THE Korean girl walks out gingerly and asks: 'Where's the piano?'
She goes on to play Beethoven's Fur Elise and Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu - an amazing feat for a 5-year-old who was born blind.
Yoo Ye Eun has been hailed as the '5-year-old genius Mozart' and 'little angel who can't see'.
Her talent was discovered on the reality talent show Star King on Seoul Broadcasting System in March last year.
A video clip of her performance, which had the guest judges gushing and crying, has been circulating in cyberspace and moving netizens to tears.
What made Ye Eun's recital even more compelling was her mother's revelation during the show that she had been abandoned at birth and later adopted by her and her husband.
When she was 3, she surprised her adoptive parents by suddenly playing the piano, with no prior training.
Her clip attracted 27.5 million hits on the Korea-based video-sharing website Pandora TV, and 1.69million hits on the US-based YouTube since it was posted three months ago.
Netizen EnflamedKamikaze, from Canada, wrote on YouTube: 'I'm not the type of person who cries easily, but I couldn't help it... She looks like an angel... so delicate and fragile.
'Her voice is what made me cry the most. So innocent and pure.
'I truly hope that time will aid her in becoming a musician that many will adore for years to come.'
Another netizen, duhhh86 from Singapore, wrote: 'She just wants to play the piano every single moment... Her pure love for music touches me. I really admire her.
'And she's very beautiful... like a perfect little doll.'
The story of Ye Eun, now 6, is one of hope and inspiration.
Though abandoned by her birth parents, she was raised with love by her adoptive parents - Mr Yoo Chang Joo, 41, and Ms Park Jeong Soon, 37.
They live in the small city of Pocheon in Gyeonggi province in north-west South Korea.
Mr Yoo is wheelchair-bound after a car accident, reported Woman Donga magazine.
His wife, whom he met in church and married in 2001, is infertile.
In 2003, when they heard about a baby who had been abandoned because she's blind, they took her in.
They told Woman Donga that Ye Eun was a weak child, but had a pleasant personality and they 'never felt it was difficult to bring her up'.
When Ye Eun was 3, she suddenly played a Korean song, which her mother loved to sing, on an old piano given by a neighbour.
Her father exposed her to more music via the computer, and, amazingly, she was able to play every tune after hearing it once.
Last year, Ye Eun went on the Star King show because 'she wanted to play the piano for many people', said her mother.
Ye Eun's crystal-clear singing voice and the way her stubby fingers struggled to reach for the furthest keys moved the guest judges - including a few members of the boy band Super Junior - to tears.
She won two rounds of the competition and took home a cash prize of three million won ($3,900).
Then, instead of letting Ee Jun proceed, her mother opted to take her out as she did not want her little girl to feel pressured.
Madam Park said: 'We will end it here and let this be a beautiful memory. We are very grateful to Star King.'
But the story didn't end there.
During South Korea's Children's Day in May last year, the Super Junior guys visited Ye Eun in Pocheon and presented her with a new piano.
She was invited to Los Angeles to perform as part of Korean Day celebrations there last September, and also participated in a concert in Pocheon last November.
There were reportedly plans to restore her eyesight with surgery, but medical checks showed it was too late to do anything.
Three weeks ago, Ye Eun reappeared on Star King to perform alongside British singing prodigy Connie Talbot.
Now attending nursery school, Ye Eun seemed more confident of herself and her piano-playing was smoother and more mature.
She even has a sponsor - the CEO of a construction company in Dubai.
The man chanced upon her video clip on the Internet and was so touched that he decided to 'invest in her future'.
No details were given, but he said via a video clip: 'You were such an angel, giving me a message from God... You will find me always next to you, and I just want you to keep working on what you're doing.'
See also:
» Youtube video: Yoo Ye Eun plays for Korean National TV
This article was first published in The New Paper
