The Road to Glory

[I’m the person who got the first and last concert tickets. I’m posting this review knowing I might get cursed at.]“How did they really do an all-con? The reaction is no joke.”“The post might get taken down soon.”“But the person who wrote it seems happy.”“Of course.”The day after the concert.Despite being told to rest for a few days, the members gathered at the label as if it was their real home, monitoring the reactions.Han Jinyeong sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, flipping through a tablet.Next to him, Moon Seoyeon was holding a transparent box. Nam Gyuhwan leaned back, mistakenly thinking there was a sofa behind him, and knocked over a pile of spare gifts.Not many, just about a dozen or so.After setting up the shopping bags again, Nam Gyuhwan stared at the box Moon Seoyeon was holding.“By the way, what’s that?”“This? The song request box from yesterday.”Moon Seoyeon shook the box as if it were obvious.The remaining balls inside rolled around.“No, I don’t mean what it is, but why are you still keeping it?”“Ah, I was going to ask that too.”At Han Jinyeong’s words, Moon Seoyeon opened the lid of the box.Now she could grab the balls as much as she wanted.“These were written by grateful people who came to the concert. How could I just throw them away? And aren’t you curious? What songs everyone requested.”They would have only drawn a few balls, so those balls couldn’t represent everyone’s opinions. There must be another lineup of song requests.Intrigued by Moon Seoyeon’s words, they decided to count the votes.First, about 43% were Korean songs.There were old songs, requests for dancing instead of singing, and even cute songs that were once popular among idols.If this had been drawn, they could imagine what the expressions would have been like, and they all giggled.“Wow, but no one listens.”Almost no one had accepted the request to write just one song. There was a sense of determination to have their songs sung somehow without skipping.The remaining 56% doesn’t even need to be mentioned.“How did this not get drawn?”“I thought at least one pop song would come up.”“Instead, we sang a chanson. Let’s say we did.”From HALO covers to pop songs that made it to international Billboard charts, musical OSTs, various songs were requested, but it was surprising that none were drawn even once.“You know what’s even more surprising?”“What?”“The request to sing an unreleased song, it seems Haeil’s pick was the only one.”“Gasp!”It was already unbelievable that they didn’t draw any of the pop songs that made up 66%, but it was also amazing that they picked the one request out of 830.Naturally, everyone thought of the unreleased song.Even they had heard the song for the first time.The song the boy sang with the title ‘Until dawn comes’ was somehow special. From the humming, to the rhythmic Korean lyrics, to the gloomy yet bright melody.The bright yet empty emotion was a bit different from Roh Haeil’s songs so far. The lingering feeling that touched and shook the heart was not easy to escape from. It was as if this was-.Moon Seoyeon said:“It sounds like a HALO song.”“I thought so too. Not the 9th album, but a later song?”Although the Korean lyrics fit well, given that the boy had perfectly adapted HALO’s 4th album into Korean before, they thought this might be similar.Han Jinyeong nodded in agreement with Nam Gyuhwan’s words.As they also had a strong impression of the unreleased song, currently the hottest reaction was to Roh Haeil’s ‘unreleased song’.Of course, besides that, the last concert had so much impact that people who were saying the concert was legendary were weeping.No matter how much they argued that the performance, covers, setlist, or concept were better when the guests came, there weren’t many things that could beat Roh Haeil’s chanson (+ French conversation) and Roh Haeil’s unreleased song.It was frustrating enough not being able to attend all the concerts, but the fact that he set legendary records every day and even performed a rare chanson and an unreleased song at the last concert was really hard to stomach.Although filming was prohibited, some who broke through the strict security uploaded fancams of the chanson to NuTube.[A chanson from a Korean singer? I was angry at first wondering why the lyrics were in French, but when I heard a foreign kid sang it, I relaxed. But Roh Haeil is crazy, his conversation skills are crazy too…][This is really a song I like ㅠㅠ Please upload a cover to NuTube. Why only at the last concert][By the way, was Roh Haeil always good at French?]└ I think I heard he was in a foreign language high school prep class in middle school└ Foreign language high school prep class? Lol, I don’t know about the rest, but that pronunciation absolutely can’t come from Korea└ Is Roh Haeil a French study abroad student?And so on, questions arose, but still, the fancam of the chanson was half tears and half pleas to please upload it to NuTube.On the other hand, the reaction to the unreleased song was even more intense.