Salt Society Chapter 62

And then he just got into the car. Watching the sedan distance itself while making a sound like a beast wailing, the remaining Manager Yoo only let out a low sigh.

⏳

“Let’s see, the nails are…”

Without even realizing that the rising tone at the end of his sentence was a perfect song lyric, Kihyun was fully engrossed in finding nails.

He wanted to hang a frame in the child’s room. He hadn’t decided what to hang yet, but he planned to drive a nail in first and then head out to buy a frame step by step.

While searching for nails in the drawer of the shoe rack at the entrance, he suddenly remembered he had forgotten to take out the trash. Things that needed to be recycled were piled up and he wanted to clear them away quickly, but he had left them at the entrance and forgotten.

This time, completely forgetting that he had decided to find a nail to hammer into the wall, he went straight out to throw away the trash. The weather had reached a temperature where it wouldn’t be awkward to wear short sleeves. Humming an unknown song while taking the elevator down to the first floor, Kihyun encountered the security guard Mister while heading toward the villa’s communal collection area.

“Oh, young man. Going to throw out the trash?”

“Yes, you’re working late.”

“Oh, I’m planting stakes for cherry tomatoes in the garden. You should eat some later, too, young man. Since it’s something the residents’ association is growing.”

“Thank you.”

He ended up smiling slightly, glad that the man already remembered his face even though it hadn’t been long since he moved in. As the man walked away saying, keep up the good work, Kihyun bowed his head and was about to head toward the collection bin. A familiar silhouette caught the edge of Kihyun’s vision.

Kihyun looked back with a heart hoping it wasn’t him.

“What are you looking at.”

“…”

He lost his words out of sheer absurdity. Because, although he didn’t know exactly when he had arrived, Cho Yeonoh was standing there.

Furthermore, he was even picking a fight by asking Kihyun, who was looking at him with an incredulous expression, what he was looking at. Kihyun moved his lips, glanced at the sedan parked next to the guy, and asked just in case.

“What are you doing here.”

Cho Yeonoh picked at his ear with his pinky finger and then replied indifferently.

“Well, is this a place only you can live? Your territoriality is severe from the first day I moved in.”

…He’s going to throw his money around, I see. Kihyun’s expression turned cold at the words implying he had moved into the villa altogether. There is a limit to ignoring one’s words. He couldn’t even understand why they had broken up if he was going to act like this.

What Kihyun was feeling now was anger toward an opponent who would not listen.

“Stop acting like a piece of shit and get lost. Did you completely forget what kind of nonsense you spewed?”

“I know, but so what.”

Cho Yeonoh shrugged his shoulders. He was wearing only his vest, with the jacket of his three-piece suit nowhere to be seen, and both sleeves were rolled up with the cuffs undone. His appearance, with three shirt buttons undone and no tie, was unlike someone who usually kept his clothing neat.

However, there was no way such a thing would enter Kihyun’s eyes. Kihyun let go of the recycling bin he was holding and, without caring that it rolled across the ground, immediately rushed at Cho Yeonoh and kicked his shin.

“Ah!”

“Ugh…”

The impact wasn’t felt only by Yeonoh. Kihyun, who was wearing slippers on bare feet, had also hit his big toe against Cho Yeonoh’s solid shin and taken a hit.

A bizarre scene unfolded in the villa parking lot, with two large men bent over, panting while clutching a shin and a toe.

Cho Yeonoh snapped at Kihyun, who was massaging his big toe with his ankle lifted as if he were in a chicken fight.

“Are you a psycho? Are you going to keep kicking with your feet when you’ve hurt your ankle?”

“You’re the psycho, you crazy bastard. Why do you keep hovering around. I said I don’t want to see your face.”

At those words, Cho Yeonoh, who was looking at So Kihyun with a frown, tilted the corner of his mouth and let out a scoffing, ha.

“And what about you, fuck.”

The guy’s eyes were smoldering as if flames were surging within them. As if he were about to vomit out a red-hot lump of anger at any moment. Kihyun couldn’t understand why Cho Yeonoh was looking at him that way.

But Cho Yeonoh seemed to have many unspoken words. He stepped right up and kicked a plastic bottle that was lying around Kihyun. The hollow sound of the empty bottle flying and hitting the curb, thud, was loud. However, neither of them looked at the rolling plastic bottle.

Kihyun stared pointlessly at the way Cho Yeonoh’s chest, which had closed the distance until they were almost touching, was heaving heavily.

“Kihyun, I guess it’s nice for you that everything is easy.”

“…What?”

