Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938

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Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938

구미호뎐 1938 (Gumihodyeon 1938) · 2023 · South Korea

WriterHan Woo Ri

DirectorKang Shin Hyo · Jo Nam Hyung

Episodes12 eps · ~70 min each

⏱️ Binge Time14h 0m

AiredMay 6 – Jun 11, 2023

GenreFantasy · Historical · Romance

Content Rating15+ · Teens 15 or older

Prime Video
TVING

Nine-Tailed Fox
Time Travel
Korean Mythology
Colonial Era
Brotherhood
Supernatural

One box. Everything you need to decide.

A gumiho, his estranged brother, and the formidable western mountain god — together against a 1938 that wants them all dead.

Lee Dong Wook

Lee Yeon

Lead

Kim So Yeon

Ryu Hong-joo

Lead

Kim Bum

Lee Rang

Lead

Ryu Kyung Soo

Cheon Moo-young

Antagonist

Kim Yong Ji

Sunwoo Eun-ho

Supporting

Kim Jung Nan

Taluipa

Supporting

Hwang Hee

Koo Shin-joo

Supporting

An Kil-kang

Hyunuiong

Supporting

Han Gun Yoo

Yoo Jae-yoo

Supporting

Kim Joo Young

Mae Hwa

Supporting

Kim Na Hyun

Nancho

Supporting

Kang Na Eon

Guk Hee

Supporting

Spoiler-light recaps — enough to remember where you left off, nothing that ruins the ride.

EP 01

Dragged Into the Past

May 6, 2023 · tvN

Lee Yeon’s life after Nam Ji-ah is interrupted by the theft of the Samdocheon Guardian Stone, which pulls him back to 1938 Gyeongseong without warning. Disoriented in colonial Korea, he discovers his estranged brother Lee Rang is here — alive, and every bit as guarded as he’s always been. The episode sets the stakes: recovering the stone is the only way home, but 1938 has its own agenda for everyone involved.

EP 02

Brothers at Odds

May 6, 2023 · tvN

Lee Yeon and Lee Rang begin working together despite their long, complicated history — the dynamic between them crackles with unsaid things. Taluipa appears and issues a mission: find the Legendary Pipe. Meanwhile, the shape of their past resentment starts to reveal itself, and it’s uglier and sadder than either wants to admit.

EP 03

Myoyeongak

May 13, 2023 · tvN

Ryu Hong-joo’s restaurant is the episode’s centrepiece — and Kim So Yeon commands every scene she’s in. Lee Yeon encounters the western mountain god in her full element: powerful, guarded, and clearly hiding things about the Guardian Stone’s whereabouts. Reporter Sunwoo Eun-ho stumbles into the supernatural world she barely knows exists, and it’s not a comfortable landing.

EP 04

The Enemy Emerges

May 13, 2023 · tvN

Cheon Moo-young’s intentions come into clearer focus, and the threat he represents is bigger than anyone anticipated. The Japanese colonial authorities — embodied by Ryuhei Kato and Akira Saito — begin closing in on supernatural beings operating in Gyeongseong. Lee Rang wrestles with himself: does he help his brother because he wants to, or because he has nowhere else to be?

EP 05

Secrets of the Restaurant

May 20, 2023 · tvN

Myoyeongak is far more than a place to eat — it’s a node in the supernatural underground of 1938 Gyeongseong, and its secrets run deep. Lee Yeon’s investigation into Cheon Moo-young’s true motivation reaches a key revelation, while Koo Shin-joo heads into a dangerous monster hunt that puts everyone on edge. The episode expands the world significantly.

EP 06

The Hunt Intensifies

May 20, 2023 · tvN

The colonial authorities’ hunt for supernatural beings reaches a new level of danger, forcing Lee Yeon’s group into corners they can’t easily escape. Lee Rang’s relationship with Jang Yeo-hee — a half-blood mermaid — begins to take on real emotional weight, and it softens him in ways he’d rather no one notice. Cheon Moo-young becomes openly aggressive, suggesting his goals have nothing to do with simple villainy.

EP 07

The Mermaid’s Song

May 27, 2023 · tvN

Jang Yeo-hee’s dual life — clothing store employee by day, singer at Club Paradise by night — becomes central to the episode’s emotional texture. Her bond with Lee Rang deepens into something neither of them has a vocabulary for, and it becomes the show’s most unexpectedly tender thread. Lee Yeon begins to understand that getting home may cost more than he originally calculated.

