Tale Of The Nine Tailed Swarms With Seductive Monsters

Just in time for Halloween the new tvN drama Tale of the Nine Tailed, tells a story of the often monstrous gumihos who live among humans. Some gumihos are bad, some are very very bad, but a few manage to restrain their monstrous tendencies. More than a few shape shift into attractive humans that are supernaturally hard to resist.

Found in ancient Korean tales and legends, a gumiho is a shape-shifting fox who has lived a thousand years. While assuming human form, they may seduce and even love humans, but they may also choose to devour them. 

Fortunately, gumiho behavior seems to be kept in check by a monitor of sorts, Lee Yeon, played by Lee Dong-wook. If gumihos break the rules, if they are too obvious or destructive, his job is to eliminate them. He’s good at it. yet. despite his vicious skills, he’s a romantic. He’s soft-hearted enough to love small children. He eats ice cream for almost every meal.  He has been waiting an eternity for his true love to be reincarnated. 

He meets that love again in the first episode, first as a young girl, living with two gumihos who assumed her parents’ human forms. When the girl, Nam Ji-ah, realizes they are not her parents, they try to kill her. Suddenly, Lee Yeon appears, disposes of them and wipes her memory clean. Or so he thinks.

Twenty years later, the gumiho enforcer is still around, chasing down any gumihos who overstep their bounds. Ji-ah, played by Jo Bo-ah, is now a writer who investigates the paranormal, which means their paths are sure to cross.

Ji-ah investigates a wedding where the bride disappeared after meeting a mysterious man. The bride was really a rogue gumiho eliminated by Lee Yeon. As Ji-ah seeks the mysterious man, who is also implicated in a series of unusual events, she meets Lee Yeon and one of the very bad gumihos, Lee Rang, played mesmerizingly by actor Kim Beom. Lee Rang, a villain with a wicked grin, seems determined to keep Lee Yeon and Ji-ah apart. There are monsters everywhere in this drama. What neither Lee Yeon nor Lee Rang can imagine is how fearlessly Ji-ah deals with monsters.

Lee Dong Wook’s recent drama appearances include Strangers From Hell, Touch Your Heart, Life and the popular fantasy drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.  Jo was last seen in the dramas Forest, My Strange Hero, Goodbye to Goodbye and Temperature of Love.  

Beom’s last drama was four years ago in Mrs. Cop 2 and his last film was Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead. He is best known for his roles in That Winter The Wind Blows, Padam Padam, Still Marry Me and Boys Over Flowers.