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

The unexpected announcement made on Crkemang’s stream had far more impact than anticipated.
With no further explanation given, and the conversation drifting towards the matches he and Crkemang had watched, those eager to learn more about Magia found themselves with nowhere to turn.
And where else could they go but the platform both Magia and Crkemang were part of—Pazijik Gallery?

And, of course, lurking in the gallery were demons, eagerly awaiting desperate seekers of such rare information…
─— Pazijik Gallery —─
[Magia Red Pill.clip]

(A raccoon meme)
“Hey, friend. I’ll help you this time, but be careful next time.”
“The gallery is full of demons just waiting to hit you with cursed images, so watch out.”

(Upvotes: 1,224 / Downvotes: 1,395)
[Comments]
— Pazijik935: I am not thankful, Raccoon Man…
— Pazijik252: Ah, fuck lmao
— Pazijik095: I knew this was bait, but I clicked anyway, damn it lol
That night, after countless troll posts were purged in a bloodbath of moderation, a new rule was added to Pazijik Gallery.

Anyone posting clickbait about Magia’s photos or claiming to have seen her in person would receive a one-week ban.
If only people genuinely talked about Magia, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
But the flood of nuclear-grade shitposts and chaos forced even the typically lenient mods, who usually didn’t ban posts about specific individuals, to lay down the law.

─— Pazijik Gallery —─
[From now on, no discussions about Magia’s appearance]
[Posted by: 🟦Pazijik03]
Violators will receive a one-week ban.

Repeat offenders will be perma-banned.
VTubers are off-limits for red pill discussions.
For regular people, it’s even more off-limits. Get it through your thick skulls, you goddamn idiots.
I also checked through all the cursed memes myself, and I can confirm that no one has actually seen Magia in person.
[Comments]
— Pazijik384: Got it.
— Pazijik991: Finally, a mod doing their job.
— Pazijik305: At last, the gallery is returning to normal.

However, even this couldn’t quell people’s interest in Magia.
After all, Magia had already been a hot topic in the gallery lately.
And now, what was once a rumor circulating only within Parallel had exploded onto Pazijik Gallery—home to the broader streaming community—after the collaboration with Crkemang.

Curiosity skyrocketed, especially among those who primarily watched facecam streamers and weren’t familiar with VTubers.
Why was there so much talk about Magia’s debut compared to other VTubers?
Normally, a debut was a debut. Either it happened, or it didn’t.

Why was everyone saying different things?
─— Pazijik Gallery —─
[Serious question from a VTuber noob]

What’s the big difference between debuting and not debuting?
If someone just starts streaming, isn’t that a debut?
Is there something fundamentally different about VTubers?

I thought Magia had already debuted, but apparently not?
[Comments]
— Pazijik331: Think of it like a virtual idol group.
ㄴ Pazijik331: They form groups and debut officially, yeah.
ㄴ Pazijik964 (OP): Ohh, so it’s not like regular streamers who just go live?
ㄴ Pazijik331: Some VTubers do that too, yeah. It’s not a strict rule, but think of it as the difference between a hobby (side gig) and a business (main job).
ㄴ Pazijik331: Parallel is basically an entertainment company running an idol business, and its VTubers are idol groups.
ㄴ Pazijik331: So “debut” means they’re officially announcing their idol activities.
ㄴ Pazijik964 (OP): That explanation makes perfect sense, thanks, VTuber sage.
─— Pazijik Gallery —─

[(VTuber Noob Alert) But if Magia is a regular person, does she really need to hide her face?]
I get that some people don’t want to show their faces, but…
This is the first time I’ve seen Crkemang go to such lengths to protect someone.

Think about it.
This translation is the intellectual property of .
Magia is already somewhat well-known. People who watch Crkemang’s streams know her as the one who carried him out of no-rank hell.

If they had announced it beforehand, the stream would’ve been an even bigger success.
So doesn’t that mean there’s a reason her face absolutely cannot be revealed?
I heard VTubers can’t let their red pill info leak.

(Upvotes: 545 / Downvotes: 1)
[Comments]
— Pazijik020: Real-name downvote system, damn.
— Pazijik885: Gia stan, just go prepare for her debut already.
— Pazijik662: This sounded like bullshit at first, but now it kinda makes sense??
— Pazijik351: Journalism moment.
─— Pazijik Gallery —─

[So if Magia debuts, will she get a transformation form like the others?]
The first-gen VTubers all have the concept of coming from another world and pretending to be human, right?
They each have a transformation animation or cutscene.

