I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work - Chapter 100
“Hello, our lovely supporters of Parallel! And to those newcomers who found their way here to watch our special content today, it’s fantastic to see you all!
I’m Shirahoshi Momo, the shining star floating in the high skies of Parallel, in charge of daily reactions!”
*Clap, clap, clap!*
As the President finished her introduction, I joyfully clapped along and gave a little bow.
“Hello! I’m Majia, here to assist with the daily reactions alongside the President. Nice to meet you all!”
“Wow—!!”
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Tsk, tsk
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Wah, wah, wah
— Ja-ha
— Pel-ha
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Mo-ha
— Tsk, tsk, tsk
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
— Ja-ha
— Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk
Honestly, once we hit ten thousand viewers, it becomes nearly impossible to feel the population density in the chat.
But there is a way to see how many people have joined and how many newcomers we have—it’s through the ban list that accumulates the nicknames of those who get banned.
During a normal broadcast, not too many people get banned.
Why? Because aside from those dopamine-producing moments, the chat pace is generally mild, making it easy for the streamer to catch any offenders on the spot.
In such cases, everyone tends to behave and not step out of line, keeping the ban list pretty calm…
Except on days like today when it’s crawling with people.
Plenty of folks, unable to hold back from a dopamine explosion, end up in a nonsensical rant and get their heads chopped off.
With so many chats flying by, a good number of people make the same mistake and find themselves banned for it.
Even if they get a temporary short ban, their name will get added to the cumulative list, providing a gauge for how hot the broadcast is.
Of course, the longer that list gets, the worse it’ll be for the managers pulling their hair out.
However, today, something unusual happened. All the managers who were supposed to be off decided to volunteer to work.
Not just one or two, but the entire team!
When we told them they didn’t have to, they expressed their gratitude, wanting to work while watching the stream.
I promised to send them chicken gift cards after the broadcast.
You might wonder why we’re spending money on this, but for us, they’re truly valued individuals, and we prefer to manage relationships in advance to avoid any trouble.
After all, if a post pops up in the café saying “I was wrongfully banned,” and it’s a legitimate ban, the whole community would go up in flames.
To prevent any such situations, we need to communicate frequently.
Before I was called a team leader, my core duty as a “general manager” was managing the entire team of managers, which you can surely understand.
Anyway, while catching up with the President, I was also deciding who to chop from the ban list based on pictures sent in by the managers.
As I dove into work, the broadcast sequence unfolded.
“Now, let’s talk about the awards. Wow, Jia! This time there are a whopping six awards, right?”
“That’s right! Thanks to Aurora and Bazizzik sponsoring us, we’ve got a lot of awards lined up. The evaluation process consists of two parts.
First up, we have the viewers’ votes. There are two kinds of scores—skill and entertainment. The top two for skill will win the ‘Aurora Award,’ while the top two for entertainment will take home the ‘Bazizzik Award.'”
“Once we pick those four, Majia and I will each choose one person to award the ‘Parallel Award.’ But don’t worry, we won’t pick Jia, so the merchandise is safe!”
“For details on the prizes, please refer to the next slide.”
With that, we wrapped up the awards selection process and prize announcement right before this content kicked off.
It was time to introduce the participants!
We played the preliminaries video, and based on the results, it was the President’s and my turn to chat.
“Just so you know, the prelim madness was judged by the album producer who participated in creating our original songs and cover songs.
So let’s meet our first participant, A.”
To ensure anonymity, each participant uses a random uppercase letter as their nickname.
By the way, I was assigned the letter F.
It’s supposedly derived from ‘flare,’ similar to a signal flare or something like that.
Since I was one of the early names, my introduction would come up fairly soon.
As the President flipped the cue card and paused while reading F’s evaluation, she shot me a glance.
It meant, ‘Is that you?’
We were seeing the preliminaries video for the first time as well.
We delayed watching it to keep the judging fair, avoiding recognizing anyone prematurely.
“Uh… the next participant is F, and surprisingly, it seems their voice is very similar to a Vtuber we know.”
— ???
— Ehh?
— ?
“What Vtuber are we talking about? Let’s all watch the prelims video and judge for ourselves.”
Just a heads up, they didn’t sing trot.
That would tip off the whole thing, considering the recent slow train incident.
As the song started, the chat exploded with speed.
— ??
— Huh?
— Ehh?
— ????
— Momo?
* * *
Dohui realized instantly that F was Majia.
There was no one else who would pull such tricks.
While the video played, Dohui muted her mic and asked secretly, “You’re really impressive.”
What Majia submitted for the prelims was none other than Momo’s first original song.
And honestly, her impression was ridiculously good.
It was recorded in a well-set-up company broadcast room, not some shabby phone recording at karaoke, and it was nearly indistinguishable from the original.
— In fact, when the recording environment isn’t great, it’s often easier to mistake the original for a copy.
It was shockingly high quality for a mere prank.
Previously, it seemed nobody could tell if it was Momo or Majia.
“Remember when we quickly showcased D Rain?”
“That was rap, though! Rap is different from melodic songs.”
“Is it? Anyway, it was just imitating someone who sang well. After five years of practice, I’d expect you to get this good.”
