Reincarnation is a tale as old as time. In a fantasy romance context, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, especially where the “destined soulmate” trope is concerned. Individuals who find one another across time, sometimes even defying fate to do so — what’s not to love? There’s one condition: if the emotional investment doesn’t match the stakes, and the female lead’s personality gets subsumed by her past life. (So, that’s two conditions.) Even though the journey matters more than the destination in K-Drama romances, a fact underscored by reincarnation’s very nature, audiences still need to care. Part of that care necessitates a leading lady strong enough to retain her present individuality rather than having it replaced by the memories of her past incarnations, a move that can invalidate all that came before.
Tale of the Nine-Tailed, a 2020 Netflix-distributed K-Drama by writer Han Woo-ri, offers an empowered, ferocious, competent female lead who’s rarely a damsel in distress. When she is, she isn’t happy about it. Contemporary K-Drama women have richly complex interior lives, yet Tale of the Nine-Tailed takes it to a refreshingly modern place with Nam Ji-ah (Jo Bo-ah, also the co-lead on Netflix’s <em>Destined With You</em>) without sacrificing the desired trifecta: a tender love story, high production value, and nimbly plotted escapism. Plus, there’s an ageless god falling in love with a woman while his nefarious arch-nemesis stirs up trouble.
What Is ‘Tale of the Nine-Tailed’ About?
Set in modern-day Korea, Tale of the Nine-Tailed‘s Ji-ah immediately sets herself apart. For one, she’s a television producer/journalist investigating urban myths. Through her work, she encounters Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook), an ancient nine-tailed fox spirit roaming through the human world in the guise of an unfairly handsome guy. This chance meeting isn’t the first time the two have crossed paths. Ji-ah has spent two decades looking for Lee Yeon, believing he kidnapped her parents and tried to murder her when she was nine years old. Instead, Lee Yeon protected her from certain death and wasn’t able to wipe the incident and his face from her memory — unusual, since he could do that in his sleep.
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<>How do you relate to the people around you?>
<>Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.>
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<><>A<>With intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated.>
<><>B<>With warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself.>
<><>C<>With directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it.>
<><>D<>With professional care but clear limits — I’ll protect you, but I won’t pretend we’re family.>
<><>E<>With wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don’t trust easily, but when I do, it holds.>
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><>NEXT QUESTION →<>>
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<>You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?>
<>How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.>
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<><>A<>Prepare in silence. If they won’t listen, I’ll be ready when they finally have to.>
<><>B<>Keep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself.>
<><Buildthecase.findthealliesandmakethethreatimpossibleignore.>
