Episode 1.

Children also feel pain from loss. We have to give them a chance to express that. – Song Ye Eun

Leaving quickly and coming back quickly, you're just like a migratory bird. – Pyo Eun Cheol

This is a notebook filled with my favorite things. If I write down the things that I like this way, I won't forget them and I can take it out to read them when I need to. – Kim Hye Na

A dirty child will be bullied, because it's a sign that there's nobody taking care of them. – Kang Soo Jin

What do you need to do when nobody is looking after you? You have to take care of yourself. – Kang Soo Jin

Do you enjoy seeing other people's scars, too? – Kim Hye Na

Being a teacher means having to take on responsibilities that may be difficult or troublesome. – Song Ye Eun

Migratory birds fly across oceans on journeys that are sometimes tens of thousands of kilometres long. And yet, they never lose their way. Rain or snow, day or night, they fly over chilly oceans without any maps or landmarks to follow as reference but they always reach their destination no matter what. It's because they have directions and maps all in their heads. – Kang Soo Jin

It was the first time that I'd ever seen him, but he had a look in his eyes that I am familiar with—the look of a beast who breaks women and children. – Kang Soo Jin

Heaven doesn't exist. – Kim Hye Na

Take me with you, far away... to Heaven. – Kim Hye Na

I will take you away, to a place several thousand kilometers away, where nobody will find you. – Kang Soo Jin

Hye Na: Why is it that a child can't live without a mother?

Soo Jin: They can. And I'll help you so that you can.

Hye Na: My mom threw me away in the trash bin!

Soo Jin: Now, you will be the one throwing your mom away. Will you be able to do it?

Episode 2.

This will be a long and dangerous road. This can end up causing you even more pain. But I always wondered how birds could fly and how it felt for them to fly such long distances. And I wondered if I could fly away too, one day. – Kang Soo Jin

Look at the girls here. Each one of them has a story, so we can recognize someone who's in need right away. Helping each other out isn't an extraordinary thing, really. If not, we wouldn't have been able to survive.

I didn't live a sheltered life, and she is my daughter. We'll get farther than you could ever imagine. – Kang Soo Jin

If something goes wrong and you learn some things that you don't need to know, it makes things difficult for everyone involved. Living your life in this way will prove to be really difficult.

We'll take things slowly and move forward. I'll find a way, no matter what. – Kang Soo Jin

Baby Rabbit: Mom, I'm going to run away.

Mother Rabbit: If you run away, I will come after you, because you are my child.

Episode 3.

I don't want to become a mother. No matter what, I'll never be a mother. – Nam/Kang Soo Jin

Will I be able to protect this child? Will I be able to become this child's mother? I don't have a mother, so how can I be a mother? – Kang Soo Jin

Miss Clara is an important person to me. She was by my side during the toughest times of my life and she's still the first person I think of during tough times. But the most important thing to me is escaping safely, with you. And that's what she wants me to do, too, for me to watch over you well with all my strength. She raised me to do that. – Kang Soo Jin

Yoon Bok, you are my last child. So please, take good care of your mother. Your mother was the most fearful among my children. She'd always quake in fear because she couldn't trust anyone. But you're with her, so I feel relieved. – Miss Clara

Soo Jin, thank you for being a mother. I was so happy to have been able to hold your child. – Miss Clara

Episode 4.

We're on the run right now. We can't get close to people. – Kang Soo Jin

Young Shin: No man will overstep his bounds toward a woman who is dressed in a refined way. So even in your weakest moments, your dress will protect you.

Soo Jin: I'd like it if I could be the one to protect myself at any time, instead.

Just like you, I wanted to study birds in college and travel all over the world, but I didn't have the courage—the courage to disappoint my parents. – Jung Jin Hong

Episode 5.

I've lived like a queen all these years. I've never lost my dignity as an actress before. Do you know what my secret to that is? It's because I'm always putting up an act. The role I've been assigned is the queen, an ice queen. So I never let myself reveal my true emotions. Whenever I ask a favour from someone, I do it in a demanding way. No matter how nice people are to me, I act as if it's only natural that they treat me that way. If someone wrongs me in any way, I pay them back tenfold or more, without remorse. I never cried in front of anyone without a camera there to shoot me, either, except for one. I've only every cried in front of you. – Cha Young Shin

Being a mother means that you can't leave behind your children to just go and die. – Cha Young Shin

You can stop acting now. Even queens are allowed to be themselves, a little. When it gets too much for them, they can retire. If you're in pain, complain about it a bit. – Kang Soo Jin

You won't be held down by me anymore, and you have no obligations toward me anymore, either. So go and fly free to wherever you wish. – Cha Young Shin

I've lived my entire life without thinking about my birth mother. I've never waited for her and I've never once thought that I wanted to meet her. I've never once thought that I wanted to show her what kind of person I am or how I ended up living my life. – Kang Soo Jin

Episode 6.

