Curse of Asphalt
Episode 5 of The Sound of Magic starts with Ah-Yi and Il-Deung shocked by what they’ve discovered. With Ri-Eul rasping that he’s a real magician and pressing a knife up to that guy’s throat, the teens realize that everything they’ve known about this man up until now has been false. When Ah-Yi walks away, Ha-Na follows and makes the assumption that she too is a victim. Ah-Yi calls out her falsity, seeing through her façade of care. She also demands Ha-Na stop running her mouth. “From what I see, he’s just a crazy guy.” Ha-Na says matter-of-factly. Ah-Yi squares up to her. “He is a real magician.” Ah-Yi heads back to the theme park that night, where she finds Ri-Eul standing with a knife, performing a show for a bunch of kids. She’s certainly conflicted. Interestingly, as she leaves the theme park, she passes a pregnant woman – the same one from earlier. She asks for Ah-Yi’s phone number and wants her to ring if “something happens later on.” Ah-Yi takes her number and stews on her words that night. Ha-Na is desperate to find out the truth too and sneaks into the theme park that night. She finds strange blood stains on the floor but the parrot, naturally, gives away her position. Ri-Eul discovers a spy camera attached to Ha-Na’s chest and confronts her. With the facade gone, Ha-Na shows off the footage of him attacking that man with a knife. She calls out Ri-Eul for calling him a psycho but he holds her wrist and rasps that his magic is real. In doing so, she knocks over the bird cage and badly hurts his parrot, Bella. It’s still alive, thankfully, and Ri-Eul stops choking Ha-Na to save his pet. This gives Ha-Na enough time to rush away from the theme park. In doing so, she runs into Il-Deung who happens to be outside. At school the next day, Il-Deung spins out of control, struggling to concentrate. He clutches his chest and eventually claims he has a bad headache. Ah-Yi has an inkling there’s more going on and speaks to Il-Deugn about the abuse Ha-Na suffered at the theme park. He doesn’t think it’s a good idea going there. Ah-Yi seems to be in a state of denial though, unwilling to believe this fantastical guy is an abuser. Back home, Il-Deung is confronted by his parents over handing in the half-answered test and leaving. His parents want him to follow in their footsteps and become successful. For Il-Deung though, he’d rather follow his dreams and do what makes him feel fulfilled. Unfortunately, his father loses his temper and calls Il-Deung pathetic, slapping him across the face. His mother decides to take him to school and tutor the boy, making sure he doesn’t get a single moment alone to pursue what he wants. When they leave, Il-Deung does too, clutching his invitation and heading to the theme park alone. However, he passes out and sees images of an alternate reality while there; Ah-Yi is taught magic by Ri-Eul while he’s driving a sports car. When he awakens, he finds yellow butterflies drawn in chalk all over the ground. There’s no Ri-Eul though, who appears to be off in the middle of the night. He approaches an old lady, asks if she believes in magic, and then mugs her. The victim in question makes a statement to the police, who then show up at school and ask Ah-yi what she may know about this. The thing is, there’s also a reference witness too… which happens to be her old boss who tried to abuse her. This time though, we learn what happened from this man’s perspective. It turns out Ri-Eul actually pushed her off the top of the railing. He didn’t disappear after all. As Ah-Yi is painted to being the accomplice here, Il-Deung steps up and claims he was with Ri-Eul that night so it can’t be him. Could there have been two different magicians? Well, while passed out and dreaming, Ri-Eul put a cloak over him and seemingly drew all those butterflies over the ground as well. Il-Deung is far from okay though, and between his father refusing to respect his son and the unbelievable amount of stress he’s going through, he’s desperate to escape this hell he’s in. Sound familiar? Yep, it’s the same plight that Ah-Yi is going through. Anyway, after smashing the window and clutching his head, Il-Deung ends up seeing up those same familiar butterflies again.
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode to The Sound of Magic continues to unravel the mysteries we’ve been led to believe all season long, continuing that idea of misdirection and turning this fantastical drama into a more dark and surreal dive into crime thriller territory. Personally, I think it’s brilliant and a great way of juxtaposing one’s innocent whims against the harsh reality of life. Both Ah-Yi and Il-Deung have seemingly been singled out to believe in this magic, given they’re vulnerable members of the school and both suffering from a lot of stress. They would, seemingly, be more susceptible to believing this magic is real. It’s actually fascinating to watch all of this unravel, with the show managing to beautifully carve the harsh reality of life and societal pressure around a simple but effective mystery. Everything is gearing up to quite the dramatic finale to come. How will this one end? We’ll have to wait and see!
