Salt Society Chapter 60

As soon as he moved to Ilsan, the first thing Kihyun did was sign a contract for a new car. While looking for a vehicle with a spacious back seat to accommodate a car seat easily, he had no choice but to sign for an SUV. When living in Seoul, parking was inconvenient and Cho Yeonoh usually picked him up or Manager Yoo went through the trouble, so there had been no need to buy a car, but he felt that as soon as he moved to the Gyeonggi area, it would be truly inconvenient without one.

It was a relief that Bumhee willingly lent him a car. It seemed he would just have to drive the convertible until the new car was ready.

[ …Right. In fact, a car like that might be safer for you. Since the car is so loud, others won’t mess with you. ]

He hid the address of the place he moved to even from Bumhee, who had a face of half-resignation while saying the risk of accidents would be low. Rather, it was Bumhee’s side that told him not to tell her.

[ That piece of shit Yeonoh is the type of guy who goes all the way once he starts pestering someone, and if I even know it, it is obvious he will notice. In that case, it is better not to know at all from the start. ]

Kihyun thought so too, so he did not specifically inform Bumhee. Instead, Bumhee had other worries. When she asked if he wouldn’t be lonely, Kihyun only tilted his head.

He didn’t know. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what loneliness was, but rather it meant he didn’t know what it was like not to be lonely because that state had been hardened for so long. Bumhee, who knew Kihyun well, had a bittersweet face as she said, “I suppose you will handle it on your own… .”

…Perhaps, he thought that the chronic loneliness he always lived with would be completely burned away once the child was born. This was because even now, he already felt like there were two of them. He thought about trying to talk to the child to himself, but he felt embarrassed and his mouth wouldn’t open so he failed a few times, but as the weeks progressed, it would become more natural.

Becoming an omega wasn’t bad either when he thought of the child. If he had known it would be like this, he would have gotten married and formed a family much sooner. Even if his heart remained elsewhere, Kihyun would have been faithful to his family. Rather, he wouldn’t have looked back at Cho Yeonoh even once.

Living like that, he might have missed him for a day, thought of him for two days, and then after a year passed, he might have forgotten Cho Yeonoh even vaguely. Then he could have stopped the foolish act of tormenting both Cho Yeonoh and himself for seven years much earlier. He might even have been able to return the friend he took away from Cho Yeonoh. It was a futile thought. As if he could have met someone else while leaving Cho Yeonoh behind.

Back then, it was hard because he didn’t really know what it was like not to love Cho Yeonoh. Since he grew up, he had loved Cho Yeonoh all along. The heart that had hardened like a habit stuck to his body, and it was very difficult to tear it away.

“That will be 98,300 won.”

“Ah, please give me a standard plastic garbage bag.”

Instead, it was a relief that there were many things to do day by day now. Even if he couldn’t forget completely, he had hope that things would get better and better. Like a person who got up after a long illness, even if he lacked vitality, Kihyun often made a lighthearted expression. Just looking at him smiling slightly while handing his card to the mart employee proved it.

Life in the new house was gradually finding stability. It was a relief that among the items he used in the Seoul apartment, he had moved everything exactly as it was without throwing it away, except for those Cho Yeonoh had bought.

This was because he could feel Cho Yeonoh’s pheromones faintly lingering on the bedsheets, pillowcases, and blankets. He intended to persuade the child in his womb to endure with this for the time being.

The problem was that he was getting restless. Although he wouldn’t lack for a living, Kihyun was the type to get depressed easily if he didn’t work.

Thanks to that, it became a daily routine to search the association’s website or sites looking for hospital personnel. There were many good positions, but he felt he would quit soon after giving birth, so it was burdensome to go for interviews.

There were quite a few part-time positions in treatment rooms looking for people with a physical therapist license. He thought about trying it for just a month, but then closed the window again, thinking he should stay careful until the stable period.

In his remaining time, he pointlessly searched for English kindergartens around the house. He even searched for child education videos on the internet, which was funny because he was looking into kindergarten education for a child so small that even a heartbeat couldn’t be heard yet.

Of course, for the child to be born, researching newborn care methods should be prioritized, but when he looked for related videos, he was scared because of the babies in the videos who were so small. Seeing babies with soft bones that felt like they would crumble just by him holding them brought on fear. At that time, he felt a fear that didn’t even occur during field training. Doubts about whether he could do well kept coming to him.

Whenever his anxiety worsened, he went outside blindly and walked in the neighborhood park near the villa. Since they said walking wasn’t bad, he intended to walk for a reasonable amount of time and then come back in.