When it comes to this, I'm the dangerous person. Nobody did this to me. I did it to myself. – Kang Soo Jin

All children have a mother who gave birth to them, but not all mother can raise kids. – Kang Soo Jin

The one thing that I really don't understand, something that baffles me so much that I wake up in the middle of the night over it, is what kind of mother could have abandoned a child like her? – Cha Young Shin

You'll meander around then end up seeing her again. You'll meet with her and talk to her. You'll meet with her and cry. That's how people tend to be. That's the only way to be able to get any closure. – Jung Jin Hong

My mom is the most precious person to me in this world and I'm more thankful for her than anything else in the world. – Kim Hye Na/Kim Yoon Bok

To be honest, I did wait for you for quite a long time. But I worked so hard for much longer than I waited to get my head on straight and to stop waiting for you. I told myself that nobody was coming to get me and that the woman who abandoned me wouldn't be coming back. I persuaded myself, consoled myself, cried, got angry, and yelled at myself while my childhood passed before my eyes and my youth passed me by. – Kang Soo Jin

If you abandoned me like that, the least you could be doing is living a good life. – Kang Soo Jin

Why did you do it? Did you hate me? Was your life difficult because of me? Was it that you were only able to live your life without me around? – Kang Soo Jin

I don't remember, so I keep thinking about it like a crazy person, over and over. – Kang Soo Jin

I want to go where nobody know us. – Kang Soo Jin

I abandoned that woman every day in my heart. – Kang Soo Jin

It's most important to keep her will to survive. – Kang Hyun Jin

I'm going to give everything to this child until the child forgets about all of her old scars completely. – Cha Young Shin

If you become a bird and fly far away, I will become a tree and wait for you here.

Are you the woman who abandoned my daughter? – Cha Young Shin

Episode 7.

Our society is getting tougher to survive in. The stress that society is experiencing is trickling down to everyone and is affecting those at the very bottom—young, weak kids.

There are certain boundaries to be maintained, even among family members. – Cha Young Shin

I wanted to go somewhere far away, but I had nowhere to go. So I read a lot of books, because I could immediately be whisked away elsewhere by opening one. – Kang Soo Jin

I hate her. To be honest, I don't think I can forgive her... but I wanted to see her for quite a long time, and I still do. – Kang Soo Jin

If I raised you, you're my real daughter. – Cha Young Shin

She wants me to be your strength. – Jung Jin Hong

I'll live here quietly as if I were dead until the day I truly die. – Nam Hong Hee

I put everything on the line to ensure that she'd grow up without ever finding out anything. But if she were to find out the reason for that now, the many years that I've lived like this will be rendered useless. – Nam Hong Hee

Some people feel assured if they have a lot of money, while others feel at ease if they own a lot of property, but I need children. Children are the future, and children are everything. – Cha Young Shin

Being a mom is unfair; to think that loving your child more than they love you could be a weakness. – Cha Young Shin

Episode 8.

I don't care if you tried your best. You have to bring me results no matter what. – Hyun Jin's Boss

My father was a happy person, because he was fulfilling his calling. – Jung Jin Hong

I think this is why I like women like her. She's older, and thus wiser. She's not afraid of poverty and has her own life. She's a woman I couldn't make unhappy no matter what I did. – Jung Jin Hong

Just as you like birds, forests, books, and Antarctica, I like a cold and complicated woman named Kang Soo Jin. – Jung Jin Hong

Are you sure you can be a better mother than her? – Kang Hyun Jin

If you leave, your mom will snap in two like a branch. – Park Jae Bum

I killed a man who was like a beast? – Nam Hong Hee

That's when I decided that this is the end, that I would never allow myself to be treated this way ever again. – Nam Hong Hee

I died on that day with each and every step I took, but you had to live on. I didn't abandon you; I cast you out of my shameful life. I wanted my child to live a different life. – Nam Hong Hee

I feel as if I knew this from the beginning—that she would come back to get me even if it took her a very long time, that she definitely would someday. – Kang Soo Jin

She wanted to teach me that a child could live on even if her mother abandoned her, and that the child could become a mother one day, too. – Kim Yoon Bok

Episode 9.

