#leerang

[angrygoddesses]

Lee Rang my beloved you deserved so much better. F*ck the main leads and the infinite illogical plotholes in the show. Rang should be going to therapy and then go on a vacation with Yu Ri & So-Oh.

[mymagiclandworld]

[atinyjules]

CHERRY CHAPSTICK - LEE RANG

Okay soo this is basically an excerpt of my other fic which you will find here. So I suggest you read that one first.

I really liked the idea of the reader being a Samjoko so yes, I'll play with that for a little while.

Genre: fluff, humour, romance au, fantasy au and a touch of angst.

Pairings: Lee Rang x Samjoko!Reader (Noeul)

Warnings: none really! Other than Rang being his flirty self

"So...the next door will open after 29 days? That means I only have a month with Rang..." Noeul mumbled as Yeon patted her shoulder.

"We have a month to spend with Rang so I say instead of resisting his antics, you spend as much time with him as you can...cause after we return to our timeline Rang won't be there." Yeon said as Noeul nodded intently.

"So...every second counts." She said as Yeon nodded.

"Spend time with him, converse with him and enjoy your moments with him here...this maybe your last chance to see him." Yeon said as she nodded.

"I will..."

After the talk with Yeon, Noeul decided to take a walk and explore the area when someone jumped down from the tree causing Noeul to shriek and trip.

"Whoa, whoa, its just me!" She looked up to see Rang who held her by her waist.

"Oh my gosh! Don't do that! I almost tripped!" she exclaimed as he chuckled and brought her back on her feet.

"But I caught you." he said as she fixed her bow.

"You must really like that bow." he said as she pointed to the bow that sat perfectly clipped on her hair.

"This? Someone gave it to me on my birthday so I really cherish it." she said as he adjusted it to look straight, without knowing that it was him who gifted it to her.

Noeul's

I smiled as he fixed my bow.

"Well then that person has taste cause it suits you really well." Rang said as I chuckled.

"Thanks...so what are you doing here anyways? Did you follow me?" I asked as he chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, you could say that." he answered as we ventured further into the forest.

"I have no idea where we're going." I said as he smiled and held my hand.

"No worries, you have your mighty Gumiho by your side. And besides, if we do get lost at least we won't be alone." he said as we took random paths.

"I mean sure but...what if we can't find our way back by night?" I asked him as he huffed.

"There's no need to worry about that cause we'll be home before sundown." he said confidently as we walked deeper inside the forest.

"The forest is pretty isn't it." I said as I walked over a tree trunk.

"Nothing compares to your beauty though." he said causing me to get flustered as I hit him lightly.

"Oh my gosh, shut upp!" I exclaimed as he nodded.

"I'm not kidding...you are way more beautiful than those beauty queens." he said as I shook my head and chuckled.

"Yeah, right " I said as we decided to rest after walking continuously for about an hour.

"Gosh my lips are horrendous!" I exclaimed and quickly searched for my cherry chapstick.

As I applied the sweet cherry chapstick over my chapped lips I could feel Rang staring intently at my actions. After applying the chapstick I rubbed my lips together and puckered my lips a little.

"Much better!" I exclaimed as I looked at Rang who still had his curious eyes on my lips.

"What did you apply on your lips?" he asked as I took out my cherry flavored chapstick.

"Its a chapstick...it keeps your lips moisturized and soft." I said as I opened the lid.

"Do you wanna try it?" I asked as he thought for a second and nodded. I then went and stood infront of him and leaned in a little and applied the chapstick on his lips.

"Now rub your lips together." I said and showed him as he followed.

"Do you taste the cherry flavor?" I asked and snorted when he licked his lower lip.

"No, it doesn't..." he said as I chuckled.

"It should cause I can tasted the flavor a little." I said when he suddenly pulled me by the waist and joined his lips with mine. I felt my face heat up as he kissed me softly and tenderly.

I stared at him in disbelief after he broke the kiss.

"I do taste the cherry now." He said as I hit him causing him to run.

"Yah, you flirt! Come back here!" I exclaimed and ran after him as he chuckled and ran forward.

