Husband Role - Episode 14

A startled Eun-seol screamed. The bride’s waiting room door immediately burst open. The photographer rushed over, grabbed Min-seo’s hand, and shouted,

 

“You can’t do this here!”

 

It had all happened in an instant. Caught completely off guard, Eun-seol froze like a stone.

 

Her mind went blank, and she didn’t know how to react.

 

How, how could this happen?

 

Min-seo, seeing Eun-seol in a panic, looked down at her with a cold smile. The dress had been cut quite high, leaving Eun-seol’s legs exposed.

 

“I guess it’s because your legs are pretty. It’s much better than covering them up, don’t you think?”

 

Min-seo, her arms restrained by the photographer, laughed maliciously.

 

“That tattered dress suits you perfectly.”

 

Eun-seol lifted the hem of the dress with disbelief in her eyes. The dress was beyond repair.

 

“Madam!”

 

The photographer, still holding onto Min-seo, continued to shout. Soon, Dae-hyuk and So-hee rushed in.

 

“Oh my!”

 

So-hee gasped, covering her mouth in shock. Dae-hyuk quickly assessed the situation and approached Min-seo. Then, without hesitation, he slapped Min-seo across the face. Smack! So-hee screamed at the sound.

 

“Are you crazy?”

 

Dae-hyuk glared at Min-seo with terrifying eyes.

 

Min-seo’s neatly tied hair was half undone. She brushed the fallen strands of hair back with her hand and glared back.

 

“You told me to pay back what I receive. That’s how Dad taught me!”

 

“You little!”

 

Dae-hyuk raised his hand again, but then So-hee’s voice, crying out, “Honey!” echoed sharply through the high ceiling.

 

At the same time, people crowded around, and the area in front of the bride’s waiting room filled with murmurs.

 

It was then that Jung-hyuk, a tall man with an extra head of height, pushed through the crowd and entered.

 

Dressed in a perfectly tailored tuxedo with his hair neatly slicked back with pomade, he first closed the heavy waiting room door. Then, he turned and approached Eun-seol.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Jung-hyuk’s voice, as he asked that, was sharp yet innocent.

 

In that instant, Eun-seol’s heart swelled with a sense of security, as if she had gained a great army, and with a feeling of guilt for having ruined the ceremony.

 

“…Teacher. I… I’m sorry.”

 

Eun-seol choked up without realizing it.

 

Jung-hyuk’s gaze went down. As if he didn’t even see the torn dress, he looked up again.

 

His gaze, as he looked at Eun-seol again, was persistent, filled with anxiousness.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

Instead of answering, Eun-seol just shook her head slightly. Tears instantly fell in large drops.

 

Jung-hyuk quickly wiped away the tears. It was a delicate gesture.

 

“Your makeup will run.”

 

“The dress is ruined. I have to enter soon… what should I do, Teacher?”

 

“Mok Min-seo. Take off your dress.”

 

Dae-hyuk, his insides burning, ordered Min-seo. So-hee wrapped her arm around Min-seo’s shoulder and added,

 

“Yes, that would be good. You’ve vented enough. Just take off that white dress. Okay, Min-seo?”

 

“No! Why should I!”

 

So-hee grabbed Min-seo’s wrist as she tried to run away. “Please, Min-seo, just save your mom this once.” Despite her pleas, Min-seo coldly shook off her arm.

 

It was then that the majestic wedding song began to play. Jung-hyuk took out his phone and called Kyung-ha.

 

—What’s going on inside?

 

Kyung-ha asked first, her voice anxious, as if she had been waiting for the call.

 

“Mother, I’m sorry, but please tell the emcee that the bride and groom will enter together in five minutes.”

 

—…Okay, I will.

 

Kyung-ha hung up without asking any more questions.

 

“Mok Min-seo!”

 

Dae-hyuk urged Min-seo once more.

 

“It’s not necessary.”

 

Jung-hyuk refused in a terribly cold voice.

 

And he immediately reached for the hem of Eun-seol’s dress.

 

Rip, tear—, rip, as the fabric tore, Eun-seol looked at Jung-hyuk with a dazed expression.

 

Before anyone could stop him, Eun-seol’s dress had become a mini dress.

 

“T-Teacher.”

 

“Lee Eun-seol. Listen to me carefully.”

 

Jung-hyuk held Eun-seol’s cheeks in his hands and continued,

 

“You are the most beautiful today.”

 

“……”

 

“The most beautiful in the world. More beautiful than anyone. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

 

Looking into his firm eyes, an unknown courage welled up inside Eun-seol.

 

There was a mysterious power in Jung-hyuk’s words. When he spoke in a definitive voice, it felt like everything would happen as he said.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

At Jung-hyuk’s words, Eun-seol stood up. Jung-hyuk quickly took off his jacket, wrapped it around her waist, and tied it tightly. The jagged hem of the wedding dress peeked out from under the jacket.

 

“Just trust me,”

 

Jung-hyuk held Eun-seol’s hand tightly.

 

“And follow me.”

 

It was then.

 

—The bride and groom are entering!

 

With the emcee’s shout, Jung-hyuk escorted Eun-seol.

 

Soon, the arched door opened, and at the same time, the lights in the bride’s waiting room went poof.

 

Jung-hyuk looked down at Eun-seol with firm eyes. Can you do it? It felt like he was asking that. Eun-seol nodded faintly.

 

Soon, he took the first step. Eun-seol carefully moved her feet, matching Jung-hyuk’s unhurried pace.

