The Road to Glory Chapter 188 - An Honorable Place

[‘2033 Grammy Award Nominations Announced’, and the Worst Controversy]

January 2033 doesn’t seem like it will end peacefully either.

A fierce storm blew in as the Grammy Awards announced their nominees in January.

[Why isn’t ‘HALO’s’ name on the Grammy Awards?]

[Racial Discrimination Controversy Resurfaces]

[2032 Grammy Awards Judge’s Interview]

The Grammys is America’s most historic popular music awards ceremony that votes on and awards the most successful music of the year. Works released from October of the previous year to August 31st of the current year are eligible for consideration, and logically, there was someone who should have been there this time.

HALO’s 9th album was released last October, and albums up to his 13th were included in the eligibility period.

It was an album that had lined up Billboard rankings from its title track to its B-sides.

People expected that if Halo had released a physical album, it would have received even higher scores, and even without that, the title track of his 13th album ‘Until dawn comes’ eventually claimed the Billboard #1 spot.

Moreover, his music had influenced many singers.

For such an artist to not even make it to the Grammy nominations was bound to raise questions from various angles. Especially since Halo always occupied a spot in the mass media, the media was the first to pounce.

The situation wasn’t looking good.

Not for Halo, but for the Grammy judges.

One Grammy judge interviewed that he didn’t receive good scores in the physical album category. They strongly denied racial discrimination, saying that only Halo’s first-press LP albums were counted.

However, an interview from last year’s Grammy judge resurfaced.

The judge, who claimed to be an ardent Halo fan at the time, confessed that they couldn’t nominate Halo because he hadn’t revealed his identity. This was despite receiving high scores. The public had understood the Grammys’ predicament at the time, wondering if they should put a ‘?’ instead of a face photo for the nominee.

But now?

Better albums than before, and this time his identity was revealed, yet not even a nomination, let alone an award – it was a situation no one could understand.

The controversy that the White Grammys had been harboring erupted like an active volcano.

[If not him, who could possibly win the award?]

[Looking at how they didn’t even nominate Frau’s Last Day, isn’t it obvious?]

└ That might not have made the cut since it came out in summer

[Last year they said they couldn’t give it because his identity wasn’t revealed. What’s the excuse this time?]

Before Korean media could explode about racial discrimination, foreign press exploded first.

[Are they too old-fashioned to acknowledge a 17-year-old kid?]

[Would they have treated him the same if he were white?]

This was not long after Halo’s final concert had ended. As talks about Halo’s album were gradually emerging and people were anticipating Halo’s new album.

No one could accept the Grammy nominations announcement as it was.

Even if they weren’t Halo’s fans, not even nominating him was quite transparent.

#FakeGrammys, #WhiteGrammys, #GrammysWithoutAProtagonist, etc.

Words mocking them circulated around the world, and even the nominated artists were hard to appreciate.

It’s not like there weren’t Halo fans among those nominees either.

A rapper who had stated that he was inspired by Halo’s music among the Grammy nominees was extremely angry and called for a boycott,

And a pop singer who was always nominated for Billboard awards posted ‘Why?’ on SNS, as if this time was incomprehensible.

[I absolutely cannot understand this. Of all people, The Sun.]

Whether it was Billboard performance or influence.

And those who knew a bit about the Grammys knew that Halo’s music fit exactly with the Grammys’ taste.

There was no way the slightly old-fashioned Grammys would dislike Halo’s music, which seemed to bring back ‘that old Brit-pop’. In fact, it was the Grammy judges who had been obsessing over Halo’s emergence.

“Things are quite noisy these days.”

BB, who entered Halo’s room after a long time, brought up the current affairs as usual. Everyone was curious about his current thoughts, but no one could meet the boy who was right in front of him.

In fact, BB was curious about how the boy felt about the current situation. At least, his outward expression was bright.

BB thought that perhaps the boy might not know about the current situation.

From what he’d learned through interviews so far, the boy wasn’t particularly the type to hide things, and was quite indifferent despite his age.

“Well, it’s nothing new.”

He knows after all. As BB looked at him with surprise, Halo shrugged.

“How could I not know when things are so noisy these days.”

“I suppose that’s true?”

Even acquaintances suddenly contacted him.

Though they didn’t directly mention the Grammys situation, their tone subtly showed they were concerned.

Halo thought they were worried about nothing.

“Aren’t you disappointed?”

BB asked honestly.

Despite all the controversy, the Grammys was still one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies for singers. Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange to feel disappointed. Or angry.

“What’s so special about the Grammys.”

He still thought it was nothing more than a fortune cookie shared among Americans.

“That’s a familiar expression.”

A country with emotions against America.

It was an expression often used in Europe, especially in Britain.

Like this, the boy known to be Korean would sometimes use expressions that seemed British. As if…

Like the ‘another Halo’ the boy told him about.

