Salt Society Chapter 50

I knew that he harbored a loathing for relationships with Betas. Therefore, I thought everything would be fine as long as it wasn’t me who spent the night with him. Kihyun’s prediction was wrong. If so, whose fault was it.

So Kihyun, who confessed despite knowing that Cho Yeonoh loathed dating Betas; Cho Yeonoh, who accepted him yet for seven years showed no action as a lover, as if getting revenge for the unilaterally broken friendship.

“Bumhee, don’t be upset. He and I just gave and took exactly the same amount.”

[You, saying that as if it makes sense…]

“It’s true. On the contrary, from Cho Yeonoh’s perspective, I’m probably a bastard who deserves to die.”

That must be why he wore such a face at Kihyun’s words to break off the friendship. Kihyun took a moment to catch his breath at the thought of that expression, which remained stuck to his retina and couldn’t be forgotten.

“I didn’t realize it because we were stuck together for so long, but I’m starting to think Cho Yeonoh and I were an ill-fated match.”

[Hey, I told you not to talk like that…]

If that weren’t the case, there’s no way he would have worn such a hurt expression at Kihyun’s last words. A face that looked as if the ground he was standing on had collapsed. Kihyun was familiar with that face. Because it had been his own. Therefore, they should curse the fate that tied the two together; it wasn’t a matter of weighing and measuring who was the worse person.

“Bumhee, it seems you find me very pitiful right now. I get it, so please hang up the phone and show your sympathy with money. I will judge your sincerity solely by the amount of my severance pay.”

[Stop talking absolute nonsense! You crazy bastard, you’re just as much of a cold-blooded person as Cho Yeonoh, you know that!? Anyway, I can’t accept your resignation, so keep that in mind! And that piece of trash Lim Hyungseop, you didn’t even tell me about what he did! Are you even a friend?!]

He was a friend. That name, which he could not give to Cho Yeonoh, was one he could give to Bumhee without reservation. Even though the person who actually wanted it was Cho Yeonoh.

Kihyun gave a short laugh thanks to Bumhee, who hung up the phone abruptly after shouting in a fit of rage, and he took the earphones out of his ears and tossed them aside.

“Let’s pack the bags, pack the bags…”

Muttering a rhythm that lacked any trace of excitement, Kihyun continued to organize Cho Yeonoh’s belongings. It seemed better to just call Manager Yoo for the shirts, formal pants, and jackets, as they would likely be ruined if he just crammed them into the suitcase.

Thinking he should organize other things first, he opened the dresser and saw Cho Yeonoh’s underwear, which was folded and arranged with an almost obsessive level of precision. Even ones that hadn’t been unpacked yet were stacked neatly.

“Crazy bastard, just how many pairs of underwear does he have.”

He shook his head in disbelief. Because he was a guy who had a germaphobia but hated showing it, the dresser was filled with nothing but prepared underwear.

He dumped them all into the suitcase. Then, he felt a strange sensation. They were clearly laundered, yet he felt as though he could smell Cho Yeonoh’s body scent. Kihyun tilted his head and began organizing the drawer where the t-shirts and homewear were kept.

When he suddenly snapped back to his senses, he was burying his face in Yeonoh’s t-shirts and homewear pants, clutching them so hard they were wrinkling.

“Why am I…”

He felt drowsy from the faint scent he could detect through the smell of fabric softener. He was also somewhat dazed. With a hazy face like a drunken person, Kihyun pressed his nose into a t-shirt before getting up entirely and going to the living room.

He lay facedown on the sofa and buried his face in the t-shirt. The faint scent felt so good. He even felt a sense of comfort. Kihyun dozed off for a bit and then woke up. After waking, he thought for a moment about why he had come out to the living room, but he couldn’t remember anything.

Getting up, Kihyun remembered he was in the middle of clearing out Cho Yeonoh’s things and headed to the bathroom. Then, he stared silently at the blue toothbrush sitting in the toothbrush holder.

“…”

It took several more seconds before he picked it up and threw it away. In his head, a voice that didn’t feel like his own was playing back. It was his own voice, driving in the nail that this was a friendship breakup.

But his hesitation ended there. Kihyun gathered all of Cho Yeonoh’s belongings. He could see the light was on in the dressing room and the suitcases were open on the floor, but for some reason, he didn’t want to go back into that room.

Instead, he took the pillow Cho Yeonoh used frequently from the master bedroom and put it in a recycling bag. He even threw away an apron he had never used, since they didn’t often cook for themselves.

When the things a person used to use were gathered in one place, they looked like trash. It was a strange thing. Objects that were perfectly fine when Cho Yeonoh wore, used, or operated them looked like nothing more than junk that had lost its owner ten years ago now that they were scattered on the floor.

