The Road to Glory Chapter 127 - Like a Planet Orbiting The Sun

[How’s the accommodation?]

Halo chuckled as he watched the members fussing over the hotel, saying things like “The lobby is like this” and “There’s a swimming pool” after looking up information about the hotel.

“The view is nice.”

[Four Seasons certainly chose a good location. If you could see the view from my villa, it would be even better. If only it weren’t for the water leak.]

“Please invite me next time.”

[Sure, once the repairs are done, I’ll gift you a free pass to visit anytime. If you want to live here, just say the word.]

He speaks as if he would give it if Halo said he wanted to live there. Halo took the blind devotion of the most obsessive fan he knew as a joke, and noticed the hotel manager looking at him fervently.

When he came down to the lobby at 11 AM, the hotel manager approached him. He came quickly, as if he had been waiting for Halo to come down, and greeted him very politely.

He didn’t even bother to ask how the hotel service was. Following the rule of not making a VVIP wait or bothering them, the manager handed him a shopping bag.

After opening it, Halo called August Veil.

“Why didn’t you come in person?”

[Did you perhaps expect me to? I’m sorry to disappoint. Something urgent came up that I had to deal with. My original plan was to wait for you at my villa. Like Don Corleone in The Godfather, you know.]

August Veil’s voice sounded genuinely regretful. Halo snickered and then asked while twirling the card in his hand:

“So what’s this?”

[You mean what the manager gave you? It’s for emergencies. If any problems arise, show it. Not just at stores, mind you.]

August Veil, who had brought him to Prague by hijacking, sent his card through the manager instead of appearing in person.

Halo didn’t think it was particularly necessary, but when the manager looked at him as if asking if there was a problem, he put it in his wallet.

[Is it burdensome?]

The cautious voice of an old man came through the phone.

It’s not burdensome. His fans were always desperate to give him something, so he was used to it. So instead of saying no, Halo threw out a joke.

“How much can I buy with this?”

[Anything.]

“What, even a rocket?”

[Oh, do you want to go to Mars too?]

“I have a dream of busking in front of aliens.”

[Then I guess I’ll have to call NASA after a long time.]

They both chuckled as they exchanged jokes that were hard to tell if they were joking or serious. After finishing the not-so-long phone call, he approached the members. The members, not even noticing him coming, were having a serious conversation.

“Don’t they serve breakfast here?”

“No hotel serves breakfast at 11 o’clock, you know?”

“Then let’s go eat some soup.”

“…This isn’t Prague City, Gyeonggi Province. This is Prague, Czech Republic.”

It seems their admiration for the hotel had ended earlier.

“Did you wait long?”

“Oh, Haeil is here.”

“Boss, you’re here!”

“I could wait forever if needed.”

“Shall we go then?”

“Where should we go first?”

Moon Seoyeon, Nam Gyuhwan, and Han Jinyeong all waited for Halo’s answer. They could have gone out first, but they likely didn’t want to leave without waiting for his phone call to end.

“Anywhere.”

At that one word, everyone excitedly got up.

#

January in Prague is the coldest month of the year. It’s weather that requires a padded jacket or thick coat and scarf.

However, today the weather had warmed up quite a bit.

Although the sky was inevitably cloudy, tourists wearing relatively light clothes – for winter – could be seen on the streets.

Nam Gyuhwan, who had been looking for soup, settled for a hot dog with a long red sausage. Han Jinyeong held a burger, and Moon Seoyeon carried a trdelník (chimney cake) as they moved.

Halo, who originally wanted to drink beer while walking around, settled for a fresh fruit juice made from pears.

At the end of their footsteps was the Charles Bridge, which was visible from the hotel. In fact, if they hadn’t been wandering around looking for street food, they would have arrived in just a few minutes. The Charles Bridge was already full of tourists who had arrived earlier.

Almost to the point of being tiresome.

But they were drawn in by the sweet air and the melody of instruments flowing through the crowd.

A band in very shabby clothes was playing a lively tune. Although they didn’t know what the song was, everyone looked happy. Unfortunately, due to the rather complex and abstruse music, more people were passing by.

As members of the same band, they listened to their music with curious eyes.

Looking at each session individually, they weren’t lacking in skill, but truthfully, it wasn’t to their taste.

“Well, shall we go in?”

