Salt Society Chapter 18

The Cheongsong charcoal, the skewers grilled over burning pine leaves, and the taste of the pine mushrooms were excellent. Kihyun moved his jaw slowly. He felt like going away, somewhere.

⏳

When he stepped out after finishing the meal, Manager Yoo was standing outside the room.

Kihyun took the hint and walked a step away. This was because Manager Yoo often grew mindful of him whenever there were business discussions involving confidential information.

To Kihyun, most of what they said was incomprehensible, but from Manager Yoo’s perspective, it would not be so. He could not even feel wronged about being suspected as an outsider. The money involved in their minor transactions was astronomical. When a wage earner like himself gets involved in matters that manipulate such a massive world, it only ends up being exhausting for him. He followed slowly behind while they walked ahead.

After leaving the restaurant, they stood before the escalator leading down to the lobby, and Kihyun wanted to return to his room now. It was clear that Cho Yeonoh had a remaining schedule. He thought he could just go back to his guest room and finally enjoy his freedom.

“You seem busy, so go on ahead.”

Kihyun spoke to Yeonoh’s back. As if only just realizing his presence, Yeonoh turned around to look at him. He furrowed his brow slightly, checked his wristwatch once, and clicked his tongue. Then he approached Kihyun and spoke.

“I will come back later, so do not check out and wait for me. I am saying you should stay only in your room after you visit the spa.”

“…”

“So Kihyun, you’re not answering again. Are you not going to listen to hyung?”

Unbelievable. Is he really trying to act his age just because he was born three months earlier? In the first place, Kihyun thought his own mental age was higher than Cho Yeonoh’s.

However, it was not something worth responding to every single word of his wordplay. This was because Manager Yoo was looking this way with a tearful expression. It was as if he were pleading for Kihyun to wrap things up so he could take this self-indulgent third-generation tycoon away.

Kihyun let out a sigh and nodded. Then he added a few words.

“If you’re busy, you don’t have to come.”

“I am busy. But I am coming.”

He’s like that until the very end. A peaceful rest was ruined today as well. If that fellow persisted and sought out the room in the middle of the night, it would be much better to check out then and just go home. This was because he did not want to enter a bathroom with such a strange glass wall again while Cho Yeonoh was there.

At any rate, since he wanted to end this draining conversation, he waved his hand toward Cho Yeonoh as if chasing away a dog. Cho Yeonoh, who let out a snicker, stepped closer and reached out, stubbornly messing up Kihyun’s hair.

“Stop it.”

“What do you mean ‘stop it.’ Where is a guy who comes to a meal with a bird’s nest on his head.”

The voice speaking lightly was refreshing. He looked like he was in a good mood, with a smile lingering on his face. Are all guys born in the summer like him? He wondered suddenly. However, Kihyun did not ask. Because a person like himself, born only after the lush greenness had all passed, was not meant to know the affairs of summer.

Kihyun turned his back. As Cho Yeonoh went down the escalator, he nagged once more, saying, “Pick up immediately when I call.” Since there were many eyes watching, he could not raise his middle finger, so he endured it for the sake of the guy’s reputation.

Kihyun, who was about to head back to the guest elevator, turned around as something occurred to him. He felt he should ask Yeonoh to leave him alone even if he did not answer the phone, since he planned to take a nap.

It was the moment Kihyun headed back toward the escalator. To Kihyun, standing at the second-floor railing, Cho Yeonoh walking out of the first-floor lobby was visible from the side. The moment Kihyun looked at him and thought he should just call since the distance was further than expected, he pulled out his phone.

“…”

Someone approached and greeted Cho Yeonoh. The touch on the forearm was so natural that it suggested a close relationship. Kihyun could tell. That person was an Omega. It was because the unique atmosphere of a male Omega surrounded him.

Kihyun did not know what kind of face he was making right now. Since Cho Yeonoh’s back was turned to Kihyun’s field of vision, he could not see what the guy was saying either.

“…”

Kihyun, who had been watching silently, simply turned around and headed for the guest elevator.

Alpha and Omega. A world unknown to Kihyun, but one that was so close to Cho Yeonoh. With a “ding” sound, the elevator doors opened. Soon after, a certain Beta hid himself inside those doors.

⏳

“If you were going to come back like this, why did you even go in the first place?”

He wondered when that would be said. But Kihyun did not bother to answer. It was not an important matter regardless of what Cho Yeonoh thought.

He could not say, I went there to get some sleep while avoiding you. It was because the fellow would surely pester him asking why he couldn’t sleep when he was around. Still, he had slept as much as he wanted until Cho Yeonoh arrived.

