Swiss Stakes

Hiding in Plain Sight

Should she.

No she shouldn't. She promised.

Se-ri sat by the round table with a steaming cup of coffee, eyes on her phone, a polished finger hovering above the icon of her browser app.

She was on vacation, she was not supposed to be checking emails or reading articles. Day 1 was an exception because she needed to know more about Se-joon and Ja-rang's movements.

But it was that for that same reason why she needed to be aware. The foundation inaugural event took place the previous night, Ja-rang was present and was taking photos. Se-ri was sure there would be an article about it in High Access and she needed to know what was written.

"Tch," Se-ri bit into the bullet, tapping the app once and setting her cup aside.

The search app loaded and right enough, there at rank number 7 and 8 of the day's top trending topics at home: yoon seri, yoon seri dress.

That she was a top trending topic used to be a normal day occurrence. Her team knew what to do, what stories to spin in the case of a denial or what product to push to capitalize on the attention. It was a morning meeting topic that she took along with her breakfast croissant. Years ago, she would have enjoyed it and would even deign to ask why she was not ranked higher if there was an especially juicy topic.

Now she was feeling nauseous.

The scholarship foundation was her pride and joy, a scapegoat project with a hidden intention but one she had watered lovingly and said 10 nice words to every day so it could flourish. It was her source of inspiration, a worthwhile distraction and ultimately an important endeavor the more it had gotten bigger. That it was now a society ball in the eyes of a lifestyle magazine made her ill. Of course she wanted attention, but not the kind that attracted flies that peered into who attended, what they wore and what lurid stories might have gone on.

But she could take it, she braved the article that started it all: Ji Ja-rang's write-up of the inaugural event. Immediately the following stood out:

How unnecessarily flowery Ja-rang was

How Se-joon portrayed himself as part of the masterminds behind the project

How involved he was in the approval and selection of scholars

How he spoke to Se-ri often and saw it as a family effort

How Se-joon liked music at a young age

How there were more exclusive photos on the next issue of High Access to be released next month

Se-ri would not begrudge her brother the opportunity to brag, after all the Queen's Group was paying a significant contribution. But to have him call the foundation his as much as it was hers...

If the article were a piece of newspaper she would have crumpled it and torn it to pieces.

The majority of the photos posted were group shots with one couple shot of Se-joon and Hye-ji and two of the participants, Sol-mi was not included.

Then a section dedicated to: Yoon Se-ri, Belle of the Ball.

Ja-rang cited what was for the most part public information. But coming from him, Se-ri could not help but feel exposed. He dabbled on her frequent travels to Switzerland and her business ventures there, her active role in the foundation 'despite her demanding schedule with Seri's choice'. There were a couple of photos of her, a zoomed-in photo of her onstage with the scholars and one speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Hess.

That last photo gave her pause, it seemed innocuous enough (and quite effective as it triggered the search for her dress). She was pictured in a cheerful mood, showing her side profile in the middle of an engaging conversation.