Mi-ho realizes she’s been left behind on the boat, and cries out to Dae-woong. He runs without looking back, the guilt weighing heavily on every step. Mi-ho crouches down and starts to cry, and as her tears fall, the skies darken and it starts to rain. Dae-woong looks up, remembering what Mi-ho said about her tears causing fox rain. It makes him stop, but then he starts to reason, “That’s ridiculous. Then if she blows her nose, it snows, and when she sneezes, there’s a typhoon?”
He walks ahead, but then he starts remembering her declaration that they’re friends now, and his promise to protect her fox bead. He whines to the heavens why she’s using rain to hold onto him. And then he turns back, and runs to her in the rain.
It’s nice to bookend the two returns—Mi-ho’s return to save Dae-woong when he was dying, and his return to her on the boat—as caused by their own memories of the other’s adorableness. They are equally strange creatures to the other, but they’ve developed a fondness for one another, what in Korean we would call [우정], the love between friends.
On the boat, Mi-ho starts to lose control of her outward appearance, when a few factors are compounded: her fox bead is far away, she’s scared because of the water, and then a dog (ie, a tasty treat?) comes close. Her eyes change to a bright blue, and she hides in the bathroom, as her other fox-features start to come out.
Dae-woong reaches the boat when it docks, and overhears the family with the dog talking about the strange woman who looked like a monster, so he braces himself. He mistakes the dog with a fluffy tail for Mi-ho (HA), and then finds her in the bathroom. She’s happy that he’s returned, but she doesn’t want to open the door because she’s changing. He insists he’s seen her tails enough times to be okay, so she opens the door…
And Dae-woong can’t hide his freakout. He can barely look at her, but he drapes a tablecloth over her, and they get off the boat. Outside, she asks why he left her there. He feels a pang of guilt, but lies that he didn’t leave her; the boat left him. The one thing she picks up on is the fact that he came back because it started to rain. Her fox-blue eyes light up in glee. Aw.
The boat attendant follows them out to get his tablecloth back, and as he pulls it off of Mi-ho, Dae-woong swoops her close, and holds her tight. They spend a moment in a time-suspended mystical hug (I love how this is a metaphor for the way time passes when you’re madly in love), and then he says they’ll be fine if he holds her close the whole way home. Show, I may just die from the cuteness.
Mi-ho pops her head up and beams—she’s returned! They smile at each other (Dimples, Ahoy!) and she says that it’s because he came back for her. He thinks they’re good to go, but Mi-ho grabs his jacket and pulls him in for another hug, wanting to be close to her fox bead for a little longer.
Dae-woong is taken aback, but finds himself tentatively happy, as he gives in holds her for a little longer. He awkwardly asks if that’s long enough, but she’s not done (heh), so he holds on, petting her hair as she sighs blissfully. Seriously, I know they’re supposed to be uber-cute, but they are inhumanly cute. Like a pair of kittens. Wearing bunny outfits. Sitting in a teacup.
Dong-joo the Gumiho Hunter visits the temple, and tells the monk that the fox will be put back in her rightful place. No, Highlander Boy. You stay away!
Grandpa packs up Dae-woong’s things and sends Aunt Min-sook to deliver them, happy to support the new and improved, living-for-others Dae-woong. Min-sook waits outside the action school, falling asleep on the bench. Chow Yun-fat Lite discovers her napping, and the sun about to beat down on her, so he rushes over, and opens up his trenchcoat to shield her from the sun. He stands like that until he’s sweating from head to toe, and she’s none the wiser. I love his off-brand chivalry.
