Mina doesn’t like this. She doesn’t like this at all.

But she knows she has no choice.

When she first saw Hirai Momo, Mina was with her best friend Jihyo. The two of them are freshmen, with Mina majoring in Biology and Jihyo in Management. But even then, they had heard of Korea University’s infamous group Twice, which is composed of Hirai Momo, Son Chaeyoung, Chou Tzuyu, and Yoo Jeongyeon. A lot of girls and boys drool over them, want to be like them. But Mina doesn’t get it. All she sees are a bunch of conceited rich girls who think they have it all. And when she saw them, she swore she would never interact with them.

But now she’s going to be the girlfriend of one of them.

It started when she made friends with Minatozaki Sana, a girl in her Math class. The girl easily made Mina comfortable with her with her high-pitched laughter. One day as they were walking to class, Sana mentioned Momo’s offer.

“Momo wants you to be her girlfriend,” Sana said suddenly.

“Eh?” was all Mina could muster. How does Hirai Momo know her? They never had any interaction whatsoever.

“Well, at first she wanted Dahyun, but I told her she couldn’t have my Dubu. So she told me to look for someone else for her. And then I met you! And here we are.”

So Momo really doesn’t know her; this is all Sana’s doing, Mina thought.

“I’m sorry but Momo isn’t my type,” Mina told Sana. “Not that I’m not into girls, but—”

“Momo’s willing to pay 1 billion Won (about 870,000 US dollars) for you to be her girlfriend.”

Mina blinked. 1 billion Won? That’s enough to pay their family’s debt, and pay for her remaining semesters in college. Mina was quiet for the rest of the walk to their classroom, thinking deeply about the offer. Even though she doesn’t like the idea of dating any member of Twice, she could really use the money. Plus she’s never been in a relationship before, so this would be a good practice, right?

So here she is now, standing outside Hirai Momo’s house—no, mansion—no, castle. Sana texted her Momo’s address (Mina still doesn’t understand why Momo isn’t reaching out to her directly), and when Mina hops off the taxi, she presses the doorbell beside the enormous black gate. The gate opens automatically after a few seconds, and a woman riding a golf cart appears into view.

“Good morning,” the lady greets her. She looks just a year or two older than Mina. “My name is Im Nayeon. My family takes care of the Hirai residence. I take it you’re…”

“Myoui Mina,” she responds.

“Myoui. Right. Well, hop in; Ms. Hirai is expecting you.”

Mina obeys and sits beside Nayeon. She takes in the scenery: the flowers, the fountain, the golf course… The Hirais truly are rich, Mina thinks to herself. That billion Won offer might even be less than one percent of their family’s annual income; that’s why it was so easy for Momo to offer that amount.

“Momo-yah,” Nayeon calls as they step inside the mansion, “Ms. Myoui is here.”

Mina turns to Nayeon. “Please, just call me Mina.”

Nayeon smiles briefly, then her expression turns into that of an annoyed one. She looks up to the second floor and calls out again, but much louder this time, “Hirai Momo—”

“I’m here!” Momo shouts.

Nayeon sighs and looks back at Mina. “You can go up now. Momo’s inside the room at the middle. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Mina nods. “Kamsahamnida, Nayeon-unnie.”

Nayeon smiles at her again and disappears to the next room. Mina takes a deep breath before climbing up the stairs and cheers for herself.

“You can do this, Mina-ssi. Hwaiting!”