Salt Society Chapter 14

Supplies arrived, and I was organizing sports tape and C-tape in the cupboard when Suyeong, a youth Taekwondo athlete I am in charge of, started making various excuses to ask me to reduce his exercise load. Usually, if a player says they are in pain, I start with an examination, but since this fellow is almost at the end of his recovery period, I wondered what he was up to.

“Is it because you want to rest?”

“No… It’s not that… I just don’t want to do it.”

Hmm, Kihyun made a sound in his throat. Looking at the time, it was past 3:00 PM. It was exactly the hour when young athletes, feeling anxious about returning to the field, feel a sense of boredom.

Kihyun lightly tapped Suyeong on the head. The boy’s bobbed hair swayed slightly. At the playful movement, Suyeong snapped his head up.

“Doctor So hit me.”

“Sue me.”

“I’m not going to let this slide.”

“Yeah, I get it, so make sure you succeed and definitely sue me. Do an interview, too. When you win a gold medal and go on New Quiz, you can just say, So Kihyun from Haeseong Rehabilitation hit me. That teacher is really bad.”

Suyeong makes an incredulous face. Kihyun let out a smirk.

“Suyeong, exercising is hard, isn’t it?”

“……Yes.”

To the dejected young athlete, Kihyun spoke with sincerity.

“Being an office worker is even harder. Go do some lunges.”

“Ah, what, seriously.”

Suyeong expresses his annoyance. Kihyun replied without even a smile.

“In exchange, just do 30 lunges. Come find me when you’re finished. I’ll give you a massage.”

“Oh? Really?! Yes! All right!”

Watching the young athlete’s face brighten up as if reducing lunges from 60 to 30 was the greatest joy, Kihyun also broke into a smile. It must be nice to have simple problems. While the problems surrounding the adult So Kihyun showed no sign of being resolved.

In any case, I should finish organizing the cupboard first, massage Suyeong’s poor knees, pat Seongbin on the back for all the trouble he went through being stepped on by Suyeong, and then head to the hotel after work.

I really wanted to be alone today. The problem with So Kihyun’s love was that it was loneliest when the two were together.

⏳

Anyway, the time to leave work approached. After organizing the patients’ charts, Kihyun designed the exercise program to be conducted next week, printed it out, tucked it into the charts, and then changed his clothes.

He had even brought along street clothes with the intention of staying out overnight today. It was different from his usual routine of commuting in his treatment uniform. As he prepared to leave in neat attire, the therapists using the lockers next to him stuck to him and bothered him, curious.

“Oh, where are you going today, Doctor So?”

“I know, right? Why are you so dressed up today, Doctor So?”

Park Changwon and Kim Byeongju, athlete trainers in the athletes’ room, whistled at Kihyun as they were changing clothes in the locker room. They giggled among themselves, their faces full of playfulness as they laughed, saying, if you’re going somewhere good, take us with you. Kihyun shook his head.

“You guys pounce the moment I wear clothes that a human being wears.”

“What, so the treatment uniform isn’t clothes a human being wears?”

“Honestly, it’s not for humans; it’s clothes for a hospital Dobby.”

They talk among themselves, reach a conclusion on their own, and even nod their heads. Kihyun imitated a laugh with just a snickering sound and tried to leave the locker room. Behind his back, Byeongju spoke to him again.

“But Doctor So, didn’t you bring a bag?”

“Why would I carry a bag? There wasn’t even a conference today.”

Kihyun replied only with that, then opened the locker room door and stepped out. From behind him, he heard people laughing and saying his personality is truly as upright as a bamboo stalk.

As upright as a bamboo stalk? If I had really lived like that, I wouldn’t be trying to spend money to stay at a hotel instead of staying at home.

Anyway, it was good that he was dressed lightly. His clothing was gradually becoming lighter. Before long, summer would come again. As long as it wasn’t humid, midsummer heat wasn’t too bad to endure. It was because last winter was more terrible since his body temperature tended to be low.

His feet were so cold that he wanted to just spread out a blanket and sleep on the floor where the heating was running, but he had been annoyed because that fellow kept dragging Kihyun up onto the bed, saying the floor would hurt his back. It did get warm when Cho Yeonoh held him, but that was a separate matter; he couldn’t fall asleep.

Unless the guy went on a business trip or something, Kihyun had to suffer from insomnia the entire time. That was why this impulsively decided runaway was nothing but pleasing.

Kihyun wondered if he should take the subway, but then bravely took a taxi on his way home because he didn’t want to jostle with people today. Even if the road was blocked, he wanted to go while sitting down. He could feel his ankles were slightly swollen, so it seemed he would have to ask for an ice pack after arriving at the hotel.

