"Why do animals want to become human? Because humans are the only ones who can decide their fate."
— Hye-sun
My Roommate Is a Gumiho is a 2021 Urban Fantasy Korean Drama. Based on the webtoon of the same name
, it premiered on iQIYI and TvN on May 26, 2021 and ran for sixteen episodes.
Shin Woo-yeo (Jang Ki-yong) is a 999-year-old gumiho. One day, hapless college student Lee Dam (Hyeri) swallows his fox bead. Woo-yeo tells her that the bead can remain inside her for a year, after which she will die, and he will be unable to become human. The two then agree to live together in order to find a solution, but their mutual attraction threatens to blossom into romance.
Not to be confused with My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox.
Tropes:
- Asian Fox Spirit: As evidenced by the title, Woo-yeo is a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox spirit from Korean folklore. He spends most of the show in his human form but will occasionally transform into the full fox-spirit form. He takes the life force from women and absorbs it in order to slowly become human. Dam has swallowed his fox bead and the two need to work together to get it out of her.
- Become a Real Boy: Gumiho Woo-yeo wants to become a human. His old friend Yang Hye-sun used to be a gumiho like him, but has already been turned into a human girl. In the show's final act it is revealed that human energy isn't what causes gumiho to become human, it's humanity, and Dam sets out to make this happen for Woo-yeo. When he sacrifices himself to save her, the mountain spirit decides that he has learned what it means to be human, and turns him into one so he can be with Dam.
- Brainless Beauty: Hye-sun is slow-witted despite being hundreds of years old, and part of why she agrees to help Woo-yeo out by becoming a student alongside Dam is to increase her own knowledge. Once she starts on campus however, she turns out to be an eye-catching beauty.
- Faint in Shock: After seeing Woo-yeo transform into his full gumiho form, Dam screams for a few seconds and then collapses.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: Woo-yeo has complex feelings about Dam, the woman who now holds his fox bead and whom he is attracted to, because his first love (back in the Joseon dynasty) died from it.
- From Roommates to Romance: Woo-yeo and Dam initially move in together so they can find a solution to Dam swallowing Woo-yeo's gumiho bead. Love eventually blossoms between the two of them.
- Hot Teacher: Woo-yeo's day job is a history professor on campus, and all the students swoon over him.
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Gye Sun-woo is a total ladies' man who becomes intrigued and attracted to Dam because she resists his advances. On her part, it's because she can't have contact with any guy born in the Year of the Tiger due to the fox bead inside her.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: The fantastical Monster Roommate premise happens only because Dam's drunk friend throws up on an expensive car...that happens to be owned by a thousand-year-old fox spirit.
- Like Brother and Sister: Woo-yeo and Hye-sun. They've been friends for centuries as fellow gumiho, and maintain it even if Hye-sun is now human. She looks out for both him and Dam and is never a romantic rival.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Woo-yeo is almost a thousand years old; he falls for college student Dam.
- Monster Roommate: The premise. Woo-yeo (an ancient gumiho who can shapeshift into a human) and Dam (a human girl) live together.
- Red String of Fate: A plot point. A mountain spirit ties a red string between Dam and Sun-woo, linking their destinies together and solidifying the Love Triangle, since Dam now has feelings for him and not just Woo-yeo. After her confrontation with the mountain spirit in the show's final act, the thread between them is severed, and the show's final shot is a red thread seen between the hands of Dam and Woo-yeo.
