The Bad Husband (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1

Hello. Are you Park Bok Soon’s guardian? This is the hospital, and this month’s hospital fee hasn’t been deposited yet. Are you perhaps planning to transfer her to another facility?

After getting off the bus, on the way home,

Tae Eun abruptly halted her steps at the impersonal voice coming through her phone. The call originated from the nursing hospital where her maternal grandmother was admitted, making it impossible to ignore.

“The payment wasn’t deposited? That can’t be…”

[We waited a full week, so we were wondering if perhaps you had other plans…]

“No, not at all. I’ll deposit it right away. Please send the account number and amount to this phone number.”

[Oh, yes, understood. I’ll send it to you immediately.]

Shortly afterward, a text message arrived containing the account number and amount. Tae Eun swiftly transferred the money she had saved up through part-time work.

It was a substantial sum—one she could only gather by working hard all month without spending a single penny—but she didn’t begrudge spending it for her grandmother.

Her grandmother was that precious to her—more valuable than her own life, irreplaceable, and the sole reason she kept going despite her harsh existence.

After completing the transfer, Tae Eun silently gazed down the brightly lit street illuminated by streetlamps, her expression vacant. Though home was just a short distance away, the path felt unbearably long and arduous—each step toward home weighed heavily upon her.

Her grandmother, suffering from severe pulmonary disease and advanced dementia, required professional care. Ever since her father Min Kyung Hoon had arranged for her admission into the nursing facility, Tae Eun had never once received such a phone call—aware of how vital her grandmother was to Tae Eun, Min Kyung Hoon had always honored that boundary.

So why had she received this call today? Was it truly just coincidence?

She prayed it was. Perhaps Min Kyung Hoon, who’d seemed unusually busy lately, had simply forgotten momentarily.

Yet ominous premonitions always struck with uncanny accuracy—and as soon as she stepped through the front door, her father summoned her. Inside the study, her father Min Kyung Hoon and her stepmother Jung Ji Eun waited with calm, composed expressions.

Upon seeing Tae Eun, Ji Eun instantly scowled as if she’d been stabbed in the eye. But since this was routine, Tae Eun paid it no mind. All she felt was the oppressive, suffocating weight of tension pressing down upon her shoulders, thick and unbearably heavy.

“Tomorrow, 8 p.m., at Leanne Restaurant in Cheongdam-dong. It’s your blind date.”

“A… blind date?”

Taken aback, Tae Eun’s dark eyes flickered with momentary disturbance.

“You’re twenty-eight—you need to get married.”

“But…”

“It’s Seo Woo Jin of Jangwon Group. If you marry him, I’ll place your grandmother in the finest nursing facility with the best possible care.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Now she understood why Min Kyung Hoon hadn’t paid this month’s hospital fee.

It was despicable—using her grandmother, her greatest vulnerability, as leverage.

But she wasn’t in a position to refuse. Tutoring high school seniors preparing for art college entrance exams didn’t earn enough to cover her grandmother’s hospital bills.

Nor could she take on a regular job—though trained professionals covered three days a week, she personally cared for her grandmother the remaining four, making full-time employment impossible.

All of this was part of Ji Eun’s meticulous scheme—to keep Tae Eun economically dependent and thus tethered to her grandmother three days a week, while tolerating her presence like a thorn in the eye, unwilling to simply remove her.

She understood it all, yet had no choice but to comply—abandoning her grandmother, whose dementia demanded round-the-clock care, was unthinkable.

As Tae Eun stood speechless, biting her lip, Ji Eun shot her a cold glance and added another jab.

“Why aren’t you answering? If you have any shame at all, you should snap to it and say ‘Yes.’ After all we’ve done for you, isn’t it time you paid us back? It’s Jangwon Group—don’t you realize how powerfully they could back your father’s political ambitions? Can’t you do even this much for him?”

Fury surged. Her hands, resting on her knees, clenched involuntarily.

