I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work - Chapter 71
Choi Young-ro, who had never used a fixed nickname in the gallery, was the type of person who couldn’t settle in one place for too long.
He would roam around watching streams, mostly those that were fun.
He had never been a fan of anyone or cheered for anyone.
VTuber?
Oh, is that a thing? Wow, it’s moving, kind of looks like a game character, how intriguing!
He figured they just used characters instead of cameras.
ㄴ Buzz493: So dedicated, lol, I might check it out tomorrow.
So, he left this comment out of sheer curiosity.
Majia? Who is that?
What kind of person has gained so much mention in the gallery?
But it turned out there was no personal channel.
They used an official channel and the broadcast title just had to be Command Room.
Having worked in a situation room, Young-ro felt a strange military PTSD and decided to figure out what this person was all about.
Being a VTuber, that was easy enough to tell by the moving wooden plank, but why does every VTuber seem to have a backstory— take Momo for example, her backstory is that she’s a constellation that lives on a distant star and came to Earth out of curiosity.
First off, the appearance.
Quite modern, indeed.
However, it was mismatched with a youthful face donning a businesswoman’s two-piece suit, creating quite the imbalance.
[Thanks for the ten thousand clouds! I’ll eat some Wickerbread and power through my labor again!]
[Thanks for the hundred thousand clouds! Thanks to you, I got an enchantment for increased sunlight! Thanks for contributing to Parallel’s funding!]
[Thanks for fifty thousand clouds! Appreciate the buff for increased mining efficiency. This will really help me out!]
But the dry, business-like tone neutralized the visual dissonance effectively.
The slight dark circles under the character’s lower eyelids added to that notion.
Her sleepy-looking, slightly droopy eyes also gave her some extra points in that respect.
After about five minutes of watching, he could smell the burnout of a worker.
However, it wasn’t just a dull vibe that contrasted with the cute character.
[d*e. d*e.]
[Headshot. Skull.]
[Oh. Diamonds.]
[My inventory’s full. Time to go up.]
[Yawn…]
The habitual murmurs she let out were oddly pleasant to hear.
Unlike the deliberately stiff, business-like tone, the relaxed voice seemed to calm those who listened.
No matter how charming a character is, being flat makes it hard to captivate an audience, but this duality began to reveal itself, giving Young-ro a reason to keep watching the stream.
However, to call it a fun broadcast…
— How long are we going to mine minerals, yyyyoo?
— Jia, my eyes are getting heavy…
— Boss, I’m going to sleep first.
— See you in the morning…
— Uugh, the working drones need to sleep nowㅠㅠ
— Poor workers, lol, I can just watch from home as an unemployed person, lololol!
— We’re just watching someone mine anyway, right? lolol
— True?
Except for when the sponsor money came in, the communication between the host and viewers wasn’t particularly free.
When the host was silent and focused on mining, the viewers chatted amongst themselves.
It was the classic loose stream atmosphere where the streamer was off doing their own thing. The many people chatting made it hard to notice that dynamic, though.
He watched for about ten minutes, and even considering the late hour of 2 AM, it was far too calm.
A quiet broadcast may have its charm, but when it got quiet, the sounds of mining echoed like white noise, clack clack clack, bang bang bang.
Was he watching a streamer or just observing as if running an AI?
[(🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 1] 👪3,052
#64Cubics #Parallel
Due to a temporary gallery buzz boost, the viewer count that had stabilized around 4,000 quickly dropped to about 3,000.
When Momo went to sleep, about 3,000 people flooded in temporarily, but most of them fled or ran off towards Maru because of relentless breeding.
“… I guess I’ll have to watch for another 30 minutes.”
Still, Young-ro was chilled out and felt flexible enough to give it a shot, hoping to see another chaotic streamer brawl like before.
He headed to the fridge to heat up some leftover chicken.
Meanwhile, the chat on the stream became lively.
Thanks to one message sent as a notice by Wicker, it kicked off the chaos.
– [Server] There’s a user who is about halfway to achieving the first hidden achievement, so here’s a hint for said achievement.
– [Server] Zombie play, battle.
Others might not get it, but those who had been watching Majia’s stream definitely did.
— No wayyyyy, lol!
— Has the first hidden achievement on the server appeared?
A little later, Young-ro returned with his warmed-up chicken and was baffled by the explosion of chat messages.
“What’s going on? Did something happen?”
Since streamer Majia didn’t react at all, the only way to figure it out was to scroll through the mountain of chat.
— This has to be Majia!
— If it’s zombies and battles, it’s definitely Majia, lol!
— True lol!
— Makes sense since they fought while being practically corpses!
— Can’t someone count the number of monsters caught? Doesn’t it unlock around 500?
— Have they killed 250 already?
— Yeah, they’ve been down below since the server opened, so that’s likely.
— Monster slayers are undead, you know.
And simultaneously, he checked the server chat.
– [All] Movgun: Hey, who is it?
– [All] Ronze: It’s me, bro!
– [All] Movgun: No way.
– [All] Kamic: It’s me.