I was so busy living my own life that I didn't pay enough attention to you. – Shin Ja Young

You need to be happy for me to be happy. But Mom, are you unhappy with me? – Kim Hye Na

Hye Na is dead now. Hye Na can't come back home anymore. – Kim Yoon Bok

I don't like you or hate you, because you're not my mother anymore. Whether you become happy or unhappy, I can't do anything about it, because I'm not your daughter anymore. – Kim Yoon Bok

I'll just live on as if I'd never given birth to a child even once and pretend this is all just a bad dream. – Shin Ja Young

I may be lacking in many ways, but I will do my best and cherish her. – Kang Soo Jin

If you insist on not giving up the child until the end, I, your mother, will give you up. You will no longer be my daughter. – Cha Young Shin

If you felt that you meant nothing to me, that truly is a misunderstanding. – Kang Soo Jin

I'm truly sorry that I can't be a good daughter to you. – Kang Soo Jin

Mom, I think I have to leave now. I can't have you get separated from your family because of me. I enjoyed being Yoon Bok. I loved you as much as the distance between the heavens and the earth. – Kim Hye Na

Episode 10.

Soo Jin: Mommy chose you, to be with you.

Yoon Bok: Why, Mom? Why did you do that?

Soo Jin: Because you did the same. You abandoned everything for my sake and ran away with me.

It's okay for you to run many more times. I will come after you every single time. I will come after you and make sure to bring you back with me. – Kang Soo Jin

Regardless of what our legal relationship may become, I will still be the same. In my heart, you will always mean the same to me as you always have. I will always hope that you're healthy. And I'll come back to see how you're doing. – Kang Soo Jin

You're my daughter no matter what happens, and there will be no reason for me to ever be ashamed of something you did. – Cha Young Shin

Episode 11.

You're her mother. If you don't pull yourself right this moment, it's all over. – Cha Young Shin

Everyone gets scared. It's merely a matter of whether or not you can keep it from overpowering you. – Jung Jin Hong

When giving birth, mothers contemplate whether they should live or die a couple of times. It can be so painful for them but they overcome moments such as that again and again and become true mothers. Sometimes, the process is truly breathtaking to watch. – Jung Jin Hong

Do you know what you and those kids have in common? You are all children whose mothers don't love you. – Lee Seol Ak

I just love watching mothers cry after they've lost their kids. – Lee Seol Ak

The rules are still the same—you cry, you die. – Lee Seol Ak

Jin Hong: All young children believe that their mothers can protect them, no matter what.

Soo Jin: I guess mothers also kind of believe that they can protect their children, no matter what.

I told you not to go and leave me behind. – Lee Seol Ak

I know what you were thinking back then: "It would've been better if I'd died. If I had, my mom wouldn't have died," because I had thought the same when my mom took too many pills and didn't get up. "I wish I could disappear." – Kim Yoon Bok

Seol Ak: I told you not to cry, didn't I?

Yoon Bok: You're the one who's crying.

Episode 12.

I was scared, yes, but children need to protect their moms too. – Kim Yoon Bok

Other kids have no need to, but I need to protect my mom. – Kim Yoon Bok

There's no way out. I'm going to put an end to all of this here. – Lee Seol Ak

The kid was eating her mother alive from the inside out, like a parasite. – Lee Seol Ak

I'll show you just how miserable it is to become a mother. – Lee Seol Ak

The one you're actually strangling is the younger version of you who made your mother's life difficult, but there was nothing you could do. – Kang Soo Jin

I wanted to become a good child, too. – Lee Seol Ak

Episode 13.

Soo Jin: How far away can I take you? How far away can we get?

Yoon Bok: I think we've already come pretty far.

Let's run away, far far away, somewhere where nobody will be able to come after us. – Kim Yoon Bok

I want to stop being a mom if I could. The choice wasn't available to me, but can't I stop being a mom now? – Shin Ja Young

Men try to forget things by overexerting their bodies.

I heard that you have to keep your wishes a secret for them to come true. – Kim Yoon Bok

Kids have a tendency to know that their mom made certain choices for their sake.

I never once thought that I would become a mother before now, but now I have to become a mother. – Kang Soo Jin

Episode 14.

She was abandoned under the tree in front of an orphanage, and she never forgot the memory of herself under that tree. She remained the same girl under that tree and grew up alone while being brave, lonely, and penniless. – Cha Young Shin

Some people think that a person can only be a mother if she gives birth to a child from her womb, but a woman becomes a mother when she gives her all and dedicates her life fully to a smaller creature. – Cha Young Shin

The only thing that can change people's minds is storytelling. If you're that sincere about it, it's worth a try. – Ja Young's Lawyer

This is why I'm writing you a letter, so that you will remember me, so that you can remember just what an important child you are to me. Then, it will become easier for you to become sure of yourself. You'll be able to stand up tall and look at people straight in the eye, if you remember how tremendous the love you received was. – Kang Soo Jin

Being a mother entails having your own life eaten away while raising a child. – Cha Young Shin

The most difficult thing will be getting along with yourself. I'm sorry that I can't be with you in those moments. – Kang Soo Jin

She cannot acknowledge that she is in pain. She is dealing with her painful reality by denying it.

