The Road to Glory Chapter 160 - World Unification

“Shall we start like this?”

Light enters the black screen.

A male anchor stands in front of the camera.

[And, for the final news. Today has dawned, and now we have only one day left.]

Frau, dressed in clothes he might wear once a year if that, announces the end of the world with a complex expression.

His voice gradually fades away, and the camera focuses on the numbers on an electronic board that start falling like a time bomb.

Time remaining: less than 24 hours.

[Have a pleasant day.]

The background music that was playing softly starts to crescendo.

Halo caught the plastic bottle thrown at him.

It was lukewarm, but even that felt cool right now.

“It’s going smoothly.”

“Smooth? It’s so noisy I could die.”

“What’s new?”

“I’d be fine if it was noisy because of me, but it’s because of him. Do you know how many calls I’m getting from everywhere asking how we managed to cast him?”

“You too?”

Jason grumbled to Halo while talking with Frau.

“I don’t like how guys who said they were busy with schedules are suddenly contacting us. What do you think?”

“Well, what’s new?”

Halo chuckled, quoting Frau’s words again. His attitude suggested it was natural for people to seek him out.

Jason gave him a look of disdain but couldn’t deny it. As he said, it was indeed “nothing new.”

“By the way, you’re adapting better than expected, rookie?”

Frau asked Halo, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“To be honest, this isn’t your first music video, right? You’ve done about thirteen, haven’t you?”

“Well, it’s my first time here.”

“Yeah, I thought so. No wonder. You’ve done it in Korea.”

Frau nodded, saying “I knew it.” His words were somewhat incorrect, but Halo didn’t deny it. It was true except for the ‘Korea’ part.

When someone asked when he had done it in Korea, he just laughed it off, leaving the reason for his unusual proficiency in music video shooting a mystery.

Today is the first day of music video production, with group shooting scheduled.

And on this day, after smoothly proceeding with the shooting and on the way home.

“Mr. Halo, excuse me, but there’s something you need to check.”

Halo received a package from the person who was Veil’s secretary and currently acting as his manager.

“It’s a package from Switzerland.”

In the car, there were gift boxes and documents prepared.

Halo alternated between looking at the documents and the box, then decided to open the small box first. Soon, his eyes lit up.

“This isn’t chocolate.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing.”

Smiling faintly, Halo took out what was inside.

The image that looked like melted chocolate.

The design that could put surrealism to shame appeared in the form he had wanted.

Halo thought that writing a description was indeed better than drawing. After all, outstanding artists could turn even the most incomprehensible explanations into art.

A universe implemented on a small disc.

Two orbiting planets served as the hour and minute hands.

Halo, who wore a watch on his left wrist, then read the documents.

One page was a – very polite – interpretation of the picture he had expressed, and the next page was a letter saying how pleased they were to collaborate with him. And in the gift box, there was also a product warranty certificate that he hadn’t checked yet.

He didn’t expect to receive such an early proof that the custom order was progressing well. Not just the design or a sample, but in a completed form.

And the fact that this had arrived meant that, in another sense, there wasn’t much time left until the world tour.

Come to think of it, it was almost time to announce.

The ten countries he would visit. Ten cities and ten schedules.

And.

“I understand that 1,000 gifts will be provided at the concert, but can I know how they will be distributed?”

As it had only been discussed with Veil so far, the manager expressed curiosity. Given that Halo’s concert scale was definitely not just a thousand people – it would be at least tens of thousands – he was curious about how the 1,000 gifts would be distributed.

At that moment, Halo raised the corners of his mouth and looked out the window.

“Isn’t luck that comes to me alone by chance more enjoyable than luck shared with everyone?”

“Huh? Well, I guess so?”

As they say, happiness is happier when you have it all to yourself.

Like a lottery or gacha.

The manager nodded. Not knowing that his nod might bring misfortune to the majority.

And the same was true for the online world that had become noisy with unexpected ultra-luxury collaborations.