From an upper-middle-class British family.

A rocker who ran away from home and reached the top of the world.

Wasn’t it an expression that matched well with the personality shown in that story?

The boy in front of him and the ‘another Halo’ in the story were clearly different people. Besides being singers, it was hard to find commonalities. However, BB occasionally felt that it was difficult to distinguish between the boy and the ‘another Halo’.

Not just simply immersing himself in a fictional character…

BB closed their mouth, unable to find a special expression.

“What about ‘him’?”

BB started the interview again without warning.

The boy accepted it naturally.

“I would think ‘he’ received quite a lot of awards too.”

“‘He’ wasn’t very friendly with the Grammys either.”

“What?”

“In his 20s, they would occasionally nominate him out of consideration, and only at the end did they finally announce an award.”

‘The end’? BB stopped their busy hands.

It was a word that would become the end of a story they had hoped would continue forever.

BB wanted to ask when that end was, but swallowed their desire since they hadn’t heard the middle story yet.

“Actually, besides the Grammys, he didn’t receive awards often.”

BB tilted their head.

The ‘Halo’ the boy described was nothing short of an icon of an era.

Of course, there are sometimes singers with strangely bad award luck, but…

Could he really not receive any?

He seemed to be lost in thought as if recalling something.

But suddenly he smiled.

An interesting anecdote had come to mind.

#

It was when he had consecutive successes with his 5th album “Like a Heroin” and 6th album “Dancing in the rain”.

At a time when even people who couldn’t acknowledge ‘Halo’ and ‘Halo’s music’ finally came to acknowledge ‘Halo’, the British popular music awards ceremony BRIT Awards announced an award.

Though it wasn’t very influential as it was a newly established awards ceremony, it seemed they wanted to expand their influence using the name ‘Halo’.

And the boss, who was having serious conflicts with the ‘young man’ at the time, went crazy at the news of the award. The human with strong desires for success didn’t even hesitate to think. He didn’t seem to consider the current conflict with the young man.

Perhaps he believed the young man wouldn’t cross the line.

However, the young man had more complaints than expected, and he could do anything to get what he wanted. Also, he was clever enough to know what boss hated, and didn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself while doing it.

What the young man wanted was only one thing.

Just to make his music.

But as the boss kept trying to ruin his album considering mass appeal, the young man tried to ruin the boss’s plans.

At first, he showed a compliant attitude to make the boss let his guard down.

He cooperated well with makeup, wore classic formal suits. When he went out with his hair neatly swept up, camera flashes burst continuously towards him without stopping.

Today really seemed like his day.

He appeared so much on camera that even when other artists’ names were called, the cameras captured him applauding more than the awarded singers.

Although the boss found his unusually well-behaved appearance strange, he let it slide since it was an awards ceremony.

There was a live performance by the young man before the main ceremony.

While singing a new song from his 6th album with his always passionate performance, the young man came forward during the instrumental break and poured water over his head.

The water dripped down and soaked his white shirt, and his waxed-up hair became more disheveled.

As soon as the camera captured him smirking with his head raised, kyaaak! passionate cheers followed.

Honestly, the boss didn’t like that appearance, but there was time until the Best Album award, so he thought the young man could wash up and change clothes by then.

The boss’s legs started trembling when,

Despite the main ceremony approaching, the young man hadn’t returned to his seat.

The cameras that had been frequently finding the young man’s seat kept finding an empty chair,

And ceremony staff quietly searched for the young man.

The tension peaked when they called the Best Album nominees.

The nominees’ photos appeared on the screen, and when cameras turned to capture the current nominees’ expressions, an empty seat appeared.

“!”

Almost causing a broadcasting accident, the cameras quickly turned to a singer close to the young man. Surprisingly, it was his ex-girlfriend who was known to have broken up with him recently.

“The winner of the Best Album is-“

The MC’s pupils shook seeing the empty seat, but like a skilled MC, he properly read the cue card.

“Congratulations, Mr. Halo.”

Though applause started, the young man’s seat was still empty, and nearby singers looked around trying to find the award recipient.

“H-Halo?”

The cameras couldn’t find the protagonist, the MC couldn’t find him, nobody could find him.

Then, the MC brightened seeing a figure walking in from the stage side.

“Ah, there he is. Congratulations, H-“

The MC’s expression slowly stiffened.

His pupils trembled up and down, and he couldn’t continue speaking.

The boss, who had sat back down relieved at Halo’s appearance, felt an ominous feeling. Though he wondered if he would do something-. The MC’s face was very strange.

And finally, one foot suddenly appeared from beside the curtain.

A bare foot.

The cameraman zoomed in at the protagonist’s appearance, trying to capture a full shot.

However.

People’s eyes widened at the human emerging from the stage side curtain, and someone raised their hands to their face.

