The Road to Glory Chapter 145 - Coachella Music & Arts Festival

The sun began to rise over the vast desert of Indio, California, USA.

The grass, which would normally be covered in red dust blown from the sandy mountains, was unusually green today. The heat haze that would typically coil under the scorching sun had sunk into the asphalt, laden with moisture.

Flying insects and birds that had been flitting over the grass took flight at the sound of roaring engines and audio.

Friday, April 9th.

The first day of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival had arrived.

And then-.

“Oh my… Thank you for expressing your intention to participate in our festival.”

At the administrative office in Coachella Valley.

The Coachella director came out personally and placed his hand on his chest.

The sun-shaped pendant on his neck swayed.

His mustache, which looked like it might cry, couldn’t even extend a hand and was at a loss for what to do.

On the other hand, the boy receiving such a welcome seemed unfazed by the director’s attitude, who was about his father’s age, and stood there calmly.

“Nice to meet you, Director-.”

“Please call me Jackson, Mr. Roh. No-.”

Jackson continued with a trembling voice.

“Halo.”

#

[Please, does anyone have extra tickets?]

[Looking to exchange Coachella week 2 tickets for week 1 tickets]

└ Me

└ Oh, you have week 2?

└ No, week 1

└ Fuck you

Coachella 2032 was facing a truly exceptional year.

Typically, Coachella opens ticket sales around early January. The official lineup is finalized in early to mid-January, tickets sell out instantly, and they’re usually gone. From February onwards, people had to use second-hand trading sites or buy cancelled tickets.

This year was supposed to follow the same pattern.

Of course, the final lineup announcement was delayed, but the first two headliners and other artists had already been revealed through the 1st and 2nd announcements. Even while waiting for the final lineup, tickets were already sold out.

Those who were planning to resell or trade directly if they didn’t like the final lineup waited for the last announcement while complaining to Coachella.

And in early February.

Someone who was about to cancel their purchase because there were no favorite artists in this lineup faced an unbelievable announcement.

[HALO]

What happened next is known to everyone.

Suddenly, tickets that had been available on second-hand sites and direct trading platforms like Reddit vanished. People offered tens of times the original price, but they were hard to come by.

Usually, tickets for the first weekend of Coachella – which sells only 3-day passes for week 1 and week 2 – were more valuable, as many celebrities attended.

However, this time, with Halo’s confirmed appearance, the value of week 2 tickets skyrocketed. The worth of week 2 tickets, which would normally have been exchanged for week 1, was completely reversed due to one person.

Someone said:

If you’re not a Halo fan, there’s no need to be obsessed with week 2. Isn’t it enough to come to Week 1 and just see the celebrities?

But that’s quite a strange thing to say.

How can you be sure that celebrities will come to the first weekend this time? Wouldn’t they be curious about Halo like everyone else?

Even now, looking at social media, Hollywood stars were showing off their Coachella week 2 tickets or looking for extra ones. It didn’t seem different for other influencers.

Of course, that doesn’t mean week 1 tickets were abundant. Although it had less impact than week 2, the week 1 lineup was also impressive. Moreover,

[I’m just going to week 1 and camping out for a week]

[You think they’ll kick me out? I’ll live at Coachella until I see The Sun, oh The Sun!]

Anyway, Coachella was booming from the first Friday. A procession of numerous spectators and their cars and buses had been continuing since morning.

And there were not only individuals but also corporations.

Broadcasting stations from the US and around the world seemed ready to launch helicopters, and the Coachella Valley was filled with banners and symbols of companies expecting advertising effects for the grand festival.

It goes without saying that companies from around the world pleaded to place advertisements despite the significantly increased advertising costs at this Coachella.

They prepared from the first Friday, waiting for the last Sunday when the true festival would arrive.

However, none of them imagined that Halo would be at Coachella right now.

I mean, with so many eyes looking for him.

Even if he came, they thought it would be during the next week for rehearsals, not enjoying the festival mixed in with the crowd.

August Veil, who was presumed to be with Roh, was currently in the UK, and companies or celebrities associated with Roh hadn’t arrived yet.

“Hey, is it okay for you to wander around like this?”

“Well, why not?”

“It doesn’t seem like you got permission.”

“Do I need permission to go out?”

“Well… I guess not. It’ll just be troublesome, that’s all.”

