I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work-Chapter 192

A small but fierce Chihuahua—Parallel’s first-gen member, Komari.

Originally, all she was good at were games, gunplay, and swearing. She’d been desperately holding back the swearing so she wouldn’t cause trouble for Parallel, the group that took her in.

But when the self-imposed shackle of “I must never mess up” started choking her vocal cords...

She couldn’t say what she really wanted to. During her pre-debut mock broadcast, that led to a side effect: the stream lacked energy.

That’s when Magia prescribed her a drastic solution—an 8-hour Naore session with Maru.

The goal was for Komari to eventually explode after holding back so long, letting out all the emotions she’d been bottling up.

She thought swearing would only cause controversy and trouble Parallel.

But the CEO herself curses with remarkable flair.

And let’s be real: if someone like Komari—a tiny, cutesy character—clearly and firmly drops an f-bomb?

It just comes off as cute and harmless.

In fact, maybe it was about a month into her debut?

The first time she said “fuck,” the chat instantly burst into laughter.

It was clipped, exported everywhere, and she instantly got the nickname “F-Bomb Mari.”

And considering how trash the game state was at the time, people found it cute—just like Magia predicted.

But there was someone else in the second generation who reminded them of Komari.

A girl who got endlessly shit on during her military service, labeled as dead weight, and finished her service still stuck with that tag.

Her self-esteem took a massive hit. Even now, she’s desperately trying to become an A-rank.

That girl was Orca.

“I did sort of get Orca’s blood pumping too, but...”

During the pre-debut mock broadcast, Magia had told her:

Don’t be afraid of being labeled as dead weight.

Just own it and lean into it.

Orca actually gets funnier when she leans into that shameless attitude.

Thanks to that advice, she’d solidified the image of a dead weight desperately striving to become A-rank.

But in the end, it didn’t change who Orca really was.

She learned to accept the label of dead weight.

But she still avoided content where she might actually be called one.

Even now, before every piece of content, she always asks Magia:

“Do you think I’ll be good at this game?”

And if Magia says no, she’ll respond, “Guess I better mentally prepare.”

That’s how much she hates hearing that word.

But Soul Clash is a game she genuinely enjoys.

It’s her go-to for stress relief and mood boosts.

If she showed that on stream and people called her dead weight?

That could genuinely mess her up.

So she’d been keeping it hidden this whole time.

She probably wanted to wait until she could impress everyone and hear, “Whoa, you’re A-rank material!”

She’d made it to Gold tier, but maybe because seniors much better than her had been labeled dead weight too, she couldn’t be sure of her own skill.

Still, considering how, outside of Komari, Parallel’s not exactly known for its gaming prowess...

Being in the top 40% of all players was a massive achievement.

Letting her skills rot away because of some comments from viewers was a waste.

Sure, it was emotionally taxing for Orca.

But being a streamer is a job you can’t do with a normal mental state.

Living off attention is never easy.

And now, she had Magia by her side.

Today was Orca’s perfect chance to break that frame.

She might get shaken when people call her dead weight, but—

When people acknowledge and praise her, her skills shoot up like magic.

“All right then...”

[magia1122: Are you watching the stream right now?]

[hanaumi7: Nope, I don’t have it on...]

[magia1122: Join TalkCord real quick]

[magia1122: I’ll ask if I can get you a match with the teacher]

[hanaumi7: Got it!]

Also, praise works better in voice than in chat.

She was gonna call Orca in and absolutely smother her with compliments.

And who better to help than Wanggu, who’d been praising Magia nonstop all day?

“Teacher, are you still looking for a sparring partner?”

[Ah yes. It’s been tough though. Most people are either asleep, taking a break today, or have quit Soul Clash...]

“Oh dear. Would it be okay if I bring someone I scouted as your match?”

[Oh? Who’d you find? Didn’t expect that.]

“She’s one of our second-gen—Hanaumi Orca. Her hobby is Soul Clash. She’s never shown her skills on stream, but she’s in Gold tier.”

