My Girlfriend is Awesome

Staff hurried back and forth, cameras clicked into place, and a taut hush settled over the studio.

"One minute to Queendom's stage!"

The lights went dark. Four silhouettes stood waiting on the stage.

"Who is it this time?"

A girl in the front row leaned toward her friend.

"A new girl group out of YG Entertainment. They're called Queendom."

"Queendom? Never heard of them. What's the song?"

"First Crown."

"Huh? Who's that?"

While the girls talked, a man in the row behind them tugged his cap lower and pulled out his phone. It was Lee Tae-yang, self-proclaimed eternal rival of Jung Tae-woo.

"Ugh, seriously… what kind of video even is this…"

Tae-yang muttered under his breath and opened the camera app.

His friend—currently tearing it up in the Premier League—had called out of nowhere, and Tae-yang had picked up, genuinely glad to hear from him. The request that followed: film his girlfriend.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I'm not some errand boy… give me a break.

Of course, he was a guy, and he liked girl groups plenty. Showing up here wasn't exactly a loss. Still, taking orders from Tae-woo sat wrong with him.

"When we meet as opponents, I'm gonna bombard him with goals."

They'd signed with the same agency, but given his parents' situation, the plan was already set: a transfer to the Bundesliga next year.

"First Cr—"

He never finished the word. A savage beat exploded from the speakers, and the stage lights flared to life, flooding the hall in color.

"Whoa, they're gorgeous!"

"No way. I've never seen them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and they look like dolls."

The gasps around him were not exaggeration. The four girls onstage had the kind of visuals that didn't quite belong to the real world.

Wait… that's the Mina and Da-min I know?

Tae-yang couldn't hide his shock. The glittering figures onstage had nothing in common with the friend and little sister he saw every day. All four wore matching crystal-bright silver crop tops and high-waisted miniskirts, as if they'd stepped in from another world. Da-min's long waves, dusted with glitter makeup, and Mina's cool smoky eyes only sharpened the effect. Each costume kept its own personality and still locked into a single, flawless unit.

The performance hit with that brutal beat and yanked every other group's fans around to look.

"The one in the center is so pretty…"

"The tall unnie's dancing is insane!"

"Those facial expressions are crazy!"

Phones flashed all through the seats. Rookies or not, the crowd was already falling for Queendom.

"Ah—right! The video—"

Tae-yang had been so locked on the stage he'd nearly forgotten why he was there. He jerked his phone up and started filming, but his eyes kept sliding off the screen and back to the real thing. Even he was gone, completely caught by the performance.

This… Da-min and Mina are actually going to blow up, aren't they?

A smile crept onto his face even as he kept recording.

The video Lee Tae-yang had sent came to an end.

I'd been about to complain—the frame was shaky, the angles a mess—and the words melted in my mouth. More precisely, I understood exactly how Tae-yang had felt while he was shooting it.

If it looks this good on video… seeing it live…

That addictive beat would have anyone nodding along, and the razor-sharp choreography those three girls and one young woman had built together hit like catharsis. Their performance locked together like a finished work of art; even through a phone screen, you could feel the heat of the stage.

And the one who shone brightest among the four—the prettiest, the one who caught the eye and wouldn't let go—was Da-min. Whose girlfriend, you ask?

Ahem… whose girlfriend? Mine.

"Heh-heh-heh…"

"Tae-woo, why are you laughing like that? That's creepy."

Chan-kyu glanced over from beside me, baffled.

"Hyung, seriously…"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Ah—nothing."

I wiped my face in a hurry and swallowed the rest of the grin.

I really want to see Da-min. If I call, will she pick up?

"Tae-woo~"

Chan-kyu's voice drifted over, easy and mild. I looked up.

"You know who the worst person in the world is?"

"Who?"

"Someone who starts talking and then just… stops."

The second he finished, Chan-kyu went for my armpits.

"Aack! Hyung—wait—!"

I can't stand being tickled. I rolled off the sofa, trying to squirm away, but there was no escaping his hands.

"Spill it. What? You've been sitting there grinning—what were you thinking?"

"Ah, come on… hahaha! Hyung, please… khhh—stop!"

"Not until you talk~"

The tickle torture went on, and on the phone screen Da-min was still moving through the choreography.

"Hah… finally over."

I outlasted stubborn Chan-kyu, escaped to my room, and opened the internet.

Lately the internet news had been wallpapered with stories about me. Bit by bit, articles about Queendom were taking over that space.

I opened the comments. The reactions were on fire.

Heh… that's my Da-min…

A smile rose on its own. I went down the thread hitting like on every comment that praised Da-min, and, just as naturally, hitting dislike on every comment that praised my little sister.

Did the big agency hire a comment farm or what… why are there so many Mina compliments.

Girl group debut or not, in my eyes she was still the homeliest little sister alive.

I was in the middle of that like-and-dislike operation when the phone buzzed.

Bzzzt— bzzzt—

Da-min ❤

I answered faster than I ever had diving for a save.

"Yeah. I've been looking."

We'd been dating for a while now, and she still went speechless at that joke. It was cute.

Even her voice was full of shyness—the exact ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠opposite of the girl who'd just torn through a powerhouse routine, charisma blazing. The version of Da-min she only showed me pulled a smile onto my face all by itself.

"Of course I did. Out of the four of you I could only see Da-min… my girlfriend's amazing."

That little hum she made when she was pleased—I laughed out loud. She'd made that sound since we were kids, whenever she was in a good mood. Still the same.

"Obviously. You're the only one I see."

The call ran on, and we lost the clock. I forgot we had team training first thing in the morning. We talked through her debut stage, through the little disasters from practice, through everything. We even forgot the time difference between England and Korea, just rattling on.

Manchester City's starting goalkeeper and a rookie in Queendom. On paper, the pairing made no sense. But here we were, smiling into each other's voices—just two ordinary eighteen-year-olds who'd grown up together and become more than childhood friends.

The top floor of a high-rise. In a wide office overlooking the night city, a man sat in a black leather chair while another stood before him, delivering a report.

"So the company your younger sister founded is…"

"APEX Agent, sir."

"Right… APEX Agent."

The triangular nameplate on the desk of the man receiving the report was engraved in gold.

"Go on."

"Yes, sir. It appears the young lady invested a considerable amount of seed capital. From the start she scouted industry specialists to grow the company, and beginning with Jung Tae-woo, she's been steadily expanding her influence."

"Hmm…"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Eun Sung-joon drummed his fingers on the desk. Kang Min-seok, the secretary standing in front of him, was sweating cold as he waited for an answer and nothing else.

"I don't like it."

Kang Min-seok stepped forward at once.

"Sir, if you… if you move against the young lady this time, the Chairman will not sit still."

The tension in his voice was obvious. He knew Eun Sung-joon's temper too well not to know what I don't like it usually led to.

"True… our precious little sister did raise her voice in front of Father for the first time, just to make that bet."

Kang Min-seok let out a breath of relief.

Thank God… it sounds like he'll leave her alone this time.

The relief lasted less than a second.

"But wouldn't Father also want the company to fail ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fast, so Ga-young comes crawling back into his arms?"

The smile that touched Eun Sung-joon's mouth sent a chill down Kang Min-seok's spine.

"B-but…"

"Hey."

One cold syllable, and the air in the office froze. Kang Min-seok realized his mistake at once and bowed.

"I apologize."

"You know what I mean."

"I'll take care of it."

The secretary's footsteps faded. Eun Sung-joon turned his chair slowly toward the window. Seoul's glittering night reflected in his cold eyes.

The smile on his mouth was full of cruel delight.