People’s gazes turned towards the Asian boy and then dispersed. Two boys wearing cowboy hats weren’t particularly unusual in the Ohio desert.

Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a bandana tightly wrapped around his face, people just assumed it was because of the strong sun.

In fact, if the boy had been carrying the guitar case he usually had with him, he would have stood out much more.

“What did you do with your guitar?”

“I had it tuned and repaired.”

“Ah, right, you played on a rainy day.”

“Yeah.”

Although he was careful, all instruments are vulnerable to moisture.

When G offered to send a craftsman to look at the guitar, Halo nodded without hesitation.

“Anyway, how have you been?”

“Well, as everyone knows. You?”

“Me-.”

Jang Jinsoo briefly recalled his report card.

Grades still far from Korea National University of Arts.

Still, considering he had grades 6 and 7 at the beginning of the semester, it was quite an improvement. The professor also encouraged him, saying his grades would continue to improve as he found the joy of studying and felt the thrill.

“I think I’m doing well.”

Halo nodded at the softly spoken words.

Then Halo looked around the crowded Coachella. A rainbow-colored glass model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, cone-shaped sculptures, white tents, and food trucks.

It was obvious his attention was drawn elsewhere, so Jang Jinsoo didn’t bother asking if he was doing well too.

“Want something to drink?”

“Anything but Americano.”

“Iced Americano is the best on a hot day.”

What’s so good about that ashtray-flavored water?

Noticing Halo’s expression, Jang Jinsoo made an okay gesture and started looking for a place selling drinks.

Then some tourists who looked Korean approached him. Jang Jinsoo flinched, wondering if they had recognized Roh Haeil.

“Excuse me-.”

“Yes?”

“-Aren’t you JJ from ‘Show’?”

“!”

Jang Jinsoo vividly remembered the program “Show Your Show” he had appeared on a year and several months ago. When he confirmed it, they were amazed.

“We were really rooting for JJ back then.”

“Yeah, and we listened to the ‘Show By Show’ song a lot at that time.”

Jang Jinsoo, flustered by the presence of fans he was seeing up close for the first time, instinctively looked for Roh Haeil at the mention of ‘Show By Show’. Weren’t these people fans of the song Roh Haeil had made for him?

“But we liked JJ even apart from the song. How should I put it… We could see how hard you were trying, which made us naturally want to support you. Of course, the result was disappointing, but we believe you’ll do better in the future!”

“…!”

Halo turned his head from observing Coachella.

Jang Jinsoo was surrounded by women of indeterminate age.

Halo, who had been watching closely to see if he might get their numbers, noticed Jang Jinsoo shyly signing a piece of paper.

Ah, fans. He instinctively understood.

He did appear on TV too.

The sight of the boy who had struggled after being eliminated from “Show,” now signing autographs for his fans with new dreams and goals, was refreshing. It seems he’s moving forward well, as he said. Constantly growing.

Unlike himself, who was gradually becoming more like his past self again.

Halo couldn’t distinguish whether returning to being the star of the past, receiving attention from everyone, was moving forward or going backward. Not that it mattered either way.

Still, unlike him, that guy was definitely moving forward.

Then Halo turned his head as he heard a commotion nearby.

He saw a man.

The man with thinning hair was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, and it read:

[HALO is Only White]

“Oh.”

Halo exclaimed briefly.

If the goal was to attract attention, it seemed well-achieved.

People who saw his shirt once looked back in disbelief, and gradually more and more gazes were drawn.

The more this happened, the man proudly thrust out his chest.

He even grabbed random passersby, saying,

“Everyone knows, right? Roh is lying now. There’s no way Halo could be a 16-year-old kid.”

“Why, why are you doing this?”

“Fucking liar.”

He was making people uncomfortable.

The corners of Halo’s mouth turned up.

Coincidentally, the man was getting closer and closer to him.

That’s when it happened.

“What are you doing here, like a homeless person?”

A soda-colored cup obscured his view as he sat on the grass. Someone had approached him.

“Here. It’s heavy, so take this.”

Jang Jinsoo, who had bought drinks somewhere, handed him a soda instead of an Americano.

Halo looked at the soda suspiciously, took a sip, and “!” pulled away in shock at the terrible sweetness.

“And don’t mind stuff like that. It’ll only ruin your mood. Let’s go get lunch. The auntie and professor must be waiting.”

“Well, it’s fine.”

It wasn’t that upsetting.