"You'll have to catch me first!" he exclaimed as I tried my best to catch him but failed miserably.

"Is that all you got Princess?" he exclaimed ticking me off as I used my super speed and jumped on his back in a matter of seconds.

As he held me on his back our laughters filled the otherwise quiet forest. Content with each other's presence.

_______________________

It was a rather short fic but I had a fun writing it!🌼

Find Noeul's fit for this fic over here!

[minijeung]

Does anyone else remember Flow? Still got an interesting premise to me ngl

[goldenxglamour]

She paid him back, indeed…

(creds to @leerang for the first gif)

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 (2023)

Loan sharks are the scariest 🦈😢🤣 #kdramaedit #kdrama #taleoftheninetailed1938#dongwook#leerang

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BEjuKuLh_cU

[leerang]

kimdokis >>> leerang

[sunaleisocial]

A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/a-two-dose-schedule-could-make-hiv-vaccines-more-effective/

A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective

One major reason why it has been difficult to develop an effective HIV vaccine is that the virus mutates very rapidly, allowing it to evade the antibody response generated by vaccines.

Several years ago, MIT researchers showed that administering a series of escalating doses of an HIV vaccine over a two-week period could help overcome a part of that challenge by generating larger quantities of neutralizing antibodies. However, a multidose vaccine regimen administered over a short time is not practical for mass vaccination campaigns.

In a new study, the researchers have now found that they can achieve a similar immune response with just two doses, given one week apart. The first dose, which is much smaller, prepares the immune system to respond more powerfully to the second, larger dose.

This study, which was performed by bringing together computational modeling and experiments in mice, used an HIV envelope protein as the vaccine. A single-dose version of this vaccine is now in clinical trials, and the researchers hope to establish another study group that will receive the vaccine on a two-dose schedule.

“By bringing together the physical and life sciences, we shed light on some basic immunological questions that helped develop this two-dose schedule to mimic the multiple-dose regimen,” says Arup Chakraborty, the John M. Deutch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH and Harvard University.

This approach may also generalize to vaccines for other diseases, Chakraborty notes.

Chakraborty and Darrell Irvine, a former MIT professor of biological engineering and materials science and engineering and member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, who is now a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute, are the senior authors of the study, which appears today in Science Immunology. The lead authors of the paper are Sachin Bhagchandani PhD ’23 and Leerang Yang PhD ’24.

Neutralizing antibodies

Each year, HIV infects more than 1 million people around the world, and some of those people do not have access to antiviral drugs. An effective vaccine could prevent many of those infections. One promising vaccine now in clinical trials consists of an HIV protein called an envelope trimer, along with a nanoparticle called SMNP. The nanoparticle, developed by Irvine’s lab, acts as an adjuvant that helps recruit a stronger B cell response to the vaccine.

In clinical trials, this vaccine and other experimental vaccines have been given as just one dose. However, there is growing evidence that a series of doses is more effective at generating broadly neutralizing antibodies. The seven-dose regimen, the researchers believe, works well because it mimics what happens when the body is exposed to a virus: The immune system builds up a strong response as more viral proteins, or antigens, accumulate in the body.

In the new study, the MIT team investigated how this response develops and explored whether they could achieve the same effect using a smaller number of vaccine doses.

“Giving seven doses just isn’t feasible for mass vaccination,” Bhagchandani says. “We wanted to identify some of the critical elements necessary for the success of this escalating dose, and to explore whether that knowledge could allow us to reduce the number of doses.”

The researchers began by comparing the effects of one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven doses, all given over a 12-day period. They initially found that while three or more doses generated strong antibody responses, two doses did not. However, by tweaking the dose intervals and ratios, the researchers discovered that giving 20 percent of the vaccine in the first dose and 80 percent in a second dose, seven days later, achieved just as good a response as the seven-dose schedule.

“It was clear that understanding the mechanisms behind this phenomenon would be crucial for future clinical translation,” Yang says. “Even if the ideal dosing ratio and timing may differ for humans, the underlying mechanistic principles will likely remain the same.”

