Salt Society Chapter 52

Whether he realized that was an acceptance or not, there was the sound of the man following after Kihyun. Kihyun spoke while looking straight ahead.

“Instead, I have a place I need to stop by.”

“That is fine.”

The man shook his head and quickened his pace to walk shoulder to shoulder with Kihyun.

The two of them headed to the parking lot and got into the car. This time, too, Kihyun sat in the driver’s seat. As soon as Kihyun confirmed the man had fastened his seatbelt, he started the car. He did not even turn on the navigation. It was because the destination was clear.

“Oh, this place is…”

Perhaps the road was familiar, because as soon as they entered the intersection, the man looked out the window and trailed off. Kihyun did not answer and stepped on the accelerator.

The place where the car stopped was Haeseong Rehabilitation Hospital. Kihyun turned on the hazard lights, parked the car on the shoulder, and then said to the man.

“You can go ahead first.”

Then he immediately got out of the car. It seemed like the man said something about waiting from behind his back, but Kihyun did not look back, went inside the hospital, and immediately got on the elevator.

Since the nurses working the night shift for the ward patients had no reason to come down, the office was dark with the lights off. Perhaps because today of all days even the staff preparing for the case conference had all gone home, it was just quiet.

Kihyun booted up Team Leader Lim’s computer. As soon as the start screen appeared and the EMR window popped up, he logged in and immediately typed his name into the search bar.

“…”

The results came out quickly. Kihyun immediately skimmed the most recent medical records. The FM records, signifying Family Medicine, unfolded in a long list.

Blood sugar test, red blood cell count—scrolling down while quickly checking many result items, Kihyun stopped breathing.

[ Pheromone Test Opinion: Trait Transformation Special Note—Omega/Recessive ]

“What is this…”

He blinked his blank eyes. There was a reason he had come straight to Haeseong Rehab after the doctor’s words. He thought that since that doctor might have misdiagnosed him, he should reconfirm the blood test findings he had done last time.

However, the result was the same. So Kihyun was in a state where the trait transformation from beta to omega had taken place. And with a child conceived at that.

“Ugh—!”

As soon as he realized that fact, nausea surged up. Kihyun ran just like that, opened the restroom door, and grabbed the sink. His stomach, which had nothing in it, was spitting out only water.

“Blegh—.”

Despite that, the retching did not stop. Through the mirror, he could see the whites of his eyes, where red veins stood out because his intraocular pressure had risen. Kihyun suddenly laughed in absurdity.

“Ha, seriously…”

He could not help but laugh. Manifesting as an omega? Right, actually, it was not that he had never thought about what if he were an omega.

If So Kihyun had been an omega, what would the kind Cho Yeonoh—who was so terrified of losing a friendship that he would even date a beta—have done?

The answer was always one. If So Kihyun were an omega, Cho Yeonoh would not have maintained even a friendship with Kihyun. Whether in high school or college, the way Cho Yeonoh treated omegas was similar. Cho Yeonoh used to draw a clear line between what to give an omega and what to receive.

An omega could use Cho Yeonoh’s conditions, but they could not fully receive his heart. Looking from the side, that was all visible.

Cho Yeonoh’s lovers were jealous of Kihyun. It’s the friend or me, choose. There was no one who did not put those words in their mouth. Every time, Cho Yeonoh, for whom many things were important besides love, returned to Kihyun. So even if So Kihyun were an omega, it would be the same. Rather, Kihyun would have lost Cho Yeonoh a bit sooner.

“Haha…”

Still, it was the same that he became miserable. His life was just funny. Leaving being an omega aside, the words that he was pregnant were even more ridiculous.

“This, fuck, such a damn accurate bastard, how did he do that in one go…”

He even cursed Cho Yeonoh. Laughter was coming out, but his cheeks were damp, and looking in the mirror, he was in the middle of shedding tears in streams.

Then suddenly, the thought occurred that it was not only a bad thing.

“…”

Kihyun tried rubbing his lower abdomen. To think that something other than himself was breathing in his lower abdomen, which was only flat and firm thanks to never skipping exercise. He would have to do a precise examination, but Kihyun was slowly returning to reality.

What was meant to happen, happened. What was meant to take place had already taken place a long time ago. Even if he was the one who got hit in the back of the head while living absentmindedly, he had to endure it. The one who pressed his lips to the cheek of Cho Yeonoh, who had lost his reason, was none other than So Kihyun himself.

