The Cutting Edge

013

"You're doing this on purpose aren't you?" Hyejin asked, narrowing her eyes at her new "mentor".

They were in Hyunwon's office after Remington had left her there following the end of his briefing and tour to the new trainees. Hyunwon was sitting comfortably in his swivel chair, surfing the internet and behaving as though Hyejin simply didn't exist. He knew she was there, of course, he just found it particularly amusing how her face was turning red as a beet with every passing second. So, he decided to continue whistling and doing his own thing.

Hyejin marched over and slammed her palms down on his desk. "Are you even listening to me? What are you trying to do? I got on this training programme fair and square so why are you trying to ruin everything by trying to take your petty revenge!"

"Petty revenge?" Hyunwon finally looked up at her, arching an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what this is about? Everyone knows that you haven't mentored a trainee in goodness knows how long, and all of a sudden you decide to make an exception? There are nine of us, but you just had to pick me. And don't tell me that Remington was the one who did the mentor assignments because I know for a fact that he wouldn't be able to say no if it was a directive that came from you."

Hyunwon stood up and folded his arms across his chest, casually observing the irate girl. "So what if it was me? What can you do about it? Song Hyejin, in this salon you're nothing but an ant that I could crush under my sole, so I suggest you get off your high horse and stop acting like you actually deserve to be here. The only reason why you're here is because of a PR mistake, but I can assure you that Ares Hwang sure as hell isn't going to pop out to rescue you all the time. Now, if you have an issue with me being your mentor for the duration of the training programme, then by all means quit and go back to washing towels and brewing tea. That would make life easier for both of us."

Hyejin glared at the obnoxious fellow, biting her lower lip so hard that she could almost taste the blood. It was taking a lot for her to not slap him on the other side of his face, but her rational side told her that if she did that then it would be game over for real. Instead, she sat down in an empty chair across from him and held her ground.

If you think that I'm going to throw in the white towel so easily then I'm sorry mister but you don't know Song Hyejin well enough. The more you want to kick me out of here the more I'm going to stick around to make your life hell. After all, what's there to lose?

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play then so be it," she said calmly. "Where shall we begin?"

Hyunwon blinked in surprise. This wasn't the sort of reaction he had been expecting from her—he had in fact been bracing himself for another tight slap, after which he would legitimately kick her out through the front door of his salon for being downright disrespectful and rude to her assigned mentor.

"Come with me," he said, heading for the door.

"Where are we going?" Hyejin asked, quickly following behind him. She was already imagining a hundred and one possibilities in her mind. Would she first learn how to cut a fringe properly? Or perhaps add highlights to someone's hair? Maybe even try her hand on one of the curling machines?

Hyunwon led her back to the training room, where he flung open two sets of cupboards to reveal stacks and stacks of magazines that were piled from the floor all the way till the ceiling.

"Don't you guys get rid of the old magazines?" Hyejin remarked curiously, fishing out an old copy of Vogue from the pile and flipping through its pages. It was an issue from five years back. "Why on earth do you keep them all here?"

"You never know when they might come in handy." Like now. "This is your first assignment. I want you to go through all these magazines and study the fashion trends that have developed over the past couple of years. Based on the key trends that have emerged, design a couple of different hairstyles to go along with it. Accessories too, if you think that'll help to bolster the look. Hairstyling is not just about the hair, it's also about what you pair together with it."