Jin Kwon is the poor son of a poor fisherman. He is desperate to raise his station in life, and hoping for a job that will earn him respect. He takes a job at the Seoul Gateway Hotel as a doorman, and tells his friend that love must wait. While working at the hotel, however, Jin faces a terrible conflict. At his hiring, Jin's boss warned him to not let people like him, i.e., poor people, into the hotel. However, one day a poor man came to Jin with his child, begging JIn to allow his son to go into the hotel to use the bathroom. Jin allows them entry, and quits when confronted by his boss. While walking away from his job, Jin literally runs into Sun. Love will not wait.

Jin, still desperate for respect, refuses to elope when Sun suggests it. Instead,he asks Mr. Paik's permisssion to marry his daughter, and (perhaps to his surpise) Mr. Paik agrees. But Jin must work for him, giving up his larger ambissions to own a hotel one day. Jin agrees, because Sun is his dream, he tells Mr. Paik. However, the job that Mr. Paik has in mind for Jin has its downsides. He is to be one of Mr. Paik's enforcers...

Jin and Sun's marriage begins to unravel. Partially, the strain stems from his employment to her unscrupulous father. When Jin came home one night with blood on his hands, Sun grew afraid of him and what kind of work he was doing for Mr. Paik. Jin feels it would be dishonorable to tell Sun about her father's shady dealings and his silence before the crash led to the dissolution of their relationship.

Additionally, Jin wants to have children. He believes that if he gives Mr. Paik a grandchild, Paik will be less likely to make Jin do dangerous, or violent work. But Jin and Sun are having trouble conceving. After visitng a ferility specialist, it is determined that Jin is infertile (although the doctor tells them that it is Sun, out of fear of Jin's response).

Unbeknownst to Jin, his wife is having an affair with her English teacher. Hs father-in-law discovers his daughter's affair and demands that Jin kill her lover, but Jin instead beats Jae Lee severely with a warning that Jae Lee should leave the country. Before Jin can drive away from Jae Lee's hotel, however, his lifeless body falls onto Jin's car. Needless to say, Jin is suspicious of Sun.