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

Luckily, Kang Ji-ho rushed over, quickly stepping in to handle the situation, and Maru’s tears dried up in no time.
As expected of a professional celebrity manager.
She had wet wipes, a change of clothes, and even a dry shampoo to clean the sand tangled in Maru’s hair, brushing it through until it looked pristine again.

Even Maru’s signature trident-like bangs, which had been styled so neatly earlier, were now back to perfection.
Of course, it was a little embarrassing that she’d ended up crying first when the plan was to make Magia cry.
Feeling awkward, Maru now avoided Magia, who was lingering nearby with a guilty look.

But unlike Maru, who only knew how to physically chase someone, Magia had a much stronger weapon.
"Want to play 64 Cubix together next week?"
Komari barely held herself back from yelling, Why is Maru unnie the only one getting special treatment?!
But since 64 Cubix was involved, she didn’t need an excuse to join in anyway.

Maru, who had been trying to flee out of embarrassment, came to a complete stop.
When you thought of 64 Cubix, you thought of Maru. And when you thought of Maru, you thought of a 64 Cubix addict.
"…Really?"

She had wanted to ask for a game, but bringing it up herself felt difficult.
Hearing Magia suggest it first made Maru emotional.
…Of course, what Maru didn’t know was that Magia had only done this to prevent complications with the vlog footage.
Still, whether it was an emotional or logical response, the result was the same—it helped bring Magia and the first-gens closer again.

Sensing the perfect moment, Maru and Komari each grabbed one of Magia’s hands and bolted toward the sand.
"Are you two planning to throw me into the sand?"
"T-That’s not it!"

From the beginning, the members had been on the same page.
Hanging out together and filming it was a given.
And Magia had to be included in that.
"Stand with your feet in a V-shape. There’s something I really wanted to take a picture of here."

Magia positioned her feet into a small V, and the other four naturally gathered around her.
Soon, their shoes formed a star shape in the sand.
Just then, Kang Ji-ho, who had come closer, aimed the camera down from above.
At that moment, Maru took the lead.

"Maru!"
"Dora!"
"Komari!"
"Rain!"
With all eyes suddenly on her, Magia hesitated before quietly mumbling.
"…Magia."

"Parallel Another, let’s go—!!"
Of course, after saying it—ensuring the footage was solid—she didn’t forget to add:
"But I’m not Another, though. I shouldn’t be in this. You four make the star again. I’ll send you the footage later as a separate file."

But the members wouldn’t allow it.
No matter what, today’s main character was Magia.
"Nope~ Gia unnie is Another too~."
"Yeah, Another wouldn’t exist without Gia."
"For real, if Gia-nim wasn’t there, my streams would’ve already crashed and burned."
"Broadcast stability? That’s Big Gia. That’s right."

And as if that wasn’t enough, they grabbed hands, forming a circle around her and spinning.
They were bouncing around, looking adorable, so Magia stayed still for the sake of good footage.
But her patience didn’t last long.

She tried to slip out from under their joined hands, but Komari and Maru closed the gap like sliding doors.
Bump. Failed.
…Why were they only this synchronized when messing with her?

With a resigned expression, Gia stood still until they finally stopped.
She had no idea why they were acting like this, but since escape was impossible, she had no choice but to go along with it.
There was no footage of her looking completely defeated, but for the rest of the day, Magia was dragged along everywhere with that exact expression.

Any time she tried to step away, someone would grab her hand and pull her right back in.
For the next few hours, the five of them ran around the chilly beach, skipping stones, feeding shrimp chips to seagulls, and petting stray cats they stumbled upon.
By the time they were supposed to set up their tents, Magia was utterly mentally exhausted from all the constant praise.

She had thrown a rock a bit farther than expected, and Rain had shouted, "What the—Korean superconductor!"
She had fed a seagull, lured it over, and let the others touch it, only for Dora to exclaim, "Wow, Gia-nim, is this your pet seagull?"
When a stray cat suddenly appeared, rubbed against Magia’s leg, and flopped over, all four of them had yelled in unison, "Druid!!"

It was like she was at a first birthday party, and they were acting like she had picked up a pen, shouting, "Oh, my daughter is going to be the world’s greatest genius! America will tremble, and China will cower at her future technological innovations!"
She was beyond exhausted.
Magia could handle physical exhaustion, but mental fatigue was a different story.

As soon as they finished setting up the tent, she plopped into a camping chair and started nodding off.
"Oh my, Gia pat, are you sleepy?"
When she was mentally drained, Magia’s speech slowed, and her words dragged.

At work, she always maintained a strict, composed image.
But now that they were on a trip, she was noticeably more relaxed.
"No… I’m just mentally tired…"
Even just from her slow speech and sluggish movements, it was obvious how drained she was.

That’s why Kang Ji-ho was getting worried.
‘Can we still pull off the prank like this…?’
When someone is mentally exhausted, emotions tend to come out more easily.