[He sang an unreleased song at the last concert? Ahhhh, LMAO][Just singing what’s on the setlist would be ha][(Question) Person who came to the last concert. Isn’t this song different from Roh Haeil’s songs? Is Roh Haeil retiring?]└ He’s just getting started, what retirement└ No, the song’s vibe felt a bit like that[But the chanson and the encore, they all had fancams uploaded, why is only the unreleased song missing?]└ I heard it was caught right before└ Still, out of 830 people, someone must have filmed it, damn└ Why are you suddenly swearing ㅜ└ Are they trying to keep it or sell it for a high price?└ Is this some NFT????└ Please ㅠㅠㅠㅠ sell itIt didn’t end with just reactions about a singer finishing a concert well. The mouths of 830 people were not heavy, and since many didn’t hear it, it produced countless stories.By the time reporters were rushing to the label to get information about the new song, Halo had arrived at Hotel S.The boy, wearing a hoodie zip-up and cap, entered the hotel lounge & bar, ordered a mango shaved ice, and sat in a secluded corner with a separated space. It was a corner with a good view outside.While looking out the window until the mango shaved ice arrived, a native Parisian voice was heard.“Bonjour.”One was Per Aspera, the creative designer of ‘Arbor’ with dirty blonde hair.And next to him was his young daughter holding onto his lapel.“This is my daughter, Rose Aspera.”Unlike her father, Rose had clean blonde hair, green eyes, and a pale face, and stood still like a doll while holding onto her father’s lapel.While Halo noticed that her eyes seemed somewhat unfocused, Per Aspera asked.“May we sit?”When he nodded, Per Aspera first hugged his daughter to sit her down, then sat down politely.“To be honest, I didn’t think Mr. Roh would meet us.”“That doesn’t seem like something someone who came looking for a meeting on the last day of the concert should say.”“I apologize for my rudeness. But I felt like if I didn’t do that, I might never get to meet you.”Though smiling, it seemed like he was asking if that wasn’t why you came out to this meeting.Well, it wasn’t wrong.Besides, he wasn’t actually waiting in the lobby.Telling the staff there was a meeting was probably not to actually create a meeting, but simply to convey a message to him.“We all don’t like outdated methods, do we?”Emails or phone calls, those outdated things.Halo agreed that it wasn’t wrong.He had always preferred people who just barged in without hesitation. It’s not like they would get hurt by barging in, nor was it something he couldn’t control.He met people who came to his company day and night more readily than those who wrote ten letters with the same content.“You don’t seem like a Parisian.”“I hear that often.”Though it might be rude, since the other party started the rudeness, neither paid attention to it.An espresso was placed in front of Per Aspera. He committed the outrage of putting several sugar cubes into the espresso. Without noticing Halo’s twitching eyebrow, he even savored it.“I enjoyed your concert, Mr. Roh. It was my first time seeing a concert in Korea, and even though I couldn’t understand the language, I felt like I knew. ‘Music is the language of the gods.’ I deeply empathized with someone who said that. Also, as I said before, thank you for singing a chanson for Rose. Rose really liked it. Right?”Rose, who had been sitting still like a doll, nodded her head vigorously.After listening quietly to Per Aspera’s concert review, Halo suddenly put down his spoon.“Let’s get to the main point.”The reason they met wasn’t to hear a concert review, after all. At the boy’s words, Per Aspera nodded while taking a sip of espresso.Per Aspera didn’t explain about Arbor step by step, but immediately showed his drawing book.Saying that everyone would know about Arbor up to now. He said he came to show how he would shape the future of Arbor as a creative designer – that is, chief designer.“Is it okay to show this so easily?”As Halo flipped through the drawing book, Per Aspera shrugged.“Usually, it’s not. This is just a sketch I drew while watching Mr. Roh’s concert yesterday.”“Hmm.”“If you refuse, I plan to discard it as is.”Though he said it lightly, it seemed sincere.The design book slated for disposal had quite a few designs that someone would find very regrettable. In fact, it didn’t look like a sketch.A coat modeled after a hanbok durumagi, or a zip-up with sea, peach, and crane drawings.It was impressive that it was overall leaning towards Oriental painting, but what caught the eye more was that it looked good to wear anywhere.