Top row: Jun, Nara, Woori, J. Bottom row: Yi Seul, Seong, Master Han
Lee Nara, a university student studying to become a public servant. J, a popular magician who's been searching for his lost brother. Jun, a person who chooses to live like the poor despite a resident doctor at a hospital. Seong, a physicist who displays the scientific attitude and believes that everything is explained by science. The four of them gather at Magic School, headed by Master Han, with different reasons for learning magic.
Magic School (Korean: 마술학교) is a 2017 Korean web drama series starring GOT7’s Jinyoung, Yoon Park,2PM’s Nichkhun, and Kang Yoon Je. The series is JTBC’s fourth webdrama and ran for 16 episodes.
Magic School contains examples of:
- The Ace: J is one of the greatest, if not the best, magicians around the world.
- Bittersweet Ending: Nara confesses to Woori and the latter stays in Korea to produce another film. Seong stays in Korea to be with Yi Seul, who passed her dance auditions. J doesn’t attempt the water-escape magic, and is ridiculed by people as a result, but he seems to have accepted K’s death. Jong Man is visited by a fan of his work, while Master Han stays in Korea with his daughter. But Jun doesn’t get to perform his magic show for Mirae because of her sudden death, and leaves behind his plans to go to Africa to continue working in the hospital (but he continues to do volunteer work and is implied to be given a higher position than resident doctor).
- Cannot Spit It Out: Nara, who wanted to confess to Woori, ended up telling her good luck on studies abroad.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Nara has a crush on his childhood friend, Woori. They end up together at the end of the series.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Nara, when he saw Woori with another guy, who turns out to be her colleague.
- Cool Big Bro: K was this to J. J himself eventually becomes one to Jun.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Master Han’s wife died when he was doing research on magic, and was already dead the moment he arrived in Korea. As a result, Yi Seul was forced into studying magic despite the fact that she wants to learn dance.
- Jun was born in Korea, but was adopted by an American family because his family was too poor. He eventually comes to Korea to visit his biological family, but when he arrives, he finds out that his mother was already dead.
- Engrish: Master Han, despite travelling around the world, has very rough English, as shown in his brief conversation with Jun.
- Escape Artist: J’s brother K performed a water-escape magic prior to the beginning of the story and failed in its execution, resulting to his death. J doesn’t believe that his brother is dead, so he sets out to look for Master Han in hopes that he will find a clue on his brother’s whereabouts. J himself attempts to do the same magic trick, but does not push through with it after Master Han’s convincing.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father:
- Nara’s father doesn’t approve of him doing anything else rather than studying and aiming to become a public servant.
- Master Han forced Yi Seul to focus only on magic, which made her hide her desire to dance.
- First Love: Woori is this to Nara.
- Follow in My Footsteps:
- Nara thought that the reason his father wanted him to become a public servant is because it was a family legacy. Turns out his father and grandfather did not do anything to participate in political events.
- This is the reason why Master Han wanted Yi Seul to learn magic.
- J, like his brother K, becomes one of the world’s greatest magicians, becomes Master Han’s student and attempts doing the water-escape magic (but unlike K, J decides not to do it).
- Fortune Teller: Yi Seul does fortune telling with tarot cards.
- Gratuitous English: The American Jun speaks English on multiple occasions, and uses expressions such as “Snap!” when he performs magic.
- Happily Adopted: Jun.
- Heroic BSoD: When J hears from Master Han that the latter believes that K is dead.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The irritable and arrogant J helped Jun out when the latter was in a crisis.
- Like Brother and Sister: Woori and Nara, but Nara ends up falling in love with her.
- Love at First Punch: Seong began to consider his feelings for Yi Seul after an incident which ended in her kicking him.
- Love Confession: What drives Nara to learn magic is so that he can use it for his love confession for Woori.
- Lovely Assistant: Yi Seul was the only one available to be Jong Man’s assistant prior to the arrival of the students.
- Nara becomes Jong Man’s assistant in a few of their magic shows, while J becomes Jun’s assistant for his magic show for Mirae.
- Magic Versus Science: The reason why Seong enrolled in Magic School is to learn about magic and its relation to science for a research that he was doing..
- Missing Mom: Yi Seul’s mother, Nara’s mother, and Jun’s biological mother died prior to the start of the story.
- Nice Guy: Jun.
- Not So Stoic: J helps out Jun after learning the latter’s situation, and even helps in pushing Seong and Yi Seul to start a relationship.
- Odd Friendship: J and Jun.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The brothers J and K.
- Only One Name: Jun is always introduced as Jun, and he also introduces himself as such even though Nara introduces himself as Lee Nara. His full name, Jun Piechnik, was only seen in his identification card at the end of the series.
- Parental Abandonment: J and K’s parents are never mentioned, while the only relative seen from Seong is his grandfather.
- Pick a Card: Several card tricks are shown throughout the show.
- Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Jong Man performs this trick at Jun’s hospital, which doesn’t make the kids happy because they already predicted it was a rabbit inside the hat. Nara later uses the same trick, but instead of a real rabbit, he pulls out a toy rabbit, which can later become a bouquet of flowers.
- Shipper on Deck: Everyone at Magic School (except probably Master Han) supports Seong and Yi Seul’s relationship.
- Spell My Name With An S: Jun is spelled as “Joon” in translations and fansubs, but the last episode reveals that his name is spelled as “Jun”.
- In a news report, it’s shown that J’s name is actually spelled “Jay”, while K’s name could be interpreted as “Kay” or “Kei” (but it’s not shown in the series).
- Yi Seul and I Seul. There’s actually no “yi” syllable in Korea, but it’s just an alternate spelling.
- Stage Magician: The titular Magic School trains its students to become stage magicians, not magicians like Harry Potter.
- Title Drop: In almost every episode.
- Two Guys and a Girl: The original trio of the Magic School were Master Han, Jong Man, and Yi Seul.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Nara used to be this before he started learning magic. He eventually stops being this after his father finds out about his magic activities.