As he walked, the problems weighing Kihyun down used to shrink slowly. He vowed not to think deeply yet. Nothing had happened yet, the child was still in his womb, and So Kihyun was no longer alone.

On the other hand, he thought of his father. When should he say he was having a child? It had been a long time since they had even been in contact, except for holidays and birthdays.

After his ankle became like that, his father was greatly disappointed in Kihyun. Kihyun realized he had fallen into despair because of that disappointment.

While the gap that opened remained unbridged, Kihyun also had a child. In the first place, his father would be horrified by the fact that So Kihyun, a beta male, had manifested as an omega who could have a child. His worries ran deep regarding how to tell such a person.

The conclusion was to postpone that as well.

“What would he do if I went and hugged him? It is not like he can tell it to go back in.”

While making dinner roughly, Kihyun muttered like that. These days, taking care of meals was a job, so he often searched for food recipes good for pregnant women and made them one by one to eat.

Until then, because he had settled for meals at the hospital or eaten as Cho Yeonoh prepared, Kihyun’s cooking had a slightly clumsy side compared to Cho Yeonoh’s. He was good at boiling egg soup for hangovers, but the rest of his cooking skills were not as good as the guy’s.

Since he would have to cook and feed the child himself once it was born, he thought of it as practicing in advance. Thinking that he should train the child from now on so they wouldn’t complain about side dishes even when they grew up, he just ate even if the seasoning was a bit strange.

It was a relief that his morning sickness had decreased after moving. Today’s menu was spicy stir-fried pork. Thinking it would be delicious with lots of green onions, he was slicing them generously when the phone rang.

Kihyun wiped his hands and looked at the phone screen, then answered the phone with an expression of surprise.

“Captain, have you been well?”

[ What do you mean Captain. It has been ages since I quit being a soldier. ]

A boisterous voice was heard from inside the receiver. It was Yang Jisu, a captain Kihyun had served with in the military before his discharge. He had sent a text saying he changed his number, and after no answer for a long time, it seemed he was contacting him now.

“Have you been living well?”

[ My prospects brightened up after I was discharged. You’re the same as ever, right? What brings you to change your number. ]

He replied that there was a reason for it. Yang Jisu was a person who had been discharged before Kihyun was bullied in the military.

After betting big stakes in a poker game at the hall, when someone reported him to the military police and he faced an audit, Yang Jisu immediately submitted his discharge application and said he moved back to his hometown to set up a gambling house.

It was also fascinating that a person who was discharged from the Army specifically created an illegal establishment. However, the person himself was a good individual, so when Kihyun suffered at the hands of those guys, he had contacted their peers and taken Kihyun’s side, saying a slip-and-fall accident made no sense.

However, despite Yang Jisu’s efforts, Kihyun was discharged just like that. They were bound by a debt of sorts.

[ Come down sometime. Who was Second Lieutenant So’s friend again? That tall and handsome friend. If you come down with that friend, I will pick out a place with good stakes and let you in. ]

Kihyun just laughed softly and said he would. The call ended briefly. Asking and answering about each other’s well-being was all, but it still didn’t feel bad.

In the meantime, the stir-fried pork was quite well-cooked and became the right color. He thought about eating it wrapped in romaine lettuce but was lazy, so he just placed the pot on the dining table. Kihyun began an early dinner.

“Are you in your right mind?!”

Cho Yeonoh lightly avoided a jade ashtray flying past his face. The object, which struck the floor of the room, scraped across the floorboards made of several layers of thin traditional paper.

Looking back slightly, the jade-colored ashtray was broken in two. He smirked while looking at it.

“Are you going to quit smoking? Throwing the ashtray and all. Wasn’t it something you cherished?”

“Won’t you shut your mouth?!”

His grandfather’s roar thundered through the room. Feeling like his ears hurt, Yeonoh put his pinky finger into his ear hole and dug it a few times, then glanced at the clock. If his pulse per minute exceeded 140, the medical staff from Haeseong Hospital waiting outside for his grandfather would rush in. How much longer until then?

” …I heard you were keeping some male prostitute, if you cherished him that much you should have kept him at home, why did you take him to such a place and cause this mess?! Making the Vice Minister’s face look like a mess, are you in your right mind or not!”

“Not a male prostitute, he is my lover.”

—He was. He hesitated whether he should say that, so his speech broke for a beat. At those words, Yeonoh’s grandfather, Cho Gyudeok, grimaced fiercely.

“Are you still playing around with that vermin?”

He was about to say he got dumped but shut his mouth. 90% of the reason his mood has been shit lately is all because of So Kihyun.