Well, just like with the other mbers’ ntal training, it wasn’t much different when it ca to Darami.
“Ha, looks like everyone’s fallen for my charm.”
— LOL
— That acting is godawful lololol
— Ugh, that was cringe
— My hands
— Why does this person feel like such a tryhard otaku?
— Feels like so guy who learned how to act from a YouTube short is going, ‘Look how good I am!’
— lolol I’m not watching this anymore
“What the hell are you all saying?! Shut it! You people don’t know anything!”
— ‘Shut it’?
— Unfollowing, bye
— Said she could act, but that’s so kindergarten-level acting
— Oh wait, that last bit actually sounded kinda real
— For real LOL
— That was acting too? lol
— Angry acting’s the only thing you’re good at
“No, I an, damn it?!”
And to make matters worse, this wasn’t group training with peers—there was no one for her to lean on.
For Darami, this one-on-one interview with Magia might end up being a traumatic mory.
As Darami flared up from the toxic chat she couldn’t handle, Magia got up from her seat and shouted,
“Cut. That’s enough.”
“Ah.”
“Fail. That’s not how you should respond.”
“Ugh. I just... I got mad without even realizing when they said I suck at acting.”
“You’ve seen stuff like that in Blitzlight Chat City too, haven’t you?”
“Maybe, but the chat moved too fast to even catch any of it. Right now, it’s all right there in my face.”
“Ah, so you’re the type to not care unless it’s right in front of you.”
“Yes.”
“Well, what now? From now on, you’re gonna have to care.”
“But once you hit over a thousand viewers, you can barely see the chat anyway...”
“That’s just because you’re reading with fogged-up eyes. But from now on, you can’t do that anymore. Now that you’ve agreed to stream under Parallel, engaging with the chat is an absolutely crucial part of the job.”
“Ughh... but chat is so hard... Reading toxic comnts like just now only makes it harder to manage my ntal...”
“Oh dear, our contract’s for two years though.”
“...What.”
Darami flailed her hands in panic.
“Wait, no—weren’t you the one who said you’d help and support ?”
“Well, that was under the assumption that you’d fully adopt our style.”
“Ugh.”
“Even if it doesn’t seem like you’re reading chat, the truth is, you need to be. You don’t seriously think viewers won’t notice whether you care or not, right?”
“Most people don’t notice that stuff, do they?”
“That’s because you’re just numb to it.”
“For real?”
Just like strears live off the attention from their viewers, viewers live off attention from their strears too.
Whether or not they read your chat—
Whether or not they respond to your donation ssage— it makes a huge difference.
Sure, when you're running a big channel with over a thousand viewers, it's understood that you can’t react to everything.
But Darami’s case was on another level.
She was missing almost all the chat. Even ten-thousand-won donations were slipping through the cracks.
Still, the training went on—one day, two days, three days.
A week passed, and then another.
Eventually, Darami finally reached a level where she could cleanly read every chat ssage.
Even when they were toxic comnts.
“Um, but... am I really that bad at acting?”
“No?”
“Ugh... I lost all my confidence. It’s all your fault, Gia....”
And as a bonus, after being exposed to toxic chat for two full weeks, she even started doubting herself.
You’d think this would be a problem, but—confidence can disappear at any ti. It’s actually way better for her to go through this now, while she’s preparing for re-debut.
For soone like Darami—whose life had been smooth aside from her conflict with her parents—when she loses confidence, the crash hits hard.
And if that mont hits after debut, it takes a long ti to rebuild her shattered ntal state. During that ti, fans will leave in droves.
They’ll say stuff like: “Darami used to be fun.”
“Now she’s not.”
“She’s not as confident as before, it’s just not the sa.”
“I only said that stuff to ss with your head. Don’t take it seriously.”
“But when I keep seeing it, I end up doubting myself...”
“That’s normal. But don’t doubt yourself. Yes, it’s important to connect sincerely with your viewers—but that doesn’t an you should believe everything they say.”
“Huh...?”
“You’ve got three people on our team, including , who can actually analyze your streams and give you proper feedback. You’ll get much more objective answers by asking us.”
“Ah, I see.”
Besides, most of the toxic comnts Magia had shown her were from accounts that were already banned.
The only reason she displayed them like this was because strears can still see them in the split-second before they get deleted.
So really, there’s no point paying attention to chat ssages that get banned anyway.
It’s way better to just ask the boss, Cheon Do-hee, or soone from the streaming team how the stream went today.
“That said, even if you do spot a toxic comnt, don’t directly call it out or fire back. Ignoring it is the best move. Leave it alone and the chat {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} mods will take care of it. And if anything gets said that might be a real issue, we’ll talk about it during or after the stream.”
She had suffered through two hellish weeks of this.
But still, Darami couldn’t help trusting Magia.
She’d wondered—was she the only one being treated this harshly? So she looked around.
Turns out, every single mber of Parallel had ntioned Magia’s hell training during their story streams. The general consensus? “That demon is on a whole different level.”
But judging by the results they got from the training, they actually ended up thanking Magia more often than they insulted her.
Stuff like:
“If it weren’t for that training, I might’ve screwed up the real broadcast.”
“Thanks to that, I actually did way better on stream.”
“Anyway, you’ve done great. Starting next week, you’ll be training with the boss.”
