Your Former Wife (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9

Just moments ago, her husband’s face—previously attentive and serious as he listened to her story—had turned icy cold.

“I….”

Unable to grasp the situation, Seo Yeon blinked her large eyes and spoke.

“Sung Jun… sir?”

His previously kind gaze was gone, replaced by cold, flashing eyes, as if he could no longer recall ever having shown her kindness.

Staring sharply at her, his gaze made Seo Yeon’s whole body shrink inward; unconsciously, she took a step back and trembled.

At that moment, the corner of Sung Jun’s mouth lifted loosely.

“Was this utterly absurd story the very reason you earnestly insisted I come early?”

His tone seemed to mock her behavior as pitiful. He fixed his eyes on hers and enunciated each word clearly.

“Thanks to you, I’ve thoroughly wasted my time.”

After that, without once glancing back at Seo Yeon, Sung Jun left.

Left alone, Seo Yeon murmured, her face clouded with confusion.

“Is this really something worth getting this angry about?”

From the very beginning, Seo Yeon had known full well that her proposal would shock Sung Jun.

She had already steeled herself for the possibility that today’s conversation wouldn’t convince him at all.

Had he not taken her story seriously, or reacted less positively than she’d hoped, she wouldn’t have felt so flustered.

“Should I not have brought up the contract?”

It was around the time her older brother—the prosecutor—publicly attacked HanKyoung Group, leaving Seo Yeon cornered, that she received a mysterious message.

[Ms. Han Seo Yeon. Just how much do you trust your husband? Your husband was my lover before he married you. He was the only man I’ve ever truly loved. You’re a shameless woman who stole another’s man! If you have any conscience at all, break up with him immediately!]

It was utterly absurd—someone bluntly claiming to be her husband’s woman. The message was far too serious to dismiss as a prank, yet Seo Yeon’s circumstances made it impossible to confront her husband directly about whether he truly had a mistress.

Her father-in-law—chairman of HanKyoung Group—often repeated his personal motto:

“A person who doesn’t earn their keep isn’t my child.”

Her husband was practically the sole grandson who met this demanding grandfather’s expectations.

But when Prosecutor Seo Yeon’s older brother publicly targeted HanKyoung Group, plunging the entire corporation into crisis, her husband bore full responsibility—and consequently, his standing within the group plummeted to rock bottom.

To make amends, Sung Jun doubled his workload and routinely pulled all-nighters as if they were daily meals.

Having witnessed this ordeal most closely, Seo Yeon could hardly bear to look him in the eye. She visited her brother almost daily, trying to rein in his reckless actions—but every one of her visit requests was rejected.

When she sought help from her parents, they simply told her to endure.

Though she knew it was beyond her power to fix, doing nothing would surely drive her insane.

Thus, at that time, Seo Yeon was in no position—nor had the mental capacity—to verify whether the message accusing her husband of infidelity was true.

All she could do was thoroughly ignore those one-sided messages and carry on with life. Yet shortly afterward, another message arrived from the woman who claimed to be her husband’s mistress:

[Let’s meet and talk.]

Seo Yeon saw no reason to refuse.

[Alright. Let’s meet.]

A strikingly beautiful woman with a bright, cheerful impression walked toward Seo Yeon.

She looked familiar somehow.

That was Seo Yeon’s first thought upon seeing her husband’s alleged mistress.

Then Seo Yeon quickly realized this woman was a rising rookie actress recently introduced across various media as a new CF star—one Seo Yeon recalled glimpsing briefly on TV not long before.

Her name was Choi Ye Rin, wasn’t it?

Seo Yeon’s gaze shifted to the driver accompanying the woman.

He was someone who occasionally assisted the Han Kyung Family.

Her husband truly did have another woman.

Even more unsettling, it seemed his entire family was aware of it.

Though their marriage wasn’t founded on love, actually seeing the other woman face-to-face struck Seo Yeon anew with shock.

“Ms. Han Seo Yeon?”

The woman sat down, verified Seo Yeon’s face, then quickly gulped down the bottled water before her.

“You really have some nerve.”

Without warning, she glared at Seo Yeon and began scolding her.

“Why won’t you just step aside?”

Stunned by the woman’s outrageous claim, Seo Yeon asked, as if genuinely puzzled:

“Should I step aside?”

At Seo Yeon’s words, the woman’s eyes flashed furiously.

“Of course! I met oppa first—we’re in love! Ms. Han Seo Yeon, if only you step aside, it’ll be the perfect happy ending for me, for oppa, and for everyone involved. Do you understand?”

