Just like how small misfortunes are said to ward off bigger ones and lead to smoother days ahead—
After one crisis was narrowly averted,
the concert ca to a triumphant close.
“Thank you!”
“See you again, everyone!!”
“Love you parkers!”
“Iyooo~ Iyooo~ Love you~”
After two encore songs by the first-gen mbers, followed by a group performance with the second-gen included—seven people on stage—the entire concert program ca to an end.
— Don’t go!!
— You have to do another concert!!
— Aaaahhh!!
Amid the thunderous cheers of the audience—fans of Parallel—
the first-generation mbers vanished from the stage just like that.
The heat of the mont.
Everyone who had laughed and cheered as the girls ca alive before their eyes now turned ho with bittersweet smiles,
while Cheon Do-hee was still frantically busy seeing off the VIP guests.
“Then we’ll do our best internally to prepare for V-World. Until then, best of luck to you, President Cheon.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you so much for promising your support!”
“It’s a win-win for both of us. Now then, Producer Na, shall we go get sothing to eat?”
As Na Hyun-gon gave a subtle signal that they’d talk more later and stepped away,
silence finally fell over the balcony seats on the second floor surrounding Cheon Do-hee.
Broadcasters who knew her personally hovered nearby,
finally approaching one by one to offer their congratulations.
They exchanged words of thanks, handshakes, and even hugs—
and the last to step forward was Mugeon.
Do-hee shot him a look like, Why are you even here?
In response, Mugeon’s lips curled down slightly as he muttered,
“I thought Magia was gonna be on stage too.”
“She did go out there with a plastic bag over her head.”
“You call that a performance? Ugh... I knew this was gonna happen.”
For the record, Do-hee still hadn’t told Mugeon that FanC was Magia.
She’d considered it before but held back.
And now, with Mugeon practically a full-on mber of the Slug Squad,
if she told him now, the “Magia = FanC” theory would spread like wildfire from his stream.
Ironically, in situations like this, Pino was more reassuring.
Maybe it was because Magia trusted him that deeply.
“She’s not even one of our company’s idols. What exactly were you expecting?”
“The million Slug Squad mbers will rember this injustice.”
“But you’re not even in the Slug Squad. What’s your deal?”
Mugeon flinched, realizing his slip, and quickly turned away with a mutter.
“...Ronze told to say that. Later.”
How long was he going to keep using that Ronze excuse?
Especially when Ronze himself couldn’t even make the concert because of league matches.
And this guy had already been caught several tis being a Slug Squad mber,
yet still stubbornly played dumb.
Should she be impressed by the commitnt or just call it dumb?
Do-hee clicked her tongue and turned back toward the backstage area.
The back of the stage was still bustling with cleanup,
and across from «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» it was the temporary auditorium that had been turned into a makeshift studio.
There, the daughters of Parallel, who had pulled off sothing huge today, were gathered together in a tight circle.
Miho was sobbing, full-on ugly crying,
and the six surrounding her patted and comforted her with the warmth of sisters who’d been through hardship together.
With a handkerchief already soaked from her nose,
one that belonged to Team Leader Kang,
Miho, seemingly more overwheld than the perforrs themselves,
clutched it tightly and shouted like she was giving a speech.
“Senpai... You were just so freaking cool...!! Parallel fighting!!!”
Everyone burst into laughter and echoed the cheer.
They were such a lovely bunch of girls.
Well, they had handpicked the ones least likely to rip each other’s hair out during stressful tis,
so maybe that’s how this environnt got built in the first place.
They were carefully selected by HR, with input from Magia,
going over every candidate for days.
It didn’t always show in their daily routines,
but in monts like this—when things got rough or tense—
you could really feel it in your bones.
Everyone here was just too nice. That was the “problem.”
“You all worked so hard!”
“You too, boss!”
“Are we going on break now? Spa? Super hot 43-degree bath?”
“Ugh, sis, why are you talking about hot tubs right now?”
“Well, if we start feedback, this whole room is about to beco a hot tub anyway.”
And yeah, they were all a little scared of the boss.
Not Rain, of course, but the rest of them? Definitely kept an eye on her reactions.
“No———.”
“Ah. Uh, I need to run to the bathroom real quick.”
“ too!”
The mont feedback was ntioned,
the girls practically stampeded out claiming urgent bathroom business.
But strangely enough,
the one tiny figure who was usually bouncing around in the middle of this chaos—
was nowhere to be seen.
Magia.
Do-hee turned to Komari, who was still standing nearby with Rain.
“It was just a joke. Where’s Gia?”
“She said she had sothing to take care of and stepped out.”
“Sothing to take care of?”
“Yeah. Said she had soone to et and ran out.”
“Soone to et? Who?”
“She went toward the stage seating, so you should be able to find her there.”
Team Leader Kang gave a small nod,
clearly signaling that she’d take care of the streaming staff and the girls,
and that Do-hee should go look for Gia.
Do-hee nodded in understanding and started walking down the hallway toward the seats.
Just like they said,
Gia was there, talking to soone.
The person standing opposite her was tall,
with a figure so stunning that even Do-hee—who was plenty confident in her own curves—
felt an involuntary twitch of envy and looked down for a second.
It was none other than—
the rising star who had soared ever since her collab stream with Magia.
She was no longer shaky in front of crowds,
had a steady presence in collabs,
and recently crossed over six hundred average viewers.
The not-at-all-middle-school-looking girl: Bazubi.
“...It was amazing! ...Honestly, even if I had paid for the ticket myself, it still would've been worth it. ...But because it was the one you gave , it was even more amazing...!”
“I knew Bazubi would love it.”