Her father Min Kyung Hoon had once been a human rights attorney. But after Tae Eun’s mother passed away from cancer and he married his current wife Jung Ji Eun, Tae Eun became an unwelcome presence. Ji Eun’s family—newly wealthy through real estate—disapproved of Min Kyung Hoon, a man with a child from a previous marriage.

Then, one day, the inevitable happened. While walking with Ji Eun, Tae Eun became lost—or more accurately, Ji Eun deliberately abandoned her.

—If anyone asks who your father is, say you don’t know. Understand? Just say you know nothing!

Even at six years old, she understood: she had been cast aside.

All she could do was cry helplessly as Ji Eun’s figure faded into the distance. Thus, Tae Eun was sent to an orphanage. Traumatized, she remained mute for a long while—until a month later, her grandmother found her. Furious, her grandmother confronted her father, while Ji Eun brazenly claimed she’d “simply lost” the child.

Grieved yet compassionate, her grandmother—despite her own sorrow over losing her daughter—took pity on the granddaughter abandoned by both mother and father, and became her guardian.

Those years with her grandmother were the happiest of Tae Eun’s life. Though financially strained, they never once lost their smiles.

But around the time she graduated middle school, she was abruptly sent back to her father’s house. Ji Eun’s gaze remained frosty, and her father’s—whom she hadn’t seen in over a decade—mirrored Ji Eun’s coldness. Her half-brother Ji Hoon didn’t even treat her as human.

She missed her grandmother terribly—and resented her, too. Why send me back to this hell? Had she been abandoned again? Yet that anger crumbled silently the day after school, when she visited their old home only to find her grandmother no longer recognizing her.

—Who are you?

—Grandmother, it’s me—Tae Eun!

—Who did you say?

It was dementia. The moment her grandmother realized her condition, she severed ties out of fear—fear of burdening her young granddaughter for life.

Tae Eun couldn’t fathom the agony her grandmother must have endured in making that choice. The thought that her grandmother’s pain must have been hundreds, thousands of times worse than her own shattered her resolve. Then she realized: now it was her turn to protect her grandmother. So Tae Eun knelt before Ji Eun.

—Please place Grandmother in a nursing home. Then… I’ll obey everything you say. I’ll do exactly as you command.

—Exactly as I command?

—Yes. Whatever it is—I’ll do it all.

—Really? Then… live as if you’re dead. Pretend you don’t hear what you hear, pretend you don’t see what you see—like that!

From that day on, no matter what she heard or how repulsive what she saw, she stayed silent. She learned silence—believing it was her only path to survival.

Yet back then, she still held hope. After graduating high school and entering university, she dreamed of complete independence. But the world wasn’t so forgiving. By the time she graduated, her grandmother’s dementia had worsened and severe pulmonary disease had developed, forcing her to rely once again on her father’s help.

Nothing ever went as she wished.

And now, even marriage—the lifelong choice of a partner—was being dictated by them, using her irreplaceable grandmother as a hostage.

Fine. For the sake of her grandmother’s remaining years, what did it matter whom she married? It wasn’t an insurmountable task—if she steeled her heart.

But the problem wasn’t that simple. A few months ago, during a visit to the hospital for frequent menstrual irregularities, she’d received a devastating diagnosis:

—You have endometriosis. The prognosis isn’t good. We can try treatment, but the outcome may still be unfavorable.

—What does that… mean?

—In short, pregnancy will be difficult.

She’d been diagnosed with infertility.

Why was her life so relentlessly difficult?

Would a prestigious family like Jangwon Group really accept a daughter-in-law with such a diagnosis? It was practically inconceivable—from the outset, impossible.

She dreaded the backlash if she failed to meet their expectations and disappointed them—especially Ji Eun, who excelled at tormenting and defaming her with chilling intelligence.

“Oh my, look at her—still not answering! Do you even realize how much money I spent just to get you a seat at that table? Honestly, with your background, do you think you’d ever catch even a glimpse of Seo Woo Jin? This is all thanks to me, *me*! Aside from your face and body, you’ve got nothing worth noting—I’m utterly speechless!”

