I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work
Chapter 145

Anyway, the broadcast was scheduled for Saturday, June 9th, just one week before the MCN Battle. It began as planned at the most attention-grabbing time.

[Movgun]

[ (🔴Live) Moving Talk Show #6 - Bachubachu 4th generation Natsuki Luna, Parallel Operations Team Magia Manager ] 87,441

#BattleColosseum #Bachubachu #Luna #Parallel #Magia

Even though the main broadcast hadn’t started yet, there were already 87,000 viewers.

Of those, about 30,000 came from Parallel, and if we subtract the overlap with Mugeon’s existing viewers (about 10,000), that means the remaining 50,000 viewers came from Bachubachu.

— Apologies to everyone from Parallel in advance~

— 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

— Our kid is a bit of a troublemaker, please understand~

— Magia is tough too

— 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

— Only dogs here

— 🐶🐶 Luna

— 🐶🐶 Fight!

— Dog Luna

— Awww haha, don’t bring my nickname here ㅋㅋ

— Dog Luna

— Wow, it’s all dogs here ww

— Grass

— Luna, please be a calm puppy today

— 🐶🐶🐶

— Stop wagging your tail!

— 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

— Magia fighting!

— 🐶🐶🐶🐶

— Dog

— Ddangdaengna

— 🐶

In the Paggall forum, there was a call for a massive gathering, saying we couldn’t lose in the viewer count battle, but as expected, we couldn’t compete in numbers.

The chat was completely filled with Natsuki Luna’s fan symbol, the dog, and it was almost impossible to see our side’s viewers chatting.

Even though everyone from Parallel was already gathered, Bachubachu fans likely just came to check if their "youngest" was doing well while watching their own streams.

If the viewership increases further, there might be some overlap, but most will still be Bachubachu fans.

The CEO and planning team had estimated that the number could reach 80,000, and indeed, the scale was crazy.

If Taro had come, how many would there have been? Wouldn’t Bachubachu get 100,000 viewers just by itself?

And the main star, Luna, was going to appear last. Compared to me and Mugeon, who had been in the voice chat room 30 minutes before the broadcast, Luna’s appearance would be slightly delayed, probably about 10 minutes before.

Mugeon mumbled as he watched the chat flood.

[Wow. Bachubachu’s firepower is amazing. If these people watched my streams, my viewership would be three times what it is now.]

“Why not quit the cam stream and become a VTuber? Ah, should I just do VMIYUK?”

[That’s crazy!]

“Yes, I know. These people have such high loyalty, you’ve got to make sense if you’re going to talk. It’s not for nothing that they talk about the VTuber empire. From JP to EN, KR, and ID. Bachubachu controls 70% of the global VTuber market now.”

Mugeon chuckled.

[This is the first time I’m hearing you talk this much about a broadcast opponent, Manager Gia.]

“Well, they’re someone we’ll have to beat eventually, so it can’t hurt to know them well.”

[Your confidence is good, but aren’t you nervous? The most Parallel will get is 30,000 viewers. Even with some of my viewers mixed in, Bachubachu’s numbers will keep growing, maybe even reaching 100,000.]

I responded as if it didn’t matter.

“What’s the big deal? Do you remember when we were at a disadvantage during Mugeon’s civil war? Everyone underestimated us at the start, remember?”

[Did they? If that’s the case, I’m sorry for not managing the viewers properly.]

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at all nervous.

Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the chat, but today, it’s basically Bachubachu’s home turf.

On the other hand, Luna, who came into the voice chat room just 10 minutes before the broadcast, was completely at ease.

[Mugeon! Manager Magia! Hello!! I’m sorry for being the youngest and being the last one here!!]

[Ah, no worries. Welcome!]

I thought maybe she’d be a little nervous seeing almost 100,000 viewers, but clearly, she wasn’t.

It’s no wonder, since she knew she had all of Bachubachu supporting her, she wasn’t even remotely nervous.

Even moving from TikTok to a voice call, her friendliness seemed to rise even higher than yesterday’s 200%.

The feeling of exclamation points that had been filling the chat yesterday now turned into a loud volume that seemed to directly enter my ears.