Because he had booked with card points, his room had been upgraded to a fairly nice one. He planned to stay at the hotel all weekend and get plenty of sleep. His body was in a state of grogginess to the point where he didn’t want to do anything else.

“Customer, we’ve arrived.”

Sure enough, he woke up after dozing off in the back seat of the taxi the whole time, unaware that the Seoul streets were insanely congested during rush hour. The elderly driver was reaching his hand back without even looking back at Kihyun. Thinking he was asking for a card, Kihyun said it was a taxi he hailed through an app, and only then did the driver look back and laugh as if embarrassed.

“Oh my, I forgot. It will be charged automatically, so you can just get out.”

“It’s all right. Well, have a good day.”

The way he laughed heartily felt good, so Kihyun was able to lift the corners of his mouth slightly. As the taxi was stopped in the hotel drive-in, the doorman approached and opened the door. Kihyun gave a slight nod and walked into the lobby.

He was a bit at a loss because he had come empty-handed to avoid making his runaway obvious by packing luggage. He searched for a convenience store and saw it wasn’t a long distance, so he thought about going to buy underwear after checking in, but then he decided to just wear the robe since he was alone. It was because everything was a bother. Since he intended to just sleep anyway, he thought, what does it matter if I’m not even wearing underwear.

After finishing check-in, Kihyun headed straight for the elevator. He intended to order room service for dinner as well. It was the moment he was about to walk across the ivory marble lobby toward the elevators.

“……!”

Startled, Kihyun turned his back immediately and faced the wall. Cho Yeonoh was entering the hotel.

He had come to one of the Swiss hotel chains—not the Haeseong Hotel that Cho Yeonoh’s cousin supposedly owns—just in case there was any connection, but he was at a loss because they had run into each other of all times. Seeing Manager Yoo and others behind him, it seemed he had come for official business involving a dinner.

Tsk, he clicked his tongue and walked straight ahead, which led to the hotel’s luxury boutique area. Kihyun hung around the shops for no reason, and when the employees started looking at him strangely, he turned back around, headed for the elevators, and hopped onto an open one at random.

“Excuse me.”

Fortunately, inside were tourists who had come as a family unit. They seemed to be speaking Spanish, so Kihyun tapped his card on the panel and pressed the floor number of his assigned room. He felt relieved only after the doors closed and the elevator went up.

……He probably didn’t spot me. Kihyun tried to calm his mind and, when the door opened with a “ding” sound, he got off the elevator and headed to his room. His heart was pounding. He felt like he was doing something bad, but by the time he brought his card key to the door to open the room, he felt hollow.

Coming to a place like this—if it were with a verified person as Cho Yeonoh mentioned, the fellow wouldn’t be angry. So he wouldn’t be angry about Kihyun coming alone either. Although it would be a bother if he got caught. Anyway, a chuckle escaped him, finding himself absurd for filming an untimely spy movie.

Kihyun thought it was strange that he could only manage to burst into laughter at a time like this, but he didn’t think of wiping the smile that had caught on the corners of his mouth after a long time.

The absence of the person who would stare intensely at his face asking if he was laughing was what made Kihyun’s heart relax. He entered the dark room. Then, without even inserting the card key, he leaned his back against the door and tilted his head back.

A sigh came out. Life was a bit tiring. Everyone must be like this, right? That alone was a comfort to Kihyun.

⏳

After coming out from taking a bath, he ordered room service. While wondering what to eat, he seemed to have heard somewhere that this hotel was famous for its seafood jjamppong, so he ordered it immediately. He was the type who wouldn’t bother eating even if it was mealtime if he had no appetite, but when he did eat, he tended to eat a lot. Today he was quite hungry and wanted to eat without having to be self-conscious.

Unlike Kihyun, who liked meat dishes, Cho Yeonoh surprisingly preferred a vegetarian diet. When they ate together, he had to maintain a healthy diet by force because Yeonoh would persistently put greens on his side plate, telling him to eat them first. Feeling like he was eating junk food behind his guardian’s back, Kihyun even ordered yurin-gi.

While waiting for the food, Kihyun picked up his phone. Usually, unless he got a call, it was an object he had no interest in regarding its location, but being alone brought up unnecessary thoughts.

—You, you’re angry because I acted like Betas do when they date yesterday.

Those words of Cho Yeonoh’s remained in his heart. He knew nothing other than dating a Beta. No, actually, he didn’t know much about dating itself.

Cho Yeonoh was the first Alpha he had dated, and what he had before was nothing more than children’s house-play. So how could he know what kind of dating is established between an Alpha and an Omega? Thinking that his lack of experience was showing in a place like this, he felt a surge of unnecessary stubbornness.