The Road to Glory

Nothing had changed.“Tonight“Park Seungah hummed as she stirred the pot. In the boiling pot were jujubes, licorice, cinnamon, and burdock root, all good for the throat.On the table were ginger tea and bellflower juice, also known to be good for the throat. Once finished, she planned to put them in her son’s studio refrigerator.Professor Roh Yunhyeon, watching students sigh with their heads buried in test papers, wondered if the question about globular clusters might have been too easy this time.He looked out the window at the sky.Not gloomy, but slightly cloudy.“Will it rain?”Early June. He seemed to remember the weather forecast saying the last spring rain would fall.[Dancing in the rain]On the opposite side of the Earth.August Veil, greeting a classical morning, turns on some music. A melody both joyful and somehow empty welcomed him.[I can hear a song]The story of a crazy man dancing alone in the rain was painted.But the album art he requested doesn’t depict a man dancing alone. It’s a picture of dancing in a puddle with legs intertwined in the rain.August Veil smiled softly looking at the album cover, thinking how much his mindset had changed since making his 6th album. It’s all good.While employees are reciting everything from identity to conspiracy theories about the changes in HALO’s album covers, it’s nothing new.That’s how it always was.Nothing had changed…Moon Seoyeon was startled when she arrived at the studio.As soon as she entered the studio, specifically Roh Haeil’s label [H], she felt an inexplicable atmosphere.It seems like there’s been some big change.Moon Seoyeon’s eyes rolled around.‘By the way, why does that bastard’s face look like that?’He was melting like he’d been hit with a taser gun.He was always crazy, but this gave her goosebumps.“Hello…?”Just as she thought everyone seemed to have gathered in the studio unusually early, that wasn’t the important thing.The reason she came to work earlier than usual.Moon Seoyeon shouted,“Boss! You made a mistake with the transfer!”“?”Moon Seoyeon opened her phone.She was so shocked when she saw the transferred amount while talking to a friend. Although it said [H] label, she thought it was a voice phishing scam.“It’s too, too much!”The problem wasn’t that it was too little, but that it was too much.Nam Gyuhwan replied as if she was pathetic.“…That should be right?”“?”This is right? There were at least two extra zeros.Moon Seoyeon blinked.Then, Nam Gyuhwan suddenly asked with furrowed brows,“Didn’t you listen to Halo’s music?”“No.”“Why?”Nam Gyuhwan asks back as if in disbelief.Who’s in disbelief here? Moon Seoyeon’s expression crumpled. Who does he think he is, some fanatic?“Do I have to listen?”“Isn’t it obvious?”Maybe obvious to a fanatic.Moon Seoyeon was speechless, then opened her mouth again, feeling wronged.“I’m not a fanatic like you, why should I make sure to listen? And besides, I don’t really like Halo.”“!”Nam Gyuhwan was startled at those words.As if he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.And the strange thing was, Nam Gyuhwan’s gaze turned towards the boy and then snapped back like a roly-poly toy.To her, Nam Gyuhwan seemed out of his mind.“Why?”“Halo’s music is too strong. It’s not my taste. I like soft, yeah, I like boss’s songs. Songs that make me remember my moments, not the music. And-.”“…”“It’s weird that person hasn’t even revealed their face yet. What should I say.”“Sneaky.”Nam Gyuhwan’s shoulders flinched. Moon Seoyeon, not noticing this, smiled as she picked up a sandwich and passed it to the boy.“People should be clear and transparent like our boss.”“…Is boss soju? Clear and transparent?”Nam Gyuhwan then immediately asked,“So you don’t listen to Halo’s music?”This bastard. Moon Seoyeon furrowed her brows.She’d just explained at length but he wasn’t listening.“Why do you keep telling me to listen? Did Halo reveal their identity or something?”“…”Then silence.Moon Seoyeon blinked.“Did they reveal it?!”“Just listen.”“What, you keep telling me to listen.”As Nam Gyuhwan put headphones on her, Moon Seoyeon reluctantly listened.She’d end up hearing the song someday anyway.Although she said it wasn’t her taste, there’s no denying it’s well-made music, and soon it would be heard everywhere once it topped the charts.Latin percussion. A cheerful melody in 4/4 time.This song with a strong retro vibe is-.“This song is quite nice…”Moon Seoyeon was speaking, then tilted her head at the familiar melody.“…”Why is it familiar?There’s no way a HALO song would be familiar.She couldn’t have heard a song released yesterday in advance.Then, when…Moon Seoyeon found a dumb expression in front of her.Nam Gyuhwan was waiting for her with wide eyes.And Han Jinyeong looking on with interestThe boy with his chin resting on one arm.When their eyes met, Moon Seoyeon felt déjà vu.The joyful electric piano melody in her ears, the chicken scratch of the distinctive wah-wah pedal.This is…“!”Moon Seoyeon covered her mouth.Nam Gyuhwan spread his hands, waiting for her answer, and the other two seemed to be subtly expecting something too.