The Bad Husband (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
“How was the atmosphere?”
Woo Jin quietly asked Director Park, who had come downstairs after delivering the gift. In response, Director Park turned back and opened his mouth.
“Hmm, while I was carrying the gift from the elevator to the front door, I heard a woman shouting inside the house. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, though.”
“I see.”
He had expected this. He’d anticipated it and confirmed it, just to be sure.
“But once the gift was delivered, the mood shifted dramatically—especially Madam Seo Won seemed extremely pleased.”
“I don’t care how others reacted. What about Min Tae Eun?”
“Ms. Min Tae Eun… well… um… she seemed quite startled, as if it caught her completely off guard.”
“Did she like it?”
“Hmm, about that… I’m not really sure…”
Director Park tilted his head quizzically.
Haha, this too was exactly what he’d expected. After all, she was the woman who had fled without even answering his marriage proposal. Naturally, his gesture might not have been entirely welcome to her.
Still, he didn’t regret his action. Had he not done this, she might have endured an unimaginably painful night.
Simply giving her a peaceful night,
“Let’s go now.”
“Yes, Executive Director.”
was worth it enough.
* * *
After showering, Tae Eun sat down on her bed without even bothering to dry her hair. Though her body felt as though it were melting from exhaustion, oddly, her mind remained completely clear—so much so that she couldn’t stop thinking about the man.
She couldn’t escape the man’s steady gaze fixed on her throughout their blind date at the restaurant.
—“I’m not asking you to fall in love with me, Ms. Min Tae Eun. I’m asking you to marry me.”
How could someone speak and look so indifferent, yet still send her a gift at home?
He probably had no idea whatsoever what effect his gesture would have on her. Yet his kindness had completely transformed her otherwise brutal night—because Ji Eun’s furious outburst had abruptly ceased.
Thanks to that, she’d managed to spend a peaceful night—but this calm filled her with dread, like the eerie quiet before a storm.
Just then, a knock sounded.
Knock, knock.
“Yes?”
“You’re still awake? Ah, I see you just showered. Right, you must be exhausted—you have every reason to be. You didn’t even get a proper dinner tonight, did you? Still, thinking of you, he even sent abalone porridge, so make sure to eat before sleeping.”
Ji Eun had brought up the abalone porridge the man had sent. Though Tae Eun shivered at Ji Eun’s suddenly gentle tone—as if she hadn’t been yelling just moments earlier—she nodded. This unfamiliar, unsettling kindness frightened her.
“Alright, then. Sleep well.”
After Ji Eun left and silence settled in, Tae Eun felt as though her breath were being cut off. She felt trapped inside a fragile glass palace, one that could shatter at any moment. She knew she had to escape before it collapsed—but she couldn’t find the exit. Had she been alone, she might have simply buckled at the knees and collapsed right there.
But then, what about Grandmother? What about our poor Grandmother?
—I’ll make sure nothing like this happens again, as long as you marry me. I’ll take full responsibility—not just for Grandmother, but for you as well.
His quiet yet confident voice echoed in her ears like tinnitus. Perhaps he truly was her only possible escape. The brief peace he’d brought her felt incredibly sweet—so sweet, in fact, that resisting its allure seemed impossible.
Of course, risks undeniably existed: a marriage without love, and infertility.
Yet she couldn’t help but agonize—the thought of the hell awaiting her once this uneasy peace ended terrified her. Only when pale dawn light crept into the dim sky did her turmoil finally subside.
She wanted to put an end—at last—to this life, one where she couldn’t even properly enjoy such a fleeting moment of peace. And right before her eyes lay the one choice that could resolve all these tangled, overwhelming problems at once.
In the end, she resolved to take his hand.
Thinking that any abyss, no matter how deep, would still be better than this.
* * *
He received a message from Min Tae Eun. He’d assumed her resolve would be firm and impenetrable, requiring time—but surprisingly, her decision came swiftly.
This worked well for Woo Jin. He needed to act as quickly as possible, redirecting the reporters still investigating Park Seo Woo and him toward the narrative of marriage. Yet strangely, another reason urging him to hasten the wedding had emerged.
After hearing Director Park’s report yesterday, he’d ordered a deeper investigation. The file he received this morning quietly raised his blood pressure.
It documented that Tae Eun had briefly stayed at an orphanage—for one month. She’d been six, shortly after her biological mother passed away. From that single concise line, Woo Jin could roughly reconstruct her story.
“He abandoned… his own daughter?”
Only then did he understand why her maternal grandmother had taken care of her for quite some time. The more he thought about it, the more appalled he felt—and he could no longer bear to scrutinize her background further. Though he knew these few pages couldn’t possibly summarize her life accurately, they revealed more than enough about how grueling it must have been.