Before I realized it, I had become a mother and Hye Na had become my child. – Kang Soo Jin

When are you coming to get me? I'm waiting for you. – Kim Yoon Bok

Episode 15.

Go and act as if none of this ever happened, as if you were never abandoned and you've never abandoned anyone. – Cha Young Shin

I'm Kang Soo Jin, that's who I've always been, and that is who I will continue to be. I have never been not your daughter, Mom. You know as well as I do, that I just failed to mature and grow up for too long. – Kang Soo Jin

Do I not have the right to be your real mother for the sole reason that I didn't give birth to you? – Cha Young Shin

As I was growing up, I was always worried that I fell short as your daughter. – Kang Yi Jin

I was always happy being your daughter and being my older sisters' youngest sister. – Kang Hyun Jin

We all loved you so much. We loved you for being you and didn't care about whose daughter you were. – Kang Soo Jin

When I told mom all the time to give me up, to let me go, and that I didn't need her, she still held on to me. – Kang Soo Jin

Soo Jin: I'm sorry that I kept running away. You were always there, which was why I could run away with peace of mind. Why didn't I know that? Please forget all about the despicable things that I said or did to you. There are so many things that I want to do for you. I'll do everything for you. You don't have to do anything. I'll do everything for you so please, just a little bit longer...

Young Shin: I've packed all my things. I've packed all the things I did with you. I didn't leave out a single moment. I'll take all of those memories with me, because they're too precious to me. I'm ready so please let me go now.

Kids find a way to their mothers, no matter, huh? – Kang Yi Jin

I'm already scared about not being able to let her go. – Kang Soo Jin

People who truly love each other can never be truly separated. – Kang Soo Jin

Soo Jin: Didn't it feel like I was always by your side, even when I wasn't?

Yoon Bok: Yes, when I was eating curry, reading books, before I fell asleep, and when I saw birds flying in the sky, and always.

Soo Jin: It's the same for me, whenever I ate fried pork chops, when I opened my eyes in the morning, when I see a train passing by, and always.

Yoon Bok: But, Mom, that's not truly being together. That's just a lie.

Soo Jin: You're right. It's a lie, but we're good at lying. Just like how you think of the things you like, I'll think of you so I can keep myself from crying even when I want to cry. And before long, one day, we'll meet again.

Episode 16.

I know the odds are small, very very small, but I wanted to know if we could possibly go back to the way we were. – Kim Yoon Bok

Do you know how migratory birds reach their destinations without getting lost? Birds use constellations as their guide. They use the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star, as well as the Little Dipper and Cassiopeia. The birds get help from the stars and head to the North Pole. Birds learn that from their mothers when they are babies. The stars that they saw when they were babies become the birds' guide. – Kang Soo Jin

I'm so happy to have met you. I'm so happy to have become your mother. Thanks to you, I became a mother, I met my mom, and became a daughter once more. – Kang Soo Jin

We'll definitely meet again. If we walk straight towards the stars, the time that you and I spent together will become our guide. – Kang Soo Jin

When I first saw you, I felt as if I'd seen a rare bird suddenly fly in front of me. I couldn't get close to it or extend my hand to touch it. I could only watch it from afar with bated breath. And then, that bird spread its wings once more and flew far far away, right before my eyes. That moment made me so disappointed and yet, it was still such a pleasure to see. – Jung Jin Hong

Jin Hong: It's okay for you to be happy now. Don't leave anything behind, just go. Do your best and be happy.

Soo Jin: Happiness, I feel like that's such a fleeting feeling. That fleeting thing makes other longer moments much more bearable, but there is something more important to me than happiness. Isn't it strange? All of the painful memories that I shared with that child are so much more precious to me than the moments in my life when I was completely happy.

It was hard for me to call mom "Mom", the person who raised me, the person who showed me the warmest love in the world. It took me 30 years for me to truly be able to call her "Mom." – Kang Soo Jin

I will do a good job so that I can take on the heavy and terrifying duty of being a mother. – Kang Soo Jin

Please don't take me away. I already have a mom. – Kim Hye Na

No parent can win against their children.

I believe that a child can choose her parent, too.

I'm just the same as other moms. Just as mothers give birth to children, something similar occurred in my heart. I can give up my own life for Hye Na's sake and I feel as if we are connected. I feel as if moms are born, too, just as children are born. – Kang Soo Jin

I think that I've already become what I wanted to become—Yoon Bok.

Yoon Bok: I thought to myself then that a child who had a mom like you must be so happy to have you as a mother.

Soo Jin: I thought the same too. I thought that a mother with a child like you must be so happy.