'The Magic Star' veteran of 21 years tackles new act

The Magic Star

'The Magic Star' is the story of Park Sun-young, an announcer who returned to her hometown SBS. Synonymous with serious and calm hosting, she earned the title of 'Queen of Tears'.

On the 15th episode of SBS's "The Magic Star," Park Sun-young started crying while watching magician Han Seol-hee's act. Han Seol-hee, who once dominated the world with her CD tricks, gave up magic four years ago. From 2007 to 2009, when the bulky, flat CD trick was considered difficult to perform on stage, he swept to the top of every competition held at the time and rose to the coveted pinnacle. However, despite his success on the world stage, he struggled to establish himself in Korea. Faced with a wall of unstable reality, he eventually became a stable employee.

Han Seol-hee returned to the stage for the first time in four years with "The Magic Star" with the theme of "Back To 2009," but she made a mistake due to nervousness. After a moment of panic, she was encouraged by backstage art director Lee Eun-gyeol to finish the act. Park wiped away tears as he watched his performance. "I could feel the plight of office workers who are accustomed to social life from the way he smiled despite his mistakes," she said. Park Sun-young, who has experienced firsthand the fierce competition of freelancers who don't know when their last job will come, empathized with Han Seol-hee and felt comforted. Director Jang Hang-joon also applauded with genuine awe and surprise, saying, "The courage to restart your dreams is very cool and I want to emulate it."

Later in the day, another legendary magician performed another challenging act. It was Kim Hyun-joon, the only Asian magician in The Illusionists, a global magic team that performs the world's largest magic shows. In his 21st year of performing, he left behind the tricks he's been doing for years to present a completely new act. "I've been doing the same thing for 20 years, and I wanted to try something different on 'The Magic Star,'" he said. His performance, titled "Horn," was like watching an oriental painting, and star Jersey Luis de Matos, who also performed with Kim in The Illusionist, said, "It's great to see an experienced magician take a risk and showcase a new act.

In addition to Han Seol-hee and Kim Hyun-joon, the show's second round also featured genre-bending magician Choi Seol-hyuk, who performed a goosebump-inducing horror trick; Han Jin-hyung, who used useless plastic to express his inner values; Keichi Iwasaki, a street magician who travels the world with his magic tricks; and Young-min, who overcame depression and panic with his sand trick. Yoo Ho-jin, who made waves with his romantic airplane trick, top-tier illusionist Darcy Oak, ambitious MZ magician Ariel, Taiwanese hidden master Daxien, mystic magician Jang Hae-seok, and Magic X Music trendsetter Park Jun-woo, Do Ki-moon, a master of comic magic, Han Man-ho, a fashion magician who transforms imagination into reality, DK, a genius with light and shadow, and Eden, the MZ Shortform one-man show who summarizes the trends in magic, have all earned tickets to the second round. But it didn't end there, as the star jerseys started an additional meeting of the successful applicants. The next episode will be highly anticipated to see who will come back from the brink of elimination.

The second round was a 1:1:1 act battle. The first place winner will advance to the next round, the second place winner will be put on hold, and the third place winner will be eliminated. The world of magic is about to be upgraded to the next level, and we can't wait to see who will be the next Magic Star. 'The Magic Star' airs every Saturday at 6 p.m. on SBS. It will premiere on Coupang Play at 5:45pm.

The Magic Star