Salt Society Chapter 2

So that might have been why he wanted to confess even more. This heart, which he had suffered from for a long time, felt so natural to him, and he also thought that perhaps by bringing it out of his mouth, these tedious emotions would reach an end.

“So what do you want me to do about it?”

Cho Yeonoh spoke almost with a growl. Since his gnashing voice was spilling out between his teeth, he seemed considerably angry, which made Kihyun feel both sorry and embarrassed. He wondered if his confession had really been that bad.

In the end, he had no choice but to say something that would make the situation seem light. He hadn’t intended to say it because it was cowardly, but seeing Cho Yeonoh’s reaction, he had become a little scared.

“Just. I wanted you to know.”

Kihyun shrugged without expression. He spoke it like an excuse, but truly, that was enough.

At this point, he couldn’t ask Cho Yeonoh to date him, since Yeonoh loathed dating Betas. However, he also seemed to want to say that his loving him was a different matter, even if he was a Beta.

In truth, So Kihyun was also young. He had confessed without being able to confirm what kind of heart he truly had. Although he had loved him as a matter of course over the past years, Kihyun nonetheless had no certainty.

He couldn’t predict how this emotion would change So Kihyun, Cho Yeonoh, and the two of them who had grown up together since childhood, or toward what kind of end it would drive them. Because to So Kihyun, Cho Yeonoh was his first.

Ah, it might be something like this. So Kihyun, who couldn’t guess anything because Cho Yeonoh was his first, might have been afraid that if he left things as they were, Cho Yeonoh would be his last as well.

So, perhaps he brought it out of his mouth specifically today, right now when the guy came to congratulate his commissioning, to ask him to end this emotion instead.

Sentence my love. You, please end this selfish heart that would abandon friendship with you and pretend not to know your pain. That might have been the sole purpose So Kihyun’s confession held.

However, Cho Yeonoh was quite weak when it came to So Kihyun.

“Just to let me know?”

While looking at him with eyes full of displeasure, his expression must have contained that many emotions.

“…”

“You’re saying crazy things again, making a person pissed off.”

Yeonoh buried his face in his palms with his head hung low. Just as Kihyun was about to tell him not to do that because he seemed to be suffering quite a bit…

“Was what you and I did love? It wasn’t. But you, without my consent, go on about love by yourself, fuck…”

Cho Yeonoh seemed to think of it as a betrayal. A betrayal of all the bonds they had shared, a declaration of farewell to memories and friendship. He seemed to feel that way.

That must be why he said such things with a face turned pale. Kihyun didn’t know the guy would think that way.

…No, in one corner of his mind, he had known. That this emotion would meet its end in such a form. So Kihyun might lose Cho Yeonoh today. The confession was made while taking at least that much into account.

From now on, So Kihyun might have to pour the rest of his life only into forgetting Cho Yeonoh. Someday, a time will come when even these things feel like nothing. Kihyun was already giving up on about half of it, without even hearing all of Yeonoh’s words.

“A crazy bastard choosing a day like this as if he planned it, fuck… You, you forgot that you’re a Beta, too.”

However, in front of such a Kihyun, Cho Yeonoh blabbered curses mixed with dry retching, his complexion pale white. He was wounded by a reaction that was more violent than expected. His chest throbbed heavily.

But Kihyun understood his friend and the object of his unrequited love. After all, Cho Yeonoh had a reason for that. Rather, it was he himself who had brought it up even while anticipating to some extent that Cho Yeonoh would show this kind of reaction. So Kihyun realized the fact that he hadn’t opened his mouth to start something, but to end something.

Only then did Kihyun go beyond understanding Yeonoh’s panic and even felt sorry. Today, he had shifted the burden of giving up onto Cho Yeonoh.

The guy was now bending his waist completely, holding back the retching. While Kihyun was hurriedly approaching to pat his back, Cho Yeonoh pushed Kihyun away violently. The guy lifted his head and looked at Kihyun.

“…”

“…”

The gazes of the person who was betrayed and the person who betrayed intertwined in midair. Kihyun immediately regretted the confession upon seeing that both of Yeonoh’s eyes had turned bright red. If this was such a wound to you, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

However, it wasn’t too late even now. He could make an excuse that he was playing a prank to celebrate the commissioning ceremony. He wouldn’t believe it at first, but he could just act as if he didn’t know until the guy forgot about the events of this day. It was just as he opened his mouth with that thought.

Cho Yeonoh strode closer, trampling the bouquet that had fallen at his feet with his booted foot. His outstretched, rough grip snatched the necktie and the front of the dress uniform Kihyun was wearing. The rank insignias, frozen in the still-cold temperature, hit each other and made a clattering sound. Kihyun, grabbed by the collar, had no choice but to take a couple of steps toward Yeonoh.