At that moment, Halo’s eyes met with the punk rock band’s guitarist. The look said, ‘Even you guys…’ ‘Don’t go.’

Apparently, quite a lot of people had turned away from their music like that.

Halo, who had taken a step following the members, paused at the familiar language he suddenly heard.

“Ah geez, at this rate everyone will leave! Kids, let’s use our secret weapon!”

“You want to use our secret weapon already?”

“What does it matter? If we save it, it’ll only be good for cat food. (He who saves for tomorrow saves for the cat)”

“What if there’s no reaction to this either?”

“No way, do you know what kind of song this is!”

Just as the cheerful Dutch words brushed past his ears, their music changed in an instant. Instead of the abstruse punk, a familiar melody began to ring out. A child nestled in his father’s arms pointed at them and shouted.

“Oh, it’s The Sun!”

It was a track from HALO’s 9th album, Speed of Earth.

And as if by magic.

The man sitting down, the tourist taking pictures sitting on his leg, the couple walking while tightly embracing. The eyes of the passengers on the cruise passing under the bridge turned towards them.

People began to gather around HALO’s music echoing across the Charles Bridge. Like planets orbiting the sun.

“Wow, this is good.”

“It can be played this way too.”

“It’s not… bad.”

Like Halo who had stopped in his tracks, the members also turned to look at them with their arms crossed.

The punk rock style cover of HALO’s 9th album, which had been like a scream, sounded quite good. Good enough to understand why punk rock, which had been abstruse and noisy, was an attractive genre.

It was good enough that even the most discerning HALO fan would reluctantly admit.

“What do you think, boss?”

When Moon Seoyeon asked, Halo silently watched the band as if he hadn’t heard.

As much as their cover, what caught his eye was the band’s dynamism. The punk band playing and singing as if intoxicated by their own music, and the audience following along with HALO’s music or nodding their heads in response, entered his eyes.

Halo suddenly felt.

Somehow, it’s a bit strange.

He and his music had always been loved by the public, so it wasn’t particularly new, but confirming his music again through some band’s busking in a new world and a new space-time that he wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t become Roh Haeil made him feel quite peculiar.

Moon Seoyeon didn’t get an answer in the end.

Nevertheless, she smiled contentedly as she saw the boy’s expression.

The band, which had been covering HALO for a while, monopolized the attention they wanted. In fact, even without the audience’s reaction, they seemed to enjoy playing HALO’s album throughout. Perhaps even more than their own compositions.

After watching their performance for a while sitting on the Charles Bridge, they departed after Moon Seoyeon finished eating her chimney bread smeared with chocolate.

They walked from Charles Bridge to Prague Castle, and for Moon Seoyeon, who couldn’t give up her longing for the tram, they decided to take the tram on the way back.

The colorful stained glass of St. Vitus Cathedral and the busking performances inside Prague Castle. And the most memorable was the view of Prague city at a glance from the castle walls.

“This is Europe alright. The weather is nice, everything is nice.”

“…It’s gloomy though?”

“How can you be a musician with no sense of romance?”

Nam Gyuhwan muttered, looking at the cloudy sky. Those who would usually bicker looked at the scenery with a more relaxed mind.

The red roofs and pointed spires were similar to any European city. Halo stood on the castle wall with his arms crossed.

He was quietly looking down at the city, without any signs of admiration or laughter. He tried to recall what it was like in the old days, but nothing came to mind.

Perhaps because many things have changed since then. Also, he ran away more often as he was caught quickly back then.

He didn’t dislike it, even though there was no time to sit quietly and sightsee. He quite enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with his fans.

They really went around like tourists.

Staring blankly at the river, watching busking performances, feeding seagulls and then being chased by them, taking a cruise at night, and even visiting the luxury shopping street.

The members finally realized why Halo hadn’t brought any luggage. For those with money, luggage was unnecessary.

And on one night spent leisurely in Prague.

Halo went out alone from the hotel.

Unable to shake off the habit of sneaking around behind his parents’ backs from the old days, he inevitably found that band at the entrance of Charles Bridge.

The band, whether Czech or not, always kept the same spot. Just as the boy quietly watched until the end of the band’s performance, a tall boy wearing a cap with a guitar case on his back couldn’t have escaped the band’s notice.

