The Road to Glory Chapter 210 - [Side Story] Chapter 12. Baegun Island

“What’s this?”

PD Namgung found a KakaoTalk message from his friend while trying to schedule ‘Episode 2. Welcome to my trouble‘.

They had sent him a link to a post that was trending on a famous community’s HOT section.

[Story time: Met my idol, showed off my watch, and missed my train]

PD Namgung, who knew where Halo had gone, flinched at the mention of a train. Fortunately, people were skeptical.

After all, there was no proof, and even if someone had seen it, the writer hadn’t specified the time, so it was impossible to track down.

└ Assuming this is true, how do you feel right now?

└(Writer) It feels good… feels good… FFS I want to kill myself

└(Writer) I should’ve shown off on the train T_T Then Haeil would’ve been right there to show off his watch and I could’ve gotten his autograph

PD Namgung felt relieved seeing the writer filled with regret rather than resentment.

But that wasn’t the important thing.

He had received a reply to the email he’d sent to the graduate school.

‘Finally…!’

The attached file must be what he had been waiting for.

He knew that nature sounds wouldn’t be much different no matter who recorded them.

Still, he thought there might be something here worth putting on NuTube.

The chaotically filmed video meant that Halo had been running around with the camera, and PD Namgung believed that if it was Halo, there must have been a reason for all that movement.

The question now was whether PD Namgung, who was completely ordinary when it came to music, could find anything in this file.

PD Namgung was about to click on the file when he paused.

It was a file alright, but the email content was longer than expected.

‘Why did they write so much?’

As PD Namgung scrolled down, his eyes widened at one particular word.

“Sound exhibition?”

#

“Grandma, I’m here.”

“Oh my, my little puppy.”

The grandmother with gentle wrinkles patted his behind. Nam Gyuhwan awkwardly accepted the hug while being conscious of the people standing behind him.

“Grandma, wait. I have some people to introduce.”

Even though Nam Gyuhwan was tall with a big build, to his grandmother, he was still that five or six-year-old kid with a runny nose.

Well, he couldn’t say much since he too became less talkative around his grandmother.

“Grandma, meeting them for the first time?”

Nam Gyuhwan reached out to introduce the people behind him.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Hello, grandmother.”

Moon Seoyeon, whose eyes had cooled at Nam Gyuhwan’s childish behavior, and Han Jinyeong, who had been looking at him strangely, instantly switched to respectful attitudes as they greeted her. The planning team’s VJ with the camera also bowed his head along with his camera.

“Is this your boss that you like so much? Halo, was it? I watch you on TV.”

She pretended to know, but it seemed she didn’t really.

In this countryside where there weren’t many power lines or streetlights, it would be difficult to know his recently famous name.

Halo greeted her.

“Please call me Roh Haeil.”

“My, it’s nice to meet you. Boss, you look very dignified. This is our first meeting, right? Our puppy is in your care.”

“Grandma…”

Nam Gyuhwan’s grandmother, living on a small island in Jeolla Province, surprisingly didn’t have such a strong dialect that would be hard to understand.

Rather, she mostly used standard Korean. Nam Gyuhwan later explained that she had lived in Seoul until around the time he was born.

“I’m the one who’s always receiving help from Nam Gyuhwan-ssi.”

“!”

At any rate, there was no awkward situation of not understanding the dialect, and Halo unexpectedly moved Nam Gyuhwan with his words.

“Grandma, shall we go inside?”

“Yes, yes. I lost my mind with such rare guests. Please make yourselves comfortable during your stay.”

Halo looked around while watching people put their luggage in the guest room.

This place, reached after taking a train and then a boat, was Baegun Island in Jeolla Province. Though not as big as Geoje Island, it had mountains, fields, and quite a few households.

They said it was named Baegun Island because you could see white clouds all year round.

However, today, unlike its name, the sky was clear without a single cloud.

The sea visible from grandmother’s house was the same, and the air felt clean without a trace of fine dust.

It felt like his mind was being cleared.

“Boss, time for lunch!”

