EPISODE 17: “You can send Aji-3 away now”
Outfitted in her wig and crazy glasses, Jia takes refuge in a bathroom stall to mentally prepare for the final round. Two employees walk in and discuss how Min-kyu approved the competition to help Ri-el and the conversation turns to their engagement.
The women debate who’s the better man, Min-kyu or Yoo-chul, and when one of them calls Min-kyu a psycho, Jia storms out of her stall to wash her hands and splashes water on the naysayer. When the women leave, Jia loyally announces, “Kim Min-kyu’s the best in every way.”
Jia runs into Jin-bae in the lobby but he doesn’t recognize her, although her suitcase looks familiar. He guesses that she’s a finalist and kindly directs her to the auditorium.
As the competition gets underway, Jia scans the booths onstage and we see in flashback that Min-kyu read the letter that she poured her heart into. Jia’s voice reads, “When you touch my heart ball, you’ll think of someone you want to share your feelings with.” Min-kyu stared at Jia’s heart-display of books as her letter closed with a wish, “I hope that your one and only will appear in your life.”
Min-kyu calls Jin-bae to inform him that he’s on his way to KM to attend the competition while Baek-gyun races there as well, worried that Min-kyu and Jia might meet.
Ri-el introduces Yoo-chul, who sees Min-kyu in the balcony when he reaches the podium. Chairman Hwang is also in the balcony, but he leaves once Min-kyu sends him a withering glare. Jin-bae joins Min-kyu and when he sees the heart balls onstage, he realizes that the woman in the crazy disguise was his sister.
At the coffee house, Ssan-ip and Hok-tal watch Sun-hye read Jia’s fortune, which predicts that luck won’t be on her side. That turns out to be true, since there’s zero interest in her heart balls.
When Jia hears the negative comments of the crowd, she drops onto a chair, dejected. From the balcony, Jin-bae wills his sister to fight, “You always yell so loudly whenever you fight with me. Why are you sitting down? You have strong legs.”
Baek-gyun enters the auditorium to look for Jia but is stopped by Jin-bae. Out in the lobby, Jin-bae assures Baek-gyun that Min-kyu didn’t recognize her because, “She disguised herself like a crazy woman.” Curious, Jin-bae asks Baek-gyun, “Are you dating my sister again?” He admits that he wants to and came to tell her how he feels.
Jin-bae breaks the news that Jia’s heart lamps aren’t doing well, while back at the coffee house, Sun-hye continues to read Jia’s fortune. She smiles and explains to Ssan-ip and Hok-tal, “…Jia has something stronger than luck…She has something she got from her father. An inheritance that no one can ever take away from her.”
Min-kyu is disappointed that the creator of the heart lamps lacks the passion that he sensed in her letter. Jia suddenly hears her father’s voice and lifts her head. She imagines him in front of her and with a smile, he offers the encouragement that she needs, “I’m sure our Jia will do something that’ll help other people…I believe in you.”
Jia stands up and promotes her heart balls with a renewed zeal. They appeal to some parents who want to stay connected to their children, no matter where they are, and Min-kyu leans forward as Jia’s heart balls gather interest.
Jin-bae and Baek-gyun can’t hide how happy they are to see her booth flooded with people. Baek-gyun admits that, in her own way, Jia is a greater genius than he is and he urges Jin-bae not to look down on her. Baek-gyun never saw that side of her four years ago, and expects that Jin-bae underestimates her as well since Jia often commented on how similar they are.
Yoo-chul visits a booth with Ri-el and notes that one of the dogs shares a name with her childhood pet. She can’t believe that he remembers, but he reminds her that she missed school when it died. We then see young Yoo-chul console young Ri-el as she prepared to bury an urn in the woods. Ri-el is moved, but she’s called away and leaves Yoo-chul alone to visit Jia’s booth.
Yoo-chul offers Jia encouragement just as Min-kyu approaches with a question about the heart ball, “What if that person becomes the one who caused me the most pain? I’ll think of that pain whenever I look at this.” He glances at Yoo-chul as he continues, ‘What do I do then? Should I just throw it away? Or, should I break it into pieces?”
Jia recalls when Min-kyu identified his archenemies and recognizes Yoo-chul. She surprises Min-kyu when she answers, “Hey, why would you stay friends with a jerk who gives you a hard time? You can always make new friends.” Jia credits her father with those words, spoken when she was hurt by someone, and adds, “He said we need to learn how to say goodbye to old friends and meet new ones and flow through life like a river.”
Yoo-chul walks away as Min-kyu laughs that he’d like to meet Jia’s father. When she volunteers that her father died when she was in high school and her mother when she was two, Min-kyu tells her, “You remind me a lot of someone I know.”
Min-kyu worries that the heart ball won’t have the desired effect on him, but Jia promises that it will definitely make him think of that special person. Buoyed by her confidence, he has Jia stand at a distance with one of the heart balls and touches the one next to him. When the ball lights up in her hands, Min-kyu sees Aji-3 in Jia’s place and walks away without a word.
