It has been 7 years since cutting off the tail.

Kim Ye Rin has turned twenty-five years old.

The kind and innocent gumiho child is now gone.

What remains is not just a human who believes money is everything after being battered by the world’s hardships… but a gumiho pretending to be human and living by deceit.

Those who cut off their tails, horns, wings and such to live as humans were called ‘disguised ones’.

It was illegal and a serious crime.

If caught, immediate execution.

Risking death if discovered, Kim Ye Rin chose the path of living as a disguised one.

She even changed her name.

From Kim Ye Rin to Kim Tae Rin.

She wanted to open a hamburger steak restaurant. She signed a waiver saying she was okay with dying and got on the operating table to cut off her nine tails.

She wanted to provide cheap and delicious hamburger steaks in large quantities to soothe the hunger of starving children. She paid a large sum to forge her resident registration number.

But her dream did not come true.

The thought that everything would work out if she just became human was an illusion. She didn’t realize it then.

That a powerless and penniless human is no different from a gumiho.

The ‘Mugunghwa Steak’ that Kim Tae Rin poured her heart and soul into had its patent rights stolen by the large corporation Haewoo Foods.

Afterwards, she went broke pursuing a lawsuit she could never win.

Now there was only one truth in Kim Tae Rin’s mind.

No matter how good a product an individual without money makes, rich big corporations will take it all away.

Therefore, money is everything.

“Tae Rin. Come sit down here.”

“Wow, there are so many people today!”

“Take some water and bread.”

“Thank yo… What? Village chief? Look at this! Are you crazy?”

“Oh my, what now! What!”

“The water! The water! This is the water Choi Yoon advertises! How can you give out water advertised by Choi Yoon at a protest against Choi Yoon?”

And so Kim Tae Rin extremely disliked the celebrity Choi Yoon,

“No… the bread too? There’s even a photo of Choi Yoon on the bread? Ah, I’m so annoyed. I’m not doing this!”

“Kim Tae Rin! Don’t throw food. You’ll be punished.”

Rejected anything from Haewoo unconditionally,

“Tae Rin. Stop making a fuss and sit down. We’re starting! And this isn’t just a protest against Choi Yoon right now!”

“It’s a protest against the full investigation so it is a protest against Choi Yoon! He’s the promotional ambassador!”

And became a diligent dissident attending protests every day against the government trying to control gumihos.

“Tae Rin. Stop yelling and sit down! Here, have some snacks and be quiet.”

“Thank y… No, village chief! You know I don’t eat Haewoo snacks!”

“This kid! Go to the supermarket! Everything is Haewoo! Just go along with it, you have an angel’s face but your personality…”

And she was still needlessly pretty.

“Noona!”

“Huh? Hey, Han Seo Jung! Are you crazy? You’re a student, you should be at school not coming to protests!”

“I came to see you, noona.”

While trying to live as a disguised one and needing to avoid standing out, she ended up attracting even the neighborhood high school student, being conspicuously pretty as befitting a gumiho.

“Village chief! Look at Seo Jung! He didn’t go to school and came here!”

“He doesn’t study even if he goes to school. Tell him to come here and learn how the world works.”

“Wow, our village chief is the best! I’ll sit next to noona! Noona, move over a bit. Or I’ll hug you?”

“Ahh, Han Seo Jung! Don’t push!”

In front of Jangcheon County Office.

This place was packed with people protesting against the full investigation again today.

The full investigation of gumihos was one of the main policies being pushed by the government.

It was really hard for gumihos to live in Korea. They had no voting rights and were treated as less than human.

So some gumihos risked their lives to cut off their tails or horns. It was to live a little more freely by disguising themselves as humans.

Disguised ones. Just like Kim Tae Rin’s case.

And some of those born between humans and gumihos paid money to register under a different family registry to pretend to be pure humans. There were even cases of actually being 2nd generation mixed but lying about being 3rd or 4th generation.

The government developed a blood testing device to weed out all these gumihos with false identities and correct their status.

Just by inserting the device into the arm, it could instantly tell how much gumiho genes were flowing in the body with just a small amount of blood.

The government’s claim was to clearly distinguish between humans and gumihos with this testing device.

All humans agreed.

They cheered that they could identify dangerous gumihos.

Encouraged by the support, the Gumiho Management Department even appointed the national actor Choi Yoon as a promotional ambassador.

With Choi Yoon’s upright and clean image added, the policy proceeded smoothly.

However, the people of Jangcheon County thought differently.

Jangcheon County was a small city far from the capital area, with inconvenient transportation, making it particularly difficult for the government’s hand to reach.

Many gumihos had lived here for a long time. So to the people of Jangcheon County, gumihos were not much different from humans. They coexisted harmoniously and got along well.

To such people of Jangcheon County, the full investigation was an incomprehensible unknown thing.

Ranking people by gumiho concentration from a blood test?

Why?

What are they trying to do by measuring that?

Has the government gone crazy?

They just couldn’t understand.

Not giving gumihos voting rights is one thing, but now they want to rank them to discriminate even more meticulously?

In the eyes of Jangcheon County residents, the full investigation looked like a vile foundation to more thoroughly exclude gumihos from society by labeling them.

The angry county residents began to protest.

With many elderly people, they didn’t dare to charter buses to go up to Seoul. For now, they gathered in a commotion at the easily accessible Jangcheon County Office to protest every day.

