The Road to Glory – Chapter 139 – In the Shining Supernova

Author: Dawn

The rain continued to fall steadily, pattering down.

Even with the wipers sweeping, water pooled, blurring the view.

The raindrops momentarily turned red in the glow of traffic lights and car brake lights.

“There’s always a lot of traffic here.”

“It should clear up after we get to the roundabout.”

“Alright, I understand. Keep going without worrying about it.”

Arbor Chairman Matthias leaned back against the cushion. As he turned his gaze to the window, he saw people walking the streets with black umbrellas.

He thought about opening the window to listen to the sound of rain, but Matthias quickly changed his mind.

It wasn’t out of concern for the car’s interior getting wet. His house displayed his collection of sports cars, a hobby of his, and he could buy any car he wanted at any time.

He simply had no desire to shower in the aggressive rainwater.

Then, by chance, his eyes caught sight of the street. It was the last block of the Champs-Élysées meeting the roundabout.

There was an unusually large crowd of people gathered there.

Circling around the roundabout.

One by one, they gathered there, closing their umbrellas and standing in the rain.

Did he think it was strange? As the Rolls-Royce turned the corner, the chairman could see the reason. A group with umbrellas was busking.

Busking even in this weather.

The chairman, who could buy anything he wanted but couldn’t buy youth, envied their youthfulness.

At that moment, a familiar jacket and guitar case caught his eye.

He could only see the back, the rest obscured by a long umbrella, but the jacket was unmistakable.

“Stop.”

At that single word, the driver pulled over to the side of the roundabout without question.

The chairman, who wouldn’t even turn back to pick up money dropped on the street, turned his head.

He couldn’t mistake the brand new leather jacket he had gifted, unable to bear seeing his star wearing someone else’s clothes when he visited his house. It wasn’t even on sale yet.

“No need to ask where he is. He’s a friend who draws attention wherever he goes.”

Chuckling, the chairman lowered the window. What harm was there in getting a little wet?

He was more generous to those he liked.

Of course, he still harbored doubts about August Veil. Why hadn’t he denied the expression of being “served”? The chairman, who had planned to resolve this over dinner today, naturally turned his ear to the new friend’s performance.

To see how captivating the performance that had enchanted his chief designer was.

Soon, the car was enveloped in silence.

The driver discreetly glanced at the rearview mirror, observing the chairman’s expression.

Arbor Chairman Matthias wasn’t a man of varied emotional expressions, so one had to look closely for the tiniest changes in wrinkles or pupils.

“!”

However, the driver witnessed a dramatic change in expression for the first time.

Matthias, who had been listening to the rain-soaked music with his eyes closed and expressionless, suddenly opened his eyes wide and pressed his face against the window.

This man, who would only fold his arms and close his eyes even when watching an orchestra.

Then, Chairman Matthias blinked and his lips trembled.

“Veil.”

Suddenly, he pronounced August Veil’s name, enunciating each syllable. Thinking there might be an urgent matter, the driver picked up his phone.

“Shall I contact Mr. Veil?”

“No, wait.”

The chairman, as if his head hurt, clutched it before abruptly opening the car door and stepping out.

“Mr. Chairman!”

The driver, startled, called out to him as he got out of the car.

By the time he opened an umbrella and held it over the chairman, it seemed the chairman hadn’t even realized he was getting rained on.

“Quickly, to August Veil. No.”

The sweet singing voice faded.

The chairman knew the performance was coming to an end.

The events about to unfold were clear in his mind.

“Go over there. Bring that friend first.”

Occasionally, unexpected things happen in the world.

Sometimes you wake evil spirits by saying “Hello?” in an empty house, or get hit by bird droppings while walking. Even if you’re not usually absent-minded, you might leave your well-used AirPods at home.

The weather in Paris is like that too.

Although it had rained all night and seemed like it might let up, the tormenting rain grew heavier again. The Parisian who had brought the remaining umbrella from the store walked along the familiar path once more.

Paris in the rain is particularly like a black and white film.

How do they all manage to look so uniform?

If it weren’t for the occasional shop awning, it would be nothing but black and white. One might suspect they had become color blind.

As he habitually tried to play music, remembering he had left his AirPods at home, he roughly shoved his smartphone into his pocket.

The walk home would be a boring and tedious affair.

But unexpected things happen in the world.

The Parisian noticed a crowd of people at the end of the Champs-Élysées. As he slowly approached them, he heard a familiar accompaniment.

It was Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova”, one of his favorites.

