The Road to Glory Chapter 173 - The Person He Knows Best

So, he met Halo the day before.

It was around 10 PM.

“Welcome to the Natural Sciences Department’s pub! Oh, are you looking for something?”

“No, ah, could you tell me how to get to the performance venue?”

“Do you mean the concert hall?”

“I want to go to where Halo, I mean Roh, performed last year.”

“Ah, you’re here for a pilgrimage.”

The college student who had muttered briefly in Korean kindly gave directions.

-This is the ‘President’s Lawn’, and where Haeil, I mean Halo performed, is at the outdoor stage near Beodeulgol.

The directions were as kind as their fluent English.

BB nodded and walked onto the lawn.

Though he wore a cap, people glanced at him, seeing his build and distinctly foreign features.

Among them, someone muttered, ‘I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.’

Regardless, BB took out a small leather notebook, sketched the scene of Korea University’s festival, and jotted down some brief impressions. Then he flipped back through the notebook, checking the densely written notes.

-Model student, A+ grades, preparing for foreign language high school entrance exam, quiet and well-behaved personality, doesn’t talk much.

-Reserved studio for recording <Confession> (put in a lot of effort, booking a studio about an hour away from home)

And as he flipped forward, time moved forward too.

From Roh Haeil’s label to music shows and more.

Yes, this was the path of Roh Haeil that he had followed since coming to Korea.

And as he reached the end, the question marks in his notes increased.

Because he couldn’t understand Roh Haeil’s life.

To be precise, Roh Haeil who was a model student before his first busking in Hongdae.

Then Roh Haeil who debuted after changing drastically from the point of busking.

And finally, ‘Halo’.

These three didn’t match at all.

It was as if three different people’s lives had been mixed together.

And among them, what he understood least was how someone like Roh Haeil could be Halo.

HALO’s first album was first uploaded to the internet in November two years ago.

Around that time, Roh Haeil was living the life of a model student preparing for private high school. Well, that might not have been the life Roh Haeil wanted.

There could have been plenty of complaints and conflicts with family.

But he wondered if that could have led to HALO’s first album “Struggle”.

HALO’s first album wasn’t just music made from entrance exam stress.

Well, this being the 21st century with extremely advanced video and media, he could have been influenced by movies or dramas, but when BB listened to Halo’s music, he never once thought it was indirect experience.

Halo’s music came from his experiences, and when he made music, he revealed without hiding how he thought and how he processed things.

No one in the world wouldn’t be ashamed of their past. Yet this person called Halo wasn’t ashamed of his life full of deficiencies, and because he expressed it raw in that genius music, the more you understood his music, the more you couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

The reason Halo’s music could be so loved by people wasn’t simply because of the melody, but because of its raw authenticity.

He had wanted to cinematically concretize the life of this one fascinating person.

However, the more he traced his actual life, the more he fell into a maze.

His notes were full of ‘?’ and ‘why?’

But he wasn’t disappointed.

Rather, it was becoming more and more interesting.

It felt like if he could just find one key, everything would click into place.

How thrilling would that be.

Though he didn’t know where to find that key, BB thought leisurely since he had plenty of time.

That’s when it happened.

When a young man crossed his vision.

At first, he thought he was just a Korea University student,

BB observed the young man fully armed with a cap and mask.

The guitar case on his back wasn’t the luxurious case known to be Halo’s.

But why was the young man catching his attention so strangely-

It could be because of the familiar build.

Or.

When their eyes met, BB instinctively realized.

Who he was.

If that actor friend of his saw this, he would shout:

-You truly are an excellent superfan

Whatever worked. BB approached the key to completing his puzzle, shouting hallelujah internally.

“Hi.”

He, who had never missed an opportunity, greeted the young man, no, the boy who had just turned seventeen.

Trying somehow to get a coffee time.

So that’s how it turned out.

“I’m Brian Berry. I run a small film production company.”

Halo nodded vaguely.

He might not know about the small production company, but he had heard the name Brian Berry.

When talking about movies with new friends in America, there had been discussions about what Brian Berry was like, and it would have been difficult not to know the name of a director who had made million-viewer films in Korea, a movie powerhouse.

But so what.

To Halo, whether he was a Hollywood master or a Hollywood homeless person made no big difference.

“Could you possibly give me some coffee time?”

More than that, what he felt was the desperation beneath the politeness.

Halo recognized that this person was his fan. It was a plain realization, and there was no special feeling about a master being his fan.

“Unfortunately.”

As he dragged out his words, BB’s eyes blazed.

Halo, inwardly giggling while outwardly shrugging nonchalantly, said:

“That seems impossible.”

“Oh.”

“I have a cold.”

“!”

BB quickly examined his body.

Ready to immediately pick him up and run to the hospital if he showed even the slightest stumble.

“Instead, how about that?”

Halo raised his hand to say he was fine, then pointed at the chicken skewers.

The smell had been amazing for a while now.

Having eaten mostly healthy food because of his cold, he decided to eat junk food to maintain the law of health preservation.

“My goodness. Do you know my childhood nickname was Serial Chicken?”

“No way.”

BB, who displayed quite good humor, seemed like someone he’d get along with well.

After each taking a chicken skewer, BB soon brought up business talk.

“I came to Korea because I want to make your movie.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t seem very surprised?”

“Didn’t you send a similar email before?”

“Oh my, I thought you hadn’t even read it since the response was so firm.”

Instead of answering that he actually hadn’t read it properly, Halo got to the point.

“So you want to make a movie with my music?”

“More precisely, I wanted to make a documentary about you, HALO. But-.”

“But?”

“Would it be rude to say your life doesn’t match your music?”

BB then studied his face.

Halo didn’t know what expression he was making.

