The Road to Glory Chapter 167 - No Comment

[The Sun Fans Sheds Tears Over HALO’s Gift]

[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Has Been Realized]

[In Search of the Golden Ticket]

[Limited Edition LP Calls the Price]

[HALO Fever Reignites]

[The Reason His Album Had to Be an LP]

The world was going crazy.

It was like when a person’s name became known to the world with the song ‘I AM HALO’ last February,

and it was also like the day of the French Revolution this February – in a way, when HALO’s identity was first revealed.

And that storm landed in the California desert in April, and we thought the long chaos had ended.

But still, the whole world was swept up in the name HALO. The clothes he wore, the streets he visited, the food he liked, where he lived, his concerts, his music, and now his albums and merchandise were causing a stir.

To someone who doesn’t know HALO well, he seemed like a being born to be a star. He attracted attention no matter what he did.

If this frenzy wasn’t intended by him, it might be a truly innate talent. Some consider HALO’s musicality to be his greatest talent, but if it’s the talent to draw this kind of attention, wouldn’t it be above all else?

But what if this frenzy was intentional?

If he knows well how to get people’s attention and has drawn it out accordingly, then that’s really-.

“An incredibly crazy guy.”

That’s all that could be said.

A Hollywood star who likes HALO’s music but isn’t quite a fan, maintaining an objective view, said this.

However, it couldn’t be called an insult.

The manager saw him grinning amusedly in the rearview mirror.

“Didn’t you say you disliked cunning kids?”

“Usually, I do.”

“Are you saying he’s an exception?”

“Oh.”

The Hollywood star exclaimed as if it was obvious.

“Are you calling him an ordinary person?”

The manager had nothing to say.

He just thought that, just as everyone else doesn’t think so, he doesn’t think so either.

“By the way, what happened with the ticket?”

“You wouldn’t be satisfied with just a regular ticket, would you?”

He blinked his eyes as if to say, “Would I be satisfied with that?”

The manager heaved a deep sigh.

He couldn’t help but know the crazy situation right now.

4 AM. After the existence of the golden ticket was revealed, the tickets just disappeared.

Well, the good thing is.

People who had already decided to get one had enough time to do so.

The reason the golden ticket sales disappeared was partly due to the shocking identity, but also because anyone who was going to buy before HALO’s LA concert had already bought one.

So those who can’t wait to get something special, willing to pay any amount. The wealthy, the tycoons, and the stars are such people.

“I got it.”

“That’s the answer I wanted. Now I can talk comfortably with BB too.”

“BB? Surely not ‘that’ Brian Berry I know?”

“The most famous Brian I know is ‘that’ Brian. He’s also a big fan of ‘him’. Though he doesn’t show it much because he’s shy.”

“Shy?”

The manager questioned the most unfitting adjective, and he giggled.

BB said he did the ticketing himself, so it wouldn’t be a golden ticket. I should brag about it as soon as I see him.

As he was thinking that, he met eyes with the manager through the rearview mirror, whose eyes were sparkling.

“Any news about Director Berry’s new work?”

“Not yet.”

“Isn’t it about time?”

“Well…”

By the way, BB was his manager’s favorite film director. He felt a bit ambivalent about the fact that he had never appeared in any of BB’s films, but maybe his manager liked it better that way.

“Even if there’s a new work, I wouldn’t be in it anyway.”

“Well, you can’t sing after all.”

He just snorted at the scathing criticism without particularly rebutting. It wasn’t wrong.

He couldn’t sing. Well, he wasn’t an actor suitable for a music film, but an action actor. Having reached the peak of his career by playing heroes, agents, police officers, and even murderers, he had nothing to regret about not being able to appear in music films.

“It’s interesting.” 

As the conversation ended, he recalled the original topic.

A world going crazy over one subject.

Having once made the world enthusiastic during his high career, he thought about how long this would last.

There has always been a protagonist in the world.

Once, he was the protagonist, and now, the name HALO would suit the current protagonist. But the world isn’t stagnant water, so the protagonist always changes.

He wasn’t particularly regretful.

He just enjoyed the story of the current protagonist enough to hope it would last a little longer.

But the possibility isn’t high.

There are too many enemies in the world trying to bring down the protagonist.

They could be brought down by those around them at any time.

