Salt Society Chapter 22

The gaze of Cho Yeonoh was still stuck to Kihyun’s back as he headed toward the dressing room like that. …He’s staring persistently today. What is with him. Because he didn’t know the reason, his answer was delayed, and the other followed him all the way to the dressing room to ask.

“Did you meet him separately outside the hospital?”

Kihyun let out a small sigh, opened a drawer, took out a random T-shirt, and replied as he put it on.

“No. Cheoljin came to the hospital and we ate.”

“I thought you said his treatment was finished.”

Did I even say such a thing? Kihyun tilted his head and then said casually.

“There are kids who occasionally come by with drinks. To say thank you.”

“A national athlete, a summer athlete about to enter the season, comes on his own two feet? And just to say hello, at that.”

“He’s a decent person, so I guess he felt he should repay the favor. More than that, don’t you need to wash your hands? You always wash your hands first when you come over.”

Kihyun passed by Yeonoh while yawning. After showering, nothing more like that came out from behind. He’d have to get an examination sooner or later, but for now, thinking of it as a finished matter for today, his body felt languid. Since one bottle of beer was all he had, it couldn’t be the alcohol rising up, and he wondered if the busyness of the entire day was catching up to him late as he walked to the living room and sat on the sofa.

In the meantime, Cho Yeonoh seemingly had nothing more to say, so he hung his suit jacket in the dressing room and went toward the bathroom. Soon after, the sound of water falling from the showerhead was heard.

Kihyun decided to just go to sleep first and went straight into the bedroom and lay down. It was exactly 10 o’clock. Just as he had told Cheoljin, a worn-out office worker had to be in bed by this time. The thought that he had to fall asleep quickly before Cho Yeonoh came out was dominant.

He wanted to charge his phone but didn’t know where it was, and thinking he must have dropped it carelessly when he took off his clothes earlier, he closed his flickering eyes. Even though he was the type to sleep in, he didn’t worry about an alarm because he woke up at a precise time due to habits from his soldier days. Since not charging it for a day wouldn’t be a big deal, Kihyun closed his eyes just like that.

The sound of water falling continued from the bathroom. Kihyun was in the middle of surrendering his body to the waves of sleep that were soaking him from his toes. It was just before a shallow sleep encroached upon his entire body.

With a clicking sound, it seemed Yeonoh had come out of the bathroom. Since Kihyun’s only thought even in his hazy mind was to fall into sleep quickly, his consciousness billowed like waves, moving far away and then close again.

It felt like someone was approaching the side of the bed. That touch reached Kihyun’s hair. It flicked the parts that weren’t fully dry and then disappeared.

“Sleeping without drying your hair again.”

It was a low voice. It seemed to have a slight hint of laughter mixed in. A rustling sound was also heard, and then he felt someone stand in front of the console next to the bed again. A “ding,” electronic sound was heard. Cho Yeonoh had probably charged the phone for him.

“…”

He stood in front of the console like that for a while longer. Kihyun was gradually falling into a complete sleep. Deeper and deeper, and soon, it was a blackout.

⏳

There are many reasons for waking up at dawn. Among them, waking up from sleep because of thirst is rare, but today, coincidentally, was such a day. Even while his consciousness was dimly returning, Kihyun thought that the steamed sea bream had been too salty.

However, since it was not easy to completely drive away the sleep that had once covered his whole body, Kihyun still had his eyes closed. As he stayed still in a state of giving half his body each to sleep and consciousness, he came to feel something uncomfortable.

“…”

What is it. That was the first thing Kihyun thought. The question of what was touching his rump. It was hard and seemed thick. In any case, it possessed a faint heat while its presence was heavy. It was about as thick as the middle part between the very thick part of a baseball bat and the grip. It meant that unless one’s hand was exceptionally large, it wasn’t a thickness that could be wrapped around all at once.

His distant consciousness was trying to become clear again. This was because someone was rubbing that hard thing against Kihyun’s rump. What is it. Kihyun pondered what it could be. In reality, because he wasn’t fully awake, he only let out a groan, “Mmm…” .

At any rate, the thing wedged thickly between the cleft moved slowly up and down, and then at other times, it bumped as if bouncing from bottom to top. Kihyun’s consciousness was now almost entirely clear. If he only opened his two eyes, he could identify what was reaching him. And it was then.

“Ha…”

Along with a low sound of a sigh, someone buried their head in the nape of Kihyun’s neck and exhaled. Kihyun opened his eyes.

‘What…’

A huge question mark floated in his mind. He was just about to lift his body to check. Something moist and slightly wet touched the nape of his neck. Something a bit more rough than that, possessing heat, and even more wet, licked Kihyun’s sternocleidomastoid muscle. It was just before a gasp, “hng,” was about to come out.