Using a computational model, the researchers explored what was happening in each of these dosing scenarios. This work showed that when all of the vaccine is given as one dose, most of the antigen gets chopped into fragments before it reaches the lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are where B cells become activated to target a particular antigen, within structures known as germinal centers.

When only a tiny amount of the intact antigen reaches these germinal centers, B cells can’t come up with a strong response against that antigen.

However, a very small number of B cells do arise that produce antibodies targeting the intact antigen. So, giving a small amount in the first dose does not “waste” much antigen but allows some B cells and antibodies to develop. If a second, larger dose is given a week later, those antibodies bind to the antigen before it can be broken down and escort it into the lymph node. This allows more B cells to be exposed to that antigen and eventually leads to a large population of B cells that can target it.

“The early doses generate some small amounts of antibody, and that’s enough to then bind to the vaccine of the later doses, protect it, and target it to the lymph node. That’s how we realized that we don’t need to give seven doses,” Bhagchandani says. “A small initial dose will generate this antibody and then when you give the larger dose, it can again be protected because that antibody will bind to it and traffic it to the lymph node.”

T-cell boost

Those antigens may stay in the germinal centers for weeks or even longer, allowing more B cells to come in and be exposed to them, making it more likely that diverse types of antibodies will develop.

The researchers also found that the two-dose schedule induces a stronger T-cell response. The first dose activates dendritic cells, which promote inflammation and T-cell activation. Then, when the second dose arrives, even more dendritic cells are stimulated, further boosting the T-cell response.

Overall, the two-dose regimen resulted in a fivefold improvement in the T-cell response and a 60-fold improvement in the antibody response, compared to a single vaccine dose.

“Reducing the ‘escalating dose’ strategy down to two shots makes it much more practical for clinical implementation. Further, a number of technologies are in development that could mimic the two-dose exposure in a single shot, which could become ideal for mass vaccination campaigns,” Irvine says.

The researchers are now studying this vaccine strategy in a nonhuman primate model. They are also working on specialized materials that can deliver the second dose over an extended period of time, which could further enhance the immune response.

The research was funded by the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH, and Harvard.

[jcmarchi]

A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-two-dose-schedule-could-make-hiv-vaccines-more-effective/

A two-dose schedule could make HIV vaccines more effective

One major reason why it has been difficult to develop an effective HIV vaccine is that the virus mutates very rapidly, allowing it to evade the antibody response generated by vaccines.

Several years ago, MIT researchers showed that administering a series of escalating doses of an HIV vaccine over a two-week period could help overcome a part of that challenge by generating larger quantities of neutralizing antibodies. However, a multidose vaccine regimen administered over a short time is not practical for mass vaccination campaigns.

In a new study, the researchers have now found that they can achieve a similar immune response with just two doses, given one week apart. The first dose, which is much smaller, prepares the immune system to respond more powerfully to the second, larger dose.

This study, which was performed by bringing together computational modeling and experiments in mice, used an HIV envelope protein as the vaccine. A single-dose version of this vaccine is now in clinical trials, and the researchers hope to establish another study group that will receive the vaccine on a two-dose schedule.

“By bringing together the physical and life sciences, we shed light on some basic immunological questions that helped develop this two-dose schedule to mimic the multiple-dose regimen,” says Arup Chakraborty, the John M. Deutch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH and Harvard University.

This approach may also generalize to vaccines for other diseases, Chakraborty notes.

Chakraborty and Darrell Irvine, a former MIT professor of biological engineering and materials science and engineering and member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, who is now a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute, are the senior authors of the study, which appears today in Science Immunology. The lead authors of the paper are Sachin Bhagchandani PhD ’23 and Leerang Yang PhD ’24.

Neutralizing antibodies

Each year, HIV infects more than 1 million people around the world, and some of those people do not have access to antiviral drugs. An effective vaccine could prevent many of those infections. One promising vaccine now in clinical trials consists of an HIV protein called an envelope trimer, along with a nanoparticle called SMNP. The nanoparticle, developed by Irvine’s lab, acts as an adjuvant that helps recruit a stronger B cell response to the vaccine.