Once a daughter is abandoned, what’s stopping them from discarding her again?
Moreover, the fact that this resolute woman had contacted him so quickly was itself indirect proof that her life remained arduous. That’s why he wanted to get her out of that house as soon as possible.
“Hmm, I’d better move quickly and bring her to live with me.”
Once he’d marked someone as his own, he wouldn’t allow anyone else to lay a finger on them—not even her own parents.
He extinguished his cigarette and entered the reserved restaurant. This time, he deliberately booked a highly private room—he wanted to create an atmosphere where she could express herself more freely and comfortably.
Heading toward the reserved room, he found her already waiting. Though he, as a businessman, valued punctuality, she’d beat him to it.
“You arrived early again today.”
“Yes. My part-time job ended earlier than usual.”
“The one teaching art college entrance exam students, right?”
“Yes.”
She wasn’t surprised that he knew everything about her. In fact, she seemed to regard it as entirely natural.
“Let’s eat properly today. Is your stomach feeling okay?”
“Yes. I can eat today.”
Oh my, how humbling. Truly a giant leap forward.
Woo Jin simply ordered a two-person sushi course—covering appetizers through dessert, all in one seamless set. After placing the order, Tae Eun took a sip of warm tea and spoke.
“I received the gift you sent. My family asked me to pass along their thanks.”
“It’s nothing. Not worth mentioning.”
“Especially the wild ginseng you sent…”
“I’m not interested in that. How did *you*, Min Tae Eun, feel about it?”
“Me?”
“The porridge—I mean the porridge. How did it taste?”
“It… was delicious.”
“You actually ate it?”
“Yes, of course.”
Only upon hearing that did a languid smile finally curve Woo Jin’s lips. She likely had no idea—by eating it, she’d dramatically saved the head chef of Jangwon Hotel from dismissal.
Shortly after, the appetizer arrived. But before the staff could leave, Woo Jin instructed them to bring out the rest of the dishes all at once, nodding and assuring them it was fine even if the food quality might slightly suffer.
“I’m about to discuss something important, and I hate interruptions. You probably prefer it this way too, Ms. Min Tae Eun, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead and eat. The food here is quite good.”
As she reached for her chopsticks toward the beautifully plated dish, Tae Eun nodded in agreement—the presentation alone revealed how much care the restaurant invested in its cuisine.
Munch, munch. Unlike yesterday, when she’d only sipped green tea, she was now actively eating—and seeing this, Woo Jin felt deeply satisfied. Though *she* was the one chewing, it felt as if sweetness filled *his* own mouth.
Only after she swallowed did he finally pick up his own chopsticks and speak.
“So then—when shall we get married? I’d prefer it to be as soon as possible.”
But the moment he finished speaking, she covered her mouth as if choking and broke into a coughing fit. When he offered her water, she turned her head and gulped it down hastily until she calmed herself.
While she soothed her chest, a lavishly garnished sashimi platter and the two-person sushi set arrived. After the staff finished setting the table and left, Woo Jin spoke again.
“What’s so shocking? Weren’t you here to discuss exactly this?”
“You’re right. I am… but…”
“Yet?”
“There’s something I want to clarify first.”
What now? For Seo Woo Jin, one of the most powerful men in the land, arranging a single marriage had become this difficult—an obstacle he’d never once anticipated.
“Go ahead and say it.”
“As I mentioned before—you’re aware I’m infertile, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Are you truly not interested in having children?”
Her eyes were unusually earnest as she asked. Clearly, it had weighed heavily on her mind. After all, infertility could be a fatal flaw for a woman—something that could fester into a lifelong emotional wound. So he decided to be completely honest with her, to prevent her from being hurt by it later on.
“Look, I’m someone for whom marriage itself is the goal—not children. So I’ve never believed that having kids is mandatory once married. A couple doesn’t cease to be a couple just because they don’t have children.”
“…”
“But the elders in my family may not share my views. I’ll do my best to shield you, but there may still be moments when you get hurt.”
Unlike his seemingly indifferent, almost joking tone on their first meeting, his voice now was deeply sincere—and it gently seeped into her ears. It truly was a pleasant voice to hear—deep and resonant, like an echo from an endless cavern.
Yes. She’d braced herself for this much.
He might not care about having children, but his family elders certainly would. Still, what parents-in-law would ever warmly welcome a daughter-in-law known to be infertile?
“However—my stance won’t change.”
“…”
“What I’m saying is—I will never abandon you, Min Tae Eun, because of children.”
Now she understood—why, despite his cold expression and gaze, she had instinctively trusted him.
