Salt Society Chapter 24

I guided him to a seat and he sat down quietly, so I was about to head back, but I had to pause at his words, which he threw out with a smirk.

“Shouldn’t you stay? I have a backlog of work.”

“It’s been a while, so I’m disappointed. Cho Yeonoh hasn’t been picking up my calls lately either. …Are you two still on good terms?”

…Right. These subtle remarks were the problem. Kihyun smoothed out his stiff expression and gathered his service spirit as a hospital employee, but.

“Yeah, extremely. Sounds like you two are on bad terms. He’s a bit prickly, you know. He picks and chooses people.”

He failed in the end. He had charged right back at him without holding back. Moon Sihu narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. He licked his lower lip, let out a hollow laugh, and then nodded.

“Ah, it wouldn’t do for us to be on good terms. I don’t make friends with Beta bastards, and I don’t take them from behind either.”

“…What?”

Kihyun felt such a surge of disgust at Moon Sihu’s words that the back of his neck prickled. Just as he was about to take a step closer and ask what the hell he was blabbering about, Team Leader Lim entered the office, clapping his hands together.

“Oh, darling! You’re here, why didn’t you call me! Mr. So, go make some coffee.”

“Team Leader, it’s fine. He and I are friends, so a coffee errand is a bit…”

When Moon Sihu replied to Team Leader Lim with a giggle, Team Leader Lim finally looked back at Kihyun and spoke.

“Is that so? Does Mr. So feel bad? I’ll just have someone else do it. Go bring Ms. Seunghee or Byungju.”

The reason for telling him to bring Byungju, the youngest trainer in the athletes’ room, or Seunghee was so transparent it was almost funny. Kihyun put both hands into the front pockets of his treatment uniform, extended only his middle fingers while turning his back, and replied.

“I’ll go make it.”

“Oh, will you?”

While Team Leader Lim looked delighted, Moon Sihu was still smirking beside him. Kihyun left the general ward, thinking it was better to just get it over with than to suffer through the tension. More than that, the words Moon Sihu had said weighed on his mind. Something about taking it from behind…

…Was that something he heard through Cho Yeonoh? He had wanted to keep things a secret, so I was the one who suggested it first. The thought that he might have been going around telling guys like Moon Sihu about what was between them left a bitter taste in his mouth. Just how long must he be condemned for the sin of breaking that great friendship? Kihyun thought he could never know.

He didn’t bring the coffee. Instead, he worked hard on treatments. Team Leader Lim, who eventually came out to look for him because Kihyun hadn’t shown up, had an absurd look on his face, but Kihyun simply repeated that he had forgotten and was sorry with an expressionless face.

He ignored the red-faced Team Leader Lim, who was screaming about what he thought he was doing, by bowing his head once more. Then he turned around and removed the ice pack from the patient, Park Sangho.

“Mr. So Kihyun, what are you doing right now? Are you ignoring me?!”

“Ah, I put ice on Mr. Park Sangho, but I just remembered it’s been on too long. We can’t have him getting frostbite, can we?”

Kihyun gave a half-hearted answer and looked down at the philtrum of the screaming Team Leader Lim. He ignored the man’s rage, thinking to himself that his Adam’s apple was quite large. That was the end of the afternoon’s duties.

On the way home from work, a call came in from Cho Yeonoh. Kihyun looked at the screen for a moment, then simply put it in his pocket and kept walking.

“Is it an urgent call?”

“…Yes, well.”

“It’s Kihyun, isn’t it?”

Cho Yeonoh neither nodded nor opened his mouth to answer, but the person sitting in front of him let out a small sigh as if they had guessed as much.

“Bring Kihyun along next time. I haven’t seen him at all, so I miss him.”

“… .”

Instead of answering, he brought the teacup to his lips. The scent of green tea brewed from leaves roasted twice seeped in naturally. This scent was nice, but the scent he had smelled at So Kihyun’s apartment yesterday was more special.

…What kind of scent was that? It was a smell that wafted from something so sweet it made the tongue ache.

“Zoning out while an elder is speaking, you and Kihyun are exactly the same.”

“…Because we’re friends. We’ve been stuck together for a long time, so I suppose we’re becoming alike.”

Youngwon looked at her taciturn son, who became suddenly talkative whenever the topic of Kihyun came up, despite showing disapproval.

On the table were thinly sliced sea bream sashimi, clear soup made with monkfish liver, fried cherries, soy sauce mixed with dashi broth, and hot sake with a dried sea bream tail floating in it. Of course, the sake was for Youngwon.

Youngwon’s son did not enjoy drinking; the one who used to drink with her was actually Kihyun, but starting from a certain day, her blunt son stopped showing her Kihyun. Since he was the only treasure left behind by a dear friend, she also wanted to look after Kihyun, but because Yeonoh wouldn’t give her an opening, she couldn’t pour out her sincerity at all.

