The Road to Glory Chapter 224 - [Side Story] Chapter 26. The City Where the Sun Has Risen

Mozart, the musical genius, no, Halo, no, Moza…

PD Na Hyejoo, who hadn’t been able to distinguish between the two since yesterday, immediately answered when her phone rang. It was a call from a close senior at the broadcasting station.

“The scheduling? Our scheduling is fine, why do you ask?”

She wondered why they were talking about scheduling right after picking up.

Soon, an unexpected response came.

“Senior Kyung, I mean PD Kyung’s program?”

“Hey, I was seriously dumbfounded when I heard that. Did you know it’s scheduled for Saturday? It’s even in the same time slot as PD Na’s show. Connections are really scary.”

“It’s not really the same time slot since mine is on Sunday, he got a good slot.”

“Is the good slot the problem? PD Na, please don’t lose to PD Kyung. If by any chance that happens… wow, seriously scary. PD Kyung is getting an early slot, but can you win, PD Na?”

PD Na was surprisingly unfazed.

Her close senior was getting worked up as if it were their own business, and truthfully, she probably would have been angry too if this was a month ago.

“Wow, this bastard’s running his mouth now that I look at it.”

“What?”

“No, he’s running his mouth to reporters about having super-premium cast members. But if you say it like this-“

“He did an interview with reporters?”

“No, you know that ‘according to sources’ thing.”

“Ah, so you were the source there.”

“Yeah, he should be more subtle about it. PD Kyung’s the only one who would leak something like this.”

But wouldn’t saying it like this cause misunderstandings?

Before her close senior could finish muttering, PD Na spoke up.

“Senior, but do you know what?”

“What?”

“Who the musical genius is.”

“Suddenly? Uh… Mozart?”

“Believe in Haeil Mozart Roh.”

“…Are you crazy?”

“You’ll go crazy too when you come.”

Because it’s too good.

PD Na hung up when she was told the filming preparations were complete. PD Kyung’s news wasn’t important at all, and she didn’t care what her senior would do anymore.

What was more important to PD Na was the story of the cast members who created something amazing without even being directed to.

#

Although he showed unbelievable performances, Halo wasn’t necessarily good at everything.

He knocked over the stack of inventory at Baegun Island’s only hole-in-the-wall store, and when told to send away the children crowding around the game machine in front of the store, he went and played with them instead.

“How do you play this?”

“Brother, you’re really bad at this.”

“…Come at me.”

“Bring it on.”

He was even surprisingly bad at cooking.

As the color of the ramyeon got darker and darker, Kwon Jaeik asked seriously.

“Haeil, have you never cooked ramyeon before?”

This wasn’t Han River ramyeon, this was polluted Han River ramyeon. With other foods, you could at least save them by adding ramyeon seasoning, but when ramyeon itself was ruined, there was nothing that could save it.

“It tastes good though.”

“…What do you usually eat to survive?”

It’s one thing to not be picky, but this was beyond not being picky.

He probably buys lots of good food usually.

Kwon Jaeik made ramyeon again.

The ramyeon with bean sprouts and kimchi was spicy, and even the sage-like supermarket boss gave a thumbs up.

Then he took out snacks and drinks for the boy to eat.

Writer Do Minhee found it quite fascinating.

Usually, when someone is that bad at work or gets distracted, it would be annoying, but he wasn’t annoying at all and just remained consistently cheerful.

It was fun watching Lee Sora sigh “Men…” as Kwon Jaeik, who had gone to look for Haeil who hadn’t returned after being sent to work, ended up rolling up his sleeves and playing fighting games,

It was also enjoyable to see Lee Jeongmin, who was assigned to take care of Haeil, sympathizing and saying it was good despite the increasingly ruined cooking.

Even now, as he’s making music with the barcode scanner, everyone’s gathered around to watch.

Lee Sora opens snacks and puts them in Haeil’s mouth,

Lee Jeongmin is recording with the supermarket boss’s phone, and

Kwon Jaeik is lying back in the super plastic chair enjoying the leisure.

“Haeil, you should live doing music.”

At this sudden sincerity, Lee Sora agrees with a bright laugh.

“But I didn’t cook ramyeon well?”

“…Are you serious?”

“Jeongmin said it was delicious.”

“It was delicious.”

When Lee Jeongmin gave a thumbs up, Kwon Jaeik’s expression turned cold.

“Jeongmin, you need to tell the truth sometimes too. This is becoming a bad habit.”

As Halo laughed, Kwon Jaeik pointed at him with wide eyes.

“What about Sora-noona?”

“Me? I… really liked it too. Isn’t Haeil a cooking genius?”

Lee Sora, who was actually quite picky about food, hadn’t eaten a single bite.

“Wow, seriously. Is there no one who will take my side? I can’t live with this heartbreak. Director, please be honest.”