It was all because of his voice.
That cavern-deep voice silently seeped into her heart and left a vivid imprint—giving rise, for the first time, to a small hope: perhaps, of all people, *he* could be trusted.
“I understand. And thank you. If that’s truly how you feel, Woo Jin, I’m willing to accept it wholeheartedly.”
“So—is that settled, then?”
“No. One more thing.”
Oh—*one more thing*? Ignoring Woo Jin’s exasperated look, she rummaged through her bag and pulled out a small envelope. Then she took out its contents and laid them before him.
“It’s a contract. I want assurance that Grandmother will be safe.”
Though her gaze remained resolute, a wry smile escaped Woo Jin’s lips.
“I know—it’s shameless of me. But unless I do this… I just can’t set my mind at ease.”
It was true. Her father, who’d promised to care for Grandmother as long as Tae Eun obeyed him, had been swayed by her stepmother Ji Eun—using Grandmother as leverage to pressure Tae Eun into the blind date. Of course, behind this lay Ji Eun’s shameless scheme to expel them both at once.
She didn’t mind being swept up in any storm herself—but she would do *anything* to protect Grandmother. These two clumsy contract pages were the desperate struggle of a woman with nowhere left to turn.
Woo Jin, fully aware of this, let his deep gaze rest on the contracts on the table. He could easily imagine the state of mind she’d been in while writing those few pages.
Desperate. Abandoned by the very family meant to be her strongest shield, she must have clung to this like a drowning person grasping at straw. Understanding her heart, he longed to boldly sign his name without hesitation—but he simply couldn’t.
“Listen, Ms. Min Tae Eun—I cannot sign this contract.”
“…”
“If I sign it, our marriage ceases to be a marriage and becomes a business transaction.”
That was it. The moment he signed, they wouldn’t be husband and wife—but client and contractor. The contract even spelled it out clearly: Client—Seo Woo Jin; Contractor—Min Tae Eun.
Yet understanding why she’d sharpened her stance like this, Woo Jin gently continued.
“You know I also lost my parents early, right? And that they both died on the spot in an accident?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that much you could find online. But how about this—what if I’d actually been at the scene?”
“…”
“What if I’d witnessed everything firsthand?”
Suddenly, Tae Eun looked up at him, eyes wide with shock. The fact that he’d been present at the scene had never been mentioned in any news report. Her emotions flickered visibly—she couldn’t hide her astonishment at this unforeseen truth.
“It was an accident—unavoidable. And I was the only one who survived.”
“…”
“Do you have any idea how utterly wretched that feels? Especially knowing my mother was carrying my younger sibling at the time.”
“I didn’t… know.”
“This isn’t me asking for your sympathy. I’m just telling you—I understand that feeling too.”
“…”
“That feeling of being abandoned to a godforsaken life—where everyone around you is an enemy, and you trust no one.”
It was the first time he’d ever opened up about his pain to anyone.
The fact that he’d been at the scene had been thoroughly covered up by Jangwon, making it taboo to mention—and Woo Jin had never spoken of it to anyone.
But to reach her, hardened and guarded as she was, he had no other choice. When approaching someone wounded, there’s no faster path to empathy than revealing your own scars.
“For you, it’s Grandmother—who you’ll protect for life. For me, it’s Jangwon. And that house you despise, the one you’re forced into—that’s my recurring nightmare, arriving nightly with insomnia.”
“…”
“It’s just that I was slightly luckier than you—I at least had money.”
Hearing him speak so casually about it, Tae Eun felt a sharp sting in her nose. His seemingly emotionless tone only made it ache more—she could only imagine how many times he must have replayed that pain to become so numb.
Yet numbness didn’t erase the scar. Somewhere in his heart remained a wound he’d never fully heal—just like hers.
Suddenly, she felt as if the man who’d seemed impossibly far ahead of her was now walking beside her, step for step.
Could that be why—when he reached out and gently tucked her stray hair behind her ear—she felt no resistance at all?
“So then, Min Tae Eun…”
“…”
“Just close your eyes… and try trusting me—just once?”
It was the moment her razor-sharp defenses, honed relentlessly to avoid further pain, silently dulled and fell away.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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Chapter Comments (9)
Inline Comments (2)
Every time Seo Woo spoke, the lips painted the same color as hers felt strangely
The alleged mistress is showing more courage than the legitimate wife!
“You’re pathetic.”
She is pathetic and you are pathetic too dragging your innocent wife in your messy life
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He couldn’t provide her the sense of security she needed all the time
Yes get way from this annoying man..he is only good at making excuses
Just leave her alone you jerk !!..she is exhausted 😔