“So, Ms. Ye Rin, you’re saying you met Sung Jun before his marriage—and now you want me to divorce him?”

Ye Rin vigorously nodded in response to Seo Yeon’s question.

“You’re finally catching on, huh? Yes, that’s exactly right! Ms. Han Seo Yeon, you’re clinging only to oppa’s empty shell, loveless and hollow. Now do you understand just how pitiful and pathetic your position truly is? Why on earth won’t you divorce him? Don’t you have any self-respect?”

Seo Yeon was freshly astonished by the woman’s brazen, self-assured accusations. How could someone openly admit to an affair with such confidence? A slap to the cheek might have at least brought some cathartic relief.

“Haven’t I said enough already? Please, just come to your senses and step aside, once and for all!”

Around Seo Yeon, many people bragged about maintaining both a marriage and a secret lover. She also knew attractive people continued approaching her husband even after marriage.

Yet apparently, suspecting something and confronting it face-to-face carried entirely different emotional weight.

“Pathetic? I suppose that’s how it looks through your eyes, Ms. Ye Rin.”

“That’s right. It really is pathetic.”

“But so what? Right now, I’m still Sung Jun’s wife, while you’re merely the world’s scorned mistress.”

“Wh-What did you just say?”

The woman flushed pale with genuine shock. Smirking, Seo Yeon continued:

“If you want a divorce, go tell Sung Jun yourself. It’d be far simpler. I have no intention of stepping aside. After all, my marriage to Sung Jun wasn’t built on love—so even if you exist, nothing truly changes.”

With that, she stood up and left. Though she’d calmly declared in front of the woman that her husband’s infidelity posed no obstacle to maintaining their marriage, deep inside, Seo Yeon felt profoundly betrayed by Sung Jun.

Back then, she’d been truly overwhelmed—but having endured every imaginable hardship, the Seo Yeon of today had become ruthlessly pragmatic.

She could easily turn a blind eye to her husband’s affair, so long as she could safely meet the child she’d once miscarried.

In her past life, she’d learned the hard lesson that no amount of struggle guaranteed she’d obtain everything she wanted. Thus, this time, she simply longed to meet the child she desired most.

Yet watching her husband erupt in furious anger now, she realized she’d probably made a mistake. A sigh escaped Seo Yeon’s lips as she finished reminiscing.

“Maybe it would’ve been better to keep pretending I knew nothing, like before.”

Muttering gravely, Seo Yeon suddenly felt a surge of emotion rising in her throat. She glared at the now-empty space where Sung Jun had stood and resentfully said:

“Just who, exactly, deserves to be angry here?”

In this life, she simply wanted to live for herself—not swayed by her husband or family. She’d even held back from voicing her knowledge of his infidelity, out of consideration for him.

“So why are *you* the one getting angry?”

It turned out her husband was far more shameless than she’d ever imagined.

She’d vowed this life not to be hurt by him—but as time passed, his brazenness only fueled her rising fury.

Still, she couldn’t simply back down now. One way or another, she would persuade him.

*

Upon arriving at the office, Sung Jun was enveloped in a low-pressure zone. His expression was so grim that even the most junior staff instantly sensed his mood had hit rock bottom—and that plummeted further when he received his wife’s message:

[Did you get to work okay? I misspoke yesterday—I’m sorry. As an apology, I’ll prepare dinner tonight. You’ll come home early, right?]

And he had no choice but to admit:

That when his wife—who’d avoided him like a guilty person all this time—had unexpectedly initiated conversation, he’d felt immense hope and excitement.

What on earth could she possibly want to talk about?

He couldn’t guess—but it seemed he’d thought of nothing else during the entire drive.

And when she’d finally said she hoped their relationship could change from what it had been, his heart truly felt like it might burst.

He’d always assumed she found him uncomfortable.

Whenever he tried to start a conversation, she’d invariably look away or lower her head.

Apparently, that had all been his misperception.

Then, in the moment his wife confidently told him she’d prefer to share the same bedroom, he’d carefully observed her face—something he hadn’t done in a very long time.

Her large eyes.

Her soft, velvety cheeks.

Her full, rosy lips.

Details he’d never noticed before imprinted themselves vividly onto his vision—and every one of them struck him as breathtakingly beautiful.

In an instant, his heart burned hot.

‘In return, I won’t ask or expect anything from you as a husband. If you have a woman you love, feel free to see her—I’ve already signed the contract.’

And just like that, the heart that had soared with anticipation cooled abruptly at Seo Yeon’s single sentence.