The Cutting Edge

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After having sent her second pile of towels over to the laundry room, Hyejin searched around the salon until she found Yeseul, who was at the front counter sifting through some forms with the receptionist Ella. The salon had been slightly busier than usual today, although most of the people who stopped by didn't seem to be clients who were here for a hair appointment. Most of them had simply just come to drop off a couple of forms before leaving almost immediately after.

"What's going on today Yeseul? What are all these forms about?" she asked curiously.

"Every year the salon recruits new trainees for trial period of three months. It's to recruit new talent to replace those that have left. This year's application round has just begun, so all those people have been stopping by to hand in their application forms," Yeseul replied.

"I swear we have tons more applicants this year than we did last year!" Ella wailed, staring at the huge stack of forms on the table. "So much paperwork... Please just kill me now..." At that moment the phone rang, and the distraught receptionist pulled a face before running over to answer the call.

Laughing, Yeseul said, "I wasn't here last year so I wouldn't know, but it does look like there are a whole lot of applicants this year. I've counted almost thirty application forms and we've only started accepting applications for half a day! I suppose being able to work at the Cutting Edge is a huge draw for anyone who has dreams of making it big in this industry."

"So the salon actually has a proper training programme?" Hyejin asked.

Yeseul nodded her head. "Yes it does. After the preliminary selection, those who are accepted as trainees will be mentored by one of the senior stylists during the three month trial period and all of it will culminate in a final assessment at the end of the three months. I've heard from Uncle Ryu that the salon typically only signs on two to three candidates at the end of the trial period, so it really isn't easy to get a place in here." She looked a little worried as she looked down at the application form lying on the top of the pile. "Uncle Ryu says I'll have to go through the trial too, just so that I qualify fair and square and people will stop staying that I'm only here because of my connections. All of these applicants are really well qualified though..."

"You have to undergo training too? What about me? Will I get to go through the training programme as well?"

The thought of having the opportunity to undergo a formal training programme in hair styling sounded like a dream come true. If she had no choice but to stick around for at least six months, then surely she could make the best of her time here by learning something while she was here. Every day when she went about her chores in the salon, she would get to see the stylists hard at work doing all sorts of incredible things with the hair of their clients; she wanted to learn all the different tricks of the trade, but no one would teach her. After all, she was just a nobody, and a nobody that had offended the salon's creative director at that.

"I'm not sure Hyejin... I suppose you could ask Remington, but the final word may still need to come from Hyunwon and you know how things are between you and him," Yeseul said hesitantly.

At the mention of Hyunwon's name, Hyejin pulled a face. The asshole had stayed out of her way for the past few days, but she knew that she couldn't avoid him forever. After all, tomorrow was the deadline for when she needed prove to him that she had the ability to memorise the entire dye manual. If it were up to him, then she definitely had no chance of getting herself onto the salon's training programme.

She decided to go with Yeseul's suggestion and check in with Remington anyway, even though she knew that her chances were slim. Standing at the door of the manager's office, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.