Chapter 30 – Daily Life, Work, And…(4)

Minho was looking at the mirror and saw Sora turn around. It wasn’t the Sora Oh from Youth Journal but it was Sora the idol of Punkyline, with her eyes dazzling. She was showing off her remarkable beauty since her makeup was finished.

“Do my hair once too.”

It was probably because of Jay Kim that Minho heard ‘Please~’ as an auditory hallucination.

“I have a short bob cut so there’s not much to do.”

‘Really?’

Minho was already image training on the mannequin after seeing Jay Kim’s magical skills. Minho felt he could easily mimic it if he remembered the sensation, since it was a simple and natural movement like flowing water.

‘If it’s a simple style, then.’

Coming up with the most suitable hairstyle was the hard part, but there was nothing difficult about the actual beauty job for Eunha’s hair. Sora quietly spoke as if to provoke Minho who was looking here and there calculating the possibilities.

“Why are you backing out? You did Eunha’s hair so well. I can ask the employee to wash my hair and fix it if you mess up.”

Minho was persuaded by her last words.

“Then should I give it a try?”

Minho stood behind Sora and looked at her short hair, which was damp and relaxed. It was like a rough gemstone waiting for the skilled hands of the designer.

‘The question is how do I touch it up.’

Traditionally, the price of the gemstone changes in value depending on the craftsmanship.

The image of the gleaming hairstyle was already complete in Minho’s head. It couldn’t be explained as any specific type of perm, but Minho felt that it would suit Sora’s chic charm comfortably.

He just had a hunch.

“I’m going to start. Let’s make a masterpiece.”

“Yes, Kang sunsaengnim!*”

Sora looked in the mirror with a face filled with antic.i.p.ation.

Minho picked up a hairbrush and boldly swept it through her disheveled hair. Minho thought of Jay Kim and with soft, dancing hands he brushed down…

Tak.

“Ouch!”

He hit a snag and Sora’s head bent backwards.

“Oppa. bit gently.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Minho picked up the brush again and finished straightening out her hair. And then he picked up a round brush and a dryer just as he had seen Jay Kim do. The iron was more convenient but this allowed control for more elaborate wavy curls.

‘I guess it’ll be okay if I do it this way?’

It felt like the sensation of  touching Eunha’s hair was coming back to him. Of course it didn’t feel exactly the same. The tools he was using right now were far inferior compared to Jay Kim’s beauty tools that were of high quality and conditioned well even without the powers of the cherished object.

He then realized it was a discourtesy to use items of good quality without permission from the owner.

‘I’ll remember to apologize later.’

But it seemed that Jay Kim didn’t have the personality to be attached to the items even though he cherished them, seeing that he didn’t take his scissors with him. He had the mind of Casanova who loved all sorts of women. The way he strongly expressed his affection was also similar. 

The hair began slowly taking its form as it curled in the warm air from the blow dryer. Sora watched in the mirror without any complaints as Minho’s hands touched her hair, more lightly than when he was brushing it.

“What’s this, oppa. You’re more skillful than I thought.”

“Heh heh. Maybe a little?”

Minho automatically straightened his shoulders at her compliment.

The process of curling the hair took a lot of time.  He had to curl the hair even though it was short but also it was too much for his hands and eyes to follow. That’s why it took quite a bit of time to put in one wavy curl.

“Haam~”

Sora who was concentrating and watching at first began to fall asleep as her eyelids grew heavier.

Finally.

The dampness in Sora’s hair had all dried up.

“Finished…huh?”

Minho hesitated as he looked at the shape of her hair. He definitely hadn’t made any mistakes but the resulting hairstyle was quite different from the one he had imagined.

‘The look didn’t come to life the way I thought.’

He did put in the curls, but it was just an ordinary hairstyle you could see on the street, not the hairstyle of a star on TV. It was plain, just like seeing Sora without any makeup.

‘Oh yeah, the person was different.’

Eunha Seo, who looked pretty no matter her hairstyle, was completely different. There was a suitable hairstyle for Sora who changed vastly before and after her makeup. But Minho wasn’t able to think that far.

‘Again, before she wakes up!’

It was a trend to put on makeup that was natural and unnoticeable, but a hairstyle that was unnoticeable was a failure.

Minho sprayed down the hair and mussed it up then started the job again. But the result was not so good.

“It’s so weird. Why does it look worse every time I do it?”

‘Again!’

