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

It wasn’t unusual for Magia to meet the parents of company-affiliated streamers.
Just recently, Komari and Maru’s parents had come by to personally thank her and drop off gifts. As for Ena—well, thanks to her father, Parallel had practically been given a second wind.
Still, this was the first time she’d ever met the parent of someone who wasn’t even officially signed yet.

But that didn’t change how Magia approached things.
She didn’t treat adults any differently, and avoiding someone just because they were difficult wasn’t her style.
Just like when she first met Producer Na Hyun-gon—she straightened her posture, composed herself, and offered a polite greeting.

“Hello. I’m Deputy Manager Magia.”
Magia could already guess why Cha Seong-gyeong had shown up— that piercing look in her eyes said enough.
Darami’s contract must have been discovered.

She’d come by the office a few times—once for the interview, then again to discuss the contract after passing.
Maybe her mother had witnessed one of those visits. Or maybe she’d followed her in secret—or had someone else do it.
Even for a national star like Cha Seong-gyeong, it wasn’t like she had to tail her daughter personally. She had people for that.
Either way, now wasn’t the time to worry about how she’d been found out. What mattered was how to handle it moving forward.

“Doesn’t look like she’s going to start the conversation herself.”
Her face was composed—almost expressionless—but her brow was slightly raised.
As famous as she was, it was unlikely she’d make a scene in public. But just because she wasn’t showing anger didn’t mean she wasn’t angry.

She’d been acting since childhood. There was no way she couldn’t conceal her emotions if she wanted to.
So it would be a mistake to assume her calm meant she wasn’t upset.
Magia chose to respond proactively—trying to figure out what had upset her and how to ease the tension.

The most obvious cause was Darami’s streaming, of course. But she couldn’t rule out the possibility of something else.
“Would you like to rest here for a moment? I’ll bring you some tea.”
“…Alright.”

Without a word, Cha Seong-gyeong allowed herself to be led into the meeting room and sat down with poise.
Though she was nearing her late 40s, she looked like she was in her late 20s at most.
Magia quickly brewed two cups of coffee using the office machine and returned to the room, placing one mug in front of Cha Seong-gyeong and the other in front of herself before sitting down.

Then, Cha Seong-gyeong spoke.
“I saw the article. That content series—Lightning Special City—was a huge success, wasn’t it?”
Honestly, Magia hadn’t expected that kind of opening.

How often does someone begin a confrontation by praising your accomplishments?
Especially not someone like Cha Seong-gyeong—a literal national actress.
But brushing off praise like that would only make things worse, so Magia responded sincerely and returned the compliment.
“Thank you. I never imagined I’d get to meet someone like you this close in person.”

“You know who I am?”
“Yes. Your daughter mentioned you.”
“You found out during the contract process?”

“No, before that. Back when I invited her to come for the interview.”
“So you knew, and still didn’t stop my daughter from becoming a VTuber.”
“Yes. Because it’s what she wanted.”

A sharp tension hung in the air, invisible but undeniable.
Gazes, silence, subtle pressure—whatever it was, it was there.
After a pause, Cha Seong-gyeong continued.

“To be honest, the company is smaller than I expected. With all the buzz lately, I thought it’d be bigger.”
Magia smiled gently.
“We’re still growing—right now, we’re just barely standing on the knees of the industry leaders. But our final goal is to surpass even their heads.”

“Anyone can set lofty goals. The question is whether you can achieve them.”
Surprisingly, Cha Seong-gyeong seemed to be seriously evaluating Parallel’s future.
She was upset with her daughter’s reckless behavior, sure—but more than that, she didn’t trust the company Darami had chosen.

Just listening to what she said next made her position clearer.
“Anyway, I didn’t come here today to argue. I came to see if there’s real potential. I don’t want to be the kind of parent who forces her will for no reason.”
Magia had expected her to demand the contract be canceled—this was completely unexpected.

It turned out Cha Seong-gyeong had given this serious thought.
As she herself said, she didn’t want to be the type of parent who stubbornly imposed her way just to win.
“I tried to stop my daughter from streaming because I didn’t want her to make some careless remark and end up tying a noose around her own neck.”

