Salt Society Chapter 55

Kihyun answered calmly. He probably didn’t do it knowingly. At first, it must have been just a wish. The thought of wishing So Kihyun were an omega instead of a beta had truly turned Kihyun into an omega.

There would be only one reason he wished for that so much. The fact that So Kihyun was a beta male. That was no one’s fault.

Knowing everything, I was the one who was greedy first. Even if I feel resentful, I should resent myself first. However, Kihyun wanted to stop hating himself, the one who had suffered all along by Cho Yeonoh’s side, tossing and turning every night and agonizing every morning.

Bumhee shook her head as if she had read Kihyun’s inner thoughts.

“You are so cold-hearted, Kihyun.”

“…”

“That bastard must have been scared of how cold-hearted you are, too.”

Those were the words of the clever Lee Bumhee who knew everything, but I couldn’t agree with them. To be scared of someone means the other person holds the power.

Kihyun loved Cho Yeonoh and gave him that power. That is why even if his gender suddenly changed to omega, he would just spit out a curse and leave it at that. Because I was the one who stepped forward and handed the sword hilt to Cho Yeonoh.

If there is responsibility, it would be about 70% for Kihyun and 30% for Cho Yeonoh. Since more than half was my own doing, I didn’t want to go on about whether you were a son of a bitch or a son of a cow over a mere 30%.

However, even that So Kihyun had never received power from Cho Yeonoh. Cho Yeonoh was always confident in front of So Kihyun. He confidently touched Kihyun, hugged him, and would fall asleep with his face buried in the nape of his neck. On the other hand, So Kihyun never had a single day of comfortable sleep during those nights. Therefore, the terror of trembling in fear of being severed from the other person was also solely Kihyun’s burden.

Still, if Cho Yeonoh had been scared of me.

“Then I guess it means the two of us really didn’t fit.”

While holding on for seven years trying to fit together puzzle pieces that didn’t match until the pieces themselves were ruined, he must have had a hard time too. Kihyun decided to take all of that into account and call it even for the wounds Cho Yeonoh had inflicted on him.

For Kihyun, nothing that important remained now. He would focus on how to give birth to and raise the child from now on. To create a family.

“Lee Bumhee, lend me a car.”

“Bullshit. All my cars are convertibles, can a father-to-be even ride in one?”

“I’ll drive it reasonably and return it once my car comes out. I’m going to go sign a contract for a new car soon anyway.”

Bumhee looked back at Kihyun with a face full of horror. She seemed shocked to see Kihyun setting up future plans regardless of whether he had become an omega or gotten pregnant. Then she shook her head.

“You, you even hid the story about your ankle from Cho Yeonoh until the very end, didn’t you.”

“…”

“I like you more than that piece of shit Yeonoh, but you really are a bad bastard too.”

Kihyun chuckled at those words. Because it was funny that two bad bastards had broken apart after doing nothing but bad things to each other.

“I get it, so give me the Mustang. That car looked cool.”

“Bullshit! Do you even know how much that costs!?”

Bumhee shouted in annoyance. Kihyun stood up immediately and approached Bumhee’s key box. He ignored Bumhee shouting “No!”.

While listening to her pleas to take another car out of the corner of his ear, Kihyun took the car key with the running horse emblem and said goodbye to Bumhee, telling her he would see her tomorrow.

Every now and then, Kihyun let out a small laugh. Then, as soon as he completely stepped out of Bumhee’s house, the smile he was wearing on his lips faded away.

“What do we do with you… You can’t get the timing right either.”

Then he lightly patted his lower belly. The day was exceptionally long.

08.

Bumhee’s car made the sound of a beast crying as soon as the ignition started. Cho Yeonoh also drove nice cars, but unlike him, he preferred sedans, so this was his first time in a convertible.

To the question of how much something like this costs, she said something completely different.

“You… You know Cho Yeonoh’s Chairman’s obsession with bloodlines is killer, right?”

I wondered what she was talking about, but it was a story I knew well. Kihyun sat quietly with the driver’s side window down, listening to Bumhee’s words. His straight index finger, which was holding the steering wheel, tapped it rhythmically.

Kihyun understood Bumhee’s worry. After making a “Hmm” sound in his throat, he showed something like a smile toward Bumhee, who was standing outside the car.

“I’ll figure it out somehow. First, I’m moving to Ilsan. Only you should know.”

“Sure, as if only I’ll know. Do you think Cho Yeonoh won’t know you’re moving?”

He’ll know. However, Kihyun thought it didn’t matter if he knew. Their relationship had, one day, inevitably snapped. Therefore, whether Cho Yeonoh knew his whereabouts or not was something unrelated to him.

