.

— Ohhh

— Damn

— I can’t breathe

[Throw!]

“I broke it.”

[Then another throw!]

“...That was a double input, right?”

[Huh? Then another throw!]

Earlier, I’d managed to break multiple throws in a row, but this time, on the third attempt—I couldn’t escape.

Just like Wanggu had explained: after a right-hand and a double input, the next one’s random.

I mashed left, but it turned out to be a double input again.

Alice spun through the air and hit the floor.

Taesan’s foot came crashing down like a boulder.

CRACK!

It sounded like her full-body alloy spine had just crumpled.

{{ magia1122 ◇◇◇ vs ◇◆◆ hanaumi7 }}

Score: 2–0.

It looked like Orca was about to take this first match clean.

— Whoaaaa

— This is BRUTAL...

— See? Still needs more training

— Wasn’t everyone saying she should graduate early and enter advanced courses just a minute ago? lol

— Come on, Gia!!

— You’re the hope of the Slug Squad!! Get up!! GET UP!!

— You can’t go down like this!!

Honestly, I was really shocked at Orca.

Seriously, all this time she acted like she sucked?

Kept insisting she was terrible and couldn’t show her skills... and yet here she was.

What kind of monsters were those seniors who supposedly beat her down?

Ecstatic, Orca declared—

[They say even a gentleman’s revenge isn’t too late after ten years...!]

“Revenge might be a little much. Wasn’t I a pretty easy meal?”

[Maybe edible at best, but I don’t remember it being delicious, sir!]

“I see... my bad. I did try my best, though.”

— All that effort just to get assassinated...

— Gia, forget cooking. Just go make Han River ramen.

— You don’t know if it’s Han River ramen or tastes like Han River ramen though

— Han River-flavored ramen LOL

— lmaooo

So now the score was 0–2, with Orca in the lead.

She was talking spicy now, hyped up like she’d just slurped spicy seafood jjambbong.

But we could still go up to five rounds.

And I was starting to pick up on her style.

This game wasn’t over yet.

No one knew who’d take it.

“I’ve just about finished uploading the data. I’ll base my next round off it.”

[Haha! You sound just like Mixer when you say that—but no chance, sir!]

Maybe it was a blessing I hadn’t studied Taesan during the first-gens’ tournament six months ago.

Right now, the Taesan in my head was 100% Orca’s version.

Not just general Taesan gameplay—my entire algorithm was getting tailored to her Taesan.

Sure, she had a million fast low-starting pressure strings...

But in the end, ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) everything boiled down to her Lo-Hi or ankle trap openers.

If I took the hit at the start, I’d be stuck scrambling under pressure, on the back foot.

Orca, after getting parried once, had started throwing mids to keep me from crouching—but even so.

If I could just shut down those fast lows, I might have a chance.

Even if I couldn’t react fast enough to block them... there were other ways.

Like—

Taking advantage of the biggest flaw in fast lows: short range.

What if I just started the round with a backdash?

{{ Round 3 }}

{{ Fight! }}

Orca opened with another fast low, trying to lock me down with mids to stop crouching.

[Huh?!]

But the instant the round started, Alice darted backward with a swift backdash—and her kick whiffed entirely.

The Lo-Hi string is a pair: a quick low kick followed by a normal-range high kick.

But it’s basically one set.

If you dodge the first hit, you can just crouch to avoid the second.

And if both whiff?

Obviously—it’s my turn.

Using the universal wake-up uppercut, I launched Taesan into the air, then fired up another round of Alice’s shotgun frenzy.

PAPAPAPAPANG!

— Comeback time

— LET’S GOOOOOOOO

— Yes THIS is what I came for

— Kyaaa

— Let’s get itttt lmao

— Wait weren’t we supposed to not teach her spacing today??

— She really did a backdash??

— Lucky, right?

I taunted her again.

“Looks like your opener really did get downloaded this time, huh?”

[You talk big for someone who’s losing, sir!]

“I’m basically dead if you take away my confidence.”

As Orca rose from the ground, I went for some more mind games.

