Twice a year, Dongdaemun's Design Plaza would transform into one of the world's most renowned fashion runways, where world class designers would showcase their new collections and the nation's most beautiful people would gather. Such was the glitz and glamour that was Seoul's Fashion Week.

Standing in front of the huge white tent that was towering above her, Hyejin sucked in her breath, willing her heart to be still. She stood out like a sore thumb in her hand-me-down black jacket and home-made woollen hat, with all these well-heeled individuals milling around her looking like a million bucks, but she hardly even noticed.

I can't believe I'm actually here!

Fashion Week was something that the girls in school used to squeal about as they drooled over all the clothes that they wanted but could never have, and discussed the outfits of all the different celebrities that attended the shows. Never in her entire life had she imagined that she would one day be able to stand right here, in front of the main tent, about to attend the first fashion show she had ever been to. It didn't even matter that she would only be backstage, because that was already closer than she had ever dared to hope.

With trepidation, she made her way towards the back of the main tent, searching for a way to enter.

"Stop." A burly security guard stopped her at the back entrance. "ID please."

Hyejin fumbled into her bag and fished out the ID pass that Hyunwon had tossed to her earlier before he left the training room, and the guard stepped aside to let her in.

The minute she stepped into the tent, Hyejin felt as if she had just stepped through the looking glass. There was so much going on all around her that it made her feel dizzy; people were rushing to and fro, shouting instructions and talking into walkie talkies. It was as if all hell had broken loose. The smell of hair spray in the air was almost suffocating.

"Hyejin! Over here!"

Squinting as she tried to identify the owner of the voice, Hyejin heaved a sigh of relief when Yeseul's familiar face came into sight. Her friend was standing at one corner of the backstage area along with the rest of the trainees, some of whom (namely, Hannah) looked less than pleased to see her. She squeezed her way through the crowd to make her way over to them, trying not to get in anyone's way.

"There's so much going on here. What's happening?" she asked Yeseul excitedly.

Looking around, she could see some models getting fitted into their runway clothes while others were getting their hair and make-up done. Racks and racks of different outfits lined the sides of the tent in every imaginable colour, and as Hyejin ran her fingers down a dress that was hanging off the rack nearest to her, she started getting goose bumps.

This was Alexander McQueen, one of the most famous fashion houses in the entire world. Kate Middleton's wedding dress came out of this exact same label for goodness sakes!

"Where is my curling iron!" she heard a familiar voice shout out rather irately. Turning towards that direction, she saw Hyunwon looking around with a frown as he stood beside a model who was almost a whole head taller than him in her five inch heels. Within seconds, an assistant had placed a curling iron in his hand, and he immediately went back to work with curling the model's long, black hair.

"The salon is responsible for all the hairstyling for the show," Yeseul explained. "Apparently Hyunwon was the one who designed all the looks for tonight. Earlier on Roxy showed us some of the design images on her iPad and they're absolutely gorgeous! The theme for the Alexander McQueen show is 'Sea Breeze', so Hyunwon used waves as the inspiration for his designs. See all the models over there? They've all got the upper sections of their hair crimped while the lower sections are left in loose waves."

Hyejin nodded in acknowledgement, marvelling at how well the models' hairstyles suited their outfits. Along with their make-up in various hues of sparkling blue, each and every one of them looked like a sea nymph who had just risen from the waves.

She turned her attention back to Hyunwon, who was putting the finishing touches onto the same model's hair. For her, he had tied her hair into a high ponytail, letting it cascade down along her back like a waterfall, ending in the same flowing waves as all the other girls. Taking a step back, he studied his handiwork a little more carefully, before whispering something into the ear of his assistant. The latter immediately ran off and came back minutes later with a hair accessory that resembled a white feather, which Hyunwon carefully pinned onto the right side of the model's head.

"Alright, she's done," he told the stage coordinator, before rushing off to check on the other models.

"How does he know to do all these things..." Hyejin murmured to herself. She had already thought that the model's look was perfect as it was, but the white feather completely changed her perspective of things. Without it, the girl was just sleek and elegant; with it, she was transformed into something ethereal.

"I thought you weren't going to come," Hannah's voice piped up beside her. "No need to pull an all-nighter studying those old fashion magazines tonight?"

Hyejin tried not to scowl. "All the trainees were asked to come, why would I be an exception?" she replied drily.

"I don't know, it's not like you've been doing the same things as the rest of us anyway. Is this your first time at a fashion show? I've never been backstage before, although I've attended a couple of these fashion shows in previous years. My father usually gets free tickets from his company."

Hannah walked towards the heavy, black curtains and lifted it slightly. Beckoning to the others, she said, "You can see what's happening out front. For people like you who have never been to these shows before, it's quite an eye-opener."

All the other trainees crowded around Hannah, eager to get a peek at what was happening on the outside. As she jostled for a good spot with the rest of them, Hyejin felt the excitement coursing through her veins as she caught sight of the rows and rows of white chairs that had been laid out on both sides of the runway. People were slowly beginning to fill the main tent now, all of whom were dressed from head to toe in their designer threads; given that this was the opening show, everyone who had the honour of being invited were all big names in the fashion and entertainment industry.