...I should probably turn the volume down.

[Yesterday, when I was chatting with you, it didn’t feel real, but now that we’re actually doing a collab... I’m really touched!]

“I feel the same. It’s an honor to be doing content with you, Luna.”

[No, I’m the one who’s honored! And I didn’t get to say this yesterday, but collaborating with a senior like you is such a rare achievement among VTubers!]

“I guess it’s because I don’t do broadcasts often...”

[It means that even though you don’t broadcast often, so many people want to collaborate with you, which means you’re really attractive as a senior. Am I right? You can’t deny that, right?!]

“I don’t want to admit it, but if I assume you’re right... does that mean Taro also wants to collaborate with me?”

[Yes! That’s why when Mugeon suggested it, I was ready to ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) accept it! But... Taro had to give up because of a tight schedule.]

“Well, thanks to that, I got the chance to collaborate with you, Luna, so it worked out well.”

[Wow. Thank you for saying that. I’m happy too!]

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

If I weren’t someone who wasn’t overly greedy for personal growth, my ears would probably be flapping like an elephant’s right now.

Which VTuber wouldn’t want to collab with Taro? Unless you’re like Bajuvi, avoiding the big dinosaurs on purpose.

And if Luna really wanted to schedule with Taro? Even if it seemed like a pipe dream, Taro would definitely show up.

Taro and Luna are already known as the “mother-daughter” duo within Bachubachu.

‘So this is what it’s like being the youngest in Bachubachu with the Taro connection.’

I had been watching the broadcast, but now that I had directly spoken with Luna, it was even clearer.

The path that the seniors had paved. And now, the mischievous troublemakers, the youngest, get to play around on that path. Among them, Luna was the most destructive.

Even if she had a few minor flaws in her personality (like Luna’s infinite positive energy), those rough edges only made the other seniors and juniors shine brighter and added a sense of excitement to everything.

It was a contrast to Parallel’s efforts to find flawless talents, and a luxury Bachubachu could afford, having a firm foothold in the industry.

Small controversies like “not thinking of others,” “being too self-centered”—those things could be ignored with the strength of their fanbase.

It was something to be envious of.

I hoped we could grow as fast as them, so that our 3rd or 4th generation would be able to soar freely.

Anyway, Luna seemed well aware of her relative advantage.

Her attacks were relentless.

[By the way, Senior. Now that we’re talking, I have a question!]

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

[Well. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But I really wanted to ask this question when the opportunity came up!

Taro-senpai told me that important things like this should be discussed over a call, not by message. I’ve been curious about it since yesterday, but I held it in.]

Looking at the clock, there were about 7 minutes left before the live broadcast started.

If Luna were an ordinary rookie, she’d probably be muttering about her lines for the broadcast by now.

But she seemed completely at ease, so I thought it would be okay to have a conversation with just the two of us for a moment.

I had a good idea of what kind of question she was going to ask.

It was probably something about rumors surrounding my second-generation debut.

“This will only take five minutes, right?”

[Yep! It’s not a big deal!]

“Mugeon, I’ll talk to her for a moment and come back.”

[Okay, go ahead.]

I briefly left the voice chat room.

And then, just the two of us, Luna asked without any hesitation.

[Do you happen to be a dual-occupation utaite?]

“..........”

I hadn’t expected that at all.

I had planned to delay the revelation of Fan_C’s true identity as long as possible, so I was prepared for that.

But still, I was a little caught off guard.

I had expected it to be something related to my debut.

“No, I don’t really enjoy singing.”

[Ah. Really....]

“Did you hear a rumor in the community or something?”

[No! A sister of mine who knew that you, Gia, visit CAT regularly saw it and told me. So I asked you. I haven’t told anyone! I was just really curious....]

It wasn’t a community rumor, but she had used an industry acquaintance to find out.

I hadn’t even thought of that kind of connection.

It made me realize once again how small the entertainment industry is, even including streamers.

After all, I hadn’t expected that Ena’s father was Producer Na Hyun-gon either.

Anyway, someone must have seen me going in and out of the recording studio and passed on the information.

