"If anything goes wrong, I’ll do a full dogeza stream myself."

    When Magia said that, Cheon Do-hee didn’t take it seriously.

    She thought it was just another one of Magia’s usual jokes.

    After all, Magia was the type to jump into anything without hesitation, so Do-hee just smirked, brushing it off as her typical exaggeration.

    "You’d really start your own stream?"

    "If I have to, I have to. It’s not a big deal."

    But after hearing the follow-up, she couldn’t laugh anymore.

    The sincerity in Magia’s expression.

    The unspoken why are you even worried about this?

    Do-hee was caught completely off guard.

    She had always assumed that Magia disliked streaming.

    All of her decisions had been based on that assumption.

    Even when Magia showed glimpses of potential during Dora’s broadcast, she thought it was only because Magia was trying to match Dora’s energy.

    But... was that not the case?

    Was she really that indifferent to streaming?

    I can’t just ignore this again.

    Ever since Magia’s talk about quitting, Do-hee had been handling her with extreme caution.

    But this time, she couldn’t just let it slide.

    A gut feeling told her she had to push forward.

    "Are you serious? I thought you hated the idea of being on stream."

    "...When did I ever say that?"

    Magia, who had been grinning as usual, let the smirk drop slightly when she noticed Do-hee’s serious expression.

    "This suddenly got heavy... But I don’t think I’ve ever actually said I hate streaming."

    "Do you remember when I asked you about it before? What did you say again... Oh, right. ‘At this rate, I might as well make you a VTuber.’ What was your response then?"

    Magia frowned.

    She had already answered that question back then.

    "I said, ‘If you told me to do it, I’d do it.’"

    "...Oh."

    Do-hee smacked her forehead and let out a long sigh.

    "Yeah, but after that, you subtly turned it down."

    "I only said that because I knew you wouldn’t let me debut. I don’t meet the qualifications. And the boss I know would never debut someone who doesn’t meet the bar. So I didn’t even consider it seriously."

    In short, Do-hee had been completely off the mark this whole time.

    The problem was, Magia wasn’t always completely honest either.

    After all, Magia was Do-hee’s longtime fan.

    There weren’t many fans who could flat-out refuse a request from their oshi—let alone when said oshi was also their boss.

    So Do-hee pressed on, determined to get the truth.

    "Forget all the indirect answers. Be honest. If you had to debut, what’s the one thing that would make you not want to do it?"

    But Magia had never actually thought about that before.

    If she ever did debut, it would be because Do-hee decided she was qualified.

    And if Do-hee gave the order, Magia would follow it without question.

    "Uh... Give me a second. I’ve never actually considered it..."

    Still, with the boss asking her directly, she had to give a real answer.

    After a brief moment of thought, Magia spoke.

    "If I had to stream, I think I’d struggle with not being able to watch other people’s broadcasts as much. I just really enjoy being a viewer more."

    Do-hee was surprised.

    She had expected concerns about singing, dancing, or general entertainment skills.

    Magia did have some talent—her voice impressions and raps proved that.

    But wasn’t that what most people worried about first?

    "...So singing and dancing wouldn’t be an issue?"

    "I think if I learned properly, it’d be fine. The first-gen members weren’t great at both from the start either, right? Some were better at singing, others at dancing."

    Magia had a point.

    The first-generation talents had spent three months in training after passing their auditions, undergoing vocal and dance lessons just like idol trainees.

    Even now, they continued practicing alongside their streaming schedules.

    ...That one little comment about quitting. That one tiny snowball Magia tossed... just kept rolling and rolling.

    Looking back, Do-hee couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at how much she had misunderstood.

    "Alright. Just to clear up any misunderstandings—I have no intention of giving you any orders related to debuting. Any streaming-related tasks I assign you will be strictly work-related, nothing more. Got it?"

    Magia blinked in confusion.

    She hadn’t been thinking much about any of this, but now Do-hee was suddenly getting all serious, lowering her voice like some kind of strict boss.

    But even if she didn’t fully get it, she still listened intently.

    When Do-hee talked about work, Magia knew to take things seriously.

    Seeing Magia nod along, Do-hee continued.

    "That said... If you ever really, genuinely want to become a VTuber, let me know. I’ll make sure it happens—no matter what."

    Magia chuckled.

    "I don’t think that’ll ever happen, but sure. Got it."

    And with that, the mess of misunderstandings between them was finally sorted out.

    With that off her chest, Do-hee wasted no time switching gears back to work.

    She had hesitated to bring it up earlier, worried it would feel like she was pressuring Magia to debut.

    But now that they had cleared the air, there was no reason to hold back.

    Do-hee was Magia’s concerned boss.

    But she was also an ambitious businesswoman.

    "Alright, back to work. When you join the private match tomorrow, we’ll use the prepared placard."

    When Magia had appeared on Dora’s stream, it had been as an unofficial guest.

    They had let it slide.

    But this time, she was officially invited by Mugeon.

    And as the stand-in for Momo, the face of Parallel, she needed a proper visual representation.

    It was an unspoken agreement between the fans and the company.

