Salt Society Chapter 73

I do not know what he meant by showing me something, but after lighting a fire with a torch, he brought out freshly made mustard leaf kimchi and aged kimchi. I do not know where all those kimchis came came from, but every single one of them looked delicious. The bank clerk was nowhere to be seen during the entire time the pork belly was grilling, so when I asked, he said the clerk had insisted on watching the shop since there were few customers, so he let him be.

“He will eat if I tell him to come out. Do not worry about him and just mix the green onion salad.”

I nodded at those words. Sizzle, the sound of pork belly grilling on the heated cauldron lid was loud. Once the meat was cooked to a certain extent and the sizzling oil gathered in the concave part of the lid, Yang Jisu placed half a head of kimchi and the mustard leaf kimchi on top without even cutting off the roots. The smell of kimchi grilling as if frying in meat grease stimulated the appetite.

I thought he was serious when he said he would do it properly, and since the meat seemed fully cooked, I went inside and called the bank clerk.

“Come out and have dinner.”

“…Yes.”

The bank clerk’s reluctant tone was clear, but Kihyun did not mind.

There were not many people inside the greenhouse. Mr. Gu was playfully playing Hwatu with a friend, wagering a bowl of rice wine instead of chips made of buttons. The entire gambling area was quiet. Even though he had answered, he remained motionless, so when I told him to just lock the office safe and come out if he was that worried, the bank clerk stared at Kihyun and then stood up.

And so, the staff dinner began between the greenhouses. Yang Jisu, who could do almost anything even in the military, grilled the meat very well. Golden-brown meat piled up in front of Kihyun and the bank clerk as soon as it was grilled.

After receiving and eating for a while, Kihyun felt grateful to Yang Jisu who was only grilling meat, so he brought beer, soju, and two cups, which the bank clerk took and began mixing into somaek. That level of active participation was unexpected.

“…It seems you are good at drinking?”

When Kihyun asked, the bank clerk remained still and then slowly nodded his head. He was a man of very few words. From then on, Kihyun took responsibility for the tongs and scissors, while Yang Jisu, whose hands were now free, and the bank clerk began to clink glasses. It was fascinating to see him constantly toast with the glass Yang Jisu offered, despite acting so shy the whole time. It seemed he was serving him as his superior, even if it looked that way.

The sun set gradually, and soon the surroundings grew dark. As the charcoal fire that had been burning brightly under the lid subsided, Yang Jisu roughly wiped off the grease on the cauldron lid, poured water boiled in an electric kettle over it, and boiled ramen. Into the bubbling ramen, he roughly sliced and added green onions from god-knows-where and even cracked an egg. After finishing it off in two mouthfuls of chopsticks, Yang Jisu waved his hand for the two of them to clean up on their own.

“Just leave the cauldron lid. That is tricky for you guys to clean.”

Then he quickly headed inside. He likely intended to take a deep nap—though not exactly a nap—under the air conditioner.

Kihyun cleaned up the aftermath with the bank clerk. As he felt every time, the bank clerk was efficient at everything he did. The cleanup was also done in no time, so all Kihyun did was wipe the greasy cauldron lid with straw, set it to one side, and flatten the beer cans by stepping on them with his feet.

Every time he turned around, the work disappeared so quickly that he could only smack his lips. He wondered why a person who was so silent but likely to be loved by a boss wherever he worked was working in a place like this, but he did not open his mouth to ask. Since his profession had been listening to other people’s circumstances, he did not particularly want to ask.

Once the cleanup was somewhat finished, Kihyun asked the bank clerk if he wanted some ice cream. The bank clerk shook his head and said while looking intently at Kihyun.

“If you eat cold things after eating greasy things, it hardens inside.”

“…Ah, yes.”

He sounds just like Cho Yeonoh, he thought, but the bank clerk said that since the cleanup was done, he would head in first and slipped into the greenhouse.

Kihyun rested his buttocks for a moment on the bricks Yang Jisu had stacked for sitting. Perhaps because it was summer, the bricks, which did not lose their warmth easily, were as warm as a person’s body temperature. It was just when he thought he should perhaps go get some ice cream.

“Second Lieutenant So.”

The unexpected title was suddenly called out. Kihyun looked in that direction reflexively. And then, he could not help but gasp for breath. This was because a person who made no sense being here was standing near the entrance of the greenhouse.

Kihyun, who stood up involuntarily, did not even realize he was staggering slightly. The cement bricks stacked behind him hit Kihyun’s calf and came tumbling down. The opponent moved toward Kihyun, intending to support him.