“…”

Kihyun knew well that if he looked in the mirror now, his face would have the exact same feeling as those objects. That was why he didn’t look in the mirror even once in the bathroom.

Still, after cleaning without rest for quite a while, the guy’s luggage was mostly gathered. Since the clothes included many high-priced items, he planned to tell Manager Yoo to come and collect them personally. Looking around to see if there was anything else left to pack, Kihyun suddenly looked at the fish tank.

—This is our child. Raise it well.

—You gave birth to this? You had a smooth delivery.

At one point, he had brought in a fish tank first, decorated the aquarium, and then bought two goldfish and had that conversation. Kihyun had replied jokingly, but inwardly he felt good.

Though the guy denied it, Kihyun had never even thought about raising a dog or a cat out of concern for Cho Yeonoh’s germaphobia, so he was glad that goldfish seemed like they would be okay for the guy too.

Of course, he wasn’t a good father. Since managing the tank and feeding them was mostly handled by Cho Yeonoh. However, Kihyun cherished the goldfish in his own way.

This was because Kihyun, like his mother whose dream was to make a happy home, also wanted to have a family. He had thought lightly that if he took the goldfish as children and lived like this with Cho Yeonoh forever, it wouldn’t be so bad. That was already several years ago.

Resolutions faded, and the things he thought would be okay chased after Kihyun, opening their maws wide with a “Crack.” So now, it was time to turn around completely and see what was chasing him.

The moment he realized he could no longer live like this was the very second Cho Yeonoh said let’s break up. He felt refreshed yet pained, as if a layer had suddenly peeled off his heart. Likely, all the skin had been bared. There might be some blood.

But the important thing is the fact that a scab will form over it. So Kihyun only needs to endure until then. Because patience had never once betrayed So Kihyun.

With a sigh, he dragged out all the trash he had sorted according to the recycling types. He intended to leave them at the recycling collection point in the complex.

They weren’t heavy, but there were quite a lot of items, so the need to go back and forth several times was a nuisance. It was just as he got off the elevator and was about to head to the recycling area. Hearing an ominous “Vroom” sound of an engine, Kihyun snapped his head up and, startled by a car rushing toward him as if accelerating suddenly, he dodged as if falling toward a flower bed.

“Screech,” along with the sound of brakes being applied, there was the smell of tires wearing down from friction. Kihyun furrowed his brow. Who on earth would accelerate like this inside an apartment complex.

“Are you all right?!”

However, the person who got out of the car and looked at Kihyun with startled eyes was a face he had seen a few times. He was a British-Korean tennis player, a man who had visited Haesung Rehabilitation two weeks ago due to pain in his Achilles tendon.

He believed the man had only received a consultation and finished, as it wasn’t serious enough for full rehabilitation. Sure enough, the expression of the man as he approached and checked on Kihyun suggested he didn’t remember him.

“Are you okay? I am not used to driving from the left driver’s seat…”

Kihyun let out a low sigh. Had he said his father was British and that he had completely naturalized this time? Kihyun, who stood up while taking the hand the other person offered, groaned briefly. His ankle had throbbed because he moved so suddenly.

“It seems you are injured. First, let’s go to the hospital.”

“Ah, it’s not to that extent.”

“If I let you go like this, is it ‘Bansoni’? So I understand.”

He seemed to be referring to a hit-and-run. His Korean pronunciation was accurate, but he seemed not to know slang, which made Kihyun’s heart feel slightly lighter.

Since it would be the season soon, he felt it would be better to pretend to go to the hospital rather than make the man feel burdened for no reason. However, the man immediately opened the passenger door.

“I will give you a ride.”

“…You said you aren’t good at driving.”

Kihyun asked in disbelief. This was because it was absurd for him to offer a ride with the driving skills that had just resulted in a sudden acceleration moments ago. Then, the man opened the driver’s side door with an embarrassed face.

“Ah… Then… if it is not a bother, could you please go to a nearby hospital for me.”

The words were so absurd that a laugh broke out, and the man stared intently at such a Kihyun. It seemed he wouldn’t let Kihyun go easily no matter what. He shook his head, thinking he really had to give it to these athletes for their stubbornness.

“Then, first of all, please throw this away instead for me. There is a recycling area over there, so you must throw them away according to the categories. I’ll be moving the car out.”

Since it was an old complex and the parking was above ground, it looked difficult for a beginner to move the car out. Thinking that the man might have stepped on the accelerator while intending to hit the brake after entering and finding things didn’t go his way, Kihyun limped toward the driver’s seat while the man hurried to pick up the items that had fallen on the ground and ran toward the recycling area.