The Road to Glory Chapter 191 - A Dedication Poem for Someone

The young man’s hands trembled.

He couldn’t help but notice how Eddie kept dodging the subject.

“You’re not dying, are you?”

At those words, Eddie smiled faintly.

At that moment, the resentment buried beneath expectation and happiness surfaced.

“If you’re going to die, why did you contact me!”

“…”

“Why now, after not contacting me all this time…”

Perhaps he wanted to say goodbye.

The young man looked around, huffing.

He wondered where everyone had gone while Eddie had gotten like this.

He wanted to throw punches right then and there.

However, the only signs of life in this house were Eddie and that old person from earlier.

The young man thought.

Did they fight?

Or-.

The young man shook his head at the ominous imagination.

That couldn’t be.

It shouldn’t be.

“Halo.”

Eddie called the young man gently.

“—ya.”

When he heard his real name, the young man finally looked up.

“It was your birthday recently, right? Happy belated birthday.”

“My birthday is in April.”

“Your real birthday is in November, isn’t it?”

Eddie reached out and patted the young man’s head.

The young man finally remembered that his original birthday was in November.

The conversation paused briefly.

The young man glared at Eddie, and Eddie was still smiling like he used to.

Around then, the old person finally couldn’t hold back their tears and left the room.

“Did you only remember me now that you’re about to die?”

“No.”

“Then why-.”

Perhaps his bros had gone through difficult times.

After being scammed by the label. Maybe they forgot about minor relationships while struggling through life.

If that was the case, the young man could forgive them.

When Eddie suddenly burst into coughing, the young man supported him.

“…I did contact you.”

“I even visited. Your label is famous, isn’t it?”

Not many people didn’t know that the label in the heart of London was Halo’s label.

“You came to find me?”

The young man’s eyes wavered.

He had never heard about anyone visiting.

Was it because of his schedule that they couldn’t meet?

Still, if someone had come to visit, they would have told him.

“How could we forget you? Living so prominently like this. We visited several times. We didn’t want anything from you, we just missed you. Me and everyone else felt the same.”

“I know. Don’t make useless excuses. And I wouldn’t have minded if you wanted something from me. I’ve made tons of money. You could have taken some and it wouldn’t have even made a dent.”

The young man spread his arms while forcing a smile.

“You’ve become really famous these days.”

Eddie laughed heartily at his boasting appearance.

For this moment at least, he showed no signs of illness, which relieved the young man.

“Then why couldn’t we meet?”

It didn’t make sense.

He had never once heard stories about his bros until now.

If he had heard they tried to contact him before, he would have met them long ago.

“Who did you meet with then? Were you not able to get in at all?”

Eddie closed his mouth.

The young man looked at Eddie with a strange feeling.

He had an unsettling thought, but.

The young man tried to push away the ominous thoughts and continued speaking.

“Besides the label. You could have come to the filming location, or the stage, or-. Or my house-. Did you not think that far?”

Eddie quietly looked at him.

The young man’s expression slowly hardened.

“Tell me. Don’t hide it.”

“Halo.”

“There’s no need to hide anything.”

Soon the truth came out.

“They said you refused.”

The young man jumped to his feet.

“I did what? Which bastard!”

Just when he thought he wouldn’t let whoever it was get away with it,

When he saw Eddie looking up at him quietly.

The young man thought he knew who did it.

“Did the boss do it?”

There was no answer.

It was the truth.

Lightning struck in his mind.

If the boss was in front of him right now, he felt like he could grab his collar and smash that smug face.

That’s how angry the young man was.

And at the same time, at his bros who didn’t contact him after that.

“You believed that? That I wouldn’t want to see my bros?”

“I didn’t believe it.”

“Then why didn’t you come find me!”

“I did.”

The young man was startled when Eddie shouted.

“I went several times, but I couldn’t meet you! I got arrested by the police as a thug, your boss threatened me! Even then, I tried to meet you.”

The young man’s hands trembled.

Eddie’s angry expression that he’d never seen before.

Someone whispered that he shouldn’t hear this.

But the young man couldn’t cover his ears.

“One day, Dan said he would go to your house. I couldn’t stop him. He left on his bike.”

Dan, Daniel was the bro who often gave him motorcycle rides.

Though he said many angry words like go drink more mother’s milk, he was really cool when riding the bike.

