NOVPUBWhen Magia arrived, the planning team partition looked like a war zone.
Ra Seunghyun was flipping through reports like a madman, arguing with a staff member, and scanning the monitor for issues with the new concert costume designs—all at once.
Magia couldn’t just drag someone that busy away, so she hovered by the partition, trying to gauge the mood.
About three minutes later, Ra Seunghyun finally noticed her, and without a word, he immediately jogged off toward the CEO’s office.
This wasn’t the first time, so he’d already learned to interpret that as a sign that a meeting was coming and moved on reflex.
Naturally, the meeting that followed moved at breakneck speed.
Just like always, Magia pitched a rough idea.
Ra and the planning team developed it further and locked in the concept.
Then Cheon Do-hee signed off on it, sealing the deal.
They were so in sync that the whole thing took less than an hour.
The funny thing was—even though this meant more work on top of their already overloaded plates—
Ra Seunghyun ruffled Magia’s hair and praised her as soon as the meeting wrapped up.
“You saved our asses.”
“But I gave you more work?”
“Better to take on more now than realize too late that we missed something.
Honestly, if you hadn’t brought it up, we probably would’ve just left it to the girls and glossed over the whole ‘end-of-summer’ thing since concert prep is top priority.”
“Well, I’m glad to help then.”
The planning team’s chaos was entirely because of the upcoming November offline concert.
Since it was Parallel’s first time doing something like this, everything had to be prepared carefully, without mistakes.
They were benchmarking major corporations, consulting with professionals,
and because VTubers came with their own set of challenges,
they also had to coordinate with CAT’s stage production staff to confirm whether their planned performances were even technically feasible.
Ra Seunghyun had to handle all those external liaisons himself,
which meant lots of meetings, frequent business trips, and delays due to bottlenecks—even when the internal work was finished.
Of course, that didn’t mean the regular staff had nothing to do.
There was the design of the merch to be handed out at the concert, the glow sticks for sale,
and the costumes that would be showcased.
Even though it was technically a 1st-gen concert, the 2nd-gen members were also participating.
So it wasn’t like only the 1st-gen needed concert outfits—
the 2nd-gen needed 2D costumes as well.
And there was FanC too.
No face reveals, sure—but silhouettes would appear,
so they had to keep working closely with CAT on how to stage those segments.
Iyura’s spot was still being filled, and since this would be like her successor’s debut concert,
CAT’s subculture label—the one handling the music for Parallel’s 1st-gen and their utaite, including Magia—was paying close attention.
Basically, when CAT requested A, Parallel had to deliver A+.
Then CAT would come back asking for S-tier. And the cycle repeated.
“Anyway, I’ll make the content plan as detailed as I can,
but it’s probably gonna be sloppier than usual.
So during the actual stream, you’ll have to carry it a bit.”
Magia shook her head.
“I’m just the host. I’m there to push the others to shine.”
“You do know that how you push them can make the difference between a funny moment and cringe overload, right?”
“Yeah... fair point.”
“More importantly—are you okay?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Don’t you have that duet with Iyura next month?
I heard your vocal training schedule’s been pretty tight. Can you handle all this?”
“I’m only doing two hours a day. It’s not that bad.”
“You should count the two hours it takes to get back and forth to CAT HQ in Gangbuk.
And it’s your first time seriously singing, right?
Shouldn’t you be doing some personal training too?”
“I watch streams during the commute, and I can train while I work.”
“Uh... that counts as rest, right? Not more work?”
“Honestly, the line’s a little blurry...”
Magia glanced toward Do-hee, gauging her reaction.
She’d been trying to show that she was managing her workload, resting properly, and keeping her condition up.
But Ra’s comment had unintentionally drawn Do-hee’s attention to the issue.
“...It’s a bit vague, but since Seunghyun evaluates from a listener’s perspective while we work,
I’d say I’m focused on training outside of official duties.”
“Well, if you say so.
Anyway, make sure you’re ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) ready for the recording.
Apparently the CEO of Allmight Production is doing daily rituals for your success along with FanC’s.”
