I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work - Chapter 57

Let’s turn back the clock a bit, just before the game started.

Right after inviting Majia, Maru was practically buzzing with excitement.

“Phew. Finally playing together…!”

After all this time, she had been eagerly waiting for the chance to play alongside the other members, constantly trying to find the right moment to invite them. But because of Maru’s gaming skills, the opportunity never seemed to come up.

Her favorite game, *64 Cubix*, involved mining, building, and automating with square blocks. Once you dive in, you’d have to commit at least two to three days just to get used to it. And most puzzle games were designed for solo players, making it tough to play together, too.

On top of that, with the anniversary concert overlapping, while the other members were eagerly snatching Jia for plays, Maru was left salivating on the sidelines.

The root cause was that Maru had been hoping for a natural way to meet. Being the most mature and busy member, she was the kind who wouldn’t want to bother anyone, which just led to more postponing.

But just then, news about Majia’s annual break came in.

She had two whole weeks off—back-to-back from last week and this one!

Team Leader Kang said she was sick, but by the night of the pre-fest, she would already be fully recovered. Now she was just on a break to catch up on her health, right?

So, as soon as a spot opened in the “I’m Wolf” group play, Maru dashed over to Majia.

She thought there was a chance she could get turned down, but…

“Oh, yes. I’ll go. When do we start?”

Majia’s cheerful acceptance made Maru jump for joy, though she had to force herself to keep her voice down.

Immediately, Maru informed Ronze, the host of today’s group play, about the news.

While waiting, she simulated countless scenarios in her head about how they would play together.

‘If she struggles, I’ll send her a personal message to help… If we both get caught as wolves, I’ll rambo ahead and save her…’

And she planned to drop the formalities when the moment was right.

I mean, come on, how long were they going to keep calling each other “Ms.” “Ms.”?

It was nearly a year since they first met.

Of course, the only times they interacted were when she set up equipment, during regular broadcast environment checks, or when there were overnight broadcast issues. But still, they were the same age. Wasn’t it possible to be a little friendlier with each other?

However, since Maru really liked natural interactions, she wanted to avoid forcibly launching into “Let’s speak informally from now on!”

If they were going to talk, she’d prefer to build a little connection first.

The best scenario, of course, would be for the two of them to team up as werewolves.

With twelve players, their organic connection would matter immensely. They could have strategy meetings, help each other out, and build a strong friendship.

But, alas, Maru’s dreams were dashed from the get-go.

“I watched the entire pre-fest broadcast of Parallel, by the way. I’m a fan of Jia!”

“Thanks to that, I was able to use your surprise strategy well in the tournament. Thanks to the victory I got, I avoided being eliminated this year!”

Majia was a mega-hit.

No matter how much Maru and Komari were the center of conversations before Majia came in, leading to natural chatter about the pre-fest, Maru had no idea she’d be this popular.

Even if she was a rare Pokémon, she wasn’t a broadcaster—everyone surely knew how to act around her, right? Apparently not, as they all seemed to be running around with monster balls in their hands.

Everyone seemed desperate to get their shot on YouTube.

Fortunately, thanks to Ronze telling Maru to thank her, she got into the vibe and threw in a quick gratitude.

“Ah-hem. You should thank her. If I hadn’t asked, Jia would have probably gone home today and sent a malevolent donation.”

She’d done her best to make sure Majia could say what she wanted among the people… but then…

“Guys—!! Jia has something she wants to say—!!”

After that, she didn’t get another chance to speak.

The moment people caught sight of Majia, they rushed at her like a horde of zombies.

“Is Majia a wolf? Is she a lycanthrope? Is she a vigilante? Is she Canadian?”

In that moment, Maru thought to herself:

“Wow, Jia is going to lose her mind.”

All the broadcasts she’d been a part of had only ever had about two people maximum in the group, but this time, there were a whopping eleven.

And those eleven were relentlessly hounding Majia.

While she might not have talked much, once the conversation got going, her words flowed like water. Unfortunately, it seemed like the responses were getting more simplistic by the moment.