Hyejin had never been the sort to keep up with entertainment news, so she barely recognised a handful of faces out there, although the exclamations from her fellow trainees told her that there were a good number of famous personalities in the crowd.

"Hyejin, look!" Yeseul tugged at her sleeve and pointed to the right side of the runway. "It's Ares!"

Sure enough, inching towards his seat in the front row was someone with a mop of freshly dyed, platinum blond hair, now almost an inch long after having had some time to grow out from the haircut that Hyejin had given him previously. In his well-pressed, black Armani suit and silver shoes, he looked every bit like the fashion and entertainment icon that he was. Sitting himself down, he leaned over and whispered something into the ear of the girl beside him, and she immediately burst out in a fit of giggles.

"Who's that?" Hyejin pointed at the girl, thinking that she looked awfully familiar.

"You don't know?" Hannah scoffed. "That's Mina from Lollipop. They're the up-and-rising girl group that's swept all the music charts recently. Before she became an idol singer she was a child actor though, so she isn't new to scenes like these. But of course, I wouldn't have expected you to know that."

Hyejin rolled her eyes, ignoring the jibe that Hannah had just made. Ares seemed to be fairly close to the girl called Mina, because they kept laughing and joking with each other while waiting for the show to begin. She even noticed how Mina would strategically place her hands on Ares's shoulder or thigh whenever she had the chance, although each time she would make sure that her hand only lingered momentarily so as not garner any unnecessary attention from the paparazzi.

She definitely has the hots for him, Hyejin thought to herself, shaking her head. These girls in the entertainment industry just didn't have any self-restraint. She's pretty though. With her long, wavy hair and rosy cheeks, Mina was one of the best looking celebrities present tonight, with the exception of the handsome boy sitting beside her of course.

"Are they dating?" someone else asked.

"Who knows," Hannah replied with a shrug. "Ares has had a squeaky clean reputation all this while, so I doubt anything will come out of this. Although it's probably thanks to his manager that he's managed to maintain a clean slate—either that or he's gay. All men are the same, especially men like Ares Hwang. You think he can resist someone like Mina throwing herself at him?"

Hyejin was already bored with the conversation, so she walked away and continued observing the backstage bustle instead. The models were starting to line up by the curtain, having their hair, make-up and outfits checked one last time by the stage coordinators (most of whom looked like they were about to have a meltdown).

Walking over to the dressing tables lining the sides of the tent, Hyejin ran her fingers along the various hair curlers, brushes and stray bobby pins lying all around, imagining what it would be like to be able to be a stylist for a fashion show just like this one. Just then, she chanced upon a stray sheet of paper lying on the table, containing a photocopied sketch of a woman's side profile. The woman in the drawing had a hairstyle that looked exactly like one of the models she had just seen, her long hair crimped near the top and ending in dramatic waves at the bottom. Unlike her own drawings, this one had bolder, more confident strokes, yet there was also a casual nature to it that made it feel as if the person behind the pencil had simply scrawled it down over a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

She turned to search the crowd but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"When will I ever be able to design like this?" she murmured to herself. All of a sudden, she felt curious about what the rest of Hyunwon's work looked like. Did he also keep sketch books like she did with all the original copies of every style he had ever dreamt of? Looking down at the photocopied sheet in her hands, she folded it up and carefully slipped it into her pocket. No one would miss it now that the show was about to start.

"Two minutes to showtime!" one of the coordinators shouted. "Two minutes! Everybody standby!"

"Where is it?" an anxious voice called out from behind Hyejin.

Spinning round, she found one of the models bending over and searching beneath the dressing tables for something that she was missing. She kept rummaging through the boxes containing bottles of hairspray and accessories, head turning to check the digital clock near the entrance every other second.

"Excuse me, are you looking for something? Can I help?"

The model looked up at her with those huge doe-like eyes, her bottom lip trembling as if she was about to burst out in tears. "I can't remember where I put my hair accessory! It came loose so I put it down for a second and went to look for the stylist so that she could help me get it back on, but I can't remember where I left it. I thought I left it here, but it's not!"

"Are you sure you left it here?" Hyejin asked, bending over to help with the search. There was such a mess under the tables that she seriously doubted it was possible to find anything here.

"Positive!"

Someone tapped on Hyejin's shoulder, and she turned around to find Hannah standing behind her. "I think this could be what you're looking for," she said, a flower motif silver hairpin in her hand. "I found it over there." She pointed to another row of tables not far from where they were.

"Are you sure?" Hyejin asked, studying the hairpin curiously.

"The show is about to start in less than a minute. If she doesn't join the queue now, shit is going to hit the fan," Hannah replied, tossing the hairpin into Hyejin's hand. "I haven't got time for this, I need to go help out with doing the final round of checks."

