Even before she struts up to the table where we are seated, our eyes are drawn to the tall, slim and pretty South Korean woman who has just walked in through the coffee shop entrance.

She is dressed in a white, see-through top paired with a short, red skirt and a pair of black platform shoes. Striking as it is, she tells us later that this is not her work attire.

She approaches the team that includes an interpreter, stretches out her hands and introduces herself in halting English, with a Korean-accented drawl: "I'm Snowy. Nice to meet you."

The New Paper on Sunday team had called several telephone numbers listed on various online sites before we finally decided on meeting her. We were told we had to pay $250 cash for just a 45-minute chat.

Snowy - she prefers to be known by the booking moniker she uses for her services - is willing to talk about her stint as an "everything freelancer" on the condition that we do not use her real name.

The 25-year-old, who is here on a work pass, claims that she freelances for modelling to social escort assignments that sometimes come with extra services.

Modelling is a "must do" because of her work permit. "I don't have a choice but I don't really like it because I get paid very little," she says.

She makes about $300-$350 for each four-hour photoshoot session for magazines and sometimes, publicity material for Korean retail stores.

The real money, she confesses, comes from the social escort assignments that take up "almost 90 per cent of my time".

Her profile is available on at least three different websites, even though she has registered with only one agent.

Snowy deflects questions on the agent with "don't ask me details about him" and claims that he works back home in South Korea in the capital Seoul.

"I don't want any trouble. I am not even giving you my new mobile number, which I'm getting after this interview," she says.

She first met the Singaporean "ajusshi" (uncle in Korean) when she was working as a receptionist in a gift shop in Busan, South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, about three years ago.

She says: "He told my colleagues (at the gift shop) and me that he was a talent scout based in Seoul.

"He asked if we were interested in coming to Singapore to work as models, or even actresses."

Snowy admits that she was attracted to the possibility of earning "at least $4,000 a month".

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