Hallucinations

 Episode 6.. Hallucinations

2026 - Hong Jae-in is the new manager of Kang Pi-o after 10 years. Jae-in tells Kang Ji-hye and Manager Eden Yoon that the seats are sold out for the Esplanade show. She tells them additional VIP tickets were arranged with the Singapore agency. Manager Yoon tells her that the schedules are tight between the Vienna and Singapore concerts. 

Kang Pi-o bumps into an old classmate in the corridor asking him about his involvement in the disappearance of Choi Jeong-yo. He recalls in the toilet how Jeong-yo was worried about his pinky fingernail while practicing. While practicing, Jae-in visits him at home and later walks with him. She asks him when they are getting married. 

At an interview with the organizers of the Prague Harmonie International Competition, he explained that the fingernail didn’t bother him during his performance at the competition because he felt no pain. His interpretation of the piece, Rachmaninoff Concerto No.2, said that he tried to do his best but couldn’t do it again. He was asked how he overcame the loss of his friend Choi Jeong-yo after the Harmonie competition and he simply said that music healed him and saved him. Going to the same school he denied that they were close friends.

Kang Pi-o receives word that someone spotted Choi Jeong-yo in Romania by a refugee named Farid. Pi-o tells his private investigator, Vogel, that he would travel to Romania and he makes an excuse to Hong Jae-in that he is visiting a professor in Munster. He meets Farid who confirms having met Choi Jeong-yo three years before through a photograph. He tells them that this man said that he couldn’t play the piano anymore because he couldn’t use his right hand because of an injury. Farid asked for money for drugs. They followed the leads given by informants, but he was disappointed at the result. Pi-o tells him after five years there are still no solid links. He is asked by Vogel what he wants to confirm, that Jeong-yo to be alive or dead to end the search.

Kang Ji-hye is appointed as a member of the Music Division of the National Culture and Arts Steering Committee by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. She talks about gifted school’s admissions with Manager Eden Yoon. She suggests Kim Hong-gyu to Gam U-jin after the remark that good looking children are better. She gets annoyed by the clothes of Director Yoon Seong-ju in her cabinet after five years that she left the house and warns the helper about this.

Professor Do Hyun-soo dislikes the choice of Kang Ji-hye and tells her. She asks him why he treats her with contempt.

Hong Jae-in picks up Kang Pi-o in a bar and accompanies him home after drinking a lot. He tells her that she’s the only person he trusts. Jae-in confesses her feelings for him but he starts snoring. She just tells him to not be in pain. 

Pi-o receives a message that the man who kidnapped Choi Jeong-yo was just released from Rezina Penitentiary. They go to Moldova with the PI, Vogel, to see Andrei Ceban, 48 years old, a former mercenary who served time for assault. Andrei Ceban remembered Kang Pi-o as the one who benefitted from the abduction of Choi Jeong-yo. Andrei told him that he killed Jeong-yo because he resisted and was supposed to be set free after they got the money. Pi-o asked who ordered the abduction and Andrei said he would tell him for six million Lei but when they returned with the money Andrei got murdered. This frustrated Pi-o because he reached a dead end and would never know the truth. Vogel told him that since Pi-o found out what happened, he should let go the search for Jeong-yo.

Hong Jae-in picks Pi-o up from Moldova because he was sick. He apologizes and explains that he was hoping to see Choi Jeong-yo there after nine years. He told her that he was hoping to set things right for stealing Jeong-yo’s spotlight. Pi-o is overcome by guilt for Jeong-yo’s death. Jae-in tells him to move on because Jeong-yo would have wanted for him to become an amazing pianist in his place. She promises to never leave him. 

Kang Ji-hye picks up Pi-o from the Seoul airport to bring home. Maestro Kang Seung-woon tends his plants instead of talking to his grandson when they see him in the garden. Pi-o looks at the musical score sheet of Choi Jeong-yo that made him win the Prague Harmonie International Competition with the additional notations. He hallucinates about Jeong-yo playing the piano with him and appearing in front of him. He goes into depression and refuses to eat and play the piano.

He goes to see Professor Do. He breaks down in front of him saying Professor Do didn’t want him as a student because he had no talent and no soul in his music compared to Jeong-yo. Professor Do explains that both of them were equally bright students. 

Miss Han catches him and shows him his newly released album.

Kang Pi-o’s imagination carries him away as he sees Choi Jeong-yo everywhere in concerts, at home, and his hand on the piano. He is unable to play properly at concerts. Hong Jae-in tells him to travel.

His psychiatrist tells him to deal with his grief at the loss of a friend and travel. Pi-o goes to the International Conducting Competition Brno 2026. He listens to a familiar four hand piece that they once played and notices the conductor is Choi Jeong-yo.

#DeadEnd #MusicalDrama #KangPio #ChoiJeongyo #PragueCompetition #ClassicalMusic #SuspenseStory #Episode6