"So, have you ever considered debuting as a VTuber?"
Magia blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then, after a long pause, she asked back.
"...?"
"Yes, Ms. Magia, this is an offer for you."
Even after hearing it a second ti, Magia stalled.
It was too absurd.
Was this the kind of thing that was supposed to happen to her?
Legally speaking, Yeon Sung-mook wasn’t doing anything wrong.
If Magia had already been a VTuber, this kind of approach could have started an all-out corporate war.
But she was just a regular office worker.
So technically, there were no tampering issues.
But morally? That was another ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) question.
The guy was being way too bold, but at the end of the day, this was straight-up an employee poaching attempt.
And the timing? Impeccable.
After the Wicker Town closing ceremony, where Parallel had perford alongside their competitors, it was the perfect mont—when their guard was down.
Did they really think this would work?
Obviously, Magia had zero intention of accepting.
She joined Parallel because she wanted to help Cheon Do-hee.
She started managing streams because she wanted the company to succeed.
She had even discussed with the CEO about running a dedicated operations team for major collaborations and tournants.
If she ever debuted, it would be under Parallel—with Do-hee’s approval.
A Lapits debut?
Maybe if they offered a 10-billion-won contract.
Then she might think about it.
But there was another thing that nagged at her.
Why ?
Lapits was part of VIRDESS, an entertainnt agency that had expanded into the VTuber industry.
It wasn’t so small-ti company.
They had a top-ranking girl group under their managent.
In the world of performing arts, they were a big deal.
Even Magia—who often claid, "Parallel can compete with Bachuu in singing"—had to admit that when it ca to dance and performance, Parallel was at a disadvantage.
One look at Lapits’ 3D showcases said it all.
Flawless choreography.
Perfect synchronization, even in intense routines.
It was practically idol-tier.
And that company was now trying to recruit her?
She had never even shown her physical movent skills on a stream.
And yet, they were saying, "Just join us, and we’ll make it work."
Were they really that confident that they could turn a complete non-dancer into a perforr?
It wasn’t impossible.
Unlike Parallel, which had to hire outside vocal and dance instructors, VIRDESS probably had a full staff of in-house trainers.
Yeah... their scale is definitely bigger than ours.
Not many people are born with the perfect combination of singing, dancing, and broadcasting talent.
And a big company’s strength is that they don’t need those rare prodigies.
They can train their people into top-level entertainers.
If Parallel couldn’t close that developnt gap, no matter how much they grew, they might eventually lose out in the long run.
With that in mind, Magia decided to probe for more information.
"Why ? I’m really not that talented..."
"As I said, you have a natural talent for broadcasting."
Yeon Sung-mook leaned forward slightly.
"Your voice is extrely pleasant to listen to. Your impressions are on another level. You haven’t really sung properly on stream before, but..."
He smiled.
"Your rapping skills are already proven, aren’t they?"
Ah.
Find Rain.
During that event, Magia had mimicked Rain’s rap flawlessly.
But that was a one-ti thing.
And it wasn’t like she had perford—she had just copied Rain exactly.
Magia didn’t really consider that an impressive feat.
But Sung-mook saw it differently.
To him, Magia was already a half-polished gem.
"We can provide full-scale training. Vocal lessons, performance coaching, everything. As you might know, VIRDESS started as a general entertainnt agency. Singing is a given, but we also ensure our talents achieve top-tier dance performance skills."
In short, they were saying, "Just bring yourself. We’ll do the rest."
That level of confidence was actually impressive.
If Cheon Do-hee had made this kind of proposal, the first-gen mbers would definitely have gossiped about it behind her back.
Do-hee treated them like family because her debut motto had always been, "Let’s work together to reach the top."
But for Magia, this was a wake-up call.
Now that she had identified Parallel’s weak point, she could advise Do-hee on how to fix it.
Of course, there was a good chance the managent already knew and simply had no viable solutions.
But reminding them from ti to ti could still be helpful.
Do-hee did take Magia seriously whenever she spoke with conviction.
As Magia mulled over these thoughts, she took just a second too long to respond—
And Sung-mook grinned.
‘She’s almost convinced.’
At that exact mont, their thoughts were in complete opposition.
From his experience, if soone didn’t refuse outright, there was a high chance they’d accept later.
"I’m sure you’ll need ti to think it over."
That was enough for now.
Trying to push harder could create problems.
After all, this was a competitor’s employee.
No need to attract too much attention.
"Let’s leave it here for today. Take your ti, and let know."
"Oh, uh—"
"Well then, enjoy the rest of the year. And Happy New Year. If you have any questions, feel free to contact via the number on my card."
And just like that, Sung-mook left.
Without even waiting for a response.
Magia, still staring at his retreating figure, absentmindedly fiddled with the business card in her hand.
"...I didn’t even properly reject him."
Well.
She could just think of it as acquiring an industry contact.
Magia had always been holed up in the office with almost zero interaction with people from other companies.
This was a rare opportunity.
And since Sung-mook seed to think highly of her, maybe she could squeeze so useful information out of him.
The employee-poaching attempt was annoying, sure.
But if she played it smart, she could milk him for intel instead.
Too bad for him.
If he was going to make a move, he had picked the worst possible person to try it on.
A little later, Eona reappeared, her heels clicking sharply against the floor as she approached.
"Why did that take so long? How much thanking was he doing?"
"Thanking?"
"Yeah. He told he wanted to express his gratitude too, so I set up this eting."
"Ah."
