About an Hour Later

    At around 11 p.m., my phone rang.

    Despite the late hour, I was wide awake.

    Ever since I got into the habit of napping during the day, my nights had been restless.

    Maybe that’s why I could hear the faint tremor in the CEO’s voice so clearly.

    [Uh... You weren’t sleeping, were you?]

    I had never seen her this hesitant before.

    Why was she acting so cautious? It was making me nervous.

    I completely forgot about the team leader’s advice to sound weak and responded naturally, letting my emotions slip into my voice.

    “I slept a lot earlier, so I can’t fall asleep now.”

    [How’s your body? Are you feeling okay?]

    “I’m fine.”

    [...Right. I figured. You did look better. Your complexion was back to normal, too.]

    Maybe that was why the CEO’s nervous tone disappeared so quickly.

    Then again, she was never the type to stay passive just because she was worried.

    [I suck at sugarcoating things, so I’ll just get to the point.]

    Straight to business.

    [First of all, I’m sorry. We worked hard together, but I unilaterally told you not to participate. I said it was for your health, but in the end, I failed to realize that I was also dismissing your efforts. I’m really sorry.

    ...And about your promotion, hiring a junior to help you—those weren’t meant to push you out of work. I did all of that because I wanted you to stay with the company longer. You get what I mean, right? I wasn’t trying to force you into the background, okay?]

    The sincerity in her voice was so overwhelming that it made me feel guilty.

    I knew she was trying to protect me, but I had prioritized her success over my own well-being, pushing myself beyond my limits.

    ...And now, she was the one suffering for it.

    ‘She’s so different from before.’

    Last time I collapsed, her reaction had been simple.

    "Take care of yourself." "Yeah, I will." "Don’t make me worry."

    That was it.

    But now?

    It felt like if I collapsed again, she’d have a breakdown on the spot.

    I had only wanted to help her with the pre-event, and yet things had spiraled into something far bigger than I expected.

    ‘She thinks I’ll always be in this fragile state...’

    I liked that she treated me like a friend. I liked that we hung out together.

    But I didn’t want to be someone who constantly needed special treatment—someone who had to be taken care of.

    At the end of the day, I was just another MongMong who had gotten lucky enough to be noticed.

    I was just one worker among many, putting in the effort to support her and Parallel.

    I only received more attention than the others because of the nature of my job.

    Maybe it was time to compromise, just a little, on my belief that it was okay to sacrifice myself for the company.

    “I’m sorry, too. In the end, it was my fault for not taking care of my health.”

    [...]

    “So, about that... After the pre-event and concert are over, I’ll finally have some free time, right? Since Seung-yeon is here now, I was thinking... can I take a full week of leave next week?”

    There was a long pause. Nearly thirty seconds.

    [...You’re taking leave?]

    It was probably shocking, considering I had spent the last three years converting all my vacation days into cash.

    “Yes. I want to rest, go to the hospital, and get a full check-up.”

    [...You say ‘check-up,’ but that sounds like you’re taking a robot in for maintenance. You do know the word ‘medical examination’ exists, right?]

    “A check-up is basically just an inspection to fix what’s broken.”

    [That’s... technically true, but still...]

    “Anyway, you’ll approve my leave, right? In return, I want to participate in the pre-event. I promise I won’t overdo it, so please let me.”

    The tremor in her voice was still there, but the underlying anxiety from earlier had faded.

    [Of course I will. But in exchange, I’m picking you up every morning—just like this week. You’re coming to the office.]

    “Ugh, does that mean I have to sleep in your office again?”

    [If you actually ate proper meals, I wouldn’t have to do this.]

    Taking leave just to still show up at work...

    This company was black—like, pitch-black workplace conditions.

    But if staying in her office was the only way to keep her from worrying, I didn’t have much choice.

    Besides, once this was over, she’d have some downtime too.

    I’d make sure to fully take advantage of her then.

    Yeah, I needed to start planning now.

    Water! Snacks!

    *

    The moment the call ended, Cheon Do-hee let out a deep sigh.

