Salt Society Chapter 80

Yeonoh gave a smirk as he watched Kihyun blink, closing and opening his eyes. Fine. If you don’t give your consent, I’ll just have to make an effort to make you do it. As always. Even though I know all that effort is nothing more than trash that deserves to be shoved into a sewer.

Turning his back to the emergency physician who was ordering the discharge procedures, Yeonoh caressed the forehead of Kihyun, who was now barely blinking once every ten seconds.

“My hands are rough, aren’t they. I’m sorry. Someone decided to skip town through a drainage pipe, so I spent so much time scrubbing the bathroom floor until the tiles practically wore down that I got housemaid’s eczema.”

“…”

“Sleep just like this for today, and when you wake up tomorrow, blow on it to make it better, honey.”

The nurse, who had been waiting behind them to explain the discharge process, caught only the last part of Yeonoh’s words and gave a little giggle, saying, you two have such a good relationship. Cho Yeonoh nodded.

“Yes. I am certainly making an effort to maintain a good relationship.”

Then he smiled with a personable face. Kihyun, behind his back, had now closed his eyelids completely.

Now, it was time to carry the sleeping So Kihyun and go to that fucking shithole of a house where he had been staying.

Manager Yoo looked inside with a heavy heart before averting his gaze.

“You did well. What are you going to gain by looking, Manager Yoo. It’ll only make my mood turn foul for no reason.”

With his upper body completely bare, Cho Yeonoh—who was leaning against the doorframe as if to block the view of the entryway while unbuckling his pants—rubbed his forearm as he took a bag filled with clothes and a tablet PC from Manager Yoo. The load was quite heavy. Having been informed that Yeonoh intended to stay for as long as possible, Manager Yoo had packed everything he could get his hands on.

Cho Yeonoh was looking down at his forearm, which had a slight indentation from being pressed against the doorframe. Having cast aside his two-button silk-blend suit jacket, the dress shirt with initials embroidered on the cuffs, and the silk tie, he was exposing his intimidating upper body muscles. He didn’t look like a son of a wealthy family, but rather like a pro or a thug who lives off scamming one. Despite being a delicate beauty who took after his mother’s features, the profanity coming out of his mouth was vulgar.

“Fuck, there are so many mosquitoes. I’ve already been bitten five times.”

“…Shall I buy you some mosquito repellent?”

At Manager Yoo’s question, he replied in a listless tone.

“Isn’t mosquito repellent bad for pregnant people? I need to actually know something about this.”

Because he was scratching his thick forearms vigorously with his short fingernails, red marks remained clearly on his skin. Cho Yeonoh, who was on the fairer side and had skin as clear as white jade, had a body that felt ominous, like a weapon. One could tell just by looking at his swollen pectorals or his collarbones that looked like iron pipes were hanging there.

Since his massive frame was blocking the entire front door, there was no way to see inside, so why did he act that way just now? …Manager Yoo swallowed a short sigh, thinking that perhaps he was worried about how Kihyun, who had supposedly run away, was doing now.

“…Shall I contact the hospital and find out? It would be helpful if you knew what is bad for him.”

“If you could do that, it’d be great.”

Manager Yoo found it difficult to give a ready response to Cho Yeonoh’s nonchalant answer. That was because missing the fact of So Kihyun’s pregnancy was his own blunder while tracking his movements.

As if knowing what the silently standing Manager Yoo was thinking, Cho Yeonoh glanced at him and asked.

“Did you look into that son of a bitch?”

“Yes.”

That was also weighing on his mind just the same. This time, it wasn’t a problem of his own blunder, but because of Kihyun. Manager Yoo had also known for quite a while that Kihyun’s ankle was in bad shape. He had understood it to be merely an accident, but to think it was actually an incident of violence.

“…I have put the details inside the tablet PC. Since the hour is late, I couldn’t find out much, but it is true that a violence incident occurred within the military unit during that specific year.”

“…”

Cho Yeonoh remained silent, looking at the tablet PC with quiet eyes. Manager Yoo could not utter a word despite the pressure that felt like it was crushing his entire body. Only when he slightly lifted his head was Manager Yoo able to escape from the oppressive feeling that filled the surroundings.

“It’s late. Go on.”

It meant let’s stop here for today. Cho Yeonoh gave Manager Yoo two weeks. One might think a tycoon could do anything, but being in an ambiguous position like Cho Yeonoh meant there were constraints on his activities. This was because his father, who should have been his support base, lived a life no different from a junkie and was now in a vegetative state.

If he so much as faltered, his cousins, who were like a pack of hungry ghosts, were looking for any excuse to grab his ankles, and above his head, his grandfather was sniffing around like a scent-detecting monster. There would be plenty of distance to tumble down even if he stayed still, but since that wasn’t the entirety of Haeseong, it seemed this large-scale Alpha was not satisfied.

