The Road to Glory – Chapter 202 – [Side Story] Chapter 4. Hello, I’m Roh Haeil

Author: Dawn

There was always a constant demand for Halo’s daily documentary.

People wanted to know what kind of house the star lived in, how he spent their day, and on a smaller scale, what he liked and what clothes he wore, showing consistent interest in aspects that weren’t shown on broadcasts.

And some were curious about Halo’s musical work environment.

How could such good music be created? How much effort did it take to create such good music, and above all, how was a ‘genius’ different from ordinary people? They wondered.

Especially since he wasn’t an artist who had little exposure for a star. It wasn’t like broadcasting stations were telling him not to appear, and daily casting offers came in for daily reality programs like ‘Omniscient Point of View’ and ‘Home Alone’, but he had never appeared even once.

The label was clearly aware of fans’ needs. In fact, if overseas schedules hadn’t been set, they would have appeared on similar entertainment shows. After all, from a certain point, Halo had started to be more active.

If he hadn’t attended the movie audition that burned for a month and become a film music consultant, he would have definitely appeared on Korean broadcasts.

Thus, the stone thrown by Jang Jinsoo created big ripples in the calm lake.

-If it were me, I’d be most curious about the image of Roh Haeil making music, creating the next album.

-Wouldn’t boss just making music be the most convincing?

It was like tickling their sensitive spot while also delivering a shock to the back of their heads.

Why hadn’t they thought of filming it themselves?

It’s not like Halo didn’t have money to make content. They weren’t short on staff either, nor did they lack channels to utilize directly.

The money from music copyright alone was enormous, and if more was needed, they could generate it anytime whether through commercials or whatever else. Frankly speaking, if they just spread word about content production, investors or advertisers would try to get involved somehow.

The staff was no less impressive.

Maybe not in the past, but now the label had established organization and personnel. In fact, it was when everyone was still passionate since such systems had been created not too long ago.

Lastly, regarding channels, well.

When Halo kept refusing entertainment show offers, proposals came asking if there was any show they wanted to do, and the OTT market is thriving in today’s world.

But they didn’t even need to go that far.

Because there was NuTube.

The market that had made Halo, a faceless singer, into a world-class artist.

In that market, Halo had two channels.

Not to mention the Halo_official account with its enormous subscriber count, Roh Haeil’s original account “wave_r(waver)” also had about a million followers.

Some might say it’s few, others might say it’s many. But let me mention that “waver” only has the original <Confession> video from back then.

The revenue might not be as stable as appearing directly on OTT platforms or broadcasts.

However, while it might not be stable, NuTube has potential.

Initial viewer influx isn’t something to worry about either.

With just the name “Halo”, various places would promote it on their behalf.

When the content outline came out, the content planning team immediately came up with a format.

A format by Halo, of Halo, for Halo – possible only because it was a label for a single artist.

Halo’s daily life remains the same.

Even if cameras were installed throughout his entire route, including the penthouse, nothing changed.

While Halo’s morning is influenced by when he went to bed the previous night, he usually wakes up early.

Many imagine artists burning through the dawn hours and staying in bed until sunset.

Also, while people might imagine lazy mornings due to Halo’s usually relaxed attitude, he wasn’t really someone who needed much sleep.

Thus, in the dark room with blackout curtains, Halo smoothly got up and left the bed.

From entering the bathroom to coming out to the living room wearing a shower robe, it wouldn’t be different from any office worker.

Of course, the house he lives in isn’t ordinary.

Halo, who placed a vinyl on the turntable, turns his back to the music and turns on the coffee machine.

Instead of a meal, he started his leisurely morning with a cup of strong espresso.

Halo, who had blonde hair for a long time last year, had returned to black hair. He was giving it a rest before dyeing it another color. At the same time, he was considering what color to dye it. For reference, blonde, pink, and khaki brown were showing high vote rates at the label.

The cameras – or CCTV installed in his penthouse captured the magnificent wall along with his leisurely morning.

Several pieces of audio equipment worth tens of millions of won, including the turntable and audio interface occupying one side of the living room wall. And the pile of vinyls could hardly be called neat, but it would stimulate someone’s romance.

Soon Halo put down his espresso cup and got up. Kicking away the paper balls at his feet, he prepared to go to work.

Instead of the front door, Halo got straight into the elevator and pressed floor 3.

The high-ceilinged first floor is the lobby and café.

The open second floor has the employee lounge and music archive. The office is on the third floor.

Actually, he doesn’t often need to go to the office – he’s usually in the studio – but today the content planning team PD called for him.

Halo’s label that everyone was curious about and wanted to join.

The planning team PD, who majored in film directing and joined H out of fan dedication, started speaking while filming their slowly approaching star.

“Hello, Mr. Halo.”

The red dot on the camera blinks.

Halo looked at it briefly, then comfortably sat down on the sofa across.