“No way…”After fumbling for a while, she asked.“It can’t be, right?”“If it’s not, you’ll have to refund the pay.”Unable to hold back any longer, Nam Gyuhwan spoke, and her bank balance flashed before her eyes.“It seems like it might be right…”Having tentatively agreed, she was still half in doubt.The song playing in the headphones.Not just the title track, but the session of the b-sides follows the same melody she once read the sheet music for and recorded.“Th- No.”Moon Seoyeon still couldn’t continue speaking with her wide eyes. She experienced cognitive dissonance.Then she recalls.The words she just said… no, her blunder.‘HALO’s songs are not my taste’Thump.‘That person is, how should I say, sneaky.’Thump thump.A stone dropped.She looked at the boy with trembling eyes.The moment their eyes met, her face turned pale white, and before anyone could stop her-.“Ahhh!”She ran out of the studio.“Uh…”Silence falls in the studio.The eyes of the three people meet briefly.Soon Halo got up with a chuckle.Moon Seoyeon didn’t get far, crouching against the outer wall of the studio building.Her heart was pounding.All sorts of confusion, along with her blunder, mixed together so she didn’t know what judgment to make.Moon Seoyeon took a deep breath first.Implementing the only breathing technique she knew!Huff huff hoo! Huff huff hoo!At that moment, a shadow falls over her along with a presence.Her heart sank.As she was about to raise her head, she saw familiar shoes and lowered it again.“Are you angry?”“No.”“Then why are you looking down?”“I just feel self-loathing.”Then the person standing in front of her crouched down too.Moon Seoyeon raised her head slightly, then lowered it again when their eyes met.“Thank you for liking my music.”“!”“I can’t quite understand that you don’t like my other music, though.”Moon Seoyeon slowly raised her head.The boy in front of her was speaking to her with raised corners of his mouth.“You’ll probably come to like it soon as we perform together.”As if it were obvious.Moon Seoyeon looked at him blankly.The boy is shining brightly as if on stage.“So, will you keep being in my band?”The boy, Halo, reached out his hand to her.Moon Seoyeon looked at his hand and slowly extended hers.When they touched, the boy pulled her up.“Shall we greet each other again?”“How?”“Just a greeting.”Halo said with a faint smile.“Nice to meet you, as Roh Haeil and as Halo.”“Me too…”Moon Seoyeon, about to say nice to meet you too as if enchanted by the boy, blurted out a thought that suddenly occurred to her.“Boss, have you used this on a girl before?”The boy chuckled but gave no answer.He only asked the members who had followed them out.“Shall we have a team dinner today?”***Usually when people say team dinner, the basic structure is 1st round for food, 2nd round for drinks, 3rd round for more drinks, 4th round for even more drinks, and 5th round for hangover soup.However, since the card owner was a minor, and Korean law prohibits minors from entering bars, their options after enjoying the feast were extremely limited.“Age ain’t nothin’ but a number! Can’t we drink a little!”Everyone was reluctant to go straight home like this.Not much conversation had taken place during the meal.In fact, whenever even the ‘H’ of HALO was mentioned, Moon Seoyeon and Nam Gyuhwan would look around like criminals.Anyway, those who had some drinks seemed to have calmed down a bit. At least their unnatural behavior had lessened.Suddenly, Nam Gyuhwan raised his head.“I just thought of a place…”“Where?”“The studio?”Not likely.Nam Gyuhwan looked at Halo with shining eyes.A place that’s open at this hour and allows minors to enter.Nam Gyuhwan led them and stopped at one place.Stairs leading underground unfold at his fingertips.“Ah!”Moon Seoyeon opened her eyes wide and shouted.“Karaoke, it’s been a while.”Nostalgia filled Han Jinyeong’s eyes too.They hadn’t even thought of it.Unlike them, it was Halo’s first time, so he looked around curiously as he went inside. There was no one in the hallway. But from each room they passed, voices and singing could be heard. Among them was a familiar melody.“Wow, boss’s song!”Roh Haeil’s new song coming from the next room.And HALO’s song from the room across.Halo focuses on the sound with a curious face.Some friends with regrettable pitch, some just caught up in their own emotions. But it’s fun.Following the sound, they arrived at the innermost room, their room.“Shall we sing?”As soon as they entered, everyone simultaneously handed Halo the microphone. A sealed space like a recording studio, but with an audience.An unfamiliar place, but not unfamiliar.Halo raised the corners of his mouth and took the microphone.