Chapter 1
Chapter 1
My wife became a chaebol.
On the way home, I was carrying the top-grade Korean beef Chuseok gift set the company had given me.
For the first time in a long while, my steps felt light.
The project that had tied me down ever since we got married had finally been completed successfully.
My bank account was fat with the Chuseok bonus.
And I had a sweet ten-day break that included Chuseok.
“If I suggest a trip, Mi-jung would be thrilled, right? Where should we go? Singapore? Or maybe Las Vegas?”
We had gone to Bali for our honeymoon, but she had complained every day about not being able to shop freely.
One room was already full of her clothes, bags, and shoes—what else could she possibly want?
But if Mi-jung wanted it, I could buy anything for her.
She’s beautiful, after all.
Even though September had passed, the weather showed no sign of cooling.
After walking fifteen minutes, I reached our apartment complex, and my shirt was soaked with sweat.
“Do I smell like sweat now? Maybe I should stop by a café?”
But I couldn’t resist the temptation of sweet coffee.
I glanced down at my bloated belly and quickened my pace.
“Ugh…”
I was out of breath.
It wasn’t this bad before I got married.
A sigh escaped me naturally.
I could understand why my wife refused intimacy.
To a woman with an artistic body like hers, I probably looked like a useless slob who couldn’t even take care of himself.
Before marriage, it was tolerable.
But now, after just a short walk, being out of breath and feeling my arms sore from holding the gift box, I was starting to worry about my stamina.
“This is all because of those damn overtime hours.”
Overtime and special shifts.
Working myself to death left no time for self-care.
“Next month, I really need to start exercising.”
I couldn’t bring myself to make an immediate decision.
I need some breathing room, too.
Phew.
I got off the elevator on the 17th floor.
Thankfully, the AC breeze cooled some of the oppressive heat.
I punched in the door code and opened it, and noticed a pair of unfamiliar shoes.
My mother-in-law’s size.
I hurried to the living room, pleased.
“You’re home, Mother-in-law?”
She frowned at my sweat-soaked self.
“Have you gained weight again?”
“Ahaha. That’s because of overtime… Now that the busy work is over, I plan to start exercising.”
She ignored me with a cold expression and turned off the TV she had been watching.
“Sit down. I have something to say.”
“Ah, yes.”
I rushed over to her to sit on the sofa, but she gave me a glare and gestured to the floor across from her.
“Ah, sorry. It’s really hot today, huh? I probably smell like sweat, right? Ahaha.”
I fanned myself theatrically and went to sit cross-legged across from her.
Being 190cm tall and weighing 110kg, controlling my body wasn’t easy.
I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong.
Why did she look so displeased?
Then I realized her face looked tighter than usual.
“Ahaha. You went to the dermatologist, Mother-in-law. I didn’t notice—my bad. You look incredibly beautiful today. You look 20 years younger.”
Knowing she was weak for compliments, I didn’t hold back.
Yang Seo-hee, the peerless beauty praised as a computer genius in the 1970s.
That’s my mother-in-law.
Mi-jung’s beauty? All thanks to her superior genes.
Now, even though she depended on Botox and procedures to barely maintain her past beauty,
even at just over 60, she still looked like Mi-jung’s older sister to strangers, keeping her preservative-like youth.
Maybe slightly pleased by my praise, her lifted eyebrows flattened.
I seized the moment to ask what she wanted to say.
“You have something to say…”
“I’ll take Mi-jung with me.”
“Huh?”
I blinked in disbelief and asked again.
“You’re taking her… on a trip?”
Even before marriage, my wife would follow her mother overseas for her schedule.
I assumed this was one of those cases and smiled brightly.
“If it’s an overseas schedule, I’ll come along too. I got ten days off since the project finished. Haha.”
She snorted.
“Come along? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
Even if I’d gained some weight, was that really how a mother-in-law spoke to her son-in-law?
But compared to what came next, that was just playful.
“It’s a good thing you haven’t registered the marriage. Let’s pretend this marriage never happened.”
“Huh? What??”