 

The arm she held felt as strong as an old tree. She naturally leaned on him. At the same time, she saw nothing but Jung-hyuk.

 

Not the dazzling chandelier lights, nor the whispering gazes of the guests.

 

She walked the pure white flower path as the bride of this man.

 

 

In the hotel’s underground parking lot, Min-seo sat in the car, sadly wiping away tears. She had been dragged out by Dae-hyuk, practically chased away.

 

So-hee looked at her daughter with pity, but eventually turned away. She had to sit in the seat of the parents of the bride.

 

By Min-seo’s side, filled with resentment, was the Ma-san housekeeper, and in the driver’s seat was the driver.

 

“Miss Min-seo… If you keep thinking about it, it’ll only make you suffer. There are so many men in the world.”

 

The Ma-san housekeeper’s fluent standard Korean, which she had learned in Ma-san, grated on Min-seo’s nerves today.

 

“What do you know?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I know? I know your heart hurts. I’ve known you’ve only had eyes for Jung-hyuk since you were little.”

 

“Are they going on their honeymoon today? Then they’ll really become a couple, right? Or have they already become one?”

 

Min-seo answered irrelevantly. At that, the Ma-san housekeeper sighed softly.

 

“It seems like they’ve already seen everything they need to see.”

 

Min-seo said, gritting her teeth. Even so, what was this feeling that wouldn’t let her give up?

 

“Besides, I think Jung-hyuk will hate me now.”

 

“What’s the point of saying all that now? Just stop it! Give up, for your own good.”

 

“Auntie.”

 

“Yes, Miss Min-seo.”

 

“Do you know where Lee Eun-seol went when she ran away from home?”

 

“……Miss Min-seo.”

 

“If you know, tell me. She doesn’t have any money, so where would she have slept for days? Jung-hyuk doesn’t know anything, so he’s fallen for Lee Eun-seol. Even if he knew she was dirtier than sewage, would he just let it go?”

 

“……”

 

“You know how conservative Jung-hyuk is.”

 

“Well, yes, but…”

 

“There’s something suspicious about Lee Eun-seol.”

 

“……”

 

The Ma-san housekeeper had nothing to say. Honestly, Eun-seol didn’t seem like the type to do anything reckless in her eyes.

 

She was sometimes audacious and didn’t know her place, but she was clever, so she would never do anything to ruin herself.

 

In any case, the Ma-san housekeeper thought that Eun-seol was not the person Min-seo should be worried about right now.

 

Nor was a hopeless love.

 

The storm-like future that would soon be upon them was the priority.

 

For example, Dae-hyuk’s rage.

 

But the Ma-san housekeeper couldn’t say it honestly.

 

“I… if Jung-hyuk comes to his senses and discovers that I’m the real treasure, I really don’t care if he’s divorced, or a single dad with a kid.”

 

Min-seo lamented her pure heart, as if she was frustrated and wronged.

 

The Ma-san housekeeper had nothing to say, so she replied, “I know.” It was then.

 

The back door burst open.

 

Min-seo and the Ma-san housekeeper jumped in surprise.

 

When they looked up, they saw Jung-hyuk pulling down his tuxedo tie.

 

“Come out.”

 

He said in a fierce voice.

 

In that instant, it felt like all the air in the world was being pulled down by gravity.

 

A flustered Min-seo couldn’t make any gestures. She could only blink her eyes.

 

Suddenly, Jung-hyuk slammed his hand on the roof of the sedan!

 

“I said, come out.”

 

He leaned down, glaring at Min-seo as he ordered. The veins in Jung-hyuk’s neck were bulging.

 

It was the first time she had seen Jung-hyuk lose his composure.

 

The Ma-san housekeeper, startled, made a voice to dissuade him, “Jung-hyuk…” Jung-hyuk’s chilling gaze shifted to the Ma-san housekeeper.

 

Terrified, the Ma-san housekeeper clamped her mouth shut like a clam.

 

Min-seo had no choice but to get out of her seat. And she looked around. She saw a few passersby.

 

But Jung-hyuk showed no sign of wavering. He just looked like he wouldn’t be satisfied until he tore apart the person in front of him.

 

“What are you?”

 

Jung-hyuk’s voice, as he asked that, was terribly low.

 

Min-seo barely retorted, “What do you mean?” It was then that the blood vessels around Jung-hyuk’s eyes turned blue.

 

“…What did you do earlier?”

 

“Teacher, get a grip.”

 

Min-seo continued in a desperate voice.

 

“Lee Eun-seol. She’s really promiscuous. You know. Even when she was in school, the boys were drooling and following her around. Why do you think they did that?”

 

Now, ‘truth’ didn’t matter to Min-seo. That’s how desperate she was to grasp at straws.

 

“So what.”

 

Jung-hyuk retorted in a deeply sunken voice. His always rigid and upright appearance was nowhere to be found.

 

A flustered Min-seo stammered for a moment, then quickly opened her mouth.

 

“Do you want to share a blanket with someone that dirty?”

 

Her tone was filled with disgust.

 

At the same time, a large fist grazed Min-seo’s cheek and slammed into the pillar.

 

Soon, red blood seeped from Jung-hyuk’s fist as he lowered it.

 

Terrified, Min-seo slid down to the ground with a pale face.

 

Jung-hyuk also lowered his body and opened his mouth with a fierce look.

 

“…If you ever treat Eun-seol carelessly again…”

 

Min-seo’s pupils, seized with fear, shrank tightly.

 

“You’re dead.”