Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 Episode 5 (2023)

Episode 5 of Tale of the Nine Tailed: 1938 begins with Yeon and Rang entertaining baby Mi-ho by effortlessly stopping the Japanese soldiers. Yeon uses his powers to brainwash them too, making it seem like they never came to the house nor did they get beaten up. Instead, they concoct a story for Kato that it was a giant tiger!

As for Hong-joo, she quickly figures out that there’s more than one Yeon lurking about in this timeline. After her intent on trapping him last episode with the opium, she visits the “real” Yeon from this timezone, who wraps his arms around her and begs her not to leave again. Only… he calls her Ah-eun and mistakes Hong-joo for her old love.

Hong-joo pushes him off though and reminds him that in the past, she always used to watch him while he ran around. And as a tear falls from her cheek, she smashes a vase over his head.

Meanwhile, the time travelling Yeon (our Yeon) stats to suspect that little Mi-ho is actually a Fortune God, explaining why she kept showing up at their gates and how she’s been giving them such good fortune lately.

While this is going on, Eun-ho is shocked to find out that Shin-joo has barely been affected by these gunshots. Excitedly, she asks what his opinion of Japanese Imperialism is. She shows up to see Yeon and Rang, convinced that they’re prolific thieves. Shin-joo plays along and hands over all the stolen goods… minus the ruler of course! Eun-ho and Shin-joo come to an agreement, with the latter deciding to be part of this rebellion. He’s even called comrade too.

The Governor-General calls Hong-joo for a meeting alone. She shows up in his office, where Kato introduces himself. He informs her that he has Orchid in his possession and if she doesn’t get the baby back, then she’s going to die. With little other choice, Hong-joo scoops up the baby that night and takes off. She hands her back to the Japanese, who in turn demand to know more about the gold mines. However, it’s Hong-joo’s deft touch that manages to convince the Gold-searching demon from the last episode to play ball.

The entire group departs and heads down to the river, where our Gold-demon starts to taste the water, finding the exact point where the gold is situated. He nonchalantly plunges underwater and finds the gold in the middle of the lake, shocking everyone in attendance, who burst into rapturous applause.

It turns out though, Hong-joo is actually working with Yeon and Rang and has been since she was offered this deal with the Japanese. Yeon and Shin-joo break into the police station disguised as officers. Unfortunately it doesn’t last long as they’re quickly outed. However, they do manage to find and save Orchid, breaking away from the various soldiers in attendance.

As for Hong-joo, she’s shocked to see the Gold-searcher shot after making various territories on a map. However, when the sky suddenly darkens and thick clouds choke the atmosphere, it’s a sign for Hong-joo to tell the babe that their time has arrived. And just like that Rang shows up, having been disguised as little Mi-ho this whole time!

With Yeon and Rang coming out on top, Yeon happens to pass Kato and senses a lot of blood on him. He warns the demon to stop eating humans, and with his secret outed, the pair trade blows. It’s a quick skirmish though, given Kato manages to somehow get away quick as a flash.

Orchid is returned, while our gold-searcher is back too. He’s absolutely fine as it turns out, and he points out that the baby is indeed a Fortune God. She’s never going to grow old though. As a God who controls desire, she’s born in the purest form of a baby.

The babe is the one who decides where to go but for now, everyone bids their farewells to little Mi-ho. She even admits she prefers Rang to Shin-joo too! She has a little prophecy for Yeon to close things out, pointing out that he could lose his way soon and needs to be wary of that.

Meanwhile, the King of Five Paths shows up to see Moo-yeong. This guy is the tenth King of Hell who rules over darkness. He knows that he isn’t from this time period and after introducing himself, wants to know what Moo-yeong is after.

Given he’s been badly hurt, the Hell King offers a solution to his problems in exchange for Moo-yeong’s soul, which he offers freely to him. As a benevolent Mountain God, he’s going to prove to be a formidable foe, and Taluipa is concerned about that.

As part of his deal with our half-mermaid friend Yeo-hee, Rang heads out that night with a bouquet of flowers and watches her show. Unbeknownst to him, Yeon and Shin-joo also happen to be in attendance. However, Yeo-hee sees a woman flirting with Rang over at the table and immediately becomes jealous. She uses her siren powers to shatter all the glasses in the room, and it causes her to storm out.

Rang is there waiting after the show and excitedly chirps how he really likes her powers, believing that they would be great in combat. Realizing that Yeon and Shin-joo are listening, he grabs her hand and the pair charge through the streets together, ending up in a back alley.

When Yeon finally heads back home again, he finds Moo-yeong there waiting to greet him. As the pair embrace, Yeon’s face suddenly changes, “Are you red-white mask?”

The Episode Review

So another episode of Tale of the Nine Tailed comes and goes, with Yeon and Rang’s adventures continuing. I wonder what sort of deal Moo-yeong has struck with this darkness God and what the price of this is, especially as Gods like this are likely to wrap their words in riddles, or have a steep price to pay for doing their bidding.

As for Yeon and Rang, the series does a good job developing their relationship and we get a faint glimpse here of what the end of this season will end up becoming, with Rang slipping into hating Yeon as a result of him leaving this timeline.

Whether the final fight here will be between Kato and Yeon or Moo-yeong and Yeon is still to be decided but this episode does a decent job of establishing the stakes and closing out this Foundling story in a satisfying and worthwhile manner.

Everything here is left wide open for tomorrow’s episode though and so far, this second season has definitely been better than the first