He concentrated as he worked, but this was just bad no matter how you looked at it.

“Geez. Darn it!”

‘Re-attempt!’

30 minutes pa.s.sed like that.

Minho took his hands off Sora’s hair and tipped his head, worried. The stylist who was quietly watching from behind with a doubtful expression met Minho’s gaze.

“…How is it?”

The stylist, standing back as if to say it wasn’t her responsibility, shook her head. And as Sora gave signs of waking up, the stylist pretended she had to go to the bathroom and disappeared.

It was because she knew Sora’s personality and vaguely knew what would happen when she opened her eyes. She mouthed ‘Call me later,’ and nodded her head to say goodbye.

“Whew.”

It was a consequence of his own deeds. It was only right for Minho to take Sora’s anger by himself instead of putting the hairstylist in a predicament.

Minho quietly called Sora who was about to open her eyes.

“Um, hey Sora.”

“Emm.”

“I’m finished, but I think it’s best to wash your hair.”

The damage was far too great to fix with only the water from the spray bottle.

“What did you say?”

Sora abruptly opened her eyes. Then she checked her reflection in the mirror.

“……”

Her hair was filled with volume that showed how much effort Minho had put into each curl. She looked like a lion in the Savanna that had just woken up welcoming the morning with a disheveled mane.

“Yi…yikes!”

“It definitely is individualistic, right?”

Minho gave a lame excuse but it was just adding fuel to Sora who was about to explode.

“Individualistic? It is! It definitely is!”

Sora screamed out loud and fiercely glared at the main instigator of the situation. The glare was so sharp that it felt like it was piercing Minho like a needle.

“Oppa! Did you do a punky perm because my girl group is called Punkyline? This is suitable for the disco. This is a performance at the military base where all the rivals come out sharpening their swords!”

It was a mistake punishable by death.

‘But I tried my best to do well…..” 

He watched her face closely.

“Well, I can’t explain exactly, but I was going for something less excessive than this.”

“What do you mean?! It’s obvious you did this on purpose!”

“…Sorry.”

“Gosh!”

Sora bit her lip as she stared and touched her hair, then let out a deep sigh.

“Forget it. It was dumb of me to ask you. Where did the unnie go?!”

She glared at Minho as she looked for her stylist in charge. It was too short of a time for her anger to subside even though she was trying hard to press it down.

Minho hesitantly stepped aside, avoiding her intense gaze. Then he looked at his hands in vain. ‘Why did it turn out this way when the sensation was so clear and I made no mistakes?’

‘I definitely would have done well but did I lack 2%…no, 20%?’

It seemed Minho hadn’t taken this seriously enough. He’d never thought Sora would be so angry and upset. 

It was time to reflect on taking a woman’s beauty too lightly.

“Sora!”

Siyoung Min, a member of Punkyline, walked into the makeup room. She had a round face and was breathing heavily as if she had run through the hallway.

“The manager said there’s a lot of traffic so he said we should leave a hour earlier…Eh? What’s with the hair? Did you decide on killing the members of the other groups?”

“Shut. That. Mouth.”

“Hhahk?!”

Siyoung Min let out a weird scream and quickly covered her mouth in response to Sora’s cold roar. With Sora’s makeup being smokier than usual, and on top of that with her hair like it was, the aura she was emitting was truly fierce.

“Well, I didn’t do anything wrong……”

“So?”

“Ne-nevermind. My mistake. I’m sorry.”

Siyoung cowered away and mumbled to herself, feeling like she would have to buy bread or something for Sora if she met her on the street. Minho also kept letting out dry coughs.

Siyoung kept looking at the clock for no special reason because of the cold uncomfortable silence. Then she gathered up some courage.

“Bu-but Sora. We have to go now…”

“Now?”

Siyoung nodded her head as she glanced at Sora, gauging her mood. Sora sternly turned her head away. Siyoung gulped.

“I can’t go like this ever. I’d rather shave my head.”

Sora stood up from her seat. She silently fumed for a moment, and then she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her expression in the mirror became even more devastated.

“What is this? What is this?”

She bit her lips and mumbled in frustration.

Minho saw Sora’s eyes become moist. She was on the verge of tears.

“I should’ve just gotten it done quickly without waiting for Chief Jay Kim.”

Minho couldn’t just stand there seeing her so discouraged and filled with regret. It would’ve been better for her to be loud and unruly like before.

