A gumiho (shape-shifting nine-tailed fox) only needs to kill one more human in order to become human himself. While hunting and disguised as human in the city of Samdae, which is in the middle of a civil war, he ponders his mother's disapproval of his desire to become human. As he's about to go after a soldier, he hears a cataphract (a type of armored, bipedal robot piloted by soldiers). The people flee and he stays, hoping to kill the pilot. However, the pilot realizes what he is and chokes him until he passes out. He wakes up bound in the cockpit of the cataphract, and Jong, the pilot, tells him she needs his help to talk to the gods so that she can escape. She says she'll release him if he swears on the blood of the tiger-sages that he'll help. He agrees, but hesitantly, flashing back to the time he and his mother visited a tiger-sage, who warned him that he'll regret becoming human. After swearing he'll help Jong, she releases him and he makes an offering to the gods, who help them outrun the other cataphracts pursuing them. Jong tells him that she deserted her squad because of her commander's hunger for power, and she's hoping to get to refuge to pass information to the other side. Their cataphract gets blasted and Jong is injured beyond repair, and seeing Jong's desperation to complete her mission, the fox offers to kill her so that he can absorb her knowledge and complete the mission. She agrees, and the fox finally becomes human. Since he has failed the oath he swore on the tiger-sage's blood, the tiger-sage shows up in the cataphract to tell him his curse is the one he's already chosen for himself: being human. The tiger-sage leaves, and the fox is left determined to complete Jong's mission.