Pretended I was about to rush in for an attack—then went straight for a grab with both hands.

[Grabs don’t work on me!]

She broke it clean. No problem. Try again.

[Ha! Knew it!]

But then Orca crouched to dodge the grab entirely.

Most grabs, aside from a few specials, have a high hitbox—so Alice’s hands just swiped through air above Taesan’s head.

And since I whiffed, it was her turn.

She countered with another wake-up uppercut and juggled me midair with a clean combo.

“Wait, you can dodge grabs just by crouching?”

[Huh? The teacher didn’t tell you?]

Wanggu hesitated, flustered.

[...Apologies. The viewers were rushing me, so I forgot.]

— Oh wow, now he’s blaming us?

— Tbf we were rushing him lol

— Hey hey hey

— Booo teacher scuffed the lesson

Still, good to know.

Turns out crouching is another solid option against grab spams?

Anyway, now I was on the ground. My turn to deal with wake-up pressure.

But our health was about even, so I still had a shot.

Taesan—aka Orca—came charging in.

I rolled up, quick-recovered, and went straight for a low parry.

Didn’t know if it’d be Lo-Hi or the ankle trap, but I guessed right—and sent her flying with another juggle starter.

Shocked, Orca yelled—

[Wha—damn! Deputy, if you keep crouching and dodging like that, you’re gonna get hit by a mid and die!]

I had a sliver of health left, but didn’t even respond.

Just rushed in with a fast low swipe to finish the round.

{{ magia1122 ◆◇◇ vs ◇◆◆ hanaumi7 }}

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I struck a smug pose while glancing at the scoreboard.

“But you know, if I had to guess... Orca wouldn’t throw out a mid in that situation.”

[Why not?]

Based on her patterns so far—it was obvious.

Orca didn’t rely on mids as her main tools.

She used them only to make you think she could.

Almost all her pressure opened with Lo-Hi or ankle traps.

Which matched what Wanggu had explained earlier:

“Why do newbies fixate on lows? ‘Cause if they try mids and get blocked, they feel stuck. Like they’re getting nowhere.

But lows are almost guaranteed chip damage. So they get greedy.”

“And if you use lows too much, won’t your opponent catch on? You’ll get punished harder, right?”

“Exactly. So they try mixing in mids, but always go back to lows. It’s the safest way to drain HP.”

Not saying Orca’s a newbie.

Her skill’s legit top 40%—she deserves her Gold rank.

But her Soul Clash style isn’t that different from a newbie who got stomped by veterans while learning.

Why?

Because she got beaten so badly she started doubting her own skill.

Like how new players fixate on lows just to survive against stronger opponents,

Orca probably mastered those lows to survive too.

“This round, it’s either Lo-Hi or ankle trap, right?”

[I—I’m not gonna use them!]

“Now that you’ve said it out loud, you’re 100% going to.”

[Urgh.]

Of course, that was mostly bluff.

If I really hit the mark, she might switch it up—and then it’s back to square one.

But if she didn’t switch...

I might be able to flip this entire match.

I’d gotten pretty used to the pressure she starts with using Lo-Hi or the ankle trap.

I’d been guarding tight, and learning where to break the rhythm through trial and error.

And now it was all coming back to me—

How the first-gens handled Taesan when they faced greedy players who tried to steamroll them.

{{ Round 4 }}

{{ Fight! }}

{{ Round 4 begins. }}

I opened the match with a rare one-two jab.

Thwack!

It only chipped off a sliver of HP, but Orca—who was about to open with a mid—sounded startled.

[Wait, what—?]

Then she paused.

I followed up with another jab, just slightly off-beat.

Taesan twitched mid-animation, trying to launch a mid sidekick, but froze from the stagger.

[?]

“Mid completely shut down, huh?”

[How are you reading my timing like that...?!]

Tap-tap.

Thwack.

Each jab had a different rhythm, yet every time Taesan lowered her guard to initiate, she got clipped.

After three of those, she backed off completely.

Now she was pacing at mid-range.

[What... is this?]

