Salt Society Chapter 26

When they hated me for having connections was one thing, but now that such an incident had occurred, it seemed like they were trying to cover it up because if I were to sue the man for assault, the responsibility would fall on the team leader level. Kihyun let out a sigh without hiding it.

“Ha, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As if that attitude was offensive, Team Leader Lim furrowed his brow.

“Then what. Are you saying you’re going to sue a patient now? Over a small thing like this?”

If it’s just a small thing, he should have gotten hit in my place. Kihyun, who had kept his mouth shut thinking about why the team leader was acting as if he was the one being generous when I was the one who got hit, simply turned around.

“Hey! Mr. So! Are you really going to sue!”

The impatient voice asking toward his back was laughable. Kihyun didn’t answer until the end and went to handle the work that had been piling up. A luge athlete who had been watching the commotion from start to finish watched Kihyun’s reaction.

“…Ssam, your face is red.”

He seemed to be referring to the area that was hit. Kihyun nodded.

“You saw it. How sorrowful it is to be a worker. So what should you do. When you go to the Olympics and win gold, you have to say, ‘It’s all thanks to Mr. So Kihyun from Haeseong Rehabilitation,’ or not?”

“Ah, ssam, you say that to the kids every single day…”

At Kihyun’s joke, the atmosphere relaxed, and the athlete laughed with an awkward face. Finding the concern funny, Kihyun patted the back of the athlete’s head and said.

“Ssam isn’t in a good mood, so Seongsu, let’s try 5 sets of planks.”

“What does that have to do with this!”

Ignoring the athlete shouting in protest, Kihyun said, “Start,” and the athlete took the position while grumbling. While he was giving him a pep talk to lower his hips and put strength in his abs, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps and turned around to see Lee Bumhee.

“Mr. So! I heard some nuisance caused a scene!”

“Director.”

“I heard he was making a fuss about changing the person in charge. I put him on the blacklist. I’ll make sure he can’t come again, so don’t worry.”

Kihyun opened his eyes wide in surprise but soon calmed down. He had worried that if word got out that he was hit, it would go straight to Cho Yeonoh’s ears, but it seemed the administrative manager and Team Leader Lim had coordinated their stories in the meantime, as only half the report seemed to have reached Bumhee. Kihyun nodded vaguely.

Since he was put on the blacklist, he would never be seen for treatment at the hospital again. It was not a bad ending. He hadn’t intended to sue in the first place, but Team Leader Lim had only made his mood worse.

If anything, suing was more of a problem. If that matter reached Cho Yeonoh’s ears, it was obvious that the guy—who thought So Kihyun was a chick that had just broken out of its shell—would make a huge scene.

Kihyun absolutely hated bothersome things. The guy who slapped his cheek would be punished somewhere; if not in this life, then please make him repent in the next, he could just pray to the Buddha and be done with it. An ending like this wasn’t bad.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Thank you for what. I’m the one who’s sorry. Let’s have a staff dinner, a dinner.”

At those words, Kihyun’s face stiffened. He instantly became gloomy, like someone who had heard a bolt from the blue.

“A dinner is a bit…”

“You like tuna, don’t you, Mr. So? Let’s eat that. Manager Seo! Make a reservation at Lee Chunsung Tuna—!”

Even though the blood drained from Kihyun’s face at the mention of a staff dinner, the extroverted Lee Bumhee did not stop. He tried to stop her, but she had already turned her back and was telling the administrative manager to set up the dinner.

The fatigue that Kihyun hadn’t even felt when he was slapped on the cheek was rushing in. The athlete, who was trembling at Kihyun’s feet, said.

“Ssam… how much longer do we do this. Why aren’t you counting the numbers…”

He apologized and instructed the athlete on the next set. Kihyun let out a sigh. It was because the decision for the staff dinner was a hassle.

In a new hospital, the first people to leave are the hospital staff, not the patients. Since there is nothing as difficult as working at a hospital without a set system, teachers with some experience just gave up and looked for other hospitals. Lee Bumhee had excellent qualities as a doctor, but she also boasted decent management skills as a hospital owner.

Of course, the problem was that for Kihyun, it was a massive swing and a miss.

“If you don’t drink, you’ll go bald!”

The dinner, where Lee Bumhee—who had already stolen the administrative manager’s tie and tied it around her temples—was the most excited, made the introverted Kihyun want to just go home. Normally he would have left without hesitation, but today, since the gathering happened because of Kihyun anyway, it was embarrassing to leave in the middle.

He felt a bit hollow thinking about why he was stuck here when the nursing staff had been sent to an aesthetic clinic as a group, but since the quality of the tuna was good, time flew by as he ate a few pieces.

