Nine: Episode 6
While Sun-woo and Min-young are eating,
young Dr. Boyfriend shows up with a fruit basket. He is so cheerful
and cute I can't hate him. He just isn't Sun-woo, and he makes
Sun-woo jealous. Ah well, I guess we have to have a love triangle. Sun-woo
sends them out to dinner and when Min-young returns we get the famous
conversation where she gives him the innocent kitten look and he
admits that he had a girlfriend but she has amnesia and can't
remember him. She objects and he says it's in dramas all the time and
is the most common disease in the world. Hahaha.
December 30, 2012. Dr. and Mrs. Han sit
outside and argue about whether he is acting weird or not. (He is.)
He asks about the girlfriend Sun-woo had as a teenager. She says that
girl has been married three times and the second divorce was because
of alcoholism. She doesn't say who was doing the drinking, but maybe
Old Girlfriend was not such a bargain.
December 30, 1992. Teen Sun-woo plans a
train trip with said Old Girlfriend. He drags Dr. Han along and she
talks her friend, the future Mrs. Han into coming, even though she
thinks Dr. Han is smart but dull. Teen Dr. Han queries Sun-woo about
the mysterious Christmas card, but he can't explain it. He can't
explain his mother thinking he gave her a necklace either. She had
asked him about his injured friend (which was his excuse for standing
her up to see a movie with Old Girlfriend) and thanked him for the
necklace. It was adult Sun-woo who had done those things.
Dec 30. 2012. The family visits Mom at the care
center and she still wears that necklace. Sun-woo feels strange
because it's his first time to see his brother alive again. When
hyung pulls up a sleeve to wipe a spill he exposes needle marks. He
claims they are vitamin shots but Sun-woo is suspicious, especially
when he finds a drug bottle in the car. They visit Dad at the charnel
house and we see the urn labeled with the death date, December 30,
1992. Sun-woo gets his sister-in-law to admit that hyung has a drug
problem; she tells him that he's bipolar and has insomnia. She also
tells him that Dad had not liked her and told her to break up.
Still December 30, 2012. Dr. Choi holds
a press conference to refute the allegations against his research
facility. Then he calls Sun-woo and out of nowhere says that he is
not the person who killed his father; it was someone else. He admits
he had misused funds and forged documents and was suspected of the
murder, but was found innocent. Sun-woo floors Choi by saying his
father died at 11pm on that day twenty years ago, and there are two
hours to go. He will find out for himself and call Choi back. He
borrows some camcorders from the studio.
10:00 pm, December 30, 1992. Dr. Choi
argues with some investors over the phone and then with Dad to try to
get him to invest in his research. Dad is as harsh with Choi as with his son.
10:10 pm, December 30, 2012. Dr. Han
going over paperwork recalls Sun-woo saying he couldn't resist time
travel. We see Sun-woo throwing up and then calling Dr. Han. “You
told me I had three months,” he says, “but it's gotten a lot
worse over the last week.” He feels like the incense shortens his
life. 10:20 pm. Dr. Han pacing his office recalls Sun-woo telling him
that Hyung is addicted to Propofol and is still unhappy because their
father died. He wants to go save their father. Young Dr. Boyfriend
walks in with something for him to sign and scares him half to death.
He asks Y. Dr. B. who his girlfriend is and when he affirms,
“Min-young,” Dr. Han says, “It hasn't changed yet.” Hahaha.
Poor guy.
10:40 pm. Secret agent Park Sun-woo, in
his black trench coat with the collar turned up, interfaces the
mini-cams with his laptop and packs them up. He sets the timer on his
watch for thirty minutes and lights the incense. Then he hears the
doorbell. It's Min-young. She sees the light on in his room and lets
herself in, but his door is locked. [ninth time travel: 46:25] He's still in his room, but he's
shifted twenty years back. He turns on the light and looks
calculatingly at his younger self sleeping peacefully. Not for long.
He taps him gently on the cheek. Young Self wakes with a start and
tries to shout. Old Self sits down on the bed beside him and claps
his hand on his mouth. He says, “It's been a long time,” and
lowers his hand as he registers a friendly look and decides not to
yell. You getting all these pronouns? “Nice to meet you,” he says
with a smile, “my name is Park Sun-woo.”
Running count – time travels: 9;
remaining incense sticks: 4; Timeline: Past4, Present2
