01x14 - Episode 14

[bunniefuu]

WHEN THE STARS GOSSIP

"We're here to honor the innocent souls."

"All lives,
though different in nature, are equal."

"While your lives were precious,
you faced noble deaths."

"Do not resent the heavens or humanity,

for your sacrifice A*DS mankind
and protects your own kind."

"We pray for your gentle spirits
and wish you peace,

hoping you'll find
a brighter world and eternal life."

We mourn the invaluable sacrifice
of animals in experiments…

MEMORIAL FOR LAB ANIMALS

…creatures who shared
emotions and senses like our own.

We bow our heads in respect
and pray for their eternal rest.

Why did the babies die all of a sudden?

They were probably unstable
from the moment of conception.

They were barely hanging on.

It's all because of zero gravity?

If it's this hard for a mouse
to be born in space,

is it even possible
for a human to be born?

I'm so sorry.

Did the surgery go well?

-Yeah.
-Good.

They have a strong maternal instinct.
Will she be okay?

It wasn't your fault, okay?

Take tomorrow off. You look exhausted.

Get some rest, okay?

Come on, she's doing fine. Go home.

But…

Just go.

Come on.

Cheer up, okay?

You know I'm your secret admirer, right?

Well, you make me feel
pretty lonely these days,

but I've always been on your side,

and I always will be,
although it hurts my pride a little.

So keep your head up, okay?

What's wrong? Why do you look so tired?

Were you up all night?

No, that's not it.

Take a look at this.

The door is locked.

Hello?

You're still up?

I can't sleep.

It feels like
the night before I went to space.

Doesn't it feel like just yesterday
that we were getting ready?

To be honest,
I was really nervous earlier.

The marriage registration form.
I thought you might slap me again.

I'm just happy you didn't.

Oh, right. I have one more gift for you.

But then again, I'm not sure
if you'll be happy or want to slap me.

I think you might be happy.

It's hard to tell.

What could it be?

Good night.

I'm leaving in three days.

I know.

Good night.

Good night.

MARRIAGE REGISTRATION FORM

IOU, everything is frozen solid.

It's a mess up here.

Make sure you search
every corner of the ILS.

If you see anything
out of the ordinary, bag it.

Copy that.

ILS 21:50, SEOUL 06:50

Chief, the IOU sent over
the footage from the robot arm first.

Is the investigation over?

Yes, the team has left the station
with what they collected.

They'll be arriving around 2 p.m., KST.

It looks like the crew

brought back all the experiment subjects,

but they left behind
a lot of their stuff in the chaos.

We got the exterior footage

of the hole in the storage module
and the areas that need repair.

Dong-a is set for a spacewalk.
Should we show it to him?

Yeah, he'll be the one to repair them.

Should I call the commander too?

No, not Eve. Let her rest today.

By the way, look at that hole.

If it had been any bigger,
the whole station would've blown up.

Yeah.

FLAVORS OF THE MOUNTAIN, SEA, AND SKY

Look at that. When did she bring her food?

She didn't even say
she was going to see her.

And she gave her so much too.
Why would she do that for her?

Geez.

You didn't have to come all the way here

just to return this lunch box.
It's nothing special.

Thank you for the food.

I hope you liked it.

You really didn't have to bring this back.

I'd love to have your cooking again.

Again?

Yeah, again.

Why?

It was delicious.

I felt bad

after our conversation that day,

thinking I might've hit a nerve
just to ease my own mind.

As for the food,
I'd be happy to cook for you.

About that Christmas Eve,

you should just forget about it.

It's okay if you do.

Do you really think so?

Yeah.

I hope you stay healthy.

Take care then, Captain.

Will do.

-Oh, all right.
-Bye.

Bye.

2024, SPRING

NATIONAL CENTER
FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

It'll be hard since it's been so long,

but I'll try to find her.

Thanks, I'll wait.

This is your first time
back in Korea in 37 years.

If I may ask,

why do you want to find your birth mother?

Well…

I just want to know why she abandoned me.

I wonder

if she's had a good life since then.

If she has,

I want to forgive her.

It's okay to look for her, right?

You and I were the same height
and weight before the experiment.

But after living in space,
you grew 5 cm taller.

Your crow's feet smoothed out,

and your telomeres,

which are associated with aging,
grew longer in space.

That's why you looked
so much younger than me.

But my muscle mass, body weight,
and bone density have decreased a lot.

With no gravity,
there's nothing to resist against.

I guess bones and muscles
are the biggest concerns in space.

Space radiation
has also increased your risk of cancer.

The increased blood flow to your eyes

has thickened the retinas,
which could lead to vision impairment.

Your thickened carotid arteries raised
the risk of heart disease and stroke.

During your time in space,


showed completely different
activity patterns,

but this requires further follow-up.

Your immune responses to DNA damage
were different from mine.

This is just
a year-long comparison with me.

There's no need to worry.

You won't be staying up there
for years and years.

There are still no applicants?

No.

Are you going to continue
the twin experiment?

For me, I'll just be
doing my job in space as usual,

but it's got to be rough on you.

You can't eat what you want
or drink alcohol.

Your life will be restricted like mine.

Yeah, exactly!

Look, down here on Earth,
it's not easy living like you.

Don't you think
I'm turning a little hysterical?

I used to be a sweet girl.

It's your call.

I'll follow your decision.

Hey, did you get

a boyfriend or something?

-Is that the issue?
-No.

Dona, listen. Actually--

Hey.

You're not into dating,

and absolutely no guy is
interested in you either.

But that's not the case with me.

When I go clubbing,

there's always a boatload of guys
trying to hit on me.

You know how popular I am, right?

If it weren't for the promotion, I'd just…

See? If you guys hadn't let
Dr. Kang take the lottery ticket,

I wouldn't be having
this problem right now!

Lee Seung-jun, that damn idiot!

What happened to your sister?
Where's she at?

Leave her out of this.

Hi.

Dr. Kang.

Oh, wait…

We're coming in!

Dr. Kang.

What are you trying to pull?

They tossed it in the storage room.

No one can wear it anyway.

Chief Kang is just trying to punish you.

For what it's worth,

we want you to know that

we really appreciate
your effort and sacrifice,

your research, your generosity.

I mean, you even bought that robot arm

without any hesitation.

So, this is for you.

It's the least we can do.

You stole it?

Are you into stealing now?

We've already done it once,
so what's one more time?

So what if we get caught?

Well, we probably will.

You caught us too.

Whatever.

Isn't this the least we can do
for our teammate?

That's right.

Look.

You can hate us all you want to.

We won't hold it against you
even if you decide to.

You think you can wear me down with this

and make me share
the lottery winnings with you?

Not a chance.

-It's all mine.
-Of course.

We don't even want
to look at the ticket anymore.

09:20 P.M.
IOU MISSION CONTROL, HOUSTON, USA

But fortunately,
the hole was only 2 cm wide

at the base of the storage module,

so in total,
seven solar panels were damaged.

Share all the data
with the recovery team in Seoul.

Sir! Take a look at this.

I think this belongs
to the Korean tourist.

Come in.

What?

Is something wrong?

No, I just wanted
to get a checkup from you, Doctor.

It was a long wait without an appointment.

She's your last patient.

Really?

All right, I'll handle it then.

Let's go have lunch.

Let's have tteokbokki.

Come on. I had that yesterday.

I just wanted to see you at work.

Well, there's nothing to see.
Do you want to have lunch together?

-Let's have dinner later.
-No, I can't.

-You have surgery?
-Yeah.

Ready to go?

You spend your whole day
dealing with women in here, huh?

That's right.

By the way, Doctor.
How many babies have you delivered so far?

I'd say over a thousand, ma'am.

A thousand?

Hey, I'm curious.

What do ob-gyns do
when it's their own baby?

Do it themselves?

Some doctors do,

while others have
someone else deliver the baby

because the stress is too much.

What about you? What would you do?

-Me?
-Yeah.

If it were my baby…

I couldn't even be in the room.

God, no. I'd be too nervous.

There's no way I'd deliver my own baby.

Really?

Why do you ask?

No reason.

I was just curious
what ob-gyns do when it's their own baby.

I bet most of them are like me.

I see.

So?

Where's the gift?

The gift.
Aren't you going to give it to me?

You said it was here, right?

Did you come here for that?

I wanted to make sure I got it.

My gosh.

Where is it?

Geez.

I think I might get slapped again.

Come on, I slapped you before

because you totally
deserved it, Mr. Tourist.

I don't know. Maybe you'll like it.

You're k*lling me. What on earth is it?

I'm curious. What is it?

Huh?

Give me some more time to think.

Why are you tiptoeing around it?
What's the big deal?

There's a good reason for it.

Are you going to give it to me or not?

What's it going to be, huh?

Forget it. Just keep it for now.

You can give it to me
when I'm back next year.

You'd better, okay? Coward.

All right, I'll give it to you.

Hang on.

Here.

What's this?

"Obstetrics"?

Take this with you.

I know how tough and lonely it can get
being in space for a year.

I've been there myself.

Use this when you feel like giving up,

when you're scared, exhausted, or in pain,

or when your crew is giving you trouble
and not listening.

Open this in those moments.

An obstetrics book?
What am I supposed to do with it?

Smack them with it?

Well, you could. You're good at that.

It's way too heavy.

This is… No, it's too heavy.

Come on. Open it.

It must be more complicated
than mouse breeding.

Well, I…

I thought it'd be nice to share it…

with your crew when things get rough.

Look, even just one drop of this
was a huge help for me.

Yeah, this calls for a good slap.

Isn't it okay for five people
to share this one bottle

over the course of a year?

I got excited for nothing.

Forget it.

Fine.

I get it.
I guess this was a bad idea after all.

It was inappropriate.

I was clearly wrong. It was inappropriate.

Let's go eat now. I'm hungry.

Aren't you hungry? Let's go.

Well, this blows.

-Come on.
-At least buy me a nice lunch.

Sure.

Sure.

Let's go have something good.

We're having this
since we don't have time,

but I'll treat you

to the best food in Seoul
tomorrow and the day after, okay?

-Why did you bring that here?
-What?

That.

Oh, I'm going to put it in my car.

I don't want people to see it.

So you know it looks bad?

Of course I do.

By the way, did you do it?

Do what?

You know what.

You don't need to know.

You shouldn't know.

I'm not an idiot.

Just pretend like you don't know.

Like you don't know anything.

I did the ICSI behind your back

and brought the morula here in secret.

You've never even seen it.

Those are the facts.

Let's pretend
you've never even heard of it.

How did you do the ICSI by yourself?

It's impossible to do it alone
without a microscope.

Did Kang-su help you?

Did he help you do it?

No.

It was on the ninth day

that you told me
you had a morula in your pocket.

Since it takes three days
for a morula to develop,

that means you must've done it
on the sixth day or earlier.

There's only one night I'm suspicious of.

The night when Mina, Seung-jun, and Santi

were all in the airlock.

Was it that night?

Look, the three of them just--

Just what?

Don't blame them.

They helped you.

If I hadn't locked the microscope away,

you wouldn't have had to…

It's my fault. It's all on me.

I'm sorry.

So when is it?

When is it?

Tonight.

As the commander,
I'm not sure if I should let this happen.

Do you really want to do this?

I do.

Eve.

Just forget about it all.

Good luck, then.

I'll see you later.

Tonight.

Do you really want to do this?

I do.

Eve.

Just forget about it all.

Where are you? Come to my office now.

Chief.

It's from the IOU.

The truth is,

I came here to create embryos
using the MZ Group heir's sperm

and his wife's eggs.

This was around the time

he and Eve were left alone,
waiting for the rescue ship.

One space tourist is about to ruin
everything the KSA has accomplished.

It says Eve didn't know.

I'm sure she wasn't involved.

What if she saw this note?

What if she chose not to report this
to me or the IOU?

If she knew and still helped him
bring the embryo here,

she's an accomplice.

Hang on.
Are you sure he brought it down to Earth?

The incubator was empty.

They found nothing
in the observation module.

They suspect he brought it here.

If he implants
the illegally created embryo in Seoul,

the KSA
will have to take full responsibility.

We need to seize it
and punish him before that happens.

-I'll talk to Eve.
-No.

You go get the tourist. I'll handle Eve.

Now!

Where's Mr. Gong Ryong now?

We're getting GPS signals
from Mr. Gong Ryong's cell phone

at the MZ Medical Center.

But are we even allowed
to track his location like this?

-What if--
-I'll take care of it.

We don't have time.
Just get him here before this gets out.

Get the unauthorized embryo too.

It needs to be investigated,

so bring it back exactly as you found it.

Oh, man.

We'll take a family photo together
in nine months, okay?

My grandkid better have
two eyes, a nose, a mouth,

arms, legs, ears, nostrils,

ten fingers, and ten toes.

You'll make sure of that, right?

We'll take a happy family photo

with me holding my grandkid, okay?

I'll do my best, sir.

Keep the room secure
so Ryong won't be disturbed.

Yes, sir. Don't worry.

Shall we?

We've destroyed the portable freezer
and the satellite.

-You're coming?
-I know the hospital inside out.

PEDIATRICIAN NA MIN-JEONG

Dr. Na, are you ready?

Yes, Dr. Gong.

Please wait in the recovery room.

I'll call you when everything's ready.

Okay.

Just the tourist and the commander?

Check all the footage.
Look for anything suspicious.

EVE

-Hello?
-Eve.

I need you at the MCC right now.

What's going on?

I have some questions.

Yeah, all right.

Get the other astronauts in here too,
but don't say anything.

Okay.

-That car.
-What?

It's Mr. Gong's car.
I saw it the other day.

EVE

GONG RYONG

EVE

Hi.

The Korea Space Agency MCC, please.

How are things progressing?

Well, Dr. Gong went into
the operating room a little while ago.

Should I ask for an update?

Don't bother.

I'll go check on them myself.

All right.

Mr. Gong Ryong is in the restricted area
on the first floor, west wing.

What's over there?

The operating rooms for VIP patients.

So he's doing one of two things.

Delivering a VIP's baby…

Or implanting Na Min-jeong's morula.

Who are you people?

We're from the space agency.

You can't come in here!

Please leave.

Did you know Dr. Gong conducted
an ill*gal experiment

with your son's sperm
and his wife's eggs in space?

All of you. Get out of here now!

It's that room on the left over there!

-It's an operating room.
-Please cooperate.

What? Are you threatening me right now?

Space agency?
I don't give a damn! Get out!

They're about to implant it!
If they do, it's over!

-It won't even take five minutes!
-Hurry!

-We have to stop them!
-Get out!

Are you ready?

Ryong, they caught us!

-Get out of the way!
-Move!

Hey!

There's no time. Hurry!

Wait, you can't lock the door?

No, you can't lock an operating room.

What do we do?

Get the morula first!

No! Be careful, okay?

If you drop it, the morula will be lost.

It'll die if you tip it over!

Take it from him!

All right, I'm taking this with me!

Don't touch me.

Why are you doing this?
Please give it back.

Mr. Gong Ryong.

I CAME HERE TO CREATE EMBRYOS…

Have you seen this note?

Did you help keep it alive?

Did you help him?

That morula died.

This is the one I made
after coming back to Earth.

I did the IVF here on Earth,

so what's the issue?

Look.

That's my son and his wife's baby.

It's more precious to me than my own life!

My son died young,
and that's the last of his bloodline!

Everyone, get out of the way.

If you touch me, I'll take it
as an admission of your crime.

If you come any closer,

I'll drop this, and it's over.

Now, move!

Please step aside, Father.

Mr. Gong Ryong.

We're taking you in for violating
space experiment ethics regulations.

You can make your statement at the MCC.
Let's go.

Shall I get an incubator?

The chief wants it undamaged.

There's a portable incubator
in the next room.

Please.
Please put it in the incubator, okay?

Bring it to my car.

-What do we do, Dr. Gong?
-Min-jeong…

What do we do?

GONG RYONG

Is the morula okay?

This is yours, isn't it?

It's just like Santi's sperm,
which I've seen a million times.

I can tell.

You could never fertilize an egg
with this sperm on Earth.

All 16 blastomeres are perfectly intact.

This is why he went to space.

He made this on the space station.

Man, I can't believe this.

That b*stard's got some nerve.

What do we do, Chief?

What… What are we going to do now?

He managed to bring it down to Earth
without a scratch.

What happens now?

But listen,
I went through all the CCTV footage.

On the fifth day in the main module,

Eve took the ICSI microscope apart
and locked it in the rack.

The tourist argued with her
and tried really hard to stop her.

He clearly needed
the microscope up until then,

which means he still hadn't done the ICSI.

But after that,
no one took it out of the rack.

Yeah, she's right.

I saw that too.

Then how the hell did he do it?

Without the microscope,
there's no way he could've done it alone.

Hey, why didn't you report it?

Why did you leave it out of the report

and hide it when you knew everything?

I wanted to let him do it.

Are you insane?

I wanted it to survive.

Why? What's the reason?

Because you have feelings for him?

Is he here too?

So did you open the rack for him
without getting caught on CCTV or what?

He needed the microscope, right?

Did you give it to him?

The commander doesn't know.

The CCTV cuts out when the station
passes through the radio shadow zone.

That's when I did it.

In the middle of the night the next day,
when everyone was asleep,

I stole the keys from her pocket,

took out the pipette holders,

connected them to the microscope,
and did the ICSI.

Eve never saw the note, right?

Are you sure about that?

If she had,
the morula and I wouldn't be alive now.

She wouldn't have let it slide.

You all saw what happened
when Kang-su tried it.

She doesn't know anything.

Not what I did, how I brought it here,

or what I was planning to do.

She's…

She's just clueless.

If you showed her the note,

I'm going to k*ll you today.

You had the nerve to say you like her
after what you did?

The MZ Group chairman doesn't know either.

I wanted to marry his daughter,

so I did it in secret in space.

When I came back,
I told him I made it work here on Earth.

I wanted to marry into his family.

That's the reason.

That's why I did it all by myself
without telling anyone.

That's right.

The sperm
could only be straightened out in space.

I…

did fertilize it in zero gravity.

Please give it back.

I'm begging you.

Please give it back.

I wanted to give it a chance.

It would've been too cruel
to take that away from it too.

To you,

it's just 16 cells
created in an ill*gal experiment,

but to those
who see it as their last hope,

it's a living being.

It's a human life.

So I'm begging you.

Please. Please give it back.

Its mother is waiting.

Shut it!

Please give it back.

Look, if you just give it back,

I…

I'll accept any punishment
you decide to give me.

I'm begging you.

Please.

Please give it back to me.

This isn't just the tourist's mess now.
You're in it too.

I don't buy everything he says.

Do you even realize
what you've done to the KSA?

The IOU won't just come after you.
They'll grill the entire crew.

I even have doubts about the ones
Kang made, which are supposedly destroyed.

So spill everything you know.

I already got Santi, Mina,
and Seung-jun to come in.

Did the three of them help him?

No, right?

If they knew about this,

we're really done for!

You idiots!

Did the tourist
bribe them into helping him?

If all the members of Expedition 3
knew about it…

If they helped him…

I deserve to be fired
a hundred times over.

This is a huge disgrace
to the Korea Space Agency!

If it gets out that we have
a morula that was created in space,

the other member countries will go nuts.

They'll demand to do
all the banned experiments

they weren't allowed to,

and we'll be held responsible for it.

We'll lose our membership in the IOU,
which we fought so hard to secure.

All our ongoing projects
will be put to a stop,

and we'll lose the Maru,
which we've poured trillions of won into!

The Korea Space Agency will be torn apart!

We'll all be dismissed and banished.

We won't be able to do anything
related to space ever again!

Think about what the IOU wanted
to achieve with Santi's sperm.

We could explain that the sperm
of MZ Group's heir was also misshapen

and try to convince them
that it's a scientific achievement

for solving infertility, Chief.

You want to try to have
this ill*gal experiment

recognized as a scientific achievement?

You want to gamble the future
of the Korea Space Agency

on a morula that
may or may not become a life?

It could be
an opportunity for both, Chief.

The tourist

performed the ICSI,

smuggled the embryo into Earth,

and attempted to implant it.

He could face penalties in
the hundreds of billions for that alone.

Add the bribery of the astronauts,
including the commander,

and the charges become more serious.

He'll lose his medical license
and face criminal charges.

He'll end up in prison!

Do you still want to hand over
the embryo to the MZ Medical Center?

Fine.

If you really can't give it up,
go ahead and gamble.

Your colleagues, your beloved tourist,
and the KSA.

If you decide to risk it all
as the commander,

I'll do as you say.

What's it going to be?

What should I tell the IOU?

Tell me.

Say something!

When Dr. Kang did the same thing,

Santi was deeply hurt.

Mina and Seung-jun too.

The three of them were
way more upset than I was.

There's no way they helped the tourist.

As the commander, I'll handle this.

How?

Just give me five minutes.

Five minutes with Mr. Gong.

Commander.

Commander.

You'll give it back, right?

You haven't changed your mind, right?

We felt the same way about it.

You…

haven't changed your mind, right?

The truth is,

I came here to create embryos
using the MZ Group heir's sperm

and his wife's eggs.

You're just a tourist.

I'm the commander who needs to protect
the space station and the space agency.

I managed to fertilize an egg.

In my pocket outside

is an embryo with 16 cells.

A living being.

As per space experiment
ethics regulations,

I'm discarding it.

Don't forgive me.

No.

Eve!

Don't do it.

Don't do it, Eve!

I hope it's born healthy.

Don't do it, please!

Eve.

Don't give up.

Don't do it.

Don't do it!

Don't.

Don't do it.

WHEN THE STARS GOSSIP

I'm sorry.

You're sorry?

The other members
don't know anything, Chief.

You're going to pin
all the blame on Mr. Gong?

So it's just Ryong who's screwed.

Go-eun.

Don't do anything for me.

I don't deserve anything from you.

The defendant, Gong Ryong,

is sentenced to two years in prison.

They already cut you loose.

It's over.

STRANDED ASTRONAUTS RETURN…

Please dismiss me

and let me take full responsibility.