Sunlight coming through the east-facing window illuminated half his face.

How would people react when Halo’s daily reality show is released? No need to even ask.

Fans would love it as much as the excited PD. The word failure didn’t exist in their dictionary.

It would take remarkable talent to mess up with such good source material.

“Hello, everyone.”

Seoul’s skyline shines beside Halo.

People who naturally thought he was in LA would be surprised. That’s how the story of ‘Welcome to my world’ would begin.

“I’m Roh Haeil.”

Welcome to my world.

It was the legendary interview that would become both the teaser and first episode of ‘Welcome to my world’.

“Is this rolling right now?”

“Who knows.”

“They’d tell us if they were filming, right?”

Moon Seoyeon waved at the camera before getting up. Actually, the camera was already rolling, but there was no one there to answer.

The members were sitting in a circle in the current studio, which was decorated similarly to the previous one at Seongsu Station. During the long break Halo gave while handling his overseas schedule, the members each enjoyed their own time.

They seemed itching to work again after such a long break. Unfortunately, Halo hadn’t composed any songs yet.

It’s not that there were no songs at all, just that there were no songs to release under Roh Haeil’s name.

The reason he hadn’t been active under Roh Haeil’s name until now wasn’t because the name Halo carried such weight, but because there weren’t any songs he wanted to release as Roh Haeil.

Halo, who seemed to have sorted out his past with his 14th album ‘Love this world’, wanted to focus more on the present.

Especially under the name ‘Roh Haeil’ that helped him gain his present.

But ‘music for others’ that he wanted to do as Roh Haeil turned out to be harder than ‘music for myself’.

Yeah.

Halo honestly admitted it.

He was struggling.

Maybe this was what they called an artist’s agony.

After pondering alone in America, he impulsively returned home feeling this wouldn’t work.

Halo said it directly.

“I think I’m in a slump.”

“Yeah, right. …Huh?”

Han Jinyeong asked back as if he’d misheard, and

“What?” “?!”

Moon Seoyeon and Nam Gyuhwan reacted similarly.

Suddenly what slump?

Without any warning or signs like this?

But Halo was serious.

If this wasn’t a slump, then what was it?

He had worried for a long time during his 14th album too, but back then he was just wondering what kind of music to make.

He thought he wanted to make ‘music for others’, but now when songs wouldn’t come, this felt like a true slump.

The members who blinked their eyes soon put on serious faces.

This wasn’t something to joke about or make fun of.

It could happen to anyone, and that wouldn’t be different for Halo.

“Actually, it’s not strange. It’s something everyone experiences as a human. You were the unusual one until now.”

Han Jinyeong nodded as if understanding.

Moon Seoyeon looked at Halo with a determined expression.

“Boss, look at me.”

“Yes.”

She asked with a serious face.

To let him know this was natural.

“Do you feel like your songs aren’t as good lately, and like you’re standing still no matter what you do?”

Halo rolled his eyes.

He hadn’t particularly felt they weren’t good.

His songs, he was always the best.

But since it was true that Roh Haeil-style music wouldn’t come to mind no matter what he did, he nodded for now.

“Suddenly want to throw everything away and run?”

It depended on what he was doing, but he did want to run away when doing boring things.

Halo nodded.

“Everyone goes through it. It’s not strange, me and Jinyeong-oppa, and that guy all went through it. And it seems weird because it’s your first time. It might not be as big a deal as you think.”

“I’ll also do my best to help.”

Everyone put their heads together and started reviewing ways to overcome the slump. Since it was an issue most had experienced once, they each had their own methods.

“I just tend to hang out with people?”

Some might meet positive people in places with alcohol and music.

“I try to feel fun again by doing things I used to enjoy in the past.”

Some might try to find their original mindset again.

“Nothing special for me, but it just disappeared on its own while repeating routines.”

“Hmm…”

Those were actually things Halo already did. After all, he always hung out with people, played and made music.

The members put their heads together again, probably not thinking these would be helpful.

And finally someone said.

“Refresh.”

Though fundamental, refreshing one’s mood and recharging energy was an effective method.

There would be many activities that could refresh.

Doing something you don’t usually do is refreshing, meeting old acquaintances after a long time, listening to music you haven’t heard in a while, traveling is good too.

Anyway, the point is it should be activities Halo hasn’t done often.

The first things that come to mind are extreme activities like bungee jumping, rock climbing, paragliding, but everyone opposes those.

Parents, members, and the label and fans too.

When he rides the motorcycle Scorpion gave him, even that makes many people worry, so those were absolutely not allowed.

“Activities I’ve never done before.”

“What activities hasn’t boss done?”

At that moment, Moon Seoyeon and Han Jinyeong raised their heads.

Their eyes meet.

Maybe they thought of the same thing.

“Perhaps?”

“You too?”

When Halo got overseas schedules, he gave the members a long vacation.