The Husband’s Emergency Fund Hidden in the Shoe Cabinet—and Why His Wife Secretly Added 100,000 Won

[Financial News] A 500,000-won emergency fund belonging to the husband was discovered at the home of a dual-income couple who had been cutting back on living expenses to repay their loans. The wife said she did not take the money and instead added 100,000 won to the envelope.
The story recently became known through a post titled “I Found My Husband’s Emergency Fund” on the workplace community Remember.
The poster, identified only as A, said it was the first time she had found her husband’s emergency fund. She wrote, “This is the first time I’ve found it,” adding, “We’re both tightening our belts to repay our loans, but my husband had saved quite a lot.”
A discovered the emergency fund while cleaning the house. After her husband went out to exercise, she thoroughly cleaned the shoe cabinet, which she normally only dusted, and found an envelope attached to the upper part of the bottom compartment.
A said she was surprised by where the envelope had been hidden. “He hid it in a remarkably bold way,” she said. “It was sitting right in a place where my husband and I pass in and out every day. It was hidden in plain sight.”
Out of curiosity, A checked the envelope without her husband’s knowledge. It contained ten 50,000-won bills, totaling 500,000 won.
The amount was unexpected for A, who had always thought her husband spent generously. “Seeing that he had saved as much as 500,000 won made me feel strangely proud of him and sorry for him at the same time,” she admitted.
A did not take the emergency fund. Instead, she added 100,000 won to the envelope her husband had saved, bringing the total to 600,000 won.
A imagined her husband checking the envelope later. “I wonder how happy he’ll be when he finds it and sees that his emergency fund has grown to 600,000 won,” she said. “Since I knew it was his emergency fund, I didn’t really want to take it.”
She also found her husband’s emergency fund endearing. “I think it’s cute that he must have been diligently saving it on his own, secretly and with a bit of excitement,” A said.
A revealed that she also had a separate place where she kept her own emergency fund. “I have my own hiding place, too, but I’ve decided I need to hide it more carefully,” she said, adding, “Please give me some tips on where everyone else hides theirs.”

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter