I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 136

The difficulty of the question could be guessed just by looking at the chat reactions.

[— Squeak...]

— LMAO WTF

— Are you serious??

— Dude, she randomly goes "squeak... squeak..." all the time, and you're using that as a question? LOL

— Where exactly does this "squeak" come from?

— I have no idea wtf this is lol

But for Magia, it wasn’t all that difficult.

Maru’s screams came in three variations.

The level of her reaction depended entirely on how scared she was.

The first level was shock.

From there, the intensity escalated in stages.

The highest level ended with "—AACK", with the last syllable rising sharply at the end.

If she had to mark it with an arrow, it would be something like ↗.

The next level down was the kind of reaction they just heard.

Not a full-on scream, but the kind of sound she made when she was so startled that she couldn’t even form proper words.

"It sounds like she was trying to say 'Don't make me laugh' but ended up squeaking instead. I can think of about five games where she screamed like this."

At that, Maru flinched.

"Uh... a game? How are you so sure it’s from a game? What if it’s not?"

"As far as I know, she’s never made this exact sound outside of a game."

— ?

— Wait, seriously?

— How the hell do you even know that lmao

— This is some freakish demon-level memory ㄷㄷ

Magia muttered to herself, combing through her mental database.

"Judging by the volume, this must’ve been from a collab stream where the mic settings were adjusted. Usually, those settings get reverted within two days at most, so if I narrow it down to collabs that happened within that timeframe... that leaves two possible days."

"Wait, hold on..."

— LOL WTF

— I’m actually scared right now...

— I KNOW IT—SHE’S USING A SEARCH ENGINE

— SHE'S CHEATING

"My brain’s doing the searching for me, so don’t accuse me of anything."

— She’s doing this from memory??

— No way.

— You’re not human.

— THE MAGIA AI THEORY IS CONFIRMED

Even as the chat exploded in disbelief, Magia’s deduction continued.

"It’s less than a second long, so I’m not completely sure, but if you listen closely to the background, there’s a faint zombie noise—kind of a groooaaar sound."

Maru, sensing that Magia was closing in on the answer at terrifying speed, clamped her mouth shut.

But that didn’t change the outcome.

"The answer is Pandemic Z, a stream from last summer. Hard, but solvable."

Maru mumbled in disbelief.

"That’s right... I mean, yeah, it’s right, but... you guessed, didn’t you? That was just a lucky guess, right? You were just pretending to think it through?"

— BE HONEST!!! YOU SEARCHED FOR IT, DIDN’T YOU?!

— Wait, did Maru accidentally leak the answer? ㄷㄷ

— As expected of MaruTube, the leak king

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

"The Wol-Dungies are saying you leaked the answer."

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, GUYS?! Why the hell would I leak it when I don’t want to play a horror game?! And if Magia was cheating, we’d have stopped her—she’s sitting right next to us!"

— Okay, fair point

— LOL, my bad

— Yeah, that was just false accusations

— If you don’t want to be accused, then stop leaking all the time!

"Ugh, you little shits. I’m sorry, okay? Fine, I’ve leaked stuff before, BUT YOU ALL LOVE IT WHEN I DO IT!"

— No idea what you’re talking about

— We don’t know anything!

— That was some other bad Wol-Dungies, we’re the good ones

After a brief moment of accusing Magia of cheating, Maru successfully managed to clear her name.

But at that point, everyone had the same thought.

What the hell?

That was supposed to be insanely difficult.

And she solved it just like that?

There were still three questions left, but at this rate...

Was Magia actually going to win?

...which meant no relay streams?

A first-gen group horror game would be way more fun, though.

Even the hardcore Magia doomsday theorists started to reconsider.

Maybe we overreacted?

It definitely looked like graduation signs, but... maybe we were just being dramatic?

But no one could be sure just yet.

Graduation announcements were never made in the middle of a stream.

They had to stay on guard until the very end.

— Magia is a goddamn legend

— A true role model for us Parallel fans

— The Wol-Dungies should learn from her example

Normally, Magia’s core fans hovered on the brink of being banned every other day, constantly pestering her about debuting, not streaming enough, or ignoring them.

But today? They were nothing but supportive.

Even the other fans noticed.

"Why is the chat so nice today?"

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Of course, it was possible that Maru’s question had just been too easy.

Because when Komari presented her question, the tension immediately returned.

"Alright, next one’s from me. Listen closely, unnie."

"Let’s hear it."

[—Sae—]

No background sounds to use as hints.

Not a scream like Maru’s.

Just a completely out-of-context syllable that sounded like the middle of a sentence was cut off.

— ???

— ???

— LMAO

— ???

— No, seriously, how is anyone supposed to guess from this??

— DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT A HINT IS?!

— Bro clenched his teeth so hard while giving this hint lmao

— This is basically just telling her to lose and do the relay streams

Even after witnessing Magia’s terrifying deduction skills, the majority of the audience agreed.

This one was impossible.

Komari was feeling confident.

"Maru’s question was kinda easy, huh? I didn’t want to lose too easily, so I made mine much harder."