Although he never understood what the lyrics were trying to say, it was still one of his favorite songs, so the Parisian didn’t pass by but stood with them.

Soon, a boy’s voice was heard.

[How many special people change]

It was a sweet and beautiful voice.

He unconsciously closed the gap between himself and the others. Umbrellas intertwined, forming a roof like a quilt.

He didn’t realize that others, like him, were pressing closer to see more clearly.

In the center, a girl was holding an umbrella over a singer. Although she held it as high as she could, the height difference meant the dark umbrella obscured the singer’s face. Still, below it, the white hands playing the guitar were clearly visible.

[How many lives are living strange]

Just as he thought the rain-soaked voice sounded familiar, the woman standing next to him closed her umbrella.

She seemed completely unaware that her tweed jacket was getting wet, staring blankly at the singer whose face was hidden.

And then, as if by magic, it happened.

One by one, they closed their umbrellas and pressed against each other.

Even though it wasn’t a light drizzle but a heavy downpour, they tried to remove the umbrellas blocking their view, regardless of their clothes, bags, or cherished shoes getting wet or stepped on.

No one had instructed them to do so.

[Someday you will find me]

The Parisian, who had closed his umbrella like the others, unconsciously covered his mouth. The song he listened to every day on his AirPods, that voice, was playing right in front of him.

[Caught beneath the landslide]

A car driving away with its doors locked.

Or people with their heads buried in the small internet in their hands, both ears plugged.

Those disconnected from the world would not see this beautiful scene unfolding on an ordinary street.

[In a champagne supernova]

People followed the singer’s voice without making a sound.

They watched intently, not missing a single finger brushing against the guitar engraved with an H,

and even the hand of someone about to brush off the sleeve of people standing stupidly in the middle of Paris stopped.

[While we were getting high]

The Parisian, who had never understood “Champagne Supernova” from the first time he heard it until now, recalled an interview between the lyricist Noel and a critic.

-But what does ‘Slowly walking down the hall, Faster than a cannonball’ mean?

-I don’t know either.

-But would 60,000 people have sung it without knowing the meaning? They must have all sung it with their own meaning.

The rain falling on his cheek flowed down like a tear.

[Where were you]

The singer’s hands playing the guitar slowly decelerate.

As the voice that had tickled their ears faded away, their vision widened. The Parisian discovered that all the people around the singer were staring at him with wide-eyed expressions.

Even the girl holding the umbrella was gazing up at the singer in a daze.

What was in there now?

Who could have a voice so similar to ‘his’?

If this wasn’t a dream, then maybe-.

With the music gone, only tension remained on the street.

Everyone watched the young man holding the elegant guitar engraved with an H.

They hoped he would say something, even though they didn’t know what they wanted to hear.

Unable to bear that moment of silence, a man pushed through the crowd and walked forward. Another Asian man put down his camera and hurriedly tried to stop him.

However, he couldn’t stop the person walking from the opposite side of the road.

Fortunately, it seemed to be someone they knew, as they talked with the young man under the umbrella and then picked up the empty guitar case.

At that moment, the umbrella slowly began to lower.

The remnants of the now-stopped rain fell with a patter,

and white hair reflecting the light was revealed.

Slowly, a soft forehead and

smiling eye corners appeared.

With a face younger than imagined, eyes crinkling, the singer bowed to them like a maestro.

“Thank you for listening.”

A thick Posh accent.

It felt as if time had stopped.

If it weren’t for the cars passing behind the singer, they might have thought it was indeed a dream.

As the boy turned around, people unconsciously reached out their hands. They wanted to call out to him, but unsure, their mouths only gaped open and closed.

When a group of police, mistaking the suddenly gathered crowd for an illegal protest, came running, a Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the boy.

The door opened.

“No!”

Someone’s belated attempt to reach out failed to grasp the Rolls-Royce. The luxurious car quickly left the roundabout.

“Halo…?”

By the time someone’s rain-soaked voice called out, it was too late.

‘Is that really Halo?’

The question everyone wanted to ask never reached the boy and dissipated.

Less than an hour later, chaos ensued.

[Saw someone with a voice identical to Halo’s]

People clicked on a video uploaded to NuTube with this title, thinking it might be clickbait. They were about to leave angry comments but stopped when they heard the voice through the rain.

[Who is he? (2.3k likes)]

[What the fuck]

[????]

[Are we being fooled again? It must be fake]

[What is this]

[It really sounds like Halo’s voice]

[What’s going on]

[Oh, that guitar-]

At first, it was just ordinary people.