“What else? I told you—it’s a shutdown.”

[No, seriously, how are you reading me...?]

— What the hell lol

— Did she seriously memorize her timing?

— Can you even memorize that??

— Gotta be luck

The answer was surprisingly simple.

“Orca, you know you always hesitate a little before attacking?”

[Huh??]

— Wait, really?

— What?

— No way lmao

Wanggu chimed in from the sidelines.

[Yeah. I was just about to mention that myself. You noticed too, huh?]

I looked straight at Orca, who was fidgeting.

“You’ve got this habit of pausing just before committing to a move, right?”

[D-did I? I thought I was just reacting on instinct...]

“It’s probably something you picked up after getting beat down by higher-ranked players. That whole ‘will this move leave me open?’ hesitation slowing you down.” freёnovelkiss.com

Jab pokes, after all, have almost no penalty. Unless your opponent preemptively crouches and reads it, it’s super safe.

I noticed that whenever Orca dashed around like crazy, there were these brief stutters in her movement. So I jabbed in those moments—and this was the result.

She tried pushing a few more times after that, but most of her mids got stuffed by my jabs.

But switching back to her usual pressure style wasn’t easy either.

Because I kept crouching—basically daring her: “Go on, try it.”

Something in her rhythm broke.

She started throwing out weird patterns and practically self-destructing.

Even so, she had solid fundamentals, so the round was still close.

But I managed to clutch it out—Round 4, mine.

I’d reached match point in Game 1.

{{ magia1122 ◆◆◇ vs ◇◆◆ hanaumi7 }}

— LET’S GOOOOOOOO

— I can’t believe this lol

— Is this gonna be a loss-loss-win-win-win run??

— This turned into a nail-biter lmao

— DAE. JI. A.

— As expected of a future Diamond, blessed by Wanggu himself

— She’s gotta graduate now, right? Right? RIGHT?? GIa’s gotta graduate now, RIGHT???

There’s a common belief that in sets like this, momentum usually decides the winner.

Maybe that’s why the chat was already acting like I’d won.

The Slugs especially were the loudest.

But was anyone in chat still calling Orca dead weight?

Had anyone on stream said that about her?

Not at all.

In fact, those same Slugs were now hyping her up like crazy—

And for good reason: this was easily Orca’s best gameplay performance yet. Everyone was impressed.

— Okay no but seriously, Orca’s GOOD

— Imagine being so pressured by “dead weight” jokes you hide this level of skill lol

— Pretty sure we’ll be seeing her play Soul Clash a lot more now

— Is this the Great Orca Uprising era?

— Justice for Dolphins... she was trash in other games, okay!!

Even I couldn’t stop praising her.

“Definitely better than those pushovers I fought earlier. I’m literally squirming to avoid pressure right now.”

As long as no one treated her like some useless scrub...

Compliment-powered Orca would light up like a rocket.

[I’ll admit it, Deputy. I underestimated you ‘cause I thought you were a newbie.]

It wasn’t her fault, really.

When people kept discouraging her, she backed off.

But the moment you gave her a little praise, she’d start chasing after it with everything she had.

[Honestly, I’d been playing it safe—only practiced optimal patterns to stay in Gold tier, avoided risky moves completely. But screw that. No more holding back!]

And just like that, the moment Round 5 started, she was a whole new person again.

Her offense got even fiercer.

The patterns were similar, but way harder to read.

She was clearly trying to fix that hesitation habit too—

Every time I crouched to block a low, I got nailed with a mid.

I hit my limit.

Because no matter what—

I was still a newbie.

Now she was busting out moves I’d never seen before, stuff I had zero data on.

What could I do?

{{ Winner - hanaumi7! }}

{{ magia1122 ◆◆◇ vs ◆◆◆ hanaumi7 }}

— GGGOOOOOOO

— DE. LU. ORCA.

— That round was so clean, I got nothing to say zzz

— That was just newbie extermination, straight up

It had been a tight 2–2 brawl, but Orca snatched Game 1.

Even though I kept dragging every match to 2–2, she took each game.