"By the way... didn’t he prepare so kind of gift? He ntioned it earlier."
Magia decided to believe Eona had nothing to do with this.
Their stories didn’t match.
Which ant Eona had probably been used by Sung-mook.
Back when they first t on Wicker Town, Eona had been wary and sowhat confrontational.
Magia had wondered if she had ulterior motives.
But no.
She was just a rookie VTuber.
Still young enough to have dreams.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
No need to drag her into the corporate nonsense of jaded adults.
Just as Magia was about to speak, Eona suddenly asked—
"Wait. Tell honestly. Did he try to recruit you?"
Sharp as ever.
Magia responded instantly.
"No way. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t try to scout a competitor’s employee."
...Honestly, Sung-mook was insane for doing exactly that.
He probably had his reasons, but still.
But Eona wasn’t backing down.
"You need to tell the truth. That way, I can report this to my company and make sure they never pull this again."
Magia sighed and adjusted her tone.
"It wasn’t anything like that. We just talked about our VTuber careers."
"VTuber careers...?"
"Yeah. I told him your debut stream was cute."
Eona’s face instantly turned bright red.
"HIIIK—ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
***
As soon as Eona was sent back into the banquet hall, my boss arrived—dragging the mbers along.
Even in a sea of people, they stood out.
So of the strears outside recognized them imdiately, likely because they already knew their red pill identities, and ca over to greet them.
And as expected, I paid the price for escaping the car ride.
"Gia, can Pino and I use this look for your new outfit design?"
"Who is this? Is this really Gia?"
"This is supposed to be Gia-unnie? No way."
"Always dressing like this from now on. Good."
They really saw as nothing more than a doll.
Pinching my cheeks, patting my head, pulling into hugs.
If my boss hadn’t stopped them, my carefully put-together outfit would’ve been completely ruined before I even entered.
After ushering the mbers inside, I lined up at the back of the queue with my boss.
Since my presence at the event needed official verification, I had to be acknowledged as Assistant Manager Magia—the sa one who had stread on the official channel.
As my boss pulled out our assigned tickets, she spoke up.
"You know, I had a thought on the way here."
"What kind of thought?"
"If I just let you roam around in here... soone might try to recruit you out of nowhere."
Her instincts were as sharp as ever—just a little late.
"No way."
"Co on. This place is mostly for partner strears, sure. But look at —I’m both a VTuber and a company CEO. And there are plenty of others here who run MCNs just like I do."
She glanced at my outfit, scanning from head to toe, then suddenly smacked her forehead.
"You weren’t supposed to dress up like this today..."
"What’s the problem now?"
"Just had a horrifying thought. The mont so facecam-focused MCN sees you, they’re going to want to debut you."
"Oh, sure."
She narrowed her eyes.
"...You’re not even denying it this ti? You used to go on and on about how you weren’t qualified to debut."
"I just didn’t bother arguing. I still think the sa way."
"......"
After a mont of silence, she crossed her arms.
"Don’t leave my side tonight."
"That would ruin my networking efficiency. It’s like downgrading from a dual-core to a single-core processor."
"No. Stay close. I’m getting a bad feeling about this."
I rolled my eyes.
She definitely wouldn’t relax until she saw how people reacted to in the banquet hall.
As if I’d actually accept a debut offer just because soone made one.
I had already turned down a VTuber debut. A facecam career? Even less likely.
But the mont we stepped inside, sothing happened that only amplified her concerns.
The four guys I had deliberately avoided earlier.
Movgun, Ronze, Lupko, and Kamik.
"Oh, Momo."
"Damn it. So it was Magia. See, I told you, man!"
"This is actually real?"
My boss had been in this industry for six years.
At this point, most people in the scene already knew the red pill identities of VTubers.
So Movgun and Lupko imdiately recognized her.
And Lupko, who had suspected from the start...
"Well, well. Good timing. Co with ."
Didn’t hesitate to grab .
Momo, startled, shot back.
"What? Why so sudden?"
"Lend her to for a second, noona. We’ve got sowhere to be."
Sensing a networking opportunity, I instinctively moved to follow.
Only to be yanked back by my boss, her grip locking onto the back of my neck.
"Where are you taking her? Explain first."
"Jeez, anyone would think she’s your kid or sothing. Or are you trying to keep her as your forever-manager?"
"Hey!"
"Ow, ow!"
Even while getting smacked by my boss, Lupko laughed.
"Relax, it’s just that I was with the Makgeolli Crew earlier. And they said they wanted to et Gia. It’s better to go while the topic’s still fresh, right?"
Momo and I exchanged a silent glance.
Why are the seniors calling first?
Good question.
But really—who had I set my sights on as the main networking target tonight?
Crkemang and the Makgeolli Crew.
And here they were, reaching out to first?
This wasn’t just an opportunity.
This was a jackpot.
"I’m going. Boss, you handle your etings."
But my boss didn’t look reassured at all.
If I wanted her to let go, I had to add sothing.
"Not that it would ever happen, but... if any offers co up, I’ll discuss them with you first."
The Lapits proposal?
Yeah, that was staying secret.
Right now, the Parallel and Lapits mbers were getting along.
If that news broke, not only would it trigger a corporate war, but the forums would explode.
And guess who would have to deal with the fallout in chat moderation?
.
Absolutely not.
I also didn’t want my boss to be affected—so I’d handle it myself.
Momo pouted for a few seconds, then sighed and let go of my collar.
"Fine. Just be careful."
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