Halo had been looking down at the village scenery for quite a while until people called him to have a late lunch.

After finishing their late lunch with what could only be described as a royal feast of 20 side dishes, they sat in a circle in the living room, where a pre-approved camera had been set up.

“So our boss and the kids want to experience island life?”

“Wow, grandma still speaks Seoul dialect well.”

“I never used much dialect~ I’m from Seoul, you know.”

The members held back their laughter at her natural Jeolla accent. Regardless, Nam Gyuhwan’s grandmother kept patting Nam Gyuhwan.

“How long did you say you’re staying?”

“Two nights and three days?”

“Just two days? Can’t you stay a little longer? If the boss is busy, can’t at least the kids stay longer?”

“Grandma, we have to start working on our album soon, and I’m a very helpful person to our boss, so I can’t.”

Seeing grandmother look disappointed, Moon Seoyeon and Han Jinyeong exchanged glances.

“Though we’re busy, couldn’t Gyuhwan stay a bit longer?”

“Yeah, it’s fine to leave him behind.”

Halo delivered the final blow with a smirk.

“Should we?”

“!”

Nam Gyuhwan’s face became like Caesar’s when he cried ‘Et tu, Brute…!’ (+) ^[1] TLN:”Et tu, Brute?” (Latin for “You too, Brutus?”) are famously known as Julius Caesar’s last words in William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar.” In the play, Caesar utters these words when he sees that Marcus Brutus, whom he considered a close friend and trusted ally, was among his assassins.

Grandmother, who had been quietly watching their back-and-forth, drew a gentle smile on her lips.

Though it was disappointing they were leaving early, her beloved grandson looked very comfortable, and that comfort seemed familiar.

When he said he was doing something called production or whatever, something grandmother didn’t really understand, she had worried it might be a job where her grandson would go hungry, like her granddaughter had said. But he seemed to be doing well, even dressing up smartly like a Seoul fashionista.

The grandmother, who had always worried whether her grandson might be getting beaten up somewhere, if he was eating well, or if he was getting scolded at work, seemed relieved.

So grateful, maybe she should give them something.

Grandmother stood up from her seat.

“Then let’s go.”

“Where?”

“If you want to experience island life, shouldn’t you meet the island chief?”

Grandmother, whose decisiveness put Nam Gyuhwan to shame, grabbed Halo’s hand and left the house.

People followed her in bewilderment.

Among them, the most urgent was probably the VJ who had been about to launch a drone to film the village scenery.

“Just a moment, please.”

The VJ hurriedly grabbed his camera and followed.

While following grandmother, Halo turned his head.

Below the bumpy road lay colorful single-story houses and the blue sea. The harbor lined with ships and clean beaches stretched out before them.

“Wow.” The VJ’s unconscious exclamation proved that this was indeed a beautiful island, too beautiful to just stay briefly.

Also, “Hello there?” “Are these grandmother’s guests?” “Where are you from?” “Heard they’re from Seoul, Seoul people.” “My, they’ve come from quite far.”

From the friendly greetings of people they met on the road, it was clear that the island was quite open to outsiders despite being remote.

“Waaah!”

“Big brother, where are you from?”

Adults and children alike.

It was such a lively neighborhood.

Then, something caught Halo’s eye.

He noticed one thing that seemed out of place in all this liveliness.

Unlike the other children who approached fearlessly, a child with somewhat shaggy hair was leaning against a stone wall, watching them.

No guardian was visible nearby, and the child seemed used to being alone.

It didn’t feel like they were being ostracized, rather-

Their eyes met briefly before passing by.

“Grandma, how much further?”

“We’re almost there.”

Halo didn’t think too deeply about it.

Soon they arrived at the house of the village chief, or rather island chief, with its blue roof.

Grandmother cleared her throat in front of it.

“He might take a while since it’s right about naptime.”

Given the time of day, that meant he was probably taking an afternoon nap.

Nam Gyuhwan nodded as if familiar with this, and grandmother knocked on the door bang-bang-bang.

“Chief, are you there?”

The metal door creaked with all sorts of sounds.