Final score: 0–3.

Orca’s flawless win marked the end of today’s scrims at Wanggu Kindergarten.

— DAE. LU. ORCA.

— No worries for the November tourney lmao

— Honestly, Orca’s a real contender now

— Even the pro Soul Clash streamers would welcome a newbie like this lol

:: Anonymous donated 1,000 Clouds! ::

:: Finally, Parallel gets another gaming prodigy in this content drought ::

:: Anonymous donated 1,000 Clouds! ::

:: Honestly thought Magia would be the top gamer in Gen 2, but wow lol ::

— Hey hey hey

— Magia’s not even Gen 2 lol

— Komari for Naore, Orca for Soul Clash, Magia for Battle Col. What a squad

— They’re stacked fr fr

Aside from the Slug Squad moping about the extra day of training I now owed...

Everyone else was busy carrying Orca on their shoulders, amazed at how this “hidden newbie” just exploded onto the scene.

Over 20,000 people watched Orca etch her name into their minds.

[ (🔴Live) Wanggu Kindergarten — Student: Parallel’s Deputy Magia ] 👪21,449 viewers

Sure, she beat me—a Soul Clash newbie—but once she starts streaming this regularly...

Things’ll be different.

If she even beats a big-name streamer in scrims or a tournament?

The impact will be massive.

A full-on reversal for someone who’d been labeled dead weight all this time.

***

We confirmed one more training session with Wanggu next week.

Orca went to prep her own stream, and I got summoned to the CEO’s office.

She ruffled my hair and said,

“You did good.”

“Just got lucky. No way I expected Orca to message me out of nowhere wanting to play Soul Clash today.”

“Really? It wasn’t planned?”

“I’m not some fortune teller. How would I even plan something like that...”

Sure, I’d asked Wanggu to stream earlier so it wouldn’t clash with the girls’ streams.

But Orca asking to play first? That caught me off guard too.

I didn’t even know she’d been hiding a Gold-tier rank while pretending to be helpless.

“Today’s win was all Orca. That’s why this happened.”

“Hmph... guess I better go praise her directly.”

“Also, speaking of that—how about we add something to the Gen 3 audition announcement?”

“Like what?”

“Ask them to list their gaming history in detail. Whatever it is, we’ll consult with them and turn it into core content.”

She stroked her chin, thinking.

“That... would let you work your magic early on. But won’t that sound like we’re guaranteeing success? What if we can’t deliver?”

“Then I’ll just throw in more of my time until we do.”

“...You realize you might have to give up monitoring work completely if you do that?”

“Already spending most of my time watching Shorts the team edited because I missed the streams. Kinda getting used to it.”

“So you even watch my stream in clip form?”

I shouted louder than ever, completely serious.

“Of course not. If I have to become a wage thief to do it, I always watch the CEO’s stream live.”

She smirked.

“What if I start streaming more now that I’ve got some free time? What if you’re in the comms room or something important?”

“Then I’ll just keep your stream running on my secondary monitor.”

“You’ve lost it.”

“Have you considered streaming during a time I won’t miss it?”

“......”

She looked at me like I was hopeless, then suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Speaking of streaming schedules—have you noticed Movgun’s been streaming less lately?”

“Not really. I don’t follow him.”

“He used to go live around 10 AM and sometimes stream late into the evening—so he could catch the U.S. timezone. But now? He barely does daytime streams.”

“Why’s that?”

She tapped me on the forehead with her finger.

“Because you stream around lunch to early evening. He’s avoiding your stream time so he can watch it.”

“...? But our collabs are always at night. It’s just to match the girls’ schedules.”

“Yeah, but those are the standard ones. I’m telling you—he’s adjusting his schedule around yours. It’s ridiculous, but it’s true.”

“That can’t be real.”

“He’s asked me multiple times if you could maybe move your streams to the evening—using Ronze as an excuse. Don’t even try to deny it.”

I clenched my fists with a look of pure disgust.

“That’s it. I’m never debuting as a VTuber if it means dealing with Movgun.”