The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (2023) Episode 8

Episode 8 of The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract begins with Yeon-woo in bed, unable to sleep and thinking about her kiss with Tae-ha. But then Tae-ha can’t sleep either, as he too is thinking the same thing. It’s a super cute moment, and it’s fronted by the work group heading off on a big trip.

Yeon-woo invites along Sa-wol, much to the delight of Secretary Hong, and everyone heads off to Jeju Island. Yeon-woo is in awe the whole time, especially when she’s flying over in a plane and when she sees the ocean.

Given Yeon-woo’s fashion sense, she ends up modelling a variation of diving gear at the pool. Tae-ha can’t stop staring and he sees her as super cute and beautiful, much to Hong’s surprise. However, Hye-suk is scheming all this time and speaks to the doctors about Tae-ha. She blackmails him into giving up personal information, including that Tae-ha has a bad liver and his heart issues.

Back to the island though, and Tae-ha shows up to give a new pillow to Yeon-woo. The pair end up on the same bed when he falls on top of her… but then he has an idea. Specifically, sleeping on either side of the bed to one another while on the floor. That’s not good enough for Yeon-woo, who decides to shuffle over to the side of the bed and watch her beloved sleep.

At SH Seoul, Hye-suk calls an emergency meeting. She tells the entire board about Tae-ha’s bad heart and believes this is reason enough for him to be dismissed. She’s adamant it’ll compromise his job and the Chairman, when he finds out, is shocked.

Of course, Tae-ha is unaware of all this given he’s on Jeju Island. That doesn’t last for long though as he gets a call from Choi, working on behalf of the Chairman. The latter decides to let things play out naturally for now, and he’s not going to stand up and fight for his grandson.

All this stress is certainly taking a toll on Tae-ha, who finds himself taking his heart medication. When he does, his physician rings and tells him his “heart is a mess” and he should eeturn immediately.

Hearing this, Tae-ha decides he needs to break things off with Yeon-woo. He’s doing this because of his hart but he pushes her away, telling her that they should end the contract and just stop everything. Tae-ha even tells her that he never liked her. “You’re a trickster,” Yeon=woo bitterly retorts when she heads home.

Tae-ha heads to see his Chairman and admits all about the marriage contract. With the truth out, the pair decide to work together and stop Hye-suk from scheming and taking over their company completely. Part of that comes from being brutally honest with everyone at the company. But by comparison, he doesn’t want Yeon-woo to know anything about his heart condition or the dismissal. He’s doing this to keep her safe and not see a repeat of what happened before.

As for Yeon-woo, she speaks to Mi-dam and is shocked by the new plan regarding setting up her own clothing brand. They want to call it Yeonwoo and she’s all for it. As for Sa-wol, she ends up cleaning the chairman’s house but when he dismisses her, she notices him open up the cabinet and pick out a watch with a butterfly on. This is something that Sa-wol recognizes from the past.

Meanwhile, Tae-ha finds out exactly who has ruined the fashion show. It was Deputy Yoo. She sabotaged everything and she’s now out of the company, dismissed by the end of the month. When Hong reveals the news and leaves, she phones the chairman and with the veil lifted, it turns out he wanted her to sabotage everything and lied about being with Tae-ha as his husband.

As for Yeon-woo, she ends up receiving an artbook from Tae-min but he rushes off before she can hand it back. Interestingly, though, though there’s a moment in the elevator when she overhears Myung-soo on the phone. This voice is similar to the one from the Joseon period when she was told to pass into paradise calmly. Could it be someone like Myung-soo that threw her in?

Well, Yeon-woo overhears the drama surrounding Tae-ha when Hong mentions it to his sister. She’s shocked and rushes off, but Tae-ha follows to check up on her. She turns to leave but he wraps his arms around her and admits that he likes her. He admits everything he’s done and why he’s been selfish and asks for another chance. Yeon-woo agrees and the pair hug it out.

After, they go curling together and eventually they share a kiss. After, the big meeting regarding Tae-ha being kicked out the company takes place. However, the Deputy CEO gives a big speech about how he’s managing his health, including how he’s got a pacemaker and
has plans to implement a contingency to help the company going forward. He wants to delay the meeting.

Sa-wol senses something is up after thinking over the meaning of the watch and decides to snoop around the chairman’s things. She finds the watch and when Yeon-woo shows, decides they need to leave immediately. She hands over the watch and explains what this means.

Given it was thrown in the watch before she was, it means the Kang family are responsible for killing he and sending her back to the Joseon period.

As this is revealed, we cut back and see properly that Myung-soo is a trickster and he’s responsible for sending her into the present. He’s been working with Hye-suk this whole time knowing hes from the Joseon period.

The Episode Review

That final shot of the watch blurred over the gravestone and Yeon-woo on the floor is a great touch and the show has done a really good job of ramping up the urgency at the end of this chapter. We’ve had the usual “break up and get back together” trope thrown in for us but despite that, the rest of the chapter has been very enjoyable.

The drama involving Yeon-woo and Tae-ha is starting to get really interesting now and it’ll be intriguing to see how she reacts to the fact he’s part of the family responsible for sending her through time to the present.

There’s a lot to like with this one and the first half of this chapter was pure vibes, with lots of fun moments and a nice holiday over to Jeju Island as well. Ultimately, this has been a really solid drama and the second half looks to pick things up in a big way.