Was this a cliché morning drama line?
Less than three months after the wedding, and now divorce?
I tried to protest, but she scoffed while avoiding my gaze.
“Look at this house. A tiny 32-pyeong apartment, on lease, no proper interior, crammed with furniture and electronics, barely any room to walk.
This is why I warned you against marrying! Working at a big company doesn’t mean a thing. Seoul is full of chaebols, so why should my Mi-jung live in such a shabby place?”
Wait—wasn’t she the one who pushed me to marry her no matter what, after checking my fortune?
The mother-in-law who loved her son-in-law…
The one who even sent homemade side dishes until last month?
(Well, I knew she bought them, but still.)
Why did she suddenly turn so cold?
I truly had no idea.
But I couldn’t say anything.
She wasn’t entirely wrong.
If Mi-jung weren’t kind-hearted, a normal corporate employee like me wouldn’t have satisfied her.
Even though she hadn’t become a lead actress due to mediocre acting, her beauty had always been praised.
I held my mouth shut and endured ten minutes of my mother-in-law’s nagging.
All my suffering came from getting a beautiful wife, I told myself.
After exactly ten minutes, Mi-jung emerged from the dress room.
From head to toe, she looked like a scene straight out of “Pretty Woman.”
I looked at her with pleading eyes, silently begging her to intervene with her mother.
But she ignored me, as if I were invisible, and spoke cheerfully to her mother.
“Mom, did you say I’m leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect. Let’s go then.”
I froze.
The shock that the divorce wasn’t just her mother’s idea hit me hard.
If I hadn’t come home early, I might have received the divorce notice by text.
I grabbed Mi-jung before she could leave.
If I didn’t stop her now, I might never know the reason for divorce.
“What? You’re leaving without any explanation? Why are you doing this?”
She looked at me as if I were a bug.
“I’ve told you to divorce enough times. Isn’t it time you understood? Are you burying stones in your ears?”
For the past three months, she had repeatedly mentioned divorce.
I thought it was just angry talk.
Who would have known she was serious?
“Leaving the bathroom light on again?”
If I said that,
“You could turn it off yourself. How much is the electricity anyway? Why are you nagging about it? Ugh, I’m tired. If that’s how it’s going to be, let’s just separate.”
“Are we ordering delivery again? What about the side dishes your mother sent?”
She would snap:
“If you want home-cooked meals, cook yourself. What? You’re criticizing me for lounging at home with no work? Keep it up, and I’ll divorce you now!”
No matter what I said, she would get annoyed.
I assumed it was just her sensitive personality.
I always understood and let it slide.
After all, she was an angel in my eyes.
While I was still dumbfounded, Mi-jung opened her red lips and spat out cruel words.
“If you don’t understand why we’re divorcing, pick whatever reason you want: personality difference, values, level difference. Which one do you like?”
She listed options casually, forcing me to choose.
Yet she would agonize for hours over buying a single pair of shoes.
Then she laughed, glanced down at my bloated belly, and fixed her gaze between my legs.
“Or… shall we say it’s due to dissatisfaction in bed?”
Shame and despair hit me at once.
“…That’s because you hate it.”
“Exactly. Isn’t that enough reason for divorce? Just looking at you is disgusting.”
Wasn’t my belly supposed to be a cute point?
Wasn’t it nice that I had a steady corporate salary?
Didn’t she say she couldn’t live without me…
It had all been lies.
Stupidly, I had forgotten that her job was an actress.
Honestly, maybe I knew it was a lie.
I wanted to believe she loved me.
I hoped that if I tried, she might someday love me too.
But the problem was,
my patience was running out.
No matter how hard I tried to see the good,
her flaws had started showing.
But it had only been three months of marriage.
I wanted to take responsibility for my actions.
Thinking it was my last chance, I grabbed her.
“Is it about money? Is it because I kept postponing the trip you wanted? Where do you want to go? Las Vegas? Let’s go, I even got my Chuseok bonus.”
“Hmph. Bonus? Keep that petty money for yourself.”
