The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (2023) Episode 7

Episode 7 of Story of Park’s Marriage Contract begins with a scene involving a stranger in a mask given instructions by Hye-suk to keep adding what’s assumed to be poison, to Tae-ha’s food. The Guardian Angel is right – time is repeating itself right now. Could Tae-ha suffer the same fate and end up poisoned? That certainly seems like it, but for now he does recover.

When Tae-ha regains consciousness following his attack last episode, he explains to Yeon-woo that the woman in the annex was actually his mother. She died and the person who left her there was Hye-suk. She gaslit him and blamed Tae-ha for what happened, and Tae-ha was forced to endure a terrible weight because of her words. Yeon-woo comforts him and wraps her arms around Tae-ha, telling him that she’ll do her best to lift that boulder off of him.

While Yeon-woo updates Sa-wol over what’s been going on and how Tae-ha is in danger from his mother-in-law, Tae-ha speaks to the historian, who explains that this Yeon-woo from the past is recorded as having jumped into a well after her husband died. In between these serious moments, we get some lovely humour as both Tae-ha (with Hong) and Yeon-woo (with Sa-wol) are teased over their feelings for their contracted partners.

Tae-ha is not happy when he finds out Hye-suk is out for lunch with Yeon-woo. Whilst together, Yeon-woo confronts Hye-suk about the past but she’s confident she didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, she even hands over a gift for her which will help. Yeon-woo is reluctant to take it, and even worse, she jokes about whether it could be poison. Tae-ha shows up and takes Yeon-woo away, promising that things will be different now.

Well, things are definitely different when they leave! Out in the street, the pair talk and Ye0n-woo ends up slipping and falling into his arms. The pair look into one another’s eyes and Tae-ha even blurts out that he likes her! It’s a super cute moment, something that she finds herself pondering over when she’s back home brushing her teeth.

As for Hong, he ditches on his sister midway through shopping to go and see Sa-wol. She has more homework for him but she refuses to date him right now. Instead, she has a big plan to help Yeon-woo and wants his help in doing so. The pair do a great job and manage to get both Yeon-woo and Tae-ha alone in the bedroom together. They lock the door, shut off the lights and have big plans for the pair to have a steamy night together.

While Tae-ha and Yeon-woo almost kiss upstairs, Hong and Sa-wol end up kissing on the sofa in a really cute moment. However, Hong interrupts the former’s kiss with big news. It turns out another company is plagiarising SH Seoul’s fashion line. It could be Hye-suk using an alias and trying to sabotage Yeon-woo’s plans. However, as the episode continues it would appear that Secretary Choi is to blame due her to jealousy.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t go well at work when the other workers find out. They’re convinced that Yeon-woo has ruined the first-year anniversary event by being careless. The Chairman is similarly not happy, especially after Tae-ha’s outburst last episode. In fact, he thinks Tae-ha should step away from the event.

Yeon-woo and Tae-ha do no such thing. In fact, Yeon-woo is fuelled by the desire to do right by everyone and she works super hard to design her clothes and do a great job to blow this first-anniversary event out the water. Tae-ha even catches her falling asleep at the table with books sprawled all around her.

In the morning, Yeon-woo heads out and starts sketching out her work, intending to draw inspiration for a new design. Tae-min shows up though and helps her out, deciding they need clean lines and a simple structure. Yeon-woo is impressed but is quick to point out that she’s only impressed with his drawing, not with him as a person. There’s definitely no second lead syndrome here!

Later on, CEO Mi-dam looks over Yeon-woo’s work and is impressed with her craftsmanship. Yeon-woo explains wat drives her, including the significance of a butterfly. Mi-dam smiles tentatively, but this reminds her of the past. Specifically, a diary which refers to Yeon-woo as a butterfly.

That night, Yeon-woo’s heart starts fluttering like a butterfly when she sees Tae-ha waiting for her outside. He hands over a cute little moon rabbit he’s won from a claw machine. He wants her to make a wish on it and the pair can’t stop smiling when he hands it over.

That is, until the next day. It turns out the date of the big event has been changed and without any models around and the whole event hanging in the balance, things don’t look good. Tae-ha has no choice but to ask Hye-suk for help in getting this event back on track. He explains later on that he did all of this for Yeon-woo’s sake to make sure her event isn’t ruined.

Unfortunately, things are made even worse when Yeon-woo manages to see her clothing line. Someone seems to have intentionally sabotaged it (Secretary Choi?), with slashes across the sleeves. They can’t change the finale outfit now, given Yeon-woo’s whole line tells a significant story. So how will they salvage this? Well, the group decide to transform the clothes into a jumpsuit, which could do the trick. And as it’s shown off on the catwalk, there’s a lot of oohs and ahhs over the fashion. People love it! And the outfit right at the end is a beautiful projection of butterflies that’s broadcast across Korea given the show is on TV.

After the show, Hye-suk speaks to Myung-soon and explains that the reason she helped with all this was to make the chairman more angry. For Tae-ha to go against his father’s wishes and shake the foundation they had further, Hye-suk is using this relationship to driver a bigger wedge between them. 

Backstage, th Guardian Angel appears for Tae-ha as he’s clutching his chest and seems to have another attack. “Do you now understand the repeated fate?” She asks, as flashes to the past bleed through and Tae-ha sees all. As they stare one another down, she suddenly blinks out of view in a strange moment and Tae-ha is ok again. He heads over to see Yeon-woo and asks her about her husband and whether it hurt when he died.

There’s more drama when Chairman Kang kidnaps the young woman Hye-suk paid off several episodes back. She’s tied up and taken deep into the woods by a hired goon. At the same time, Myung-soo snaps pictures of Tae-ha and shows them to Hye-suk, showcasing that he’s taking medication for his heart.

As the episode closes out, Yeon-woo and Tae-ha discuss their fate and, specifically, how Tae-ha is the first person to change hers. The pair kiss right on the catwalk together.

The Episode Review

Yay! It’s been coming for a while but finally these two do share a kiss. There’s a lot to like with this Korean drama, especially the chemistry between our two leads. It’s palpable and the show has enough wherewithal to pepper in some fun, cute moments around the more serious drama.

Understanding more of the family dynamics between Hye-suk and the Chairman, and how its like being between a rock and a hard place for Tae-ha helps to showcase just how much pressure this guy is under. The fact that Hye-suk basically gaslit Tae-ha into believing it’s all his own fault for what happened to his mum is a despicable act and it really shows just what lengths this woman will go to seize power.

But what of the chairman here though? We’ve already seen that the chairman is not as saintly as we first thought and it would seem that he could be just as villainous as Hye-suk. We’ll have to wait and see of course because that scene in the woods could be taken out of context.