With that, Maru couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt for bringing Majia into this situation. Simultaneously, she recalled her previous conversation with the president.

Even though she came off as prickly, she wasn’t like that on the inside, so she hoped they could understand her a little.

It’s not every day you find someone who runs off at odd hours to help resolve broadcast issues and speaks their mind without hesitation.

Having Majia in the group was great, but if things got rough for Jia, they needed to help her out.

So Maru hung around Majia, doing her best to protect her.

Even though people were still buzzing around Majia, the game had to happen, so she seized an opportunity to sneak away for mission clarity and finally created a moment for just the two of them…

“But I saw Kamic heading north before Ronze!”

“Huh? No, Maru. I didn’t see that—don’t just lie.”

“Not lying!! I was standing on the road! Jia saw it, too, right?”

…Um. I think I caught a glimpse of the conversation passing by…”

The return was silence, the special ability of the Silent One blocking her words.

Maru was dumbfounded watching Majia confusedly sink into Kamic.

“Ah. Ah! Can you guys hear me? Everyone! Ah! Whoa! No! Jia!!! Are you insane?!! Agh!! Voice thief!!!”

— Oh Maru, you’re so loud, lol.

— Can you hear that? lol Be quiet for a moment, people can’t hear each other, lol.

— Oh no, they can’t hear that rolling sound.

— Here comes the roll!

— My eardrums are gonna pop!

— Is this an industrial injury?

“No way. Wow. I feel betrayed. I was just trying to help! Is this how it’s going to be? No!!”

{{ Judgment Result: Kamic (Exiled) }}

In the end, Kamic was exiled.

{{ Kamic was not a werewolf. }}

Next up was naturally Maru’s turn.

Wasn’t she just defending Ronze, who was suspected of being a wolf?

But from Maru’s perspective, this was so unfair, and as soon as she got the chance to speak again, she was ready to yell…

“Um—.”

“Everyone scatter and survive! Let’s aim to make it past the trial somehow! We have the advantage as humans!!”

Koamri was faster to declare a human winning strategy after assessing their numbers.

With seven players left and the werewolf k*ll cooldown being 30 seconds, they had longer than the 20 seconds needed to resume the trial. This meant the werewolf could k*ll a maximum of two humans before the trial resumed.

In the end, since there were more humans than werewolves, the game didn’t end, allowing the trial to continue.

Plus, since it was already clear who the werewolf was, victory was practically guaranteed for them.

“Wait, hold on! I have something to say!!”

In the end, Maru found herself left alone in the trial chamber with Majia.

— What are you doing? Run!

— Domehwancha!!

— Get a grip!

But running away was something only those skilled did.

Among the second-generation members, only Komari was confident in her physical capabilities.

Throughout her escape, Maru bumped into walls everywhere she went.

Meanwhile, chasing from behind, Majia slipped through obstacles like a snake and caught up with her in no time.

Before long, Maru found herself cornered alone in an empty restroom, back against the wall.

“Jia! Please! Um? You borrowed my voice earlier. So, please save me…! Just this once, let me go!”

Soon, a shadow fell over Majia’s face in the lower right corner of Maru’s screen.

That was a special ability tied to Majia’s character.

— Huh

— Yikes

— That totally means she’s going to k*ll you

— She’s going to repay your invite with d*ath

— Totally dismantled!

Majia’s character drew closer.

If she got just a bit closer, with a single click, Maru would lose her life.

This was the situation she had been hoping to create between the two of them.

One side was hunting and the other was the prey—how unfair!

“Ahhh! Agh! No! Stop! Don’t do it!”

Luckily, Majia showed mercy.

“I’ll spare you if you promise to stand by my side later.”

“… Uh, what?”

— Oh

— Is she really letting her go?

— What’s with this Parallel privilege?

What could she be up to?

Maru tried to think, but couldn’t quite figure out Majia’s intentions.

There was no time.

“5, 4, 3….”

