Summary
Episode 9 is an emotionally driven chapter, providing context to “the end of the world” and forcing the characters to yet again save each other.
This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Sisyphus: The Myth episode 9 contains significant spoilers.
After the frantic events of the last episode, Gang Seo-hae wakes up, and Tae-sul is next to her bedside. She wants an update on recent events, but Tae-sul tells her that they should have a relaxed day — it’s Gang Seo-hae’s birthday, so he takes her to the amusement park that she’s spoken often about. As soon as he arrives, he’s reminded of Tae-san, who worked there as a boy as one of the mascots.
The pair enjoy the amusement park together, taking part in the rides, and having fun for the first time since the k-drama series began. It’s good to see the characters relaxed for once, even though it’s not for long. Tae-sul is full of surprises for Gang Seo-hae, revealing he’s booked a villa in Hawaii on November 1st to celebrate the world not ending. Both of these characters keep having fleeting moments despite barely having any moments together to think.
Gang Seo-hae gets a blast from the past
Both the past and the future clash in episode 9.
When Tae-sul walks away to get ice cream, Gang Seo-hae sees her mother and her younger self at the amusement park, and she has to stay out of sight. Her mother drops money and asks Gang Seo-hae to help pick it up for her. She recognises the necklace that Gang Seo-hae is wearing. Meanwhile, while Tae-sul queues, the young girl version of Gang Seo-hae is right behind her, and he senses that it’s his companion.
The events escalate quickly
Sisyphus: The Myth episode 9 brings that dreaded feeling that both these characters will never have a normal day as the chapter kicks into action.
The day out at the amusement park is short-lived as Sigma gives Tae-sul a call and the Control Bureau arrive. Sigma asks Tae-sul to meet him face to face and reveals he reported Gang Seo-hae to the Control Bureau. Sigma gives him a choice — save the world or save the girl. As usual, Gang Seo-hae fights herself away from the Control Bureau, fighting them off one by one, but then she hears her mother scream for her younger self, which distracts her; Hyeong-gi shoots her at the waist, and she falls; in pain, she shouts for her mother. Before Tae-sul can get there in time, she is gone. The mother finds the child version of Gang Seo-hae.
The day the world changed, forever
The series gives context to what happened to Gang Seo-hae during the “end of the world” — these flashbacks and future scenes are as exciting as the present-day storyline.
Episode 9 then shows the day that the world ended in October 2020; young Gang Seo-hae is in the car with her parents, and missiles rip the city apart. Gang Seo-hae’s father asks his daughter and wife to hold on as he navigates through the traffic, with vehicles flipping over and various explosions. Suddenly, a missile hits the tunnel ahead of them, and their car flips over. Gang Seo-hae is alive, and her mother tries comforting her as there is mass panic and grieving families. The father joins them, and it’s all about survival for the family as they worry about the incoming nuclear bomb; both parents seem acutely aware of what was coming.
The nuclear bunker
As the father explores, a traumatised man believes that Gang Seo-hae is his daughter and attacks the mother. The father fights the man and has no choice but to kill him. However, Gang Seo-hae’s mother is heavily wounded. The family head to a nuclear bunker. However, with three minutes left, the door will not shut via the system. As the father runs off to find a solution, Gang Seo-hae’s mother strokes her hair and says she has to step outside to close the door and that she will not be able to come back in. Emotions are high as the mother explains how the world will not be the same but insists she does not give up.
The sacrifice
Episode 9 is emotionally stressful at this point; a family split apart by nuclear war in the most painful way imaginable.
Gang Seo-hae’s mother walks outside, but the father tries to stop her. She explains how she will not make it far and asks him to think of their daughter. She talks about how happy she is that they both have each other, and then she pushes the door with everything she has got while Gang Seo-hae screams and cries with her father. The nuclear bomb arrives, decimating the city, but Gang Seo-hae and her father are safe. Her mother is dead.
Hwang Hyun-seung has questions for Gang Seo-hae
In the present day, Gang Seo-hae is imprisoned by the Control Bureau. Hyeong-gi is getting increasingly agitated that he is not allowed to see her. Hwang Hyun-seung speaks to her. He injects her with a chemical that breaks down her genetics; he explains a science essentially calling her a download; two more injections and she’ll become a ghost and that it will be excruciating. Hwang Hyun-seung asks a range of questions, and when she doesn’t answer one of them, he injects her again.
Finding Gang Seo-hae
Choi Jae-sun wants to find Gang Seo-hae immediately, but Tae-sul is thinking more deeply about where she will be. He retraces his steps on a digital map from when the Control Bureau captured him. He learns that the location is a hospital.
The character proves that even when high-emotions are involved, he can think rationally.
Infiltrating the hospital
Tae-sul meets Edward Kim, who is now the CEO of Quantum & Time. Edward Kim is irked as to why Tae-sul wants to go to that hospital. He tells him to leave and not come back. After he leaves, Tae-sul goes through the hospital digital blueprints with Choi Jae-sun. Tae-sul sends Choi Jae-sun to the hospital pretending to be the CEO; he gets a tour from the director while Tae-sul gives him instructions.
Choi Jae-sun takes himself away from the tour and inserts a device to bring down the servers so that Tae-sul can control the security from outside. To get access to a certain level, Choi Jae-sun has to do an iris scan; Tae-sul prepared for this by creating special contact lenses beforehand. Choi Jae-sun successfully makes it inside the Control Bureau.
The ending
Hyeong-gi manages to get inside Gang Seo-hae’s room and points a gun at her. She tells him that she didn’t kill his mother and that she has done nothing wrong. Hyeong-gi grabs an injection, knowing one more shot will make her disappear. He stabs it into her forcefully. She starts flickering, but she doesn’t dissipate, so Hyeong-gi points a gun at her. Gang Seo-hae tells Hyeong-gi that it’s no longer about whether she killed her mother any more and that his regret is driving him crazy.
With the help of Choi Jae-sun, Tae-sul breaches the security systems, and the sprinklers turn on. Hyeong-gi tries shooting Gang Seo-hae, but he’s run out of bullets. As water sprinkles over them both, Gang Seo-hae smiles and says, “he’s here”.
Sisyphus: The Myth episode 9 is an emotionally driven chapter, providing context to “the end of the world” and forcing the characters to yet again save each other. This k-drama series continues to surprise and is showing no signs of slowing down.
