I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 112

When a company posts a job listing, it's rare to specify an exact number of hires.

There are too many variables in recruitment.

Sometimes, an unexpectedly high number of great candidates appear, while other times, the opposite happens.

Naturally, when Parallel announced the second-gen auditions, they never explicitly stated they were hiring four people.

So technically, selecting just two and debuting them wouldn't be an issue.

...That is, if we were a normal company.

Parallel couldn't just say, "We've picked two. Our job here is done," and leave it at that.

First of all, the rumors would be a nightmare.

There are four first-gen members.

People automatically assume second-gen will have four as well.

If the numbers don’t match, fans start speculating and spinning all kinds of theories.

If there are fewer than expected, people start whispering, "Someone must have screwed up big time."

If there are more, the talk shifts to, "Who got in through connections?"

These rumors, constantly reproduced due to information asymmetry, would exhaust both the company and the talents.

And there was one even bigger problem.

Parallel was a company in the middle of rapid growth.

If a rising agency like this debuted fewer members than first-gen—

especially only half the number—

Potential investors would start wondering:

"Is there a funding issue? Did the CEO cut investments?"

Aspiring applicants might think:

"Are future debuts going to be even harder to get into?"

Neither of these perceptions would benefit the company.

"You're going to re-evaluate the holdovers, right?"

"Yeah, the number looks kinda bad, huh?"

"Very bad."

"The problem is, none of the holdovers really stand out... but we should still take another look. Are you free today?"

"I'll help."

At least re-evaluating holdovers was a manageable issue.

To even make it into the holdover pool, a candidate had to pass both Cheon Do-hee’s artist standards and Magia’s background checks.

Meaning, the remaining candidates weren’t completely unfit.

Most of them simply had mild issues in group dynamics—something that could be improved with training and teamwork over time.

They might need more preparation before debut,

But adding two more members from this pool would still be better than debuting with just two.

Besides, some individuals who seemed lacking on their own could turn out fine when paired with the right partner.

The best move was to find holdovers who complemented the final two personality-wise.

A little secret—

Even in first-gen, Dora and Rain were the only ones who passed outright.

The other two were initially on hold.

Maru was too mentally fragile.

Komari was too hot-tempered.

But when they were tested together, they weirdly balanced each other out.

Maru became stronger, and Komari softened in return.

Of course, back then, Momo was way more willing to take risks.

Her mindset had shifted a little since then.

Still, we could only hope the second-gen selection would grow into itself the same way.

***

The document review began again.

I spread out the copied application forms and evaluation sheets on the reception table, sorting them first by personality.

To fill the two remaining spots from the holdover pool, the new members needed to complement the final hires or at least the other holdovers in terms of personality.

To start, I reviewed the two final hires.

Candidate #1: Ahn Si-ho.

At first glance, she looked like she had a wild streak.

But in reality? A total homebody who had never even been in a relationship.

She had pushed herself hard during the interview, afraid she’d get cut for being too much of a shut-in.

But she ended up getting caught midway through anyway.

Her future role?

A clumsy, wannabe-dominant type.

The kind who’d smugly declare, "You must obey me!" in front of fans—

Only to fold immediately under chat’s pressure and cry, "Okay, okay! I get it, waah!"

The ideal partner for her?

Probably a "delinquent in charge."

Like I said, she’s an airhead.

If you poke at her just a little, she’ll trip over herself—

And when she does, she goes down in the most exaggerated, over-the-top way, like something out of a silent film.

Basically, she needed someone like Komari.

Someone who’d constantly go, "Are you sure about that?"

I pulled aside a few holdovers who had rougher speech patterns.

People who were fine when streaming alone—

But had been put on hold for possibly making mistakes in group collabs.

"Alright, three potential candidates here..."

Next,

Candidate #2: Han Bada.

Maybe it was the effect of her name (Bada means "sea"),

But this girl never got nervous.

She breezed through every difficult question.

Even the HR manager’s worst troll question—the Trolley Dilemma—

She stood by her beliefs and passed.

At first, I worried she might be too chill to be entertaining...

But her sultry singing voice was a stark contrast to her usual stiff demeanor.

And even better— When she actually panicked and dropped her act, her shaky, flustered voice was adorable.

So what she needed was...

Someone who could break her facade.

If she faced too many irrational situations in a row, she’d eventually snap. Something that even viewers would find frustrating to watch.

A perfect match?

Someone like Dora.

A dumbass who refuses to believe the truth, argues [N O V E L I G H T] for an hour, then finally burns an entire batch of pancakes before saying, "Hehe, guess you guys were right~"

I picked out two holdovers who were stubborn idiots— People who would win in a battle of wills against Han Bada.

"Two from here..."

Then, I cross-checked the remaining holdovers to see if any of them complemented each other.

Eventually, I found two that worked well together— And they both happened to fit perfectly into Ahn Si-ho and Han Bada’s dynamic.

That settled it. The final two candidates were chosen.

I stacked up the other documents neatly, leaving only the two accepted ones on the table. Stretching with a yawn, I looked up at the CEO, who was still deep in review.

"You done?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think these two are the best picks."

After a moment of deliberation, she picked up my choices and compared them to her own notes.

"Let’s see..."

Her brow furrowed.

Then, she smirked.

"So even you came to the same conclusion."

"You too?"