Even his joke about wanting to die on the road when he died was cool.

The young man once thought he wanted to become an adult like Daniel.

“And then?”

When Eddie’s words stopped, the young man urged him on.

What happened?

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“I don’t know either. I don’t know why it turned out that way. But the police said he was riding the bike too fast. So…”

There was an accident.

The young man felt his breath catch in that moment.

“After Dan died, we didn’t go to you anymore. We had no more will left, and the band scattered.”

“When was that?”

“…It was a long time ago.”

“When?”

He had an ominous feeling.

He always enjoyed parties when he didn’t have schedules.

Drinking alcohol, mingling with people, enjoying pleasure.

Daniel said he came to his mansion.

Since everyone knew his schedule, he probably came when there was no schedule.

And-.

While he was mingling with people, making noise and singing and dancing.

Daniel-.

Eddie cruelly didn’t answer.

The stories after that were similar.

The reason why the other bros weren’t here except Eddie.

One was a traffic accident. One was drug addiction. One was robbery and murder.

The only one alive, Eddie, had pneumonia.

The young man laughed emptily.

“When everyone was having a hard time, I was having fun.”

“Halo, don’t talk like that.”

You did nothing wrong.

With that one line, it felt like the string holding his sanity snapped.

“Wait a moment.”

He couldn’t contain his anger.

“Halo? Where are you going! Hey, don’t go! Hey, please!”

Eddie grabbed his arm, but the young man ran out of the house.

He just couldn’t bear it.

If he stayed in this house, he felt like he would suffocate to death.

And right away, the young man got on his bike.

Daniel died riding his bike too fast, but

He didn’t die even though he rode faster.

He rushed straight to the label.

No one stopped him on his way to boss’s office.

“What brings you-.”

Bang, the door closes.

The boss, who had already realized he was here from the thundering footsteps, hesitated when he saw the young man’s expression.

“Why did you do it?”

“What is it now.”

At that shameless expression, an unbearable anger rose up.

The young man kicked the flower vase in front of him, shattering it.

Not satisfied with that, he pulled the shotgun off the wall.

“Are you high again-.”

When he pointed the shotgun right at boss’s head, the boss also realized the gravity of the situation and shut his mouth.

“Why didn’t you tell me.”

“…”

“I told you to tell me if anyone came looking for me. They would be people I know. But you lied? Said I didn’t want to see them?”

Now the boss seemed to realize what this was about.

“Put the gun down and let’s talk.”

“…”

“And lock the door so no one sees.”

The boss worried about his image until the end.

“What’s going-.”

“Don’t let anyone in until I say so!”

When someone tried to open the office door at the sudden commotion, the boss shouted angrily.

The slightly opened door closes again.

Silence fell.

Until then, the young man still had the shotgun pointed at boss’s head.

Whether he knew how to shoot or not, at this distance it would be instant death.

“You came all this way for something so trivial?”

“Trivial?”

“You should be grateful I cut off those beggar bastards trying to leech off you.”

The boss isn’t tactless.

He knew well that he was speaking this way to anger him more.

Perhaps the boss didn’t realize there was a shotgun pointed at his head.

Or he believed the young man wouldn’t shoot.

“You think I won’t shoot?”

“Why do you always try to ruin your image? Act like a professional. Even I can’t cover up shooting someone.”

When the young man released the safety, boss smirked.

“Going to shoot?”

“You can’t shoot.”

Even with the gun barrel pointed at the boss’s mouth, the boss laughed more.

“I know you as well as you know me. You absolutely can’t shoot.”

“…”

“I don’t care if I die. You’ll keep making music without me. But you know what? You can’t if you kill someone?”

The boss spoke like he was teaching a child, just like when they first met.

“Can you shoot me when you said you want to make music even if you die?”

The gun barrel trembled.

“Can you give up music forever?”

His head grew cold.

The more it did, the faster his heart beat.

The gun barrel shook violently.

Kill him.

His whole mind whispered to him.

The young man slowly put strength in his thumb.

Bang!

The whole world turned black.

A shattering sound rang out.

Silence fell briefly.

But that too ended with the boss bursting into laughter.

See that?

Outside grew noisy.

The boss shouted once more not to let anyone in,

Then whispered quietly.

“Go quickly. To your home.”

Holding the smoking gun barrel with one hand

He paid no mind to the blood flowing from his ear.