But it’s hard to pinpoint who exactly gave it away, as the people who helped me with the recordings may not have been the ones to spill.

The recording studio was always busy.

Our recording studio was the All-Might studio, a big five company under CAT, and it was always fully booked.

It made sense that it was crowded, and surprisingly, I had seen quite a few famous people there.

There was someone, I think, who had just finished recording before me and was walking out.

It was that 2.5 million utaite who participated in the illegal duet.

Anyway, with so many people coming and going, someone might have recognized me.

It was probably one of Luna’s acquaintances.

For now, I decided to add a little white lie to keep things quiet.

“We had some recording work with our members, so I was just popping in and out to take care of that.”

Until then, Luna had been speaking brightly, but for the first time, she responded with an uncertain voice.

[.....Hmm.]

She mumbled a rather meaningful comment.

[It’s a shame. If you were the utaite I know, I would’ve wanted to work on a song together....]

It was her real voice, not the broadcast voice we usually hear.

A slightly lower tone, a bit more mature for the youngest, but still distinct.

“I’m sure even if I were the utaite you were looking for, Luna, you’re really busy right now, right? You have to do cover songs, original tracks, and collaboration songs with seniors. You must be in the middle of a very busy period.”

[That’s true! But it’s more of a personal preference. Besides, we’re in different companies, and you’re not a VTuber, so I thought it would be hard to meet and talk unless there was an opportunity like this.... But since it’s not the person I thought it would be, I can’t help it.]

That’s when my suspicions began.

The way her real voice suddenly came out felt oddly familiar.

And the fact that she asked not if I was Fan_C but specifically used the term “dual-occupation” made me feel like Luna might not be a pure VTuber after all.

It felt like she was originally an utaite and then decided to venture into VTubing.

You might wonder how she could balance both.

But surprisingly, there are superhumans who can pull it off.

Since utaite work involves periods of waiting between song submissions, it’s actually pretty easy to juggle VTubing alongside it.

There have been similar cases in Bachubachu JP.

Even our CEO, despite a chaotic broadcast schedule, is still a VTuber and CEO.

I even had evidence to back this up.

Luna? She’s really good at singing.

Taro didn’t just take on the role of Luna’s “mom” because of her friendliness.

He did so because he was impressed by her singing skills.

Luna is essentially top-tier among the fourth-generation members.

Maybe today, I’d be the first to discover Luna’s past life, something no one else has figured out yet.

But there weren’t many clues.

I couldn’t be sure if she had completely changed her singing style after debuting as a VTuber, so I couldn’t say for sure who she was just from her voice.

For now, I decided to focus on the sister who had passed along the information.

“By the way, the sister who said she saw me—does she work at CAT?”

[No. She’s an artist! An utaite!]

Thanks to Luna’s honest answer, I was able to narrow down the target quickly.

There were about ten utaite artists at CAT.

And the person I had seen before, who was always there before me, was always the same.

Producer Na Hyun-gon had said that if they started working on a collaboration track, it would definitely be with that person first, so we had exchanged greetings.

That person had participated in the illegal duet and even won awards, so there was some personal familiarity there.

“Is that person possibly Iyura? The one who always came early when I visited for work and was recording?”

“.......”

For the first time since yesterday, Luna’s response took more than a second.

At that moment, a realization hit me like a flash.

‘Is she really a dual-occupation utaite?’

The reason she wasn’t nervous in front of so many viewers, the reason she was so aggressive and didn’t care about etiquette—was it because she wasn’t just a rookie VTuber from Bachubachu?

Had she already dealt with similar-sized crowds before?

Had she even performed on stage before?

The reason she insisted on calling me “senior” even when it was clear we were in different industries—was it to avoid revealing her true identity due to a simple mistake with the title?

Taro’s unusual level of care for Luna wasn’t just because of her friendliness.

If she’s still considered the youngest in the VTuber world but is already a well-known figure in the industry?

“Wait——.”

I hadn’t even said it properly yet, but Luna quickly cut off my next words.

[Let’s talk more after the broadcast, Senior!!]