Kihyun’s expression hardened like someone who was chillingly surprised, and he pushed the man’s hand away violently. A sound loud enough to turn the back of the hand red occurred, but neither of the two pointed it out.

He was Kihyun’s junior. Someone he had also encountered in Namhae. He was dizzy to the point where he could not understand why on earth he was here.

“I was sorry back then, so…”

“Ah, I heard you two were acquaintances.”

It was then that an unfamiliar voice was heard. It was the man who had been looking at him in town. Kihyun furrowed his brow. It was because the man standing there after taking off his sunglasses was also an Alpha he had met in Namhae. It was the very man he had run into during his morning walk and while surfing. Only then did it occur to Kihyun that he had been in a group with his military junior.

“…”

It was a feeling that could not be described in words. While he stood there as if frozen, the man approached. Kihyun involuntarily stepped backward, stepped on a fallen brick, lost his balance, and had to lean against the greenhouse wall.

“My, you almost fell? You were like that earlier, too. You should be careful…”

the man’s tone, masquerading as kindness, reminded him of someone. Kihyun blinked his vacant eyes. It felt as if things he thought he had completely forgotten were rushing out all at once, fumbling at his feet to grab his ankles. And specifically, that limping ankle.

“…Let, let me go…”

Kihyun muttered, not even knowing what he was saying. He moved desperately to reject the approaching touch, but the actual movements he could make were nothing short of meager.

Unable even to step back and with his eyes turning dark, Kihyun instinctively put his hand on his lower abdomen. Seeing that, the opponent mocked Kihyun.

“Oh, it looks like you really are pregnant. Whose baby is it?”

A viscous malice could be felt in his giggling attitude. The man looked back and pointed at Kihyun’s junior, saying, “Look at him.” It was to the point where he could not even think despite the clear insult. The man spoke again in a voice tinged with laughter.

“No, I kept thinking I had seen him somewhere, somewhere. But here you were. Did you become an Omega? And you’re pregnant too? I asked whose baby is?”

The man’s tone began to get infinitely filthy. It was to the point where the sense of being soft-spoken and well-educated felt buried in a stench. Kihyun closed and opened his eyes tightly against the vertigo.

“Why aren’t you answering. Is it Cho Yeonoh’s baby?”

“…”

“Since that bastard said you became an Omega, did he eat you up already? He hates Betas, you know.”

Cho Yeonoh…? He did not know why that name was being heard here. He had to pull himself together. Since there was no reason to hear such insults here, he resolved to ask straight out what his intention was for bringing up Cho Yeonoh. Kihyun, who regained his senses by nearly crushing the flesh inside his mouth with his molars, was just about to ask what on earth that meant while ignoring the scent of blood spreading fishily.

“Yeonsin, are you unemployed? Do you want to come all the way here and spout that kind of bullshit?”

Chills ran down Kihyun’s spine. It was a very familiar voice, Cho Yeonoh. Kihyun involuntarily swallowed his breath and looked back. Cho Yeonoh pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, then snapped the middle of the cigarette stick with a snap and recited coldly.

“Your trap is flapping in a strange way? Who is carrying whose baby?”

Kihyun’s body began to tremble violently. No, no. Not like this. Only after biting the inside of his mouth once more did he finally come to his senses. Nothing has been revealed yet. Kihyun remembered that he had decided to hide the fact that it was the fellow’s child if he met Cho Yeonoh anyway.

In the desperate situation, the adrenaline that exploded in his brain actually made Kihyun stand properly. As if the limp in his ankle had also vanished, Kihyun stood straight and feigned a brazen face, as if they were the ones who had slandered him.

In the meantime, Cho Yeonoh strode forward and grabbed Cho Yeonsin by the collar. Then he swung his arm wide.

“Hmm? I asked who is carrying whose baby.”

Slap, slap, sounds rang out. Cho Yeonsin had been unable to find his momentum since the moment his collar was grabbed. Only then could Kihyun feel Cho Yeonoh’s pheromones. They were pheromones with a heavy sense of coercion, as if sinking deep to press down on Cho Yeonsin and suppress him so he could not say a word.

“…Hey! What are you doing right now!”

Kihyun’s junior, who had been frozen in shock, tried to approach. Cho Yeonoh tsked, clicked his tongue, and swung his hand without even looking, as if shooing away a neighborhood dog.

“You should stay quiet. There is a lot for adults to say to each other.”

The junior looked back at Kihyun with eyes pleading for him to do something, but Kihyun himself was in a state of not being in his right mind.

Beee—, it felt as if tinnitus was rushing into his ears. Kihyun moved about two steps blankly. He had to find a way to break through this situation somehow. But only meaningless thoughts were following one after another.

“You stay still there, too.”