‘I didn’t know she would be that sorrowful just over her hair.’

Minho had made a very rash mistake because he was so easily persuaded. He decided to call the stylist in charge being truly apologetic and self-reflecting. But then a thought pa.s.sed through his mind.

The hair could be fixed if he called the relief pitcher. But what if it was Jay Kim’s skills? He wasn’t underestimating the stylist but he thought that would be better than any stylist.

‘Excuse me again!’

Minho was going to apologize and ask permission to use it next time but he had no choice since the situation was urgent. He decided to use it first and repay Jay Kim some way or other next time.

Minho searched the area and quickly grabbed ahold of Jay Kim’s scissors.

Sora heard a relaxed tender voice by her ears.

“Sora.”

“What!?”

The Savanna lion in the mirror fiercely roared. ‘What’s so funny that you can’t stop smiling after making a person look like this?!’

“Relax. Relax~”

Minho was able to respond differently from before since he now held Jay Kim’s scissors. He was able to see the possibility to save this infinitely horrific hairstyle. Then he confidently looked at Sora.

The eyes of the professional were definitely different.

“Take a seat again. I’ll finish it off pretty for you.”

“What do you mean? You made it like this!”

“No no~”

Snip snip!

Minho grinned and clicked the scissors in his hand.

“You go around with a bob perm usually so I wanted to try something new. It’ll be a really cla.s.sy style that suits that dress once I braid the front hair and fix it with wax.”

The tears in her eyes were about to fall. Sora glanced at Minho because it sounded somewhat professional. He was the same person from before but the aura he gave off was different.

There was confidence and even composure in his expression. It was as if he was saying ‘It was a joke until now.’ She wondered why she was seeing Jay Kim’s humorous mischievousness and easy manner in Minho.

‘d.a.m.n! Do you think I’ll fall for it twice?’

She saw Minho grin as she tried to suppress her burning anger. Right, it couldn’t get any worse than this.

Sora spoke through clenched teeth.

“Really?”

“Pas de problème~ trust me one more time.”

It was a very Jay Kim reply.

Sora contemplated and made up her mind.

“If you’re poking fun at me again this time–”

She ground her teeth.

“I’m really going to kill you.”

“No, no problem. Hahaha!”

She wouldn’t really kill Minho but it seemed like she wouldn’t see him anymore. She sat in the chair with the att.i.tude of giving up after screaming like that.

But she didn’t close her eyes ever. With eyes open wide, she stared sharply at Minho to see what he was doing.

Minho shook due to her fierce look that said, ‘Try making a mistake–I won’t leave you alone!’ Of course that was only a joking gesture he was showing to Sora.

Minho was completely concentrating as if he was possessed by Jay Kim when he began to work.

“Then, shall I start?”

Minho went to touch up Sora’s front hair. He grabbed a bunch of her hair and began braiding it delicately. The speed in which he was braiding was so phenomenal that both Siyoung who was watching from the side and Sora who was glaring at Minho opened their eyes wide.

Siyoung was surprised because it was the first time she had seen this and Sora was surprised because Minho was so different from before. The quick and natural skills of his hands seemed endless.

“The front is roughly done.”

Minho opened the wax container and rubbed a bunch on his hands then he brought his hands to Sora’s front hair. Rub rub. The puffy hair began to calm down where Minho’s hands touched and it slowly turned into a suitable ripple perm.

The angry lion disappeared from the mirror. It was a magical touch that changed an animal to a person. This was truly the skill of a professional; the hair was shaped the way he thought and wanted.

“Tada! This is Mademoiselle Oh’s style~”

Minho took his hands off and stepped back.

A hairstyle was born with the front hair being cute but the entire style alluring and unique, yet it didn’t stand out too much. 

“What in the world.”

Sora had no choice but to drop her mouth when she saw this in the mirror.

“Why the heck did you do it like that before?”

“Before? Did something happen? Mon..Ak!?”

Minho quickly turned his head because he was about to say ‘mon chéri.’ He was too immersed because he was imagining the Jay Kim he had seen before too much.

He quickly washed the scissors and put them back where they were. He was really able to breathe again.

“There’s still 20 minutes left. Have a cup of coffee or tea before you leave. Either way, it’s good now, right? Satisfied?”

Sora examined her hair here and there with Siyoung and was able to smile brightly at last.

“Oppa.”

Sora stood up from seat as she called Minho. Then she walked over to him. Minho thought ‘Is she going to say this is this and that was that?’

