A Crew Like 'Family'
What exactly is a crew member who feels like 'family'?
Honestly, the title was pure clickbait. Broken down simply, it went something like this.
A family is a community made up of a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, and so on. A group where each person's place and status is clearly defined.
Think about it. Wouldn't it be weird if a family had two fathers? Likewise, two mothers would be a problem too.
Hm? Calling me out for discriminating against sexual minorities?
Haha…… that issue is none of my business. The point here is that a group is healthy when everyone's role is clearly defined.
I believe the same applies to crews.
A crew where members' images, personalities, and specialties all overlap? Honestly, I don't think that kind of crew has any synergy or merit at all. If anything, the odds of infighting over who's better and who's superior shoot way up.
A responsible, reliable father. A warm, considerate mother. An energetic, mischievous son. An affectionate, sweet daughter.
Just like those family archetypes, crew members absolutely need to bring a variety of different charms to the table.
In that sense, Miho and Lucy made for a pretty well-matched pair of crew members. Each of them had a clearly defined character, didn't they? And neither of them overlapped with me.
So I'd had them earmarked from the start. Those two were getting the spots. Which left me feeling a little guilty toward the other interviewees. Maybe I'd been exploiting their earnest hopes.
So I did my best to support them in my own way.
"Whaaat?! You seriously haven't seen that? Eyes that haven't watched Strong Woman Gang Nam-soon are rare these days."
I actively played along even with the boring candidates' banter.
"Thank you for your hard work, Miru. It's a shame, but let's meet again somewhere more casual next time. And everyone, please do Miru a favor and hit that fan club join button once. Hm? Come on, kids, help her out. I don't usually say this kind of thing. Save me some face here."
I tried to make sure even a little bit of residual traffic came their way.
"Hyein, unfortunately we'll have to stop here. But next time I'm recruiting for content, I'll definitely reach out. Free pass, guaranteed."
If Candy leftovers weren't an option, I pulled every other lever I had.
Whether the audience sensed my sincerity or not, even after the two pre-selected candidates received their stamps of approval, public opinion stayed friendly. It was the kind of atmosphere where people just clapped and said the right people won.
To be fair, objectively speaking, those two really did stand out. The other participants had shown up on a day's notice and often hadn't even prepared a presentation, but those two had practiced for at least a week. Lucy's singing, in particular, drew thunderous applause from countless viewers. After standing on a few big stages, she seemed a little less nervous now.
"Alright, then, let's welcome our final candidate. Her nickname is Mayo. Come on in."
"Hello. I'm Mayo."
Beside me, an avatar appeared — silver hair, blue eyes, dressed in a school uniform. But the top of her head was… peculiar. It looked like she'd been cooking and accidentally dumped a thick liquid all over herself, staining her hair a yellowish color.
It was so different from her V-mellodi days that I couldn't help but ask.
"Uh…… what's that thing on your head?"
"Mayo."
"Sorry? Ah, I already heard your nickname is Mayo. I mean that thick liquid-looking stuff on the right side of your head right now."
"Mayo."
"……."
Is this kid messing with me right now?
I nearly lost it for a second, but once I calmed down and thought it through, the answer came easily. The origin of the nickname Mayo. Considering that, it was a simple problem.
"Ah. Mayonnaise. Haha."
"Mayo!"
She shot me a look that said, Took you long enough.
I never got it when I was just a viewer, but now that I was on the receiving end, I suddenly understood why Mayo's nickname had been "the little brat who pisses you off."
"Could you explain the origin of your nickname for the audience?"
"Mayo loves mayonnaise more than anything in the world."
"Ah, so that's why the nickname is Mayo?"
Haha. She was really locking in hard on the RP.
Could it be that the Mayo I'd known before had been filtered through Blueby's hands? If Blueby had genuinely taken this little gremlin and sanded her down into something relatively normal, then Blueby's abilities were no joke.
But I wasn't about to give that a purely positive evaluation. Even if Blueby's approach was aimed at mass appeal, the streaming world was ultimately a place where people with personality succeeded. If pure survival was the priority, Blueby's method might have been right — but I didn't rate Mayo's talent that low.
"Alright then, shall we get into the real self-introduction? Let's see how well you've prepared."