[Gold? Wow. That’s perfect, actually. I’ve been looking for a Silver-Gold range player.]

“I already called her. I’ll invite her to TalkCord.”

[Sure, sure. Haha, man... You really go the extra mile. I’m grateful.]

“No, I should be thanking you—you accepted a last-minute guest on a suddenly scheduled stream earlier than usual. That’s amazing.”

[Oh? When you put it that way... Well, even if there’s suddenly two guests, they’re both from Parallel! No problem.]

Orca soon joined TalkCord and entered the voice channel.

[Salute! I’m Hanaumi Orca, marine administrator transferred from Earth’s oceans, and a second-generation member of Parallel!]

[Whoa, military vibes! You’re sharp!]

[Ah, ahaha. Really? Haha.]

— He likes her

— He really likes her

— LMAOOOOO

— I told you she loves compliments LOL

As Wanggu warmly welcomed her, Magia set up Orca’s SD image on screen.

The little avatar would light up and bounce whenever she spoke—standard setup for impromptu appearances when there’s no proper overlay.

Soon, Wanggu joined the waiting room for spectating.

Match prepped and ready.

[By the way, Orca, what character do you usually play?]

[I play Taesan!]

[Oh, Taesan? That’s unexpected! Learned from videos? Or did someone coach you?]

[Self-taught! All from watching videos!]

[Wow, self-taught to Gold? That’s serious talent. Wanna stop by our kindergarten sometime? No interest in Diamond tier?]

Taesan was a taekwondo specialist character with tons of kick techniques.

With good cost-effective and cheesy moves, getting to Silver’s easy.

But to reach Gold, you need a ton of match experience and study.

So for Orca to reach Gold solo, Wanggu’s kindergarten offer was basically a reflex.

Still, opinions in the chat were all over the place.

A chaotic warzone of factions.

Parallel’s diehard whale fans, the Woldungis, were outraged Wanggu was trying to poach even Orca now.

— No

— YOU CAN’T TAKE MY KILLER WHALE

— What are you gonna do with another ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) dead weight

— Why bring a floofy one to kindergarten

Slug Squad folks, meanwhile, were ready to graduate Magia and start training Orca.

— Magia can do parent observation now lol

— Just let Gia graduate already

— There’s that tournament coming up anyway lol perfect timing

And Wanggu’s own viewers wanted both to reach Diamond.

— LET’S GET DOUBLE DIAMOND

— Didn’t realize Parallel had this much talent lol

— First time ever in Wanggu Kindergarten: a double Diamond duo

— Y’all really brought me gifted students

Meanwhile, floating viewers were annoyed at all the arguing.

— Can y’all just chill

— Just enjoy the stream, jeez

— Vibes are cute tho lol

The tension was clear.

One spark and it’d blow up across the community.

Magia knew it was time to step in—but surprisingly, Movgun spoke up first.

:: movgun has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::

:: At the end of the day, it’s the streamer who decides. Let’s not go overboard in chat. ::

— ???

— YOU started this tho lol

— Movgun/Drama

— That’s not what you said earlier

— You started the whole thing dude lolol

:: movgun has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::

:: Hey, I’m just here for fun hehe ::

— HE’S BACKPEDALING

— Drops the drama and runs huh

— Classic ghost move lol

That shifted the spotlight to Wanggu, the host.

Now that Movgun admitted this was all pro wrestling, not UFC, Wanggu had to respond to resolve the tension.

Good thing Wanggu wasn’t planning to stretch the stream too far anyway.

Magia had real talent, and it had been fun watching Movgun stir the pot...

But Wanggu was a bit scared of Magia’s fanbase—the Slug Squad.

[Whether today’s the end or we keep this going another time... that’s up to the students. I’d love to teach more, and I have time—but our students are super busy. There’s a concert coming up soon, right?]

By directly pointing out the concert, Wanggu subtly eased the pressure off Magia to make a decision.

With all eyes on her, Magia spoke.