“I-I’ll join your side! Just let me live!”

“You know? That was the deal, right? If you betray me, I’ll know.”

“Got it, got it…!”

As soon as Maru agreed, Majia bolted away.

Left standing confused at the edge of the building, Maru was lost for words.

“She’s saving me…? What’s going to happen if I tell them I’m the wolf?”

— Great point, lol.

— Does she just have confidence?

— Anyhow, glad I survived!

“Oh. Is it that if I d*e, it reveals I wasn’t the wolf…?”

— Of course you’ll just go and yell it!

— Seriously, lol.

— This might be a mistake.

— Didn’t the Silent One have one power left?

— Oh, could be, lol.

— Come on, lol. This is already the sixth trial, there’s no way she hasn’t used it twice, lol.

Though there were some doubts, as the viewers said, it was the late game.

With a victory half-sealed, Maru flashed a confident smile.

“Okay. Jia, I’ll make sure to win no matter what.”

Above all, even if it were an internal war in Parallel, that was one thing;

In a group play, abusing the system could stir unnecessary disputes, so Maru had no intention of siding with Jia at all.

In the meantime, the 20 seconds passed.

{{ Let’s start the trial!! }}

With the blaring buzzer, the trial was immediately summoned.

Just as expected, two werewolves were dead, leaving five survivors total.

Koamri quickly cast her vote.

“Ronze first, then Maru next—this will end it!”

The voting speed was unbelievably quick.

The human faction had already calculated their numbers.

With continuous voting, even if one person died between trials, humans would remain the majority.

Even if the werewolves writhed, this was a tough uphill struggle.

Only one, Majia, was not voting, quietly observing.

Koamri confidently chimed to the hesitating Majia.

“Hey, what are you doing? With three humans alive, the werewolves cannot win—”

“Wait. I need to think.”

“No need to think! We won! Maru is the wolf!”

Others, following Koamri’s lead, agreed, shouting to hurry and vote. This game was a human’s victory!

Throughout the play, her deduction powers had been so accurate, she was already recognized as the brain among today’s members.

But Majia stayed silent.

Tick tock, time passed.

And in the moment everyone awaited Jia’s choice, that was Maru’s last chance to plead.

“Wait!! I have something to say!!”

“Ah, so you want to plead your case? Go ahead, let’s hear it.”

“Jia! You’re the Silent One! What I said in the last trial wasn’t me!”

Koamri asked incredulously.

“You mean Jia is the Silent One? You’re not just defending Ronze without understanding the situation, right?”

— That’s just overly rude, lol.

— Seriously harsh on Maru, lol.

— Even if she looks silly, she’s smarter than that dragon and American auntie!

— Oh snap.

— You’re—

The chat room full of Maru’s supporters was bursting into laughter.

“Jia is great at impressions! She totally copied me! Everyone, don’t fall for it. Anyone who’s seen *Find the Rain* should know!”

Meanwhile, the joining members who heard Maru’s follow-up couldn’t help but stir.

To them, it was clear that Maru was the one defending Ronze in the previous trial.

“Wait, can you really imitate without modulation so well?”

“Exactly.”

Even though Jia and Maru had chatted smoothly together, to discover that it was one person doing two roles was unbelievable.

Of course, if Majia were a famous broadcaster, perhaps… but for now, she was more of a competent office worker image.

And just when the moment everyone seemed to be waiting for, the previously quiet Majia spoke innocently.

“What’s the ‘Silent One’?”

She was declaring herself a newbie who didn’t know how the game worked.

That lightning bolt struck Maru’s brain.

And the viewers watching Maru’s stream were equally baffled.

— ?

— Timing, lol.

— Uh… what?

Everyone knows that telling someone not to do something can sometimes make them do it more.

Why would anyone want to chat “by all means, don’t do that” as if they were giving a suggestion?

‘Could it be that she predicted this would happen…?’

It seemed like an unnecessary outburst, as killing Maru, who was suspected of being a wolf, would create trouble more than anything, so they thought she was just going to leave.

