The Road to Glory Chapter 48 - Do It Now
At the HBC broadcasting station.
The PD who had been camped out in the editing room since the afternoon to edit episode 2 of [From Today On], checked the file sent by the music director.
It listed the OST theme songs for the protagonist and the main 2nd year, 5th class students.
“What is this?”
As he was listening to the completed audio files in order, the mouse pointer stopped at one spot. He couldn’t help feeling irritated due to accumulated fatigue.
“Heetae was supposed to have just one theme song.”
Unlike what he knew, there were two listings for the monotonously written ‘Heetae Theme’.
One was named ‘Heetae Theme (Reprise)’ with the running time extended to 4 minutes.
“Why did he do something I didn’t ask for?”
The executive director looked on with displeasure.
With the script not even fully out yet, a reprise (variation) seemed unnecessary.
He was about to immediately call the music director to question him, but set his phone down instead.
Right, there must have been a reason he sent it.
It was Jeongho after all, not just anyone.
Suppressing his irritation, he set aside the drama editing footage and clicked on the audio file.
Soon, the Heetae song he knew began to play.
Up to the 2-minute mark, it was the song he was familiar with.
And Heetae’s voice was extracted exceptionally well in it. He was satisfied. The executive director nodded as he listened.
And what followed after was…
“Hold on.”
The PD’s eyes widened.
Heetae’s story, which should not have been completed—
His finger twitched as he moved to stop the audio.
But the PD ended up listening to the whole thing before picking up his phone.
“Jeongho, what is this?”
“Yes, what is it? PD.”
Ignoring the lack of night and day at the broadcast station, the music director answered with a yawn when the PD called at 3 AM.
“What’s this Heetae reprise?”
“Ah, that. You listened to it? How was it?”
Instead of answering ‘what’, he asked ‘how was it’ instead.
The executive director muttered ‘this guy’ under his breath.
The music director had already caught on that the PD wasn’t actually angry.
“It’s too much. It doesn’t sound like a supporting character’s theme, but a protagonist’s.”
“I agree.”
The music director honestly agreed.
“Plus, depending on how Heetae’s story goes, there’s a chance we can’t even use it.”
That was also true.
They both already knew that.
There was no reply from the music director on the other end of the call. Any other staff member would have immediately said to scrap it. But the music director waited for what would come after.
At this moment, it seemed the music director and PD shared the same thought.
If it was truly a meaningless song, the music director wouldn’t have sent the audio to the PD. And the PD wouldn’t have called the music director.
“So when did you make this?”
“Ah, that?”
“?”
“I didn’t make it.”
The music director chuckled before recounting the story from the studio. The PD scoffed as he quietly listened to the music director.
“Cheeky brat.”
If there had been someone nearby, they might have thought ‘the PD is furious’.
But the PD wasn’t actually angry.
He stared intently at the audio file, tapping his desk with his fingers.
It was too good to throw away, but too intense to use as is.
He understood why Jeongho (the music director) had sent him the original theme song and the reprise theme variation.
He was leaving the choice to the PD.
“What will you do?”
To keep it or throw it away.
Even though the music director already knew what the PD would want to do.
The PD tapped his desk restlessly.
The conclusion came quickly.
“What else? Keep it.”
Of course, it wasn’t a decision he could make alone.
Even if he was the one in charge, he would need to discuss with the writer how to utilize this music.
“PD, I’ll hang up then. If you’re using it, we’ll need an additional contract. And register for arrangement or co-composition credits. It’s not the era to just freeload anymore.”
“Right. Take care of it. Ah, wait Jeongho.”
The PD, about to hang up, added one more thing.
“Who is this kid?”
“Well, the NuTuber Wave…”
“Not that. His name.”
“-“
There was a brief silence on the other end before the answer the PD wanted came through.
“Alright.”
That was enough.
That was all he wanted to know.
The PD hung up without hesitation.
He didn’t bother remembering useless people.
Just the useful ones, the ones who would make it big someday, the ones who already had.
It was hard enough remembering just those.
Next to the name he learned this time, the descriptor ‘cheeky’ was added. He got the sense this one wasn’t as mild-mannered as kids nowadays. Then, the PD suddenly tilted his head.
“I think I’ve heard that name before.”
#
“That was fun.”