    “Haah... I thought my heart was going to drop.”

    She had nearly panicked when Kang Ji-ho implied she was about to lose an employee.

    But after actually talking to Gia, she realized the team leader had been exaggerating.

    [From Now On, We’re Shutting Down the Staff D Debut Rumors]

    Posted by: ????Parallel02

    STAFF D IS NOT DEBUTING.

    I’ve been in Momo’s fandom for six years.

    If the rigged model actually gets revealed, she’ll just brush it off.

    When her real-life friend Taro was about to debut, she spent weeks hyping it up, promoting it everywhere, teasing it nonstop on stream.

    Why?

    Because you need to maximize that initial viewership boost and secure the audience.

    That’s how you grow a debuting talent properly.

    But this?

    No announcements. No buildup.

    She does not plan to debut Staff D.

    Like, come on. It’s the first-gen anniversary. Why the hell would she debut someone now?

    Some of you people are like bonfires—

    The second someone throws in a log, you just explode into flames.

    I was gonna sit back and let it slide, but the sheer stupidity on display made me post this. Ugh.

    (Upvotes: 344 / Downvotes: 252)

    [Comments]

    — Parallel241: Hey, hey, hey...

    — Parallel740: Relax. Relax.

    — Parallel674: Damn, you really love policing discourse, huh? You the gatekeeper now?

    — Parallel845: If this turns out to be true, you deserve mod powers for life.

    — Parallel335: Honestly, these debut rumors have spiraled out of control. Shut it down.

    — Parallel241: People wouldn’t keep spreading it if y’all stopped acting like it’s confirmed.

    ? Parallel474: Lmao, the people falling for this have the IQ of a brick.

    ... ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ...

    And then, the next day...

    The day of the pre-event.

    I stared in awe at my fully animated model.

    This was the same model I had been smitten with before.

    The fact that it was mine now made my initial excitement fade a little, but still... seeing it move was surreal.

    The moment the broadcast ended, I was going to clip out every single frame of it.

    Something this cute must be archived.

    “How did Pino manage to finish this in just five days?”

    “No idea. Guess he was desperate.”

    Apparently, he pulled several all-nighters just to get released from ‘special duty’ two days early.

    But why did it look better than the first-gen models?!

    Dora had personally adjusted my character sheet, making sure my proportions reflected reality, which probably set off his loli sensors...

    “Just activate the expressions you actually plan to use and disable the rest. You know how to control it, right?”

    “Yeah, I’ve set up plenty of models for the others.”

    “Good. That saves me the trouble of teaching you.”

    Momo’s model was positioned at 7 o’clock on the screen, while mine was at 5.

    With the main broadcast window in the center and the chat box flattened below, the setup was complete—

    Actually, Momo had prepared everything last night, so I barely had to touch anything.

    “If you get tired or overwhelmed, just say the word. I can wrap things up on my own, no problem.”

    “Got it.”

    “So, are you ready?”

    “Ready for what?”

    “Well... this is technically your first real stream.”

    “I’m not even nervous.”

    “Figures. Well, in that case...”

    Momo absentmindedly fiddled with the nameplate in front of our models.

    “Are you planning to show up for the 2nd-gen anniversary, too?”

    “Yes. As long as you approve it.”

    “Then... how about picking a proper name? Calling you ‘Staff D’ all the time feels weird.”

    “Does it matter? I am a staff member.”

    “Well, yeah, but... I don’t want people to think of you as just ‘staff.’ Having an alias would be better.”

    On screen, my avatar’s movements mirrored mine—bobbing slightly, frowning, casting an unimpressed shadow over its face.

    It really did look like a proper VTuber.

    But I wasn’t. I was a shadow in the world of VTubers.

    A fancy backstory, an appealing stage name—

    None of that mattered to me.

    If anything, those things would make me seem too much like a VTuber.

    So in Parallel’s universe, my identity was simple.

    “Let’s just go with ‘Magia.’”

    Magia the deputy. That was enough.