“… Now I’m getting nervous about the finals.”
Dohui thought to herself when she heard the slow train’s song.
While she wasn’t sure about the lyrics, the voice was definitely distinctive enough that if she sang today, it would be immediately recognized.
Not a chance.
With this level of ability, nobody would figure it out.
Majia had participated, sure.
But Dohui hadn’t said anything about not participating herself.
Moreover, working with an impish character like Majia for five years, Dohui had unconsciously started to pick up some of her mischievous traits.
So she welcomed the hilarity of the situation wholeheartedly.
Soon, the prelims video came to an end.
Dohui cranked up the mic volume and said, “Ah! I really have no clue who that is, do you? Twinkling starlit sky~”
On top of that, she began to hum the part as if it were her own video.
Soon, the crafty Majia who just wanted to fool the viewers chimed in.
“That’s true! The President never said she wouldn’t wear a mask.”
— ???
— What’s going on?
— Is that Momo?
— Isn’t Majia just imitating her?
— Did Majia really sing that well…?
— No clue, I’m saying it’s Majia.
— F is Majia, F is Majia.
— Sounds like Momo, LOL.
— Ugh, who is it?
Some viewers insisted that F was Majia, but not long after, that chatter gradually faded.
Aside from the typical comedy bits, most of the upcoming participants performed songs, and there were quite a few who sang exceedingly well, leaving viewers wondering if they were being trolled for real.
Among them was one standout participant, L.
— Ugh, who is that?
— Hmm, LOL
— I know this voice…
Everyone was guessing it might be the immensely popular Utaite, Lee Yura, with 2.5 million followers.
Better at belting than Maru, she had unfortunately chosen a song that made her talent blatantly obvious.
Still, there was uncertainty all around.
Because of participant F.
:: Anonymous Sponsor donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Could this also be an imitation? ::
:: Anonymous Sponsor donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Thanks to F, I can’t be sure, ha ha. ::
Even F couldn’t clarify if they were Majia or Dohui now.
And L was in the same boat regarding whether she was really Lee Yura.
The confusion peaked with the last contestant, Z.
“Okay, let’s introduce our final participant, Z… They were evaluated to have a strong voice yet capable of delivering warm healing songs without any awkwardness, creating a wonderful feeling. Let’s give it a listen!”
As soon as the audience heard the voice, they threw their hooks in confusion.
— Huh?
— What’s this? It sounds familiar…
— Uh…?
— Hmm…
Majia, who was enjoying the audience’s bewilderment, felt her expression stiffen slightly at that moment.
“What’s wrong?”
“Does this voice sound familiar to you?”
Dohui couldn’t make heads or tails of it because she had been listening to so many applicants’ songs, selecting them.
“Hmm? Not really?”
But Majia had a different opinion.
Because of the song’s style, she was confused, but Majia was pretty sure she had heard a voice like this once before.
The video Z submitted for the preliminaries had been recorded in a coin karaoke booth.
While the audio quality was low, it provided that unique ‘flutter’ in the sound.
That was mentioned in the evaluation.
Even though the singing style was bold and brisk, it had this gentle, rounded quality to it.
‘Who could it be…?’
But that was as far as Majia could go. She could only harbor a question in her heart while wrapping up the introductions for all participants.
While Dohui and Majia chatted about the participants that had passed, a Bazizzik staff member entered the chat and scrambled the order of the participants randomly.
This was all for a complete blind evaluation from the viewers.
[Progress: The first participant is ready!]
And so, neither the viewers nor the hosts knew who would be up first as one of the participants stepped onto the stage.
From now, they would only have to focus on listening to the singing and evaluating.
“Okay, here comes the first participant! I wonder who it could be? Jia, can you introduce the song?”
“The song choice is Maru’s first single: ‘Finally.’ This song is…”
‘Finally’ is Maru’s first original song, known for its representative railroad crossing alarm sound in the introduction and is exceptionally challenging among the group’s original songs.
With deep lows followed by sudden soaring highs and a chorus packed with high notes, singers usually suffer terribly in the final chorus where they have to sing a half-step higher.
In other words, depending on the part of the song, the atmosphere changes completely, requiring considerable skill.
It’s expected to have plenty of mistakes when sung live…
[As steps depart, the clock’s hands slow, approaching the end of today….
As darkness settles upon my shoulders, even sound forsakes me….]
From the very start, it was smooth and clean.
Like sipping warmly warmed milk.
Before the chorus even began, you could tell this person was top notch.
Coincidentally, Majia had an outstanding ability to differentiate and analyze the qualities of voices.
It was often used for practicing impressions but also handy for uncovering the past lives of reincarnated Vtubers.
As she noticed the mic volume lower, Majia muttered to herself.
“This has to be the Z participant.”
“Oh yeah, it’s Z! But we know who this is, right? I’m not completely sure either, but after hearing it twice, the feel is coming back.”
“True, but…”
The issue wasn’t just that this was the Z participant; it was about the individual hiding behind the anonymous cover.
Choosing a song from her friend Maru, and being identified as someone whose voice should deliver healing songs, all together pointed to one conclusion.
“Z… it’s Serena.”