But just as the room had gone silent, Magia nonchalantly dropped a bombshell.

"The intonation sounds like it was from a curse word. ‘Sae’ from ssae-bae-ya."

Komari froze.

Maru lost it.

"SEE? I TOLD YOU IT WAS TOO EASY!!"

"W-Wait! It’s not easy! Do you know how many times I swear??"

"Oh wow. What a flex."

"Agh, seriously. Unnie, shut up. If you give her any hints, we have to play the horror game. Don’t forget that!"

"...Ah. My bad."

— LOL

— Maru was about to team-kill

— Of course Maru would be the one to leak again lmao

But Komari was right—this question was hard because she cursed constantly.

Maru’s "squeak" had been narrowed down to a few possible scenarios.

Komari’s "ssae-bae-ya" though?

She had said it on at least half her total streams.

Which meant over 200 different broadcasts.

This was basically like trying to find a single grain of rice in a desert.

If Maru’s question had at least some leeway, Komari had made this one outright malicious.

But not all curse words were the same.

"Listening again, the tone sounds like a Level 5 Rage down to a Level 3."

"...Excuse me?"

— What?

— HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT?

— LMAOOOOO

— Bro, are you okay?

— You’re actually an AI, aren’t you?

— High-quality swear analysis LOL

"Don’t call me an AI. Just listen. Even Komari’s curse words have variations. This one specifically is at ‘Level 3,’ and the tone is distinct."

— Bro, I didn’t major in music theory, I can’t hear this.

— Magia is actually insane.

— So you’re saying cursing has set pitch levels?

— How can you even tell?!

Ignoring the utterly dumbfounded reactions from the viewers, Magia’s analysis continued.

"Komari, for you to curse in a Level 3 state, two specific conditions need to be met. First, you must have been on at least a three-game winning streak in ranked that day. And second, someone must have sent an extremely toxic chat message or donation to provoke you.

But since your chat is constantly filled with trolls, your manager usually bans them instantly. So if you actually had the time to react, it means the ban was delayed.

Which only happens when it's really late at night...

When the manager is tired...

Somewhere around... 5 AM or later."

"...What. No. That’s not—"

"My memory tells me there weren’t many streams where you were in Level 3 Rage past 5 AM. The key detail is that faint ‘whish’ sound from an auto attack in the background. I don’t remember the name, but it wasn’t one of your usual champions. So if I narrow it down..."

Everyone was focused on Magia.

If she got this right, it would be something worthy of going down in internet streaming history.

That’s how absolutely insane this quiz question was.

Even Komari, the one who made the question, wasn’t confident in the outcome.

"I think I even know the date. Wasn’t it the Naore stream on Hangul Day? The champion used was a Korean-themed one... what was the name again? The fox-looking one?"

Komari let out a stunned laugh and answered.

"Baekseo... That’s correct..."

— Holy shit LOL

— No fucking way

— LMAOOOOOO

— Are you kidding me?

— Nah, this has to be rigged LOL

— Just admit it, you already knew the answers beforehand!!!!

— HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE???

Before viewers could even search for the answer, Komari pulled up the clip herself.

On the screen, she was controlling a character with a fox tail while speaking.

["Yeah, keep talking shit, you bastards. I’m gonna win this match, make it five in a row, then sleep like a baby~. Suck it."]

It was exactly as Magia had said.

"You’re... insane. How the hell did you get that?"

"Don’t forget, I’ve been watching your streams 365 days a year. Well, I don’t have as much time these days, so I don’t catch everything. But this was back when I was watching all your streams religiously, so I knew."

With this, Magia had answered two questions correctly and was now another step closer to victory.

And she didn’t hesitate to taunt them.

"The questions are hard, but they’re not impossible. Dora, Rain, are your questions around the same difficulty?"

"Nope~. Harder."

"You just activated my trap card."

"So even harder? That sounds fun. I would’ve been disappointed if they were only this difficult."

"..."

"..."

— She’s terrifying...

— She knows everything about first-gen LOL

— This is actual madness ㄷㄷ

Maru and Komari wanted to argue about how none of this had been easy.

But since Magia had already answered two of them correctly, there was nothing they could say.

They were badly shaken and had to admit they underestimated her.

"Yeah... Okay. I’ll admit we took {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} you too lightly. But still, how do you know everything so precisely?! It’s creepy!"

"Yeah... I was honestly scared, unnie..."

Naturally, the members split into two groups and bickered.

"Don’t worry. We’ve got this. My question is so beautifully evil that Gia is definitely gonna curse. You two weaklings, just sit back and watch."

"Oh sure. Let’s see if your question’s actually harder than ours. If it’s not, you’re getting dogpiled."

"Don’t worry~. We made ours really hard~."

"Yeah, but I doubt it’s harder than Komari’s..."

— LMAO they’re still fighting

— They’re so cute, let’s drink to that

— This is what Another is all about LOL

— The infighting is as expected

You might wonder why no one seemed to be rooting for the members to win.

It was because most viewers were siding with Magia.

And if Magia won, the members would have to play a horror game together.

Since Magia was so hyped about it, the fans really wanted to see it too.