Kwon Jaeik pointed at the camera director in charge of his camera.

The camera director looked at Kwon Jaeik once, then at the boy once, and when their eyes met, shyly lowered his head.

“Wait.”

Kwon Jaeik had an ominous prediction.

“Don’t say it.”

Of all people, he had found The Sun fanatic.

Seeing him make the sign of the cross, Kwon Jaeik instantly got goosebumps.

What is this, some kind of cult?

Halo replied with a laugh.

“I’ll definitely cook for you later.”

Even though he must have seen that polluted Han River ramyeon earlier, the camera director was delighted.

“Everyone here is crazy. I miss Darin.”

And so began a refreshing day.

#

Halo’s weekend morning broadcast.

And for those who had played until lunch at the hole-in-the-wall store, there was one thing they had to do.

Organizing the store was just an errand.

What they were officially supposed to do with the village children in the afternoon was beautifying the monotonous gray walls.

Before painting the village mural, there was something that needed to be done.

First step, cleaning the wall.

They needed to remove tape, stains, and impurities. Fortunately, the residents had finished cleaning the previous night.

Therefore, what they had to do was apply gesso to the wall so the paint would adhere well.

“Well then, we should divide into teams.”

“Kids, want to team up with this uncle?”

At Kwon Jaeik’s words, the children glanced around before sticking to Halo.

Kwon Jaeik looked at them with a betrayed expression.

“I’ll work alone.”

At Halo’s words, Lee Sora laughed brightly.

“Let’s just divide into adult team and kids team? First, me and Jaeik and Director, you need to work too. You know you can only eat if you work, right?”

“And Jeongmin and Haeil are on the same team.”

Lee Jeongmin was puzzled by this grouping.

The boy was just barely twenty so it was fine to put him in the kids team, but he was about the same age as Lee Sora and Kwon Jaeik. If divided by age, he should also belong to the adult team.

“I’m an adult too.”

“I want to be with the kids-“

However, the first to object were Halo and Kwon Jaeik. Lee Sora shook her head at those two and sincerely asked.

“I’m counting on you, Jeongmin.”

That’s how the teams were divided across the alley, and the filming crew was split in two as well.

There were two people who were unhappy with their teams, but their respective guardians took them away.

If you only saw up to this point, you might think you could predict what would happen.

Later viewers also thought the adult team would finish their work and go help finish the kids team’s work.

But life is unpredictable, and people are even more unpredictable.

And so, unexpected results unfolded.

First, the adult team’s situation.

Kwon Jaeik stood with his arms crossed, tapping the ground with his foot.

“Oh my, isn’t this so pretty?”

“It’s pretty.”

“Wait, but this is prettier.”

“Ooh. The wings are cool too.”

“Hey kids?”

Everyone in the huddled adult team turned their heads at Kwon Jaeik’s call.

“Aren’t you going to work?”

Shouldn’t they apply the gesso first and choose the design later?

Kwon Jaeik, who was trying to finish the annoying work as quickly as possible since he couldn’t play with the kids, felt his patience snap after spending nearly an hour discussing what mural to draw.

“Let’s do some work.”

He never thought he’d have to grit his teeth to say let’s work.

He could now understand why his sister nagged him every time she saw him lying on the couch.

“Right, let’s work. We should work.”

Lee Sora jumped up.

The production team also picked up their brushes, looking embarrassed.

Finally, progress could be seen in the work.

Kwon Jaeik started painting the wall faster and more efficiently than anyone else.

“The other side probably hasn’t even started yet, so at least we should work hard.”

“PD-nim, how’s the situation over there?”

PD Na, who had just received a report, responded with bewilderment.

“… They say they’re almost done and are just playing around now.”

“?”

“What?”

Kwon Jaeik turned his head.

Though he couldn’t possibly see the alley across the way.

“They’re almost done?”

Even with Lee Jeongmin there, it should still be difficult.

It made no sense at all.

“That’s impossible.”

The adult team had just started, after all.

Meanwhile, going back fifty minutes earlier.

At the time when everyone predicted the kids team wouldn’t be able to properly apply gesso.

“Teacher, what are we doing?”

“Teacher, when do we draw pictures?”

“Teacher, what’s this?”

“Teacher, can I eat this?”

“Teacher, why is the sky blue?”

Lee Jeongmin and Halo were caught in a hell of questions from the children. It was a chaotic start, as predicted.

However, surprisingly

“We’re going to apply gesso now.”

“We’ll draw pictures tomorrow.”

“We’re painting this so we can look at Taeung’s picture for a long time.”

“You’ll die if you eat that.”

“The sky is blue because of light scattering, you see, light that has directional properties gets scattered in all directions by scatterers. Now, what scatterers are-“

Lee Jeongmin showed his capabilities by answering kindly.