Moreover, isn’t HALO just 16 years old?

Usually, they would either be shaken by those around them or collapse because they couldn’t endure it themselves. That’s how it usually goes.

He stretched.

So this is just the opinion of someone who doesn’t know HALO well.

:

Time passed.

A day and a half since HALO’s album was released.

About a day since HALO’s concert ended.

And ten and some hours since the identity of the golden ticket was revealed.

People who wailed over the sold-out LPs – some even bought expensive turntables! – were briefly healing with HALO’s concert, and then the reviews and direct concert footage released afterwards. The golden ticket was enough to knock people’s heads.

It wasn’t just knocking, it was more like being hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat while being doused with cold waterfall water.

Anyway, their singer was certainly a great taxi driver. He sent them to hell and heaven, and back to hell again.

It’s not like they didn’t imagine the watch might be merchandise. Especially Korean fans, having experienced it before, thought it might be.

However, rather than giving luxury watches as merchandise, they thought it was more likely to be a collaboration with Arbor or other G. Looking back now, maybe that’s what they hoped for.

[Info: HALO hasn’t sold anything in the merchandise shop since giving music boxes at the fan meeting. There’s just no merchandise shop]

[Fans directly inquired with the music box maker, and they said about 1,100 were ordered…]

└ FFS then sell the remaining hundred!!!!

└ The watches too…?

[I was so pissed for missing the LP album…]

└ Won’t they sell CD albums?

Actually, it was enough for fans to turn dark.

It’s surprising that relatively “polite” comments still dominate, given how intense the consecutive hits of LP albums and limited edition merchandise were.

It might have been a bit less intense since they did give other merchandise excluding the limited edition, rather than not giving anything at all.

No one had everything, so everyone became sensitive. It hadn’t exploded yet, but if someone gave it a little push, it would ignite.

And that ‘push’ comes from an unexpected place.

[Breaking News│He Originally Planned to Produce CD Albums]

[UK CD Pressing Companies Collude]

[CD Factory Bullying, Target is HALO?]

News about the collusion of CD pressing factories spread worldwide, starting from the UK mainland. The reason why an article that could have only been noisy in the UK spread worldwide was because of that name, ‘HALO’.

The course of events where Halo originally intended to release CD albums, but had to divert to LP due to collusion.

And the fact that it was their singer, currently the most loved star in the world, and a 16-year-old minor boy who was bullied, made it a bigger incident than what actually happened.

These were fans already filled with anger for various reasons. The trigger was pulled and the bullet hit the target.

[Came after reading the article, are these guys crazy? Bullying Halo, who’s not even a nobody?]

[Halo’s album would sell really well, and they colluded on this?]

└ They wouldn’t have not made it, right? Veil probably switched to LP when there was no answer after they tried to get more money

[I liked that LP came out because I like vinyl… Damn, this is infuriating]

[Haeil must have been shocked, having been happy thinking about releasing an album]

└ Wouldn’t Veil have not told him to avoid shocking him?

└ He’s always smiling so I didn’t know, but as soon as I saw the article, my head started ringing

└ Why does the kid always suffer because of adults’ greed?

└ Wasn’t England supposed to be a country of gentlemen?

As the collusion incident grew, newspapers happily printed papers, and broadcasting stations added some emotional interviews to create a dramatic story.

The hardships of an indie singer.

Young fans crying because they couldn’t buy HALO’s album, etc.

The album pressing companies certainly didn’t think this far. It ended before they could even show what people call ‘bullying’. If they had known it would grow this big, they would have done as told.

Moreover, overseas record companies excitedly started sending love calls:

[It would be an honor if we could produce HALO’s album]

[Please bestow your grace upon us as well]

America, France, Germany, and even Korea. Each country talked about how well they could print.

[These bastards better pay for my turntable]

[It really pisses me off that they’re disrespecting Haeil everywhere just because he’s young]

[Honestly, doesn’t Halo need to be protected on a national level???]

[I’m so pissed about failing the ticketing, I really want to kill them]

[We’re sorry we couldn’t protect you]

In fact, this first batch was a limited edition set including albums 1-13, so the quantity itself was small, but even that arrow was passed to the colluding companies. The companies expressed their unfairness, saying it had nothing to do with them, but people wouldn’t listen properly.