But it must not have seemed offended, as BB continued speaking.

“Beyond just drugs, alcohol, and smoking, your life over the past year has been as flashy as your music, but it lacked the deficiencies revealed in your music. In other words, there’s no hardship or adversity or…”

“My life wasn’t very ‘artistic,’ I suppose?”

“Yes, artistic.”

When he mentioned the artistry that critics often talk about, BB nodded in agreement.

“So I cleanly gave up on the documentary. Honestly, it was a failure.”

“Then, shall we end this coffee time here?”

“Oh no, please listen a bit more. So, I’m trying to create a character that best matches your music.”

“And?”

Halo anticipated what would come next.

But that was the end of the director’s story.

“So I was wondering if you could tell me your story?”

“Seems like you’ve already found out a lot.”

“I’ve heard many stories about you that people see, but I haven’t heard it from you yet.”

When the black envelope appeared, Halo perfectly finished his skewer.

It was an unconscious process.

From the moment he heard that his life didn’t match his music, Halo couldn’t think of anything else.

He knew that Roh Haeil’s life and Halo’s life were very different, but he never expected to hear it directly from someone else’s mouth.

And BB’s conclusion. Instead of a documentary, the conclusion to create a new character that matched well with the music was very interesting.

Though he hadn’t thought about the movie until now, he was a bit curious about what ending BB would create.

-So I’m trying to create a character that best matches your music

“A person who best matches my music, huh.”

What kind of person would BB imagine?

Suddenly Halo realized.

That he knew the person who best matched his music.

As flashy as HALO’s music.

Someone with deficiencies and an artistic life as BB said

Someone who rose from the darkest place to the brightest,

Perhaps the person most suitable for the movie.

He knew that person well.

What thoughts that person lived with.

What efforts they made to create music, and how they wasted their life.

He could be certain he knew better than anyone.

“I suddenly think of someone.”

Brian Berry’s eyes lit up at Halo’s words.

“Want to hear about them?”

Though it might be boring, might take very long.

“I can assure you, there’s no one who matches my music better than them.”

He’s curious how this person who said Roh Haeil’s life doesn’t match his music would evaluate that person’s life.

Halo’s eyes shone brightly.

:

After hearing this brief story, Thomas frowned.

“So, it sounds like he wants to meddle with the script.”

“Well, could be. It is his music.”

“My goodness, BB, where did your pride go? Of all things, the script. Wasn’t that the director’s right you valued most?”

Indeed, BB was a director known for his auteurism.

For BB, who couldn’t stand investors or other producers meddling with his scripts or making movies from scripts written by others and had started his own production company because of it, to allow script interference.

“But isn’t it interesting? What kind of story a genius might create.”

“Not at all.”

Thomas listed precedents, saying he’d never seen third-party script interference work out well. BB understood Thomas’s reaction. If it were someone else, BB too would have just pretended to listen and created an even more perfect scenario.

“You never know. He might be a genius at screenwriting too, not just music.”

“Just tell me one thing. Are you in Hollywood master mode now? Or Hellygan mode?”

“…How do you distinguish those two? Halo is Hollywood.”

“Wow… That was a perfect Hellygan moment.”

“Tom, you weren’t there. If you were there, you’d think like me.”

“If I were there-.”

Thomas started to argue but honestly admitted.

Yeah, he couldn’t confidently say no in front of Halo.

He was scared of Hellygan who would glare at him from the side, and he also didn’t match well with artists with strong opinions like Halo.

“I want to hear his story soon.”

“Did you arrange to meet again? You said you didn’t earlier.”

“Not about the contract, but we agreed to hear his story in an interview style.”

“Then that could be seen as positive for the movie production. If it really doesn’t seem right, he’d just say no to the movie.”

“Could you give up Halo’s music?”

“…”

Speechless again.

Unless the story was completely ruined, he couldn’t imagine Halo’s music failing. Moreover, if they contracted, wouldn’t it be BB, the master of music films, producing it?

“Whatever it is, it won’t be anything small.”

Though the movie wasn’t confirmed yet, if the names BB and HALO were attached.

Wow. It was enough to make investors and actors go crazy.

“When are you meeting Halo?”

“Well, after the tour ends.”

“Ah. You’ve been talking about Halo for a month, so I thought it was already done.”

Brian Berry laughed exaggeratedly and intentionally showed the watch on his wrist. Brian Berry, who had paid $10,000 to get it before the golden ticket contents were revealed, was victorious in many ways.

And at the same time.

Halo’s fourth London concert was in progress.

Scorpion’s Rill, who brilliantly handled the syncopation and technique shifting between 16 and 32 beats in “Even so we do” from HALO’s 3rd album, became the special guest at Halo’s London concert.

Rill, who had been so excited about wanting to be a guest in Halo’s concert to August Veil, became a docile scorpion as soon as he saw Halo, and immediately whined for a reward.

A reward for not revealing Halo’s identity first.

Since it wasn’t a particularly difficult request, Halo readily agreed.

This was the result.

Halo conducted a ‘watch presentation ceremony’ for Rill, who appeared as the special guest.

It was indeed the watch from the golden ticket.

They knew Halo gave watches to special guests, but seeing Rill brazenly showing off receiving the watch right on stage felt very different.

Moreover, Scorpion’s Rill rolled up his sleeve to deliberately show off the watch that Halo had ‘put on’ for him, and even stood before the audience after finishing his performance.

Though unsure what he would do, Halo watched with folded arms as if saying do whatever you want.

At the very front of the thrust stage.

Right in front of the audience where they could touch if they reached out.

“Now, everyone look at this. Do you know what this is?”

Rill struck a pose like a watch model, raising both hands above his forehead.