The glowsticks in the chat kept waving for quite a while even after the short rap ended.
Rain, the star of the day who had been watching, was truly dumbfounded.
‘Holy.’
They had known each other for nearly a year.
The shock was even greater because she had never shown this side of herself until now.
Voice impressions? She only ever said she watched the members’ streams every day; she had never shown them in front of the members.
Singing? Even when the first gen went to karaoke together after company dinners or collab streams, she always sat in the back and only tapped the tambourine.
Since Majia was the person Momo, the boss, had assigned to her back when she was preparing for debut, telling her to make use of her comfortably, Rain did feel quite close to her inside—but still, this was far too different from the image she had shown until now.
‘Why on earth was she hiding this until now? To surprise us?’
A cute yet gloomy little kid.
But because she always hammered the first gen with facts, she had earned the nickname Jiabomba.
It was strange to think someone’s name could be a nuclear bomb, but her words were always short and concise, and each time she pointed out only the facts without emotion. Even though she was using perfectly polite speech, it felt like getting punched.
Of course, since she only pinpointed what had been done wrong without adding anything unnecessary, the members had never truly been rubbed the wrong way.
In any case, despite her cute and lovable appearance, she was not exactly the type of character one wanted to pat on the head.
She was simply Boss Momo’s loyal subordinate and confidant.
Her position was like that of an annoying little kid who only listened to the boss.
And that Jiabomba had such a shocking talent.
Without even warning them, out of nowhere.
Because of that, Rain, who had already debuted once as a singer in America, naturally began to suspect whether this was part of some noise marketing strategy.
‘Boss, don’t tell me. Jia’s debut too…?’
Because if she was just an employee who came in as Dora’s substitute and did only what needed to be done, there was honestly no need for her to be this good.
Of course, since they were in the middle of a stream right now, Rain couldn’t just sit there blankly either. It wouldn’t be too late to ask after everything was over.
“Wow, C-Rain. That was amazing! Nice kick! But I can do that much too. Let’s really go for it now! Let’s go!”
It might be a rather difficult problem for the Puddles, but there were clearly parts of Majia’s rap that left something to be desired.
She had imitated, to a considerable degree, the way people who had lived in America for a long time rapidly slurred slang and abbreviations together—but Rain’s result was subtly different.
However, that was the sort of difference only someone as obsessed with hip-hop as Rain would know, and on top of that, Rain was deliberately “pretending not to be herself” today to heat up the atmosphere.
In other words, what if Rain sang the exact same part Jia had just done?
Even the chairman, a true Rain simp, would be faced with an atrocious fifty-fifty choice he couldn’t solve.
*
… ─ Parallel (VTuber) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
[I’m seriously dizzy lol]
Right now it feels like Rainy is rapping at the same tempo from both sides and threatening me to pick one
Who am I supposed to choose, damn it
If I pick wrong I’m gonna get cursed at every time I donate from now on!!!!
[Comments]
— Parallel458: Isn’t she actually a rapper? Otherwise this makes no sense
ㄴ Parallel611: That doesn’t make sense either lol
ㄴ Parallel611: Why would an active rapper watch Rainy
ㄴ Parallel185: Bro, Rainy’s kind of recognized in Korean hip-hop
ㄴ Parallel415: Just look at how Gwak Gicheol featured for her
ㄴ Parallel571: Wasn’t she only the Korean hip-hop number one according to our own standards? ㄷㄷ
— Parallel321: Why is this bastard fighting a fall-from-grace defense match after going to win a pizza lol
ㄴ Parallel511: For real lol good luck
— Parallel369: I compared the voices with AI and it’s D
ㄴ Big Lump (Author): Okay thx thx
… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
The chairman, in other words Big Lump, kept dragging things out while pretending to think, so I wondered what he was doing. Apparently, he was counting on the collective intelligence of Parallel Gallery.
So I gave him the answer to help him out.
After all, I was only a supporting act who sounded really similar to Rain, not the protagonist.
If possible, it was better for both the viewers and Rain to be happy, and for that to happen, he needed to get the answer right.
Of course, my malicious instincts leaned toward me winning, making the viewers suffer, and giving Rain material to tease them with….
