Salt Society Chapter 69

When Kihyun nodded, the doctor typed something with a slightly slow stroke and told him he could step out. Since the doctor’s attitude was so profoundly uninterested, Kihyun felt it was almost funny that he had been so anxious about his forged identity being discovered.

He gave a polite bow, returned to the reception desk, and received his prescription. After picking up the medication at the pharmacy on the first floor, Kihyun headed to the mart on his scooter, thinking he might as well do some grocery shopping since he was already in town.

It was utterly, perfectly peaceful.

“Director, are you in?”

The inside of the house was surprisingly chilly. This was despite the fact that it must have been set to an appropriate temperature. Manager Yoo thought that perhaps it was due to the atmosphere radiated by the person living there.

No answer came from within. Manager Yoo, who had not expected an answer in the first place, walked slowly through the dark living room. On one wall of the living room was a goldfish tank glowing with a blue light. In the tank, which was much larger than the one Manager Yoo used to know, only two goldfish were swimming.

Manager Yoo watched the goldfish for a moment, then turned his head and headed toward the bathroom. Light was pouring out from there.

“Director…”

Manager Yoo gripped the bathroom doorframe and fell silent at the sight inside. The sound of a scrubbing noise combined with the pungent sting of bleach left him speechless.

Inside the bathroom, Cho Yeonoh was kneeling down, scrubbing the bathtub. He was wearing a shirt with all the buttons undone—it was unclear whether he had been about to put it on or take it off—along with black socks held up by sock garters, and black drawers. He wasn’t wearing pants. Though he had witnessed his boss in a state of semi-nudity, it wasn’t something to be flustered about.

It was a sight Manager Yoo saw every time he came to Cho Yeonoh’s house over the past few days to help him get to work. Kneeling on knees covered in muscle, applying enough strength that the lines of his thighs were distinct, he was scrubbing the tub he had already cleaned over and over again. At times like this, Cho Yeonoh often wore just a shirt or nothing at all except for boxer briefs or drawers. It wasn’t that he intentionally cleaned in such attire; it seemed that upon returning home, he couldn’t stand even a single bothersome spot before taking a shower, and would start cleaning while half-undressed.

Disturbing Cho Yeonoh at such a time was an act that only put oneself in danger, so he simply had to keep his mouth shut. Instead, Manager Yoo intended to leave Cho Yeonoh’s house quickly and cancel the meeting. However, perhaps today was a rare day, as Cho Yeonoh opened his mouth and asked.

“What happened.”

“…I have no excuse.”

At those words, the scrubbing began again. He had never gotten angry at the report that they hadn’t found So Kihyun, but the difference from before showed in this way. The sound of the scrubbing filled the silence. As Manager Yoo withdrew with a sigh, Cho Yeonoh entered the shower booth and began scrubbing around the drain. Since it was a place where dirty things flowed, he had to pay even more attention there than anywhere else.

So Kihyun appeared in his dream. He had never seen such an expression on him before, but Kihyun smiled so wide his eyes crinkled and then climbed right on top of him.

Then he moved his hips. Everything was vivid in Cho Yeonoh’s eyes. Things like his waist, which felt thin when gripped but looked sturdy on the outside; his buttocks, which looked like puffed-up bread dough from working out hard; his reddened nape and the back of his ears; and his expression as he looked down while moving his hips.

When it was as vivid as if he had seen it in person, Cho Yeonoh had no choice but to move his hips as well, even though he knew it was a dream. Every time he pushed up from below, the look in those eyes encouraging him to do more felt as thrilling as if it were scratching across his chest.

So Kihyun moved like someone who knew every inch of Cho Yeonoh, kissed him, laughed just loud enough for only him to hear, and then got up and vanished.

Then, Cho Yeonoh would wake up with a feeling of emptiness, as if he had ejaculated into a stranger’s body. He would wake with a feeling that was beyond filthy.

What was even more fucked up was his own member, which remained aroused and wouldn’t settle down even though it was just a dream. At times like that, while preparing for work with a freezing cold mind, he ignored the way he was tensed up to the point of veins bulging in his lower abdomen. Today, however, his lower body was more persistent.

Ultimately, he had to masturbate while showering. Banging his head against the tiled wall as he watched the traces of his lust being sucked down the drain, a sudden laugh escaped him.

Naturally, he felt like vomiting afterward. Cho Yeonoh couldn’t stand the sense of loathing. It might have been expected. Would it be better if he just drained all the blood circulating in his body and received a fresh transfusion? But he wouldn’t be able to stop the dog-like behavior engraved in his genetic information. It seemed the cells of his entire body didn’t know how to live without lusting after So Kihyun.

