Salt Society Chapter 3

Forcing a smile like this wasn’t exactly because he loved Kihyun. It was simply because he cherished Kihyun deeply. He didn’t mistake that point. Over the past seven years, he had never once been confused.

When Kihyun didn’t answer, Yeonoh buried his forehead in the nape of his neck again and exhaled heavily. His bangs stuck to the nape of the neck, making it itchy. Kihyun knew well that there was zero sexual desire in this behavior of Cho Yeonoh.

In the first place, Cho Yeonoh was an Alpha. And Kihyun was a Beta male. Each belonged to the two groups that treated each other with the most indifference.

Unions between Alphas were often used as strategic tools. The news that an Alpha, the second son of Company A, was engaged to an Alpha, the eldest daughter of Company B, was a much cleaner method of corporate agreement than a merger or acquisition.

However, the relationship between an Alpha male and a Beta male was different. The fruition present in Alpha-Omega couples was absent between them, and the rationality found between Alphas could not be found either.

It was the same as saying it was an immoral union of desire and desire alone. Conservative groups ostracized Beta males who dated Alpha males. Although the spirit of exclusion had faded somewhat thanks to human rights movements crying out for non-discrimination, deep-rooted prejudice still occupied a place in society.

The trend of tabooing love between Alphas and Betas had changed with the times, and instead, people began to treat those who discriminated as senseless.

However, that was only a public attitude. This was because discrimination still existed between individuals. No one welcomed a person going down that path. There were even those who felt pity for someone walking a road that was no different from an unpaved one.

“Food.”

Tearing through his thoughts, Yeonoh’s question was felt on his skin through the vibration given by his lips, which were still stuck to the nape of his neck. Kihyun, who had frowned slightly but quickly smoothed it out, replied with an indifferent attitude.

“At the hospital. You?”

Kihyun didn’t care that Yeonoh was hanging onto his waist and finished taking off his scrubs pants to put them in the laundry bin.

Kihyun wasn’t exactly short either, but because Cho Yeonoh was so large, if he hung on with his strength relaxed, Kihyun’s upper body would sometimes collapse, unable to withstand it. However, Kihyun applied strength to the erector spinae muscles on both sides and did his job without budging. The furrow merely deepened thanks to the tensed erector spinae muscles.

Cho Yeonoh circled his hand from Kihyun’s waist to his abs. He was tracing the mark left by the waistband of the scrubs. Since his abs and back-spinal muscles were firm and his body fat percentage was low, there wasn’t anything worthy of being called a mark to begin with, but he silently traced along that faint trace.

Kihyun’s shoulders trembled slightly, perhaps because it was itchy. He was prepared to listen if Kihyun told him to go away one more time, but Kihyun silently organized the bag he had brought.

Yeonoh glanced at the clock. Rain was falling and it was dark outside the window, but it was still only 7 o’clock.

Yeonoh, looking at the clock on the wall, asked as if something had suddenly come to mind.

“I heard there was an Athletes’ Room staff dinner today.”

“The team leader said he had something busy and left, so I ran away too.”

Kihyun answered Yeonoh’s question briefly while taking out the items that were inside the backpack he had been carrying. The laptop and materials he had taken for a case conference in the morning were shoved in haphazardly.

In the first place, So Kihyun was a man far removed from organization. He managed to live cleanly only because of the habits he had formed during his time at the Military Academy; during vacations, he would sprawl out dissolutely and wouldn’t even think about getting out of bed.

It was also something he had learned slowly as a habit after seeing the extremely fastidious Cho Yeonoh organizing So Kihyun’s things even while tired. Because if he didn’t do it, Cho Yeonoh would.

While Kihyun was organizing the items poured out from the backpack like that, the hand attached to his waist did not drop. There was no particular desire in the hand that was still fumbling over the vertebrae. So Kihyun knew that it was Cho Yeonoh’s habit.

They were lovers who had been dating for quite a long time, but with the exception of short kisses that children might share, there had never once been contact that could be categorized as sexual. Even if they kissed, they didn’t mix tongues. They didn’t know what each other’s mucous membranes felt like. Sticking to him like this was just Cho Yeonoh’s spoiled behavior. So Kihyun knew that well.

Cho Yeonoh merely stayed by his side because he loved So Kihyun as a friend. So Kihyun didn’t mind that either. Emotions cannot all be the same, and not all affection can be sparkling. So Kihyun simply knew that he was a precious person to Cho Yeonoh.

That was enough. Because So Kihyun’s love never expected a price. He thought that his loving Cho Yeonoh and that love being reciprocated were entirely different matters.