But after no less than five years of socialization at the boss’s hands, I had become a good person who chose the option where no one got hurt.
— Hurry up and pickkkkkkk
— Think about the Butts behind you too
— The Puddles are gonna dry up and dieeeeee
— Pickkkkkkkkk
[Ugggggggh… the answer is!]
Surely he wouldn’t get it wrong when I even told him the answer, right?
I leaned back leisurely in my chair.
[C, C is the real Rain!]
But the moment I heard the chairman’s answer, my body sprang up like a coil.
C-Rain, linked to me, also shot to her feet.
“No, this son of a…….”
Thanks to the boss’s socialization, I had even learned to restrain my swearing, but that had just been dangerous.
Good thing I had muted the mic on and off in time.
No, but this idio… even when I told him the answer.
[Rain: Jia pretend to be me ㄱㄱㄱ]
[Rain: I’ll reveal the truth]
[Parallel Operations Team Majia: Yes]
Still, it was a relief that Rain seemed fine.
If anything, the way she tried to cruelly roll the chairman around fit Rain’s stream atmosphere perfectly.
Since a cursing battle broke out whenever they got bored, to the point where you wondered if she really was an idol, the viewers’ love was quite intense, so to speak.
Anyway, since Rain asked me to pretend to be her, I praised the chairman for now.
“As expected. I believe. I knew I could trust you, Big Lump. I knew you’d find the real me.”
[Whew! Nice! That’s it! I knew it!]
The chairman burst into cheers, overjoyed.
He was probably going to have to live as Shit Lump for the next half a year…. Well, good luck.
I held a small moment of silence inwardly as I waited for the real Rain to speak.
[But, answer is D. I am Rain. C-Rain is fake. Fake.]
[… Really? You’re lying.]
[I said you got it wrong, goddamn shit-chairman.]
— Lolololololololololol
— Yup, it was a fake of a fake lol
— Ah, D sure?
— Big Lump’s digni?ty
— Go die
— You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this? You couldn’t get this?
— Wow, I would’ve gotten it right
The flustered chairman began protesting.
[No. Seriously. Just now. English issue. I said D. Not C, D. My pronunciation wasn’t perfect.]
[Our Butt sure talks shamelessly.]
:: Anonymous donor has donated 10,000 Clouds! ::
:: Get out ::
:: Anonymous donor has donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: From now on you have to donate ten times as much…… ::
— All right, all right, problem customer, please leave
— We won’t see you off…
— Shit Lump cuuut
However, no amount of protesting could stop the flow of him being kicked out of the voice chat.
Soon, he poured out tears of blood in Rain’s Tokcord chatroom.
[Big Lump: Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah]
[Big Lump: I’m sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]
I wondered what I would do if Rain was actually angry.
But fortunately, perhaps because she was just enjoying the situation so much, she was laughing.
Her expression was more or less saying, “I’ve got a YouTube clip and a donation angle out of this.”
[Ah, seriously. I’m so disappointed I could die. That was too much, really. Right, Puddles?]
— For real lol
— For real lolol
— The normalization of the donation rankings
— This too must be Rainy’s grace…
* * *
I had wondered how many Puddles would pass this highly difficult test.
But by the time the content ended, about half of the twenty Puddles had managed to win pizza.
That was because Jia ran out of song repertoire and began making mistakes, allowing some people to luckily break through the pizza defense line.
[Parallel Operations Team Majia: I’m sorry]
[Parallel Operations Team Majia: I made a lot of mistakes]
[Momo: No, you did really well]
[Momo: Just doing this much among the kids is amazing]
[Komari: Unnie, I was seriously shocked]
[Maru: Jia-nim, could you do our voice impressions sometime too?]
[Maru: (Sparkling eyes emote)]
[Momo: Jia practiced this for a whole week too]
[Momo: Let’s let her rest now]
[Maru: (Wailing emote)]
However, the viewer count, which had been five thousand when the stream began, was fifteen thousand just before it ended.
It had exceeded the expected number of ten thousand by a full fifty percent….
Within Parallel itself, they were already certain the content had been a huge success.
And as if to prove that success, by the time the stream was ending, people’s attention turned entirely toward the identities of the actors who had made the content shine.
