The Road to Glory Chapter 153 - Roh Haeil and Halo

“How do you like the house?”

Halo looked around.

It was comfortable, quiet, and above all, the lush greenery visible from the window wasn’t bad.

If their previous home was a high-rise apartment with a view of the glamorous Lotte World and Seokchon Lake, their new home was a quiet and luxurious villa in Bangbae-dong.

The surrounding area had many walking trails, including Seoripul Park and Montmartre Park, and it was closer to Korea University.

However, what his mother cared about most was the privacy aspect.

Previously, too many people had come to see or interview Roh Haeil, so his mother excluded apartments with many households and seemed to have chosen this villa where only six households lived in one building.

“It’s nice.”

“Isn’t it?”

Park Seungah’s face brightened at Halo’s words.

There wasn’t much difference in the responses between Professor Roh Yunhyeon, who would say everything was fine no matter what house they looked at and secretly hoped they would choose any house, and her son, who would say everything was fine no matter what she asked. But she thought her son’s answer was still better.

“Did something good happen?”

“Yes?”

“You look like you’re in a good mood.”

Ah.

Halo shrugged his shoulders.

He remembered what happened yesterday.

He had agreed to attend a curtain call invitation to commemorate the last performance of the musical “Rock,” and he had his first rehearsal yesterday.

Coincidentally, he ran into another composer and lyricist.

Professor Kim, who reminded him of other critics.

“I had an enjoyable experience.”

Professor Kim, who had said that Halo’s music was outstanding in terms of culture and pedigree, and told him to improve and grow more, took a step back as soon as he saw him and turned around.

It was the quickest movement he had seen so far. Halo had to lower his raised arm again, chuckling as the man ran away without even saying hello.

‘That’s unfortunate. I was going to say hello.’

With a face that didn’t look disappointed at all, Halo inwardly giggled.

It’s quite fun to see critics who used to criticize him face to face.

Well, in reality, most of them just stare at the ground without saying anything when they actually meet.

Halo focused on practice, thinking he’d greet him next time.

“Is this mine?”

“It might be a bit mixed up, but it should be yours. Are you going to organize it?”

“Yes.”

It’s probably not his, but Roh Haeil’s.

Halo opened the lid of the cardboard box.

Inside were miscellaneous items like picture frames, albums, books, and notebooks.

Roh Haeil’s textbooks and elementary and middle school graduation albums.

Halo was taking them out one by one when he found a picture frame.

A young Roh Haeil, about five or six years old, was standing grumpily while holding his young mother’s hand.

Whether he didn’t like having his picture taken or he had fought with someone, he even had a band-aid on his cheek.

The Roh Haeil he had imagined was more docile and indecisive, but looking at this, he didn’t seem so well-behaved.

And in the next frame, there was Roh Haeil wearing a middle school uniform. At this time, he looked a bit dejected. This was probably the Roh Haeil he knew from then on.

A completely different appearance from him now.

First of all, his appearance was quite different.

People bring out Roh Haeil’s old photos and say they’re cute, but he had grown to the point where it could be called a dramatic change. Both in physique and facial features.

Still, these things can change significantly as one grows up or loses weight.

On the other hand, personality and atmosphere would have a different meaning.

Since both personality and atmosphere are completely at opposite ends, people who knew Roh Haeil at that time probably wouldn’t think he was the same person.

‘And if it’s someone who knew Roh Haeil at that time.’

Slowly, his gaze turned to Park Seungah.

Halo wondered for the first time.

“Mother.”

“Yes?”

Halo looked at the photo and held it up next to his face.

“Haven’t I changed a lot?”

A year ago, he had just let it slide because they were misunderstanding, fighting, reconciling, and getting close, but it is a strange thing.

Halo and Roh Haeil were so different that even Jang Jinsoo, who wasn’t close to him at that time, was shocked enough to say, “Were you always like this?” His parents couldn’t have missed such a change.

When his mother didn’t answer, Halo felt his throat getting drier.

A few days ago, someone asked him to prove that he was really Halo. At that time, Halo had chuckled and responded, but if his mother asked, “Are you really Roh Haeil?” he felt like he might not be able to respond the same way.

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

At his mother’s words, Halo considered brushing it off as a joke, but strangely, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

It felt like touching Pandora’s box.

