An Unexpected Figure
I slept in for the first time in a while.
Probably the aftereffects of staying on the phone with Lucy late into the night. As a pro streamer I tried to keep a regular lifestyle, but last night had been force majeure. When your bias is murmuring soft little whispers right into your ear over the phone, how are you supposed to resist that?
Just five more minutes. Just three more minutes. Just one more minute. I kept saying it until I finally drifted off around two in the morning.
Still, I had to take meaning from the fact that we'd gotten closer. Honestly, my confidence was up now. Hadn't Lucy gotten closer to me than to Blueby? I'd heard contact between them had grown sparse lately.
But I couldn't let my guard down. The last time we talked, she'd said she was slowly preparing to debut on Pangea TV. Thinking back to how, before the regression, she'd only crossed over when Rena World was already well underway — there had clearly been a change.
Did it get faster because of me?
The variables that kept spawning made my head ache. It would have been nice if I could reduce them, but they were like taxes that only grew the more I performed — nothing I could do about it. All I could do was factor them in and plan carefully…
"Ugh."
Checking the time, it was already 8:40. I washed up quickly, came out, stretched, and finished breakfast. A glance at the stock app showed Pangea TV already up +2% from the opening price today.
Heh heh. You fools. If you'd believed me and followed along, you'd be sitting on nearly 10% gains combining the two days of rises. With this, the buzz around me would keep burning hot today too.
But that alone felt a little unsatisfying. So I decided to throw in one more delicious piece of bait.
The Bang-sel sales announcement.
I planned to put them up for sale after today's crew interview content wrapped. With more viewers than usual gathered for the content, the pool of potential customers would grow too. Someone might ask why I was making such a fuss over mere Bang-sel, but the value of goods is relative. Unlike the small-time transfer streamers who sold Bang-sel willy-nilly, blinded by immediate income, I had been the type who firmly refused even when inquiries came in. On top of that, my name value was embarrassingly different from those small streamers. My streaming career might have been short, but in pure recognition I was already comparable to the named small-timers.
That alone was a merit — and I added one more device. Limited edition. I put out a firm warning that if you missed this chance, who knew when I'd sell Bang-sel again. And beyond that, I was confident in the quality. Bang-sel of a completely different level from other existing virtuals.
Limited edition plus premium? How was anyone supposed to resist that?
Comments started flooding the announcement post. Whew. With this, I needed to fill the hungry wallet's belly too. Between the crew and the state of my finances, it was bound to be a busy day in every direction.
After clearing out all the miscellaneous tasks, I slowly started checking the interview application comments under the announcement post I'd written yesterday.
"Nice. More than I expected."
Freeca, Rena Universe, and V-topia had such high name value, sure — but someone of my level wasn't the type to cower wherever I went. I'd preempted the market, built a decent fixed fanbase, and my recognition was high. Thanks to that, small streamers looking for a hill to lean on had applied for interviews in droves.
Mixed among them, Miho and Lucy's comments. A strange feeling washed over me all over again. Regression itself was amazing enough — becoming a woman's body on top of that. And as if that weren't enough, debuting as a streamer and forming a crew with the broadcaster who had been my bias. If I told anyone this story, I'd be written off as a mental patient on the spot.
Feeling that peculiar sentiment, I was scrolling down when the nickname on the last comment snagged both my eyes.
"Huh?"
At first I thought I'd misread it. But no matter how many times I looked again, the nickname on the comment didn't change. What kind of twist of fate was this? A member of V-mellodi from before the regression I had never expected — Mayo's nickname was stamped there, vivid and clear.
So that was why I'd felt déjà vu. Come to think of it, Miho had also suddenly applied for the immigration content and we'd met that way. A scary thought flickered through my mind. Don't tell me Blueby would apply for the next content? Just imagining it made my body tremble. Trauma, I supposed. Before the regression, Lucy and Blueby had been so tightly bound in a hierarchical relationship that I still got unconsciously influenced sometimes. Whew. I really needed to shake that off by now.
"We'll wait for our turn. See you later."
"Seo-a, fighting!"
Before I knew it, it was time to start the crew interview stream. The two people who'd been chatting until moments ago stepped back, and I quickly finished the broadcast setup. Even so, thoughts of Mayo wouldn't leave one corner of my mind.
Mayo is a streamer with quite a story, too.
Speaking of which — the second broadcast I'd liked and watched most in V-mellodi had been Mayo's. My bias was of course Lucy, but how was a person supposed to live on rice alone? Hmm? Sometimes you craved a snack. And sorry to say it, but honestly Lucy fell into the boring category. Great for listening to calmly, like a healing radio — but the dopamine was quite lacking. What filled that dopamine was Mayo's streams.
Mayo has a ton of rare attributes stacked on her. That kind of streaming talent is rare.
Mayo was underage, a top-lane addict, a yellow mutt, a persimmon tree — a talent monster built for broadcasting in every way. Even Blueby, who had controlled V-mellodi with an iron fist, had found Mayo the only one hard to rein in.
Come to think of it, before the regression the underage attribute was gone. She was twenty-one then.
By that measure, she was surprisingly eighteen now. An age that would make the Pan-beo-gal child-lover crowd's eyes roll back in their heads. Ahem. Let me say this in advance — I don't have any weird tastes like that. I just dropped by when I needed stimulation, because Mayo's streams were pure dopamine pumps.
Anyway, what do I do about this?
With Mayo's completely unexpected application, my heart couldn't find its footing. Honestly speaking, I was tempted. Miho had been an ambiguous member so suppressed by Blueby that she hadn't shown much — but Mayo had displayed definite potential. Meaning she wasn't a member who'd be a loss if brought into the crew.
But if the numbers grow too much, risk management gets hard.
Already, so many things were different from before the regression. Before, she'd been quiet — but now, who knew what kind of accidents she might cause. As crew leader I had to care about those parts, and there were already so many things in progress. Just Lucy and Miho alone was a bit overwhelming for the moment.
No choice. She's an attractive asset, but it's not like there are no other talents in the streaming scene. Let's proceed for now.
While I was deliberating, quite some time had passed. I bustled about to avoid being late.
Recruiting Crew Members Like 'Family'
"Seo-ha, Seo-ha! Stock god Seo-a appears! Anyone who didn't full-buy Pangea TV when Seo-a said so on Friday is a black cow, right?"
Thanks to Pangea TV's stock rising again today, the atmosphere was fiery from the jump. Viewer numbers climbed steadily. Before long they'd passed a thousand.
For a weekday at 5 PM, this kind of start isn't bad.
By the time the content properly kicked off, it would climb higher still. Reassured that the buzz was holding, I explained to the fans — before starting the content — why I wanted to build a crew.
"As I explained last time, I think there's a limit to how far you can go broadcasting alone. If it were a quiet hobby stream you do by yourself, maybe — but honestly, I have ambition. I want to grow the scale of the broadcast, diversify the content… and to do that, I can't hide the fact that I think a crew is necessary."
The vast majority of viewers were positive about forming a crew. As the chat mentioned, crews really did come with a ton of advantages. That said, there were still cases where viewers went unhappy — and usually it was because they didn't like the crew members joining.
On that front, Lucy is a free pass. I've been building goodwill early and force-feeding it to the viewers this whole time.
Even now, the number of people dual-watching Lucy — who was waiting for her interview — and my stream would be considerable. Miho wasn't at that level, but if she joined, the clear majority would be in favor. Thanks to the steady groundwork I'd laid, every indicator was pointing positive.
Alright. Let's make today a good one too.
Today's stream began.