Grandmother, who naturally thought there would be no answer, was about to knock again.

Bang.

If the door hadn’t suddenly opened wide and someone hadn’t come out.

“Ahem, welcome. Welcome to Baegun-“

“Oh my!”

“Goodness! Why is grandmother here?”

Grandmother withdrew her fist that she had almost struck with, and stepped back. The chief, dressed in a sparkling hanbok, was surprised next.

“I came to introduce my grandson.”

“Grandson?”

“Didn’t I tell you before!”

The chief jumped at grandmother’s command.

“Whoa whoa, with that temper of yours.”

The chief squinted his eyes as if trying to find grandmother’s grandson.

“Is Gyuhwan here?”

He couldn’t miss him.

Nam Gyuhwan had always been the biggest in build since his school days, and he looked exactly like his father.

The chief was happy to see Nam Gyuhwan, then noticed the other company behind him.

He knew grandmother had one grandson and one granddaughter, but here were strangers, a boy with a guitar, and- behind them, a camera?

“Well, um, are you perhaps from a broadcasting station?”

The chief asked in awkward standard Korean. What broadcasting station? Just when they thought he might have misunderstood because of the camera, grandmother asked first.

“What broadcasting station?”

“The broadcasting station said they’d send people to me. Isn’t that you?”

“Broadcasting station? Grandma, did you perhaps say something like that?”

Grandmother shook her head.

Then she got angry, asking if he had misheard the filming as being from a broadcasting station.

The chief tilted his head thinking, isn’t it the broadcasting station? No? When they explained in detail that they were filming content for NuTube, he nodded.

“Ah, then I must have misunderstood. So this is the famous singer.”

The chief scratched his head and nodded, thinking he must have heard wrong about the broadcasting station people coming. He felt he had dressed up unnecessarily, thinking he might appear on TV.

The chief threw off his cumbersome headband and rolled up both sleeves.

“Seoul folks, please come in.”

The chief gestured, saying he would introduce the village.

The only map of Baegun Island was in the chief’s house, and the introduction would start there.

“Island life ain’t much.”

But if they wanted to settle in, he said he would give them work. Grandmother glared at the chief from behind.

Wondering if he was planning to give her grandchildren difficult work.

People gathered in front of the map.

Ahem. After clearing his throat, the chief tilted his head again.

“But really, they said the broadcasting station was coming.”

“Just do the explanation.”

“With that temper of yours, grandmother. Alright.”

The chief looked over the members.

Except for Gyuhwan, they all looked like city folk, so pale that they probably couldn’t handle any hard work.

“Can any of you do household chores?”

#

And an hour later.

The saying that the sun sets early in the countryside wasn’t wrong, it seemed.

After taking the wrong boat, going back, and barely catching the last boat, they finally set foot on the harbor.

The busy time had passed, and as people started heading home, they briefly lost their way on the sunset-lit beach.

“This is Baegun Island, right?”

“Even if it’s not, we can leave tomorrow anyway.”

“Hah.”

Na Hyejoo, a PD from the terrestrial broadcasting station MNC, sighed. Writer Do Minhee, who had come along, also looked tired.

“Could it really be in a place like this?”

“We have to believe it is.”

Having already been to too many places, there was no certainty. But they had to find it.

They couldn’t miss this chance for a debut during an unexpectedly empty slot in the variety show schedule.

“Our luck couldn’t get any better.”

“You mean the timing? Everyone was bragging about getting The Sun, but none of them managed to.”

“That’s just talk. The current gap is just because all the pilot programs failed.”

“From what I know, there were at least two idiots who said they’d get The Sun. Well, let’s say that’s the case. That’s not what’s important anyway.”

Do Minhee nodded at Na Hyejoo’s words.

“Let’s hope the real genius is really here.”

• 1. TLN:”Et tu, Brute?” (Latin for “You too, Brutus?”) are famously known as Julius Caesar’s last words in William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar.” In the play, Caesar utters these words when he sees that Marcus Brutus, whom he considered a close friend and trusted ally, was among his assassins.