Even though he knew it was a stupid thing to do, he couldn’t help but open it, like a fool who had to open it despite knowing better.

Halo opened his mouth.

“Suddenly quitting school to do music.”

“…”

“Working under an unfamiliar name.”

Everything from his sudden decision to do music to the name HALO happened abruptly, but his mother didn’t find it strange and supported him.

Looking back now, it’s quite odd.

“Sometimes… it might have felt like I was a different person.”

He doesn’t want to say now that he’s not Roh Haeil. But why? Halo couldn’t understand why he was asking these questions even as he spoke.

“A different person, huh.”

His mother, who had been listening quietly, seemed to ponder as she moved her lips.

“Well. I’ve never thought about it that way. Just…”

Time passed slowly.

“I was just happy that you finally found what you wanted to do, and sorry that I didn’t realize it earlier. And, I regretted a bit too.”

“What?”

“I thought, why didn’t I make you try music, like piano, when everyone else was making their kids do it. Swimming too, and you might not remember, but we tried soccer, baseball, tennis, skating, kendo, art, calligraphy, baduk, even astronomy. Why didn’t we try music? If I had known you’d like it this much, wouldn’t you have found your place earlier?”

His mother stroked Halo’s hand as she spoke.

“It was so heartbreaking to see you without any interests or apparent talents when you were young, always looking at your mom and dad, especially your dad, for approval.”

Halo thought he understood why Roh Haeil’s face in the picture frames became increasingly dejected over time. So that’s why he became so timid.

“Watching you study hard to get praise from your dad, to keep your promises, I thought your talent was in studying.”

There were quite a few opportunities to try piano, guitar, violin, etc., but because his academic achievements were consistently good, Park Seungah just assumed that was his talent.

“But you had an even greater talent.”

Through a video she came across by chance, she learned something she hadn’t known before. It wasn’t just simple recognition. Self-realization. Like suddenly realizing how bright the sunlight is one day, she saw, felt, and understood there.

There, her son seemed like someone born to make music. Like a great person who dominated an era. It felt so natural that her son was declaring he would do music. Rather, it would have been stranger if he didn’t.

“And you say it’s an unfamiliar name.”

His mother shrugged.

HALO.

Glory and halo.

And another meaning, the center of the galaxy. (+) ^[1] TLN: This is just many Korean’s words for “halo”

“We used to go to the observatory almost every week with your dad, remember? You and I had no interest in astronomy, but your dad kept wanting to go. Your dad, I don’t know what he found so fascinating about seeing the same galaxy every day. Do you know how angry I was when he wanted to give you a prenatal name like Hubble Tension or Cepheid Variable?”

His mother laughed as she clenched her fist.

Not understanding what those terms meant, Halo just nodded along, letting it pass as something he’d probably never understand in his lifetime.

“But I think you liked stargazing quite a bit too. Even when you said you didn’t want to go, if we promised to buy you bread at the observatory, you’d pretend to give in and come along. In fact, you didn’t even like bread that much. Our son has always been a meat-eater, right?

It was the same when I first heard the word ‘Halo’. Suddenly you said you were going to enroll in the astronomy department that you had no interest in before. You looked through the telescope for a long time. As if you had felt some kind of destiny.

Maybe that’s why. Mom would have found it stranger if you had used a different name.”

Maybe it wasn’t forced after all.

Halo imagined the young boy who, with a blank expression, followed his father and ended up enjoying watching the stars.

“And lastly, about being a different person.”

When his mother said that, Halo realized she had almost answered the doubt he had expressed.

Without missing a single point.

“Mom always felt like you were a different person.”

“!”

Halo was startled by those words. His heart was pounding. But soon, he heard unexpected words.

“I wanted to know you, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t know everything. When I thought I knew everything, something new would come up that I didn’t know. I wanted to take care of everything for you, but it was always lacking. I’m your mom. You’re my son, but you were always difficult to understand and so different. If you were the same person as mom, I could have known you better and done better for you.”

The question about whether he seemed like a different person was meant to ask if he still looked like Roh Haeil.

The answer that came was unexpectedly profound.

It was true that the meaning was taken differently, but judging by how it left him speechless, it was clearly an excellent answer.

“But thinking about it now, I’m glad that Haeil, you, are a different person. It means you can live happier and more satisfactorily than mom and dad.”

