The Road to Glory Chapter 130 - Caught

The boy is caught in the center of the camera angle.

The boy was standing on the left side of the center, but at some point, the camera was focused on him.

The sound team also puts their heart and soul into capturing the boy’s voice.

It was an inevitable movement.

A clear voice spreads through the Danube River and the east wind that brushes over it. People on the second floor of the tour bus turn their heads, and the driver parking on the shoulder completely rolls down the window.

The boy’s vocalization was closer to pop than classical, but still, “The Beautiful Blue Danube” was blue.

[You are too beautiful]

[Like gold shining deep in the earth]

The chorus centered on the boy naturally created a solemn feeling.

Of course, that was only from the perspective of the audience and the director. In reality, the thoughts of the performers busking were different.

Although Roh Haeil said he knew “The Beautiful Blue Danube,” they thought he would only be able to imitate it, but the moment Roh Haeil’s vocalization rang out, they were startled with a “!”.

Since they were filming, they tried not to show it as much as possible, but if you zoomed in on the footage, you might see fingers trembling or eyes twitching.

They weren’t surprised by the fluent German coming from the boy’s mouth. It was somewhat amazing that his pronunciation was like a native speaker, but it was possible if he had memorized the entire original lyrics.

Rather, the boy’s “The Beautiful Blue Danube” overwhelmed them who had been practicing all along.

They knew that Roh Haeil had intentionally vocalized like this. It was clear that he was trying to overpower them with force, not harmony. Seeing him get along with Sin Joohyeok, they thought he wasn’t ordinary, but they didn’t expect him to fight with his seniors on stage.

However, they weren’t displeased. If his skills had been mediocre, they would have been angry, but since it was overwhelming, they couldn’t even get angry. It was also true that they didn’t have the nerve to be angry.

The moment Kim Sunchul’s vocalization, who was playing the tenor role, was completely buried, they couldn’t mock Kim Sunchul. It wasn’t because they had a liking for Kim Sunchul. Rather, they weren’t relaxed enough to mock anyone.

If they didn’t do their best, they would be dragged along ridiculously like Kim Sunchul, with their hair grabbed. The performance itself wouldn’t be a problem, but they had pride as singers.

As seniors, they couldn’t whine about not being able to sing because a junior was performing strongly.

There might be a measure of public popularity, but the people gathered here are those who take pride in their music and talent. They were all seniors to Roh Haeil, who had debuted less than a year ago.

Although entertainment industry experience didn’t determine skill and talent, they still showed that it wouldn’t be easy as people who had dominated a generation or era.

Thus, on the surface, it was a performance as graceful as a swan.

In reality, it became a desperate performance with everyone paddling their feet as hard as they could underwater.

Kim Sunchul, too, fought against the boy’s vocalization as if he couldn’t lose.

Regardless of his personality, his skills couldn’t be ignored.

Halo enjoyed the fight with him. The more he refused to give up, the stronger fighting spirit he had.

Kim Sunchul, who had pretended not to look at the boy, at some point threw a glance at him, and the smile on the boy’s face deepened.

The music intensifies.

[In the beautiful blue Danube]

Kim Sunchul, who had been trying to take the lead, suddenly supported the boy’s vocalization. By then, the other performers’ necks were strained.

Realizing he couldn’t win, he switched to harmony.

As if to show it wasn’t because he lacked skill, but to complete the performance.

Halo also reduced his intensity in a battle where he had lost the will to fight.

Finally, as the performance came to an end

“Wow!!”

Whistle!

The audience’s applause, whistles, and cheers formed a trinity of three beats.

It was a more beautiful performance because everyone had given their all.

Forgetting how difficult it was, everyone enjoyed the audience’s reaction.

This was the performance they had hoped for.

Pride as singers and even greater satisfaction swelled like a river.

The staff belatedly came to their senses and busily moved to interview citizens. During a brief break, the director ran up to him and personally handed him water.

“Roh Haeil-ssi, do you happen to have a separate schedule today?”

And he asked if another solo performance would be possible.

Originally, when they invited Roh Haeil as a guest with the concept of accidentally meeting at a travel destination, they were thinking of asking him to sing ‘our’ song.