Whether Manager Yoo had brought it or not, a pair of pajamas was prepared in the guest room. He had intended to wash up roughly and sleep, but Manager Yoo contacted him saying it was the reserved spa time and that he should go to the third floor of the hotel.

Since he knew the person who would be scolded if he did not go out of laziness was not himself but Manager Yoo, he had no choice but to head to the spa.

Judging by the way the hands touched his ankle carefully, it seemed they had received prior instructions. Kihyun wanted to say they did not need to do that, but he just kept his mouth shut and closed his eyes.

The funny thing was the fact that he fell asleep immediately. The skilled massuer made Kihyun fall asleep in just five minutes. When he woke up startled by a hand lightly tapping his shoulder, the massage time had already passed. Kihyun got up with a slightly embarrassed face and headed to the room.

Wanting to wipe off the slippery oil on his body, he showered again and then slept in earnest. There was no contact from Cho Yeonoh, so he seemed to have been able to sleep more deeply.

“Are you back? Let’s go home.”

“You are truly baffling, Kihyun.”

Around 7:00 PM, he told Cho Yeonoh, who had returned to the room, that he had enough now and should go home.

The fellow wore an incredulous expression, but perhaps because he also liked home, he checked out through Manager Yoo without a word of complaint. He acted like a guy who had never stayed in a room below a suite. Even though it was an upgraded room, it must have been a bit small for Cho Yeonoh. His attitude was that Kihyun’s house was actually better.

Suddenly, he became curious. Why was he so obsessed with being unable to sleep together? Did he give off some kind of deep-sleep scent? However, he had no talent for making people sleep, and since the only person who had slept over at Kihyun’s house was Cho Yeonoh, there was no comparison group, making it impossible to verify.

At any rate, the two returned to Kihyun’s apartment. Returning home after ending a short one-night runaway was quite welcoming. Kihyun showered and then hovered behind Cho Yeonoh while he was fussing about preparing a late dinner. He even got caught trying to open a beer in advance and had the can taken away. Looking at the beer can that had left his hand, he just smacked his lips and spoke.

“Let’s just eat something simple.”

“If I make it simple? You won’t eat it.”

Cho Yeonoh spoke to Kihyun as if he were being absurd and shook his head. Because of his small appetite and picky eating habits, Kihyun had actually become a gourmet. Since he couldn’t eat much, he only bothered with meals if his interest was piqued by the taste.

At least at the hospital, he went to the hospital cafeteria with his colleagues, so he managed to get lunch. Because of that, Cho Yeonoh paid more and more attention to ingredients and learned all sorts of recipes to feed the small-eater So Kihyun. Kihyun began to wonder if cooking was actually Cho Yeonoh’s hobby at this point. It was resentful of him to use Kihyun as an excuse for no reason.

“So what are you making.”

“Pad Thai.”

That’s a perfect beer snack. Smelling the spicy aroma rising up, Kihyun muttered indifferently.

The meal was prepared quite quickly. He wondered if he needed a pot stand, but Yeonoh was already pouring the food from the pan into a large bowl. Kihyun thought Cho Yeonoh’s sincerity in putting it on a plate when they could have just eaten it straight from the frying pan was fascinating.

When the fellow cooked, the dishes were usually his responsibility. So, it was slightly annoying that the number of plates increased. Still, since the person who made it showed such sincerity, he could not embarrass him in front of his face, so Kihyun opened the lid of the confiscated beer can once more with a word that he would eat well. The Pad Thai covered with fluffy scrambled eggs was quite delicious. As the savory taste of peanut powder rose along with the sour smell, Kihyun nodded with an expressionless face.

“It’s good.”

“Really? I should save the recipe. I’ll make it for you again next time.”

Cho Yeonoh also replied to Kihyun’s words in an impassive tone. Since he said it was something he learned this time, he would likely find out more similar recipes from the same cooking teacher. Kihyun drank his beer while eating the food in silence.

It was not a bad Saturday. The massage he received was refreshing, and thanks to sleeping in late, his condition was quite recovered. It was also good that the food Cho Yeonoh made went well with alcohol.

While busily bringing his chopsticks to his mouth, he wondered if Yeonoh could make something like Nasi Goreng, so he turned on the phone sitting on the table. Then he searched for a Nasi Goreng recipe and showed it to Cho Yeonoh.

“Can you do something like this too?”

“This is Indonesian food.”

“Ah, was it?”

It was when the two of them were looking down at the recipe together. A pop-up appeared and flickered as if he had pressed something wrong. Kihyun, who did not expect such a thing to appear suddenly, widened his eyes, wondering what it was.