Allmight Production was CAT’s subculture label in charge of the 1st-gen’s music—
and also Magia’s upcoming projects as an utaite.
They’d said the pressure had eased a bit now that Parallel was doing a decent job filling Iyura’s gap.
But the label still seemed anxious enough about the future that they weren’t sleeping well.
Magia smiled and nodded.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“I don’t really like singing, but if I treat it like work, it’s surprisingly manageable.”
Ra Seunghyun made a thoughtful noise.
“Come to think of it... you’ve been volunteering ideas way more lately.”
“I used to hate streaming.
But since I realized it actually helps the company, I like it a little more now.
Still, if a mountain spirit showed up and asked me, ‘Watch streams or do streams?’—I’d choose watching. No hesitation.”
“Well hey, at least you’re starting to enjoy it.
Maybe it’ll be the same for singing?”
“We’ll see.”
Magia’s preferences had always been simple.
She liked whatever helped the company.
If something helped Cheon Do-hee and Parallel climb higher, then it was worth doing.
So maybe it wasn’t impossible for singing—which she found annoying and tedious—to become something she liked.
After all, even if she said she hated it, she’d been faithfully sticking to everything CAT asked of her.
The most important part was throat care.
They said that more than any specific exercise, what mattered was getting enough sleep.
So she did.
At least six hours a night—more if she could.
Some days, if her schedule allowed, she’d sleep all day,
stream playing quietly in the background like a radio until she nodded off.
You might wonder how she managed that kind of deep sleep with her workload—
but recently, it had become possible thanks to the addition of a new junior staff member.
Magia had only participated in the final selection.
But once again, they’d found a decent candidate somewhere.
Not quite on Park Seung-yeon’s level—someone experienced who hit the ground running—
but passionate enough. For now, they were handling stream monitoring and managing communication with chat moderators.
Seung-yeon had already reached her ninth month at Parallel and was becoming reliably independent.
With Kang Ji-ho stepping in here and there as needed,
the monitoring work was in good hands.
Magia was now compiling reports for Do-hee and submitting them regularly—
actually functioning as a proper stream team lead at last.
On top of that, she’d been keeping up with CAT’s other health requests.
Humidity? Handled with humidifiers in both the office and her home, on a subscription service since she couldn’t manage it herself.
Dusty days? Always wearing a mask. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
She even considered buying a plague doctor edition but decided a regular dust mask would suffice.
There were plenty of demands,
but she compromised by following the basics and visiting the doctor frequently.
Apparently, CAT had seen this sort of thing before—
because they introduced her to a throat specialist who was basically a veteran.
Now she was a regular.
And maybe because of that, her overall health had gotten way better than a few years ago.
Even Magia herself found it hard to believe how lively her body felt these days.
***
Magia wasn’t the only one whose health had improved.
One particular maniac—who had met her in person and considered himself a "tier 0" Slug Squad member—had also experienced a dramatic boost in his mental wellbeing (supposedly).
[Chaser: Pino]
[Chaser: What’s up with your work speed lately??]
[Chaser: If I’d known you’d be this good, I would’ve sent you more assignments]
[Me: You’re seriously the worst kind of trash, huh?]
[Chaser: Hehe ^^ Just part of the job, y’know]
[Chaser: Just don’t make me go chasing you again]
[Me: I swear I’ll call the cops if you show up 😭😭😭😭😭]
[Chaser: lol Looking forward to working with you again on this one]
Just reading Pino’s messages with the MiMAX outsourcing rep was enough to see how packed his week had been.
He worked at nearly 1.5x his usual pace while simultaneously spamming relentless revision requests to his friend who was working on Magia’s 3D model.
The moment he got the approval email from Do-hee to begin rigging Magia’s model,
he jumped into it immediately—wrapping up around one-fifth of the entire project in under 24 hours.
And he did all that while juggling his regular assignments.
Before this, on days when Magia wasn’t streaming, Pino would stew like a ghost of the forums, roasting in the hellfires of boredom.
