The Road to Glory Chapter 132 - Medico della Peste

“Maria, are you ready?”

A woman with black braided hair turned around, swirling her velvet layered dress. 

Her face was entirely covered with a black cloth moretta mask, which originally would have prevented speech as it was held in place by biting on a button. However, modern masks didn’t preserve this inconvenience. She asked with her arms crossed:

“Mom, do you know you’ve said that more than ten times now?”

“I’m just worried. It would be so embarrassing if you fell during the parade.”

“I absolutely won’t fall, so don’t worry. I’m an adult now!”

“Alright, I understand. Just always be careful of people! Got it?”

Maria walked out with a click-clack of her heels, letting her mother’s advice go in one ear and out the other.

As soon as she opened the door, flower petals were falling from the sky. Brilliant lighting ornaments to illuminate the night, ornate gondolas, and the sound of a march in the distance.

Maria smiled brightly.

The long-awaited festival had begun.

As the Venice Carnival commenced, people on the streets were traversing the city in unusual masks and costumes.

Masks hold a special meaning in the carnival that has continued for over 900 years.

Through masks, people gain ‘anonymity’ and shed the constraints of their usual lives – such as wealth, class, age, gender – allowing them to act in ways they couldn’t before and mingle without any prejudice.

Not knowing who the masked person across from them is, they laugh, chat, drink, and dance together from day to night.

In the process, new connections and sparks ignite, and people who would never have become close in normal life share friendship and love.

“Just like in ‘Venice Holiday’.”

The Venetian girls giggled.

Recently, a movie called “Venice Holiday,” set against the backdrop of the Venice Carnival, where a masked man and woman fall in love, had become a big hit.

Although the movie sparked a lot of controversy about plausibility – the cliché story of a man and woman who meet by chance at a masked ball, fall in love, and turn out to be beautiful when they remove their masks, excited the girls who were waiting for the carnival.

“A masked person turning out to be a blonde, white, handsome man. I don’t get it. Do you like that kind of thing too, Maria?”

“Well, we are at the age to dream of such things.”

“Haven’t you ever imagined the opposite?”

“The opposite?”

Maria turned to her usually cynical friend and asked.

“Why-. Not knowing who’s behind the mask because they’re wearing it-.”

People tend to attribute only positive qualities to an unknown entity they’re attracted to and imagine an ideal image, but well.

“The masked person could be a pot-bellied old man, or maybe even older, an elderly person.”

Her friend smiled eerily with her black-lipsticked lips.

“Or it could be a pervert or criminal hiding their criminal record and running amok.”

Maria recalled the murder cases and kidnapping incidents that appeared on the news every morning.

“It could be someone with a very dangerous secret.”

“What kind of secret? Are you talking about something like the mafia?”

“Whatever. Probably not a good secret, right?”

Seeing Maria’s lips tightly closed as if frightened, her friend burst into laughter and patted her back.

“I’m joking, just joking. Don’t take it so seriously. Can’t even make a joke.”

Reassuring Maria to trust the police deployed throughout the streets during the festival, her friend winked.

“Oh, but when you dance, make sure to check your partner’s feet. Ghosts don’t have feet, you know.”

“Bella!”

Maria shouted at her friend who seemed to think she was still a child, then turned her head sharply. She didn’t leave the group though.

The streets were already full of people and crowded. Rather than moving around and risking falling into the Venice waterways, it would be better to part ways at St. Mark’s Square.

At that moment, Maria instinctively turned her head at the sound of an unfamiliar language nearby, and was startled by the figure standing next to her.

A black beret and black coat, black suit and black gloves covering the entire body, topped with a black long-beaked mask.

“Medico della peste…”

The plague doctor costume devised by the 17th-century French doctor Charles de Lorme. The shiny black leather plague doctor mask had eye holes made of dark glass, and the sides and back of the mask were covered with black crow feathers, making it impossible to know who was inside the mask.

Gender, age, class – nothing at all.

As Maria quietly observed the plague doctor, she recalled her friend’s warning.

-The person behind the mask could be a pervert or criminal hiding their criminal record and running amok. Or it could be someone with a very dangerous secret.

-But when you dance, make sure to check your partner’s feet. Ghosts don’t have feet, you know.

After confirming that the man – judging by his height, it was likely to be a man – did indeed have feet, Maria slowly moved to the side.

In her mind, she recalled the crime news she had seen in the morning and her mother’s warning to be careful of people.

Even the symbol of the plague doctor, signifying death and decay at the carnival, suddenly felt ominous.

When all of these connected, they seemed like foreshadowing.

Why is it that in horror movies, the protagonist always ignores someone’s warning, acts recklessly, and ends up in big trouble? Although it was daytime now, recent horror movies didn’t distinguish between day and night.

The plague doctor turned his head to look at her.

She was startled by the eerie black eyeglass lenses and thought she should move further to the side.

Was it because of that urgency?

-How unsightly it would be if you fell during the parade.