Roh Haeil’s original composition would be good, or even a song by one of the performers.

Of course, they had obtained enough footage with “The Beautiful Blue Danube” performance and its reaction. This was his greed. The director added cautiously, watching his reaction.

“It’s fine if you decline.”

“I…”

Halo thought he had enjoyed the ‘Spring Again’ filming enough with one song, so he was going to decline.

So when he raised his head to express his intention to decline, he spotted a familiar face among the crowd.

It wasn’t his band. He had said it would be enough for him to come alone, and they said they would watch from the hotel rooftop.

The man who spotted him opened his eyes wide and whispered something to the girl whose hand he was holding.

-Roh lied to me.

A low voice overlapped the girl’s sharp voice.

-…Goodbye, Halo

At that time, he was a little surprised by the unexpected name and couldn’t respond to the girl’s greeting. When he tried to respond, she had already left holding her father’s hand.

And he still hasn’t responded until now.

“I guess I wasn’t very gentlemanly.”

“Pardon?”

The director asked back as if to say, what are you talking about?

The corner of Halo’s mouth slowly rose, pretending to be a gentleman while never once thinking of himself as one.

“If I’ve made an excessive request, I’m really sorry-“

“Could I sing one more song?”

“What? …Yes! It would be an honor for me, thank you so much. Ah, and you need to sign a proper contract too.”

“Please send it by email.”

“Ah, yes, yes! I’ll send you the best contract. Our CP also said if Roh Haeil-ssi comes-“

Halo half-listened to the director’s words about giving him the highest performance fee, while staring intently at the French father and daughter, specifically the pale blonde girl, standing in front of the session.

Would she remember the song he had told her then?

“That song? I know it, but.”

“May I ask you to play it?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

It was surprising that the session knew it, even though he hadn’t shown it many times.

Eventually, Halo opened his mouth.

People unfamiliar with the foreign language lean in to listen.

‘This song-.’ Some of the performers who knew it was Roh Haeil’s unreleased song pretended to know.

At first, he was going to sing it in English like before.

But he was curious about something.

When did Rose realize?

Did she call his name after hearing the music in its original language,

Or did she know from the beginning when she heard the music in Korean?

Deciding to give the answer he couldn’t give then directly in front of her after singing this song, Halo looked at the girl as if testing her.

The ears of the girl, holding her father’s hand, perked up.

Her unfocused eyes closed.

The change happened slowly.

As the melody brought by the east wind caressed her pale cheeks, life slowly began to return.

Rose’s eyes slowly opened.

Her eyes were still unfocused, but at some point, they seemed to meet his.

‘Perhaps.’

The boy’s expression also changed gradually.

It was a change he wasn’t aware of himself.

‘Like the lyrics’

His heart pounded.

“Oh!”

Meanwhile, the director inadvertently exclaimed and covered his mouth.

He didn’t expect the boy to sing an unreleased song, but the harmony of the performers slowly matching the harmony, and even the audience’s reaction.

This was a hit.

It was a stage more fitting to the purpose of Spring Again than “The Beautiful Blue Danube”.

For a song sung in a foreign language, people’s reactions were dramatic. If “The Beautiful Blue Danube” was joyful yet solemn, this performance had a corner that swept through the heart wistfully.

Some said this song wasn’t like Roh Haeil’s, but the director liked the feeling of gripping and shaking emotions. Shake the audience’s hearts even more! The director thought he had felt something like this somewhere before, but soon forgot in the joy that today’s filming was nothing short of a big hit.

The excited director savored the long applause sound, then immediately ran to Roh Haeil-

“Roh Haeil-ssi, thank you so much for today’s filming, and great work. Perhaps, would you like to have a meal together-“

“Unfortunately, I have an appointment.”

He was firmly rejected.

He looked somewhat urgent, so the director couldn’t ask again.

When Halo was no longer visible, hidden by the crowd, he hurriedly tried to follow him. At that moment, the performers from Spring Again Team B approached him. Kim Sunchul was among them. They probably wanted to say goodbye to the guest they accidentally performed with and promise to meet again.

