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「アッシーが車で送り迎えをしてくれる人、メッシーが食事をさせてくれる人。もちろんどっちも無償。プレゼント要員として、ミツグ君なんてのもあったな」

「現代で言うとパパ活みたいなものですか。便利ですね」

So the character explains two "dead words". He explains アッシー is someone who gets used for their cars while メッシー is someone who gets used for means and both are free of reward.

Then he adds this

プレゼント要員として、ミツグ君なんてのもあったな」

I'm stumbled on how to take 要員 here? The sentence seems to be "we also have ミツグ君 when it comes to giving presents" But 要員 is "necessary personnel"

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  • 「龍が如く 極み」でしょうか？
    – Angelos
    Commented Jun 16 at 14:34

2 Answers 2

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You shouldn't take "要" or "necessary" too literally. 要員 ("personnel") typically refers to various supporting people necessary to ensure the success of an event or project. For example, in a music concert, performers and directors are essential and generally not referred to as 要員, but you can say 列整理要員が足りない or 清掃要員が必要だ, referring to those in charge of crowd control, cleaning, security and so on. In your context, the connotation of 要員 is that a ミツグ君 is not in a primary role (i.e., serious dating partner) but is still desirable as a supporter to ensure her "successful life".

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  • I see, but how is it modifying プレゼント exactly? Does プレゼント here refer to the act of giving presents?
    – Kawase_K
    Commented Jun 16 at 16:40
  • @Kawase_K The word before 要員 can be a suru-verb, an ordinary verb (as a relative clause) or a simple noun, as long as it makes sense. アッシー can be described as 車要員 or 家まで送る要員, for example.
    – naruto
    Commented Jun 17 at 0:47
  • sorry I should have been clearer, I mean I don't quite understand what the sentence is trying to say. 要員として、ミツグ君なんてのもあったな is understandable by itself, but what does "present" adds? I can't make sense of it.
    – Kawase_K
    Commented Jun 17 at 17:38
  • @Kawase_K A mitsugu-kun is someone who gets used for giving her a gift for free. In other words, it refers to someone who she maintains a relationship with because he is financially useful. Do you understand 貢ぐ? And note that the 要員 is never used without some modifier like 列整理 or プレゼント.
    – naruto
    Commented Jun 17 at 23:28
  • ミツグ君 is on Jisho so I understand what the word means, what I don't understand is what the first part of the sentence is doing, "プレゼント要員として". I understand each words, but not how they are used together. It's defining what a mitsugu-kun is?
    – Kawase_K
    Commented Jun 18 at 11:30
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The speaker is using a made-up term プレゼント要員 as if it were an actual staff position that people have.

A loose translation:

“Asshie was my chauffeur. Messhie was my caterer. There was even Mitsugu, my ‘gifter’”.

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