In clinical trials, this vaccine and other experimental vaccines have been given as just one dose. However, there is growing evidence that a series of doses is more effective at generating broadly neutralizing antibodies. The seven-dose regimen, the researchers believe, works well because it mimics what happens when the body is exposed to a virus: The immune system builds up a strong response as more viral proteins, or antigens, accumulate in the body.

In the new study, the MIT team investigated how this response develops and explored whether they could achieve the same effect using a smaller number of vaccine doses.

“Giving seven doses just isn’t feasible for mass vaccination,” Bhagchandani says. “We wanted to identify some of the critical elements necessary for the success of this escalating dose, and to explore whether that knowledge could allow us to reduce the number of doses.”

The researchers began by comparing the effects of one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven doses, all given over a 12-day period. They initially found that while three or more doses generated strong antibody responses, two doses did not. However, by tweaking the dose intervals and ratios, the researchers discovered that giving 20 percent of the vaccine in the first dose and 80 percent in a second dose, seven days later, achieved just as good a response as the seven-dose schedule.

“It was clear that understanding the mechanisms behind this phenomenon would be crucial for future clinical translation,” Yang says. “Even if the ideal dosing ratio and timing may differ for humans, the underlying mechanistic principles will likely remain the same.”

Using a computational model, the researchers explored what was happening in each of these dosing scenarios. This work showed that when all of the vaccine is given as one dose, most of the antigen gets chopped into fragments before it reaches the lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are where B cells become activated to target a particular antigen, within structures known as germinal centers.

When only a tiny amount of the intact antigen reaches these germinal centers, B cells can’t come up with a strong response against that antigen.

However, a very small number of B cells do arise that produce antibodies targeting the intact antigen. So, giving a small amount in the first dose does not “waste” much antigen but allows some B cells and antibodies to develop. If a second, larger dose is given a week later, those antibodies bind to the antigen before it can be broken down and escort it into the lymph node. This allows more B cells to be exposed to that antigen and eventually leads to a large population of B cells that can target it.

“The early doses generate some small amounts of antibody, and that’s enough to then bind to the vaccine of the later doses, protect it, and target it to the lymph node. That’s how we realized that we don’t need to give seven doses,” Bhagchandani says. “A small initial dose will generate this antibody and then when you give the larger dose, it can again be protected because that antibody will bind to it and traffic it to the lymph node.”

T-cell boost

Those antigens may stay in the germinal centers for weeks or even longer, allowing more B cells to come in and be exposed to them, making it more likely that diverse types of antibodies will develop.

The researchers also found that the two-dose schedule induces a stronger T-cell response. The first dose activates dendritic cells, which promote inflammation and T-cell activation. Then, when the second dose arrives, even more dendritic cells are stimulated, further boosting the T-cell response.

Overall, the two-dose regimen resulted in a fivefold improvement in the T-cell response and a 60-fold improvement in the antibody response, compared to a single vaccine dose.

“Reducing the ‘escalating dose’ strategy down to two shots makes it much more practical for clinical implementation. Further, a number of technologies are in development that could mimic the two-dose exposure in a single shot, which could become ideal for mass vaccination campaigns,” Irvine says.

The researchers are now studying this vaccine strategy in a nonhuman primate model. They are also working on specialized materials that can deliver the second dose over an extended period of time, which could further enhance the immune response.

The research was funded by the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH, and Harvard.

[sjmnlt980112]

#KimBum #WooHyunjin #LeeRang #JangYeohee

I promised, remember? I promised I’d protect you. This time, repay me all at once. 2.07 │Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 (2023 –) Dir. Kang Shin Hyo & Jo Nam Hyung

[thefandomdirtymind]

The nostalgia of the half-fox

Part 1- part 2

ee Rang 

Tales of the Nine Tailed

A/N IMPORTANT: The story happen few years before the event of Tales of the Nine Tailed, Rang have rescued Yu-Ri but nothing from the show had happen yet. 

* English is not my first language, I tried really hard to correct myself but, I hope you will excuse me if some mistakes are still there.   