“Then, how about this—we do a best-of-five match between me and Orca. If I win three games, I graduate. Since she’s Gold, that means beating her puts me above half the player base.”

A clean, logical offer. Wanggu beamed as he answered.

[Great idea. I actually checked Orca’s stats earlier—she’s a legit Gold local. Let’s do it.]

“Oh, and one more thing.”

Magia added another layer to preempt any complaints.

“If Orca wins, how about we do one more day of training—both of us together? But this time, on her stream.”

That way, it wouldn’t be a one-on-one focus anymore.

It’d lock in a future stream date for Magia, satisfy the Slugs, keep the Woldungis calm, and please Wanggu’s fans too.

— Hmm

— That’s actually solid

— Hmm hmm

Wanggu, slightly concerned about setting a schedule so fast, asked carefully:

[Oh. Shouldn’t you check Orca’s schedule first...?]

“I already know it. Orca, you haven’t planned content for next Wednesday yet, right? How about then? If you’ve got something else in mind, feel free to say no.”

Orca gave a lightning-fast yes.

[Sure! That works! Th-that said... I just hope I don’t ruin Wanggu’s kindergarten reputation...]

[Come on, ruin it? If anything, you’d boost it. Honestly, you’re the first student who got to Gold all on your own.]

[W-wait, really?!]

Orca instantly lit up from the praise.

Magia chimed in too.

“Exactly. Orca, admit it already—you’re not dead weight when it comes to Soul Clash.”

Orca went quiet.

She was watching the chat.

Most of the loud voices today were from the Slug Squad.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

They wanted Magia to graduate cleanly, so Orca had to really prove herself.

Naturally, the chat started rolling in—

— Honestly, she’s good at Soul Clash

— Getting Gold in this boomer game solo? She’s cracked

— We’ll see when she fights Magia lol

— Gold in this game is hard af

— Why’d she hide this skill until now?! lmaooo

Most were recognizing Orca’s ability.

They were even saying she had a real shot at beating Magia.

Like a whale leaping for joy at praise, Orca answered brightly:

[R-really? I’ll do my best!]

“Then, shall we start right away? If we wait too long, Orca might miss her stream time.”

Wanggu responded immediately:

[Of course! Let’s begin!]

***

{{ Get ready for the next battle! }}

{{ magia1122 vs hanaumi7 }}

And so the match began.

While the viewers expected a close fight, many figured that since I wasn’t familiar with Taesan, the match could end in an anticlimactic blowout.

— If she can’t shake the pressure, it’s gonna end real fast

— At least she’s got Soul Burst this round lol

— Still, she’s got that experience from coaching the first-gens

— Problem is, Alice is slow as hell lol

— Gotta chip away, I guess

Honestly, even in my own head, my memory of Taesan was hazy.

I did watch when the first-gens entered the tournament, but that was months ago.

Wasn’t Taesan the one who kept pressing with constant kicks?

They’d charge in like a storm, and I’d have to resist the urge to drop my guard and fight back at just the right moment to break their rhythm.

That’s Taesan for you.

Sure, some players use her long legs for counterplay...

‘But if it’s Orca, she’ll go full-on brutal.’

People who’ve lived with their emotions suppressed often show the opposite side in games.

It’s like they want to vent the frustration they can’t express in real life.

So Orca would be relentless.

She wanted to prove she wasn’t dead weight, at least in Soul Clash—and my Alice, a fresh newbie, made the perfect punching bag.

Even if I lost badly, that was fine.

But I had to give it my all.

Like I always say: these kinds of streams only shine when both sides are serious.

And sure enough—

The moment it started, Orca unleashed a furious barrage of kicks.

A high-low combo in sidekick stance.

I got hit by both, and without even lowering her leg, she twisted her ankle midair for another double hit.

I managed to block the final strike, but she launched right back into another high-low combo.

Took another four hits, blocked the fifth.

And then... yep, another round of high-low kicks.

