The Road to Glory Chapter 209 - [Side Story] Chapter 11. The Train Will Depart Soon

“I think I’m in a slump.”

PD Namgung watched the chat going wild in real-time at those words, resting his chin on his palm.

Actually, there had been a lot of discussion within the label about publicly revealing this ‘slump’ concern.

Many opposed it, while others thought it would be fine.

Either way, the heated debate over pros and cons centered around two main reasons.

First, protecting the artist.

While they say a slump is common and can happen to anyone, it could become a very fatal disease. Many athletes have fallen after failing to overcome their slumps, and it could also lead to depression.

In a world where even good things need to be carefully revealed,

Announcing a slump would only attract people who’d enjoy it or gossip about it.

There was nothing good for the artist in revealing it,

And as a label, they thought they should create a work environment where artists don’t get stressed.

However, some argued that ‘slump’ wasn’t an illness that needed to be hidden and could be revealed. They thought it could make good content to show how to deal with and overcome something as common as a cold, and include the courage to overcome it.

The purpose of this content was to document the process of artist Roh Haeil creating a new album, and heated arguments broke out about how it’s natural to have concerns about songs and slumps.

They had such hot debates that they didn’t even go for dinner.

And second was the issue of Halo’s image.

Although Halo didn’t have much exposure, the public still had certain images of him.

Musical genius, The Sun, and so on.

The slump of someone known for being confident and called a born star could threaten that image.

While there were other points to discuss, these two were the main ones.

Since most employees gathered out of fan sentiment or being captivated by Halo, they were very concerned about the twenty-year-old artist.

However, these discussions came to an anticlimactic end.

The person in question said he didn’t mind revealing it at all,

‘Mr. Halo, you should know that people will say all sorts of things about your slump. Not all of them will be helpful.’

Halo responded as if it wasn’t anything new.

‘It’s always been like that.’

‘And I thought about it. I think it’ll be fine. Not being able to do anything because I’m talking about myself.’

It was such a cool response that the employees who had long debates might feel disappointed.

And those employees of that singer.

-As expected

‘?’

-He’s born to be a superstar.

-He’s grown up so well.

If it was going to be like this, why did they debate so much?

PD Namgung answered them.

-How can we not love our Sun?

Episode 1 ended with Halo’s confession about his slump.

Though the video had been over for a while, the chat was still scrolling rapidly. The impact seemed so big that viewers couldn’t leave the video yet.

[What?]

[???]

[Did I hear that wrong?]

[S?l?u?m?p?]

[The guy who just made five songs is in a slump????]

[What the…]

[It ends here?]

[Where’s the next episode! Next episode!!!!]

Everyone’s reactions showed disbelief.

Actually, PD Namgung couldn’t believe it either.

Clearly, Halo seemed to believe he was in a slump, and even the members seemed to be taking it seriously.

Whether it was due to his lack of fan sentiment or empathy, questions kept piling up in his mind.

As more videos were released, the questions multiplied rather than understanding.

Still, as decided in the content direction meeting, they planned to treat the topic of ‘slump’ seriously.

Because the artist was genuinely concerned about it, and as mentioned before, ‘slump’ could be a serious issue for some people that shouldn’t be treated lightly.

The phone rang.

Not just press team staff, but his acquaintances called. Since they weren’t usually the type to call often, it was obviously about Halo.

KakaoTalk messages didn’t stop either.

The press team’s situation was predictable without looking.

And-.

“Oh, that’s fast.”

PD Namgung saw articles being posted immediately, just minutes after Episode 1 ended.

[TOP_NEWS│Halo Confesses to Being in a Slump on Personal NuTube]

[Over Half of Job Seekers Have Experienced ‘Slump’]

[38-Year-Old Forever Single Confesses to 38 Years of Dating Slump]

[The Sun is in a Slump?]

Since the video had subtitles, international news would follow soon.

As if the world was fixated on the word slump, it appeared everywhere, and people started reacting.

[Who’s in a slump?]

[Yeah, it’s about time for a slump]

[If the world was fair, he should be in a slump after making 13 albums in a year]

[He could be in one forever and it wouldn’t matter]

These were people who might not have even watched Episode 1.