______________

Fate is a bitch, a twisted, cruel, vengeful bitch and she likes to play dirty.

Your fist lifted in the air at only a few inches of the metal panel, you hesitated, asking yourself for the thousandth time, time you didn’t have, why, of all the safer places in Seoul you could’ve ended up, you did find yourself in front of that door.

It wasn't a good place for you, not a friendly space where you could lick your wounds in peace. But, as your blood was dripping on the floor, staining the gray carpet of the hall you knew you didn’t have much time left to decide and you had to make your move before fate decided to do it for you.

And like an asshole she outplayed you.

“ Will you bleed to death in front of my door or will you ask for my help ? “ A masculine voice demands.

“ I’m still undecided, dying here or inside, it’s the to be or not to be questioned all over again” You respond, your gaze still trying to stay focused as your vision slowly becomes a blur.

Lifting your gaze to meet him, you sigh at the realization that your legendary sharp senses were starting slowly to betray you one by one.

Standing casually in the frame of the door you didn’t hear open, Lee Rang was looking at you, his usual smirk playing on his lips.

“ How will you get out of this situation now ? Foxes aren’t like cat Y/N, don’t confuse your tails with your numbers of life. Choose, come in or stay outside”

But the darkness welcomed you first.

______

                                                          -1-

You knew it was a trap.

Bad luck spirits would never leave a crowded place where they can eat bad energy as much as they want, or use the protection of the public's eyes, to wander suddenly in a deserted construction site.

After three hundred years as an agent of the underworld, you should have trusted your guts and called some help, but like the big nine tailed fox you are, you didn't.

A group of spirits wasn’t so uncommon but,  as much as you had hated to admit to yourself, the varieties of spirits who had surrounded you were clearly at your disadvantage and they knew it.

Even armed with your underworld sword. The fight, for both sides, had been hard, making you use a fair amount of technique and expertise. Atlas, as you watched the last member of the gang run away, your wound already hurting like hell and the poison of the snake spirit rushing in your veins, you knew that battle didn't truly have a winner.

Because a winner didn't leave a battle with an enemy to knock on the door of another.

You didn't know what you were thinking when you ended up on his doorstep. Only that, as much fate is a bitch, nostalgia has also his part to play and you wanted, for your death, one last venomous exchange with the brunette, no more no less.

As the cold embrace of darkness hugged you, you had the thought that, for once, Fate was in a good mood as she agreed to those few last words. But, like the life guideline cosmos, you didn't think that is sister, Destiny, would like too, to play his part.

—-

The sun was filtered by the hundred leaves above your head. The wind, delicate like a touch, was carrying the fresh scent of the waterfall and your favorite flowers. Behind you, you could hear the sound of his footsteps as he purchased you, making you scream and laugh as his arms finally reached your waist, promising you to never let you go.  

Your head was hurting, your body too warm to be comfortable and the light in the room way too bright.

The light ?

Opening your eyes, trying to acclimate your vision to the sunlight coming by the large windows, you slowly lift yourself, unsure of your exact location, neither of how you could have ended up in a room looking like a luxurious hotel room.

The last memory you had was delivering your last breath and the voice of Lee Rang close to your ear calling your name.

So where, since you were supposed to be dead, did you wake up ?

You were pretty sure too that Ms.Taluipa would never use her influence to change something as important as the date of your death. It wasn't that the old lady dislikes you in any form, more like she knows that her duty is more important than her employer and poor husband. Or at least, it is what you like to comfort you with when, after a hard mission, she simply gives you another task and screams at you about being hurt like a newbie.

" You're awake, wonderful."

Jumping in the bed, scared by the fact that you didn't hear any footsteps coming, you stare at the young woman who, with caution, approaches you with a steaming bowl of soup and chopstick in her hands.

" Who are you, no where am I, When did I…No why I didn't hear you coming ? " You couldn't help yourself to ask. Being scared wasn't in your nature, not anymore, but as the confusion was clouding your mind, the fear was also making you curious and clumsy.

