'Tale of the Nine-Tailed' Episode 14: Is Ji-ah dead? Lee Yeon's plan to sacrifice self forces Lee Rang's hand
From the beginning of 'Tale of the Nine-Tailed', Lee Yeon, the nine tailed fox aka gumiho, had wanted just one thing in return for his punishment of serving the Samdo River's guardian Taluipa. It was to ensure that the love of his life Ae Eum got a chance to be reborn as a human and live a long and happy life. However, Lee Yeon meets Ji-ah and ends up awakening a part of the Imoogi that was hidden within her from the past, the past in which this same Imoogi had led to the death of Ae Eum in the hands of Lee Yeon.
So this time around, Lee Yeon has been doing everything to ensure that the Ji-ah is not headed in the same direction, and in Episode 14 of 'Tale of the Nine-Tailed', we see Lee Yeon plan to sacrifice himself before Ji-ah is forced to give up on her life. Initially, he attempts to explain to Taluipa that he can capture Imoogi and asks her for three days before she messes with Ji-ah's death date. He hears about this from Taluipa's husband, who doesn't support his wife's move and that is why we see Lee Yeon lose his calm. When Taluipa is neither convinced by him drawing his sword nor his attempt at begging her to save Ji-ah by emotionally appealing to her, Lee Yeon thinks for an entire night. He realizes that he has reached a dead end and that's when something that Taluipa says gives Lee Yeon an idea.
Destiny has it that between Lee Yeon and Ji-ah, only one can survive to ensure that chaos spread the Imoogi doesn't spread far and wide. So she chooses Ji-ah because she is a human being who is capable of being reborn. However, Lee Yeon has a different idea. Now that he has the key that controls the Imoogi within Ji-ah's body, he decides that he will swallow this part of Imoogi, let it become a part of him and jump into the Samdo River. The hitch in the plan is that anyone who jumps into the Samdo river will disappear to never be reborn again and yet Lee Yeon is certain he wants to do this because he wants to ensure Ji-ah and Lee Rang's safety among others.
However, his brother Lee Rang doesn't agree. He doesn't want Lee Yeon to die and neither does he care enough about Ji-ah to be moved to help her survive. So what he did instead was to give the human caretaker of the Imoogi a chance to survive. The first one to be infected by the virus that the Imoogi wants spread — an interested and twisted take on the pandemic — this human is patient zero and he is nearing death. After hundreds of years living with powers that were lent to him by Imoogi, this man continues to be greedy for power and that is why he agrees to Lee Rang's conditions. When Taluipa agrees to give Lee Yeon three days time, Lee Rang tries to make this a moot point by telling this human that the only way he and anyone who has been infected with the virus is by killing Ji-ah. He reveals that the heart of Imoogi, which is in this case hidden within Ji-ah must be killed for the others to survive.
So Lee Yeon and Lee Rang's plan war with each other while the Imoogi considers an important deal. Lee Yeon has set a trap for the Imoogi by offering him a deal. The seat of the Guardian of Samdo River after taking Taluipa down in return for Ji-ah. How will things pan out? We are not sure as the cliffhanger ending sees this human caretaker point the gun at Ji-ah and shoot. Did she get shot or does she survive? We will have to wait and see.
'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.