Rather, what was about to happen was interesting.

But since Jang Jinsoo left without listening to the answer, Halo followed without objecting.

“What’s for lunch?”

“Don’t know. Lobster sandwich, maybe?”

While casually asking about the lunch menu, he glanced back.

The strange man was no longer in sight.

Where did he go?

Halo, who had thought simply, soon looked ahead again.

Jang Jinsoo’s back.

It seems there was a time like this in the past too.

‘What, Roh Haeil? What are you doing here, like a homeless person?’

It was Jang Jinsoo who had brought him, who had become Alice in Wonderland, to the hideout.

Unaware that Halo was reminiscing about the past, Jang Jinsoo was anxiously watching Halo’s reactions.

He thought there might be people who were suspicious, but seeing something like that right in front of him must be hurtful, right?

Roh Haeil might not have a delicate heart, but anyone would be hurt as a human being.

It had already happened, so he couldn’t take it back. Jang Jinsoo kept talking nonsense to keep Roh Haeil from dwelling on it.

From the lunch menu to trivial things.

And he led the boy with quick steps.

So, lost in their different thoughts, they didn’t notice the commotion happening behind them.

A man approached and grabbed the back of the head of the man wearing the ‘HALO is Only White’ t-shirt with his large palm, while another man grabbed his collar and knocked him down. It happened in an instant, and people surrounded them in surprise.

“You goddamn heretic. Die, you bastard. Who are you to judge The Sun?”

“Now I get it! It’s because of bastards like you that The Sun hasn’t shown himself until now.”

“Ugh, then do you… think that kid is the king? That’s nonsense. Logically-“

“Shut up! You should know why Batman is a non-killer.”

“Why, why?”

“I’ll teach you from now on.”

Bam-! The commotion continued until the security guard, who arrived late, broke it up.

“What’s going on here?”

“They’re Hellys.”

“Ah, I see.”

#

The first week of Coachella passed.

Halo watched the performances among the crowd, dressed as a cowboy or a Coachella staff member.

The performances of various pop stars had much to hear and see.

Fireworks, lighting, sound pumping through the stomach,

The performers and the audience became one, creating the stage. Those were the things he loved the most.

Halo waited for his upcoming stage.

A stage where tens of thousands of people would come to welcome him.

Jang Jinsoo seemed to have become more worried since seeing the strange person, but he had no doubt that people would welcome him.

Halo closed his eyes and imagined that time.

It had been about a year since he became Roh Haeil.

The time he spent becoming unknown again was so enjoyable that he wanted to savor it.

Tomorrow or next week. Or next month.

Thinking that Roh Haeil could return at any time, he lived with all his might.

So that even if everything became a dream when day broke, he wouldn’t regret it.

And finally, the time had come.

The day he had been waiting for the most, yet hoped wouldn’t come.

The day when the name HALO would resound on stage again was just around the corner.

Halo had always thought that Roh Haeil could come at any time. Just as he had suddenly become Roh Haeil one day, Roh Haeil could suddenly return to his body one day.

“Please.”

Halo muttered softly.

He hoped that Roh Haeil wouldn’t return on that day.

He wanted to shine by burning up all his life energy for that one day.

It might be too much greed for someone who had taken over another’s body, but he was inherently a greedy person.

From beginning to end.

A greedy human who wouldn’t be satisfied unless he had everything in his grasp.

He hoped next week would come quickly before Roh Haeil realized too much time had passed.

Then, as if hearing his thoughts, the star on stage said,

“Today was really great, but I’m more excited for next week. I wish next week would come soon.”

The pop stars spoke coolly, as if their pride wasn’t hurt by all the attention being focused elsewhere.

“I had a hard time getting tickets. Did you all manage to get them too?”

“Hey, everyone knows what day next week is, right?”

“I’ve always been the most curious about him.”

Whether it was sincere or an act, the audience went wild at their cool attitude. It was something they could say at the end of the stage, at the close of Coachella’s Week 1, rather than in the middle of the performance.

“What kind of person do you think he is?”

She smiled gently at the people, surely aware of the current controversy surrounding the Halo candidate.

“We’ll know when the sun rises in Ohio, right?”

“No. We’ll know when night falls instead.”

Laughter spread across the Ohio desert at the audience member’s comment pointing out that Halo’s performance time was at night.

---

Translator Note:

Oh boy oh boy.