Scowling with hatred, Ji Eun raked her eyes over Tae Eun from head to toe, grinding her teeth at the girl’s silence.

What should she do?

Or perhaps… she’d never truly had a choice to begin with.

The moment they took her grandmother hostage,

“I’ll go. Tomorrow.”

She had no option but to become their slave.

* * *

Tae Eun arrived, tense and anxious, at the entrance of the Cheongdam-dong restaurant—but couldn’t bring herself to step inside. Her hesitant feet only conveyed her discomfort.

The outcome was obvious regardless. Still, she’d come hoping that, at the very least, by making an effort, she might bargain with her father later.

She stood there for about twenty minutes—staring only at her own shoes.

Then her phone vibrated. It was Ji Eun. For a split second, she hesitated to answer—but knowing Ji Eun’s nature, avoidance was futile.

“Yes.”

[Where are you? Have you arrived?]

Ji Eun’s sharp voice pierced her eardrum through the phone.

“Yes. I’ve arrived.”

[Good. Do well today—understand? Just how crucial this meeting is? This is a family that could propel your father straight to the Seoul mayoral seat. A family far beyond your standing—you couldn’t even hand them your business card!]

“…”

[And yet, you’re granted the chance to meet Seo Woo Jin solely because of me. I’ve set the table; now it’s entirely up to you to eat. Got it?]

“…”

[Why aren’t you answering?]

“Yes. I understand.”

[Do you even know how much money we’ve spent on you and your grandmother? And don’t forget—I raised you, though not a drop of my blood runs in your veins! So you *must* marry Seo Woo Jin—only then will you survive, and only then will your grandmother. Consider this a warning!]

“…”

[If you don’t secure an after-meeting date today, don’t even think about coming home! There’s no longer any reason for me to have to look at you!]

After rattling off her demands in rapid-fire fashion, Ji Eun hung up.

But Tae Eun remained frozen, phone still in hand, lips tightly pressed together.

In that instant, her resolve—to negotiate with her father later, citing her sincere effort at the blind date regardless of outcome—shattered completely.

Ji Eun hadn’t even left room for such possibility, emphasizing only the near-zero chance of success.

Now what?

Tae Eun let her phone slip limply from her hand and turned her gaze toward the neon-lit street. So many lights flickered brightly—yet not a single one offered her warmth.

She felt she stood at the edge of a cliff.

If not for her grandmother, she’d have willingly jumped—no need for Ji Eun to push her.

Her heart fluttered with fear and despair. A chill wind brushed past her nose, yet she couldn’t regain her composure.

If only she could escape this unbearable reality.

Perhaps her longing was too intense—

Though she knew better, her eyes and feet turned instinctively in the direction opposite the restaurant.

Just as she took a step forward,

“The direction you’re headed doesn’t seem right.”

A low voice, like an echo from a deep cavern, halted her in her tracks—quiet, yet cold enough to freeze her steps.

She turned toward the sound. In a shadowy corner of the parking lot—where even the restaurant’s dazzling lights dared not reach—loomed a massive shadow.

Though too dark to discern details, his silhouette alone revealed his imposing size: broad shoulders squared, legs planted firmly, exuding quiet menace.

Tae Eun felt like someone who’d just encountered a crouching predator in the dark.

Who on earth was he—the man who’d turned her around?

But soon she knew—because he emerged from the surrounding darkness.

His gait was neither slow nor hurried. As he walked, long legs moving with deliberate grace, he projected both authority and elegance.

Then, under the red glow of nearby lights, his full appearance was finally revealed—and it was even more striking. His body, encased in a black suit, looked sturdier than it had in the shadows; his towering height seemed even greater.

His face—possessing flawless, precise features—was not merely cold but bordered on arrogant.

“…”

“…”

Silence stretched between their locked gazes.

Finally, he lifted the cigarette resting between his fingers, inhaling deeply enough to hollow his cheeks—and broke the silence.

“So… were you planning to stand me up?”

Through the hazy smoke, his expression remained profoundly indifferent—utterly, devastatingly bored.