" Oh, he told me that you might be confused, irritable,or even mean when you wake up. But that's okay, I had been there too. My name is Ki Yu-Ri. Nice to meet you. " She replied. " Mister Lee Rang said that your senses had been affected by the poison, you will recover them gradually."

So, it was where you are. You didn't enter on your own will but he had decided for you, and apparently succeed to keep you alive.  

" Lee Rang saved me… of his own initiative ?" You asked, unsure if you should trust her or should run as quickly as possible. If it was true that Lee Rang helped you, it was probably not by generosity.  

"Yes of my own initiative, I am still in debate with myself if I should make you pay the price of my ruined shirt or kill you myself after bringing you back from the dead. That snake spirit, apparently, couldn't die and let me take his antidote pouch without bleeding on my suit. I hope you had some emergency fund, it will cost you"

Lifting your gaze to meet his casual form standing against the doorframe. You forced yourself to stay still, all your functional senses in alert, taking small but deep breaths.

" I’m truly sorry if my survival ruins one of your suits, send me the bill and I will refund you with a thank you note" You reply sarcastically, pressing your hand again your forehead trying to calm the heavy headache " If you excuse me, the meal look delicious but I will go now "

Trying to exit the bed without questioning yourself about the large shirt you were wearing instead of your previous clothes, and without knocking down the bowl, the clearly mixed emotions Yu-ri had brought you. You sadly managed to make only a few steps before falling on your knees, your blurry vision focused on Lee Rang, clearly unimpressed.

" Here you are again, pushing yourself too hard. '' He said in a murmur, lifting you in his arms, returning you to the warm comfort of the bed. " I will not be nice forever, I want to have my bed back, so stop being stubborn, eat, sleep and heal fast"

Closing your eyes, ashamed of the weak state of your body you softly curse, unable to believe the situation you had put yourself into.

"You should have let me die" You finally said.

" I only do it because it seems like a good way to pay that old debt I owe you" Rang said, heading to the door, Yu-Ri on his heels.  

" I never ask you to repay that " You replied, your traitor heart now joining your head in a devilish hurt duo. " You were the one who insisted "

" I know. We were young and now I have to pay for it " He coldly answered, his hand resting on the door knob, a flaming fox promise ring burning on his finger. A promise he made to you long ago.

____

[mindmeltonabun-blog]

Tale of the Nine Tailed: Explanation of Lee Rang’s Death and Lee Yeon’s Ending Scene

Well folks...here we are once again. I did say that I would not write another TOTNT post unless there was anything worth discussing in the finale. I know many of you may feel utterly devastated or somewhat confused by how TOTNT ended, but I hope my post will be able to comfort you somehow. Anyways, let’s put on our thinking caps one last time for TOTNT!

Lee Rang’s Death

One of the biggest complaints many have had is the death of Lee Rang. Many said that the writer did him dirty while others wished that Lee Yeon and Ji Ah would’ve died instead. However, when we looked at his character arc’s as a whole, his death was justified. We mustn’t forget that he murdered hundreds possibly thousands in wake of his anger. 

Yes, he did do some good towards the end of his life such as taking in Yuri and Kim Soo, but that shouldn’t discredit all the atrocious acts he had committed in the past. Saving the life of two people doesn’t make up for all of the lives he had taken. Additionally, it is noted that Lee Rang did also assist the Imoogi’s group to bring the Imoogi back to life which caused for a slew of horrible events to occur in the first place. 

In the end, it was Lee Rang’s turn to sacrifice for the one he loved. Everything in TOTNT is cyclic if you think about it. First Ah Eum died to save Lee Yeon then Lee Yeon died to save Ji Ah. Therefore, it was only logical that it was Lee Rang’s turn to die for the one he loved which was Lee Yeon. 

Everything in life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine, what matters is what you do despite being dealt a bad fate. Both Lee Yeon and Ah Eum/Ji Ah weren’t dealt with a particularly good fate, but yet they still remained good people. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Lee Rang. Yes, he was dealt with a bad fate with having been born with a mother who didn’t want him, but he was also lucky because he had been taken in by a brother who greatly cherished him. Instead of appreciating the time he shared with Lee Yeon and remaining a good person even after the events of Lee Yeon leaving for the Samcheon River, Lee Rang still decided to take a turn for the worst. 