Her feet got tangled, and her body tilted to one side.

“Ah-“

Her friend slowly opened her mouth, watching her.

Maria recalled that there was a canal in the direction she was tilting towards.

A canal with very dirty water. But what worried her more was,

[Maria, the girl that falls into the Venice canal during the Festa della Marie on the first day of the festival]

The headline news that would be plastered all over Venice.

Rather than facing that embarrassment, it might not be so bad to just live with her head submerged in that dirty water forever.

Maria tightly closed her eyes, imagining the fall, the smell, and the temperature of the cold water she was about to experience.

But.

Maria opened her eyes.

Someone had grabbed her arm, and instead of falling backward, she was pulled forward.

Maria, who had buried her head in the black coat, raised her head as if to stick it there.

She was reflected in the black glasses of the plague doctor that had seemed ominous before.

“You should be careful.”

“!”

He whispered in a voice tinged with a faint smile.

Maria’s face turned red in an instant as she realized that the scent from the coat was the woody fragrance she liked.

The man seemed to be a foreigner.

Although he spoke Italian, there was a distinct foreign accent.

Moreover, he was chattering with the people he was with.

It was a beautiful language that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar.

The ticklish voice and the hand that had grabbed her arm must belong to someone her age. He seemed to be a head taller than her in her heels.

“Um-“

As the man was about to move away, Maria reached out her hand.

Just as she was about to grab the man’s collar, an ornate rose-patterned glove grasped her arm.

“Maria, are you okay?”

“Maria, oh dear. Look how pale you’ve become.”

“No, girls. Move aside.”

As her friends crowded around, her view was blocked.

Maria hurriedly broke free, but by then the man had already turned the corner and was far away.

The man walking away with his group. The voice that had whispered to her echoed in her ears.

Maria stared blankly at the retreating man.

While the Medico della Peste typically carries a staff, the man was carrying a large guitar case with a black background decorated with golden butterflies instead of a staff.

#

“Wow!”

A fairy tale world unfolded before those who entered St. Mark’s Square along with the grand procession. It was literal. The square, filled with kings, princesses, popes, and knights, felt like stepping into the Romantic era, and where the east wind blew, there were lions, scarecrows, and tin robots. On one side were pirates, on another were animals and angels, and far off was a Star Wars legion. Fantasy wasn’t far away at all.

Well, this side wasn’t too shabby either.

Nam Gyuhwan, who had just asked a steampunk pirate if his gun was real or fake, was wearing a helmet reminiscent of a gladiator, and Han Jinyeong was wearing a devil grandfather mask with a fantasy-style robe.

And Moon Seoyeon wore a voluminous dress with a Colombina mask. The half-mask covering the eyes, ears, and upper cheeks was ornate with jewels, crystals, and red feathers.

Arriving at August Veil’s mansion two nights ago, they were greeted by a massive museum. As if to prove that August Veil’s hobby of mask collecting wasn’t a lie, there were masks made by master craftsmen.

Although the hearts of the ordinary citizens trembled at the seemingly very expensive feel, they ended up choosing masks with the thought of when else they could enjoy the Venice Carnival.

The result was these distinctive costumes now.

It was uncomfortable, but secretly pleasing.

In the afternoon, an angel descends from the bell tower.

The Flight of the Angel.

When the girl selected from among 12 girls touched the ground, the square filled with cheers from those watching her.

Warm sunlight shone down on the square.

On the morning and afternoon of the first day of the carnival, there was no place to set foot in the square. Just as musicians performing street shows can be seen in any country, busking could be found all over St. Mark’s Square, along with people performing circus-like stunts. It was constantly crowded with tourists approaching cosplayers to request photos.

If you weren’t careful, you could easily get lost or become a lost child.

“…”

Halo looked around at the suddenly quiet surroundings.

“…Boss? Jinyeong-oppa? Hey, Nam Gyuhwan! Where did everyone go?”

Moon Seoyeon, who had been watching an old man playing the accordion, suddenly came to her senses.

“Hmm.”

Nam Gyuhwan, who had been looking at graffiti on the ground, came to a dead end. And,

“…Oh no.”

Han Jinyeong discovered a child crying, lost in the darkest alley of the glittering city.

“Little one, are you lost?”

He asked in English, but wasn’t sure if the child would understand. It was impossible to tell which country the child was from.

“You shouldn’t be here. Let’s go to the police officer.”

He had seen a police officer standing on that bridge.

Han Jinyeong thought he sounded like a kidnapper, even though he clearly had good intentions.

However, Han Jinyeong had forgotten one thing.

That he was wearing a devil grandfather mask.

The foreign child who had been crying loudly after getting lost saw the backlit devil grandfather and cried even more hysterically. When Han Jinyeong belatedly lifted the mask above his head, the child shouted “Monster!” and ran in the opposite direction.

Han Jinyeong, who had planned to calm the child down and then call a police officer, realized his mistake and followed after the child.

