Visual couple's 7-year marriage collapses into silence

Their first meeting was like a movie. A connection that began with the husband asking for her number on the street, a beautiful wife four years his senior, and a remarriage to a single mother raising a child alone. However, now that seven years of marriage have passed, what remains for this couple is closer to silence and distrust than memories of love.

In the episode of MBC's 'Oh Eun-young's Report: Marriage Hell' aired on the 7th, a 35-year-old husband and a 39-year-old wife, known as the 'Priority 1 Couple,' appeared. The two have since had three more children and are currently raising four children, but daily conversation between the couple has completely ceased.

The husband's proactive courtship led to their first meeting. He recalled that the moment he first saw his wife, she was "very beautiful," and the wife revealed she was approached on the street for her number, a so-called 'number grab.'

At the time, the wife already had a child. They began contacting each other about 10 years after her divorce, and while the husband agonized over his relationship with a woman raising a child alone, he could not easily give up his feelings.

In particular, the drama 'When the Camellia Blooms' served as a decisive turning point for the husband. He said that watching the male protagonist in the work gave him the courage, thinking, "I could do that too." The wife also expected a 'happy family' from her husband, who had a sense of humor and made her laugh.

However, there was a significant gap between the romantic remarriage narrative depicted in the drama and the reality of family life. Now, while raising four children together, their relationship has deteriorated to the point where even looking at each other feels burdensome.

The husband cited the inability to communicate with his wife as the biggest problem. He appealed that when his wife gets angry, she remains silent for about 10 days to two weeks, saying, "I keep walking on eggshells without even knowing what I did wrong." Ultimately, the psychological pressure grew so intense that he even considered divorce.

The wife's position was the exact opposite. She avoided conversation with her husband altogether, saying, "I don't want to talk," and "I didn't even want to see his face." It appeared that their relationship had moved beyond simple marital disputes to a point where each other's very existence became a source of stress.

A more serious issue was the husband's mental health. He revealed that during the ongoing conflict, he suffered from depression, sleep disorders, and indigestion, and had been receiving medication at a psychiatric clinic for over two years. He confessed that he struggled both at home and outside, stating, "Just breathing itself was stress."

Economic issues also emerged as a factor that amplified the conflict. The husband felt that despite earning money for the family, he was not being treated properly, claiming, "Is the money I earn a small amount?" and "My self-esteem drops when I am with you."

The wife had a different view regarding the husband's economic responsibility. While she did not prevent him from doing what he wanted to do, she took the position that it was difficult to accept that his choices resulted in an economic burden on the household.

In fact, the broadcast revealed that the husband had been fined approximately 9 million won for drunk driving and faced significant debt issues. While the husband emphasized his difficult situation, the wife countered that the drinking issues and economic burdens affected the entire family.

In particular, it was reported that the husband had resisted sobriety so strongly that when he was once asked to choose between quitting alcohol and getting a divorce, he replied, "I will get a divorce." Subsequently, as the drunk driving and debt issues overlapped, the trust between the couple weakened further.

To this, the practical burden of raising four children was added. The wife pointed out that while she was looking after the children, the husband focused on his exercise, diet, and personal life, and she claimed that the husband's spending and self-management methods became another burden to the family.

Ultimately, the conflict of this couple became difficult to explain through the simple framework of 'who is more at fault.' The husband, feeling disrespected, gradually retreated into his own life, while the wife chose silence, feeling that conflicts grew larger the more she talked to him. This created a vicious cycle where that silence further fueled the husband's sense of alienation and depression.

What is even more noteworthy is that they were not a couple that was unhappy from the beginning. The husband approached the wife who had a child first, and the wife also believed she could build a new family with a husband who made her laugh. There was clearly affection and expectation in their initial choice to be together.

However, the union of a remarried family involves more than just two people. Existing children, newly born children, economic responsibilities, and the division of roles among spouses all interact simultaneously. As marital conflict prolongs, the impact is likely to spread beyond the couple to the entire family.

In this broadcast, the impact of the family conflict on their eldest child was also revealed. The sight of the eldest child staying in their room to avoid the family symbolically showed that the couple's issues are no longer just between the two of them.

It began as a 'love started by asking for a number on the street.' The husband believed he could build a happy family like the protagonist in a drama. But seven years into the marriage, what remains between them is not words of love, but a long silence where they no longer speak to one another.

'Marriage Hell' poses a question to this couple: At the moment one person's life becomes the 'priority' within a family, what does the other member lose? And can words return to the space where communication has already crumbled? This couple's crisis reveals a more fundamental issue than simple divorce: how much should one respect and take responsibility for the lives of others within a family community?