*spoiler warning, this article will tackle the ending of the series*
“The Sound Of Magic” tackles the stories of magician Ri Eul (portrayed by Ji Chang Wook), and students Yoon Ah Yi (portrayed by Choi Sung Eun) and Na Il Deung (portrayed by Hwang In Youp).
In the last episode of “The Sound Of Magic,” viewers got a glimpse of Ri Eul’s past—young Min Hyuk (his real name, portrayed by Nam Da Reum) tried to commit suicide during his delirious state. This caused him to stay in a mental instution for years.
While uncovering the truth, it was also finally revealed who Seo Ha Yoon’s killer actually was. (And yes, it wasn’t Ri Eul.) The convience store owner from episode one—the one who disappeared—is the real culprit. And, another thing to note, is that he didn’t actually “disappeared” due to Ri Eul’s “magic.” Instead, he was pushed down the railing and the fall caused him to be unable to “appear” for a while.
While that incident may indicate that Ri Eul’s magic wasn’t real, there were still a lot of questions that remained. How about all the musical numbers where the characters seem to be in a trance and transported to different places? How did Ri Eul suddenly disappeared with one “Annara Sumanara” as part of his escape?
One evidence that actually shows that he was an actual magician is when the abandoned amusement park actually opened (with fireworks, the rides, and everything) and was caught on camera.
In the end, was it all real magic or was it just a trick?
THEORY
In the original Webtoon, the series ended as is: Ah Yi becoming a magician and saying “Do you believe in magic?” with Ri Eul, but in different locations. But in the Netflix adaptation, we see the cast ending the show with traditional bows seen in theater plays. As there were no indications that the actors were bowing as themselves (e.g. as Ji Chang Wook), we can only assume that they were still in character (e.g. as a fictional theater actor portraying Ri Eul) all throughout the scene.
Hence, a plausible theory for the ending would be that, yes, the magic was real in the story but the whole show was actually a theater play. The musical numbers also make so much sense with this kind of ending.
What do you think? Do you have a different theory?