    Fans would immerse themselves in Parallel’s worldbuilding.

    In return, the company would minimize anything that could break that immersion.

    But honestly, it wasn’t like this was a problem.

    Wasn’t it natural for an otaku to get excited over a really well-drawn model?

    “...It’s just a shame.”

    This was the kind of character design that deserved to be brought to life.

    But asking someone else to stream with the illustration Dora had made for her was out of the question.

    All she could do was silently admire the art.

    Thinking to herself,

    If this had been given to anyone else, they probably could’ve gone much further...

    “Well, anyway, thanks, Dora. You really didn’t have to go all out, but I’ll use it well tomorrow.”

    [Yay! And you have to use it when we collab in the future too!]

    “The best thing would be if you just stopped playing horror games.”

    [Whaaa?! Don’t say that! I really want to play something with you—]

    Click.

    Magia hung up and stared at the character sheet again.

    It was definitely cute.

    Maybe because it was a drawing Dora had poured her heart into, but the little details were amazing.

    Especially the outfit.

    A business-style slit skirt, but on a tiny chibi-like character, giving it an unintentionally cute effect.

    A slightly oversized witch’s hat and robe, emphasizing the "clumsy rookie witch" vibe.

    “...Man. This is so wasted on me.”

    To have something this high-quality and just sit on it...

    It was like putting a pearl necklace on a pig.

    But there was nothing to be done.

    Even Magia hadn’t expected Dora to go this far.

    Still, since Dora put in so much effort, she’d have to use it whenever she showed up on stream.

    ***

    ... ─── [MOOVING] Re: Hello, Mugeon. This is the Parallel Operations Team. ─── ...

    From: Mugeon

    To: Parallel Operations Team

    Attachment: "Untitled_5_NoHat_NoRobe_EmployeeBadge.png"

    Hello,

    I’ve received the image file you sent.

    I’ll set it up next to my cam during the stream.

    Thanks,

    Mugeon

    MOOVING Crew

    There wasn’t much preparation left to do besides sending over the placard.

    All Magia had to do was wait for the signal in the pre-registered voice chat and then join the stream.

    She’d be playing from the company’s solo streaming room, but she had purposely brought her personal mouse from home, so gameplay wouldn’t be an issue.

    Just to be safe, she ran a few rounds in the training mode.

    Shotgun—boom, boom, boom.

    Running through the smoke—smooth movements.

    Mouse sensitivity? Perfect.

    Keyboard responsiveness? No issues.

    "Hopefully, I get lucky with my team."

    The best-case scenario was ending up on the opposite team from Mugeon.

    If they were on the same team, his presence might overshadow hers.

    But if she took him down in front of thousands of live viewers?

    And her username was "1stGen1stAnniversarySongReleasesNov5"?

    The audience would be forced to remember that date.

    And they’d associate it with Parallel.

    Mugeon gets eliminated = Parallel employee = Parallel’s 1st anniversary song drops Nov 5.

    "Perfect."

    Team selection was up to luck,

    but if the gods of marketing were listening—

    please, just this once, let everything line up.

    Magia clasped her hands together, praying for a PR miracle.

    Just then, a message popped up in the private match chat.

    [Mugeon: EmployeeD, please standby.]

    [EmployeeD: Understood.]

    After a brief pause, Mugeon switched the screen to the waiting room and addressed the audience.

    [Alright, folks. As you can see, we have 23 players instead of 24 today. You know what that means, right?]

    — Guest?

    — So who is it??

    — Hurry up and tell us, bro.

    — I’ve been holding my breath for three days for this.

    [Okay, okay, don’t rush. I’ll introduce them now. First, here’s what they look like...]

    The first reveal was Magia’s placard.

    Dora had chosen the most businesslike version of the illustration.

    No witch’s hat, no robe—just a tiny but professional-looking office worker with a company badge.

    — ?

    — Who???

    — Cute.

    — Who is this???

    — Omg, a new VTuber?

    — Where did they come from?

    [Alright, are any Parallel fans in the chat?]

    — ?

    — Yeah, we’re here.

    — Wait... is this EmployeeD?

    — Parallel’s on a break today, I’ve got nothing else to watch.

    — I’ve never seen this placard before??

    [Hmm. Even the fans don’t recognize them, huh? Alright, let’s just bring them in directly.]

    It was time.

    Taking a deep breath, Magia joined the voice chat.

    A quick mic test—then she spoke.

    “Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

    For a moment, the chat went completely silent.

    The kind of silence that happens when everyone is too stunned to react.

    But it didn’t last long.

    Within seconds, the chat exploded.

    — ??

    — EmployeeD???

    — Wait.

    — Is this Signal Flare???

    — WHAT?

    — ?????

    — SIGNAL FLARE????

    — ????????

    — What is this art quality, holy crap.

    — WAIT WHAT

    — ???

    — This is actually EmployeeD???

    — DID THEY JUST DEBUT?!?!?!?

    — WHAT IS GOING ON????

    — NO WAY

    — I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!!!

    — ????

    — EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D! EMPLOYEE D!