People who either watched the video uploaded on NuTube or would never watch it, but right now they needed to monitor those who had seen the video.

[What? I just watched it but is Haeil really in a slump?]

[Teacher, this doesn’t add up]

[Of course there’s variation between people but]

[Someone who made five songs is in a slump?? Even if they’re practice songs and incomplete]

└ They’re actually really good too

└ Is this that “my songs suck” disease or whatever?

[Any music majors here? Is Halo really in a slump?]

└ Actually, a slump isn’t about skill declining but feeling like your skill has declined or feeling like you’re not improving despite effort

└ I’m in a band, and Halo is not in a slump if that’s a slump then I’m… anyway he’s not ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Everyone was thinking the same as the PD.

Still, they were trying to understand. Their favorite singer had confessed to being in a slump.

[I understand the slump though since he’s always getting first place there must be performance stress]

[Come to think of it, Haeil has never experienced failure…]

[Usually those who are always last don’t have slumps. Top ranks experience slumps more often]

└IKR

They thought it could be possible since he’d shown unbelievable achievements, with twelve albums in domestic top ten for a year since his debut album.

And in this situation, a common enemy was spotted that unified their opinions.

[Did everyone see this? Right after our beloved Sun confessed to being in a slump, the anti-cafe started celebrating]

[Damn, but aren’t these articles crazy ‘Why Musical Geniuses Are Bound to Hit Slumps’ looking for culprits at a time like this shudders]

Articles showing lack of empathy and internet warriors who started appearing online as if celebrating.

[When Haeil talked about his slump I just felt heartbroken wondering how much he must have worried… Got goosebumps seeing articles pop up in less than a minute. Is money all they care about more than someone’s pain]

[That and suddenly bringing up irrelevant statistics for articles like really are there only psychopaths in our country?]

└ Suddenly what is a slump

[The world is really dirty saying things like he’s been lucky until now, it’s time for a slump… tsk they wouldn’t say this if it was about themselves]

[Looking for culprits too LOL. Look who became a profiler lol]

[All the experts showing up to say I knew it would happen LOL talking about fortune and fate]

[I believe Haeil will overcome this well so I just trusted him? But now I’m worried he’ll be shocked seeing people’s reactions]

Deputy Kim from the press team nodded in agreement with people getting angry as if it was their own issue.

Still, the fortunate thing was that her singer didn’t seem to care much about what kind of attention he received.

She wasn’t even sure if he knew Episode 1 had aired and Episode 2 would air soon. Actually, he probably wouldn’t care much even if he knew.

Sometimes she would scream that he didn’t understand fans’ hearts enough, but she considered this a blessing.

That Halo didn’t have the habit of going to communities to search his name.

Everyone knows it intellectually.

That searching for stories about yourself only ends up hurting yourself.

But like Pandora who couldn’t resist opening the box, humans can’t resist their curiosity.

Then they see harsh hate comments and get hurt, fall into depression, look for positive comments to heal but see hate comments instead. They fall into a vicious cycle.

While Halo would look up reviews of his albums, he rarely looked up stories about himself.

Though they say Halo’s mental strength was strong, Deputy Kim thought it was better just not to look at such things.

Anyway, Halo was doing well as always.

With the members.

Today, she heard they were going somewhere together with the last member, Nam Gyuhwan.

The content planning team was so impressed by ‘videos filmed by Halo himself’ that they assigned a cameraman, and she heard they would stay for several days.

Originally, Nam Gyuhwan planned to skip because he thought his refresh method wouldn’t suit Halo, but with pressure from Moon Seoyeon saying “Hey, you’re not really going to skip, right?” and Han Jinyeong asking “Gyuhwan, what are you going to do? Can’t you give just a little hint?”

Following the content planning team doubting his fan dedication

Above all, seeing Halo giggling while watching this situation made him seriously consider.

What could he do?

He had several ideas, but most overlapped with Han Jinyeong and Moon Seoyeon.