“Huh? But isn’t the boss super busy right now?”
“Well, now I’m about to get busy. In two weeks, we’re opening the Manae Festival pop-up store, and there’s a stage event in the evening. I think the idea is to have you show up, just for a mont.”
Manae Festival.
A subculture event that Magia once attended in cosplay with Cheon Do-hee—where she ran into Pino.
With Blitzlight City having gone ga-viral, Parallel’s na had blown up. So they figured this was the perfect mont to ride the wave.
They’d been sitting on their application, wondering when to jump in—and now was the ti.
Suddenly being told to appear in front of people seed to make Darami panic, stomping her feet.
“W-what?! Already? I’m not ready yet!”
“You have to start building anticipation early. You’re not going to show your face or anything—just your voice. So don’t worry too much. The seniors and your peers will support you.”
“Ugh... I haven’t even really t the other second-gens yet...”
“That’s why, next week, while we’re preparing for the stage, you’ll be working with the second-gen mbers. Try your best to get close with them.”
“Just like when I was doing streams during ntal training with you—I’ll still have to keep streaming during that too, right?”
“Yep. You have to. Even if they’re short, you need to keep showing up on stream so your exposure stays consistent. You only just started gaining traction, so now’s the ti to push hard. Make sure you manage your energy, eat properly, and take care of your health.”
“...Okay.”
“Anyway, good luck. Honestly, I’m expecting a lot from you, Darami.”
At that, Darami blushed and squird.
“After all the nagging, now you say you’re expecting things from ?”
“Your body’s more honest than your words.”
“Ughhh...”
***
So, while everyone else was busy getting ready for the Manae Festival...
What was Magia doing that made her even busier?
“Hello! Wow, I never thought I’d get to et you in person, Gia.”
“Hello, I honestly didn’t think I’d be visiting Mimax headquarters either.”
“You’re too modest. This way, please. Let’s sit down and talk comfortably.”
While Blitzlight City was still running, a bulk offer had co in.
It was a contract with Mimax, casting Magia as the main villain voice actor for a new story.
All the other mbers set to do voice work with Magia had already finished their recordings.
Now that Darami’s debut prep was wrapping up, it was Magia’s turn to tag in and begin recording—starting with the biggest volu of lines.
The role she’d taken on wasn’t that different from Tia in Blitzlight City. And luckily, Magia wasn’t soone who feared trying new things too much.
Still, it felt kind of like when she first started as an utaite.
Since this was her first official voice acting job, even Magia felt a bit nervous.
The coordinator handed Magia a tablet with the script on it across the conference room table, and said:
“When you get to the studio, the director and manager will guide you through the recording process. So we don’t have any specific requests today.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Just do what you did as Tia. Our ga leans heavily into subculture anyway, so not many players feel pressure from characters like Tia.”
“Ah, understood.”
“There’s just one thing. It’s a bit of a demanding request...”
The coordinator swiped through the tablet, and soon a scene ca up at the end of the script—a section requiring intense emotional acting.
“The character you’ll be playing, Loro, needs to give a performance close to a breakdown at the end. That part might be difficult.”
“A breakdown? Like... ‘I don’t want to die’?”
“It’s more like, ‘If I die, I’m taking you all with .’ That kind of thing. Tia had a playful tone all the way through, right? That’s why we’re not sure yet if this is sothing you can pull off.”
Magia nodded slightly and read through the script slowly.
Kyaahahahahaha!
Are you all stupid? While you were flailing around, I already finished everything I had to do! Goodbye, idiots. Go rot in hell with your beloved master!!!
After reading it, Magia scratched her cheek with a “hmm.”
“Yeah... I’ve pretty much never spoken in this kind of tone before.”
“Is that so.”
“But if I treat it like doing a voice imitation of soone, I think I could pull it off pretty well.”
“Oh?”
And the person she planned to imitate—was none other than Cheon Do-hee.
Whenever Do-hee pushed through a flood of snipers and won, she would unleash a furious, triumphant roar—even while in pain.
Kyaahaha!
MongMongies! No matter how hard you try to trip up, I still win!
MongMong! MongChung! Puhahahaha!
Outta my way! I’m the one getting the chicken dinner tonight!!!
It was a little different from what Mimax was asking for, but Magia figured she could adjust and make it work with so improvisation.
“When does the recording start?”
“We’ve got the studio booked starting two days from now. Today we just wanted to brief you on the character and give you so guidance, which is why we asked you to visit HQ.”
“Ah, I see.”
She didn’t have a lot of ti, but at least she had a day to prep.
Then again, the only reason her schedule had gotten this tight was because she kept postponing things to train Darami.
She’d just have to give it her best.
‘If I could find a VTuber to use as reference, that’d be great... but that’s probably not gonna happen.’
After all, it was rare for VTubers to scream lines that sounded like total breakdowns. Magia figured she’d need to check so ani on a streaming site later.
One title ca to mind right away—a story about a girl with a na kind of like Magia, who tried to beco a magical girl but instead ended up as an officer in the Demon King’s army.
Normally timid, but sotis would go completely dark and scream in madness—a protagonist who really left an impression.
“Then... would it be okay if I headed ho right after today’s eting wraps? I’ve got a lot to prep for tomorrow.”
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