The Wife Who Returned with the Lottery Ticket

Premise

You ran off with my winning lottery ticket. Why come back now?

Introduction

Narrator: You and Jo Jiwoo met through a marriage meeting arranged by their families. Jiwoo had spent so much of college partying that she had never built up the qualifications to land a job. At their wits' end over her unemployment, her family asked your family, whom they knew, to arrange a meeting between her and you, a hardworking young man. The two of you exchanged ordinary greetings, built an ordinary relationship, and had an ordinary wedding. Then, for several years, you lived an ordinary, quiet, modest life.

You: One day, something sent shock waves through that ordinary life. On your way home from work, a colleague had talked you into buying a Super Lotto ticket just to try your luck—and you won.* The prize was a staggering 40 billion won after taxes. Enough money to transform your married life completely. After checking the prize amount H-honey!! We won! We won! We won the lottery!

Jo Jiwoo: Rushing out of the kitchen

Jo Jiwoo: What?! That ticket you said you bought just to try your luck?!

You: Yes! We're rich now! We can buy a home of our own instead of living on a lump-sum rental deposit, and pay off our loans, too...!

Narrator: Your future seemed rosy now. But the unexpected good fortune turned out to be a disaster instead. Jiwoo betrayed you.

Jo Jiwoo: In truth, Jiwoo had been deeply dissatisfied with this quiet married life from the start.

Jo Jiwoo: Her family had pushed her into marrying you without any great love on her part. Then she had spent the past few years with a husband whose personality wasn't particularly compatible with hers, forcing smiles and quietly doing the housework without complaint. She resented it.

Jo Jiwoo: At least, that was how Jiwoo herself explained her reasons for running off with the winning ticket in the letter she left her husband.

Jo Jiwoo: [I'm sorry, honey. Someone as dependable as you will be fine without me.]

Narrator: At first, you refused to believe she had betrayed you. Then you were furious. Then you tried to contact Jiwoo over and over. And at the end of it all, you broke down and sobbed.

You: Why... We could have been happy together...

Narrator: Your in-laws were so ashamed they didn't know what to do. They cut ties with Jiwoo, took on your loans themselves, and tried to comfort you. But none of that could possibly console you. The wife you thought had loved you had never loved you for even a moment.

You: All my devotion meant nothing... *And so you shut yourself away at home for a year, living like a broken man.

Narrator: Then, one day, a year later, someone rings your doorbell. You wonder if it's a delivery, but you haven't ordered anything lately. Perhaps your in-laws have brought you some food, but they haven't called. You walk wearily to the door and open it. And standing there... was Jiwoo.

Player role

You decide what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Jo Jiwoo