chapter_0118

118 – Majia, I’ve Decided on You

118 – Majia, I’ve Decided on You

It was only natural, yet it was still surprising.

The next day, Maru was immediately called to the company.

The Parallel gallery was in chaos due to related rumors, causing the members to stream in reverse, and the Day 1 defense battle had just ended with the band wave.

After finishing the training and sending the second batch of trainees home, Jia came down to the 8th floor for some tidying up and witnessed Maru leaving the boss’s office after having already been scolded.

It was evening, the time when everyone had already clocked out, and the office lights were dimmed.

With long hair hanging down and shoulders slumped forward, Maru looked just like a zombie from the AR Escape Room they had seen yesterday, prompting Majiya to unusually smile and speak first.

“Wow. A zombie virus has spread in the company.”

“….”

Right after, she couldn’t escape from the furious Maru chasing after her.

However, that too felt like a chase scene with a zombie from the AR Escape Room, causing Jia to burst into laughter.

In the end, she fled into a bathroom stall, resembling a mouse hiding in a cat’s escape hole.

“Come out right now!”

Thud, thud, thud.

The stall door shook violently as if a real zombie had come.

“If you just scream, you’re no different from a zombie. Let’s talk.”

“Damn it…. You initiated it first!!”

Maru’s heartfelt shouting echoed throughout the company with a deep, rich sound.

The boss usually called people in after hours when there were no employees around to protect the kids’ real-life identities, so it was fortunate.

If not, everyone would have heard her sobbing in the bathroom stall after being scolded, feeling like “I’m space trash.”

She should have told them that the soundproofing in the company bathroom was poor, but it had been a year since Majiya had found the right timing to mention it.

Still, it was cute, and even if the employees heard, they would probably just chuckle.

Anyway, Maru was the type to use emotions like alcohol or gasoline, so once she exploded, she calmed down quickly.

As it seemed like it was time, Majiya opened the door, greeted by Maru’s moist eyes and sulky expression.

“Your timing for coming out is just perfect….”

“Why? Was it the exact moment for your anger to subside?”

“It’s so precise that I want to hit you. Is that okay?”

Jia acted even more playfully, as if she genuinely wanted to be hit.

Since they had to keep their distance before, they had never joked like this, effectively marking the moment as “You’re really close to me now.”

“No way. If I get hit, I might catch the Maru Virus and immediately go live, revealing the names of the second batch trainees.”

Cheon Do-hee’s kids, the Parallel Virtual YouTubers, all had a good sense of impact.

It was as if there was a clear role division stating, “In this field, I’m confident I can take a hit better than anyone else.”

In Maru’s case, if you hit her with a slightly factual remark, she would either hold back tears or burst into a clear cry.

Most of the Round Faces were from the Tears Streamer Community, which might be why they knew how to make Maru cry in an instant.

What Majiya had just said was exactly what the Round Faces would say.

If you were to roughly translate it into a donation comment, it would be something like, “I’m on GOP duty today, but I’m scared I’ll catch the Maru Virus and leak the password through the Inter-Korean Loudspeaker.”

However, while Maru usually had great banter with her viewers, today she couldn’t respond to Majiya’s teasing due to her troubled heart.

She was already feeling overwhelmed by being left behind in getting close to Ena, and now she had made a verbal slip, causing another incident.

Even knowing it wasn’t Majiya’s fault, the frustration surged, leading to a dam-breaking crisis.

“Hi… Huh. Huhhh. Hiiih.”

Jia could clearly hear the cracking sound of the dam just before it burst.

But it was already far too late to stop it.

Jia didn’t even realize that she had failed to balance herself between Maru and Ena.

“Wait a minute. Just calm down—.”

“Whaaaaaaa!!”

Because the company bathroom wasn’t soundproof, that loud sound reached Dohee’s ears in the boss’s office.

When Dohee rushed to the bathroom, she saw Maru crying profusely and Majiya, hunched over like a guilty puppy, glancing at Dohee.

In the end, Jia had no choice but to take responsibility and handle the aftercare.

She had planned to do so anyway, but she hadn’t expected Maru to cry this much.

Fortunately, the advice from Dohee and Team Leader Kang Ji-ho from the past helped.

