Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 (2023)

Lee Yeon is living in the present with Nam Ji-ah when Taluipa contacts him because a magical guardian stone has been stolen from the underworld, threatening the balance between the world of the living and the dead. Lee Yeon follows the masked thief through Samdocheon, but the pursuit goes wrong and he is thrown back into the year 1938 during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

In 1938, Lee Yeon lands in unfamiliar territory and realizes he cannot simply return home without first recovering the stolen stone. He immediately begins searching for a way back to the present while trying to understand the rules of this past era and the forces at work there.

Lee Yeon first reconnects with Ryu Hong-joo, who in this era is no longer a guardian spirit in the west but the owner of the upscale restaurant Myoyeongak in Gyeongseong. Their meeting is charged with familiarity and surprise, because they know each other from a much earlier time, and Hong-joo is visibly excited to see him again.

Lee Yeon then encounters Lee Rang, his younger brother, who is alive in 1938. The reunion is emotionally important because Lee Yeon already knows how their relationship will later end in tragedy, while Lee Rang in this era has not yet reached that point. Their interactions in 1938 are shaped by Lee Yeon's knowledge of the future and by Lee Rang's suspicion, distance, and underlying attachment.

Cheon Moo-young appears as another major figure from Lee Yeon's past. He had once been a guardian spirit of the eastern mountain and an ally to Lee Yeon and Hong-joo, but some earlier case has turned him hostile. His presence becomes central to the conflict in 1938, and he emerges as one of the main obstacles to Lee Yeon's mission and return.

As Lee Yeon searches for the guardian stone and a path back to his own time, he becomes entangled in the broader turmoil of the period. The series repeatedly places him in conflicts involving spirits, enemies tied to the stone, and the dangers of living under Japanese occupation, forcing him to fight while also navigating the fractured loyalties of people he once knew.

Across the early part of the story, Lee Yeon's overriding goal remains fixed: recover the stolen stone and return to the present, where Ji-ah is waiting. That goal repeatedly collides with the realities of 1938, where he must deal with Lee Rang, Hong-joo, and Moo-young as they are in this era rather than as he remembers them later.

As the story progresses, Lee Yeon keeps pressing the investigation into the thief and the stone while confronting the supernatural and human threats surrounding him. The series emphasizes that he is trapped in 1938 until he can solve the case that brought him there, so every major conflict pushes him either closer to or farther from the means of returning home.

The central emotional thread of the season is Lee Yeon's renewed bond with Lee Rang. Because Lee Rang is alive in 1938, the story repeatedly forces Lee Yeon to confront the possibility of changing the brotherly relationship before it is destroyed in the future, and that tension drives many of the key decisions he makes throughout the season.

Ryu Hong-joo also becomes one of the most important allies in the 1938 timeline. Her restaurant Myoyeongak functions as a social and political hub, and her connection to Lee Yeon gives him support, information, and another link to his past, even as the danger around them continues to grow.

Cheon Moo-young's hostility deepens the conflict further. Instead of remaining the friend Lee Yeon once knew, he stands on the opposing side and becomes a source of danger, making the past feel unstable and showing that old relationships have already been damaged before Lee Yeon arrives.

The season's struggle continues until the final confrontations over the stone and the forces behind it are resolved, allowing Lee Yeon to reach the point where he can return to the present. The story then closes with the restoration of the timeline's balance and with the emotional consequences of everything that happened in 1938 still lingering for Lee Yeon, Lee Rang, Hong-joo, and Moo-young.

Lee Yeon defeats the enemies in 1938, returns to 2023 with the guardian stone, and goes back to his wife. Lee Rang survives the story's events in this season, Cheon Moo Young is reconciled with the others, and Ryu Hong Joo continues fighting the Japanese in her own way.

The ending unfolds like this:

Lee Yeon reaches the final conflict after the stolen guardian stone has been used to disturb the boundary between the living world and the dead. In the last stretch, the situation at the wedding becomes the center of the danger, because Ginko arrives with the Myoyeongeok women to plant a bomb. The bride is revealed not to be Ginko at all, but Lee Yeon in disguise, and he uses that moment to turn the trap back on the enemies gathered there.

As the confrontation breaks open, Shin Joo intervenes to protect Hong Joo and guides her out of the hotel. Yeon then faces Ryuhei directly and tells him that Korea gained independence in 1945, using that knowledge to mock him before killing him with lightning. When more of the Japanese army arrives, Hong Joo fights them off while Yeon moves on toward Taluipa's place.

At that point, the story brings in Moo Young again. He has been brought back to life by the god of wealth and fortune, and he helps deal with the enemies that remain. The final emotional movement comes when Yeon uses the boon that had once promised help if he lost his way; this time, he uses it to protect himself and then says that if he gets lost again, he will find his own way. That closes the distance between Yeon, Hong Joo, and Moo Young, and the three are left as friends again.