His patience was evident in how he answered the same questions multiple times without getting angry.

“Shall we start then?”

Halo picked up a brush while admiring Lee Jeongmin’s patience.

As he was brushing the rough wall, sweeping it down, drawing in a straight line

The kid known as the village troublemaker suddenly approached.

“Brother, what are you doing?”

“You do it too.”

“I already did it though.”

The kid showed one side of the wall, saying he had already painted it.

It was a wall roughly painted in a distracted, messy way.

It looked like the work of a child lacking in thoroughness.

The kid who painted like that straightened his shoulders proudly and said,

“Brother, you’re really bad at this, want me to show you how to do it?”

Halo, who was going to pretend he didn’t hear, paused.

“You’re saying I’m bad at it?”

Seeing his eyebrow twitch, Lee Jeongmin thought ‘surely not.’

“Haeil-ssi, you’re not actually angry at the kids’ teasing, are you?”

“Of course not.”

Halo showed a smile.

Then he said to the kid.

“How good are you to say that?”

Ah, seeing how he’s getting worked up, I guess he is.

“Look, I did better than you.”

“No, I did better.”

“No, I did better!”

Why are they seriously fighting about this?

Lee Jeongmin, being a normal person, laughed “hahaha.”

“Brother must not have talent in art. It’s okay, my mom says the world is fair.”

Kids these days are really precocious, they speak so well.

The other kids also found Halo’s reaction amusing and gathered to comfort him.

It’s okay, brother.

You just need to try harder. Cheer up, brother.

Kwon Jaeik would probably feel satisfied seeing this scene after what Halo did to him earlier, but unfortunately, he was with the adult team.

“But it’s okay because brother is good at singing.”

“Yeah yeah, brother let’s play the dice game again.”

“Can’t you teach us the song?”

At the last child’s words, Gyeowool flinched.

“No. Don’t want to. Too bothersome.”

Halo answered bluntly as usual.

The kids pestered him more, asking what was so bothersome.

But Halo knew well how to escape children’s attention in times like this.

“Why don’t you sing first? A song you know.”

“Us?”

This usually made them move on to a different topic.

“We don’t know any songs.”

“Huh? How can you not know any songs?”

“We don’t. We can’t even read sheet music.”

“This one’s stupid, he doesn’t even know do-re-mi, brother.”

“?”

Halo tilted his head.

The shock of not being able to read sheet music was one thing, but not knowing do-re-mi was completely incomprehensible.

“I’m not stupid!”

“You can’t read do-re-mi though.”

Rather than not knowing do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, it seemed they couldn’t read do-re-mi written on staff lines.

“They say he’s stupid because he doesn’t know do-re-mi.”

“Sheet music is too hard.”

Halo was about to ignore them and go back to painting the wall when he suddenly remembered a movie he’d seen long ago. It was the movie that had decided his trip to Switzerland.

After drawing a long straight line, Halo turned to the kids and said,

“It’s not hard at all.”

“Huh?”

“Watch.”

Drawing transparent staff lines with gesso, Halo muttered ‘kids should sing kids’ songs.’

“Do is for Dohwaji (drawing paper).”

Like this wall.

It’s the note that starts everything.

Halo drew do below the staff lines.

“Re is for round Record.”

After drawing re above do and below the line, Halo added melody.

Mi is for the Miggeureumdae (slide) you kids love.

The brush dropped and drew a circle on the first line of the staff, like a child perched on a slide.

Fa is for the blue Waves (Pado) rolling onto the beach.

The kids giggled as the gesso waves crashed over the staff lines.

Sol is for the Pine (Sol) wind caught in tree branches

La is for the bell ringing at school, la la la

And Si is for the City (Si) where the sun has risen

The highest note looks down on the city.

It was a children’s song they had heard before.

But when Halo sang it, the children’s song sounded new.

Maybe it was because he added melodies in between.

He sang fast-paced music saying this was the sound of angry waves,

When talking about the school bell, Halo recreated the sound of Baegun Elementary’s bell.

And when he smiled at the end, the children looked up at him and slowly smiled back-.

“Oh my.”

Writer Do Minhee exclaimed in admiration.

It was like watching a scene from a movie.

“Shall we try once more?”

Halo kept time with his foot.

And from then on, the children moved their brushes, and Halo directed them like an assistant.

“Number 3, your hand stopped.”

“No it didn’t!”

“Number 1.”

“I’m doing well though?”

They painted while singing together.

“When we finish, I’ll teach you another one.”

“Yeah, good!”

Lee Jeongmin hummed along while looking at Halo with curiosity. Then one child caught his eye.

Gyeowool with their shaggy hair hung their head dejectedly.

‘He said he didn’t want to teach me though.’