gain's mother was only 16 when she discovered that she was pregnant. her boyfriend's family were scandalized and quickly pulled him to another school, and gain's mother was forced to drop out to raise her child. growing up it was more like having a sister than a mother, gain spending most afternoons in her mother's hair salon listening in to the latest neighborhood gossip while she did her homework. her mom was much more open about topics like sex than the average korean mother and gain always had a flock of girls under her wing at school who looked up to her as an all-knowing expert on the topic. until she turned 16 her mother was her best friend, her entire world. they rarely had money and lived from paycheck to paycheck, but she was never unhappy.

in high school, her mother remarried. the man was wealthy and she found herself living in an apartment with a living room the size of their entire last apartment. her stepfather, however, was not fond of his wife carrying baggage from a previous relationship, and was extremely cruel to gain in many ways. she found herself acting out, drinking, smoking, dating around, anything to get her away from her stepfather's control. by the time she graduated she'd figured out how to spend as little time at home as possible, spending the night wherever she could. she took two years off after graduating high school to save money (and if you ask how she made her money you'll be met with nothing more than a smile and a week) and was thankfully accepted to yonsei. a sorority was like a dream come true, the idea of being surrounded by people who loved and cared for her for the first time in years, but zta may have given her more than she'd bargained for.