Even Magia’s hardcore fans, the ones desperate to prevent her from doing a relay stream, had taken over the chat, spamming messages of support.

At this point, the entire audience was practically rooting for Magia.

And a few minutes later...

Magia answered the last two questions back to back.

The chat instantly exploded into a celebration.

"Correct.... You f—"

"Rain, F-word banned."

"You... fucking... crazy...."

"That doesn’t mean you can curse."

— SIGN IT!

— O...N...E...T...H...E...R... W...I...L...L... P...L...A...Y... A... H...O...R...R...O...R... G...A...M...E...

— Get ready LMAO

— No but seriously what the fuck...

— How did she DO that?

— I’m just gonna assume this was pre-planned... there’s no way LOL

— FOUR-PERSON HORROR GAME LET’S GOOOOO

— I CAN’T WAIT FOR THISSSS

— HAIL BIG MAGIA, I MUST WORSHIP HER

At this point, even Magia’s most paranoid fans—who had spent the entire stream convinced she was preparing to graduate—finally relaxed.

Yeah... there’s no way Magia would lose on purpose just to do a relay stream.

The whole "she’s throwing on purpose" theory was ridiculous.

In the end, they had doubted Magia for nothing.

They were ashamed of their lack of faith in her.

But while all of this was happening internally among the fans...

Magia herself was thinking something different.

Was this really enough to prove that I get along with the members?

She suddenly felt like she needed to do more.

Since graduation talk was banned in chat, viewers were playing it safe and not bringing it up, which meant she couldn’t check their reactions on the spot.

So she thought it would be best to take extra steps to really put an end to the rumors.

Might as well...

If you’re going to put out a fire, you have to do it properly.

Leave even a small ember burning, and it’ll just flare up again later.

So, for the first time ever, Magia made this extremely rare suggestion:

"Hey... would it be okay if I joined the horror game collab too?"

— ?

— Huh?

— What??

The members had no reason to refuse.

This entire collab had technically been set up to address the feud rumors.

But the relay streams?

That had been something they genuinely wanted to do.

The problem was...

They had assumed they would win.

And now that they lost, making Magia squeeze a collab into her already packed schedule felt a little... wrong.

So everyone hesitated.

Which meant Magia had to speak up again.

"We don’t know when we’ll get another chance to all play together like this."

Sure, she might host a collab again under Momo’s orders, like today.

But a full five-person game like this? That wasn’t going to happen easily.

Because normally, Magia avoided mixing in with the members unless there was a clear reason.

Unfortunately, the way she phrased it was like a death sentence for her paranoid fans.

"We don’t know when we’ll get another chance."

That sounded exactly like something someone would say before disappearing.

— Come on, there will be another chance LOL

— She’s acting like it’s her last time LMAO

— You’re totally gonna do this again, right???

If talking about graduation wasn’t a bannable offense, her fans wouldn’t have had to dance around the topic like this.

But even if it wasn’t banned, what else could they do?

In the end, Magia had never officially debuted.

She had only ever been a guest in the members’ streams.

So if she did leave...

That would be the end of it.

*

Of course, Magia’s graduation panic wasn’t just limited to her fans.

There were also people who weren’t deeply into VTuber culture, but still knew who Magia was.

And one of them?

One of them immediately picked up the phone and called someone who could actually get answers.

While Momo was busy monitoring the stream, she received a call.

"Don’t you fucking dare let Magia go. If you’re really the CEO of a black company, act like it and chain her down. Why the fuck can’t you handle one employee? You’re not even fit to be a CEO."

Even with a voice changer distorting the call, the idiot didn’t even try to hide his number.

Momo barely held back laughter.

"Lee Dong-geon. Turn off the voice changer and call me back properly."

"...I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not Dong-geon."

"Then at least hide your number, dumbass. It literally says ‘Mugeon’ on my screen."

A second later, Mugeon sighed and spoke in his normal voice.

"Damn. Forgot to block my caller ID."

"You’re a fucking moron."

Momo was still laughing as she muttered.

"So... first-gen wasn’t enough for you, huh? You’re a Magia oshi now?"

"No. It’s not like that."

"Oh sure. That reaction? There’s no way you’re not one of her hardcore fans. Are you in her mini gallery too?"

"I’m not."

"Yeah, yeah. So... you wanna know the truth?"

"Of course. Is Magia quitting? Is she really leaving? What’s happening?"

Honestly, if he wasn’t asking as Fan_C, there was no harm in answering.

But Momo smiled.

Magia had given her the perfect opportunity.

Mugeon was a known gaming streamer, but he was still a normie in VTuber culture.

His audience didn’t automatically overlap with Parallel.

But that audience?

They could still become potential customers of Parallel’s music.

Especially on YouTube.

"You know how you make Clutch Play shorts? Use our new song in one."

"Damn... that’s dirty. You know that costs a fortune, right?"

"Yeah? So do you want to hear the truth or not?"

Mugeon clicked his tongue.

"I never said I wouldn’t do it. Just that it’s expensive. Give me a week. I’ll make something so good, people will lose their fucking minds."