“I understand. In this industry, even one offhand comment can haunt you for life.”
She and her husband probably hoped Darami wouldn’t get involved in broadcasting until they retired.
They wanted to guide her slowly, help her avoid mistakes, and eventually raise her into a proper actress.

But Darami found that approach “boring.”
Live streaming, in all its rawness, gave her dopamine, joy, and the sense that she was truly alive.

Her parents had grown up without smartphones or high-speed internet—but Darami had grown up with them.

She’d inherited their acting talent—but refused to follow the traditional path.
And her parents knew that, too.
They knew the times, the circumstances, and even the desires were different.
They wanted to support her—but she hesitated, afraid of going against them.
They were stuck in a stalemate.

Then came the contract.
And they learned it was with Parallel—
And that Magia was closely involved.

That’s why Cha Seong-gyeong had come—to ask directly.
In every story about Parallel’s recent rise, the name “Magia” always came up.
“If it’s not live theater or real-time streaming, mistakes can be edited out. But can Parallel completely prevent on-stream mistakes?”

“I won’t lie—no, we can’t. But we can help reduce them, and protect them if they happen.”
“That’s disappointing. I heard people say Parallel wouldn’t exist today without you.”
“Even celebrities make slip-ups on SNS or when they’re drunk. We’re no different—we can’t stop it all.

What we can do is run constant training, raise awareness through examples, and monitor things in real time so we can respond quickly when something goes wrong.”
“And if it’s a mistake so big it can’t be fixed?”
“I’ve got a few tools for redirecting attention. It might not erase everything, but it can get us out of the spotlight quickly.”

The fact that Magia and Fan_C were the same person. Her red pill—those were her trump cards.
Things she could use if absolutely necessary.
“I might get a little scorched in the process, but I can handle that if it’s to protect my members.”

Cha Seong-gyeong’s lips curled downward.
“What do you mean, ‘you’ll get scorched’?”
“It’s not something I’m proud of, but people seem to be really curious about me. And since I have a few secrets the public doesn’t know yet, if I leak them—”

“Are you out of your mind?”
To Cha Seong-gyeong, Magia was more of an artist than she realized.
She’d been investigating Parallel all week. There was no way she didn’t know.

Even if Magia insisted she was “just a staff member,” everyone called her the company’s gray-zone enigma.
“No matter how badly you need to fix things, why throw yourself into the fire?”
“Because I like it hot.”

“…?”
“I mean it. And it’s not like I’d say something that would actually destroy me. If I go down, it hurts the company, too.”
“So what you’re saying is… you have tools that won’t harm you personally but are enough to shield your members?”

“Yes.”
“If you’re serious, would you tell me what they are?”
“But they’re secrets.”

“You just said I’m not the type to go around gossiping.”
It was so smooth it made you want to laugh.
‘This kid’s no pushover…’

Cha Seong-gyeong, who’d spent over a decade navigating the snake pit of the entertainment world, found herself intrigued by Magia’s calm yet fiery demeanor.
With a composed voice, she responded,
“Fine. Let’s hear it.”

“I’m actually the same person as Fan_C, the singer from CAT Entertainment.”
“Fan_C?”
“You might not know the name, but here’s a glimpse.”

Magia then pulled up Fan_C’s channel—which had exploded in popularity in recent weeks—and showed it to Cha Seong-gyeong.
[🥔Nutube]
Fan_C 🎵
@Fan_C_CAT · 2.68 million subscribers · 28 videos
I love Parallel
Of course, Magia didn’t stop there—
She also pulled up the subscriber growth graph.

Fan_C had debuted around May 2025, hit a million subscribers within six months, and now, after another whirlwind six months of concerts and Lightning Special City, she was sitting at an explosive 2.68 million subscribers—just shy of her one-year anniversary.
That growth was possible because, while Magia fulfilled her duties at Parallel, she had continued her music career consistently.
Once she submitted her high-quality recordings, CAT Entertainment would handle everything else, packaging and distributing the content flawlessly.
It was the product of perfect division of labor.

“I’ve been getting solo concert offers lately, but holding one would basically be the same as revealing my identity. So I’ve been waiting for the right moment.”
“You’ve been delaying your concert in case a member makes a mistake and needs cover? Why willingly take that kind of loss...?”
“Because the company matters more than my personal growth.”