“Hey, you said it turned out good. If you hit me I’m going to report you right awa……”

“Stay still. I’m going to show off for a bit.”

“Huh?”

Minho flinched and stepped back but Sora linked her arm to his.

‘Ehh?’

Sora stretched out the hand that held her cellphone and smiled widely at the camera. Minho said ‘cheese~’ without meaning to.

Click.

As Minho stood there vacantly, stunned from abruptly taking a selfie with Sora, she fixed up the photo on her cellphone and uploaded it to the Youth Journal message chat.

[This is the hair that Minho Oppa did.]

[Really? Awesome!]

It was Hayeon Gu who responded first. Then more comments followed such as ‘Do it for me too, Minho!’ ‘What are you two? You guys seem very close, being at the same company!’

‘What the–What is this?’

A moment ago she was like an active volcano on the brink of exploding but now she was like a flower garden emitting sweet fragrance. Minho was truly bewildered by her up and down personality.

Either way, the situation seemed to have wrapped up well.

“What are you doing? Did my face come out weird?”

“No! It came out well.”

Sora who was giggling put down her phone and pointed to her hair. Before her face was red and about to explode every time she saw her hair, but now she couldn’t help but smile every time she looked.

“Thank you for the hair. But did you attend beauty school before you debuted?”

“Just a little. Maybe a bit of interest? It’s not that great.”

“Nah. I don’t know how to do hair but I have the eyes to see. You’ve got the magic touch!”

Siyoung chimed in with “For real!”

“Minho oppa. Can you do my hair next?”

That was impossible. He’d been about to break out in a cold sweat moments ago, but to bring himself to do it again?!

“No, I can’t”

“Ehh?”

“I’m a professional gamer. I’ll teach you anytime if you want to learn to play a game.”

“Boo!”

Sora laughed when Siyoung booed at Minho.

“Hehe. I’m different from you. I’m close with oppa.”

“Uh ugh! Not fair.”

Sora was teasing her but she firmly decided to say that Minho didn’t do styling for just anyone.

“Either way, I think Minho oppa is really skillful. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“I plan to not be able to do beauty styling no matter what.”

“Come again?”

As Sora spoke, sticking close to him, her cellphone rang.

[Sora unnie! But why aren’t you giving me Minho oppa’s number? I want to meet him toooooo! You greedy! Greedy!]

Sora checked the message from Hayeon and frowned slightly. At Minho’s questioning glance she quickly closed her cellphone and spoke.

“Everyone is going crazy because I said you did this hair for me. And Hayeon keeps pestering me to give her your number.”

‘Don’t you all know each other through one bridge?’

Minho recalled cute Hayeon and spoke without thinking.

“You can give it to her.”

“No I can’t!”

“Huh?”

Sora cut Minho off as soon as he finished talking and she realized the mood had become awkward so she quickly made an excuse.

“She’s such a fox. You’ll be meeting her next week during the Night of TV entertainment so talk to her then. It’ll be troublesome for both of you if there’s an article about you guys dating so get her number when you’re really interested in her.”

“I was already interes…”

“Oh yeah! We have to go now. Siyoung. We’re late. Let’s go!”

Sora hastily left the makeup room after saying this.

“Either way, thank you, oppa! I’ll treat you big later!”

“Oppa, see you next time too!”

“You said we’re in a rush!”

“We-well not that much. Ouch!”

Sora tugged and dragged Siyoung.

Minho waved his hands at them then looked in the mirror. He saw in the corner the stylist in charge of Sora looking his way and observing the situation.

“I waited for a while but you didn’t call me. So, I guess you wrapped up well?”

“Yeah. Sora’s nicer than I thought.”

“Strange, her personality isn’t like that..”

She tilted her head to the side. Minho pointed to Jay Kim’s scissors just in case.

“I used those scissors briefly. It must be chief’s cherished item so if he says something please let me know.”

“It’s okay. He does cherish items but he doesn’t care for them properly. He leaves everything else here too because he’s afraid he’ll lose them if he carries them around. We use it sometimes too, maybe to mimic the chief’s sense of style.”

Minho was relieved then remembered something he had forgotten.

“I have a demo photoshoot. Can I ask you to help me?”

“Yes, of course.”

The makeup room found its peace once Minho sat in the chair. Minho closed his eyes as he listened to the rythmic sound of the scissors as a lullaby.