But lately? Even without a stream, he was chill.
He spent his time productively, eagerly waiting for the next broadcast.
And if that wasn’t enough—
[MGA Corp ▲12.44%]
[Total Gains: +31.9% / +₩319,000]
His investments had been killing it lately.
After losing money left and right,
he had kept dumping 50,000 won a week into related stocks—thinking of it as “supporting Magia” more than actual investing.
And now, "Magia Industries," "Gia Distribution," "MGA Corp"—all his Magia-themed stocks were giving him returns in the 20% range.
... ─ — Parallel (VTuber) Gallery ─ ─ — ...
[The Magia Investment Strategy Is Real]
[Posted by: Parallel444]
(Attached: investment_report.jpg)
Not accepting counterarguments lol
Call me Investment God from now on.
[Comments]
— Parallel091: Sir, please get back to work
— Parallel125: Wait... is this Pino?
ㄴ Parallel961: Yup, lol
ㄴ Parallel125: LMAOO this psycho is investing again after losing that much?
— Parallel101: Bro’s got the heart of a beast 😂
— Parallel334: Is the mad one the director or Pino?
ㄴ Parallel669: Both
ㄴ Parallel334: Fair
... ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ...
Fueled by this overwhelming positive energy,
Pino didn’t stop at just rigging Magia’s model.
After finishing his own work, he started harassing his fellow creators, cracking the whip to make “more Magia, better Magia.”
[Me: Sir]
[Me: Knock knock~]
[Me: Is it done yet?]
[Me: Where’s that guy who screamed at me for being slow, huh?]
[Kongblank: You f***ing—]
[Kongblank: I’m working on it, stop nagging]
[Me: Really?]
[Me: Didn’t you say you had other stuff this week?]
[Kongblank: Yeah, but—]
[Kongblank: All my mutuals have been demanding a swimsuit for Magia ever since I made her 3D model, so I’m doing that first]
[Me: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]
[Kongblank: You laughing?]
[Kongblank: Ugh]
[Kongblank: I was supposed to take other freelance jobs but now I’m stuck here]
Pino cackled as he typed faster.
[Me: Hey]
[Me: You’re making a swimsuit, right?]
[Me: I guarantee jobs are gonna start flooding in]
[Kongblank: Just because I make one doesn’t mean she’ll actually use it]
[Kongblank: Why are you so confident?]
[Kongblank: Doesn’t she never do what viewers ask?]
[Me: Nah]
[Me: She’s 100% gonna use it]
Magia acts to help Parallel grow.
Pino acts so that Magia can keep streaming.
In short, Pino enjoys supporting Magia so she can keep producing content that uplifts Parallel.
That’s why he occasionally appeared on her streams, throwing out highlight-making donations like Kill Passes.
Why he poured effort into all this behind-the-scenes work.
And all of it stemmed from one unwavering belief:
If Magia’s in the stream, it cannot be boring.
That’s why all Pino had to do was toss her an idea.
If it even seemed like it could be fun, Magia would turn it into magic.
And seriously—what could be more exciting than that?
[Me: Because you are the one who’ll make it happen]
[Me: A swimsuit so good, anyone who sees the thumbnail has to click]
[Kongblank: ...]
[Kongblank: Fine, but tell her to stream more]
[Kongblank: It’s hard being a fan like this]
Suddenly triggered from an unexpected angle, Pino’s fingers smashed across the keyboard like a madman.
[Me: Wow, spoiled much?]
[Me: Back in my day, one stream a week had us praying and feasting in gratitude, ffs]
[Me: Now you just follow the girls and Magia pops up several times a week]
[Me: You’ve got it too good]
[Me: Do you even know the pain of Jjarit Hill??]
[Me: You dare speak of Magia when you don’t even know the M in her name]
[Kongblank: Hey hey hey]
[Kongblank: Chill, please]
[Me: If that swimsuit isn’t done by tomorrow, I’m leaking that cursed fanart from four years ago onto TalkCord, gl]
[Kongblank: YOU PSYCHO MF—]
