The Manager
The tournament hosted by Support's Fault was already stirring up a serious buzz. It wasn't just the captains riding the wave—every player under them was hauling in far more viewers than usual, and you could see them soaking up the benefits.
"Hey, could you not tell them that? The new people keep walking in with some fixed idea already."
A bigger audience was welcome. The aggro swelling right along with it was not. At my perfectly reasonable objection, the mischievous viewers just laughed and fired back.
"Wait—so this is my fault?"
"No, that's not what I—"
The question stabbed in sharp and fast, and for once it actually flustered me. I wasn't about to hand them the momentum, though. This time I hit back.
"It's not like only adults watch my stream. High schoolers, fine, I'll give you that. But anyone younger... yeah. It can be a little much for middle schoolers. That's all."
"You're the one who's blacklisted, punk!"
Faces plated in iron never answered to words. You ruled them with a mace. One forced removal later, the chat purified itself a little—and stayed packed all the same. A quick check showed the count bouncing between 470 and 500.
At that size, nobody was going to call me a bottom-tier BJ anymore. The pride felt good. The problem sitting right beside it did not. I wanted to keep the chat in hand, but it was starting to be more than I could manage, and in the end I had no choice but to make a serious call.
"I'm going to hire a chat manager. I'll open an application thread on my channel board right now, so if you're interested, please sell yourselves. I'd appreciate it."
There were still about two hours until team practice. Perfect—I'd pick a chat manager today. I put the application up on the channel at once and shared the screen with the viewers.
"All right. I'm genuinely curious who's going to apply."
While the viewers batted opinions back and forth, the first and second applications landed at the same time.
"Okay! Let's read the first applicant. I wonder how brilliantly they pitched themselves."
A little hopeful, I clicked the first post.
"...?"
"Haa. Anyone who plays number games after this gets blacklisted. Consider yourselves warned. Delete the posts yourselves."
The fourth and sixth applications vanished on the spot. Were pranks really this much fun? I sighed and was just reaching for the second post when the viewers frantically tried to stop me.
"...Are you serious?"
The entire chat flooded the screen with the same plea: do not, under any circumstances, click it. I asked them to bear with me, covered the broadcast for a moment, and opened the post anyway. An explicit photo was sitting right there.
I deleted it, copied the author's nickname, and added them to the blacklist. The name wasn't familiar in the slightest, and that was the one small mercy. If it had been someone who'd actually been watching my stream, the betrayal would have stung.
"Thanks for telling me. They're blacklisted, and the post is gone. Next."
Posts one and two had both been duds, so the excitement had cooled a little—but the thought of finally seeing a normal applicant put real force behind the click.
"Finally, a normal person. Ah... why does this almost make me want to cry?"
"You've watched for a long time, and I get the feeling you'd really give it everything if I trusted you with it. I'll shortlist you for now."
"If you mock or talk down other viewers, I will scold you on the spot. Kind chat only, please."
I reined in the jealous chat and moved on to the next post.
"Ah..."
This one was awkward to comment on. Calling yourself unemployed did leave a slightly sour impression, so I opened my mouth with a little advice folded in.
"Um... if I may say one thing. I think of a stream as entertainment. A game. It's great if you enjoy it and blow off stress, but please always put real life first, and watch in whatever free time you've got left. I'd be grateful."
"...Rejected."
Insolent gold spoon. On behalf of every dirt spoon in this country, I am never forgiving that.
"Huh? And what's with this applicant? Why are there so many comments?"
Curiosity won. I clicked the post without even waiting for the viewers to answer.
"Uh... YouTube."
"No leeway. Weird chat doesn't get through."
I kicked a viewer while wearing a perfectly calm face, but the truth was I was badly startled. An editor that skilled, that well-known, was showing interest in me.
It was an offer that made my mouth water. The timing, though, was awful.
For a while, anything besides the tournament is going to be rough. Chase two rabbits and I could lose them both.
A shame, but I decided to save it for another day. In that spirit, I put ACupDetector on the shortlist too.
"Why are the awful viewers multiplying all of a sudden?"
After that I shortlisted about two more people who seemed all right. Four in total. Out of them, I'd pick one manager to work as the main and one as an assistant.
"Hmm... I'm not sure how good a deal it is, but you'd get added on messenger, right? And if I run a thank-you event later, I want to at least get you a small gift for the trouble."
The chat became a battlefield in a heartbeat. I forced myself to ignore the howling—like something rising out of hell—and posted a poll for the four candidates, a chance for the viewers to vote in real time.
The vote was anything but fair. Jealousy, maybe. The two candidates who looked impressively qualified barely received a vote, while the ballots poured onto the other two—the ones who'd proudly announced they were unemployed.
Aigoo. These troublemakers.
In the end I deleted the poll and decided to choose the managers the way my heart wanted.
"Quiet. I was going to turn the cam on when we play later, but if you keep this up, it's canceled."
The way they swapped stances was honestly Udyr-tier.
Public opinion settled either way. I went with the one who'd felt right from the very start—HanisUncleFan as main manager, and ACupDetector as assistant.
"You two, send your messenger codes to my inbox. I'll add you."
I granted both of them permanent manager status and checked the time. Somehow, the hour we'd agreed on had already arrived.
"Give me a second to check the settings."
I looked over the camera framing I'd set before going live, and the lights I'd bought new just for today. On Discord, Mia, Lac, and Waka were already connected. Only Wagyu still had to show.
"Fair warning. Just because I'm running a cam room, if you go advertise in the other members' streams or stir up trouble in there, you're blacklisted on the spot. I've warned you."
"If you're curious, see for yourself."
And in the center of the screen, I appeared.