The confession back then was also because of that thought. Cho Yeonoh seemed disappointed in So Kihyun at the time. His attitude was like that. For a while after that, Cho Yeonoh used to have betrayed eyes every time he saw So Kihyun. But in the end, he returned to the spot next to So Kihyun.

Even after saying they should try dating, Cho Yeonoh had cut off contact with So Kihyun and had even poured out openly insulting words, but he chose to come back again and become his lover.

So Kihyun thought he owed a debt to Cho Yeonoh. Kind and naive Cho Yeonoh. To think he would feel hurt and a sense of betrayal all by himself over a confession that he could have just ignored, yet he went out of his way to come back and hold Kihyun’s hand.

Whenever greed suddenly arose, he had considered that this was enough. Even if the skinship between them was nothing more than kisses like children’s play, So Kihyun was by his side to love Cho Yeonoh, not to be loved.

Their relationship was being maintained precariously in that manner. Dissatisfaction? Well. At least that wasn’t something that would ever be So Kihyun’s lot.

Yeonoh released his arms from Kihyun’s waist and asked as he went to the kitchen.

“I asked if you gave the kids their yummies.”

A way of speaking as if there were children born between him and Kihyun. Kihyun became tired for no reason.

“You probably gave it to them.”

Along with the sound of the refrigerator door opening, he heard Yeonoh ask from a distance, “How will you live without me?”

So Kihyun smirked and pulled on his homewear pants.

“Who knows.”

He answered shortly and quietly. He wasn’t sure if Yeonoh heard that answer.

⏳

“Mr. So, did they say Director Lee is returning after going for medical support today?”

Kihyun, who was setting up equipment for a lower limb strength test, stopped what he was doing and looked behind him. It was Ms. Kim Seunghee from the General Room. Kihyun, who was thinking about something while rolling his lips, said.

“Who knows. When was that competition supposed to end?”

“Wasn’t it today?”

“Then I think he’ll probably go straight home today.”

“Ah, they say the youth baseball kids are coming for checkups tomorrow. It feels a bit much to ask Director Lee again.”

Seunghee had a clouded complexion, as if it bothered her to even call someone who had gone for medical support to ask for checkups.

So Kihyun was a physical therapist who also held a position as an athletic trainer. However, his career was short compared to his age. The profession he was originally engaged in was far removed from this kind of work. It was because he had been a career soldier.

Kihyun retired as a second lieutenant just before his promotion to first lieutenant. There was a reason for that.

After that, following Cho Yeonoh’s advice, he transferred into a physical therapy department. It was the year before last that he passed the national exam. Because of that, even though he was much older than Ms. Kim Seunghee, who was in her fourth year, his years of experience were lower.

Kim Seunghee, the senior trainer, belonged to the General Room and was in charge of general patients, not athletes. Since baseball player checkups were a task handled by the Athletes’ Room, he wondered why Seunghee was asking. Seunghee, who read that look, answered first.

“This? I don’t know. Team Leader Lim asked me to look over it for him. I have a lot of work too…”

“If you leave it, I’ll take a look.”

“Ah… but I feel bad.”

“It’s work for the Athletes’ Room anyway.”

“Um, then will you do that? Thank you, Mr. So.”

Seunghee’s face brightened. It seemed she had taken it on reluctantly because the team leader told her to, even though she didn’t want to get involved in another team’s work. Kihyun nodded lightly and told Seunghee to have a good day.

And when he turned back, an athlete who was waiting for the lower limb strength test grinned.

“Teacher, is there something going on between you and Teacher Seunghee?”

“What would be going on?”

“There’s something. I saw it clearly. My intuition is really good.”

Kihyun glanced at the athlete who was grinning with a youthful face and neither affirmed nor denied it.

It was because it was funny that the intuition he was bragging about was so broken, and he understood how bored these guys—who always only exercised—must be, being trapped in one place doing only rehabilitation because of injuries. If he could be comforted by chatter and fussing about him, then he would just let it be.

Rumors like “the teachers are dating each other” were nothing more than words that would drift meaninglessly through the hospital room and disappear. The kids who came to this hospital tended to have clear goals, and even after looking for such pastimes, they would soon turn their eyes back to their own futures and devote themselves to rehabilitation.

It meant that even if they teased their therapist like that, there was no malice.

“Tell me with that good intuition. How much strength do you think will come out today?”

“I don’t know that.”

Kihyun, who laughed quietly at the young athlete’s slightly nervous answer, adjusted the screws while fastening the buckle on the thigh that was up on the chair. The guy began to kick his leg vigorously. Kihyun looked at the monitor while keeping the count for him.

“Aren’t you giving it strength?”

“I am giving it strength!”