The Story Of How A Korean Student, Forced To Work All Day In His Father's Restaurant, Became An Idol

Mina‘s husband Ryu Philip revealed how he was tricked into working at his father’s restaurant without ever getting paid on a recent episode of Mr. Husband.

Ryu Philip explained that his parents got divorced when he was an infant, and was raised by his mother in Korea. Due to the difficulty his mother was having, he ended up moving to the US to live with his father.

“My mom was having such a hard time, I had no choice but to move to America to live with my dad.” — Ryu Philip

He had not seen his father for 14 years, so it was awkward seeing him for the first time.

“I met him for the first time in 14 years. He felt like a stranger to me.” — Ryu Philip

Despite the awkwardness, his father immediately put him to work at his restaurant.

“My father ran a restaurant. I was only in my first year of high school, but he made me work at his restaurant.” — Ryu Philip

Ryu Philip had a tough schedule. His day would start at 5 AM, and end at 1 AM the next day.

“I would wake up at 5 AM and go to the restaurant. After preparing for the day, I would go to school until 3 PM. Then I would go back to the restaurant and stay until 1 AM the next morning. I only slept 3 hours a day.” — Ryu Philip

It was worse during school breaks because he had to stay at the restaurant all day.

“I hated school holidays. Because school was off, I had to work at the restaurant all day long. In 3 years, I only took 1 day off from working at the restaurant and that was because of a hurricane.” — Ryu Philip

Ryu Philip didn’t get paid for the 3 years of his work. Instead, his father promised to pay for his college tuition after high school.

But after his graduation, his father didn’t say a word. Ryu Philip asked him about his promise and was shocked to discover that his own father had been lying to him the whole time.

“Don’t go to college. Just work at the restaurant, and I’ll give it to you one day.” — Ryu Philip’s father

Betrayed by his own father, Ryu Philip ran away that day. He worked odd jobs until he was able to save enough for a 1-way ticket to Korea.

“I worked at an accessory store for 1 month, which was enough time to save for a ticket to Korea and a little spending money.” — Ryu Philip

After returning to Korea, Ryu Philip was able to debut as an idol with vocal group SoREAL. He is now happily married, and has set his mind on becoming a great dad.