Then The Sun group, which had recently been in an uproar over a Hollywood singer who claimed to be Halo after obtaining a similar guitar, caught wind of it.

The small group of Hellys, who had been lying low after making the news for compiling a list of liars and vandalizing their cars, also began to raise their heads one by one.

In Korea, the long-buried theory of Roh Haeil = Halo didn’t crawl out of its grave like a zombie, but flew in from overseas, causing confusion.

[What are they saying]

[? What kind of bait is this]

[Here we go again. Are Roh Haeil fans all crazy, trying to deify their singer?]

└ This isn’t domestic though?

└ (Video of a mysterious boy with a voice similar to Halo’s busking in Paris.avi)

└ Everyone overseas is going crazy trying to figure out who he is

└ But the voice really is similar?

└ If you cover his face, it’s exactly like Halo

[What’s with that guitar? Isn’t that the one Halo was holding in Venice? Why does Roh Haeil have it?]

└ Isn’t Roh Haeil just an attention seeker who got a similar guitar and engraved an H on it?

└ There are tons of people carrying customized guitars like that since Haeil was photographed with a guitar case in Venice

└ I saw one in Hongdae too

[Just watched the video… WTF is this? Is Roh Haeil really Halo? I couldn’t tell when he sang Korean songs, but when he sings in English, it’s just like Halo covering it]

[How can Roh Haeil be Halo? Even if we ignore race and culture, it doesn’t make sense;;]

[Roh Haeil wasn’t just sitting around during the Monthly Halo. He just didn’t communicate and messed up the concert seating, but he was more active than anyone else]

└ Roh Haeil released a single, mini-album, and full album last year

└ He even released Rendezvous, appeared on music shows, released a drawing book, did everything

└ I thought he had an easy life, but he worked hard

└ Even if he disappeared, fans wouldn’t just sit quietly. Other singers would’ve been cursed out

[Wow, my heart is beating like crazy right now. Is Roh Haeil really Halo…?]

[The people in the video seem to be the Spring Again team, did they film something?]

└ Oh!

└ Team A has been covering Halo’s songs, does Roh Haeil sing Halo’s songs too? If he sang Halo’s song, can’t we just compare the two?

└ You’re right! Going to the broadcasting station now

└ It’s already chaos there

[Why go to the broadcasting station? Can’t we just ask Roh Haeil?]

└ That’s the problem, no one knows where Roh Haeil is

Before the overseas The Sun group realized through Korean news that the mysterious boy with a “voice similar to Halo’s” was a Korean singer, they calmly asked:

[So where is he now?]

└ Don’t know, he disappeared

[What happened after the busking?]

└ They say he just greeted and left

└ Pardon? He just left? What were the people there doing?

└ Did everyone get hit by an AOE stun skill or something? (+) ^[1]

└ Our team’s ADC has grown well (+) ^[2]

[You stupid idiots, don’t you have hands or feet or mouths? You should have caught him somehow]

As the Roh Haeil = Halo theory, which had only existed in Korea until now, spread worldwide and chaos turned into pandemonium,

A crystal-clear sound echoed in a restaurant where only three people were seated.

“This is unbelievable.”

Arbor’s chairman’s face bore a bright smile as he uttered the same words as those on the internet.

“I’m not particularly fond of things like luck.”

He seemed full even without cutting into his steak.

The chairman, who had drunk three glasses of wine in succession upon arriving at the restaurant, didn’t pick up his fork and knife.

“I was going to give one gift, but it feels like I’ve received a Christmas present.”

“A gift?”

Halo asked, drinking water from a glass.

“Didn’t you tell me? That my clothes were uncomfortable.”

The chairman said, swirling his wine.

“I thought about it all night and discussed it with the directors this morning. We decided to create a new concept, a casual edition.”

“And I was thinking of attaching your name to that part.”

Halo nodded, and the Arbor chairman grinned widely.

“But now I have a new challenge. A very difficult problem. Should I attach ‘Roh’, or-. I’m pondering whether to attach ‘HALO’. Hahaha! What do you think?”

“Well…”

Halo calmly cut into his steak, unfazed by the chairman’s gaze.

“It doesn’t seem like such a difficult problem.”

“Oh?”

“Do you know my name?”

“Name?”

Halo simply pronounced Roh Haeil’s English name.

Haeil Roh

It might sound different in French, but in English pronunciation-

“!”

The chairman’s eyes widened.

He instantly realized that his dilemma was meaningless. At the same time, people who don’t know about this wordplay would only find it curious.