“You’re having wicked thoughts again. Hey, if you cut ties with me too, I’m going to track you down immediately. Got it?”

“How can I cut ties when I borrowed a car. I have to see your face at least once when I return it.”

“So Kihyun, I told you not to make jokes with a straight face, didn’t I.”

Bumhee grabbed her own arms crosswise and trembled. Kihyun, who let out a chuckle because that was funny, put his hand on the gear and started the car.

He planned to go home and finish packing his bags. He felt like sleep was pouring in, but he couldn’t distinguish if he was sleepy because he lacked sleep time or because of hormonal changes.

Kihyun drove reasonably carefully and arrived home. He went up immediately, packed some things, and fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning, quite a few messages had arrived.

Along with questions from the hospital staff asking if he had really quit, a message had arrived from Bumhee.

<Bum-key> [ The resignation was processed. You cold-blooded bastard. ] 09:48 AM

The rest were from Damon, whom he had seen yesterday. Since he sent a greeting in quite proper grammar asking if he had gotten home safely, Kihyun said thank you for caring, and Damon said the agency scolded him for just sending Kihyun home after going to the hospital and that he wanted to make amends.

“It’s a hassle…”

Click, while he was clicking his tongue, a call came in, perhaps recognizing that the “1” next to the message had disappeared. With a truly bothered face, Kihyun brought the phone to his ear.

“…Yes.”

[ Hello, this is Damon. ]

“Yes, hello.”

[ That… I called because there was no reply. ]

If there’s no reply, don’t people usually just think “I see”? Kihyun stood blankly, then managed to squeeze out some social skills to answer.

“Is that so.”

[ The agency scolded me to treat you to a meal at least. If it’s okay, I’d like to have dinner together… ]

Kihyun tried to refuse, saying there was no need, but the other party was persistent. In the end, it was Kihyun who got tired first of the prolonged call.

Because he had planned the moving day to Ilsan quite tightly, there weren’t many days left with free time. Praying that he would say that day wouldn’t work, he tentatively mentioned a time, but Damon brightened up saying it was good, so Kihyun regretted not suggesting another day.

Fortunately, the restaurant the other person mentioned was near Kihyun’s house. Kihyun didn’t think twice and said let’s meet there. It was a place he had been to a few times even with Cho Yeonoh, so it was familiar.

After hanging up the phone, he was going to skip breakfast without a thought, but he rummaged through the refrigerator and pulled out something simple to eat. There was quite a lot of food Cho Yeonoh had left behind.

“What sin did the food commit. That bastard is the one who committed the sin.”

After making a low excuse to himself, he put it in the microwave and heated it up to eat. He had to stay out for a long time today. Since the appointment at the hospital Bumhee had scheduled was in the afternoon, it seemed better to visit Ilsan in the morning.

Since it wasn’t even noon on a weekday, the traffic wasn’t that heavy. Kihyun wasn’t used to riding a loud convertible, but his mood improved when driving on the Gangbyeon Expressway. He was also pleased that the car ran well. He even felt like he wanted to try driving on a road that hadn’t been paved for long.

He wasn’t depressed. Because for Kihyun, sadness was something that sat at the bottom and always existed, so it was no different from usual. Only then did Kihyun realize that even when he was dating Cho Yeonoh, he had lived with the feeling of being heartbroken just like now.

Letting out a short sigh, he entered Jayu-ro. Since the villa was near Jeongbalsan Station, he relied on the navigation after entering the Ilsan downtown area.

He had rented it out until last year, and it just so happened that the tenant said they would move out early this year, so it had been left as a vacancy.

He stopped by the real estate office where he had listed the house and said there was no need to look further since he planned to change it to owner-occupancy, and the real estate agent, who had seen his face three or four times, felt regretful.

“Oh dear, what should we do. Someone came to see the house the day before yesterday and liked it very much. They said they would gather the down payment soon…”

“Please tell them I am sorry. I only feel sorry for causing you trouble as well, Boss.”

“No, well, I’m fine, but…”

The agent had a regretful face. Since the previous tenants were also good people she had found, Kihyun thanked her and then left the real estate office just like that.

He settled lunch at a kalguksu place near Jeongbalsan Station. While eating kalguksu, he looked for interior design companies near the house.

To live with a child, it seemed better to finish the interior design entirely before moving in. It just so happened that one contract had been canceled, so he visited and signed a contract with a company that said they could start work immediately since they had time.

At the mention that he would live with a child, the company owner must have taken Kihyun for a married beta man, as his explanations of the master bedroom and the child’s room were detailed. When Kihyun said the master bedroom didn’t matter so he should just pay attention to the child’s room, the owner smiled kindly.

“Since the father is looking so meticulously, the wife will be very pleased.”