[Wow, what kind of combination is this… it’s crazy]

[Frau is finally coming back with a new song]

[But why is Jason there? Shouldn’t he not be with Halo…?]

[Baby The Sun, even the photo is so cute]

[To think Haeil would do a collab]

└ He did one with Hwang Ryongpil before

└ No, but Roh Haeil’s first collab was Hwang Ryongpil and the next is Frau OMG who’s next

[Scorpion’s real, “Who the hell is that guy” losing with eyes wide open]

└ Is this really the article title?

└ When did Scorpion and Halo start dating why is the title like this

└ LOL. I went to Star Gram and this is the censored version LOL

Even though the exact release date hadn’t been announced, people were already excited, saying it smelled delicious. And for good reason – the collaborators were not only rappers and singer-songwriters in their main professions, but also well-known for their unique personalities and talents on NuTube and TikTik. The public couldn’t help but be excited about the combination of these so-called geniuses.

[So this means he’ll sing this song during this tour too, right?]

└ !

└ No… please stay quiet Haeil let’s find our initial mindset

[Wow, to see Halo’s collab before I die]

[How did they cast him!!]

[Frau, you bastard!! I’ll give you a deep kiss next time I see you]

However, what’s most noteworthy is that this is Halo’s first collaboration. How good will the music be when geniuses gather?

And the label that the singers except Halo belonged to, more broadly Augustus Records, actively promoted this. Articles were released every day, and they expanded the scale with music videos and such.

It seemed like they were enjoying the fact that they had Halo, for anyone to see.

They left a message on BlueBird saying ‘Halo, welcome. Don’t you need a new home?’, and even had an unnecessary power struggle with Veil’s BlueBird account.

Moreover, although it didn’t make the news, when proceeding with the collaboration contract with Halo, it wasn’t a manager or person in charge who brought the contract, but the CEO of Augustus Records himself.

Of course, he seemed more interested in Halo himself than the immediate contract. With fervent eyes, he said to let him know if there was anything he needed, which was quite similar to Veil.

While people were eagerly anticipating when the new song and music video would be released, finally, the schedule for Halo’s first world tour was revealed.

With content that might be somewhat shocking on the SNS accounts of Veil Corporation, the company conducting the tour, and Halo’s NuTube account.

[LA][Hamilton][?][London][Paris] [Vienna][Sydney][Bangkok][Hongkong] [Seoul]

As the venues were revealed along with the 10 cities, people who had been praying that it wouldn’t be small theaters discovered that Roh Haeil had, as promised, secured Seoul Arena.

[Finally, it’s not a small theater]

[Sick and tired of small theaters! Let’s never see them again!]

While some people viewed this positively, human hearts can be quite fickle.

[But why Seoul Arena instead of Olympic Stadium…?]

[Isn’t Seoul Arena a bit small?]

[Could it be that he actually kept his promise…?]

└ He promised to do it at Seoul Arena during an old fan meeting…

└ Haeil ㅠㅠ I’m grateful you kept your promise, but couldn’t you have booked a bigger place

└ Back then we thought even Seoul Arena would be big, but now…

└ He didn’t say he’s Halo!!!! If he had said he’s Halo, we would have said Sangam too. No, just do it in Gwanghwamun. Can accommodate 10 million people

└ Giving up 66,000 seats to keep a promise and settling for 16,000…

└ ;;;;It’s all good, but what about Star Gram?

[Hey, is it just me or is something weird here?]

└ ???

└ Hey, I don’t think the arena is the important thing right now

Those who were caught in the shackles of the promise – grateful that he kept it, but why did he keep it? – soon discovered something even stranger.

[But why only one day of performance?]

[????]

[Wait a minute. Haeil?]

And this wasn’t just a reaction from Korea.

[Canada loves Halo, Only Thanks]

[I knew he would choose The Forum]

[Your highness, to your country.]

[What? Why isn’t Germany on there?]