Like how Maru can switch her animal ears on and off.
Will Magia get something like that too?
Like going from office worker to… something else?
[Comments]
— Pazijik650: Oh?
— Pazijik009: Come to think of it, wasn’t Magia’s mama Dora?
ㄴ Pazijik009: Dora is a famous little-sister hunter, so even if Magia doesn’t get one, she’s probably already drawn a hidden model for her.
ㄴ Pazijik961: If someone asks on stream, will they answer?
ㄴ Pazijik864: Be prepared for a ban, lol.
ㄴ Pazijik961: It’s fine, I don’t watch streams, I just eat drama threads.
ㄴ Pazijik864: A true martyr, we salute you.
ㄴ Pazijik757: The real MVP.

In any case, mission accomplished—maximum chaos achieved.
The wildfire burned fiercest on the first day, and though it gradually died down, interest remained.
The proof was in the numbers.

The moment the first-gen members went live, their starting viewer count surged.
Their usual 7,000 concurrent viewers had jumped to 9,000 today.
And for Dora—who, if Magia did have a transformation model, would be the one holding it—the number was even higher at 12,000.

Fortunately, Dora handled it like an adult—or maybe just a fool—brushing it off with a dumb “Hehe, I don’t know~” and slipping through the crowd’s grasp with ease.
But it wasn’t just Dora bearing the heat.
For the rest of the week, Magia swapped places with the team leader and sat next to Gong Seung-yeon instead.

After all, it was Magia’s fire to put out.
And as someone who specialized in extinguishing the flames set by others, she had no complaints about taking responsibility for the ones she started herself.
Besides, the plan she had promised Cheon Do-hee—to expand the stage—wasn’t meant to end in just one day, on March 24, the day of the pro baseball season opener.

For the next week, it was crucial to make sure no one could get any further information—especially from the first-gen members.
***
And so, a truly hectic week passed for Magia.

On Saturday, as planned, the first-gen members held a group karaoke collab.
The song choices were heavily skewed toward Korean tracks, but the audience seemed to love it.
And then, the long-awaited Sunday arrived.

As they prepared for the surprise announcement stream, Cheon Do-hee spoke up.
“You really are lucky, you know that?”
“Lucky?”

“Yeah. The week after pro baseball’s opening day just happens to be April Fools’ Day. No matter how big a fire you set, it’s all forgiven on April Fools’. Seriously, the timing is perfect.”
Magia shook her head.
Even in the middle of a chaotic schedule, she never lost track of important VTuber event days.

Even now, while being buried under the preparation for the second-gen debut and struggling through vocal lessons for the first-gen five-member group recording—a daunting task for someone who had never properly learned to sing—she still had a clear grip on the calendar.
“This isn’t luck. I planned it that way ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) after realizing April Fools’ was the week after Crkemang and I went to that game.”
“…Seriously?”

— Seen on Z —
Parallel official KR☑ @Parallel_official_kr - 1 minute ago
📢 April 1, 2025 (SUN) 8PM
<🎉 Surprise Announcement 🎉>
Check the official channel!
That’s right.

The surprise announcement Magia had teased during her collab with Crkemang was set for April 1st.
And because it was April Fools’ Day, the announcement carried a unique advantage.
Anything said on April Fools’ could be taken as truth—or dismissed as a joke.

Even if a streamer didn’t explicitly say, “Believe this” or “Don’t believe this,” there was an unspoken agreement among viewers.
Which meant that whether the announcement was about Magia’s debut or a new song collaboration with CAT, neither would be taken as absolute truth.
Magia aimed for a scenario where the audience, uncertain about the real answer, would continue discussing both possibilities, keeping the speculation alive.

A fire ignited like this was hard to put out—it would keep reigniting with posts like, “Thinking about it again, maybe it wasn’t true after all.”
Cheon Do-hee laughed in disbelief.
“You’re saying that by announcing both your debut and the CAT collab at the same time, you’re making sure people believe the latter more? That’s actually impressive.”

Magia tilted her head.
Unlike Do-hee, she hadn’t planned things that far ahead.
“I just wanted to use April Fools’ to throw more fuel on the fire and make people split into different opinions.”

