Magician Lee Eun-gyeol marked the 30th anniversary of his debut with 'THE Lee Eun-gyeol - Chuseok Special Magic Concert' on SBS, presenting a stage that spans generations.

The Chuseok special program captured both the live performance and behind-the-scenes moments of Lee Eun-gyeol, who returned to television after 20 years, broadcasting his 30th anniversary commemorative concert 'ONE OF ONE,' held at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts last August.

■ From Helicopter Opening to FISM-Winning Card Magic

The performance captivated the audience from the start with a production that began on a helicopter and transformed into a real helicopter. This was followed by a trick in which a female assistant vanished into a box and swapped places with Lee Eun-gyeol, as well as the card magic that made him the first Korean to win at FISM.

Regarding the preparation process, Lee Eun-gyeol emphasized, "To achieve one second of perfection, to change a single detail of timing, we practice for 100 hours, 1,000 hours." Equipment filling five to six one-ton trucks was mobilized for this stage.

Audience participation stages also drew attention. A child audience member sat in a spaceship chair and floated into the air, and the entire audience used their phone flashlights to create starlight in the night sky. Lee Eun-gyeol said, "If magic delivers surprise and joy, illusions exist in the realm of interpretation that one can imagine."

■ Homage to Melies and the 'Tree of Light' Finale

In the second part, an online live fan meeting and talk session took place, followed by a scene paying homage to Georges Melies. When a film projector was cranked, an actual train appeared on stage.

Lee Eun-gyeol stated, "People say things can't be done if they've never seen them even once, but I believe that seeing them just once makes it possible. My illusions expand imagination into experiential reality."

Subsequent scenes included photographs transforming into paper boats, smoke blooming from a conch shell, and curtains sweeping over the audience before turning into giant waves. A stage inspired by memories of the seaside with his son was also revealed.

In addition, he introduced a Hahoe mask illusion that he refined over 10 years of training under Sugaya Koichi into something distinctly Korean. Performances of a crocodile, monkey, and moose expressed through finger shadows, inspired by the vitality he felt in Africa, followed. The concert concluded with a production in which a tree of light was drawn on a curtain as a book opened, and a giant tree appeared.

Lee Eun-gyeol shared his thoughts, saying, "I just want to be 'Lee Eun-gyeol.' My goal is for all the epithets to disappear amid the expectation that 'this person will show me something I never anticipated.'"