“Hey, you there.”

That day, the punk band, in the middle of wrapping up their performance, called out to him. It was the first time this had happened.

“You’ve been coming to listen to our music every day, why don’t you buy a CD out of courtesy?”

When the fierce-looking guitarist spoke, the keyboardist behind him hit his back with a thud.

“Hey, why are you threatening my fan?”

“Your fan?”

“He comes to see me every day, doesn’t he?”

“Are you crazy?”

He had made eye contact with the others too.

Watching Halo as they bickered, the drummer shrugged as if used to it.

“Don’t mind them. They’re not bad kids, just hungry right now. If you were offended, I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t particularly offended.”

Just as they were appreciating his clear voice, the entire band looked at him with round eyes.

For good reason. The language that reached their ears was neither English nor the tedious Czech, but their own language.

“! What, you were from our country?”

“Are you from Den Haag?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Halo shrugged.

Although they knew he wasn’t from the same hometown, their internal sense of closeness increased sharply at the point of using their mother tongue. They abandoned their instruments and started talking to him in earnest.

They leaned against the bridge. And Halo sat across from them and talked, which was possible because it was late at night.

“Then where are you from?”

“Seoul.”

“Seoul? You mean South Korea, right?”

When the drummer showed off his knowledge, his friends were surprised, asking how he knew. The drummer shook his head.

“You guys saw it on Netflix too. Don’t you remember? That battle royale.”

“Oh! I remember! Was it Octopus Game?”

“Probably something like that.”

And as they excitedly talked about the Korean drama they saw on Netflix, Halo couldn’t understand at all as he hadn’t watched it.

“You’ve come from quite far away, friend. Nice to meet you. Are you here on a trip?”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, we’re travelers too. We became beggars in one night though.”

Despite their fierce looks, they were certainly freer spirits. Like their bohemian-style outfits, they said they had taken a short vacation and left home for busking.

Also, they were quite talkative. It didn’t take long for Halo to learn that they had been pickpocketed and everything except their instruments had been stolen.

“He was the angriest even though he couldn’t take care of his own stuff properly.”

“If they were going to steal, they should have stolen the CDs that don’t sell, but they took all the essential things. We’ve been wearing these clothes for days.”

“But it’s fortunate that we kept the most precious thing, right?”

“You mean the equipment that’s more expensive than our bodies?”

“And our music!”

Haha! They said their wallets and even backpacks had been stolen. They had become single-outfit musicians by chance.

Seeing them not going home and busking until today in such a situation, they were clearly cheerful guys.

“Well, thanks for listening to our story. It would be a shame to part like this, so shall we play a bit more?”

“The police will surely come, but I like it. This is the thrill. What song should we go with this time?”

“Didn’t you see people’s reactions? Of course, HALO!”

“What about our songs?”

“Honestly, isn’t it more fun to sing HALO’s songs than ours?”

“Honestly… True!”

“Hey, boy! Want to join us? You look like you could play the guitar.”

“It might be quite difficult.”

At his answer close to a refusal, the gaze of the four people becomes desperate.

“Why? Aren’t you confident?”

“It’s okay if you’re not good. So what if you’re a bit bad?”

“Let’s enjoy it like men!”

Halo raised the corners of his mouth and finally opened his mouth.

“I mean for you guys, not me. Because I’m a bit too good at it.”

“What?!”

At the boy’s provocation, the drummer hit his back hard with his large hand, burst into laughter, and said he liked him.

Halo played with the punk band while looking at the night view of Prague. Their surprise at the dazzling performance that matched the boy’s provocation was short-lived.

As much as it was a shame that there weren’t many spectators, they enjoyed the party in their own way.

And as the day got too cold, the performance naturally stopped. Halo pointed to the CDs they had displayed in front of the guitar.

“How much are those?”

“Oh! My God! You’re the first person to ask about the price of our album!”

The keyboardist, drunk on music instead of alcohol, said excitedly.

“It’s originally 10 euros, but since you’ve been listening to our performance every day, I’ll give you a friend discount. Just pay 1 euro.”

“If you don’t have euros, koruna is fine too.”

“Just take it. It’s not worth much anyway.”

“Hey! We should at least charge for the CD.”

“Well, it’s not like we left it to a production company, we burned it ourselves on the computer.”