During puberty, the dreams that had continued since he first became aware of things reached a peak around the time he entered high school and met So Kihyun. The trigger was simply when he happened to see So Kihyun, who had taken off his shirt to play soccer, laughing with other bastards while dousing his back with water at the faucet.

It felt as if something inside him snapped. At that moment, he should have abandoned So Kihyun too. Just as So Kihyun had done. But it seemed his gene-encoded foolishness couldn’t be helped, as he even went so far as to personally seek out So Kihyun, whom he had lived ignoring ever since they entered the same school.

To be precise, it was because he hated the sight of So Kihyun hanging out with Lee Bumhee. He hated the sight of Lee Bumhee ruffling So Kihyun’s soaking wet hair and laughing while handing him a towel. No, that’s not it. It was perhaps because he wanted to be the one in that role.

So, even though he was the one who had distanced himself, he tried to stand before So Kihyun.

“Why are you close with Lee Bumhee.”

The question that came out was merely blunt. It was something he couldn’t understand even more back then, just as he couldn’t now.

Seeing him laughing next to Lee Bumhee when he had left so easily and let go so easily made it feel almost irrational.

That was the first sense of defeat Cho Yeonoh had ever felt. Cho Yeonoh was born with many things. Even if he didn’t have luck with his parents among the things he was born with, he didn’t know what deficiency was—until ten-year-old So Kihyun left him.

So the moment he saw So Kihyun having a normal conversation with Lee Bumhee, an unknown sentiment boiled up.

“Uh… It’s just, I hang out with Lee Bumhee often.”

In the meantime, So Kihyun had grown taller. According to what he had caught a glimpse of at the entrance ceremony, he was almost the same as Lee Bumhee. Yet, he was still smaller than Cho Yeonoh.

He wanted to press the round crown of his head down with his chin. He wanted to help him fan his half-soaked school shirt after soccer and lecture him, saying, ‘You keep losing the pass because you only look at the ball whenever you dribble.’ He also wanted to ask if he still liked Screw Bar ice cream. He missed the voice that would ask ‘Want some?’ when he stared blankly at him eating.

Cho Yeonoh folded his heart. He folded the heart that vowed never to forgive him again, placed it under his bed, and waited for the dust to settle.

“Then play with me too. No, play only with me.”

That was how he regained the seat by his side.

For a while after that, things were fine. So Kihyun had excellent athletic nerves and was just as good at studying. Once, he even came to school having shaved his head entirely with clippers because he said washing his hair was a bother. That was the day the guy, who had been a favorite of the teachers, was called to the faculty office for the first time.

“Are you rebelling? What are you doing coming here with your hair like this?”

“Isn’t it cute because my head is round? Like a pebble. Teacher, please let it slide just this once.”

There was even a time he had pleaded with the student dean on So Kihyun’s behalf and then pulled the guy out of the office by his wrist. So Kihyun asked, ‘Is it that weird?’ and Cho Yeonoh said no without looking back.

“You brat, why did you shave your head.”

“Because Sokhyeon-ie looked cool.”

Cho Yeonoh replied with a wide grin. So Kihyun shook his head as he looked at him. For a while, they both lived as baldies.

“Hey, when you go to the military, do you shave your hair even shorter than this? Then are you going to live as a baldie for several years?”

“I don’t know, get lost.”

Cho Yeonoh used to rub the crown of So Kihyun’s head constantly because he said the texture felt good. So Kihyun would sometimes get angry, saying if he wanted to touch a head so much he should rub his own skull, and asking why he was messing with him.

Every time that happened, laughter broke out. Even now, he occasionally had those dreams. So Kihyun would just stand there and smile, or stroke Cho Yeonoh’s forearm and pat his thigh once or twice. On those days, he had to wake up at dawn to clean up. It was without fail, and it was still disgusting.

“…Why do you hang out with me?”

“Because you told me to, you madman.”

After going to a PC room for the first time in a while, he rubbed the head of middle-schooler So Kihyun who was playing KartRider. Since he had grown a lot, it didn’t have the chestnut-like texture from before. Because he missed that, he rubbed it even more.

So Kihyun was annoyed, but he only dodged his hand about once every three times; for the most part, he let Cho Yeonoh be. Cho Yeonoh was grateful for that. Even though he was the one doing filthy things every day, So Kihyun always treated Cho Yeonoh with friendship.

Around that time, hope was born. Cho Yeonoh thought that perhaps he could stay with So Kihyun for a lifetime. If they were friends, he could stay by his side forever. If the right side of So Kihyun was the grave of the family he would build, it didn’t matter to him if he was on the left. It was his dream to be buried in the same grave site.

“Hey, do you want to visit my family’s ancestral mountain later?”

“Where is the ancestral mountain?”

“Naju.”

“Stop talking nonsense about Naju.”