Cheering could be heard from every angle as the video began to play on the overhead screen, indicating the long-awaited show had begun. No longer working with a group of traveling magicians, Lee Hongbin and his assistant had shot into the big leagues. A clip of their last performance went viral, after “Bunny” disappeared into a rabbit hat engulfed by flames. Bunny isn’t your typical cute, four-legged fur ball with a love for carrots; it’s actually the stage name of Hongbin’s assistant, Ma Suri.

   The screaming crowd went eerily silent, only to erupt in a deafening roar as Mister Lee himself appeared onstage, jumping up from a rising platform.

   “How is everyone tonight?” Hongbin spoke, adjusting the single white glove on his right hand. “No wait, let me guess,” he joked “you’re all as happy to be here as I am, right?!” Though he was just pumping up the crowd as usual before a big show, Suri couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his lame fanservice. She was growing tired of hearing her partner’s yapping, despite patiently awaiting her cue.

   “Now, who’s ready to have a great time tonight! ..oh wait, guys I can’t find Bunny!” Hongbin pretended to panic as “Bunny” snickered from her spot. He went about the stage opening boxes and lifting curtains as Suri slowly rose from the reflective box on front stage. Bunny was decorated in her usual attire, a black-and-white checkered dress with white rabbit ears that contrasted her silky dark hair.

   The children in the audience loved this part of the show, the childish hide-and-seek routine that had Hongbin and Suri suppressing giggles of their own. “Over there!” the crowd would yell, trying to get his attention to locate Bunny. Once Hongbin finally made it to the right box after some “failed attempts”, he rolled the box onto its side, instructing the audience to chant along with him. “Surisuri masuri!” He opened the top where Suri had previously peeked out from, with it now facing the audience.

   Gasps, murmurs and claps were heard. The box was empty. But how could that be? Bunny was just inside of there! Speaking of Bunny, a mini rolling stage with sheets started to rattle. The curtains pulled apart, revealing the trickster rabbit in the flesh. Impossible, you say? We prefer the term “everything is possible”, there’s always more than meets the eye at a Lee × Bunny performance. You never really know what treat you’ll be in for.

   A good magician never reveals their tricks, but since this one’s pretty simple, I’m sure it’ll do no harm to sneak a peak. You see, Bunny hides in the box, but the bottom is hollow, because there’s a trap door just below her. So after she shows herself to the audience, she falls through, giving it enough time to push up and blend in with the floor by the time Hongbin tips the box and opens it.

   Then Bunny climbs back upstairs, coming through the backstage area to hide behind the curtains. The audience is so engrossed by the fact that she’s no longer in the box that they don’t notice her on the other side of the stage. Hongbin then points her way and yells “Give it up for the one and only, the magnificent Bunny!” Slowly climbing off the rolling platform, she graces the stage as she joins Hongbin’s side, waiting for the show to go on.

   There’s a whole array of acts during their show, from making audience members disappear and reappear on the second floor, to a swarm of doves appearing from Hongbin’s jacket, to the crazier feats that laced their names with fame not long ago. Some of these include, but are not limited to: throwing a deck of cards in the air then picking a single card left floating in the air to reveal the participant’s chosen card, quick-change solo dance sequence by Suri, and the very stunt to go viral, “Bunny’s top hat inferno”.

   Before we carry on here, let’s rewind. It’s best to know the how before the why, right?