– [All] Rubko: It’s me!
– [All] Movgun: You guys, I was just trying to share the dungeon I found.
– [All] Maru: That’s why the sharp-eyed Movgun is here.
– [All] Movgun: No way, no way, lol!
Young-ro quickly figured out what was up.
There was someone close to achieving a hidden achievement.
The involved party had let it slip subtly, while other users congratulated them and the hint allowed everyone connected to hidden jobs to engage beforehand.
However, no one else had a clue, while Majia’s chat was in a frenzy.
It wasn’t long, but since Young-ro had watched the stream, he knew how bizarre Majia’s work style was.
Mining while being in a state akin to a wimp, consuming zombie meat and skeleton water?
That was madness to the core, not even seasoned players would do something like that.
So aside from Majia, no one else likely came close to unlocking this hidden achievement.
“Those who got tired and left must be feeling sorry now.”
They had just opened the server today, and the hidden job was already within reach.
This was no easy feat.
Just like looking around the map as Mr. Kim Jong-ho, drawing the grand map while going, ‘wait, this is artificial?’ in a certain area.
The hidden job could only be obtained through hidden achievements that couldn’t even be conditionally figured out.
Unlike first-class jobs that procure materials directly from the field and second-class jobs that create new items based on those materials, they had a definite impact on the server’s economy and power ranking.
For example, let’s say there’s a hidden job called ‘Hero’ that has a special ability to deal powerful damage through a special move.
Then, a user who becomes the hero will be highly sought after as a party member to tackle dungeons.
Because the server system is designed so that the items available in each job’s realm and special areas like dungeons don’t overlap, alchemists and blacksmiths could suggest sharing rewards by providing potions or gear.
With all these situations in his mind, Young-ro felt his anticipation rise.
“The situation just got interesting.”
Despite Majia hardly caring about such notices, saying it wasn’t about her story as she just busy herself mining.
— No cuckooing, please!
— For real.
— Stop cuckooing; I warned you, and my find is all destroyed.
— This will blow up when it’s revealed tomorrow, lol!
The viewers were already in a pre-party frenzy.
Tomorrow, everyone would find out about Majia’s amazing achievement, and they were already more excited than Majia herself.
“Hmm, I should leave it on the side.”
So, people like Young-ro who were considering leaving started splitting their screens to display Majia’s Command Room.
Even if they weren’t watching live, they were just checking on the current situation on a small screen.
Even if she warned not to cuckoo, before long, the viewers starting to trickle back after the countdown began.
Four hours later.
[When the server closes at six, the Command Room will shut down too. The Command Room will reopen whenever the server is back, so look forward to the activities of tomorrow’s boss and Maru, today’s late joiner Dora, and soon-to-join Rain and Komari. Thanks for today.]
— Good work!
— Jajaba~
— Jaba~
— I thought the hidden job might come today.
— But with the speed, it seems likely for tomorrow.
— Ha, still, today was a happy living, lol.
— How did we make 150,000 already?
— Must be because we get it all without losses?
— You could probably invite another member tomorrow—good.
[(🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 1] 👪3,652
The viewer count before the stream ended was 3,652.
The trend was not linear, but certainly, the number of people watching for Majia was increasing.
* * *
The news reached Dohui’s ears when she reported for duty the next day.
Team Leader Oh Seok-jae of the promotion team was buzzing as if he had caught a good fish.
“I thought about it yesterday. What if we make it a straight-up Command Room broadcast?”
“Making it a Command Room means… are we just displaying members’ screens?”
“No, no. Some people come to watch Jia’s streaming, so that won’t work. We could adjust the frames; maybe the boss and other members’ streams could be arranged to show vertically and horizontally, like they do with shorts, so they’re placed on either side of the main screen.”
“Hmm.”
“We can line up four screens this way on each side, and the most entertaining situation can be displayed larger at the top. We could put Jia’s screen below it. I think it won’t matter much even if she ends up small since she is just mining away from yesterday.
We can get someone interesting to watch Jaia’s screen, that seems feasible. You’re an expert in that kind of thing, after all.
Having six screens to see at once seems like a good idea to increase the influx toward members, while still keeping true to the Command Room’s concept.”
Dohui nodded in agreement with Team Leader Oh’s plan.
Actually, Majia had been doing those kinds of split screens for over three years! So, all they needed to do was suggest a direction, and she’d be able to figure out the screen layout in a configuration that felt most comfy, right?
‘Since the viewer count was around 3,500 at the end of yesterday’s broadcast….’
Besides those who came to watch Majia, it accounted for about 700 additional viewers whom they’d held until six in the morning.
Considering she’d likely live underground for a while to gather funds, it seemed like a good idea to follow Team Leader Oh’s advice on splitting the official channel’s screen for now.
This would surely bring some of the currents waiting for Majia’s stream over to the members.
Many were still watching Majia’s stream out of sheer ‘curiosity’ rather than for initial enjoyment.
At 5 PM.
They were about to inform Majia about the Command Room operation when she arrived two hours late.
“Boss, I have something I want to do.”