“How is Kihyun doing these days? Is he doing well?”

“… .”

He thought about mentioning that they slept together last night as well, but inwardly considering his somewhat fragile mother, he picked up a piece of sea bream sashimi with his silver chopsticks and suppressed those words along with it.

“Say something. I asked if Kihyun is doing well.”

Youngwon shook her head as she looked at her son, who had clamped his mouth shut again. If she was going to have a son, she would have rather had an Omega if given the choice. If not that, a reliable and sweet son like Kihyun would have been better. However, her son was blunt, silent, and consistently indifferent.

Yet, she knew the one person for whom her son would break down all those blunt corners.

“You have a lot of interest.”

Cho Yeonoh brushed his lips with the tips of his chopsticks and replied to his mother’s words with a somewhat disrespectful attitude. Youngwon let out a sigh, thinking he was doing it again.

However, the fact that her son had a Beta male friend might be a good thing. Around middle school age, he used to overreact just at the sight of a Beta male. …She only felt sorry for not being able to provide a good home environment. Therefore, it was inevitable that her heart went out to Kihyun even more.

Furthermore, the fact that Kihyun’s ankle, which had forced him to discharge after an accident, was in bad shape was a matter of great concern to Youngwon as well.

“This boy… You always act like that whenever I talk about Kihyun. You’re not my only son; Kihyun is my son too.”

“… .”

He fell silent. Seeing him even set down his chopsticks, Youngwon let out a small sigh.

“…Don’t take this the wrong way. Your grandfather is very worried because you don’t seem to have any intention of getting married. Are you seeing anyone?”

“I’m not seeing anyone. I have no intention to, either. Did he say he’ll only hand over the position if I get married?”

“It’s not necessarily that, but…”

“It’s not necessarily that, but you have to make me get married, and you have to have affairs, and you have to do it right in front of your child’s eyes. That kind of thing is out of fashion. These days, a harmonious family is the trend.”

Youngwon dropped her chopsticks in shock. Even after her divorce from Cho Yeonoh’s father, the only thing that weighed on her mind was the remark that had just come out of her son’s mouth.

“How can you say such a thing?”

“So why do you keep making me sit here until I say things like that? I want to say only nice things when I see you, Mother. Normally, like other people’s children.”

“… .”

“Go on a trip. To Nice or Sicily. Somewhere far and nice.”

Cho Yeonoh, having picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, stood up just like that. Even though Youngwon tried to stand up after him in shock, he quickly left the room. Manager Yoo, who was waiting outside the door, wore an awkward face. Youngwon hid her face. To her, she was a perpetual sinner toward her son.

⏳

I think I fell asleep on the sofa for a moment. After coming home from work, I had a hamburger and a beer, then I did some ankle exercises with a TheraBand, claiming I was going to get some exercise in. I must have fallen asleep just like that, as the silver band was still sitting on my stomach. Pushing it aside, Kihyun moved sluggishly toward the bathroom. It was because the faint smell of detergent was wafting out.

Kihyun yawned and leaned against the bathroom doorframe, then rubbed his chin with one hand while crossing his arms and spoke.

“Did you meet your mother?”

“… .”

The other gave no answer. Only the loud sound of scrubbing the tile floor with something coarse was heard. Seeing him scrubbing even the bathtub while wearing a suit, it was clear he had come back from meeting his mother.

Since he was crouching while wearing suit pants, his muscles were expanded to the point that the fabric looked ready to tear. Most of the suits Cho Yeonoh wore were made of silk thread, so he wouldn’t be able to wear those anymore. A whole suit from an Italian homme line had met its end.

The scrubbing was neither violent nor slow. If it weren’t for the outfit where his shirt, caught on his shoulder blades, tightened every time his back muscles moved, one would have just thought he was cleaning the bathroom.

Kihyun looked at his back for a long time before opening his mouth.

“Take me with you next time. I want to see your mother.”

“Then fuck, let her be your mom.”

“…Using harsh language again. Stop there and wash up. I’ll really dry your hair today.”

Then he went back to the living room, organized the TheraBand, cleared away the beer can, and wiped the table. If he left it as it was, the other would be running the vacuum in the living room this late at night, and since that would be a nuisance to the neighbors downstairs, he wanted to give him a pass.

After tidying up roughly, he went into the bedroom, and Cho Yeonoh, who had showered quite quickly, came out radiating a chill. It felt like he was like this yesterday at dawn too; has cold water massage become a hobby lately? It’s not even full summer yet, so he thought the healthy guy was really something else.

However, Kihyun didn’t say anything and took the dryer Cho Yeonoh held out. Cho Yeonoh, whose face was not visible as he came out with a towel over his head, pulled the power strip that was tucked under the bedroom table and plugged in the dryer cord. After doing that, he sat below the bed, took down the towel he had been wearing on his head, and stayed still.