“…Wait, so the part I just mentioned wasn’t intentional?”
“No.”
“You still don’t think about the aftermath, but your ideas really are something else, Gia.”

“I feel embarrassed when you praise me like that.”
“That wasn’t pure praise, but whatever… Either way, things won’t split perfectly in half like you planned. Anyone with common sense will lean more toward the CAT collab being real.”
The teaser video at the end of the announcement would include CAT Entertainment’s name and logo.

Even on April Fools’ Day, that wouldn’t be a joke.
A company falsely using another company’s name?
And a small company like Parallel trying that with a giant like CAT?

Unless Cheon Do-hee had lost her mind, that wasn’t happening.
Sure, some diehard fans would argue, “They’re just using the CAT news to distract from Magia’s debut,” but that kind of discourse wouldn’t last long.
“But I get what you were going for. The more even the divide, the longer the fire burns, right?”

“Exactly. If one side is too strong, the other gets buried quickly.”
“Yeah, makes sense. Then we should drop a few more hints that you might debut. No risk since it’s April Fools’, anyway.”
After some thought, Cheon Do-hee made a proposal.

“Tonight, let’s swap overlays. I’ll use yours and say stuff like, ‘Boss, I have a dream! I want to be a VTuber like you!’”
“Oh, and your overlay has a transformation function, right? If you’re not planning to use it, why not show it off now? Dora put effort into making it—would be a waste otherwise.”
Magia’s model was made to the same high standards as the first-gen members.

It was a collaboration between Dora and Pino, both of whom were huge fans of Magia, so naturally, the quality was insane.
A blouse and skirt that gave off both office attire and school uniform vibes, draped in an oversized witch robe and hat.
A transformation form where she carried a high-tech mechanical staff, somehow incorporating rocket engineering.

If they revealed that, it would perfectly balance the scales as Magia originally intended.
Both sides of the debate would have reason to believe their version of the truth.
But at this point, Magia was starting to feel uneasy.

It seemed like Cheon Do-hee was actually enjoying fanning the flames.
And more than that—using Momo’s overlay?
That was sacred ground to Magia. Was this really okay?

Seeing her hesitation, Do-hee misread her concern and reassured her.
“Just think of it like Find Rain. It’s a one-time thing, no pressure.”
“That was Rain. This is the boss.”

“Oh, come on. What’s the difference? Just do it. This is the right call.”
Magia always respected Momo’s decisions when it came to streams, so she simply nodded.
But she had one more concern.

“…Can you handle it?”
“It’s fine. It’s April Fools’. As long as we don’t provoke the audience by saying stuff like ‘Which one’s real?’ and keep things subtle, it’ll be fine. The main goal is to reveal the teaser video anyway.”
“…Hmm.”

Cheon Do-hee was misunderstanding something.
Magia’s “Can you handle it?” wasn’t about the reaction after the stream.
It was about her personally handling it.

For Magia, a body swap event like this was the ultimate luxury and indulgence.
She had always held back from crossing the sacred line.
But if it was already happening?

She had so many ideas.
For instance, what if Magia used this opportunity to unleash a flood of adorable Momo voice impressions, mimicking all the cute lines Momo usually refused to say?
If those clips got recorded, Magia would have endless content to feed on for a long time.

And what about Momo, forced to use Magia’s overlay?
How would she react to Magia’s pranks?
Embarrassment, frustration—

Expressions Magia herself couldn’t fully capture with her own model would finally be immortalized.
It was exactly what she had thought when she first got her overlay—
No matter how good the facial tracking is, there are things I’ll never be able to express myself.

And now, thanks to Momo, that problem was about to be solved.
Completely unaware of Magia’s devious thoughts, Cheon Do-hee assumed the hesitation was just anxiety over the stream’s aftermath.
Gripping Magia’s shoulders firmly, she said:

“I’m giving you permission, so it’s fine. We’re going with this. And because it’s April Fools’, we have to take it up a notch—make it even harder for people to tell what’s real or fake.
Just relax and enjoy the stream. It’s not like you’re the type to cause any real trouble. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”
Responsibility.

That word carried serious weight in a professional setting.
Once you claimed responsibility for something, there was no backing out.
Hearing that, Magia finally felt at ease.

She grinned.
“Alright. Let’s do it.”