The Cutting Edge

006

The moment she stepped out of the lift, Hyejin immediately caught sight of the huge, metallic gold letters that spelt out the name of the salon, in front of which stood a receptionist dressed neatly in her black blouse and skirt. Looking past that, one could see a long row of elegant, black leather chairs, each of them facing an oval mirror with a gilded frame.

The receptionist smiled at Ares and bobbed her head politely, shooting a curious glance towards the girl beside him.

"Miss Lee is already inside waiting for you," the receptionist said.

Ares nodded in acknowledgement, leading Hyejin into the salon (though he was pretty much dragging her in because she was too awestruck to move on her own accord).

Hyejin had spent her entire life dreaming of a place like this, yet she had never expected it to actually exist. Even though several new hipster salons had popped up within her small, sleepy town, none of them were even half as lavish as the one she was in right now. As she followed Ares down the aisle, she ran her fingers along the chairs, basking in the revelation of what top quality leather felt like. Most of the chairs were empty, save for one or two that had customers sitting in them, casually flipping through magazines and sipping on cappuccinos while waiting for their perms to be done.

"They serve cappuccino to their customers?" Hyejin whispered to Ares. The aroma was unmistakeable.

Ares laughed and replied, "They serve more than just cappuccino. You can take a look at their drinks menu later. They serve just about anything from fruit juice to whiskey."

"Is this a salon or a restaurant?" Hyejin exclaimed when she saw someone bring out a tray of scones for the customers.

Smiling in amusement at her exaggerated reactions, Ares continued walking all the way down the aisle until they reached the glass windows where Gina was standing. Beside her were two men, both dressed from head to toe in the black that was characteristic of the Cutting Edge staff outfit.

"You've created quite the uproar, Ares," Gina said disapprovingly, tapping her long fingernail against the glass. "I thought I told you not to come in together with her? Why didn't you do as you were told?"

Ares shrugged. "What's the matter? It's not like those reporters weren't going to find out about this sooner or later. Isn't that why you proposed to bring Hyejin into the Cutting Edge anyway? They'll get bored and leave after a while. Sorry Ryu, I'm going to have to stay in here and hide for now so maybe you could give me some hair treatment while I'm here."

"You haven't got very much hair to treat, Ares," the man named Ryu turned around and said, a broad smile stretching across his thin lips.

This was Ryu Matsuo, CEO of the Cutting Edge, a man who ran the business like clockwork and never cut a bad deal. He was a chubby and stout fellow with a beer belly that threatened to make him topple over while he walked, his thick moustache possibly containing more strands of hair than there were on his head. It was almost ironic, for the owner of a hair salon to be balding the way that Ryu was.

"This must be Hyejin, my newest employee!" Ryu said, giving the Hyejin the once-over with his eyes. There was a glint in those eyes that Hyejin immediately disliked. He reminded her of a vulture circling his prey, and she felt unsafe in such a presence. "Gina, you owe me one for allowing this to pass. I don't want anything like this to happen ever again, is that clear?"

"Ryu, we all know that this is the best way out. The media are going gaga over Ares's new haircut, so what do you have to lose by claiming it for your own? You have far more to gain by doing this than if you had gone ahead with the lawsuit—that would only have given you all the negative publicity that you wouldn't need," Gina replied drily.