Over coffee, Baek-gyun confesses to Jin-bae how dismissive he was of Jia when they dated and that he realized after they broke up that he didn’t really know her. Baek-gyun believes that’s why he modeled Aji-3 after her, because he wanted to understand Jia. Baek-gyun hopes for another chance with her and asks for Jin-bae’s help, but he leaves that up to Jia.
Jin-bae warns Baek-gyun that he must protect the team from any misunderstanding with Min-kyu. Chairman Hwang and Yoo-chul want to sell the Santa Maria team to Bold Group and Min-kyu is the only one standing in their way.
Min-kyu pulls into a gas station and opens his trunk where credit cards and cash are at the ready. When the attendant returns his card, he brushes against Min-kyu’s fingers but he’s too distracted to notice and drives away.
After the finalists bid farewell to each other, Jia tells herself, “It’s really over now. With him, too.” One of the dogs gets loose, which causes panic for another finalist with an allergy to dogs.
The man’s reaction reminds Jia of Min-kyu the day that she delivered his action figure. She recalls his confession that he was allergic to human contact and realizes that he suffered his life-threatening reaction after Ri-el touched his hand.
Jia then remembers their outing on the promenade and wonders how that was possible. She thinks of Dr. Oh’s explanation that a similar patient improved when he found someone that he could trust and suddenly Min-kyu’s words, “I can’t live without you,” and “You’re my most precious treasure,” take on new meaning.
Min-kyu pulls over when he realizes that he touched the attendant’s hand and checks himself for a rash, but he finds nothing, and his monitor shows that he’s normal, even though he’s alone.
Dr. Oh runs into the lobby of the hospital, stunned to see Min-kyu touch an elderly patient who bumped into him. Min-kyu hugs his speechless doctor and tells him, “Thank you for your hard work for the last fifteen years.”
Min-kyu sits outside as Dr. Oh tries to make sense of his sudden cure. He asks if something made him happy and Min-kyu thinks of Aji-3 with the heart ball and admits, “I did call out to someone with my heart.” Of course, Dr. Oh assumes that Min-kyu means Ri-el and gushes that thanks to Aji-3, he can marry his first love.
Dr. Oh tells Min-kyu that he can send Aji-3 away now, but he wants to keep her. Dr. Oh gently explains that Min-kyu became attached to Aji-3 because she was his first friend in fifteen years, but that he’ll experience more happiness from an attachment to a human. When Min-kyu protests that Aji-3 made him happy, Dr. Oh calls it an illusion.
Dr. Oh describes love that can be reciprocated and the beauty of growing old with the person you love. Now that Min-kyu has improved so much, Dr. Oh wants him to experience the touch of someone that he loves. Dr. Oh points out that since Aji-3 opened a door for him, it’s time for Min-kyu to re-enter the world and meet the people in it.
Jia arrives at the hospital just as Min-kyu exits an elevator and walks right past her. While Jia waits to see a doctor, she gets a call from Baek-gyun, who asks to meet because he has something to tell her.
Min-kyu sits in his car and thinks about Dr. Oh’s invitation to rejoin the world, but he doesn’t look at all happy. He calls Baek-gyun and implores, “Help me.”
Jia meets with Dr. Oh to ask for more information on human contact allergy and reminds him that he mentioned the condition could improve if the patient formed a trusting relationship. He shows her an interview with the patient from the U.S. and explains that when his nurse became his girlfriend, his condition improved.
As Jia watches the interview, she remembers when Min-kyu almost died and whispers, “He must have been really scared for a long time.” She recalls his explanation that he spent fifteen years on the house of cards and understands, “He must have been so lonely.” She thinks back to when Min-kyu rested his head on her shoulder and her eyes fill with tears as she realizes, “He must have missed people so much.”
Jia wonders if the cure has to be human, could it be a human-looking doll or — a robot? Dr. Oh surprises Jia when he asks if she knows Baek-gyun.
Baek-gyun joins Min-kyu in a hotel bar and they laugh when they’re able to shake hands. Their mood is celebratory as both men both drink to Min-kyu’s recovery.
The team is happy to see Jia when she returns to the barn, until Dr. Oh walks in and sees Aji-3. Alarmed, Pi demands to know his identity, but Dr. Oh ignores her as he looks back and forth between Aji-3 and Jia.
Pi turns to Jia, who wants to know, “Did you know about it, too? Did you all know?” Angry, Dr. Oh bellows, “I told you to send a robot, not a human being…You could have killed someone!”
Baek-gyun doesn’t hear the call from Pi as he urges Min-kyu to tell him what’s on his mind. Min-kyu recalls how he was instructed to share his feelings while he trained Aji-3 and Baek-gyun completes his sentence, “So you fully recovered,” but Min-kyu corrects him, “I fell in love.” A tormented Min-kyu makes it clear to Baek-gyun, “I love Aji-3.”
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