EP 08

Night Closes In

May 27, 2023 · tvN

Tensions converge as Cheon Moo-young’s plan crystallises and the pressure on Lee Yeon’s group becomes overwhelming. The colonial forces and supernatural threats arrive simultaneously from different directions, pushing everyone to their limits. Lee Yeon recounts his history with both Lee Rang and Hong-joo — and what he remembers isn’t flattering to himself.

EP 09

The Real Villain

June 3, 2023 · tvN

A major betrayal fractures Lee Yeon’s group, and the identity of the actual threat behind Cheon Moo-young begins to surface. Satori emerges as the season’s true villain — something darker and older than anything they’ve faced so far. Lee Rang reaches a crossroads: his brother’s ally, or a creature defined entirely by old pain. The episode doesn’t let him off easily.

EP 10

Satori Unleashed

June 3, 2023 · tvN

Satori’s full power threatens both the supernatural world of 1938 and the timeline leading back to the present. Lee Yeon, Lee Rang, and Hong-joo must put their complicated history aside — all of it — and fight together. Lee Rang’s feelings for both his brother and Yeo-hee are tested in ways that bring his entire arc to its emotional peak.

EP 11

The Price of Return

June 11, 2023 · tvN

The push to defeat Satori and restore the Guardian Stone reaches its desperate final phase. Sacrifices are made — not symbolic ones, but real ones that hit hard — and several characters face consequences they can’t undo. The episode ends on a cliffhanger that makes the cost of Lee Yeon’s return devastatingly clear. It earns its finale in the most painful way possible.

EP 12

Joseon’s Last Mountain God

June 11, 2023 · tvN

The finale delivers across every storyline. Satori is defeated — and the decisive role belongs to Lee Rang, cementing his transformation from a bitter, resentful half-blood into something genuinely heroic. Cheon Moo-young’s actions are recontextualised by a tragic backstory that reframes him as a fallen friend rather than a simple villain. Lee Rang, fully reconciled with his brother and in love with Yeo-hee, chooses to stay in 1938. Lee Yeon returns to the present and to Nam Ji-ah. The finale aired to 8.02% nationwide — the highest rating of the entire run.

Full spoilers ahead — everything that happens in the finale and what it all means.

Satori Falls — and Lee Rang Delivers the Final Blow. The finale’s emotional spine is Lee Rang’s. After 11 episodes of unresolved resentment, competing loyalties, and a love he didn’t know how to hold, Lee Rang stands with his brother against Satori — a malevolent entity old enough to predate most of what Lee Yeon knows — and it’s Lee Rang who lands the decisive strike. The scene earns everything that was built toward it. The show wisely doesn’t let it be clean or triumphant: Lee Rang wins, but the cost is written all over him. Cheon Moo-young’s backstory is revealed in full during the confrontation — he wasn’t a villain, he was a friend who lost everything and broke, which makes his hostile arc retroactively tragic rather than antagonistic.

A Farewell That Actually Lands. Lee Rang choosing to stay in 1938 is the drama’s best decision. He has Yeo-hee. He has a version of himself he can actually live with. Going back to the present — where Lee Yeon has Nam Ji-ah and a life that has moved on — holds nothing for him. The goodbye between the brothers is written with unusual restraint: no grand speech, no tearful declaration, just two people who spent centuries unable to say what they meant, finally finding a way to say it without saying it. Lee Yeon’s return to the present closes the loop cleanly. He gets back to Ji-ah. The Guardian Stone is restored. The timeline holds.

What the Sequel Was Really About. Season 1 was Lee Yeon’s story — a gumiho who waited a thousand years for the woman he loved. This sequel is Lee Rang’s, and it’s better for focusing there. The 1938 setting isn’t just atmosphere: placing two supernatural brothers inside colonial Korea adds a specific, pressurised backdrop where the question of who you fight for becomes genuinely urgent. Lee Rang’s arc — from resentful half-blood to the man who saved everyone and chose love over return — is the strongest character work in either series. The finale aired to 8.02% nationwide, the highest-rated episode of the entire run — and it felt earned.