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'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' Episode 4: Gumiho has found his mate but will Ji-ah and Ae Eum also feel ecstatic?

'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' sees Lee Yeon find out that Ji-ah is the one true love that he has been in search of for 600 years

'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' Episode 4 takes us back to the mysterious island where the entire village was deserted overnight except for the daughter of a fisherman whose skull was found in the sea. The entire village couldn't have gone on a trip together, could they now, jokes Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook). Of course, it is Ji-ah (Jo Bo-ah) who continues to investigate the houses where everything is left lying around as is and the clocks have stopped at 2.40 am.

When the two of them walk around the neighborhood, they find the empty bamboo sticks that the shaman had planted in the southwest direction, as if to welcome something from the sea to come to land. Usually, this is a rite that is followed to welcome the Dragon King on land, however, the direction is incorrect and Lee Yeon also notes that the time that everything went down is when the door between this world and the other one opens.

Lee Yeon also tells Ji-ah that the bamboo being empty makes it a convenient home for evil spirits to take a rest as well. While investigating this, Ji-ah finds out people belonging to another village in North Carolina had also disappeared in the 1950s. She also learns from the cops who investigate the situation that the villagers did not have any relatives outside of the village and that all of them had settled in the village after getting off the same boat.

The villagers who had disappeared down the well, the Imoogi that Lee Yeon is certain he killed, his half brother Lee Rang (Kim Beom) who is planning to exact revenge and the young woman named Ji-ah who Lee Yeon was sure was not his lover Ae Eum are all connected by a single thread. At the moment, this thread is knotted and over the episodes, each knot would be cleared one by one. While this happens, the situation is sure to get complicated. Take, for instance, the way Lee Rang taunted Lee Yeon and Ji-ah over the entire episode. This pushes Lee Yeon, but not enough to attack his brother again. 

We see a glimpse from the past where Lee Rang used to love his brother more than anyone. However, the moment that his brother left the mountain to search for Ae Eum, things spiraled out for Lee Rang. The humans around the mountain began lighting the forest on fire leading to the death of Lee Rang's family and friends. This hardens Lee Rang's emotions towards humans and the hatred multiplied many times over when his own brother attacked him and stabbed him. This is also the reason why Lee Rang began planning his brother's downfall. In this attempt, we see how Lee Rang joined hands with a human who saved him and gifted this man with a ring that connects the mortal to the immortal.

This human also seems to be taking care of a boy or a child who he compares to a pet. Is this another spiritual being that we will meet soon? While all of this takes place, Lee Yeon is forced to visit the underworld for his punishment for killing a human. So as soon as he is back in the city, he parts ways with Ji-ah and arrives at the Afterlife affairs office where he is read out his punishment. 

He is told that he would be punished with the harsh weather of the Underworld as a human for seven days. He will experience pain, anxiety and even death during these seven days. However, in the middle of his punishment, he realizes that Ji-ah has lost the protection talisman that he had made for her protection courtesy Lee Rang. So she is being haunted by the ghosts of children after visiting a funeral home and it is to save her that Lee Yeon ends up choosing to go to the Underworld of Knives and cross the bridge as an alternative to being punished for seven days.

He is certain that Ji-ah needs his help and so, despite the condition that his body is in, and despite the hundreds of knives being thrown in his direction he manages to cross it all and arrives right on time to help her. He is bleeding from all the wounds caused by the knives and it is while Ji-ah sees how hurt Lee Yeon is that she sheds her tears and the yeowu guseol that Lee Yeon had been searching for appears.

As a gumiho, his yeowu guseol is a treasure that one would normally not part with, but now that it has brought him back to Ae Eum in Ji-ah's form, he seems ecstatic. Ji-ah also seems glad that Lee Yeon is not dead, but what about Ae Eum? She made her appearance in the last episode and she definitely did not seem too happy to see Lee Yeon. She also claimed that he was the one to have killed her, and that makes us curious. Did he make a mistake or did the Imoogi possess her and force Lee Yeon into striking Ae Eum?

'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' will air on tvN on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10.30 pm KST and can be streamed on Viki Global.