Hyejin rolled her eyes. They were only trainees and there was no way a trainee was needed to "help out with the final round of checks"; as usual, Hannah was inflating her own importance. Staring down at the hairpin in her hand for a second, she quickly ran over to the distraught model and asked, "Is this the right one?"

"I... I'm not sure..." the model replied tentatively. "I think it looks like it though..."

"What do you mean by that? Do you mean to say that you aren't sure what your hair accessory actually looks like? How were you planning to search for it if you didn't know what it was like!"

"I remember putting it here!" The model pointed at the exact spot on the dressing table. "I thought that if I searched around the area I would recognise it when I saw it. You know what, I think this is the one. I remember it being silver with some floral motifs. Quick, just help me to put it on now!" She pointed at the position on her head where the pin was supposed to go, anxiously looking towards the stage curtains. They could already hear the music blasting loudly outside and the first model was about to take the first step onto the runway.

Hyejin hurriedly did as she was told, fastening the pin onto the girl's head. When she was done the model immediately legged it and re-joined the queue, having just enough time to regain her composure before she stepped onto the catwalk.

Sinking down onto an empty chair, Hyejin heaved a huge sigh of relief.

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While the runway show was underway, there was a temporary reprieve backstage where most of the working crew finally had some time to take a breather and maybe even drink some water. Unfortunately that didn't last long, because when the hour-long runway show was done and dusted the mayhem commenced once more.

It wasn't until all the models had changed out of their gorgeous clothes and accessories and everything had been properly accounted for that the job was finally considered complete. Squatting in one corner of the tent, the trainees watched as the models, now stripped of their original glamour, waved goodbye to the staff and left one by one.

"Well that was a whirlwind," Yeseul murmured to Hyejin, leaning her head on her friend's shoulder.

"I know," Hyejin replied. It had been a whirlwind alright, and an eye-opener for someone who had never had the chance to experience something like this before. She felt tired just watching everyone bustle about all night, but at the same time, there was a flame ignited within her that gave her a renewed sense of passion for the job.

To be able to style for the fashion runway—that would be a dream come true.

"Can we leave yet?" one of the other trainees piped up.

As if in direct response to his question, Hyunwon suddenly appeared out of nowhere, a grim look on his face. Behind him was a familiar face that Hyejin recognised—it was the model who had misplaced her hair accessory earlier.

Hyunwon surveyed the trainees sternly, looking from one to the other. "Before I dismiss all of you, I have one question. Who was the one who gave this hair accessory to Lila?" he said, holding up a silver pin with roses on it. From the tone of his voice alone, everyone felt like hell was about to freeze over. No one dared to look straight into his eyes.

Hyejin recognised the accessory in his hand. It was the exact same silver flowers that she had personally helped pin onto Lila's hair just seconds before the model was due to walk the runway.

She slowly raised her hand.

"Song Hyejin," Hyunwon called out. "Come here."

She did as she was told and took a couple of steps towards him. She didn't know what to feel right now, although her instincts told her that she was in big trouble.

"Who told you to give her this hairpin?" he asked. His voice sounded calm and collected, but anyone listening could tell that the storm was just raging beneath the surface. Hell was about to be unleashed.

"I... I was helping her to look for her missing hair accessory. It was Hannah who passed it to me, and when I asked her," she looked up at the model named Lila, "she said that she couldn't remember exactly what it looked like but she thought that this could be the correct one. There was only a minute left till the start of the show and none of the senior stylists were around, so I just helped her to pin it on."

"I didn't say it was definitely the correct one!" Hannah immediately piped up. "I just found it lying around and passed it to Hyejin. How was I supposed to know that she didn't check with any of the senior stylists before making a decision like that?"

Hyejin shot a hateful glare at the other girl, and the latter simply shrugged her shoulders and gave her a slight smirk in response.

Hyunwon raised his other hand, showing her a different hair accessory. Although it looked similar to the other one, you could tell the obvious differences just with one look; this one had blue rhinestones accentuating the flower petals, making it look more expensive and exquisite than the other.

"This is the correct one," he said coldly. All of a sudden, he raised the volume of his voice to a shout, scaring the shit out of everyone who was present. "Song Hyejin, do you have any idea what you did? Who gave you the right to make these sorts of decisions! Do you fancy yourself being one of the senior stylists just because you gave Ares Hwang a haircut once? If you can't even tell the difference between two hairpins then you shouldn't even be here! Every single detail matters!"

Hyejin bowed down her head, trying to hide the tears that had begun welling up in her eyes. She made a mistake, that much was true, but it hadn't been intentional. All she wanted to do was help. If he wanted to scold her about it, he could have done so in private instead of shouting at her in front of all the other trainees and other backstage staff. Right now she just wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"I don't want to hear that," Hyunwon replied coldly. "If you think that this place is just a playground, then go home. This isn't school. No one has the time to babysit you." Turning to the others, he said, "Let this be a lesson to all of you. The Cutting Edge expects no less than perfection. If there's nothing else, you're all dismissed."

He threw the two hairpins into a nearby box and walked away.

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