As if to satisfy that expectation, Rain introduced today’s actors one by one, starting with B-Rain.
[Then I’ll introduce our actors who helped us today one by one. The last one, A, was me. B was our cute Komari~.]
[It was so hard….]
[You were a growth-type actor, right? Getting better and better. Anyway, thank you, Komari!]
— Clap clap clap clap clap
— You worked hard, Mari lol
— It was nice and fragrant, like being in a forest~
[And next, C was Maru, who got teased all day today for having a loud voice~.]
[Puddles, do you seriously wanna die? Even if my voice is loud, how loud could it possibly be?!]
— No, damn it, it’s actually loud, what do you want us to do lol
— I’m a Dongle who watches Maru, but I’m too embarrassed by my oshi to lift my head
— Your voice hurts the most, Maru…
[Dongles, follow me to my stream later.]
[All right, all right, every Dongle who came to visit, follow Maru and go off to the Room of Truth~.]
— Please go
— No, I don’t wanna go, aaaaah
— I’ll be a Puddle starting today
And then, finally.
It was D’s turn, the one people were most curious about.
[Last! Today, truly. Perfect. Amazing. Astonished. The one who showed us a perfect copy. Our D is….]
However, in terms of protecting an employee, Jia’s introduction had to be minimized.
And this was something they had agreed on before the stream.
[D is… actually an ordinary Parallel employee whose real name and voice cannot be revealed! So even if you’re curious, there’s nothing we can do. Ordinary civilian shield. You know?]
— ???
— ??
— No, this is a bit much
— That’s going too far
— Don’t just say you’re leaving ㄴㄴㄴㄴ
— One word of greeting should be fineeeee
— Parallel, release D-Rainnnnnn
But when they introduced Jia as planned, the backlash was enormous.
Cheon Dohee, who was watching, pouted her lips and muttered.
“…Just as expected.”
In truth, from the moment Jia displayed talents beyond imagination, this result had been inevitable.
It was as if she had properly stirred up the curiosity of viewers who roamed around in search of more stimulating flavors.
If they hid too much in this situation, the fire would not go out.
If they left it alone, only Rain, who had to do an afterparty stream tomorrow, would be put in a difficult position.
But if they properly set things up and introduced her, it could invite pointless speculation.
Such as creating a situation where Jia, already busy with so much work, really had to debut.
[Momo: Jia]
[Momo: Let’s just give a brief greeting]
[Parallel Operations Team Majia: Yes]
Since it was a cute voice that was the complete opposite of Rain’s husky voice, its impact would likely be considerable.
This was the same as drawing a firm line first and telling them not to cross it.
We appreciate your interest, everyone, but let’s keep it to today only.
That kind of feeling.
However, if there was one thing Cheon Dohee had not anticipated, it was Majia’s unchanging belief.
Even if she appeared on a stream, she held firmly to the thought that she should only go as far as playing a role that made the first gen stand out.
[Hello, Puddles. I’m Staff Member A from the operations team, who got to be Rain for a day.]
— ??
— The voice changer isn’t off
— Hearing her talk like this, she really does sound Korean lol
— Since her normal way of speaking is so gentle, it’s even more absurd lol How did she do that earlier lol
— Let us hear your real voice pleeeaseㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
That was why Majia chose not to turn off the voice changer, instead erasing herself under Rain’s voice.
[I am Rain’s shadow, so please don’t be curious about my voice. If you all had fun today, that’s enough. Please continue to give lots of love to our first gen Another, and to our Rain.]
The moment she finished speaking, Jia even lowered her avatar below the screen.
It was an action that drew a clear line, saying, “My role ends here.”
However, when people are told not to do something, they want to do it even more.
Isn’t the curiosity to uncover a truth one doesn’t know basically human instinct?
That was why Majia’s words lit an enormous fire in the viewers’ hearts.
— ???
— She really left??
— No lol
— That pisses me off?
— Guess we have to burn?
— That’s going too far lololol
— The Puddle’s gonna dry up
— The Puddle’s gonna evaporate~
— This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd? This is absurd?
— (Flop emote) (Flop emote) (Flop emote)