Chapter 1
It all started with a joke.
"Matthew, you should run for Prime Minister!" Hanbin laughed as they sat in their dorm, watching the news.
"Bro, imagine me as the Prime Minister," Matthew snorted, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. "Canada would be doomed."
Unfortunately for him, the universe had a twisted sense of humor.
Somehow, through a mix-up involving a fan-run petition, a fan who had too much time on thier hands (ahem ahem how dare they ) ,a glitch in the electoral system, and a news anchor who really should have fact-checked, Matthew was officially declared the new Prime Minister of Canada.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WON? I DIDN’T EVEN RUN!" Matthew screamed when he saw his face on TV next to the words: "BREAKING NEWS: Matthew Seok—Canada’s Youngest Prime Minister!"
Hanbin choked on his water. "I—wait. Is this even legal?"
"No," Ricky said, mortified. "But here we are.",
Matthew immediately went into crisis mode. "Okay. This is clearly a mistake. We’ll just tell them and—"
A government official knocked on the door.
"Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister. Your first meeting starts in five minutes."
Matthew fainted.
Despite several attempts to clarify the mistake, the Canadian government insisted the results were final. Matthew Seok was now the Prime Minister.
Matthew woke up to the sight of eight very stressed-out members of ZB1 standing over him.
"Hyung, wake up!" Yujin shook him aggressively.
Matthew groaned. "Was it all a bad dream?"
"No," Taerae said flatly. "You’re still Prime Minister."
Matthew groaned louder. "I don’t even know what a Prime Minister does!"
"Neither do I, but that didn’t stop Canada from electing you," Gyuvin said, scrolling through Twitter. "By the way, #MapleMatt and #MashuPM is trending."
"This is a disaster," Hanbin muttered, pacing. "We need a plan. Matthew, you have to at least pretend to be competent!"
"Bro, I barely passed history class."
"That’s fine," Hanbin said, eyes wild. "We’ll do it together. ZB1 will run the government!"
"Absolutely not," Taerae deadpanned.
"Honey you have completely lost it" Jiwoong shuddered.
"Too late! We don’t have a choice!" Hanbin screamed.
And that's how the other members of zb1 became the cabinet
(In the office)
Matthew collapsed dramatically onto a velvet chair in the Prime Minister’s office. “Okay. Fine. I’ll pretend to run the country. But I’m not wearing a tie.”
“That’s the spirit,” Hanbin said, slapping a manila folder onto the desk. “I’ve already made portfolios.”
“You what?”
“Look, we need order. Structure. Democracy ! Okay, actually, not democracy, we’re skipping that part. We’re doing vibes-based governance now.”
Yujin squinted. “That sounds illegal.”
“It is,” Gyuvin confirmed without looking up from his phone. “But Twitter seems to love it.”
Hanbin shoved a folder into each person’s hands. “Here. Assignments.”
Hao blinked at his folder. “Minister of Finance? I can’t even read a bill.”
“You have an aura of responsibility,” Hanbin declared. “It’s about energy, not math.”
Ricky flipped open his folder and smirked. “Minister of International Affairs. Iconic.”
“You speak fluent shade,” Hanbin said. “Diplomacy is just fashion with more lying.”
Yujin stared at his assignment. “Minister of... Agriculture and TikTok?”
“Oh honey , do u remember how you wanted to raise cows? Canada has farms!” Hanbin cooed at his parasocial son.
Gunwook looked offended. “Minister of Defence? I wanted Foreign Affairs!"
“You bench press people, Babe ” Matthew said. “Accept your fate.”
Jiwoong sighed. “And I’m... Minister of Education and Vibes? What even is vibes.."
“You’re smart and old. Perfect for both,” Hanbin said proudly.
“Okay, but what do I do?” Matthew asked.
“You smile, wave, and try not to start a war,” Taerae replied.
“Too late,” Gyuvin murmured. “The French Prime Minister just tweeted ‘quoi??’ with 14 question marks.”
"Oh Mashu What did you do??!!! " they all screamed in unison."
Oh I just asked him if I have access to all the Tim Horton's in the world since I became the prime minister""
"YOU DUCKING MITHERFUCKER"
It started with hunger. Not the metaphorical kind that drives men to power , just the plain, greasy, pepperoni kind.
Matthew, newly and accidentally appointed Prime Minister of Canada, sat cross-legged in his office chair, scrolling through a suspiciously government-branded food delivery app called InVade Eats.
“Why would they call it that?” he muttered, brow furrowed. “Sounds ominous.”
Behind him, Taerae was buried in a stack of legal briefs he didn’t understand. Jiwoong argued with a political analyst over Zoom, still in pajama pants. Hanbin had just created a color-coded crisis board labeled “Things on Fire.”
Gyuvin lay across a velvet couch, idly scrolling through Twitter. “You ordering something?”
“Yeah,” Matthew said. “Pizza. You want?”
“Sure. Just don’t use the Prime Minister login. It overrides national defense or something.”
Matthew, of course, used the Prime Minister login.
Two minutes later, a red ALERT: MISSION IN MOTION banner flashed across every government screen. Sirens began to wail. Somewhere, a jet launched.
"…what did you just do?" Taerae asked without looking up.
Matthew blinked. “I think I accidentally... ordered Norwegian airspace.”
“BRO.”
And just like that, Canada was at war with Denmark over a large pepperoni pizza.