Right after recording the OST and getting parental consent, Halo turned his head at the voice he heard as he was leaving the studio.
“Thirsty? Here, water.”
“Oh, thanks hyung.”
It was a boy around Jang Jinsoo’s age.
And next to him was an adult male, likely his guardian.
The boy’s eyes met Halo’s.
A bright and friendly kid, as he waved when their eyes met.
Halo gave a faint smile back before turning away.
His mother had finished the guardian contract and came out, lamenting that she had run out of parking time.
“Mom wanted to listen, but in the end I couldn’t hear even one song.”
“I only recorded one song.”
“Still.”
His mother sighed wistfully as she counted down to the drama’s air date.
At the same time, she had an odd stubbornness about not asking Halo to sing for her. She said she’d listen with ‘everyone’ this time. Halo wondered who exactly ‘everyone’ was.
“How was recording the OST?”
On the way home, his mother played Halo’s music and asked.
“Well, it wasn’t bad.”
Halo rested his elbow on the window frame as he pondered.
He still felt that others’ songs didn’t quite fit him.
But he realized this was the first time he had crafted a song for someone else, for the character Heetae.
This was different from just polishing one of Roh Haeil’s self-composed songs. This time, he had voluntarily rearranged the lyrics and melody to sing it. The simple melody made it not too difficult to rearrange.
‘Not difficult, but easy.’
Halo then opened his music notebook.
At the very end was the question written: ‘Is this difficult too?’
Ever since his mother had said his songs were difficult, he had added the same question to his newly written songs.
He hadn’t expected to dwell on this concern his whole life.
He had always composed songs based on his own emotions, performing for himself. He thought it was enough for others to just listen to his songs.
But after being told they were difficult, it started to bother him a bit.
Why had no one told him his songs were difficult before? Well, the answer to that was clear.
Who would dare say that to his face? The people around him were mostly from the industry, or his adoring fans. Critics didn’t call his songs difficult, but likened them to diary entries or amateurish.
‘Not difficult songs.’
Halo twirled his pen.
He was starting to ponder writing easy, not difficult songs.
“Oh right Haeil, shall we look for a workspace again starting tomorrow?”
“Mm.”
It wasn’t just one or two concerns he had.
Along with his songwriting concerns, Halo was slowly feeling the need for people around him.
He just wanted to focus on music, but each task he took on spawned yet another. He needed someone to handle everything hindering his work.
From real estate to wealth managers, music video production and engineers, lawyers. Above all, someone to manage the label he would establish.
His parents weren’t experts, and even if they were, they couldn’t handle all of this burden.
“You can rest a bit if you’re tired too.”
“No, the sooner, the better.”
As he waited for his mother’s parking, Halo scratched his head after getting out of the car.
Then his phone buzzed with a text –
A message providing a breath of fresh air to his cluttered thoughts.
[Want me to introduce you to a kid similar to you?]
As always, it lacked credibility, but it was basically an invitation to grab a meal together.
#:
“It’s getting colder little by little.”
A few days later, Halo came to Hongdae.
He wasn’t particularly curious about the kid claimed to be similar to him. From the moment Jang Jinsoo referred to him as a ‘kid’, Halo had already lowered his expectations. He figured it would just be someone similar to Jang Jinsoo himself.
As he exited Hongdae Station, passersby occasionally glanced his way. Halo paid the looks no mind as he walked with his guitar slung over his back.
“You’re here?”
In front of a chicken restaurant.
Jang Jinsoo was there along with the kid he was supposed to introduce.
Halo calmly raised his hand in greeting and turned his gaze sideways.
“Oh, it’s you?”
Even at a glance, he had neatly groomed brown hair and outfits that seemed styled by someone.
His openly expressive face was the type broadcasting would favor.
Halo recalled this was the same kid he had briefly passed by at the studio. The other seemed to recognize him too.
But before any conversation could start, Jang Jinsoo made the introductions.
“Huh, you two know each other? Hey, Roh Haeil. This is Gillaon I met at Soyou, and here is my same-class Roh Haeil. He’s the one I mentioned.”
“The ‘Show by Show’ co-composer?”
“Yeah.”
Gillaon’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He seemed to have a lot to say.
Chatty, but in a different way from Jang Jinsoo.
Halo already felt his ears hurting, even before hearing what he had to say.
