No Tail to Tell: Episodes 1-2
by Unit
There’s a new gumiho in dramaland, and unlike her colleagues, she’s absolutely content with her supernatural state of being. Becoming human is not on her wishlist. But this tale won’t be told if she doesn’t bump into one self-absorbed human who changes everything for her.
EPISODES 1-2
When we meet our heroine, EUN-HO (Kim Hye-yoon), she’s a happy-go-lucky gumiho in Joseon who spends her days cultivating virtue in order to become human. Eun-ho is very happy when her friend becomes human and marries the human love of her life. But she soon has a vision that her friend won’t find happiness as a human, and sadly, the vision comes to pass. As a result, present-day Eun-ho refuses to love humans and doesn’t seek to become one, either. Why become a fragile, trivial, powerless, and sickly being who is doomed to die, when you can remain immortally young, powerful and fabulous?
Eun-ho coasts through life enjoying the ever-changing world of humans, using them for her amusement, and using her powers to change things she doesn’t like. To fund her dream lifestyle, Eun-ho grants rich people’s wishes. But her wish-granting service has a strict policy: she doesn’t do even the smallest of good deeds because she cannot afford to cultivate virtue and accidentally become human. She also avoids doing major misdeeds like murder, so as not to diminish her supernatural powers. Every other wish outside these two can always be arranged for a generous amount, of course. *checks my bank balance and sighs in not-Eun-ho’s-target-clientele*
When we meet our male lead, KANG SHI-YEOL (Lomon), he’s a high school soccer player from a poor background. Shi-yeol thinks very highly of himself and has the talent to back it up, but the coaches try to stifle him so he won’t outshine the team’s star player and youth national team member, HYUN WOO-SEOK (Jang Dong-joo). But despite Woo-seok’s rising star status, he and Shi-yeol remain good friends. There’s no superiority-inferiority complex between these two.
Our leads first bump into each other at a shopping mall, and the force from the contact literally shoves Shi-yeol to the wall. The second time they meet, it’s Shi-yeol running to retrieve his ball — which flew off the neighborhood pitch and hit passerby Eun-ho’s head. These two should totally wear a helmet around each other. Lol. Eun-ho is unimpressed with Shi-yeol, and his argument that he’s going to become a famous player in future does nothing but amuse her, because she’s seen a glimpse of the future, and it’s Woo-seok who’s going to be the famous one. Eun-ho’s visions are inevitable, so she doesn’t mince words when she tells Shi-yeol that he’ll end up being a nobody. Ouch!
Eun-ho grants a rich, troublemaking client his wish to win a construction bid, and the guy celebrates with dozens of drinks at a club. Unfortunately, he gets behind the wheel, runs a red light, and runs Woo-seok over. Nooo! Troublemaker attempts to make one of his drivers take the fall, but Shi-yeol witnessed the hit-and-run, and testifies that the driver is not the culprit. Troublemaker then hires Eun-ho to alter Shi-yeol’s memory of the accident, but when she sees Shi-yeol, she gets another glimpse of the future — and he’s now the famous one. His and Woo-seok’s fates have switched!
Eun-ho gets a sharp pain in her chest and briefly collapses into Shi-yeol’s arms. Her nine tails appear, and to Shi-yeol’s credit, he doesn’t freak out. Then again, he assumes he’s just seeing things. Lol. Eun-ho soon learns that the chest pain — and subsequent loss of a chunk of her powers — is her punishment because the butterfly effect of her actions lead to someone’s death. (She messed with the bidding process for Troublemaker, he got drunk in celebration and hit Woo-seok, then he killed his fall guy in a fit of anger after Shi-yeol’s witness statement invalidated Fall Guy’s claims.) Eun-ho needs to fix things in order to recover her powers, but she cannot interfere in human affairs without a human’s wish. So she goes shopping for the one human whose anti-Troublemaker wish is in line with hers: Shi-yeol.