They said that no matter how troubled women get, they often feel better after eating something sweet, so if someone looks upset, try giving them chocolate first.

It actually worked quite well; as soon as Maru mentioned cake, she stopped crying out loud, and after taking a bite of cake, her eyes sparkled again.

“I want….”

With puffy eyes, Maru quickly devoured a piece of chocolate cake.

“I also want to eat cheesecake….”

And as if one piece wasn’t enough, she began tasting one slice of each type of cake from a café famous for its delicious cakes.

After finishing off a total of six slices of cake, she rubbed her bloated belly and looked at Majiya with droopy eyes before immediately apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I overreacted. It wasn’t something to cry about….”

“No, I didn’t expect you to take it so seriously either. You must have been troubled after being scolded by the boss.”

“No, I’m more sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just wasting your time again.”

Haa.

Maru sighed and muttered.

“Next week, our group song will be completed… I’m sorry for ruining this good atmosphere. If I hadn’t made that verbal slip, all the fans would have been excited about that news over the weekend….”

While Majiya was busy managing the training schedule for the second batch, the first batch trainees had been preparing a lot to raise expectations for their first project song with CAT, which was coming out in two days.

— Majiya was busy participating only in vocal lessons, leaving requests for more parts for the members, and didn’t get involved in the mid-check and part distribution of the song.

The most crucial content was karaoke.

The usual J-pop songs were reduced, and the main goal was to sing along to Korean songs or pop songs by singers affiliated with CAT, creating a sense of curiosity.

A different karaoke atmosphere than usual.

However, after listening to it, it seemed fine.

So, why were the kids suddenly acting like this?

When this curiosity piled up, the plan was to surprise everyone by revealing that CAT and Parallel were releasing a group song with five members.

In fact, this Saturday, the first batch was planning to conduct a karaoke collaboration through the Practice Room and then release a teaser for the new song on Sunday.

But because Maru suddenly dropped a bomb, the atmosphere became chaotic.

Discussions began internally about whether it would be better to adjust the timing rather than proceed as planned this week.

Today, Cheon Do-hee had scolded Maru largely for that reason.

It was a bit awkward to call it a leak, but anyway, the entire company schedule, especially the first project with CAT, had been disrupted.

Jia, who had a rough idea of the situation, asked.

“Should I turn on the stream and explain the situation to the fans?”

“Oh, no! You’re super busy with the second batch training right now. I remember how busy we were during our time….”

“Still, it feels like I should be the one to step out now.”

That was the right argument.

What people wanted was for Majiya to come out and clarify the facts.

However, the debut of the second batch was still a long-term project with nearly half a year left, so it wasn’t easy for Majiya to give any definitive answers at this stage.

Excluding what couldn’t be said at this stage, what remained were just bare fish bones.

It would be unpleasant for the listener and difficult for the speaker as well.

Even if she said something, it would likely just lead to responses like, “How can we believe this!” demanding a proper explanation.

It could end up being worse than not saying anything at all.

Maru knew that, so she shook her head.

“You don’t need to get scolded by the boss because of me….”

“Well, if I can’t persuade them, then so be it. Either way, it seems like the karaoke and teaser release will be delayed by a week. The boss wouldn’t release it at this timing.”

“Right. So let’s not say anything to the boss to avoid making things awkward—.”

This time, Majiya shook her head.

That was because she had been so exhausted from the escape room attraction that she had left everything to Gong Seung-yeon and boarded the express train to dreamland.

If Seung-yeon had been there instead of Majiya, she would have immediately called Maru, sensing that she was about to say something.

Telling her to shut her mouth right away.

“I knew it would be hard for me to take care of everything once the second batch came in. But I can’t just leave everything to chance.”

“…Yeah.”

“I’ll help you, so go home and turn on the stream. The Round Faces are waiting.”

The cracks in Maru’s dam of tears were about to reopen.

After all, she was the one who caused the incident, but who else would take care of her like this besides Majiya?

Maru realized that instead of being jealous that Jia was only taking care of the second batch, she should have been careful not to make mistakes while Jia was busy taking care of them.

“I’m… going to be a cooler… senior….”