That is likely why he is taking the long way around instead of the easy one. Matters regarding Kihyun were particularly handled in that manner.

Cho Yeonoh, who had no hesitation in barking at the high-ranking officials at a Hwatu table to stay still and not move the tiles because he was going to take a leak, approached with a degree of caution that seemed almost passive whenever it came to So Kihyun.

There was only one reason. It was because nothing good would come of catching Cho Gyudeok’s eye. Even now, it was directly linked to such a situation. So Kihyun’s pregnancy. Manager Yoo felt a chill down his spine.

Should he have refused So Kihyun’s request back then? So Kihyun had been reported as being a Beta from birth. For such a person to suddenly undergo a trait conversion and now even be pregnant… …Furthermore, the child is surely Cho Yeonoh’s.

Thinking that way made his stomach ache. As he stood there unable to turn away with a throbbing gut, Manager Yoo’s employer—who became a total thug the moment he took off his suit—flicked an eyebrow.

“What are you doing not leaving. I’m going to give him a pheromone shower; are you planning to watch?”

“…No, sir.”

Judging by the way he spoke while narrowing his eyes with a smirk, it was definitely a warning. What exactly was he trying to achieve by being wary of me? However, Manager Yoo predicted that Cho Yeonoh’s guardedness would only get worse from here on, not more relaxed. An Alpha who has chosen an Omega as his mate is bound to become sensitive, even unconsciously. He becomes no different from a mutt baring its teeth and growling even at someone just passing by.

Manager Yoo thought he could not report this to Cho Gyudeok either. Even if Cho Yeonoh currently didn’t trust him, if he stepped forward any further, his head would surely be completely cut off. The front door closed in front of him, for whom the number of things he couldn’t speak of was only increasing.

And, the Alpha standing inside the door was looking down at the Omega lying in the room.

“…”

The report Cho Yeonoh had examined contained nothing but ridiculous words. That So Kihyun’s ankle, which showed no sign of healing for several years, was actually due to an incident rather than an accident, and the belonging brigade had discharged Kihyun just like that while hiding such a thing.

“Which bastard do you hate the most.”

He asked just in case, but Kihyun was only sleeping without an answer. He had intended to make the first bastard he met unable to use his ankle in the same way, but the quick-acting Manager Yoo had reportedly given the guy a tetanus shot. Since according to his own statement, the guy only kept watch, he decided to put him on hold for now.

He worried about what to do with the other bastards. The fact that the numbers were quite high was also a pain in the ass. However, all the assailants were of a lower class year than So Kihyun. In any other matter, it might be different, but a rebellion against a superior resulting in the victim’s discharge was impossible, so there was surely a mastermind.

“Just how great is his backing? I wonder if it’s as great as mine.”

He felt a degree of human curiosity. Just whose bastard’s backing was so solid that they crushed the kid without even knowing who was behind So Kihyun? If he had passed it by without knowing, he might have opened the lid of his ossuary and come back out even after being cremated and turned into bone powder.

Yeonoh, putting the tablet PC down on the small drawer next to the bed, looked around the room. So Kihyun’s new refuge was smaller and shabbier than the one in Ilsan where he had first headed.

It was said the name on the deed belonged to Yang Jisu’s mother, but just what kind of relationship did they have for him to even provide a house? Every time this thought occurred, he felt like he would die from his insides twisting.

“…”

Yeonoh, who had been silently looking down at Kihyun, quietly took off the rest of his lower clothing. Hooking his index finger into the band of his underwear and pulling it down, he approached the side of the bed. Yeonoh’s completely naked body was casting a shadow over Kihyun even in the dark room.

Cho Yeonoh looked down at Kihyun and gripped his half-erect penis. Then he began to shake it just like that. Masturbation, which had been unfamiliar even seven years ago, was now seamless. Even if you call it manual stimulation, it’s all more or less the same, but until seven years ago, he had no reason to do it. Because when things built up, he could just release them with his partner.

However, after dating So Kihyun, it was nothing but manual stimulation. Because he couldn’t touch the partner he had tied down as his lover.

“Ugh…”

Even now, nausea surged. While getting aroused by So Kihyun’s scent, the mere fact that So Kihyun was So Kihyun made him feel like he was going to throw up.

Nevertheless, the urethral opening was peeking out from the tip of the tightly swollen glans. It looked like gills gasping like a fish that had just come out onto land. It looked like it desperately wanted to go deep inside somewhere.

The way it was already dripping drool despite not having been shaken many times was also like that. Cho Yeonoh laughed at himself.

“Hah…”

His breath became ragged. While staring intently at So Kihyun and stroking the glans, which was so smooth it was taut with an erection, he lowered his head.