Halo finished greeting them and showed himself lastly to Kim Sunchul.

Regardless of how Kim Sunchul took him, only the memory of an interesting competition remained in the boy’s mind.

“I look forward to working with you again, senior.”

“That-“

Is this a provocation? Or just a greeting out of goodwill?

Kim Sunchul was at a loss for words. How dumbfounded he must have been that he didn’t even give a rebuke about how they could have ruined the performance or advice that a junior shouldn’t act like this already.

The performers who had only grown to like the boy secretly glared at him, asking if he would continue like this. It seemed there was no villain here other than him.

The boy didn’t wait for an answer and said goodbye with a faint smile.

By the time he concluded that it was indeed a provocation, the boy had already disappeared like the wind.

:

At the same time in England.

Spring Again Team A.

While Team B is singing their songs in Vienna, the city of classical music, Team A is busking in England, following in the footsteps of HALO, who is also the original owner of the entertainment show title.

Although HALO’s album covers have been illustrations since his 6th album, HALO’s original album covers were photographs of a village in England.

The busking shoot, visiting villages and cities now called HALO’s holy sites, singing their songs and covering HALO’s songs, is going well, forming a trinity of great singers, excellent session musicians, and enthusiastic audiences, but strangely, it left a bitter taste.

PD Park exhaled a puff of smoke.

Soon, a phone call came in.

It was the youngest PD’s number he had saved.

[PD-nim, how are you doing?]

An undisguisable smile could be felt in his voice.

“Look at you already grinning. I heard you’re filming with Roh Haeil-ssi. Did it go well?”

[Hehe, PD Park, you’re really a genius]

It was flattery he doesn’t usually give, but PD Park found it really unpleasant to hear.

[How did you know we’d run into Roh Haeil and arrange it in advance]

Yes, the promise he had made looking to the future.

It felt like he had cooked the porridge and fed it to a dog.

Although Team A and Team B are the same team, now that there’s competition due to the cross-editing, PD Park was also suffering from the obsession that the ratings for Team A, where he is, should be better.

It had been fine until now.

Both teams had good reactions now that they had just aired the first episode. Originally, since skills and chemistry were fairly distributed to both sides, there wouldn’t be a case of one side being excessively favored.

However, things changed when the lovely youngest PD really met Roh Haeil. Of course, he did well and is doing well according to the action plan he had set…

[Now if we drop a preview that Roh Haeil-ssi is appearing, a lot of people will watch, right?]

A slimy comment. It seems like the words “Team A but” were omitted in between.

[But wouldn’t it be amazing if we ran into Roh Haeil-ssi in England?]

As if they’d run into him.

Why would Roh Haeil, who’s in Austria, suddenly come to England?

PD Park really desperately wanted it, but he knew this was even more impossible.

He thought this kid was talking nonsense, but-

[Ah, no. I heard Roh Haeil-ssi went to Italy. That’s unfortunate. PD-nim, hehehe]

“Is it funny?”

The voice over the phone diminishes at the heavily lowered voice.

This kid jumps over the line like a seesaw because they’re too nice to him.

[Ah, anyway, the atmosphere right now is really good. We have three sources from Roh Haeil-ssi alone! It’s not something I should say as a director, but it’s such great material that we could upload it unedited]

“What three? Isn’t it two?”

[Ah, right! And Kim Sunchul suddenly had some change of heart and is being somewhat cooperative. I don’t know how long it will last, but Spring Again Team B is sailing smoothly.]

“Team B ‘is’?”

[Oh my! The cast members said they want to practice, so I have to go. Team B, all clear! This concludes the report! Have a good shoot, PD Park. Guten tag!]

“This kid, just you wait.”

Click.

The call ended.

PD Park felt his temper rising at the youngest PD who said what he wanted to say and hung up. But the call had already ended.

PD Park cried out towards Roh Haeil who must be somewhere, and stepped on the fallen cigarette butt several times.

#

“It feels like we’re throwing away luggage every day, but why does it keep increasing?”

“We’re buying more.”

“Is this the law of conservation of mass?”

Halo found suitcases sprawled out in the living room as usual.