Even though Magia usually acted unfazed, if the people she had spent the whole day playing with suddenly started ignoring her, she might actually get upset.
***
Honestly, the entire afternoon had been mentally exhausting.

I was exhausted.
But.
Thirty minutes after I started devouring the shrimp, I was fully recovered.

"This is amazing…"
Ah. Shrimp. It had to be shrimp. And these were big ones—plump, juicy, and perfectly chewy.
At this rate, I’d have no problem pulling off the big event planned for tonight at the campsite.

The others were all huddled together, chatting and laughing loudly, and I felt myself naturally getting pushed toward the edge of the table.
But honestly, I preferred it this way.
Staff members were supposed to keep their heads down in settings like this.

After all, those six had always been together. I was just an uninvited guest who had slipped in.
This was how things should have been from the start.
I had a weird feeling ever since the car ride. I kept getting dragged around all day.

So now, all I wanted was to quietly—very quietly—grill my shrimp, peel them, and eat in peace, hoping that nobody would notice me until I was done.
I carefully restored my sanity bar like that.
By the time I was peeling the last of my fifteen shrimp, the CEO walked over and tapped me on the shoulder, whispering in my ear.

"The kids still have some vlog footage to shoot. I’ll take the car and head over with them—want to stay and finish your meal?"
I ate slowly, so the others had already finished and left.
No wonder they’d been acting busy all day.

I should’ve known they had extra filming planned for the first-anniversary special.
"Go ahead. I’ll call when I’m done."
A few weird things had happened while I was eating.

When I came back from the restroom, my cup was gone. My phone wasn’t where I left it. My chair randomly tipped over.
But I had already figured today was one of those bad luck days, so I just let it go.
Still, it was funny how, by the time I finished eating, I was naturally left behind.

I’d been worrying about how to sneak away and set up the surprise gifts for them.
And now, everything had worked out perfectly—I could head back to the campsite alone.
The surroundings were dim. The only lights were a few street lamps scattered around the camping grounds.

If I got there early, waited in the darkness, and activated the surprise at just the right moment when they arrived…
Wouldn’t that make for an unforgettable memory?
Beep! Beep!

"…Oh."
Of course, even I wasn’t immune to forgetting things sometimes.
Today’s missing item? My portable charger.

"Damn it."
I had been so focused on setting up the gifts in my bag.
Then, right after that, I got a call from my parents, so I completely forgot to check my battery.

Now I was down to 5%.
Even in low-power mode, I’d be lucky if it lasted another 30 minutes.
Fortunately, technology had advanced enough to include a very useful feature in messaging apps.

"Just in case, I’ll set a scheduled message for an hour from now."
***
55 minutes later.

Kang Ji-ho’s worst fear—that Magia’s mental state would crack after being isolated during dinner—had become a reality.
"Gia… isn’t answering at all."
They had wrapped up filming twenty minutes ago, and Magia, who had promised to call after eating, was still completely silent.

She didn’t send a single message.
Calling her went straight to voicemail.
When they rushed back to the restaurant, the owner told them she had already finished eating and left.

There was no way they had mistaken someone else for her.
Magia had distinct eyes and an easily recognizable appearance.
"This is bad. Did she… actually go home?"

"I mean, we did ignore her a lot during dinner…"
"But it was supposed to be a prank… Did we take it too far?"
"Normally she wouldn’t care, but Gia-pat did seem really drained today…"

"Ugh…"
Maru was already spiraling, repeatedly dialing Magia’s number, even though it wasn’t going through.
"What do I do? This is all my fault. I was the one who suggested this stupid idea…"

The other members tried to comfort her, but there wasn’t much they could do.
If Magia had actually gone home, that was one thing.
But if she hadn’t…

Would they have to file a missing person report?
Even if she didn’t see it that way, Magia was 140 cm tall.
If anyone saw her walking alone at night, they’d assume she was a lost child.

No, don’t think like that.
Cheon Do-hee forced herself to focus.
If Magia had finished eating, where would she go?

Obviously, the campsite.
It was only 500 meters away—close enough that she might have decided to walk instead of calling Do-hee for a ride.
"Wait… The campsite!"

Everyone had been so panicked that they completely overlooked it.
If Magia’s battery had died, she might just be waiting there.
With renewed determination, Do-hee shoved her phone into her pocket and headed for the car.

Just then—
Bzzt. Bzzt.
"…!"

Caller: Magia.
Do-hee frantically fumbled with her phone, trying to accept the call.
Her hands were so sweaty that the fingerprint scanner wasn’t even working.

By the time she finally unlocked it, two messages popped up.
[Gia Manager: (Location) - Map App]
[Gia Manager: I’ll wait.]
A wave of relief flooded her chest.

But at the same time, a sense of confusion and disbelief hit her like a slap to the head.
"…Wait. She’s waiting?!"