“As you seem to not prefer constricting things.”That’s right.Once, that is, in the past, there were times when he didn’t even want to wear socks, so he would wear shoes barefoot, or cut socks below the ankle to use them.Halo looked through the design book roughly and put it down.“Do you like it?”“Yes, it’s all good.”“Can I take that answer to mean you’re interested in Arbor?”Their eyes met.Halo smiled and leaned back on the sofa, crossing his legs.“But does this brand usually do this?”Feeling it was a sudden question, Per Aspera expressed doubt.“I’m sure the brand has staff in charge, and it’s not common for the CD to come out. It’s even rarer for them to watch concerts.”He used to get along well with designers in the past, but that didn’t mean they would often come to concerts. Well, back then there were easier places to meet than concerts.For example, fashion shows, award ceremonies, parties, etc. There were many corners to meet, so they probably didn’t feel the need to come to his tour.“It’s not a common occurrence. In fact, it’s something that almost never happens.”Per Aspera readily agreed.“It was difficult to come to the concert too. I’m curious, did you deliberately choose a small theater concert? You have no idea how much effort our staff put into ticketing. In the end, we could only get one ticket, so we spent quite a bit to get the seat next to it. I bought the one that came on the first day for twice the price from a scalper. Thank you for announcing the gift news later. Seeing the scalper contact us to return the ticket, if you had announced it a little earlier, they probably wouldn’t have sold it.”He wasn’t particularly curious about the behind-the-scenes of ticketing.“Still, Rose wanted to see Mr. Roh’s performance, and I wanted to meet you in person, so the cost wasn’t wasted. Right?”Per Aspera stroked Rose’s hair.Rose’s eyes twitched, then looked straight ahead again. Her pupils trembled slightly. Halo thought she was trying to see him.“Rose has very poor eyesight.”Suddenly, Per Aspera spoke in English. So Rose wouldn’t hear.“She’s not completely blind. She can distinguish outlines and colors. Just think of her as someone with very severe astigmatism and myopia.”A child wouldn’t have such poor eyesight just from watching television up close. There must be some illness. That’s probably why he brought the child to a business meeting.“Instead, Rose has good ears. She can distinguish people just by their footsteps, and she’s often the first to notice when an instrument is broken. She also knows how to find good music. Do you like children?”Halo answered.“No.”As if he didn’t expect such a definitive answer, Per Aspera paused for a moment. Then, as if pretending not to have heard, he continued speaking.“It’s been a while since Rose wanted to go to someone’s concert. My going to Mr. Roh’s concert was inevitable.”It sounded like his daughter’s wish was more important than business. Per Aspera, who was about to bring up the ambassador again, looked down at his phone for a moment.A call came in.“Excuse me for a moment.”Per Aspera apologized and left his seat for a moment.At the window seat of the S Hotel lounge, a 17-year-old boy and a girl not even 10 years old were left alone.As one person disappeared, the place became quiet.Halo didn’t bother to open his mouth, and the girl just hummed something while looking into space, not initiating conversation.“…”“…”Hm hm-At first, he didn’t notice, but the melody that kept reaching his ears was somehow familiar. He had heard that she had good ears, but that didn’t seem to mean she sang well.Halo, who had been listening quietly, opened his mouth.“That’s not how you sing it.”At those words, Rose slowly turned her head.She wasn’t completely focused on him, but a question arose on her pale face.Halo corrected the wrong part.“The pitch is wrong, and the lyrics are wrong too. It’s ‘at dawn’.”“Se, sebege.”It just seemed like Korean was difficult.“Do you know English?”“A little.”He didn’t really trust that statement, but thinking it would be better than Korean, Halo let her hear the original lyrics.HALO 13th album. The title track, and the song he wrote thinking about the end.Until dawn comesWhen he sang in falsetto to match the child’s vocal range, she sang along better than in Korean.If it had been another HALO album, she wouldn’t have been able to sing along.As the child followed along without difficulty, Halo smiled faintly.And Halo realized that Per Aspera, who had finished his call, had come to their side. Per Aspera was looking at him with subtle eyes.“Didn’t you say you don’t like children?”“I don’t.”Halo answered firmly as he returned his upper body, which was leaning across the table, to its original position. Per Aspera, who had been quietly looking at the boy, nodded with a gentle smile.“I see.”“…”“Rose, what did you talk about with Mr. Roh?”“Sebege.”

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