I've Shown Enough
The glow stick waving in the chat window didn't stop even after the short rap ended. Rain, the star of today's show, was absolutely floored as she watched.
They'd known each other for nearly a year now. The fact that she'd never shown this side before made the shock even bigger. Voice impressions? She always claimed she watched the members' streams every day, but she'd never done it in front of them. Singing? Even when the first generation went to karaoke after dinners or collabs, she'd always sit in the back and just tap a tambourine.
From the moment she debuted, Momo—the CEO—had assigned Mazia to her with the instruction to use her freely. That created a fair amount of internal closeness, but this was just too different from the image she'd shown until now.
A cute but shady little brat. Yet her nickname, Jia-bomba, came from the way she constantly dropped facts on the first generation like bombs. It was hard to believe someone's name could be a nuclear warhead, but her speech was always short and to the point. Every time she calmly pointed out the facts without a shred of emotion, it felt like getting punched even though she used polite speech.
Of course, she only ever pointed out mistakes without adding unnecessary commentary, so the members had never really been burned by it. Anyway, despite her cute and lovable appearance, she wasn't the type of character you wanted to pat on the head. She was simply the CEO's loyal subordinate and confidant. Her position was basically that of an annoying little kid who only listened to the boss.
And now that Jia-bomba had revealed this shocking talent. Without any warning, too.
Naturally, Rain—who had already debuted as a singer once in the States—started wondering if this was all part of some noise marketing campaign.
If she was just a regular employee filling in as Dora's substitute and only doing her job, there was no need to be this good. Of course, they were still in the middle of the broadcast, so Rain couldn't just sit there spacing out. There would be plenty of time to ask after it was over.
“Whoa, C-Rain. That was insane! Nice kick! But I can do it just as good. Let's really go at it! Let's go!”
It might have been a bit too difficult for the pond-dwellers, but there were clearly some weak spots in Mazia's rap. She'd imitated the way Americans who had lived there a long time slurred their slang and abbreviations pretty well, but the result was subtly different from Rain's. Still, that was the kind of difference only someone as obsessed with hip-hop as Rain would notice. And Rain was deliberately pretending not to be herself today just to heat up the atmosphere.
In other words, if Rain copied the exact same part Jia had just done? It would create an impossible binary choice that even the genuine Rain-fan president wouldn't be able to solve.
The president—that is, BigChunk—kept dragging things out like he was deep in thought, so I checked what was going on. It looked like he was expecting the collective intelligence of the Parallel gallery. So I kindly gave him the correct answer. After all, I'm just a similar-looking side character, not the main character. It's better for both the viewers and Rain to be happy, and the right choice does that. Of course my wicked instincts were leaning toward making the viewers suffer and giving Rain something to tease them with... but after five years of socialization under the boss's hand, I'd become the kind of good person who chooses the option where no one gets hurt.
— Hurry up and chooseeeeeee
— Think about the butt behind you too
— The pond-dwellers are gonna wither and dieeeeeee
— Choose alreeeeeady
Surely he wouldn't get it wrong after I even told him the answer? I leaned back in my chair relaxedly.
The moment I heard the president's answer, my body shot up like a spring. The C-Rain linked to me also sprang upright.
“No, this son of a...”
Thanks to the boss's socialization training, I'd learned to hold back my curses, but that one was close. Good thing I'd kept the mic muted the whole time. But still, even after I told this idiot the answer...
[Rain: Jia pretend to be me. let's go]
[Rain: I'll reveal the truth]
[Parallel Operations Team Mazia: Yes]
Still, it was a relief that Rain seemed fine with it. The way she was cruelly toying with the president actually fit her broadcast vibe perfectly. Her streams often turned into idol-level diss battles, so you could say her love for her viewers was pretty intense.
Anyway, since Rain asked me to pretend to be her, I first praised the president.
“As expected. Ah, I believed in you. BigChunk. I knew you'd find me.”
The president kept cheering with excitement. Looked like he'd have to live as a poop chunk for the next six months... Yeah, hang in there. I offered a small silent prayer in my heart and waited for the real Rain's words.
The flustered president started making excuses.
Despite his protests, there was no stopping the flow of him getting kicked out of the voice chat. Soon he was pouring out bloody tears in Rain's TalkCode chat room.
I was worried Rain might actually be mad, but she seemed to be having way too much fun. Her expression basically screamed 'This is perfect YouTube content and perfect for milking donations.'
I wondered how many pond-dwellers would pass this high-difficulty test. But by the time the content ended, about half of the twenty pond-dwellers had successfully obtained pizza. Some people managed to break through the pizza defense line thanks to Jia making mistakes when she ran out of song repertoire.
The viewer count that started at five thousand had reached fifteen thousand right before the broadcast ended. That was fifty percent higher than the expected ten thousand.... Parallel itself was already certain this content was a huge success. And as if to prove that success, once the broadcast ended, people's attention naturally turned to the identities of the actors who had made the content shine.
As if to satisfy that anticipation, Rain introduced today's actors one by one starting from B-Rain.
“It was so hard....”
“Do you pond-dwellers really want to die? Even if my voice is loud, how loud could it possibly be?!”
“Dongles, come to my stream later.”
And finally. The turn of D, who everyone was most curious about.
However, for the sake of employee protection, Jia's introduction had to be kept to a minimum. And this was something we'd coordinated before the broadcast.
But as planned, when Jia was introduced that way, the backlash was enormous. Cheon Do-hee, who had been watching, pouted and muttered.
“...Just as expected.”
In truth, from the moment Jia showed off talent far beyond imagination, this result had been inevitable. It had properly stimulated the viewers' curiosity, which always chased after more stimulating flavors. If they hid her too much in this situation, the fire would only burn hotter. If left alone, it would only make things difficult for Rain, who had to do the after-party broadcast tomorrow. But if they introduced her too properly, it might cause unnecessary speculation. Like the idea that Jia, who already had so much work, really needed to debut or something.
Her voice was the complete opposite of Rain's husky one—it was cute, so the impact would be considerable. But this was like drawing a clear line and telling them not to cross it. Your interest is appreciated, but let's keep it to today only. Something like that.
However, if there was one thing Cheon Do-hee hadn't expected, it was Mazia's unchanging belief. Even if she appeared on broadcast, she firmly believed her role should only be to make the first generation shine.
“Hello, everyone in the pond. I am employee A from the operations team who became Rain for today.”
Therefore, Mazia chose not to turn off the voice changer and to bury herself under Rain's voice.
“Since I am Rain's shadow, please don't be curious about my voice. If you all enjoyed today's stream, that's enough for me. Please continue to love our first generation Another, and especially our Rain.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Jia even moved her avatar down below the screen. It was like drawing a clear line saying her role ended here. But people always want to do what they're told not to. The curiosity to uncover truths they don't know is simply human instinct.
That's why Mazia's words set a massive fire in the viewers' hearts.