'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' Episode 12: Yuri stabs Lee Rang after Imoogi puts her under spell, is he dead?
'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' Episode 12 begins with Ji-ah feeling ecstatic about being reunited with her parents after 20 years. It had been her life's aim to meet them again and her job was a huge part of her search for her parents. Now that she has found them, there is a celebration around and it looks like her parents can recognize her too. There is so much tears and happiness at this reunion that it seems too personal for outsiders and Lee Yeon probably gets this feeling too, because we see him leave Ji-ah to her family.
At the same time, Lee Rang is also in a celebratory mood because his brother is back to being by his side and his contract with Imoogi's caretaker has also been taken care of. So he suggests to Yu Ri, his loyal friend, and assistant that the two of them go out for a meal. The two reminisce about how they had met and how they had begun to hang out after Yu Ri was rescued from a zoo run by the humans. Lee Rang has had a weakness for animals, especially captured ones and Yu Ri was rescued by him, not with the intention of keeping her by his side, but to let her taste the freedom. The fact that he had saved her is the main reason why she is loyal and extremely possessive of Lee Rang. So it is ironic that the Imoogi decided to use her against Lee Rang.
When Lee Yeon and Ji-ah are busy being a normal couple for once, Imoogi is busy planting suggestions inside people who are close to Lee Yeon and Ji-ah. From Shin Ju, who the Imoogi visited with the ruse of wanting an abandoned kitten treated to the Snail Bride who had only expected to ring up lunch orders, Imoogi tells them things that they would do in different scenarios. We are definitely not privy to the Imoogi's plans, however, what is clear is the fact that the Imoogi's plan stems from anger over Lee Yeon getting away from him when he was within his grasp. In addition, the Imoogi has also lost control over Lee Rang. It is this that caused Imoogi to let his wrath be known and among the many that he put a spell on, Yu Ri ends up being one of them. He hypnotizes her and suggests that she wants to kill Lee Rang with her own two hands leading to Yu Ri stabbing Lee Rang.
Not only does she stab him, but she also uses the sharp pin that Lee Rang had gifted her to strike him. She is not herself because we see how she was controlled by an external force into surrendering herself to this force. Lee Rang is unable to bring her back and all that happens is that he gets stabbed multiple times before he passes out. When Yu Ri does come to herself, she realizes what had happened and apologizes to her friend and informs Shin Joo so that he can come to take a look at Lee Rang. Lee Yeon also arrives and after Yu Ri recounts how she was not herself, and the man who had bumped into her that morning had uttered something disturbing, Lee Yeon concludes that she had, for the moment been taken over by the Imoogi to do its bidding.
The only way to help his brother is to use the ground cherries. However, if he were to use it, he would technically be killing a human and that would mean that he would need to be punished in the Underworld. In his absence, the Imoogi would get the perfect opportunity to capture Ji-ah to serve his purpose. If Lee Yeon doesn't use the ground cherries, then the chance of saving Lee Rang decreases, and Yu Ri, who is back to being herself cannot accept Lee Yeon's decision to not fall for Imoogi's moral trap. Of course, Yu Ri attempts to steal the ground cherries for Lee Rang, but the cherries disappear the moment they are cut off the branches. So they end up becoming useless to Lee Rang.
Lee Yeon also becomes aware of how the Imoogi is targeting people close to him and Ji-ah. So he attempts to find weaknesses of the Imoogi so that he can banish the water monster back to where it came from. He finds the right means, however, he ends up capturing the wrong Imoogi. Turns out, a part of the Imoogi, the one that needs to be banished is within Ji-ah herself. It is the same part that had woken up in the village and we see this Imoogi return. This leaves Lee Yeon in a very difficult spot and that makes us wonder. How will Lee Yeon save her and his dying brother? Does Lee Rang even have time for Lee Yeon to drag his feet?
'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' will be aired on tvN on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10.30 pm KST and can be streamed on Viki Global.