Chapter 8: Reincarnation
We begin episode 8 of Tale of the Nine Tailed in the past with A-Eum and Yeon spending time together. As she heads up to the palace alone, she finds the King weakened while sitting on his throne. As scales suddenly show up on his body, the King’s demeanor changes and he chuckles cruelly. It appears that the Imoogi is inside the King and A-Eum was apparently served up to be his sacrifice. Before firing an arrow at him, A-Eum changes her mind and decides to bring Yeon before him. In order to save her Father, she asks him to possess her. As we skip forward in time, we see the Imoogi taking refuge inside A-Eum which is why the duo were fighting. This leads up to the final moments last episode where A-Eum was murdered and Ji-A discovers the truth. Back in the present, Yeon admits the painful reality of what transpired and how he was the one who killed and betrayed her. Remembering the warning given to him, he tries to feign indifference and tells Ji-A that he’s a mountain spirit. As Ji-A weeps, Yeon leaves alone. That isolation brings him to Rang who asks him excitedly if Ji-A has seen the truth. Yeon ignores his jibes and asks about the Imoogi instead, which Rang refuses to answer. Instead, the pair start playing Go. This happens to be a throwback to the past where the duo played together in their past life. Yeon let him win every single time back then but now he’s not messing around. Rang is beside himself with anger and wipes the board clean after learning this truthh. After some painful words about his brother (which causes Rang to hold back tears), we see the moment the pair met in their past life. Yeon saved Rang from the grudge that dived at him. It’s at this moment he decided to follow Yeon. Back in the present, the TVC President grabs ground cherries from his plant and ingests them as they turn to dust. As the camera pans out, Rang happens to be with him. A faint voice from behind brings the Imoogi out of hiding too. The pair talk but the Imoogi prevents him from killing Ji-A. It turns out he wants her to be his bride. While Shin-Joo meets Yu-Ri and cheekily gives her a kiss on the cheek, Yeon runs into the familiar chirpy kid again. Seeing that he’s been beaten, he tells the boy sadly that there’s no refuge for some. Yeon heads back to see Granny and Ui-Ong, with the latter mentioning his painful memories about his son. Yeon offers comfort and tells him he’ll do anything to save himself and Ji-A from their doomed fate. Ji-A continues to research for work, heading to the doctors where she learns about past lives. Only, it turns out her Mother was also pursuing this line of enquiry in the past. Ji-A underwent hypnotherapy at her parents’ request. This revelation sees Ji-A dive down the rabbit hole and watch tapes of her own therapy session in the past. Only, something isn’t quite right. The child in the video starts reading the writing on the wall behind Ji-A and seems to speak directly to her. “There you are,” She says ominously. Meanwhile, Rang receives a visitor who appears to be a shaman desperate to know the worst fears of different people. After showing up at Rang’s house, she touches his hand and appears to know what he’s scared of. Hearing chanting, Rang opens the doors to his wardrobes and cuts back through time. There, villagers beat him down before he finds his human Mum, who refuses to acknowledge him. Even worse, he’s forced to face his fears and destroy multiple grudges who chase him through the woods. This same strange visitor finds Ji-A too, asking what she fears. The few seconds of silence between them fade as she mentions it “most be Yeou Gogae”. Ji-A is forced to relive that horrid night where her parents crashed their car. With both her and Rang forced to live through this nightmare, Yeon has a tough choice to make. There’s 2 doors; one leading to Rang and the other to Ji-A. Yeon makes his choice and decides to save Rang. With both brothers side by side, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Finally we see Rang and Yeon together after a good amount of back-story for the former across these two episodes this week. Understanding his wretched upbringing and all the trouble that befell him in his past life really helps to understand the pain Rang’s going through. It appears as if the lady in green is a folklore tale from Korea about fears but I must admit, I’m not entirely sure if that holds weight so please do correct me in the comments if that’s wrong! It seems likely now that either Ji-A or Yeon will die at the end of this one but quite which one it’ll be remains to be seen. For now though, this fantastical drama continues to deliver the goods with an intriguing close and the promise of these two ill-fated brothers finally being on the same page.