It might seem like meddling, but…

-What are you, the Pied Piper? Who’s that little kid?

-He said he wanted to learn music from us

-We’re not becoming kidnappers, are we? We don’t even know who this kid is, wouldn’t it be better to send him back?

-Jeongin Elementary School!

-?

-6th grade, class 3, Jang Jinsoo… sir!

He couldn’t ignore it.

-Haeil, um, would you like to learn MIDI from me? Self-study is good too, but MIDI can be a bit complicated-.

-…Okay.

-!

Each small connection he had made

-Wow! Jinyeong-hyung, you play bass? So cool! Hyung, when your album comes out, I’ll be your first fan!

-Hyung, will you be my bassist?

Had become a great blessing.

-It’s been a while. Um… is everyone doing well?

Han Jinyeong crouched down.

The rattling guitar case thumped against his waist. He had been carrying it around just in case ever since he had played spontaneously in Vienna, Austria.

“Little one.”

Afraid the crying child might run away, Han Jinyeong maintained his distance as he took out his bass. He was used to dealing with children, having comforted Jinsoo quite often when he cried due to Gonghak and Deoksoo’s teasing.

Thump thump.

“What’s this?”

“…A guitar?”

As the sound came out, the child looked at him cautiously.

“No, it’s a bass.”

“Bass? Isn’t it a guitar?”

“It’s a bit cooler than a guitar.”

“Tom said guitars are the coolest.”

“Then do you want to see which one is cooler?”

“Yes.”

“Come here. I’ll show you.”

It still sounded like something a bad guy would say.

The child who understood English began to approach slowly. Han Jinyeong smiled kindly and plucked the bass.

There was no trace of the clumsy performance he had shown in front of a child long ago. Having regained his skills from his 20s, Han Jinyeong, who could now play much more stably than before, received quite a few requests – for performance percussion or recording, etc. A capable bassist was always needed everywhere.

Such a person was now playing for a single audience in the darkest corner. More joyfully than anyone. Kindly explaining to the child who asked what this was.

“Thank you so much for finding our child!”

“Leo, where did you go! Mom was so worried!”

Leo, who had found his parents, began to cry loudly.

The young couple patted their crying child for a long time and thanked Han Jinyeong.

“Leo, aren’t you going to say thank you?”

“Thank you, super cool guitar big brother.”

“Guitar?”

When Han Jinyeong asked again, the child shook his head.

“No, bass big brother!”

“That’s right. Leo, you’re a smart kid.”

At the kind praise, the child shyly said,

“Tommy said guitars are the coolest thing in the world, but I think bass is cooler than guitar. I want to be a super cool bassist like you.”

Han Jinyeong smiled faintly at the child’s innocent words and put his hands on his waist, speaking like a stern teacher.

“Alright, then what should Leo do now to become a super cool bassist?”

Han Jinyeong glanced at the parents standing beside him, and Leo, catching on, said,

“Um, big money?”

“What?”

Both Han Jinyeong and the parents burst out laughing at the realistic answer.

The original intention was to tell him to listen well to his parents, but it was too cute to say anything more.

Leo’s parents said they were really grateful and tried to offer a reward, but Han Jinyeong politely refused. Then they offered to buy dinner. If he had companions, they could all have dinner together. They said they ran a small watch business, so he shouldn’t feel burdened. They showed a strong will to treat him somehow.

As Han Jinyeong was feeling awkward about how to respond, he suddenly noticed a gondola passing by the canal next to him.

It wasn’t just one or two passing by like water taxis, but ornate gondolas and even larger boats began to pass by.

“It’s the gondola parade.”

The late afternoon parade decorating the first day.

While processions passed through the streets, boats retraced their paths on the water.

Some boats scattered flower petals, and there were people dancing. Those in traditional costumes struck poses for photos, and bands on boats gave performances.

Han Jinyeong, who had forgotten about the foreign couple beside him, was about to turn his head when he suddenly stopped.

Because he saw a familiar person.

It was a lavish gondola much larger than the typical ones. The exterior was decorated with flowers, and inside was a band. Their music grew closer.

Han Jinyeong’s eyes widened.

He noticed a person standing at the front of the gondola fleet, even the guitar he was holding seemed familiar, making him wonder if he was seeing things.

The plague doctor costume was quite common on the streets. Even if it was a mask made by a master craftsman, they all looked similar if not examined closely.

However, Han Jinyeong couldn’t mistake that outfit, having seen it up close, and what made him certain was that the plague doctor was holding an elegant non-linear guitar with an H engraved on it.

People’s attention was drawn to the performance that sounded as if HALO’s music was being played. Soon, that gondola came right up to Han Jinyeong.

Han Jinyeong’s gaze met that of the plague doctor.

“Haeil? Why are you there…?”

Instead of an answer, a song came from the plague doctor’s mouth.

HALO’s 2nd album “Spring Again” in its original language.

[When we meet again]