“You were never here. The gun went off by accident. Now go, before the police come. You know attempted murder is hopeless too.”

The young man’s body turned around mechanically.

Behind such a young man, a small sneer was heard.

“See? Should have just listened well.”

His hands trembled violently.

He regretted not killing boss.

He should kill him.

He should eliminate that devil who drove his bros to death, who was mocking him.

No, he shouldn’t have made a contract with that bastard back then.

But what he hated more than the boss was himself.

The more he dwelled on it.

His past self who spent time indulging in pleasure while his bros died one by one in pain.

And his present self who couldn’t give up music in the end, who chose music over his bros, was resentful.

Police sirens rang out across the world.

He clutched his head in his mansion.

The bright, noisy mansion couldn’t be more quiet.

The darkness grew deeper, threatening to swallow him.

“Eddie…”

Suddenly, he remembered there was still one left.

One person was still alive.

Yes, let’s bring Eddie.

Let’s treat Eddie well to make up for being sorry to the other bros.

It might be denial of reality.

Maybe he held onto hope because he wanted to live somehow, wanted to breathe.

The young man rode his bike again.

But at the end of that black and white world, stood an old woman wearing black clothes.

He didn’t realize then.

She said she was Eddie’s mother.

“Where is… Eddie?”

The young man couldn’t say a word in front of the gravestone.

“This is Eddie’s.”

The young man roughly stuffed the handkerchief the old woman gave him into his pocket.

He didn’t have the composure to check what it was.

He didn’t want to be here.

He felt like he would suffocate to death.

The young man just ran.

His vision was blurry and he couldn’t see ahead.

He spread both arms.

He thought it was perfect weather for dying.

“Ha, ha.”

He didn’t understand why the road that drove Daniel to his death was so safe for him.

The young man got off in front of the Thames River and just walked.

Whether paparazzi took his photos or not.

He didn’t want to think about anything.

But he stopped at some point.

The young man slowly took out what was in his pocket.

Though he didn’t want to check, he thought he should look if it was Eddie’s last words.

When he pulled it out roughly, coins spilled onto the ground with a clatter.

What is this?

The young man caught the rolling coins with his foot and took out the handkerchief.

What was there wasn’t a letter, but a memo.

[Buy fish and chips for —]

After quietly looking at that, the young man counted the coins.

His vision blurred again, but he stubbornly counted and lifted his head.

There happened to be a pub in front of him.

Any decent pub would sell fish and chips.

Biting his lip, the young man headed to the pub.

A menu board was placed in front of the neatly decorated pub entrance.

The prices of fish and chips and beer caught his eye.

At that moment, he heard his bros’ voices again.

It was a hopeful voice.

-Don’t cry, young master. It’s not an eternal farewell. We’re just a bit further apart now. Come visit whenever you want. Can’t a popular star buy fish and chips for a young fan?

He couldn’t hold it in anymore.

His knees gave out, and the young man collapsed right there.

And he curled up more and more.

Ah.

Though it was painful, no groans came out.

His voice, said to be the most beautiful in the world, wouldn’t come out.

Even when he tried to say something, only a metallic sound came out like Eddie’s last moments.

Someone’s voice is heard.

—!

His bros were calling him.

When he lifted his head, his young bros who didn’t know their end were smiling.

Like always, they were teasing him for being a crybaby while he cried.

The young man forced a smile at them and said.

“With this… you can’t even buy fries, you idiots.”

The prices had gone up since then.

That year. HALO’s 7th album “Requiem for the dead peter” was released.

His youth ended like that.

#

“You’re working alone?”

“Yes.”

Halo received a call from Sin Joohyeok.

Saying he would work alone too.

He seemed puzzled by the boy’s whim.

“I suddenly remembered something I wanted to say.”

“Really?”

“I also remembered things I had forgotten.”

After announcing retirement, Teacher Hwang Ryongpil’s face that he saw for the first time had darkness and gloom.

For some reason, it resembled Eddie’s last moments.

Maybe that’s why he remembered the promise he made with his bros.

To become superstars together, have fun, and when someone announces retirement, write them a retirement song.

But this isn’t about writing a retirement song for his bros.

The stories of the past world are already past, too long ago to have much impact on him.

Time is too precious to hold onto lingering attachments.

He is someone who has many things he wants to do.

So, this is just.

A song for the teacher who had a face similar to them.