“!”

Bare feet and bare legs.

Though not naked, the young man wearing only a bathrobe waved with a bright smile. His hair was still wet and undryed, and his handsome features were still visible.

Every time the young man waved, the bathrobe tied with just one string swayed.

Since it wasn’t tied very tightly, it seemed like it could come undone at any moment.

“Thank you very much.”

The only composed person in that place, the young man hugged the frozen MC, and after taking the award, bowed deeply.

As his chest was revealed, kyaaak! people screamed and covered their eyes.

However, their fingers were spread apart.

“This crazy bastard.”

The young man brightly smiled seeing the boss who had stiffened watching him.

Though what he said couldn’t be heard, looking at his mouth shape, he definitely cursed. Feeling triumphant, the young man moved flamboyantly again like a conductor, and as the robe opened, the murmuring sounds grew louder.

Calmly, the young man grabbed the microphone and poured out his acceptance speech.

It’s thanks to everyone’s love.

He spoke softly as if it were any other awards ceremony.

Except for the young man’s attire.

“I dedicate this honor to all of you, and lastly, I’d like to say one thing. Love yourself. We are all beautiful.”

The young man spread both arms.

A dignified declaration and upright posture.

It truly couldn’t help but be a historic moment.

The MC who seemed shocked and couldn’t say anything, the ceremony organizers with faces turned blue, the high-ranking people who stood up and left, and the stars who couldn’t do anything but cover their faces with their fingers.

The cameraman seemed to give up and zoomed in on the young man’s ex-girlfriend’s face.

That’s how the first BRIT Awards ended shockingly.

No matter how much the boss raged, what happened had already happened and couldn’t be undone. Amidst such chaos, the young man giggled and enjoyed the after-party.

Needless to say, the broadcasting station and awards ceremony boycotted the young man.

However, quite ironically, the young man didn’t just fade away.

His popularity continued, and seemed to grow even more.

Companies that looked like they would demand penalty fees immediately continued their advertisements, and more casting offers came in.

Especially women’s magazines endlessly sent photoshoot offers. Tabloids circulated the young man’s body and his ex-girlfriend’s expression that still seemed heated.

The broadcasting stations that had boycotted him quietly canceled their boycott, and as everyone in the world came to know the BRIT Awards name, they expanded their influence as desired. And seeing how they gave the young man Best Album again at the second ceremony as if nothing had happened, they seemed to have no complaints.

And one more thing.

A new trend of wearing bathrobes emerged.

They used a new tag ‘Love yourself’, and like ‘Halo’ did, some people got arrested for actually walking around wearing only bathrobes.

Though they claimed what was different between them and ‘Halo’, many people acknowledged that only ‘Halo’ could walk around wearing just a bathrobe. If it was shocking when ‘Halo’ did it, when others did it, it was just dirty.

The mass media gave the young man a new nickname.

After a beautiful god who loved music and the sun in mythology.

They called him ‘Apollo’.

#

Clearly, Halo wasn’t very friendly with ‘honorable places’.

It was partly because of the awards ceremony incident, and because many people disliked the young man. Playboy, icon of controversy, never well-behaved personality, and they also hated his cult-like fandom. It’s certain that the young man embodied all the rocker images of that time.

Moreover, Halo wasn’t obsessed with awards either.

He had no desire to receive recognition from ‘honorable people’, and preferred hanging out and playing with people rather than tediously clapping at award ceremonies.

“Roh Haeil-ssi. No, Mr. Halo.”

So this situation was quite unexpected.

A Daon Awards staff member who came to see him showed a humble attitude.

“We have many things we’d like to give to Mr. Halo.”

How noisy it was last year being an awards ceremony without its protagonist.

It was fortunate enough that Roh Haeil didn’t appear at other awards ceremonies either.

But they didn’t want another ceremony without Halo this time.

Moreover, the awards they had prepared weren’t just one or two.

Thus, they persistently asked him to please just come, saying he wouldn’t have to do anything.

“Please, won’t you please come?”

They said they would handle everything if he had busy schedules.

But he had no schedules except album production.

“We’ll accommodate everything as you wish. Whether it’s lifts, stage equipment, effects, sets, we’ll prepare everything according to whatever concept you want. So please just attend…”

Halo felt like being mean to these people showing such a humble attitude, but on the other hand, he thought about it.

Here, he had no thoughts of rebelling against the boss,

And no reason to suddenly announce retirement like he was planning to do at the Grammys.

“An award…”

So unless something special happened, the awards ceremony would proceed normally without any incidents.

Halo, who had never been to such a place, contemplated.

And the result was this.

“Wow! It’s Halo! Take a picture!”

“He came this time. What a surprise.”

“I heard Daon begged him every day.”

“Well, they couldn’t not give him awards this time.”