Mi-jung shrugged off my arm, looking haughty.
“I found Dad.”
“….”
“But he’s a chaebol.”
Her red lips curled into a smirk.
The woman who never smiled in front of me, fearing wrinkles, now wore a materialistic, devilish grin.
“Now you know why this marriage doesn’t need to continue, right?”
With an icy expression, she pushed me with her cold hand.
“You won’t see me again. So don’t act pathetic. Stop clinging.”
In the brief moment she walked to the door, countless thoughts raced through my mind.
I recalled every time she toyed with me.
The angriest memory: my bank account, overdrawn, just to treat this vixen like a queen.
I shouted in frustration:
“Even if you leave, pay off your card bills first!”
Mi-jung looked at me incredulously.
“You’re really petty to the end. You bought all this because you liked me. You shouldn’t have married a pauper like you. A beautiful woman like me living with you should be your honor.”
She tossed me the car keys she was holding.
“Sell them. Sell everything in your closet, all the bags. Even used, you’ll get at least 30 million won.”
Bang!
The front door slammed shut.
My heart felt like it had been bombed.
I had been excited about traveling with my wife just a moment ago.
That beautiful fantasy shattered like waves.
“A chaebol…?”
Huff. Huff-huff.
How can life turn out like this?
Seven years clinging around the film industry because she wanted to be an actress with her mother, crying in front of directors for bad acting, then running into my arms…
I had served her like a queen for years.
She begged me to marry her instead of quitting acting.
And now… divorce?
Finally, I realized:
“I’ve truly been insane!”
The spell of seven years was broken in an instant.
“This sucks.”
I picked up the car keys lying on the floor.
“Think you can keep them from being sold? Anything with your traces, I’ll sell it all.”
Looking around, everything reminded me of my wife.
Maximalist Mi-jung had filled our home with stuff.
The only item I bought for myself?
An 82-inch wall-mounted TV.
After coming home exhausted, working till dawn, and repeating this cycle, I’d never even touched the remote.
“This is the worst.”
Unable to stay sober, I started rummaging through the fridge and cabinets.
Whiskey, wine, cognac, vodka.
A collection from a wife who couldn’t sleep without alcohol.
There was so much it filled the table and the surrounding area.
If I drank it all, I might die of acute alcohol poisoning.
“But once I wake up, I’ll forget that vixen completely and start fresh!”
I couldn’t tolerate the deep silence, grabbed the remote, and pressed power.
The screen swirled in black and white.
“What? Is it broken?”
I tried changing channels, but words appeared randomly:
[The worst moment of your life, the perfect chance to change your destiny!]
[Play LottoBall now!]
[Lucky numbers: 11, 22, 33, 44, 55 + LottoBall number 7]
“LottoBall?”
Wasn’t that the U.S. lottery?
“Why is there an American lottery ad in Korea?”
[This week’s jackpot: 2,580,000,000 dollars!]
[Miss this chance, and you might regret it for life.]
How much is 2.58 billion dollars in won?
I tried calculating in my head and gasped.
“Huh! Even after half goes to taxes, that’s over 1 trillion won?”
Suddenly, I thought—this prize could let me live a life better than a chaebol.
I quickly took out my phone and searched for LottoBall.
A draw lottery with five regular numbers and one LottoBall number.
Winnings divided among 1st-place winners.
Even if ten people won, each would get 100 billion won!
Completely different units from Korea’s lottery.
The TV seemed to urge me on, constantly exploding in fireworks.
Was I possessed?
I jumped up.
“Fine, let’s go! Who knows? Maybe I’ll hit the jackpot in Las Vegas.”
I threw off my suffocating suit, stuffed a few sets of underwear into a travel bag, grabbed my passport and wallet, and left the house.
Leaving behind the wife who stole my youth,
toward a radiant future.
Of course, whether luck will truly find me is uncertain.
But if I stayed a moment longer in this house full of her traces, I felt I’d suffocate.
“Survive! I have to live first before I can take revenge or do anything else.”
So impulsively, I left.
To Las Vegas!