#“Hey, be quiet. The next room is crazy.”“Yeah. Wow, I’ve never heard anyone sing Halo’s song this well before.”It’s always the case that when you finish your song in a karaoke room, someone else’s song comes in like a chorus. If you think ‘I could sing that better’ when you hear that song, you might request the same song.But two women and one man canceled their requested HALO song after hearing the new HALO song from the next room. Better sing a Roh Haeil song instead.“But is that really not a singer?”“They really do sing well, for real. You’d think it was Halo if you didn’t know better.”They smile at each other, not thinking for a moment that it could actually be true.The microphone quality, the soundproofing of the karaoke room, etc. didn’t fully convey the voice, and their state wasn’t entirely sober either, so other voices made them think ‘of course not’ and move on.“It’d be fun if it was a real singer.”“Oh, I think I saw that story somewhere. Someone sang exactly like Liv and everyone was wondering, but it turned out to be the real Liv.”“Then, is Halo in the next room?”The two women giggled, hiccuping and laughing that it was ridiculous. The situation in the room across was the same.And again, back to the main room.In the space that had turned from Halo’s concert back into a karaoke room, everyone complained of thirst and fatigue.Moon Seoyeon, who had danced excitedly, sprawled on the bed, and Han Jinyeong handed out water.The calm song they had requested played from the machine, but no one was singing.Moon Seoyeon rested her chin on her hand and looked at the boy curiously. Halo, and Roh Haeil.After alternating between calling out the names, she realized once again the one fact that Roh Haeil becomes ‘Hae-il Roh’ in English and marveled. She couldn’t understand now why she hadn’t known, when there were so many clues, even if it wasn’t explicitly said.Anyway, she slowly accepted the boy’s secret, and fully acknowledged it at the karaoke.The process of acceptance wasn’t complicated.She just had to think that the two geniuses were actually one.While Halo briefly left his seat, Moon Seoyeon said with a bright face.“All the people I liked before… had bad results, but I’m glad this one doesn’t seem like it’ll fail.”At those words, Nam Gyuhwan, who already knew, chuckled, and Han Jinyeong asked kindly.“Who did you like?”“Zeus?”A group once called genius idols, but disbanded due to members’ sex scandals.“Pinocchio.”A rapper who lost fans’ trust due to frequent lies.“And…”The more he heard, the darker Han Jinyeong’s expression became.“Most recently, JJ.”“Hey, your taste is something. At this point, it seems like you’re just cursed. Come to think of it, your baseball team too-.”As Nam Gyuhwan clicked his tongue, Moon Seoyeon flared up.“My baseball team is doing well these days!”“Which team is Seoyeon’s?”“Her hometown is Daejeon.”“Ah…”Han Jinyeong’s low exclamation.The riled-up Moon Seoyeon frantically entered numbers and grabbed the microphone to sing her go-to song.“I am happy~”Han Jinyeong and Nam Gyuhwan held their stomachs laughing before starting to sing along. Repeating rest and group singing like this, they used up even the service time.A night as bright as day in the city.Moon Seoyeon’s eyes, bright on the bright stairs, caught a twinkle.“It’s raining.”As she said, it was raining.Fine rain streaks were visible in the streetlight.“They say it’s the last spring rain.”Moon Seoyeon, who stretched out her hand, stepped forward saying it was okay to get wet. Nam Gyuhwan followed her, and so did Han Jinyeong.Halo watched them and stretched his hand outside.Raindrops brushed past his hand.“Boss! Come on.”They reached out to Halo, who was standing still.Halo smiled faintly and slowly joined their march.“I can hear a song-“Someone hums the melody they had been singing in the karaoke. Someone else’s voice adds on top, and before they know it, they’re stepping to a disco rhythm.Blurred lyrics.Over the humming and laughter, real disco music can be heard.“Tonight“A woman dancing to the songAnd a man drawn to that woman.“Dancing into the rain.”In the song, the man ends up dancing alone,But under the streetlight.Reflected in the puddle were four pairs of legs.#When spring passed and the hot summer started to creep in. ‘The Midday Show HALO Special’ aired locally in Los Angeles, USA.A special that became a hot topic as an influencer with various unique concepts in many waysHowever, what caught the public’s eye most was the boy who seemed the most ordinary on the surface.A boy with the surname Roh.Hi everyone, I've fully translated this series. If you love the series and wanted to binge read until the end, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. Instead of buying the advanced chapters one by one, you can buy them in one bulk (with discounted price too)!