Over and over again, Lee Rang had escaped the punishment he so rightly deserved. For example, even after killing those villagers, Lee Yeon spared his life. Lee Rang had been basically living off on borrowed time. In a way, Lee Rang was lucky that during that borrowed time he was able to resolve the misunderstanding he had with Lee Yeon as well as have a small family of his own. Finally, if there’s anything TOTNT has taught us, it’s that if something is the will of the afterlife judges, it will be carried out eventually. One can’t escape their punishment.

In my opinion, things could have gone a lot worse for Lee Rang in the end. Meaning he could have been reborn as a shrimp. Instead, the afterlife judges granted him reincarnation as a boy who had a mother who cared for him and granted him his last wish which was to meet his brother again. He got all of wishes fulfilled. Thus, it was a satisfying ending for Lee Rang. 

Update 12/07/2020: Does Lee Yeon Meeting Reincarnated Lee Rang Indicate Many Years Have Passed?

No, it doesn’t. The team probably wanted to use the same child actor (Joo Won Lee; DOB: 05/03/2011) as to imply that Lee Rang had been successfully reincarnated. Sure, they could’ve used someone who was a few months old, but how then would Lee Yeon recognize Lee Rang ? Remember that Lee Yeon only met Lee Rang when he was around 9 years old. There would be no way for Lee Yeon to recognize what a few months old Lee Rang could’ve looked like. Get it ? Again, Lee Yeon meeting reincarnated Lee Rang happened in 2021!

Why Does Lee Yeon Still Have His Gumiho Powers?           

Initially, when I first watched this I was beyond shocked, left confused, and was rethinking my opinion of Lee Yeon as a good person. However, once I watched it with subs and then did a little research into how Gumihos can become human, the ending scene made sense. Again, everyone should’ve taken Jo Bo Ah’s advice of looking up myths and see to how they pertain to whatever happened in TOTNT.

Anyways, in legends, Gumihos can become human in the following ways:

1)    Refrain from killing and eating humans for 1000 days

2)    The human who found out a Gumiho’s true nature, must tell no one of its secret for 10 years

3)    Over a period of 100 days (other versions say 1000 days or ~3 years), Kumiho must not be detected by the human they are married to.  If the Gumiho fails on this quest, they will lose any chance of becoming human and will be a Gumiho for 1000 years

4)    Gumiho must consume the livers of 1000 humans over 1000 years. If they do not do this by the end of 1000 years, the Gumiho will dissolve in foam/bubbles

In particular, the ending scenes was in reference to #3. When Lee Yeon had came back to life, he was still technically a Gumiho hence why he could enter the Office of the Afterlife. I know you might ask well why didn’t Taluipa or Shin Ju sense he was still a fox? Because at the same time Lee Yeon was human, but only during the day or nights when there wasn’t a full moon (read further below for an explanation). Additionally, Lee Yeon probably didn’t tell Shin Ju because he didn’t want there to be any possibility that information would get leaked to Ji Ah. Better safe than sorry was Lee Yeon’s personal philosophy!  

Although, Lee Yeon did come pretty close to being discovered as a Gumiho when he let it slip that he knew that their child would be a daughter. This all goes back to the intro in Ep 1 where it is said that Gumihos have the “ability to see miles ahead”. Luckily for Lee Yeon, he convincingly tricked Ji Ah and played it off as he was just saying weird things.

Until his 100 days were up, Lee Yeon had to keep his Gumiho nature hidden from the only person who mattered which was Ji Ah. Let’s be honest here, it’s really hard to trick Ji Ah so Lee Yeon had to be super careful around her. Usually in legends, Gumihos fall short of reaching the 100 days because they are discovered by their betrothed. During Lee Yeon’s 3 months transitional phase of becoming human, a situation arose that could’ve have caused Ji Ah to discover that Lee Yeon was still a Gumiho aka Mr Samjae entering into Ji Ah’s life. 

