Escape from Mars

In 2037, five years after humanity left the first footprint on Mars, Korea succeeds at dispatching astronauts there. The plan is that as soon as the first expedition team successfully completes its mission and returns to Earth, the second expedition team will leave for Mars. However, on the 124th day since their arrival, the first exploration members send a message that they are heading to Wendy Cave, located 200 kilometers west of Pavonis Mons, and they go missing.

The Mars Union Headquarters, the organization responsible for the team’s rescue, deals with this incident in a way that no one can understand. The organization does not accurately report the status of the rescue mission, and it takes over one week to search Wendy Cave, where the astronauts went missing, and the search for the missing astronauts stops after two months. Developed countries, including the United States and some uropean countries, do not actively deal with the incident, and domestic public opinion worsens. The Korean government conducts under-thetable negotiations with the United States, and it is decided that Korea will dispatch its second Mars expedition team to cond ct a search, under the condition that the two countries will bear the cost of Mars exploration.

In July 2038, the second Mars expedition team arrives on Mars via the Mars Explorer 3 spaceship. Three members reach an abandoned planet shelter that is covered with dust. However, the Mars Union Headquarters begins to act suspiciously and does not cooperate with the search for the missing astronauts. Hence, the second Mars expedition team embers disobey headquarters and decide to explore Wendy Cave themselves. They find traces of the first expedition members with the help of A.I. Amy, which manages all the facilities and armaments of Mars.

Meanwhile, members of the Antarctic King Sejong Station leave the station to carry out their ordinary work. When humans started exploring Mars, the Sejong Station lost its original purpose and became an outpost where they train astronauts who will be sent to Mars. Song Min-Cheol and his colleagues find a huge metal structure in Antarctic ice. As Chief Jeon Sang-Woo approaches the structure, a door slowly opens, and a blue light beams from one corner. With the door now wide open, the frozen dead bodies of the missing Korean astronauts are discovered.