If Maru revealed the truth, and that’s what she anticipated, it was quite chilling.

However, Majia was lying.

Desperate to draw out her mistake, Maru shouted again.

“Jia! It’s ridiculous! Are you pretending not to know? You just said it was your first time playing, but you sort of know the roles?”

“When did I say that? I genuinely don’t know what I’m asking about. I’ve just been running and fleeing the whole time!”

Smart individuals tend to have a bias towards trusting their own eyewitness accounts as irrefutable evidence.

What mattered to Koamri, holding the gavel in the trial, was only the fact that “today, Majia has been running away from us.”

Of course, not only Koamri had witnessed that situation.

“True. She kept being chased by us all day.”

“Jia had people around her the entire time. It was hard for her to k*ll anyone.”

“But people were still dying, so… Jia can’t be the one, right?”

Yet, one thing was clear—Majia wasn’t a newbie.

Everyone watching Maru’s broadcast knew that.

…Which was the problem.

“No way! There wasn’t a moment of free time! I’m telling you, she was coming to k*ll me!!”

— I was stepping into the m*rder steps!

— Seriously? Are we the only ones who know? lol.

— Is this a city of blind people? lol.

Koamri scoffed.

“Uh-huh… You’re totally caught. You can’t run away now, huh? Trying to pin it on Jia because you have nowhere else to go?”

“No, I’m not lying! Jia is truly the wolf and the Silent One…!!”

“Well, you better start making sense, sis. Back during *Find the Rain*, there was AI modulation. Are you saying Jia anticipated getting caught as the Silent One and had all that prepared? Doesn’t make sense!”

“No, no, hold on. Wait. Mari, just chill and listen to me, okay? Earlier, what I said… or rather, it wasn’t even me. It was my voice when Kamic got pinned, and Jia chimed in too. Remember?”

No matter how hard she tried to argue, this time Majia just tangled Maru’s legs up.

“I totally believed Maru! Since I don’t really know the game and she’s from our company, there’s just something about trust.”

How brazen can she get?

Even in the heat of a lying moment, there wasn’t a hint of emotional turmoil.

“Or could it be that you, Koamri, are the werewolf? I genuinely don’t know whose words to trust.”

“Of course not. That’s absolutely not true! Now, let’s think about this calmly from the top?”

In a situation where Maru knew everything, she felt immensely frustrated.

The only power she had left in these circumstances was her persuasive voice.

As if decided not to win by logic, Maru took a deep breath.

“Jia is the Silent One! You can’t fall for it!! We HAVE to vote for Jia next turn—!!”

Of course, Maru’s voice didn’t reach the people.

{{ Muted }}

Majia, in the meantime, had used the Silent One’s ability to block Maru’s mouth.

“Ugh! Again?!”

— Hahahahahahahhahaha

— Hahaha!

— No way, she’s really something else, lol.

— LOL.

— Wow, pretend to be a newbie and you’re just a master of timing! This is crazy funny, lol.

And Maru’s unshared feelings were yet again distorted at will by Jia.

“Wow. The moment I heard Jia talk, it hit me. Koamri, you’re the wolf. You dropped Ronze and then pretended not to be a wolf. Right?”

“Way to announce you’re the werewolf yourself.”

“Funny. It’s you!!”

“Yup. Jia’s trying to pin that on me because she failed to frame me! I see through it!”

“Wait, wait! What! What do you mean? Then let’s vote in the trial!”

“Yep. You can vote. What are you doing, Jia? Hurry up and vote! Next, let’s toss Maru out.”

“Jia! Don’t fall for it. You can’t be deceived!”

Finally, Majia, who’d been dragging her feet, finished her vote.

Maru could only watch with a blank expression.

“Is Jia really going crazy…?”

— Why’s she playing a completely different game? lol.

— Hahahah!

— This is an absolute classic, lol.

— ??? : Isn’t the ‘I’m Wolf’ about catching the Silent One and fooling everyone else to win?