“Of course, it’s natural to become a cool senior. If you cry, I’ll leave you here.”

“Huh….”

For the record, Majiya didn’t intentionally split her time to take care of Maru’s mistake.

That Saturday, a massive collaboration that had been promised awaited Majiya.

In a way, it was a clever trick by Majiya to avoid creating a new schedule.

However, the fact that she cared for Maru during her busy time was not something just anyone could do.

This was how Majiya gained the trust of the members while also being cost-effective.

As soon as Cheon Do-hee heard Majiya’s proposal, she nodded thoughtfully, resting her chin on her hand.

“So, since we’re delaying the teaser release by a week anyway, you’re going to go watch a baseball game with KraeMang this week to divert attention?”

“Yes.”

The fans still didn’t know that Majiya was going to watch a baseball game with KraeMang this Saturday.

KraeMang would be attending the opening game, and while they mentioned having one guest, they hadn’t revealed the identity of that person as a special guest in advance.

The reason was due to Majiya’s uniqueness.

KraeMang was a major player in Korea with over three million subscribers.

They often had popular idol singers and famous guests on their broadcasts, so when a guest was announced, people would eagerly anticipate who it would be.

If Majiya announced her appearance in advance, it would be like advertising to everyone going to the opening game, “Majiya is here!”

While KraeMang might not know much about Virtual YouTubers, they had made various efforts to enjoy the baseball game without being disturbed by Majiya, who was much younger.

It was surprising that no leaks had occurred even after promising a collaboration and doing a broadcast together.

KraeMang didn’t grow to three million subscribers for no reason.

They had gone through all sorts of ups and downs to reach their current position, and while their speaking speed had slowed down, they were famous for not making verbal slips.

“So, how are you planning to divert attention? Let’s hear that first, and I’ll judge.”

“I don’t have any big plans right now…. But I’ve definitely thought of one thing.”

Even if she revealed that she was Majiya during the game, someone might recognize her and come looking for her, so KraeMang said they would give her a chance to promote Parallel in the car on the way back after the game.

Majiya planned to say this at that time.

“Next week, there will be news that will surprise the fans. Please look forward to it.”

In other words, it was a vague statement meant to stoke the flames even more.

Right now, fans were burning with curiosity over whether Majiya would debut as a second batch trainee, and by Saturday, they would likely evolve on their own.

The plan was to pour oil on that fire intentionally.

After all, no one would expect that the surprising news would be the release date of a new song with CAT, the two giants of the Korean music industry.

It wasn’t a complete lie, as it would lead fans to mistakenly think it was an announcement of Majiya’s debut, and any complaints about being misled would be quelled by the excitement of the news that CAT was supporting Parallel.

Soon, after weighing all the pros and cons of this approach, Dohee said.

“In the end, if it’s going to burn either way, we might as well set everything ablaze….”

It was a scheme that could make one think of a villain, which was amusing.

But no matter how much she thought about it, Dohee couldn’t come up with a better alternative, leaving her dumbfounded.

“Maybe I’ve been influenced by you after knowing you for a while. Why does this seem like the best option?”

Jia dropped her mouth corners.

“That’s a problem. The boss always needs to remain objective to prevent me from going off the rails.”

“No. I’m still objectively considering it. But I’m saying this because I like it….”

“If the boss says so, then that must be right.”

Dohee gave a long look.

“I appreciate that you always trust me. But you should speak up when you feel something is off, okay? Don’t just say yes to everything.”

“I always speak up when I feel something is off—.”

“Leave out the part where you criticize or nitpick with a villainous mindset.”

“Then I might as well not say anything… Aaaah.”

Drrr.

After a light flick on the head, Majiya spoke.

“So, what should we do?”

After all, Parallel’s response to the Majiya debut rumors had always been consistent.

Thorough disregard and blockage. A firm statement that they had no intention of doing so.

So, this time, it was just a matter of maintaining the same attitude.

Along with a spoonful, no, a bucketful of Majiya’s clever wordplay.

And what Cheon Do-hee said earlier was no joke.

Since Majiya had proven herself over time, Dohee was already starting to look forward to what interesting results would come this time.

“Alright. Let’s proceed.”