He opened his mouth.

“Fine. Let’s do it, the dating. You fucking selfish bastard.”

Cho Yeonoh had wounded eyes. Only then did Kihyun realize that every word he had said until just now was the same as a declaration of ending their friendship to Cho Yeonoh.

Ah… Kihyun groaned in spite of himself.

If he had said even one word saying he was sorry, sorry for hurting him again, would the two of them on that day have become something different than they were now?

The confession tasted salty. It was the start of a relationship crusted with saltiness.

“Did you give the goldfish their yummies?”

So Kihyun wasn’t surprised even when he suddenly heard his lover’s voice in the house where he thought he was alone. This was because from the moment he took off his shoes and entered, the entryway being clean made him suspect as much.

Without a reply, he took off the top he was wearing with slow movements and threw it into the laundry bin. There was a sign of Cho Yeonoh, who had been lying on the sofa in the dark living room, raising his body.

Unlike Kihyun, who was slightly under 180 centimeters, Cho Yeonoh was the size of a doorframe wherever he went. His height, taller than a vending machine or a typical refrigerator, and his shoulders that looked like weapons, often made him look threatening when coupled with his foul temper. Since he had crumpled such a large body into Kihyun’s small sofa and was now trying to get up, it seemed there were many difficulties.

Kihyun glanced toward the living room from inside the room. In the dark living room, Cho Yeonoh’s hair, illuminated by the light of the small fish tank, was sticking up slightly.

It was obvious he had skipped a meeting again, crawled into Kihyun’s house, and taken a nap. Allowing him to keep a change of clothes here was the problem.

“I asked if you gave them their yummies, so why is there no answer? Is it because their dad only wanders around outside that the kids are so skinny?”

It was a tone of voice that sounded as if he were arguing with a spouse who returned home late from work, accusing them of not fulfilling their responsibilities as a parent.

However, Kihyun also had a reason for not being able to answer. It was because he was gambling on the probability that Yeonoh’s secretary, cursed with serving a lazy but competent boss, would send him a call or message while swallowing gastritis medicine.

There was also a matter he needed to attend to. Just now, he had quietly removed the dog tags hanging from his neck and pushed them into the nightstand drawer so they wouldn’t make a sound. If Cho Yeonoh saw Kihyun wearing the dog tags, he was bound to nag him again, so he had to hide them when he could.

Furthermore, since he had come home from work still wearing his scrubs, he was already in a state of feeling it would be a hassle to hear nagging. Adding more to this would not be cost-effective compared to the difficult day he had spent.

He was trying to quickly take them off and go out when he felt someone wrap their arms around his waist from behind.

“You came home from work without changing again.”

“Mm.”

Kihyun, who was finally caught, gave a short affirmation to Yeonoh’s words. It was a reply that was far too flimsy to be a shield against the nagging that would soon crash down.

“There might be germs on them, so why do you always come home in your scrubs? From next time, change before you come.”

So Kihyun, without saying yes or no, finished the series of things set for his return home even while having Yeonoh’s arms hanging from his waist.

Since he wouldn’t listen even if he told him several times to stay away if he was worried about germs, for now, he had to leave the giant leech attached to his back alone.

Cho Yeonoh was merely hanging onto Kihyun’s back with a slightly tired face, burying his face in the nape of his neck. Even though he had taken off his top and it was bare skin, goosebumps rose when his cheek made contact.

Soon his lower abdomen felt heavy, but he ignored it. This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, and to So Kihyun, desire was nothing more than something that drifted and disappeared like a tolerable hunger. On days when it got severe, he could release it through exercise. When his ankle hurt a little, he couldn’t help it, but it usually subsided if he did at least upper body exercises.

In the meantime, Cho Yeonoh’s two arms tightened appropriately around Kihyun’s waist. The hem of the guy’s dress shirt, touching his bare skin, rustled coldly. He heard calm breathing from behind his back. Cho Yeonoh is finding stability right now. By touching Kihyun. Kihyun felt that fact in spite of himself.

“I thought you said there might be germs. Don’t stick to me until I come out from washing up.”

“Are you ignoring my immunity?”

If that weren’t the case, there was no way his voice would sound low and sunken like the sound of rain. It was a voice that only came out when Cho Yeonoh was feeling stable.

Kihyun let out a smirk. When his lover, who rarely smiled in front of him, smirked to himself, Yeonoh felt curious and pulled his cheek away from his back to look at Kihyun’s profile.

“Smiling only with sound again. Try making an actual expression.”