A self-intro meant a well-made presentation was the bare minimum. I was holding a little expectation when Mayo, full of momentum and even throwing in sound effects with her mouth, pulled out the self-introduction she'd prepared.
"……."
I was momentarily speechless.
Was this… MS Paint?
From the crooked "Nickname: Mayo" scrawled at the top all the way down to the drawing of herself, every single thing was a mess. No, what kind of stick figure did she draw and bring in here?
I fixed her with an icy stare, and she offered one line.
"You just don't understand art."
"……."
I really wanted to flick this kid on the forehead.
But separate from how much she was pissing me off, the viewers' reactions were fantastic. Their eyes had locked onto the title written under the nickname: eighteen years old this year, second-year high school girl.
My head was spinning. The chat felt like I was reading posts from Pan-beo-gal.
I frowned and issued a warning.
"Everyone, read the room. You know what happens if you talk carelessly to a minor, right?"
In the slightly stiffened atmosphere, I slowly went through Mayo's self-introduction with her. Thankfully, the only real problem was that her drawing skills were an absolute disaster — the actual content was pretty thorough.
First, pitching her own strengths.
"Mayo plays a lot of LoL, and the man's lane — top — is the main position."
"Oh! I play a lot of jungle. A duo sometime wouldn't be bad."
"Duo with a butcher is a bit……"
"Excuse me?"
Mayo's rank was Platinum, which put her in the upper tier among female streamers. But compared to me, who'd hit Master before the regression, it was a little underwhelming.
Cocky little brat. I'd have to properly school her one of these days.
"I work hard at singing!"
"Yeah, you'd better work really hard. For real."
"……."
Heh. Revenge secured.
Mayo's strengths and weaknesses were clear-cut. First of all, she had a good mouth on her. Plus that boldness typical of kids these days? Even in unexpected situations, she never flustered and kept firing off banter — her natural ad-libs were on par with Miho's, never mind Lucy's.
And being young is an advantage too. "Age is power" is a saying that holds true even in the streaming world.
Female streamers inevitably feel their popularity decline as they get older. But being eighteen was a powerful weapon all on its own. It meant her remaining broadcast lifespan was extremely long. On top of that, there was the rarity of being an actual high school student.
Her weird eating habits could also become a solid weapon if I develop them into content properly.
She hadn't picked the nickname Mayo for nothing. Mayo's bombshell confession that mixing mayonnaise into her rice was a daily routine — for someone like me who knew that "gross food roulette" content had once been a trend in the Pangea TV virtual scene, it felt like a meaningfully loaded talent.
The downside is still that her personality is too strong, isn't it?
Boldness and rudeness were a hair's breadth apart. If the person on the other end of the banter didn't play along, the atmosphere would freeze over in an instant, and Mayo might end up branded in the community as a streamer with no manners.
"So what's my interview result? Mayo wants to join the crew."
That same boldness, asking first again. A confident voice without a single tremor, putting Mayo's four-dimensional character on full display.
Hah. What the hell was I supposed to do with this kid. Honestly, I was worried. If I just left her free-range, would she slip up and take a one-way trip to cancellation hell?
Just take her? No. I've got way too much on my plate right now. But she keeps sticking in my mind. Honestly, three crew members is also a bit thin. Hmm, is there a reasonable middle ground?
I wanted Mayo. She didn't overlap with me, Lucy, or Miho in character, and she was overflowing with more personality than anyone. But she was a burden for the moment. I needed an adjustment period for the crew system myself. The plan I'd set up from the start was closer to a three-person crew anyway.
Isn't there a good method? A way to reduce the burden while still keeping Mayo locked in.
If I left her free-range and she got dragged off by Blueby like before the regression, I'd be too sick to my stomach to sleep.
Meanwhile, the viewers were in an uproar.
I never expected the audience sentiment to be this good.
As I scanned the chat, I found a hint I hadn't even been looking for.
On hold? That's it. That's exactly it.
A stroke of pure genius.
I turned to Mayo, who was waiting for the results.
"Mayo, you pass. Congratulations."
"Waaaaah! Mayo passed!"
"However! You won't be a full crew member. We'll start with an internship period first."
"Eh? Internship?"
"A crew like 'family' always requires an internship period, you see."
"……."
The bright smile that had been lighting up Mayo's face just seconds ago — I wiped it clean off with a cold smirk.
And so, the crew like 'family' made its debut.