“…If a man has caused an incident, he should take responsibility.”

He muttered that to himself without realizing it. After spitting it out, it was not bad. He did want to have a family. Not goldfish, not his father, not Cho Yeonoh, but a real family.

Kihyun wiped his cheeks. There were many things he had to do. Wandering around when an incident had occurred was not like his personality. When he found out his ankle was ruined, So Kihyun pondered for exactly three hours and immediately considered a medical discharge positively.

It was the same context now. He did not want to get rid of the child, and if he had become an omega, he just had to survive like that. Simplifying the problem was the most important thing for the current Kihyun.

That was a kind of occupational disease So Kihyun had picked up since his days as an officer. When implementing a military operation, he had to first distinguish between what had to be done right now and what was not particularly necessary at the moment.

Kihyun thought that even if it was an emotion, it was no different from that. After setting the thing that should be prioritized first, he tried to forget the remaining matters quickly even if he could not satisfy them.

For the past seven years, his relationship with Cho Yeonoh had been like that. He had put it as the top priority. To protect that, he did not even hesitate to consume his emotions or drain his energy.

However, the order had changed. The thing So Kihyun had to protect as the top priority had changed between yesterday and today.

Kihyun wiped away the teardrops hanging from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, then turned on the water at the sink and washed his face. In the mirror, a man with a wet face was staring blankly at Kihyun.

“You have to steel your heart.”

Kihyun advised the man in the mirror. He hoped he would overcome it well. Giving birth to and raising a child was an issue he had never once thought about how much of what kind of energy he would have to pour in.

When everything is this bleak, it is best to finish off what you can do first. He pulled out a paper towel and wiped the moisture off his face. Because he had forcibly held back his tears, he was at the point where snot was coming out. Sniff, he blew his nose, threw away the towel, and then Kihyun left the restroom just like that.

Then he went into the office, turned off the EMR window, shut down the computer, closed the door well, and came out. He got on the elevator and sent a message to Bumhee.

[ I’m going to your house. ] 08:24 PM

The number 1 mark in front of the message did not disappear easily, but if he did not see it, he could just make a call. Regarding it as no big deal, when the elevator door opened along with the notification sound that it had arrived at the 1st floor, he came out.

He was about to head to the entrance when a nurse passing by spoke to Kihyun.

“Oh my, Mr. So. What brings you here at this hour?”

“There was something I left behind in the office.”

Kihyun smiled quietly. The nurse, whether she was convinced, said, oh I see. He told her to work hard and passed her by.

Until he went out to the entrance, he did not encounter anyone besides her. When he opened the door, the weather was quite cool even though it was on the verge of summer.

It was familiar, but the smell of flowers whose name he could not know even after smelling it consistently for several years was carried on the wind. Smelling that made his stomach feel empty. It was hollow. It was beyond empty. It felt as if the wind were piercing right through the middle of his chest.

“…”

Kihyun stopped his steps for a moment and met the wind. He also looked up at the night sky blankly. There was nothing fluttering in the wind, but he felt as if too much had been carried in, so he became dazed. Just as it was now, Kihyun also wanted to flutter.

It is fine. He just has to fill it with something new. Looking back, he has only lived a life that was not smooth. He lost his mother when he was young and had to change his profession due to the obsessive malice of another. Now, even his trait has changed. He might be exhausted, but Kihyun had no time to be sitting down. He soothed himself, saying he could be in pain later and be sad afterwards.

It was just when he was about to head to the place where the man had parked the car. What was the reason his ankles felt heavy as if weights were attached? Kihyun was about to stop his steps suddenly when he heard a voice calling him from the crosswalk across from the hospital.

“So Kihyun.”

It was a familiar voice. Kihyun fixed his gaze as it was, almost looking back, and kept walking. Like a man who lost everything for the sin of looking back with one last step left on the way back from the hell he went to in order to find something precious, he needed painstaking effort to not regret. Kihyun tried to move his ankles, which were heavy today of all days. He walked at the same speed, neither slowing down nor quickening his pace.

However, unfortunately, his wrist was caught in no time. Even though the man’s car parked on the shoulder was not even twenty steps away. Kihyun let out a sigh.

“Let go before we talk.”

“…”

The other person had no answer. Kihyun shook off the wrist. He lets that go easily again. While wondering why he came here at this hour, he thought there was no reason for him to know.

However, the other person must have harbored the same question.

“…You, why are you here at this hour—”

“Just tell me your business.”