Teaching and giving feedback was something Han Jinyeong had done at the Hongdae academy,

And Moon Seoyeon had already tried the innovative project/volunteer work of traveling through nature and collecting natural sounds.

After excluding communicating with musicians and nature within the broad category of music, there wasn’t much left.

Drinking with Halo seemed inadequate, and taking him to concerts he wasn’t interested in didn’t suit his personality.

A concert? Suddenly an amusement park?

One-day part-time job?

Then while listening to his sister’s nagging

‘Gyuhwan, grandma really misses you. She became a senior center star after seeing you on TV. Don’t you want to visit her? Well, I know you’re busy, but grandma isn’t asking for anything big. Just go eat the delicious food she makes, greet her friends, and come back.’

‘Hmm…’

‘You used to love going to grandma’s house. Go relieve some stress where the air and water are good. And isn’t Baekgu huge now?’

Suddenly he realized.

‘I’ll decide right now. When to go to grandma’s house.’

‘Uh… soon?’

There’s no need to obsess over music.

Instead of volunteer work or education, maybe Halo needed to just rest.

It’s not like his grandma’s house was extremely rural. Though it was a fishing village, it had everything needed, even a small elementary school. Though he wasn’t sure if it was still operating.

For that reason, Nam Gyuhwan held out tickets to Halo and the members.

And so, the Saemaeul train.

At a weekday morning time when there would be fewest people.

They sat in the center seats of a car they’d rented, with the accompanying manager and content planning team VJ sitting in the adjacent seats.

Since there were no people, they comfortably removed their masks and hats as they sat around.

Everyone said they’d go to the bathroom and buy snacks before departure, so Halo absent-mindedly leaned against the window.

[The train will depart soon]

The train announcement rang as they had arrived right on time. Around then, he spotted someone hurriedly running down the escalator in the distance.

About 1 minute left.

Halo glanced at the VJ adjusting the camera angle, then turned back to the window. There were still some people at Seoul Station in the early morning, but since it cleverly avoided rush hour, they seemed mostly tourists.

The person who practically flew down half the escalator ran towards his train with disheveled hair.

After checking the time on their phone, they stood in front of the train and moved as if checking the car number.

Halo thought they should get on first and check the car number inside, but they seemed intent on checking before boarding.

“Mr. Halo, how about sitting on the inside?”

Just then, the VJ asked Halo.

The train would keep stopping at stations, and their filming might get discovered if they weren’t careful.

Since Halo didn’t mind where he sat, he nodded and started to move.

As he was about to get up, his eyes met with the person checking the car number outside.

The person’s eyes who had been moving urgently grew wider and wider.

Of course they recognized him since he wasn’t wearing a hat, mask, or sunglasses.

They pointed at him and said something. Though he couldn’t hear what they were saying, judging by their lip movements, they were definitely calling his name.

Halo smiled and waved.

Hello.

When he clearly mouthed the words, she shyly smiled and bowed her head.

‘She probably doesn’t have time for greetings right now.’

Halo tilted his head and told her.

To come into the train.

He tapped his wrist to indicate there wasn’t much time left, and suddenly she smiled brightly and showed her wrist.

He wondered what it was, and it was a Halo watch.

The MK. 2 version watch that was sold, which he knew was quite expensive, and buying it meant she was definitely his fan.

Seeing the cute fan showing off her watch to him, Halo gave a thumbs up.

That’s when it happened.

[The train is departing]

Both Halo and the fan’s expressions became bewildered at the same time, but regardless, the train doors automatically closed.

Soon the fan was startled and looked around anxiously.

The train slowly moved forward.

The fan who looked like she might grab the door and get on any moment chased after the train, no, after him.

“No! Don’t go! I finally met you!”

With tearful eyes as if trying to hold onto a departing lover.

However, the fan’s figure disappeared in an instant, and the train quickly left the station.

“Uh…”

“Boss, what are you doing?”

“Haeil, aren’t you hungry?”

Around then, the members returned with arms full of snacks.

Halo looked at the members once, then at the window, and scratched his cheek.

“It probably wasn’t anything important?”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Halo smiled faintly and changed seats.

He was in a pleasant mood even before the trip began.