After that, Yeon returns to 2023 carrying the guardian stone, so he can reunite with his wife in the present. The season ends with Yeon back where he belongs, while the 1938 version of the story leaves the main characters alive and active in their own roles: Yeon and Rang are mending their relationship, Hong Joo is still fighting for the country, and Moo Young is working as a doctor again while trying to recover the version of himself that Hong Joo once liked.

Scene by scene, the ending plays out this way:

• The wedding setting becomes a battlefield when Ginko and the women of Myoyeongeok move in to plant the bomb.
• The bride is revealed to be Lee Yeon in disguise, and the ambush collapses into open conflict.
• Shin Joo protects Hong Joo and escorts her out of danger.
• Yeon confronts Ryuhei and kills him with a lightning strike after taunting him about Korea's independence in 1945.
• Hong Joo fights off the arriving Japanese soldiers.
• Moo Young, now returned to life by the god of wealth and fortune, helps in the final struggle.
• Yeon invokes the boon from the god of wealth and fortune, uses it to protect himself, and declares he will find his own way if he gets lost again.
• Yeon, Hong Joo, and Moo Young are reconciled as friends again.
• Yeon goes back to 2023 with the guardian stone and reunites with his wife.

The fates of the main characters at the end are these:

• Lee Yeon: survives, wins the final conflict, returns to 2023, and reunites with his wife.
• Ryu Hong Joo: survives and remains in 1938, still fighting the Japanese as part of the resistance.
• Cheon Moo Young: survives after being brought back to life, helps in the ending, and returns to being a doctor.
• Lee Rang: remains alive in the 1938 storyline and is part of the broader reconciliation between the brothers.
• Ryuhei: dies when Lee Yeon strikes him with lightning.
• Shin Joo: survives and helps Hong Joo escape the danger.
• Taluipa: is not defeated in the ending and remains the figure tied to Yeon's return to the present through the guardian stone storyline.

Yes. The series has a post-credit-style ending scene rather than a major extra plot twist, and it points to the emotional aftermath of the finale rather than introducing a new storyline.

After the main ending, Lee Yeon is shown receiving the power of the nine-tailed fox again on the condition that Lee Rang will be reincarnated, which reinforces the sacrifice-and-return theme that defines the finale. The scene functions as a quiet emotional coda: it confirms that Lee Rang's death is not treated as a permanent severing, and it leaves the story on a note of reunion and unresolved longing rather than final closure.

If you want, I can also describe the final episode's ending scene in chronological detail, including how it leads into the post-credit moment.

Lee Yeon is pulled into the past after an unexpected case leads him to travel back to the year 1938, where he becomes caught up in the theft of a vital stone connected to the boundary between the living and the dead. His immediate goal is to recover that stolen object and find a way back to the present day, where his loved one is waiting for him.

In 1938, Lee Yeon meets a younger version of his brother Lee Rang, and their reunion carries major emotional weight because their relationship has already been strained by the events of the first season and by Rang's difficult life. Reviews and synopses describe this as a central part of the season, with the 1938 timeline giving their brotherhood a chance at a different emotional outcome.

Ryu Hong-joo is revealed as a former guardian spirit of a western mountain who, in 1938, owns Myoyeongak, an upscale high-end restaurant in Gyeongseong. She reconnects with Lee Yeon in the past, and the story emphasizes both her fascination with him and her renewed emotional intensity toward him.

Cheon Mu-young is another former mountain guardian spirit and an old friend of Lee Yeon and Ryu Hong-joo. The 1938 storyline reveals that he becomes hostile toward Lee Yeon after a case changes him, and multiple descriptions identify him as a major force behind the conflict in the past.

The season centers on Lee Yeon trying to recover a stolen stone tied to spiritual balance, while also dealing with other supernatural artifacts and tasks that are part of his path back to the present. Recaps and reviews mention the Legendary Pipe as one of the key objects he has to obtain, along with later cases such as the beauty pageant incident and other mission-like events that keep pulling him deeper into the 1938 conflict.

Not fully family-friendly. It is a fantasy action drama with violence, horror elements, and some unsettling supernatural imagery, so it may be better for older children or teens than for younger viewers.

Potentially objectionable or upsetting elements may include:

• Frequent action violence and combat, including fights with weapons and supernatural attacks.
• Horror/fantasy monsters and eerie spirit-related imagery, which can be frightening for sensitive viewers.
• Zombies and sinister beings, adding more intense scary content.
• Historical war-era tension, since the story is set in 1938 during Japanese-occupied Korea, which may bring oppressive or distressing atmosphere.
• Dark tone and peril, with characters under threat and a generally chaotic, high-stakes mood.

If you want, I can also give a kid-age recommendation such as "okay for 10+ / 13+ / 16+" based on the likely intensity.