— Whoa

— The Lo-Hi pressure begins

— Ugh I hate Taesan

The third and fourth hits looked like overheads, so I crouched.

That’s when a mid sidekick came flying at me.

She baited me into crouching, then switched up her string to break my stance.

And that meant another round of pressure while I was disadvantaged.

Another high-low coming?

Whether I blocked or parried, I had to respond.

I crouched and went for the right input.

— Whoa

— WTF lol

— She’s nailing this pressure game lol

This time, she hit me with an airborne combo starter that struck mid.

Crouching won’t block mids.

My Alice floated helplessly through the air, getting cleanly juggled before slamming back down to the ground with barely a sliver of health left.

Orca’s combo was so clean even Wanggu, the coach, couldn’t stop praising her.

[Whoa. Did you guys see that combo? That’s a pure swag combo—I barely learned that myself. And she pulled it off.]

[Re-really?! Thank you! I practiced it for three months straight!]

Her excitement made me feel good too, and I reflexively threw another compliment her way.

“You’re on a whole different level from the fakes I fought before. So this is what Gold looks like.”

[P-please don’t hype me up like that!! I’m still not going easy on you though!!]

But when someone who's been holding themselves back suddenly gets excited, they’re bound to make mistakes.

And yep—Orca rushed in without thinking and tried to finish me off with an aerial sidekick.

Even though I was low enough on health to trigger my ultimate, she went for it.

— LOL

— She got too hyped lololol

— Damn that was a perfect ult timing

— Let’s take her on a trip to Seoul lol

Alice’s ultimate blasted through Taesan’s double sidekick.

CLANG!

Alice’s solid alloy head collided with Taesan’s skull, stars spinning around her head.

Then, with booster jets flaring from her feet, Alice launched Taesan into the air and slammed her back down with a thunderous crash.

BOOM!

Still, my health was too low, and I got caught again by a flurry of high-low kicks, followed by yet more chaotic stomping—K.O.

Orca took the first round.

{{ magia1122 ◇◇◇ vs ◇◇◆ hanaumi7 }}

— Orca’s not dead weight today, huh?

— No, she’s actually good lol

— WHO ARE YOU

— This is the exact kind of Gold you meet in ranked

— Seriously why’d you keep this hidden lol

— Even landed the swag combo perfectly

— All those Dolphin fans that bailed are gonna regret it lmao

Her fanbase, the Dolphins, had started to trickle into the stream after hearing the news—and their jaws dropped.

Meanwhile, Wanggu’s viewers were just loving it.

Where’d this female Taesan god suddenly come from?

Riding high on the momentum, Orca shouted—

[I... I think I might actually be pretty good at Soul Clash, sir!]

I didn’t hold back the compliments.

“Coach said I’ve got the potential to reach Diamond. And since you just beat me, maybe you’ve got the potential for Master, huh?”

[E-eek! T-that doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you or anything, sir! Hahaha!]

— LMAOOOO

— She’s adorable lol

— I can’t with her today she’s too cute

— She’s loving this praise way too much lol

— After hearing ‘dead weight’ all the time, of course she’s happy getting praise now lol

Still, I had to play my part.

If we wanted this match to go down in stream history...

I couldn’t lose in some anticlimactic way.

“She’s just spamming high-low kicks ‘cause I can’t block them, huh?”

You can block slow lows, but fast ones?

You have to predict them.

It becomes a game of mind reading and reaction.

Going into round two, I wondered: would she open with the same move again?

Final decision?

“Let’s parry at the very start.”

After round one, she probably assumed I had no idea how Taesan worked.

So she’d stick to her usual pattern until it got shut down.

If she opened with another Lo-Hi string...

I’d just parry it.

{{ Round 2 }}

{{ Fight! }}

Sure enough, Orca opened with the Lo-Hi string.

I cleanly parried the ankle kick that came flying in, launching into my own air combo.

[Huh?!]

I let loose a glorious shotgun barrage and threw in a taunt.

“Orca, looks like your newbie opener got exposed!”