My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox

My Girlfriend Is a Nine Tailed Fox
Promotional poster
Also known as	My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho
Genre	Romance Comedy Drama Fantasy
Written by	Hong Jung-eun Hong Mi-ran
Directed by	Boo Sung-chul
Starring	Lee Seung-gi Shin Min-ah
Ending theme	"Fox Rain" by Lee Sun-hee
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	60 minutes Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 (KST)
Production company(s)	BON Factory
Release
Original network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Original release	11 August (2010-08-11) – 30 September 2010 (2010-09-30)
Chronology
Preceded by	Bad Guy
Followed by	Daemul
External links
Website

My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox (Hangul: 내 여자친구는 구미호; Hanja: 내 女子親舊는 九尾狐; RR: Nae Yeojachinguneun Gumiho; also known as My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho) is a 2010 South Korean romantic comedy television series starring Lee Seung-gi and Shin Min-ah.^[1] It aired on SBS from August 11 to September 30, 2010 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes.^[2][3]

Plot

Cha Dae-woong (Lee Seung-gi) is a normal college student, with ambitions of becoming an action star. Until one day, he accidentally releases a gumiho (Shin Min-ah), a legendary fox with nine tails who was sealed inside a painting by Samshin Grandmother (三神). Fleeing the scene, Dae-woong suffers a life-threatening fall and is only saved by the gumiho giving him her "fox bead" (여우 구슬). When Dae-woong awakes and meets a mysterious pretty girl, he initially treats her as eccentric or mentally ill, before finally understanding that she is a gumiho in human form. According to myth, gumihos eat men's livers, so Dae-woong is scared out of his wits, and the gumiho takes advantage of his fear by sticking by his side. He names her "Mi-ho," and keeps her happy by buying her beef and hiding her true identity. Mi-ho wants nothing more than to become human, so they strike a deal: she'll lend him her mystical fox bead so that with his increased speed and strength, he'll be able to do difficult stunts, and in exchange he'll help her become human. As time passes, they get to know each other better and Dae-woong is charmed by how Mi-ho looks at the world with childlike wonder.

Enter Park Dong-joo, a half-human, half-supernatural being, whose cover identity is as a working veterinarian. Dong-joo tells Mi-ho that she'll be able to turn human if she follows these instructions: She must drink Dong-joo's blood then place her fox bead inside a human's body for 100 days. Once she does this, her supernatural self will start to die, gradually. Her gumiho energy will slowly empty away while her bead will live in the human for 100 days and take in his energy. And when she reclaims her bead, she will become human. Mi-ho happily complies, and Dae-woong accepts her bead.

However, Dong-joo deliberately withheld the information that this process will result in the human's death. Mi-ho and Dae-woong thus fall in love without knowing the consequences of fulfilling her goal: in 100 days, Dae-woong will die if Mi-ho becomes fully human, but Mi-ho will die if the bead isn't returned.^[4][5]