“…If you're willing to suffer personal loss for the sake of raising others—what exactly is your end goal?”

“Whatever the members want.”
“My daughter won’t be satisfied just being famous in Korea, you know.”

Magia responded without the slightest hesitation.
“Then I’ll raise her until she is satisfied. If she’s lacking in effort, I’ll make sure she works harder. If company support is lacking, we’ll scale up and reinforce our infrastructure. That’s what a company is supposed to do.”
At that moment, Cha Seong-gyeong felt a flicker of caution toward Magia.

A manager willing to leverage everything she had for the sake of the company and its members?
Where in the world would you find someone like that again?
Honestly, as a manager, Magia was too perfect.

And that perfection, ironically, made her suspicious.
Of course, this stemmed from a certain misunderstanding—
Cha Seong-gyeong had no way of knowing about Magia’s true nature as a legendary troll and chaos agent known in dark corners as a professional sniper and instigator.

Not knowing that, she could only see Magia as a model manager, and that was exactly what made her nervous.
“I appreciate the explanation. Would it be possible to speak with the CEO as well?”
“Of course. I’ll bring her over right away.”

“No need to rush. I showed up unannounced, after all. Just let her know I’d like to meet her if she has time.”
“Ah—yes, understood.”
After Magia left the room, Cha Seong-gyeong sat in quiet thought.

“She’s almost too perfect—it’s unnerving.”
She and her husband had already agreed that there was no major issue with the collaboration between Parallel and Darami.
They had confirmed that Parallel was a rapidly growing company, that numerous investors were ready to jump in if it went public—

All verified through the couple’s personal network.
And with their daughter Baek Daram (a.k.a. Darami) having already built a solid fanbase, everything seemed to be in place.
They had no real desire to cancel the contract now that it was already signed—

What Cha Seong-gyeong really wanted was to meet this Magia person who’d convinced their daughter.
But the Magia she met was too sweet—too polished.
Like a flower that smelled too good, possibly hiding poison beneath its petals.

Cha Seong-gyeong, a veteran of the entertainment world, had seen this sort of thing before.
Companies that approached undiscovered talent with overly generous offers often had rotten cores beneath their polished surface.
She hoped Magia wasn’t that kind of person.

But the unease—that instinctive alarm—wasn’t something she could shut off.
“If only there were someone who could vouch for her…”
***

Cha Seong-gyeong’s meeting with Cheon Do-hee lasted several hours.
But her reaction throughout remained lukewarm.
It felt like she was silently saying, “You took my daughter? Well, I guess that’s to be expected.”

Even when she left, her voice and expression betrayed no real opinion.
“I’ll go home and talk with my daughter. I’ll be in touch through her.”
Cheon Do-hee chose not to push for a final pitch.

Her instinct told her the decision had already been made—and anything more would only make her seem desperate.
And she was right.
What Cha Seong-gyeong had really wanted to confirm was Magia’s sincerity.

Whether the flower’s sweet scent was hiding a venomous sac underneath.
Surprisingly, she got her answer faster than expected.
Just as she was heading down in the elevator and passing through the lobby, she bumped into someone.

“…Hm?”
“Oh my.”
The man she ran into was none other than Na Hyun-gon—

Now a major figure, someone who would be devastating to lose.
He had come to Parallel HQ personally to discuss upcoming projects with the artist Fan_C—
That is, with Magia.

“Cha Seong-gyeong! What brings you here?”
“Ah, just… had some things to check on. And you, Producer Na?”
“I’m here for a meeting with your company’s manager.”

“With… Gia?”
Now that she thought about it, it had already been over a year since Parallel began collaborating with CAT Entertainment.
Suddenly, she was curious.

Of all the staff at Parallel—
Who had Na Hyun-gon been dealing with the most?
Unable to resist the thought, she asked,

“Producer Na, since we’ve run into each other like this, would you and your ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) wife care to join my husband and me for dinner sometime?”
“Dinner? I’d love to. When were you thinking?”
“The soonest day you’re available after today.”

Na Hyun-gon smiled warmly.
“How about this weekend?”