Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 Episode 2 (2023)

Episode 2 of Tale of the Nine Tailed: 1938 begins with Lee Yeon wandering through the train with Rang. The pair head through to first class and take their seats, opposite a woman holding a cute dog. The same dog breed from season 1, no less! Anyway, the train is heading to the “Kamo Unit”, with those in the cargo hold in particular serving as support troops who supply goods to the army.

However, there’s another guest on this train – Ryu Hong-ju. She’s over in VIP. Things get a tad more complicated though when we cut back to the present with Taluipa. Lee Yeon is there and he tells her that his future self sent him to warn that he’s completed his mission much later than expected and he wants to get home. The only way to do that though is to get the Legendary Pipe, which happens to be on the train that left Busan that morning. It’s fallen into the hands of the Japanese and if you can play the pipe, you could blow up a whole mountain.

The train they’re on fast approaches an overpass, which happens to be Shin-joo’s chance down in the cargo hold to break free and get out with the other prisoners. After tricking the guards, they rush down the carriages to escape, while we learn that Hyun-ju is the one holding the Legendary Pipe.

As for Lee Rang, he decides to steal all the valuable goods from everyone in first class, believing that one could be holding the legendary pipe, and it’s the quickest and easiest way of figuring that out instead of interrogating everyone one at a time. Well, they don’t get far given the earlier fact about Hyun-ju, and she more than holds her own again Saito Akira, the guy whom we saw briefly in episode 1. This guy works for the Japanese and originally held the pipe. Hyun-ju throws him out the window when she realizes he’s not human, and then focuses her attention on the fox.

Another new player in the Train is Yoo Jae-yu, who happens to be Hong-ju’s bodyguard and he’s a more than capable fighter. While he squares off against Rang inside, Hong-ju and Yeon end up fighting on top of the train carriage. Hong-ju gets the upper-hand, smashing Yeon through the ceiling of the carriage and continuing their fight. Rang is of no help, given he only really cares about the safety of the dog, leaving Yeon to handle this himself when he bests the guard.

When Hong-ju stops the train outright, it lets the prisoners from the cargo hold go free. They hurry across the wide expanse, while Lee Yeon, Rang and the other bandits head the opposite way, with the flute in-tow. However, those rascal prisoners trick Shin-joo, who passes out after drinking too much. They rush to take all his belongings, including his shoes.

Lee Yeon, having earlier grabbed the flute from the train, returns to Taluipa but is dismayed to learn he needs to stick around for 29 days in this time. Thankfully, time flows differently here and it’ll only seem like a few days back home. He also needs to hold onto the Guardian Stone in order to secure passage when the portal re-opens again.

Yeon decides to use that time to spend with Rang, realizing this is the last month he’s going to get with his brother. Despite saving him, Rang is suspicious over exactly who he is and believes this is a big trick. Yeon shows off his phone though and promises the answers he seeks can be found in there.

Meanwhile, Akira returns to Ryuhei Kato, who’s the real guy in charge here, and apologizes for losing the flute. As we soon learn, Kato is not human either and flashes his monstrous red eyes. He demands Akira search all over the Joseon period for an item stronger than the Legendary Pipe, as he claims this is the reason he’s there.

Lee Yeon does also learn that Hong-ju is an informant and believes it could work in his favour. Specifically, he decides to hire her to figure out who the guy (or girl) in the red and white mask is. She agrees to do it… but on one condition. There’s an important event today, which happens to be the Miss Joseon pageant. Lee Yeon is to be one of the judges alongside Sun-Woo Eun-Ho, who is actually Yoo-ri from season 1. He needs to find the root cause for exactly who’s sabotaging the women in Gyeongseong.

He quickly works out that this could be linked to the Three Worms, which happen to be creatures that control “desires”. Whoever controls the worms can’t be a normal person and it could well be that they’re targeting beautiful women specifically.

When the winner of this pageant, Young-ae, suddenly feels boiling hot and begins sweating profusely, she launches herself at one of the other girls and bites her neck. Moo-young is outside though and he makes swift work of the creature, bundling it in a wooden casket. The same wooden casket that Eun-ho was hammering earlier in the episode.

Back inside, Eun-ho confides in Yeon that there’s a rumour going around in Gyeongseong that all the beauties have been turned into Yachas, which happen to be demons that crave human flesh and blood. He believes that the suspect must be ugly, and the only link all these women have is that they’ve been to the same beauty salon: Choi Seung-ja Hair Salon.

So off Lee Yeon goes, with his brother, to try and figure out the truth. He decides that Rang should apply for a job there, and he does just that, ending up as the makeshift tea-boy. At the same time, Yeon ends up as the hairdresser but they need to find the culprit of the Three Worms and soon.

When everyone at the salon turns into a Yacha, it’s revealed that the assistant there is the real culprit. She’s actually an indigenous god and it seems mirrors are her weakness. Lee Yeon decides not to attack, especially when he learns that she’s the first kitchen God, someone who was burned. She explains that the Three Worms came from a mask-wearing guy. In speaking the truth, she suddenly burns to a crisp and disappears, given she was ordered to die upon telling the truth.

It doesn’t take us long before we figure out exactly who the mask-wearer is. It’s actually Mu-young. When he comes face to face with Hong-ju, the pair reunite and Mu-young is glad to see her again. Now, Mu-young’s motivation stems from finding the killer of his older brother whom he had great affection for. He’s dead-set on revenge and knows that his friend died at the hands of his best friend.

Elsewhere, Shin-ju is reunited with Lee Yeon in the street too, but he’s not happy about being left behind and reprimands his boss, briefly. As he begins sobbing, the trio eventually walk down the street together.

The Episode Review

So a happy-ish ending for Lee Yeon, Rang and Shin-joo at least, who end up reunited after much ado across the previous two chapters. It does feel like this was just a prologue and that we’re now gearing up for a much more expansive story to come.

The Japanese occupation has been a big part of the story, simmering away in the background and preparing us for an epic fight between the Japanese Generals and Lee Yeon. We already know that this Kato is after a powerful instrument but exactly to what purpose, remains a mystery.

Seeing more of Lee Yeon and Rang together is always good but some poor writing is already starting to seep in, which is a shame. Waving away everything Lee Yeon does as “it doesn’t really matter” seems a bit convenient and it also throws up big question marks about the extent to which this stretches. Is it just the standard timeline that doesn’t deviate? Or will the demons Lee Yeon fights and defeats across this season also return when he goes back to his time?

Despite this though, the second season is a surprising step up from the first, doubling down on what made that one so great and giving viewers exactly what they want. Let’s hope this continues next week!