The members preparing to leave were no different whether they were in Korea or here. No, it seemed like there was even more luggage.

Halo, who had thrown away everything except spare clothes regardless of brand, only carefully packed his guitar case.

It seemed like it would take a while, so he was thinking of going out to have an espresso.

“We’ll hurry and leave, boss!”

“Let’s just throw away from here to here.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I need to escape from here quickly too.”

No matter how you looked at it, it seemed impossible to hurry.

Halo chuckled and left the room.

He got on the elevator with leisurely steps.

The moment he came out to the lobby, Halo stopped in his tracks.

On the lobby sofa sat the blonde girl, just like a few days ago.

The difference from then was that Per Aspera was sitting next to her. Per Aspera, who was on the phone, saw him and his eyes widened.

Halo, who had missed the Aspera father and daughter yesterday, was on his way to the cafeteria but turned around and approached them.

“Mr. Roh!”

“Good morning, Mr. Aspera.”

“Good morning. But your attire… Are you leaving today by any chance?”

“Yes, that’s how it turned out.”

“Leaving already. I wanted to have a meal together at least.”

Per Aspera expressed regret.

It’s because they hadn’t had a meal together even once during their entire stay here.

“Well, that’s possible anytime.”

“Right?”

Per Aspera laughed along at the words promising the future.

Soon, it also sounded like the boy was satisfied with the current relationship with Arbor.

“If you ever come to France on a trip, please stop by our headquarters sometime. Everything about Arbor is there.”

“Yes, if I go to France, I’ll consider it.”

“Thank you, I’ll treat you to a delicious meal then for sure.”

Then Per Aspera turned to the girl sitting next to him with a worried face and asked.

“Are you not going to greet Mr. Roh this time either?”

Children are capricious and tend to forget what they were angry about quickly.

Per Aspera hoped that Rose had now gotten over her anger.

An uncomfortable farewell isn’t good for either party.

That’s when it happened.

Rose, who had been sitting quietly, stood up and slipped out from beside her father. She said she could see shapes even though her eyes were bad. Rose approached the boy standing opposite her and grabbed his coat collar.

“Are you leaving?”

“Oh! Rose, are you going to greet Mr. Roh this time? You’re not angry anymore.”

Per Aspera’s face brightened and he was pleased.

“Rose, being wrong isn’t bad. People grow through mistakes.”

Rose pretended not to hear her father’s words and only waited for the boy’s answer.

“Yes, I’m leaving.”

At the boy’s answer, Rose took another step closer and pulled down on the boy’s coat.

“Rose?”

“Daddy is stupid.”

Shock slowly envelops Per Aspera’s face at Rose’s words.

“Ro… Rose… why suddenly. And where did you learn to say such things…”

Rose didn’t care.

Halo slowly bent down to talk with the girl.

When he crouched down, their eyes were level.

Then Rose hugged his neck.

He felt her warm body temperature.

Halo kept his hands in the air, unable to push the child away or hug her back.

“Are you not angry anymore?”

“Yes.”

Rose nodded and whispered.

“I wasn’t wrong. Right?”

“…That’s right.”

This time, Halo answered properly.

“Daddy told me to greet you, but Mommy said greetings are sad. Daddy is stupid, so Mommy is right. So I’m not going to greet you.”

Halo laughed inwardly at Rose’s words and the shocked Per Aspera.

“Do as you like.”

“Instead, I have something I want to say.”

“What is it?”

The girl tightened her arms around Halo’s neck and slowly whispered.

“I, caught, you.“

I caught you. (+) ^[1] TLN: Above is in English and this one is in Korean.

“HALO.”

Halo.

Halo’s eyes slowly widened. As his arms lost strength, Halo slowly took in the girl with his eyes.

Rose’s ears were bright red, like her name.

Cheeks full of life. And a shy fan’s confession.

Waves slowly began to spread across the boy’s face. Like paint spreading on a canvas.

Eventually, a bright smile was drawn on the boy’s face.

It was the brightest face he had ever shown.

He quietly answered the girl who seemed to be waiting for his response.

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.”

• 1. TLN: Above is in English and this one is in Korean.