“Ah, fuck.”

Kihyun stopped his breath in shock. He couldn’t turn around. Soon after, the sound of the blanket rustling was heard. He stared into the darkness while blinking his eyes. There was a sign of someone standing up from the spot next to him.

“Now, on top of everything else…”

Someone chewed out a curse. There was only one person who would fall asleep in the spot next to him. Cho Yeonoh. Kihyun tried to clear his dazed mind while thinking about what had happened to him, but it wasn’t easy.

He felt Yeonoh, who had raised his body from the spot next to him, peering at Kihyun.

“…!”

Kihyun closed his eyes. He couldn’t help but do so instinctively. It was ridiculous. Why was he closing his eyes for that. He could have asked what you are doing right now. While Kihyun was having such thoughts, he felt a shadow cast over him even in the darkness. Cho Yeonoh had leaned his head toward Kihyun.

He followed that by placing his head against the nape of the neck just like a moment ago and took a deep breath in. Goosebumps rose on the nape of the neck where the breath touched. His chest felt itchy. It felt like blood had rushed to his nipples. Why here suddenly… Even a man’s nipples get hard if it’s cold, but the bedroom right now was hot enough that heat was pooled in it. Yet he couldn’t understand why strength had suddenly entered that place.

In the meantime, Cho Yeonoh was still exhaling breath in a state of being inches away with his head lowered to Kihyun’s neck. He even breathed in deeply as if searching for something. The area between Kihyun’s legs became heavy. It wasn’t the feeling of blood rushing to the genitals, but the feeling of the perineum being heavy and painful. It was when he couldn’t shake the thought that it was a strange thing.

“You’re not even an Omega.”

“…”

With those words, Cho Yeonoh completely pulled away from Kihyun. A sign of him stepping down from the bed was also felt. There was the sound of putting on the indoor slippers that had been under the bed, the sound of dragging them slightly while walking, and next was the sound of opening and closing the shut door.

“…”

Left alone, Kihyun blinked his eyes. He stayed like that for a moment.

He pulled the blanket over his head.

⏳

“Hey, wake up.”

I wonder what he’s so dissatisfied about again since morning; the touch of him waking me up is fierce.

A cold energy came from Cho Yeonoh, who had returned after a long time, wondering what kind of shower he was taking for so long throughout the dawn. Since he was a guy who liked sleeping while hugging a person, I wondered if I would be caught being awake if he came out of the bathroom and hugged me again. Still, for some reason, he took a spot far away, so that was the one thing to be relieved about.

The problem was that the guy, who never used to do so, started tossing and turning. As if the words he had left behind weren’t bothersome enough to prevent me from sleeping completely, he was rustling next to me, so all my senses were focused and sleep wouldn’t come even more.

Even if I knew Cho Yeonoh suffered from mild insomnia, there was a reason why it was hard for Kihyun to believe. It was because the guy fell asleep easily next to Kihyun as if he had never suffered from insomnia. It was strange that such a guy couldn’t sleep deeply and was tossing and turning.

Because of that, Kihyun also only managed to fall asleep barely right before dawn broke. So, there was no way it wouldn’t be annoying that the touch shaking him awake from the morning was rough. He couldn’t understand why he was harassing a person who was sleeping well, acting as if he had done something right.

“…Hey, if you’re awake, just go. Why are you so anxious because you can’t harass a person.”

“I told you to speak nicely. You’re not the only one with a temper. Get up, I’ve made all the food.”

I mean, why is a guy, for a chaebol, making more rice than an electronic rice cooker. I was about to say something, but since the guy quickly left the bedroom, Kihyun, who missed the timing to get angry, had to get up with a deep furrow in his brow. He wanted to go for his morning exercise, but since he couldn’t sleep until dawn every single day, he had no time because he was busy filling his lacking sleep.

Thanks to that, when he entered the kitchen with a sluggish body, Cho Yeonoh was already placing two sets of cutlery on the dining table. As he walked while slowly dragging his feet, the other glanced at Kihyun’s ankle.

Kihyun felt Cho Yeonoh’s gaze and only then walked calmly without dragging his ankle. It was certain that nagging would follow—does it hurt or what, are you exercising, what is Lee Bumhee doing after I even set up a hospital for him, unable to fix a single ankle, I’m going to withdraw the investment. And the final words were always.

“Don’t hang out with Lee Bumhee.”

He was merely pushing a conclusion at me that I didn’t know where it had sprung from. Sitting in his seat with a bird’s nest on his head, Kihyun closed his eyes at the sudden mention of the hospital director’s name and made a face as if he couldn’t hear.