He had just planned to eat a modest meal and leave.
‘This isn’t quite what I had in mind.’
The conversation had certainly started as a casual catch-up,
But it quickly flowed into their common subject of the show ‘Show Your Show’.
“We could have done better back there.”
“I should have done better then. At that time-.”
He didn’t expect to become babysitters.
With a bored expression, Halo tuned out Gillaon and Jang Jinsoo’s conversation.
As soon as someone brought up ‘Show’, stories from that time came gushing out like a burst dam.
It was more or less about their elimination from the show.
Gillaon and Jang Jinsoo had been on the same team with producer Hwang Jeil. The pairing of age-mates was expected to work well, but their song didn’t live up to it.
While Jang Jinsoo’s skills kept improving, he was completely overshadowed by his age-mate Gillaon. And Gillaon couldn’t control his own skills, overpowering the song. After a few attempts, producer Hwang Jeil gave up producing them. And just like that, they were eliminated in the semi-finals.
From what Halo could gather, it sounded like a complete mess.
As Gillaon and Jang Jinsoo began a confession battle against each other, Halo looked on disinterestedly while dipping his chicken in garlic soy sauce.
He had expected them to apologize appropriately, resolve to do better, and be done with it. But for some reason, the two kids showed no signs of ending their back-and-forth.
No matter how regretful it was, they weren’t even paying attention to the food in front of them.
There were limits to being an observer too.
Slowly, Halo started to wonder if he was the priest listening to their confessions.
“If you regret it that much-.”
Halo spoke up once the chicken was completely finished. After wiping his mouth from the last bite, he said:
“-Then do it now.”
At his words, Jang Jinsoo and Gillaon simultaneously closed their mouths.
The noisy chatter in both ears went abruptly silent.
He should have said something sooner.
“What?”
Jang Jinsoo asked back.
“All this regretting you’ve kept on about.”
Halo thought just regretting with words was meaningless. It was akin to wasting time.
Instead, they should choose one: either stop regretting, or resolve that regret.
“You can show it now, can’t you?”
If there was something they really wanted to show, they could still show it now. Regardless of the result, it would be better than just regretting endlessly.
To the speechless Jang Jinsoo, Halo said:
“You said you’ll live more diligently.”
He took that to mean living without regrets.
“How?”
When Gillaon asked, Halo pointed outside the restaurant.
There was a stage anywhere in this world.
If he wanted, it could become a stage.
“Now?”
Halo nodded.
Then looking at the two restless kids, he asked:
“What, are you suddenly scared of people now?”
“No, we’re not?”
Jang Jinsoo clenched his fist firmly.
Gillaon shook his head.
“Then let’s go.”
It was boring before, but this was better.
Halo reslung his guitar over his back and led the way out.
“But there’s no backing track.”
Gillaon muttered blankly as he watched Halo leave.
He didn’t understand what Halo intended to do at this point. He thought it was impossible.
But strangely, his heart pounded with excitement.
#
[Breaking! The ‘Show Your Show’ Team Hwang Appeared in Hongdae!!!]
[Lies lol]
[Whoa this passive aggression, I just made eye contact with Gillaon]
[Hwang Jeil didn’t come?]
[Oh someone gave up the busking zone, it’s hard to book that spot]
[Are they really performing? But Jang Jinsoo can’t be that bad, right?]
[Oh]
[Why? Is he good? Gillaon was always good though]
[?]
[Reply]
Since it hadn’t been long since the ‘Show Your Show’ finals ended, attention was focused on the early eliminated Team Hwang (Gillaon-Jang Jinsoo-Hwang Jeil). As the online community heated up, people flocked to the area.
Gillaon and Jang Jinsoo, who had been watching cautiously in case people mocked them, revealed their talents in sync with Halo’s guitar playing. The real stage they had wanted to show on ‘Show Your Show’.
It had been a while since they harmonized, so it was inevitable there were some unmatched parts. But Halo was smoothing those over decently with his guitar playing.
Most people wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
There were no harsh critics tearing them apart like online. Instead, people cheered and sang along.
[How is it?]
[They’re kinda good?]
[Gillaon’s high notes are fire and Jang Jinsoo really improved]
[Why did that team give up? Seems like they could have made semis at least]
[For real]
[And the kid playing guitar in the back is legit crazy]
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