"Guess my instincts weren’t wrong. But still... something feels off about only hiring two."

"Yeah. I feel the same way."

The problem?

The two additional hires resembled Komari and Dora a lot. Meaning, they’d likely compete for the same audience rather than expand it.

All the chemistry dynamics I’d described? They could already be achieved by simply pairing the newbies with Komari and Dora.

So even after filtering through the holdover pool, the final headcount probably wasn’t going to increase.

The CEO groaned, throwing herself onto the couch.

"This is killing me. No matter how I mix and match, I can’t get a better lineup..."

"Do you know any independent VTubers who’d be a good fit?"

"I already reached out to all the ones I had in mind. And honestly, switching from indie to corporate VTubing is... complicated. If we were a big agency like VachuVachu, maybe, but..."

If we just announced that Parallel was partnering with CAT, plenty of people would probably come knocking—

But that was still up in the air.

Producer Na Hyun-gon had made it clear: He'd only move forward if the first music project went well.

If we name-dropped them too early, it could hurt our chances of collaboration instead.

Right now, we had to prove ourselves on our own. Enough that even major corporations would look at us and say, "Damn, they know what they’re doing."

But to do that, we needed to fill the second-gen roster.

We debuted our second-gen!

"How many members?"

"Two!"

Even Producer Na Hyun-gon would probably raise an eyebrow at that.

Hell, he might just laugh and say, "Is this really the time for Parallel to be picky?"

But we couldn’t just hire anyone either!

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"Let’s go through everything one more time," I suggested.

The CEO shook her head.

"No. If we’re gonna debut these two, we might as well debut you instead."

"...Should I get ready?"

She immediately backpedaled.

"That was just a joke. Don’t take it seriously."

"You do realize that if you tell me to do it, I actually will, right?"

"No. Absolutely not. I’m already making you work too much—I don’t wanna steal your break time too."

"I take breaks!"

"Oh yeah? Says the person who collapsed and had to be taken away in an ambulance?"

She was really gonna milk that one incident forever, huh.

It wasn’t like I wanted to pass out.

When I didn’t respond, she let out a long sigh and muttered,

"...Maybe it’s time for us to start considering recruiting instead of just holding auditions. There’s only so much VTuber talent to go around—And even fewer who actually want to join an agency."

"Should we start scouting aspiring voice actors or idol trainees?"

"Utaite, voice actors, idols... Even regular office workers with hidden talent.Corporate VTubing has a structured side to it, so that’s an option too."

"If we get closer to CAT, we could try reaching out to idol trainees who gave up on debuting."

"That’d take too long. We might have better luck scouting retired corporate VTubers."

"...You’ve got a point."

We both fell silent, staring at each other for a moment.

Because we both knew exactly who we were thinking of.

A VTuber who, in just a few days, would be wrapping up her graduation stream and leaving Lapits for good.

Serena.

A completely unique personality that didn’t overlap with the first-gen members or the two final hires.

A proven streamer with stable content and strong social skills.

If we were looking for the perfect fit, there was no one better than her.

"Would bringing Serena in be too much of a stretch? If we could at least make it three members, it’d look more balanced."

"Hold on. I actually had a call with Lapits’ CEO recently."

Apparently, they’d reached out first.

"I’m sure you’ve already heard, but it seems one of our now-former employees was disrespectful toward Magia’s team. I sincerely apologize for that."

"Also, if Serena decides to transfer to Parallel, we will not consider it tampering."

That’s basically what they said.

"We’re taking at least six months to prepare for debut anyway."

"Right."

"By then, the pushback won’t be that bad. Besides, why would we reject someone who’s already proven her skills and is friendly with our team?"

On top of that, Serena—along with Maru—was one of the best possible picks for keeping the team’s mental health in check.

It might not sound like a big deal, but...

The reality is, you can’t be a streamer without the courage to be hated.

Chasing dopamine, experimenting with different content, making mistakes, getting flamed—

It’s just a natural cycle.

Our own members might not say much about it,

But they’ve only been fine because they had each other’s support and because the CEO kept taking them out for meals and making sure they were stable.

Lapits, on the other hand, was falling apart because Serena had been the one handling all that emotional labor in the background.

Whether it was taking them out for meals, or being the one they vented to,

She had been the glue keeping the group together.

So the moment word got out that she was leaving?

The other members started showing signs of jumping ship too.

Serena was a tested talent.

That’s why I was immediately assigned an important task.

"Tomorrow, contact Serena. Tell her you, me, and her should meet up and talk."

"Ah. Should we wait one week first? She might need some time to process everything after her graduation stream."

"Huh?"

"Serena is leaving because she wants to stream freely with her fans.

Even if it’s just a temporary goodbye, it’s still a goodbye to her viewers.

She’ll need time to emotionally process that before making a decision."

I pulled out the earbud I had tucked into my ear earlier.

The CEO’s eyes widened.

"Wait, were you watching her graduation stream this whole time?"

"Yeah. That way, if we do recruit her, we can preemptively filter out anything that might cause issues later."

"So Serena really wants to join us, huh...?"

I shrugged.

"She’ll probably reach out to us within a week."

Even if Lapits cleared us of tampering, we still needed to follow proper procedures.

If we rushed it just because we were eager, it could come back to bite us later.

"Let’s wait and see how things play out then.

Sound good?"