“Stop the discriminatory policy that goes against the times!”

“Stop it!”

“The government treating gumihos as potential criminals, wake up!”

“Wake up!”

And Kim Tae Rin of course shared that sentiment as a Jangcheon County resident.

A full investigation?

When she first heard the news, she almost fainted from shock.

How could I have risked my life to cut off my tail!

How I’ve overcome crises each time I almost got caught!

She couldn’t die so uselessly like this.

She immediately tied a bandana around her head and ran out to the county office.

She held hands and sang songs, held pickets during the day and candles at night.

Although she was a bit late today after finishing up at the restaurant, her passion was second to none.

Of course.

Her life was at stake.

“Everyooooone!”

The protest organizing committee representative climbed onto the stage, grabbed the microphone and wailed.

“It’s already the 32nd day of protests! None of our efforts are being reported in any media! But we will not give up! We will continue to protest until the vile government withdraws the full investigation!”

“Wooooooooah!”

“The government!”

“Wake up!”

“Full investigation!”

“We oppose!”

Behind the representative, several men dragged something large and set it up on the stage.

It was a life-size cutout with Choi Yoon’s full body smiling brightly printed on it.

The representative shouted as if spitting blood next to the Choi Yoon cutout that towered over his own height.

“The government is beautifully packaging this lowly policy by putting a top star at the forefront! We condemn the ignorance of Choi Yoon who volunteered to be the government’s dog without deliberation! Choi Yoon must immediately withdraw as promotional ambassador for the full investigation!”

“Withdraw!”

“Withdraw!”

It was then.

Kim Tae Rin’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

Kim Tae Rin thrust the picket she had been holding up vigorously in tune with the chants to Han Seo Jung sitting next to her and pulled out her phone.

It was an unknown number.

“Who is it? …Hello?”

− Hello. Is this Kim Tae Rin residing at 5 Soseul-ri, Haewon-eup, Jangcheon-gun?

The voice was a pleasant baritone. Strangely, it seemed familiar from somewhere.

“Yes, that’s me.”

− I’m the landlord. The restaurant you’re renting now is my restaurant…

Kim Tae Rin was startled.

Landlord?

Kim Tae Rin was currently running a small restaurant in a corner of Jangcheon County.

Of course the restaurant belonged to someone else since Kim Tae Rin was broke. She rented and renovated an old restaurant owned by someone named Choi Yu Won living in Seoul for a cheap price.

Why the call?

It’s been over 4 years since renting the restaurant, but this was the first time the landlord contacted directly instead of through the realtor.

They’re not telling me to leave, are they?

“Yes, yes! Hello!”

− It’s nothing much, but if you don’t mind, there’s something I’d like to ask. Is there a protest going on in the Jangcheon area these days related to the full investigation?

It was hard to hear because it was so noisy around.

Kim Tae Rin covered her other ear with her palm and tried to listen to the other person’s voice.

“What? Investigation? What did you say? If you could speak a little louder…!”

It was then.

“Hey, hey, the wave is starting!”

“Get ready! Get ready!”

“Here it comes, comes, comes, comes!”

“One, two, three! Yaaaah!”

The people around Kim Tae Rin revved up and all stood up shouting waaah in unison.

In the process, Kim Tae Rin stood up reflexively and dropped her phone.

“Ahh! My phone!”

She barely picked it up but the screen was completely shattered.

“Hello? Hello?”

The call disconnected, and even the Haewoo Electronics logo on the back of the phone was smashed. It became completely dead and wouldn’t even turn on.

Kim Tae Rin ground her teeth.

“This, this, how can it break so easily as expected of Haewoo Electronics? Isn’t this consumer fraud? Huh?”

Han Seo Jung, who was holding a picket and opening a bread package next to her, opened his eyes wide.

“What’s going on? You’re using Haewoo.”

“This was the only free phone so I had no choice but to change to it. Look at this. It shatters from just one drop. Haewoo really lived up to its name. Truly well-deserved!”

“Any phone would shatter if you drop it like that.”

“What?”

Kim Tae Rin glared while shoving the broken phone in her pocket.

“Han Seo Jung, what did you just say?”

“It’s not good for your mental health to think negatively about everything by connecting it to Haewoo. Big companies don’t even get a slight dent from it.”

“You don’t know why I have a grudge against Haewoo?”

“Ah, of course I know. I know but…”

Trailing off, Han Seo Jung grinned and pinched Kim Tae Rin’s cheek.

“Ugh. I forget what I’m saying because you’re so pretty.”

“You’re really dead.”

Kim Tae Rin quickly turned her head to shake off Han Seo Jung’s hand.

“Noona why are you so pretty?”

“Don’t be cheeky. If you skip school one more time to wander around places like this, I really won’t let it slide!”

“I’m also against the full investigation though? Ah, wait! It’s starting again! Noona, noona, hold my hand!”

“Huh? Oh! Okay! Here it comes, comes, one, two, three!”

After riding the wave perfectly, Kim Tae Rin sighed deeply.

“What if the repair costs a lot. Watch me use Haewoo again.”

“Should I buy you one?”

“No thanks. Don’t leech off a flea.”

“I have money too.”

Ignoring Han Seo Jung who was protesting with a serious face, Kim Tae Rin mumbled.

“But still, the landlord…”

A sense of unease crept in.

“Why did they call?”