Eun-ho appears to Shi-yeol at the bus stop to convince him to make a wish, but her interruption makes him miss the last bus. To make up for it, she uses her powers to get him home in a jiffy. Shi-yeol is fascinated by her transport services, and he’s ready to take another trip round the city with her. Lol. “Do I just hold your hand like this?” He asks, and Eun-ho finds herself smiling sheepishly at the skinship. Not my good sis losing focus. Heh. Shi-yeol readily wishes for Troublemaker to pay for his crimes, and the guy is arrested for Woo-seok’s hit-and-run, Fall Guy’s murder (and his other crimes, because Eun-ho took away his ability to lie. LMAO!).
Eun-ho recovers some of her lost powers after Troublemaker’s downfall, and her karmic scale balances. For now. Shi-yeol is very curious about Eun-ho, and she’s forced to tell him she’s a gumiho — after he wrongly guesses that she could be a demon, satan or a virgin ghost. Lol. She also buys him a suitcase in preparation for his famous future, and pitches her Make A Wish services to him for when that time comes. True to Eun-ho’s words, Shi-yeol is selected for the youth national team as a replacement for Woo-seok (who’s undergoing rehabilitation after his accident), and her suitcase gift comes in handy for when he travels abroad for training.
Flash forward to nine years later — and our story’s current timeline. Eun-ho has been out of the Make A Wish game for a while, and she cannot afford the 12 billion won to buy her dream island. Poor her. On the other hand, Shi-yeol has just signed a contract extension with an European soccer team — which makes him one of the highest paid players in the Premier League. Shi-yeol returns to Korea on break, and since he has become successful enough to be Eun-ho’s client, she goes to see him at the airport. But he doesn’t recognize her and assumes she’s a fan waiting for his autograph. Loool. At least he’s still using the suitcase she bought him.
Eun-ho magically inserts her business card into Shi-yeol’s suitcase and waits for him to get in touch, but he doesn’t. After waiting in vain, Eun-ho appears in Shi-yeol’s house and he finally recognizes her. But first, he has to recover from the surprise of seeing a stranger in his house while he’s naked. Heh. Eun-ho proudly announces that today is the day Shi-yeol gets to make his wish, and she pitches several wish options to him. Relax, girl, I know you need the money, but your desperation is showing. Lol. But to Eun-ho’s shock, Shi-yeol has everything he needs and can work for whatever he wants, so he doesn’t have any wishes.
Meanwhile, Woo-seok’s career was never the same even after rehab, and he eventually got cut from his team. But despite the depressing situation, he still hasn’t given up hopes of playing. Woo-seok has been avoiding Shi-yeol for the longest time, but their paths cross when his part-time delivery job has him deliver food to Shi-yeol’s house. Shi-yeol is happy to see Woo-seok again, and he scolds his friend for avoiding him out of embarrassment. As the guys chat, Woo-seok spots Eun-ho’s business card and asks about it. Shi-yeol then gets an idea and asks if Woo-seok has a wish. Cut to: Woo-seok as the famous player and Shi-yeol as the player who got cut from his team. WHAT?!
We don’t know his exact wish yet, but I’m certain Shi-yeol did not wish for a complete reversal of fortunes for himself and Woo-seok. But according to the fine print of Eun-ho’s wish-granting policy, how she grants a wish is entirely up to her. Poor Shi-yeol must have skipped reading the terms and conditions before rushing to click the ‘I accept’ button, and via a voiceover, he tells us he has regretted this wish-making moment for a long time. Lol. Our premiere week comes to an end on this note, and I cannot wait to see what comes next for our No Longer a Soccer Star.
This was a fun set of episodes! A gumiho who doesn’t want to be human is a fresh spin on the mythical being trope, and I’m loving it. But Eun-ho has been warned that a time will come when she must choose whether to become a human or be forever annihilated. And between dealing with that grim prophecy and the chaos she has now caused in Shi-yeol’s life, our gumiho certainly has her hands full for the rest of this show.
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