If you didn’t know her, you’d think Sora was an average woman working an office job – except she had an office of her own, and it was grand. If you walked into her office and looked at her from afar, you’d think she was an accountant or a lawyer, with tons of books and papers sprawled out everywhere. If you walked past her on the street and blankly glanced for a second, as you may do with many strangers, you would have just disregarded one of the most powerful women in the world.  

Standing at a mere height of 167 centimeters, Sora was tiny compared to all the skyscrapers and buildings she had helped build. She had perfected construction plans and revised blueprints for construction teams all around the world. Despite having such a prominent presence in the architecture industry, she remained a secret to the public, a mere face with little to no backstory.

The few things that were known:

1. She had black hair.

2. She was 28 years old.

3. She’d added her special touch to buildings all around the world.

4. She was a professional in every sense of the word.

But this wasn’t enough. They always wanted to know more.

“Hello, Miss Popular!” Jina, Sora’s manager, stuck her head into the room and came prancing in with a magazine in hand.

“Miss Popular?” Sora questioned, not looking away from her work.

“You know you’re popular when LOEL Magazine talks about you! You’re the first non-celebrity to make the cover!”

Sora set her pencil down and stood up. “How?”

“Someone took this picture of you at the press conference from last week and it ended up on the front page. Look what it says!”

Sora read the title and almost laughed. “‘Who is Sora Lee, Korea’s Architecture Queen?’” She looked at her manager. “What is this?”

Jina shook her head. “I don’t know, honey.” She flipped through the pages. “You’re on the front page but there’s no actual in-depth article written about you, mostly a list of the buildings you’ve put your hands on. They’re getting desperate to know who you are. We’ve been really good about keeping your private life a secret, you have to admit!”

Sora smiled and nudged her shoulder. “I told you I was grateful before!”  

“Are you ever going to officially introduce yourself?” Jina asked. “You know, it’s been getting harder and harder to turn down offers from film companies when they’re literally offering millions to make a documentary about you. Everyone wants to be the first to find out about the real Sora Lee!”

Sora looked at her. “You know why I want to keep everything on the down low. It’s what my father did too, Jina.”

Jina winked. “I know, but if you ever want too…” She chuckled. “Tell me!”

“What are you really here for?”

Jina gasped and pretended to be surprised. “Geez! You can read me like a book!”

Sora took a seat. “I’ve known you since I was a kid, I’m almost thirty now.”

Her manager took a seat and sighed. “You’re still in your twenties!” she said bitterly. “Keep talking like that and you’ll make me feel old.”

Sora laughed. “Thirty-seven is not old!” she said. “Anyway, what’s going on?”

“I want you to reconsider the contract with Haneul Airlines,” Jina began. “I know you don’t like going on airplanes and I know how much you suffer every time we have to travel. Even on the last trip, you had a panic attack in first class and it… what will you do if it happens again?”

Sora looked at her. “It won’t.”

Jina pressed her lips into a firm line. “It’s not …” She thought about how to word it. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s alright to be afraid of airplanes. We don’t have to take them and you know I avoid it every chance I get but, honey, we can’t drive from Seoul to Tokyo, you know that.”

“I’ve been doing fine all these years, and I’ve found a way to deal with it. Jina, give me sleeping pills and I’m out until we land. Can’t we do that?”

“They’re bad for you. You’ve been taking them for how many years now? We’re at the highest dosage, and I don’t think it’s good for you to take extra strength sleeping pills multiple times a week for the rest of your life. Sora, we can do something else about this.”

“I don’t know,” Sora whispered. She stood up and headed towards the door. “I don’t like sudden changes, you know that.”

Jina sighed and looked at the documents. “Sora, please, just try it out!” she pleaded. “How about this? If you don’t like it, we can pull out of the contract. I’ll discuss this with the CEO, and I’m sure he will agree—he’s very fond of you for some reason.”

“Fine.”