I Can Hear Your Voice by Kim Young Ha

A rope descended from the sky. That in itself was strange. But it was only the beginning so everyone kept their mouths shut. The solemn-faced magician ordered his young assistant to climb up the rope. Though frightened and hesitant, the young assistant followed the magician’s strict ordered and started to climb up the rope. Up, up, and further up. His small body became smaller and smaller and eventually disappeared from the audience’s sight. The magician shouted up at the sky.

“Right, now come back down!” But there was no answer. The magicians’ voice grew louder.

“Just come down! Can’t you hear me?” No response. The audience’s curiosity was piqued. Where on earth does this rope lead? And what happened to that boy who just climbed up it? Could he have arrived in another world, that [strange] world we call heaven?

The magician tugged at the rope in anger. He started to climb up the rope himself in order to find his assistant. Shortly afterwards, the magician too disappeared from everyone’s sight. The distant sky suddenly started to feel heavy. The audience’s necks began to hurt from looking up at the sky. Then all of a sudden, the young assistant’s arms, legs, head and torso fell down from up high, in that order. There was a [dull sound] and fresh blood came splattering down. The white marble floor looked more like a white tablecloth with wine spilled all over it. It was crimson, intense and nauseating. The audience backed away in shock. A little later, the magician came back down the rope with blood stained hands and calmly began to pick up all the pieces of assistant scattered around and put them into a bucket. After tossing it behind him, he looked around reproachfully at the terrified audience. Do you want something more?

But then a sound could be heard from behind the magician. The boy held out the straw mat covering the bucket and walked forward, rubbing his eyes, as if waking up from a long nap. The magician wasn’t surprised. To him, crossing the line between life and death was the most natural thing in the world. The boy disappeared. The boy died. The dead boy came back to life. He started to do summersaults for all those people who couldn’t believe he had been resurrected. They were relaxed now. The boy was obviously alive. Blood was flowing through his arms and legs and his muscles and joints were all working properly. Only then did the audience give loud applause.

The first person to record this magic trick was Ibn Battuta, the known as the Marco Polo of the Islamic world. He witnessed this surprising trick in Hangzhou and recorded it in his vast travelogue. The secrets to many of these tricks have been revealed now, but this rope trick alone remains hidden under a veil.

There are other tales deriving from China. This magic trick was said to have been performed in front of a Chinese emperor. The young emperor was fooled, and he loved it precisely because of this. But the emperor, completely enamoured with this incredible trick, didn’t stop there. His eyes fell on the eunuch, who stood fanning him. The eunuch was dragged out, trembling. There’s no reason to worry. The magician will bring you back to life.

An old vassal stepped forward and tried to dissuade the emperor. It’s nothing more than trickery. But the emperor wouldn’t listen. We’ll find out if it’s trickery or not when we try it. He looked on with curiosity as a large soldier came towards the eunuch, wielding a knife. A rainbow appeared in the fountain of blood. The magician turned his head away from the gruesome scene and hurriedly climbed up the rope into the sky. After he was safely hidden behind the clouds, the rope twisted down to the ground. He looked just like a dragon that had tried and failed to ascend to heaven.

When I first heard this story, I was curious as to where this magician who climbed up above the clouds could have gone. But now I think of his assistant – what happened to the boy the magician left behind at that blood-soaked scene?