Upon hearing Majia say exactly what Team Leader Oh had suggested, Dohui chuckled before asking her,
“Quite the realization you’ve had there.”
“I was wondering if the viewers were steadily dropping, and then suddenly spiked back up. I figured it’d be good to showcase the members’ screens as part of the promotion.”
“… Weren’t you too busy mining for ores?”
“I was watching the chat and Maru’s screen all at once, you know. I couldn’t concentrate as much as usual, but I caught most of it.”
Dohui was left speechless.
“Alright, if we turn on the Command Room today, let’s do it that way. So, it looks like we’ll have three people—me, Maru, and Dora.”
“Nope, Rain is joining too!”
“Rain?”
“Yep, I earned 150,000 WK yesterday. I can invite today if I want. I also told Rain to prep.”
“That money’s coming in fast. How much mining are you doing…?”
“I guess I’m the expert in simple labor.”
“Got it, Rain will adjust the schedule. If you have any questions about promotions, just check with Team Leader Oh when he’s available.”
“I was already on my way to ask him.”
How very Majia-esque.
There wasn’t a nook or cranny in the office she didn’t poke around.
“Alright. Get ready for the broadcast. Thanks for your hard work today.”
“Yep!”
* * *
At 8 PM.
Young-ro, who had arrived at the Command Room two hours late, couldn’t help but chuckle at the layout on the screen.
“It’s really a Command Room…”
It wasn’t just him; everyone coming in had the same reaction.
— What is this…
— lololololol
— Insane multi-view, lolol!
— Does this mean if all members join in, it’ll split into six screens?
— Even with the four now, it’s chaotic, lolol!
Yesterday, Majia’s screen was placed small on one side.
Today, her screen was split into multiple pieces, requiring him to either watch on a big screen or dedicate the entire second monitor.
If there were separate viewers, they’d likely step back at this point.
Did he really need to invest this much into watching Majia’s stream?
But for those like Young-ro stuck from yesterday due to the hidden achievement, they stood at a crossroads.
Do they watch this Command Room broadcast?
Or seek out somewhere else?
‘… But I’m really curious about this hidden job.’
But he needed to stay to write a post on the gallery as quickly as possible.
The speed difference could determine whether he was joining the gallery or not.
Ultimately, the idea collector Young-ro chose to be part of Majia’s Command Room.
After all, when else would he have the chance to see it if not today?
Moreover, Majia placed a part of the screen’s sound to match his size in the center above.
Since she planned to just mine, it was almost like saying, “If you’re bored, at least watch this.”
[Stop it. Please. Everyone, aaah! I’m scared. Zombies are scary. Whee…]
Hearing Dora chased by zombies while crying, Majia remarked,
[Is the 64Q zombie that scary? Dora is doing a one-person horror game…]
— No way, lol!
— Not at all, lol!
— It’s just supremely annoying, lol! I hate hearing those ghastly sounds!
— Honestly, it’s just a hassle, not scary.
:: An anonymous benefactor has donated 10,000 clouds! ::
:: But sometimes they randomly pop up, and it’s a real jump scare! ::
[Thanks for 10,000 clouds. It does seem like those who hate jump scares would feel that way.]
— The assistant probably wouldn’t be surprised.
— If I have a weapon in hand, it can’t be scary, lol!
— Honestly, I’m scared…
Young-ro felt a stark difference from yesterday’s broadcast.
“… She is talking a lot more today, isn’t she?”
Yesterday, she barely muttered anything while facing the diamond monster.
But today, her chatter frequency sharply increased, more than double that of yesterday.
For Young-ro, it was an unfamiliar phenomenon.
But the current streaming environment was quite similar to when Majia did her review streams.
Back then, she held a script to guide her through, now she was just mindlessly mining caves and defeating monsters— that was the only difference.
When watching with someone else while other members were streaming, Majia spoke a lot more.
Thanks to that, as whispers about hidden-related news spread, people started showing up.
They got captivated by the bizarre screen layout and began participating in the laughter surrounding Majia’s endless chatter about the members and the stream curation.
[(🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 2] 👪4,001
#64Cubics #Parallel
By 9 PM, the viewer count for Majia’s broadcast broke 4,000 during the peak time for internet streaming.
Simultaneously, the long-awaited announcement reverberated across the entire server.
– [System] *Hidden Achievement Completed* Defeat 500 monsters while at 25% health or lower.
– [Server] Majia has achieved the hidden achievement first!
— It’s hereeeeeee!
— What?
— Insane, lol!
— Did it finally happen? The hidden job?
— Wow, the server’s first, lolol!
— Majia! Majia! Majia! Majia!
Not to mention, it was day two in Wicker Town.
The buzz from the massive battles and various tidbits from yesterday already had captured the communities, raising interest level significantly.
The arrival of hidden jobs could be a massive plot twist that shifts the very course of the server.
People like Young-ro wouldn’t let such an opportunity slip away.
News spread through the related communities at lightning speed.
👪5,722
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👪8,451
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👪12,301
The Command Room started to get crowded.
[(🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 2] 👪18,823