Usually, staff dinners involving the director at a hospital are funded by pharmaceutical company rebates, but thanks to Cho Yeonoh handing over a corporate card telling her not to do such things, it became a grand gathering even without that.

The problem was Kihyun’s palate, which was the result of living half a life unexpectedly next to a chaebol, much like how a dog that lived in a village school for 30 years could go to the royal court to state its will and take a government post. Because he had consumed all sorts of delicacies against his will, his appetite and desire for material things were thin. Therefore, the staff dinner couldn’t help but be boring.

Furthermore, the one single flaw of Lee Bumhee—who was handsome, wealthy, and even smart—troubled Kihyun. If you ask what that flaw was.

“So today, because that happened to Mr. So, I was so upset.”

“Is that so.”

“So today, because that happened to Mr. So, I was so upset.”

Once she got drunk, she would repeat the same words with the same tone and expression about five hundred times. Kihyun wondered how he ended up being the only one left at the table where the drunk Lee Bumhee was sitting. Clearly, all the hospital people had swarmed in noisily, but he didn’t know where everyone had gone.

Even Teacher Kang Nayoon, who had gone home early since she had a half-day off but rushed over after hearing it was a dinner with tuna, disappeared first despite arriving latest. This was despite her having eaten the most tuna sashimi among all the therapists present. At this rate, Kihyun was about to end up shouldering the cleanup of Lee Bumhee all by himself.

The clock hanging on the wall already pointed to 10:00 PM. Only then did Kihyun realize that not a single contact had come from Cho Yeonoh all day.

What is with that guy? It was when Kihyun was thinking about Cho Yeonoh while stopping Lee Bumhee from trying to recite the rehabilitation protocol for ACL surgery. The administrative manager rushed over and supported Bumhee.

“Director, let’s go! The substitute driver is here!”

“Huh? Gajwa-dong? No, Manager Seo, what are you talking about. I don’t live in Gajwa-dong. Manager Seo, you know I live in Sangam-dong.”

The administrative manager supported the mumbling Bumhee, who had his tie tied around her head, and left the room. Kihyun also stood up after looking around to see if anyone had left anything behind.

He wondered where everyone had gone, only to find a crowd gathered at the entrance. Kihyun, who was observing them to see what was happening, realized that Cho Yeonoh had arrived when he saw someone who stood a head taller than the gathered crowd.

Unlike usual, the guy was dressed quite comfortably. Since it was still a bit chilly even though it was night, the cream-colored knit suited him very well. He wore a navy paisley silk scarf inside the knit, and perhaps because the material was high-quality, he looked both neat and erotic. Slacks in a tone similar to the scarf wrapped around his long legs.

It would have looked greasy if worn by someone determined to seduce someone, but Cho Yeonoh had a plain face even while surrounded by people. Rather, the others around him were making a fuss.

“Gasp, hello, Chairman…”

“Chairman, I guess you came to pick up our Director.”

The sound of people whispering was heard. Kihyun, who was about to call Cho Yeonoh while heading toward the shop exit, instinctively stopped in his tracks. Only then did he recall the rumors circulating in the hospital.

The ridiculous rumor that Cho Yeonoh, an Alpha, was dating Bumhee, another Alpha, instead of the matches arranged by his family, and that they were trying to overcome the situation. There were many words saying that the investment in Haeseong Rehabilitation itself was for Bumhee. It wasn’t unreasonable for them to think that way.

Since if that side was a possible union, then he and Cho Yeonoh—that is, a relationship between a Beta male and an Alpha male—was not a relationship that could be tolerated. While there is a trend toward banning discrimination by convention, many people still despised relationships occurring between Beta males and Alpha males.

It was when Kihyun was having such thoughts. Cho Yeonoh turned his gaze and discovered Kihyun, who was just coming out of the shop.

“So Ki—”

Because the guy was about to call his name, Kihyun shook his head. It was a sign not to do that. Hospital life was already arduous just from Bumhee taking care of him, and he didn’t want to let others see the guy treating him specially as well.

It was on a different dimension from others seeing them having a conversation at the hospital. Even in So Kihyun’s opinion, Cho Yeonoh took care of him to an unusual degree. It was familiar to him, but to others, it would be nothing short of bizarre.

Therefore, Kihyun shook his head and walked away with his back turned. Since they had the dinner near the hospital, it was a short walk home. He was worried about not saying goodbye to the other teachers, but it would be enough to just send a text to his senior, Seunghee.

It was when he was walking while thinking that.

“What are you, exactly.”