The guitarist who had been grumbling earlier just handed the CD to him. No wonder the CD cover looked like a mess. It looked like a 6-year-old baby had scribbled on the wallpaper with a marker.

“Hey, you should at least pay for the heat from my laptop. It’s gotten slower from burning CDs.”

“Just delete a few things on the hard drive and it’ll be fine.”

“Are you telling me to break up with my wife?”

Halo giggled as he watched the friends who were cheerful to the end. It seems like he had a satisfying day of fun. As he received the CD, he opened his wallet.

As he usually used credit cards, his wallet only had currency for snacks – for street food that didn’t accept credit cards. It’s not much, but this should be enough.

“Put the CD money in the case. We have pickpocket PTSD, you know.”

“Okay, then.”

Halo put the bills in the guitar case and put the guitar on top. They didn’t seem to care how much he put in, or they weren’t worried that he might steal the guitar, as they paid no attention.

“Are we meeting here again tomorrow?”

When they asked Halo, he shrugged. They took it as a yes and waved their hands.

See you tomorrow, friend! They go somewhere with their frozen hands. They said they were pickpocketed, so he doesn’t know where they’re sleeping, but seeing that they’re still alive, it seems they’re not homeless.

Halo smirked at them and walked away in the opposite direction.

#

“Wasn’t today fun?”

“We made a new friend too. I like him. Honestly, doesn’t he play guitar better than Levi?”

“Are you done talking? I, I play a little, better, you know?”

“Oh, looks like his conscience got pickpocketed too.”

“Oh Sun… Save this foolish lamb.”

The members of the punk band Brahms giggled as they moved to their old lodging. They had to be quiet in front of the lodging. The owner of the cheap lodging they had found before being pickpocketed was a light sleeper.

“Since our new friend paid for the CD, let’s have burgers and shakes for breakfast. I’m sick of chimney cakes.”

“How much could he have given? Wonder if we can buy even one?”

“I caught a glimpse earlier, he put in a few purple ones.”

“Wasn’t it the 10 euro ones?”

Halo said they didn’t care at all, but that wasn’t entirely true. If they cared about how much it was, it wouldn’t be cool at all, so they pretended not to care, but all their attention was on that money. How could they not care when they’ve been pickpocketed and eating only one chimney cake a day?

“Want to bet? I’ll put 5 euros on it.”

“Hey, I was going to bet 5 euros too.”

“I’ll be generous. I’ll go with 10 euros then. Levi, how much are you betting?”

“Well, should I go with 20 euros?”

At guitarist Levi’s words, everyone’s eyes widened as if wondering what was going on. Levi seemed to have taken quite a liking to the boy.

“The color was similar, you know.”

“You dishonest guy.”

Levi quickly mumbled an excuse, but everyone was already giggling and laughing.

So, huddled together, they entered the lodging and opened the guitar case while praying to their respective gods.

“…Gasp!”

“What is it?”

“Are my eyelashes frozen and making me see things?”

What they had expected was at most enough for one meal the next day. But this was neither 5 euros, nor 10 euros, nor 20 euros.

The drummer counts the purple bills with trembling hands.

“There are 10 of them.”

Their faces turned pale and then blue as if they had done something wrong.

“Is this right?”

“It’s more than my monthly salary?”

“Did he give it by mistake because it was dark at night?”

If it had been 50 euros, they could have happily accepted it, but the presence of ten 500 euro bills made the common people’s livers tremble.

“No matter how I think about it, it must be a mistake.”

“As much as I’d like to pretend not to know, we have to return this.”

“Because he’s our friend.”

The band Brahms couldn’t even sleep comfortably in front of the ten 500 euro bills, afraid they might get pickpocketed again and be unable to return it. So with such tired appearances, they went back to Charles Bridge and waited for the boy while extending their busking.

However, they couldn’t meet the boy until they returned home.

:

“It’s a shame.”

“The chimney cake was delicious.”

“The night view was pretty too.”

“Let’s come again if we feel like it next time, shall we?”

The members express their regret in the train, then nod at Halo’s words. They don’t need to plan their routes efficiently. They can do what they want each day, eat what they want, and leave when they decide to go somewhere.

Having spent a satisfying night in Prague like that, Halo spotted a sign outside the window.

‘Welcome to Vienna’