The Cutting Edge

007

It was already her third day of work and Hyejin had yet to touch the hair upon a single customer's head.

"So what gave you the inspiration to create the lightning bolts on Ares's head?"

Instead, she spent most of her time being shuttled from interview to interview, having to face the questions of reporters who were eager to learn more about the story of the Cutting Edge's new up-and-coming hairstylist.

"Umm... I first came up with the design when I was in my second year of high school. Remember when there was that lightning storm in the summer of 2012 that lasted for over a week?" It was covered on every single newspaper for the entire week, there was no way anyone could have forgotten. "I was sitting in my room watching the lightning bolts come down from the skies, that's when I first made the sketch."

She had repeated these same lines at least seven or eight times over the last two days, so much so that she had begun reciting them in her sleep. The upside of the matter was that at least she didn't have to lie. Everyone simply assumed that she was a stylist with the Cutting Edge and no one had questioned the only white lie in the whole story. As for the rest of it, Gina and Ryu let her say pretty much whatever she had wanted after they had checked and verified her story three times to check for loopholes.

"Ares has said nothing but good things about you so far and the two of you seem pretty close. Is there something more there than meets the eye?"

Hyejin rolled her eyes. What is wrong with these people? Just because a guy and a girl talk to each other doesn't automatically mean that they're in bed... That was probably the ninth reporter who had asked her the same question. She had half the mind to tell the next one to just compare notes with the other eight that had gone before her so that she didn't need to waste her breath explaining the same things over and over again like a broken record.

"No, there really isn't anything more between Ares and—"

"I thought we made it very clear that there are to be no interviews done in the salon during opening hours?" a mellow voice suddenly interrupted her in mid-sentence.

Turning around, she saw a man exit the lift and stroll into the salon, wearing a plain white shirt that was partially untucked paired with a pair of navy corduroys. He removed the sunglasses that he had been wearing before, casually slotting them into his breast pocket. When his eyes met hers, Hyejin felt like those eyes emanated a frigid coolness that threatened to make hell freeze over. She quickly looked down at her feet instead.

"Surely the rules of this place haven't been thrown out the window just because I've been away for a couple of days?" he said, scanning the entire place as if waiting for someone to answer his question.

Hyejin could sense the immediate change in the atmosphere the minute this man walked in. All the employees of the salon had their heads bowed down, each pretending to be concentrating extremely hard on whatever they had been doing. Even the boy who was sweeping the floor seemed to be sweeping a lot harder than he had been two minutes ago.

"Hyunwon!" the reporter exclaimed, leaping out of her seat and rushing over to his side. "Could we get a quick interview with you? What are your thoughts about Miss Song being at the Cutting Edge? There have been news outlets that have touted her as the one to take over your mantle one day, do you think this will ever be the case? Is she your successor?"

Hyunwon glanced sideways at Hyejin, who was sitting quietly in the chair and acting as if she hadn't seen him walk in. Turning back to the reporter, he said, "Like I said, interviews are not allowed in the salon during opening hours. If you would like to continue with the interview, then the exit is that way." He pointed his finger towards the elevator. "Ella," he called to the receptionist, "see them out. If they won't go, call security."