This caused a problem because whatever misfortune befell on Ji Ah it would also inadvertently affect Lee Yeon too. Meaning that if Lee Yeon didn’t get rid of the Samjae, it could cause Ji Ah the misfortune of finding out Lee Yeon still was a Gumiho, thus ruining his plan of ever becoming human. 

The only way anyone could tell Lee Yeon was still a Gumiho was to have seen him during a full moon. This was in reference to how in legends, werewolves (also in the same canine family as a fox) can only undergo transformation into a wolf when there was a full moon (symbolistic of metamorphosis). So while in the transitional state of Gumiho and human, Lee Yeon was able to take advantage of there being a full moon to be able to transform into a Gumiho. Subsequently, Lee Yeon then used his Gumiho abilities to rid of Mr. Samjae Spirit. Thus, Lee Yeon eliminated a potential threat that could have caused Ji Ah to find out his Gumiho nature before the 3 months of remaining undetected was completed.

Flash forward approximately 3-4 years later after Lee Yeon’s face off with the Samjae, Lee Yeon is now seen as having been successful at becoming a full human as well as having daughter with Ji Ah as seen here in the following pictures (family picnic). My only complaint is that the production/editing team ended up deciding to not include the following scene. I do not know whether it was their decision or the writer’s to not include this. There could be numerous reasons why such as they had wanted to leave the possibility of there being a season 2 or there was limited time allotted for the length of ep 16 or the writer had wanted to leave an open ending. Whatever the reason, I do hope we will eventually show this to us. In doing so, they would give so many of us the proper closure we needed for TOTNT!

Side note, it looks like Lee Yeon and Ji Ah did end up introducing their daughter to her adoptive grandparents. Awww!

Updated 12/07/2020: Timeline of Samjae + Lee Yeon’s Transitional Period

There were also a bunch of questions concerning when exactly the whole scenes with Ji Ah and Lee Yeon had occurred. This occurred in 2021.

Samjae is believed to occur over a three-year period, and follows calculations based on the twelve zodiac signs. The first of the three years is known as deulsamjae (Kor. 들삼재, lit. entering the three calamities), the second, nuulsamjae (Kor. 누울삼재, lit. middle of calamities), and the third, nalsamjae (Kor. 날삼재, exiting the three calamities). The first year in this three-year cycle is supposed to be the most unfortunate. 

Source: https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/4151

So doing a little math, one will be able to see what years the Samjae entered (deulsamjae), remained (nuulsamjae), and then exited (nalsamjae). So the Samjae entered into Ji Ah’s life in 1994, 2003, 2012, and 2021. The cycle of every 9 years refers to the time period from one Deulsamjae year to the next (not every 9 years from her year of birth). For example, 1994 + 9 = 2003, 2003 + 9 = 2012, and 2012 + 9 = 2021.

What the show was trying to convey is that when Mr. Samjae came into Ji Ah’s life, it also coincided at the same time as Lee Yeon’s 3 months transitional period. Additionally, there were some who asked, “Aren't we to assume that many years have passed because Lee Yeon did say first root canal, first picnic, first snowfall, etc ?”. No, I took that scene as him mentioning things he either already did or will eventually experience.

Anyways, I really didn’t think I needed to point all of this out because I had assumed you all would’ve put on your thinking caps by now!

Last Remarks.

I hope that this post was able to resolve any confusion many of you may have had about the last episode. The writer did truly keep us on our toes until the very end. But with a little research into myths as well as analyzing everything as a whole, one should’ve been able to understand where the writer was coming from. Again, I want to give a big thanks to the cast, crew, and writer for all their hard work to give us TOTNT!

[sjmnlt980112]

But for me this is the type of half human and half fox I love the most. This kdrama villain you will never hate💯🥹🤗❤️ #LeeRang #KimBum

"This is the type of human I hate the most."

no thoughts head empty just him

[holywitchlady]

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020)

He was his dog🥺❤ #kdrama #taleoftheninetailed #leerang #kimbum

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7iaO6DQWWfI