“...I’m basically in dopamine overload, so if I go ho like this I probably won’t be able to sleep. ...Your face keeps popping into my head...”
She bounced like an excited schoolgirl—
except her chest didn’t bounce like one.
Even as a fellow woman, Do-hee felt a twinge of guilt for staring,
so she stood a little off to the side, looking away,
quietly waiting for the two to finish their chat.
When Bazubi ran off toward the entrance where the Team Youngun mbers were taking a group photo,
Do-hee finally approached Gia and gave her a playful cheek pinch.
“How many people did you hand tickets out to, exactly?”
Magia muttered nonchalantly,
“Ugh. Probably about as many as you did, boss.”
“You spent a whole million won just to fill the seats?”
“I an, I wanted a full house, but more than that... we worked really hard on this, and I wanted the people I know to see it. So of them wouldn’t make ti unless you just handed them a ticket, you know?”
She wasn’t wrong.
Thanks to that, all the mbers of Team Youngun showed up to the concert today.
They all had slightly different takes on the whole virtual idol thing,
so their reactions were mixed at first—
But when it ca to the music, they all agreed it was a damn good concert.
Magia went on,
“My parents said they had a blast too.”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Only after everything had settled did Cheon Do-hee suddenly rember what she'd planned to do after the concert.
“Oh, right. I was supposed to greet your parents...!”
“They already went back to the hotel about ten minutes ago.”
“Ugh. Damn it. I should’ve co down a little earlier.”
“eting my parents isn’t that important right now. Discussing business is.”
“...I an, yeah, but—there’s sothing I need their approval for.”
“Approval for what?”
“To act as your guardian while you're in Korea.”
“...? You’re already doing that.”
Magia shrugged like it was no big deal, as if living together was more than enough already.
“One of the reasons I live in your house is so there’s soone around to find if I suddenly collapse or sothing. That’s good enough for a guardian.”
The words were chilling, and Do-hee couldn’t help but feel a cold shiver run down her spine.
“If you keep saying stuff like that, I’m gonna force you to match my work hours.”
“Well, if you start going in later and leaving later, that might actually work.”
“...That’s not gonna happen.”
“Don’t worry too much. If I collapse, I’ll hang in there until you get ho.”
“Saying stuff like that just makes even more worried?!”
“Then I’ll call an ambulance and let them contact you from the ER.”
“Haah...”
The truth was, Magia had been ticulously managing her health lately.
Even with her packed schedule, she never seed tired.
She’d drastically reduced her live stream watch hours,
and she’d been skimming off the highlights from her subordinates’ reports to save ti and energy.
So the whole collapsing thing?
Total exaggeration—just sothing she said to get a rise out of Do-hee.
And by now, Do-hee was more or less used to it.
She didn’t fall for Magia’s teasing every ti anymore.
“You’re paying for the ambulance call.”
“Wow, you really won’t even cover that?”
“Well, I wouldn’t need to call one, since I’d show up on ti and carry you myself. But if you make the call, you pay for it.”
“Cheapskate.”
“Oh, you little—”
***
The next day ca.
The mbers, enjoying their first proper rest day in a while,
used the break from streaming to fully recharge and recover.
Even during that downti, Magia fired up a special review stream for the Wol-dung-i fans, recapping the concert from the day before.
But in the middle of the stream, Momo ca barging in from downstairs.
Magia quickly muted her mic and stepped out of the broadcast booth, saying she had to talk with the boss.
“What’s going on?”
“Producer Na just called. Says it’s sothing important and asked if you could listen in too.”
Magia instantly shifted into work mode and spoke into the phone.
“Ah, yes. This is Magia speaking.”
[Sorry to interrupt your stream. That big deal we casually ntioned over dinner last night? It just got confird today. I figured the sooner you heard, the better.]
“It’s no problem. Please go ahead.”
From the mont they first t Producer Na Hyun-gon, the pattern had always been the sa.
CAT Entertainnt supported Parallel by continuously handing out challenges.
Every ti Parallel completed one, they’d receive a tougher challenge in return.
So now that they had pulled off an offline concert too?
It was obvious sothing even bigger was coming.
Both Magia and Cheon Do-hee had gotten used to this never-ending climb.
And at this point, they were even looking forward to what new mountain would show up next.
[The CEO of Pazijik wants to launch a massive project where VTubers and regular strears can collaborate freely.
He suggested that the two parties’ respective reps work together to build out the content.]
“Yes, absolutely.”
[On the strear side, he seems interested in Mind Network—the one with the Mad Dogs crew.
And for the VTuber side... wouldn’t it make sense for Parallel to take the lead?]
“Oh. If you’re offering the opportunity, I’d be more than happy to accept.”
[They said they’d be fully funding the content creation and promotion costs, so feel free to pitch whatever ideas you like.]
“Uh... So even if it’s sothing that costs quite a bit to produce, that’s okay?”
[Yes. They requested sothing that can attract as many people as possible. Fun is more important than cost.]
Do-hee glanced sideways at Magia.
Parallel was certainly the biggest na among VTuber companies.
But Na Hyun-gon seed particularly curious about what kind of wild ideas Magia might co up with, if given full creative freedom.
Until now, Magia had always worked within Parallel’s limited resources.
So maybe he wanted to see what she could pull off with a huge budget.
It made sense, considering he’d made sure she was listening in on the call too.
And so, Do-hee asked:
“Would it be okay if I brought Gia along to the eting with Mind Network?”
Her instinct was spot-on.
Na Hyun-gon confird it imdiately.
[Of course. Just let know the schedule, and I’ll clear FanC-related work for that day.]
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