Ah-Yi is worried about the ON shop owner who has gone missing. After Ri-Eul’s little disappearing trick, Ah-Yi knows he’s responsible, but isn’t quite sure how. She deliberates over whether to tell the police or not. ..
The magician has disappeared, and Ah-Yi is determined to find him. She heads to the abandoned theme park, where she meets a talking parrot that tells her that the boss is a b*stard.
This woman deduces that the man who vanished in the street is linked to a magician who is not actually a good person. She is conflicted about whether or not he is really a good person.
Ah-Yi is concerned that she was followed to her home by someone who may have been intending to harm her, and she expresses this to Ri-Eul when he shows up at her house that night. ..
Unfortunately, Ah-Yi has also been followed by loan sharks who are after her father’s money. Ah-Yi obviously doesn’t know where her father is but the boss doesn’t believe her.
As the two friends get into a heated argument, Ri-Eul jumps in and saves Ah-Yi’s life. “Help me,” she pleads with him. Ah-Yi wants to escape the hell she’s in.
Ri-Eul ignites notes with his mind, which then explode and rain down money. Ah-Yi starts to believe that this man is a divine messenger and that he has come to help her. However, it turns out the money is just a prop. ..
Ri-Eul is beaten down by the sharks who do leave, but promise to return again soon. Ah-Yi feels betrayed and leaves the magician.
Il-Deung and Ah-Yi are studying for the midterms together in the library. While they’re doing so, Ha-Na loudly proclaims that she’s going to uncover all the secrets of the magician.
Ha-Na heads to the birdhouse after school to annoy the parrot. Ri-Eul is there too, and he’s not happy with their appearance. In fact, he challenges her to see if his magic is really real or not. This comes in the form of a trick involving shadows. ..
Just before stabbing Ha-Na’s shadow, she suddenly perks up and asks whether he knows Ha-Yoon. Earlier in the episode we learned that she’s missing from school and challenges Ri-Eul over whether he could be responsible for that.
When she also mentions Ah-Yi, the trick ends with a bolt of lightning, which plunges the hall into darkness. Ri-Eul decides not to do magic after all. Instead, she leaves the girls to pass on a message to Ah-Yi that he’s waiting for her.
Il-Deung struggles to control his hormones as he attempts to talk to Ah-Yi and study with her in the library. As everything fades out of view, the only thing remaining is a desk with Il-Deung on the guitar, singing to her.
This surreal and comedic moment eventually sees the pair head off together, huddled under an umbrella to escape the rain. Il-Deung casually suggests they start dating that weekend.
Ah-Yi is hesitant to approach Il-Deung and looks like she’s going to reject him. Instead, Il-Deung saves her the trouble and makes it seem like it’s all a joke. When he’s picked up from school, Il-Deung hands over the umbrella to her and leaves. ..
The next day, Ah-Yi shows up at the theme park, as instructed by Ha-Na and Soo-Hee. Ri-Eul promises to help her and that she likes her… but Il-Deung happens to be listening to all of this. When he leaves, starting to believe Ha-Na’s rumours about him being her sugar daddy, the truth is unveiled to Ah-Yi. Ri-Eul points out that the messages she’s been sending haven’t actually been read by her mother.
Ah-Yi is shocked when she sees her phone out from behind her hair and the messages start to appear on the table in the watery ink stains. She realizes that her mother is dead.
Ah-Yi watches as her mother leaves for work in the morning, not looking back to see if she’ll be back. Ah-Yi knows her mother will never come back, and so she must face her own death.
Ah-Yi is a high school student in South Korea. She is approached by Il-Deung, a classmate, with a proposition: he will pay her to throw the math test and let him be first. This would give him an advantage in the competition for grades and scholarships. Ah-Yi is hesitant at first, but Il-Deung offers her $100 for the test and she agrees. ..
The Episode Review
The Sound of Magic is a theme park that blends the fantastical world of the theme park with the real world problems of its visitors. This magician, played by Emma Thompson, manages to bring these two worlds together in an interesting way. ..
The Ri-Eul experiment is a fascinating question that has been asked by many people, but it’s also worth noting that Ri-Eul asks his subjects whether they believe in magic or not. This seems to be a way to discern how easy or difficult it will be to make these tricks real, which could well be powered by the idea of “belief”, even if the person in question is adamant that it doesn’t exist.
Il-Deung has completely misunderstood the situation with Ah-Yi, which looks like it could cause a lot of problems going forward. As the son of the Chief Prosecutor, he has a lot to live up to and he’s also struggling with the pressure. The difference here though, is that Ha-Na has managed to warp his beliefs into thinking Ah-Yi is acting shadily.
There are a lot of good things about this episode and there is certainly a lot going on too, leaving the door open for the rest of the season. ..