Cast and characters

• Lee Seung-gi as Cha Dae-woong, an immature aspiring actor who lost his parents at a young age, and was subsequently raised by his affluent grandfather and aunt. When his grandfather tries to enroll him in a strict boarding school, Dae-woong runs away and eventually ends up at a Buddhist temple, where a woman's voice tells him to draw nine tails on a painting of a fox. He then meets a girl who informs him that she was the gumiho in the painting (he later calls her Mi-ho). Scared in the beginning that she'll eat him, he tries to keep her happy by buying her meat (Korean beef in particular, her favorite) and hiding the fact that she's a gumiho from others. Later, Dae-woong falls in love with Mi-ho.
• Shin Min-ah as Gu Mi-ho/Park Seon-ju/Gil-dal, a legendary nine-tailed fox (or "gumiho" in Korean mythology) who was sealed inside a painting for 500 years. She's dreamed of becoming human for centuries, but once rumors spread that she's a femme fatale who eats men's livers, no human man would agree to marry her. She has superhuman strength, can run exceptionally fast, jump extremely high, and can identify people and objects from great distances by smell. However, she has a mortal fear of water, since her fox bead (which houses her life energy or "qi") is made from goblin fire. After Dae-woong has an almost fatal fall from a cliff, she gives him her fox bead to keep him alive. As they spend more time together, he's surprised to see that instead of the ferocious figure of legend, Mi-ho is cute and full of wonder. What she wants most of all is to become human.
• No Min-woo as Park Dong-joo, a half-human, half-supernatural being who disguises himself as an ordinary veterinarian. His initial mission was to capture the gumiho and put her back into the painting, but upon seeing Mi-ho, he changes his mind. She is the spitting image of Gil-dal, a goblin he'd once loved centuries ago, but Gil-dal was betrayed by her human lover which led to her death at Dong-joo's hand. Suspecting that Mi-ho is Gil-dal's reincarnation given their similar appearance and circumstances, he acts as her mentor, watching over her and supplying her with information about humans. He also constantly warns her that humans cannot be trusted. Dong-joo tells Mi-ho how she can become human, deliberately withholding that Dae-woong will die in the process. He readies all the necessary identifications and papers under the name "Park Seon-joo," which Mi-ho will assume once the 100 days have passed and she's become fully human.
• Park Soo-jin as Eun Hye-in. Though the two were once romantically involved, Dae-woong loses interest in her when he discovers that she was merely using him. When Mi-ho becomes Dae-woong's girlfriend, she becomes jealous, and attempts to throw a wrench into their relationship by investigating Mi-ho's true identity.
• Sung Dong-il as Ban Doo-hong, stunt director and head of the action school Dae-woong attends. He is also the widowed father of Ban Sun-nyeo. Doo-hong idolizes Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat and tries to imitate him in his appearance and manner of speaking. He falls for Dae-woong's aunt Cha Min-sook, though their romance is played for comic relief with various embarrassing encounters filled with visual gags and toilet humor, usually involving flatulence.
• Yoon Yoo-sun as Cha Min-sook, Dae-woong's aunt. She never married and is shown to be very obedient to her father. She's unable to express her feelings for Ban Doo-hong, causing her to often make a fool of herself in his presence.
• Byun Hee-bong as Cha Poong, Dae-woong's strict but loving grandfather. He's concerned that his spoiled and shallow grandson isn't making good choices in life. He becomes fond of Mi-ho upon meeting her, and sees that being with her has made Dae-woong more mature and responsible. He eventually accepts Dae-woong's dream of becoming an actor.
• Kim Ho-chang as Kim Byung-soo, Dae-woong's best friend and classmate in action school. He is supportive of Dae-woong, and secretly likes Sun-nyeo.
• Park Hyomin as Ban Sun-nyeo, Dae-woong's friend and the daughter of Ban Doo-hong. After she gets over her crush on Dae-woong, she finally realizes that Byung-soo likes her and reciprocates.

Cameo appearances

• Im Hyun-sik as Buddhist monk (ep 1, 8, 15)
• Lee Soo-geun as police officer (ep 4)
• Uee as art major in college (ep 5)^[6]
• Park Shin-hye as Go Mi-nyeo on the bus (ep 6)^[6]
• Lee Hong-gi as Jeremy at a photoshoot (ep 16)^[6]
• Kim Ji-young as Samshin grandmother (ep 15, 16)

Ratings

Source: TNS Media Korea

Awards and nominations

International broadcast

• China: Aired on PPS.tv and Sohu News beginning August 11, 2010.^[12]
• Japan: Aired on TBS on Mondays to Fridays at 10:05 a.m. beginning April 21, 2011.^[13]
• Indonesia: Aired on Indosiar in November 2011, In LBS TV on Mondays to Fridays at 2:00 p.m. beginning July 1, 2013 and aired on RTV on Mondays to Fridays at 2:00 p.m. beginning May 25, 2015 - 12 June 2015.
• United States: The entire series is available on DVD from Netflix.
• Malaysia: Aired on NTV7 on Mondays at 8.30 p.m beginning October 27, 2014. Previously on 8TV (Malaysia) in Chinese Dub in 2012.
• Vietnam: Aired on HTV3 on January 27, 2014.
• Philippines: Aired on ABS-CBN and Re-Aired on Jeepney TV on April 4, 2016 - April 29,2016.
• Thailand: Aired on Channel 7 on Wednesdays to Fridays at 8:30 a.m. beginning October 30, 2013.^[14]

References

External links

• My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho official SBS website (Korean)
• My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho at HanCinema
• My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho at the Internet Movie Database
• Filming Locations Map