He wondered what he was going to say, but it was just more of this kind of talk. That it’s nice because everything is easy. It was one of the things that So Kihyun, who had lived his life only with difficulty, least wanted to hear, at least from Cho Yeonoh.

However, Kihyun patiently endured the guy’s words with a furrowed brow. This was because he was willing to hear, to some extent, what his intention was for coming all the way here. That was also the reason he had hit him once. He thought he should first offset his boiling anger by beating the guy up and then listen to what other bullshit he was spewing.

But to say it’s nice because everything is easy. He didn’t want to hear such things from the very person who had made Kihyun’s life difficult and difficult again.

“You’ve lived your life thinking only of running away. Isn’t that right?”

He wondered what he meant, but it was the same story again. Kihyun was sick of it now. An irritated voice popped out.

“Hey, stop whining. Were you the only one who had it hard? Were you the only one who lived enduring like shit? You’re a bastard who didn’t even care that I was withering away next to you.”

At those words, Cho Yeonoh smirked. He scoffed so loudly that even the beauty mark on the bridge of his nose wrinkled slightly.

“Right, who told you to do that?”

“…What are you—.”

“I told you it was my revenge against you. I thought about it, and it doesn’t seem like those words were wrong. So why confess, Kihyun. Why do you go and like me.”

Kihyun lost his words and looked at Cho Yeonoh. Because the distance had narrowed until their chests were almost touching, Kihyun naturally had no choice but to look up at Cho Yeonoh. He didn’t know what kind of eyes he had, but his own expressionless self was reflected in Cho Yeonoh’s pupils, illuminated by the headlights of a car entering the parking lot.

“Did I ask you for that kind of thing?”

“…”

“I didn’t, So Kihyun.”

His ears went numb. Cho Yeonoh continued as if telling Kihyun not to make a fuss.

“I’m saying you should also endure the coercion of having something you never wanted forced into your hands.”

“…”

“That way it’s fair.”

With those final words, Cho Yeonoh turned around and headed toward the building next to Kihyun’s house. Kihyun, who was just blankly following his back, dropped his gaze down to his feet where miscellaneous things were scattered.

“Ha…”

A laugh came out. Only now did he realize that the emotions spanning over a decade were no different from the trash rolling around at his feet.

Kihyun stood there dazed for a moment and then slowly bent his waist to begin tidying the spilled trash. Only then did he remember that he was trying to find nails for the frame to hang in the child’s room. Forget the trash, he should have just found the nails. A brief regret flashed deeply by.

Following that, he no longer let out sighs or curses. Because he felt that there were so many things in life that didn’t go according to his will that getting angry was something you only do once or twice.

He didn’t know what the motive was for moving into a villa so far from the company he worked at, but when the place he had barely escaped to was also easily discovered, Kihyun felt a faint sense of exhaustion. However, because it was an emotion that wasn’t good to hold onto for long, he tried to shake it off. Since there was nothing he could do right now, he could think of a solution tomorrow instead of today when he was tired.

After tidying up the trash, he returned home, washed up, and fell asleep just like that. Because he felt that hammering the nails could be done after he bought the frame anyway.

When morning came like that, Kihyun’s emotions had calmed down. Come to think of it, Cho Yeonoh was a very busy chaebol and he was unemployed. If he woke up late and spent the day idling around and then went out briefly in the afternoon, it seemed he wouldn’t have to run into Cho Yeonoh.

After evaluating it as a pretty good idea, Kihyun lay back down and slept again. Because he had been endlessly sleepy ever since he became pregnant, falling back asleep was not a difficult task.

By the time he woke up after a good long sleep, it was already afternoon. Since it was an awkward lunchtime, he considered going out to eat but decided to be careful and rummaged through the refrigerator; however, he had no choice but to pull his head out of the refrigerated compartment like a person who had received a sudden command. Because he wanted to eat buckwheat noodles, which he had never once in his life thought about wanting to eat.

Conveniently, there was a pork cutlet shop nearby, so he thought he could just go and order a pork cutlet and cold soba set; he just brushed his teeth, washed his face, took his card, and headed out.

As he walked, he felt embarrassed because it seemed he had come out in the clothes he wore at home. It was funny to see himself walking briskly in shorts with a sports brand logo and a short-sleeved t-shirt from the same brand.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t shaved for the past few days. Was it because the trait transformation into an Omega had taken place? Somehow his skin also looked exceptionally good, which was fascinating.

He originally had fair skin and his skin texture wasn’t the bad kind, but it was just a bit better than the average man’s and not soft enough to cause admiration when touched; lately, however, he was surprised every time he washed his face.