His mother gently stroked his head.

“Of course, I’d be even more satisfied if you came home more often.”

The last part was clearly half-joke, half-serious.

Halo looked at her with an awkward face.

He tends not to make promises he can’t keep.

Still.

“—I’ll try.”

“That’s good.”

She seemed satisfied with just that answer.

:

Halo, who came out unable to ask any more questions or rebut, felt like he had been under a spell that was now broken.

It was shocking that his mother had never doubted him for a moment, and the words that followed felt like a blow to the back of his head.

In fact, doubts still remained.

Even if he had become increasingly dejected, for a person to suddenly change, isn’t it strange? Was Roh Haeil originally similar to him in personality? If the real Roh Haeil came, wouldn’t she ask who he was instead?

All sorts of thoughts came to mind.

Moreover-.

Halo recalled his mother’s reaction, seeming to know well about ‘HALO’.

In the past, HALO was the name he had chosen as the most attractive word from a science textbook, and it seemed to have deep meaning for Roh Haeil.

Well, since his father took him to the observatory every weekend, it could be possible. Where did he go? He thought he might have been dragged to church.

Perhaps naming himself Jesus Christ would have been more natural.

Jesus, really.

That doesn’t suit him at all.

Halo chuckled as he picked up his ringing phone.

The caller was Sin Joohyeok.

Someone who rarely calls unless necessary.

Is it about the musical? Or does he want to do something together?

Halo, after debating whether to answer or not, picked up the call in a good mood. Then, a casual voice was heard.

[Hey, long time no see, kiddo.]

Sin Joohyeok was someone who already knew he was Halo, and didn’t change much after knowing, so there was no reason for him to change now.

[Have you been well?]

“Yeah, I guess.”

[Yeah, I guess? You mean only you’ve been doing well?]

“You seem to be doing well too, senior.”

He didn’t know what he had been up to, but since he was alive, he must be doing well. Then, the sound disappeared for a moment on the other end of the phone, and soon a gloomy voice was heard.

[Doing well, you say. Do you know how annoyed I’ve been? Except for during dating rumors, reporters who are usually hard to see have been following my schedule since February, asking ‘Is Roh Haeil Halo?’ ‘Please answer, Mr. Sin Joohyeok!’ Do you know how annoying that was?]

Sin Joohyeok imitated the reporters. It was quite good acting.

“No, I don’t.”

[You don’t know?… ! Right, you don’t know.]

Sin Joohyeok seemed to become a bit stupid for a moment, dumbfounded by the calm answer.

Right, why had he forgotten this? He was an impertinent kid from the beginning.

He didn’t expect this kid to pretend to be sorry at all.

It would be more creepy if he suddenly went crazy and apologized saying ‘I’m sorry, senior,’ but still, his nonchalant attitude was infuriating.

It was also reassuring that he remained consistent.

[I enjoyed watching Coachella.]

“…”

Halo, who didn’t know Sin Joohyeok had come to Coachella, kept his mouth shut without bothering to say he didn’t know.

Sin Joohyeok also belatedly recalled the helicopter accident and thought he shouldn’t have mentioned it.

Naturally, a moment of silence fell.

Sin Joohyeok, thinking he shouldn’t have brought it up, changed the subject. Right, he’s still a kid after all, and he might not like being concerned about.

Afterward, Sin Joohyeok’s trivial words continued.

Roughly daily life stories, talks about music, and about the musical “Rock“. Ah, he also talked about the mask used in Venice.

It was an effort to cheer him up, thinking he shouldn’t have mentioned Coachella, but Halo wondered why on earth this guy had called in the first place.

He felt like the conversation was going round and round without getting to the main point.

Just as he was about to speak first, after a moment of silence, Sin Joohyeok cautiously brought up the subject.

[By the way, have you heard?]

“Heard what?”

[… You haven’t heard? Why haven’t you heard? I thought they would have already told you.]

I want to hear the subject.

Halo looked down at the phone for a moment and then listened again.

He was going to hang up if he didn’t say anything meaningful again.

[You know, Teacher Hwang Ryongpil.]

Halo flinched when he heard the name of an unexpected person.

And his eyes slowly widened at the words that followed.

[They say he’s retiring.]

• 1. TLN: This is just many Korean’s words for “halo”