Veil quietly watched them, then announced the second sale of LP albums – this time individual – and just needed to find a decent CD pressing company.

The contact from the CEO of Augustus Records scatters with cigarette ash.

-We have no intention of maintaining a contract with a company we cannot trust.

The CD pressing companies probably realized by now that even the last contract they trusted has been broken. ‘Now there’s nothing left to care about.’ Veil closed his eyes and enjoyed Frau’s new song.

At that moment.

Bang.

A noise breaking the silence.

It doesn’t give any chance to rest at all.

Veil knew who it was from the sound of the door opening.

He clicked his tongue and greeted the young man before him with a casual face.

Unusually, he came in full form.

Someone who wants something approaches with big strides.

“Rill.”

What a consistent guy.

***

Meanwhile, in Hamilton, Canada.

It was two days before the second performance in Hamilton.

Halo had already finished the LA concert and moved straight to Canada. In the meantime, he received a watch authentication photo from Olivia.

Olivia, wearing the watch given as a guest gift, left a message of thanks and once again wrote her contact information on a note like before.

“Oh my.”

Moon Seoyeon, who was quietly watching this, looked at him with a very interesting face.

“Are you going to contact her?”

Her eyes clearly hope he will.

Halo liked the members very much, but that wasn’t reason enough to give her the answer she wanted.

“Well…”

“It’s a question you can answer with Yes or No.”

“Then-.”

Halo raised the corners of his mouth.

“No comment.”

That answer was enough to stimulate the members’ imagination.

Those who couldn’t give up tried to get his answer somehow, but

In fact, Halo didn’t know either.

He might contact her someday, or he might not.

Even if he does contact her, it could be the private contact the members are thinking of, or it could be public. It’s unknown for now.

Anyway, this was right after the LA concert, and now he was about to have a meal with a couple.

The couple he had met once in Switzerland came out to Canada to meet him directly, and the members were also present at the meal.

Han Jinyeong was the first to bring the news.

“Haeil, about your watch.”

“Yes.”

“You said you only made a thousand because of circumstances, right.”

Halo blinked.

Originally, he wanted to give one to everyone who came to the concert, but fixed the quantity due to time constraints. He thought it wouldn’t be bad to see people happy about the luck that came by chance.

“But if possible, you’d like to keep making them, right?”

“Of course.”

It was Han Jinyeong who introduced the Swiss watch company.

He said he found out by chance, but while choosing among various craftsmen, they were favorable to Han Jinyeong and first offered good conditions, even suggesting that he try drawing it himself.

Since they were already acquainted, it wasn’t strange to contact them. Rather, Halo, sensing some good news, waited for Han Jinyeong’s following words.

Thus, a meeting was arranged in Canada, and they flew in right away with designs.

They had already finished discussing their business, aware that Halo’s golden ticket and watch were receiving hot attention.

While the previous thousand products were custom-made, this time it was a direct collaboration proposal.

“Of course, we won’t be able to make it exactly the same. We’ll need to make some changes.”

The design they brought was almost similar.

The fact that two beads serve as the hour and minute hands.

And the background being a jewel-studded universe.

What changed was the presence or absence of jewels to be embedded in it, the design of the universe, the watch strap, and a few components. The quality of the product hadn’t decreased, and they said it was a device to reduce production time.

If they had to say, it’s a budget version, but is there really a budget version that costs millions of won in the world? It was still priced like a luxury watch, so it was ambiguous to call it a budget version. So this should be seen as HALO Watch MK 2.

“And-.”

They brought Halo’s first design.

That squashed chocolate.

‘Why this?’ HAlo’s eyebrows twitched, but the couple proposed launching a limited edition watch in its original form with very serious faces.

“That’s not-.”

“Of course, since it’s a matter for the distant future, it’s fine to decide later.”

I don’t like it even then.

He looked alternately at the watch he was wearing and his drawing, and shook his head. The couple looked at him cutely and skillfully passed it off, saying to decide next time.

Soon, good news will arrive for the fans.

Of course, since it’s a different watch even if it’s similar, it’s unknown how satisfied they’ll be.

The next day after finishing such a satisfying meal.

Frau arrived for the concert.

Wearing the aforementioned watch on his wrist.

“Hey, Bro.”

They were wearing the same outfits as in the music video.