[Venice: Let’s ride a gondola, we’re preparing the carnival for you again]

The reactions, which at first were divided between whether their country was included or not, soon unified.

[Wait, Only one day?]

[How many people can The Forum accommodate in one day?-Reddit]

└12,245

[Can someone tell him how many Americans there are?]

[One time in each country? That’s all good but America isn’t small, rather remove the boring Canada and add more dates in Florida]

└ Are you kidding? In Toronto

[You’re one country anyway. EU is not one country! But he seems to think the European Union is a country and why France of all places! in Barcelona]

└ Just happy in Vienna

└ What are you talking about we’re an independent country too! He should come to all 50 states in Texas

└ Wow it seems like he just reignited the Civil War

[If I had known this would happen, I would have left earlier]

What Koreans who knew Roh Haeil had been afraid of was small theaters, not the concert schedule.

In fact, if he only performs for one day in each country, it’s no different from a small theater concert.

[But am I the only one who finds this kind of satisfying? After only we suffered, now the foreigners are spitting blood lol so fun this is the taste of K-singer]

└ Right, who told them not to believe? LOL

The foreigners who were running on hopium when the collaboration was announced are finally getting a taste of the spice. While feeling a sense of camaraderie, Koreans chuckled and enjoyed it, saying the frog doesn’t know its tadpole days.

One unfortunate point is that they are not frogs. Still tadpoles, they recalled their tadpole days.

But if we think positively, even a beating doesn’t hurt after you get used to it.

[It seems like we shouldn’t be relieved with just one day either]

└ Who said we were relieved, fuck

└ Is there anyone here who’s relieved? LOL

Maybe not.

[But isn’t the situation a bit serious now?]

└ Does this look not serious to you? Even with standing room, the whole country has to fight over 26,000 seats

└ Is it really the whole country…?

└ What are you talking about?

Someone pointed out the countries where Halo would be touring.

Only ten cities. Among them, Asia has three, and East Asia only has Hong Kong and Seoul.

[Here’s a quiz. Halo’s fandom in Asia must be huge, will they give up cleanly?]

Could they give up so easily on Halo’s first concert? No one affirmed.

[The Japanese and Chinese fandoms must be no joke]

After mocking the foreigners, they belatedly realized that 26,000 seats weren’t the important thing. The real problem was that there were only two performances in Asia.

Those who had initially mocked Halo for not choosing Japan, saying Japanese concert culture wasn’t great and not to his taste, realized the seriousness of the situation.

[Let’s say the Chinese fans flock to Hong Kong, but what about the Japanese fans…?]

[Will the Chinese fans only go to Hong Kong…?]

[China and Japan are one thing, but isn’t there an even bigger country above them?]

[There’s no reason Europeans or Americans won’t come here either, right?]

└ Ah

└ LOL

└ LMAO

Roh Haeil’s biggest fandom ‘Do We Look Like Jaws to You?’ was the first to raise this issue and became dumbfounded.

Someone’s hopium from the fan meeting started circulating in the community again.

[Seoul Arena… all concert…?]

[Easy ticketing…?]

[Weren’t we all supposed to be happy this year?]

There is a way to be happy.

Non-possession. If you don’t be greedy, you can be happy.

However, no one could practice this truth of life.

Those who suffered (?) from Roh Haeil’s non-communication policy and minority opinion respect policy last year were properly filled with resentment.

That deprived fandom strangely didn’t make them give up, but stimulated their stubbornness, hoping to be part of that minority.

But it’s not like those who got into the minority came out satisfied either. There weren’t many who even got to watch twice, let alone an all-concert – estimated to be just one person.

[Let’s think in reverse, ticketing for the whole world except Korea]

[88 days around the world, let’s go~~]

[Still, aren’t we kind of an internet powerhouse?]

They didn’t know that there was still more to come as they sublimated even their pain into humor.

Of course, it wasn’t something they could know right away.

They noticed the existence of the ‘golden ticket’, reminiscent of a certain chocolate factory, when the ticketing site opened.