The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 291

# 29 Merry Christmas in Advance

“This place hasn’t changed a bit.”

Halo pulled the brim of his cap lower, looking around.

Unlike the shops near his house that played the same generic music every day, this street played music he’d never heard before—old songs and niche tunes.

It wasn’t bad.

No, he would have been disappointed if it were similar to his neighborhood. As the first place he’d set foot in after arriving, it shouldn’t be boring.

Halo pushed his bangs back up under his cap and put his hands in his pockets. It was full-blown winter now. The air itself was so chilly it was almost frigid, making it hard to keep his hands out for even ten seconds.

Especially since Halo had never experienced such a cold winter, he felt it twice as much as others. He felt like he’d turn into an ice sculpture if he stood still for too long.

To avoid freezing to death, and to feel warmer than others, he had to keep moving.

“They celebrate Christmas here too, huh.”

But perhaps the cold wasn’t all bad, thanks to the excitement that came with the approaching holidays.

Halo stopped in front of a large Christmas tree in the square. It was kind of refreshing that this country on the other side of the world celebrated the same holiday.

Occasionally, couples or friends would stop in front of the tree. With about ten days left until Christmas, the tree wasn’t fully decorated, but there were still signs of preparation, like empty gift boxes with ‘Do Not Touch’ written on them.

They stood by the tree, struck the same pose—making a heart shape with their hands—and left with happy smiles.

“Oh. That new sprout seems to have gotten bigger?”

He’d heard those words when he ran into Jin-young Han at the hideout. Jin-young Han seemed pleased to see Halo after a long time.

“Kids grow up fast, huh?”

“Gotten bigger?”

“Yeah. Want to measure him?”

At the mention of getting bigger, Halo nodded without realizing it.

He was sure he looked the same when he looked in the mirror.

Under Halo’s intense gaze, Jin-young Han brought out the measuring tape used for tailoring clothes.

“Oh.”

Jin-young Han exclaimed, pulling the tape measure.

“He’s grown.”

Halo, who had harbored doubts about Noh Hae-il’s growth, was delighted.

“How much bigger is he?”

“Didn’t he say he was 165cm [approximately 5 feet 5 inches]? So, 1.4cm.”

“…14cm?”

“If it were 14cm, I wouldn’t need to measure. 1.4cm.”

“…”

Halo didn’t curse, but his expression soured. If it was only 1.4cm, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say he gained weight on the soles of his feet rather than grew taller?

Halo, who had even speculated that his joint pain was growing pains, clicked his tongue, ‘Figures.’

He wondered why he had to be so stressed about this, but considering Noh Hae-il was sixteen, it felt a bit ominous. Noh Hae-il’s father was tall, after all.

“Just wait a little bit. He’ll grow soon.”

Jin-young Han said with a sly smile, as if he knew everything on his mind. The constant laughter made it seem like he was teasing rather than encouraging.

“But won’t he grow faster than Jin-soo?”

No, he was definitely teasing.

‘Who’s teasing who?’ Halo was dumbfounded that someone younger than him was teasing him, and he clicked his tongue.

He didn’t understand why he kept comparing him to Jang Jin-soo.

“Anyway, Hae-il needs to work hard.”

“Exercise?”

“No? Well, it’s not wrong, but… Besides exercise, you need to work hard at other things too.”

He wondered what he was going to say this time.

“I’m talking about Jin-soo. Judging by the reactions, he’s going to be super famous once he gets on TV. If you don’t hurry, Jin-soo might pretend not to know you later?”

“…”

It wasn’t even worth considering.

Halo hadn’t come to chat nonsense, so he got straight to the point.

“About the MIDI orchestra instrumental…”

“You don’t even care.”

When Halo didn’t care, Jin-young Han muttered that it was no fun. It seemed Jin-young Han was bored.

“Oh, how did the bet go?”

“What bet?”

“The one you had with Jin-soo about the views.”

“Ah.”

It seemed he was talking about a bet that had ended a long time ago.

When Halo shrugged as if it were obvious, Jin-young Han’s eyes widened.

“You won, Hae-il? It finally surpassed ten thousand? Well, it would be hard for a song like that not to.”

He didn’t seem too surprised, more like he was accepting it.

“So, can you tell me the channel name now? That Jin-soo. He wouldn’t tell me until the end, saying not to help, but he lost in the end.”

A brief chuckle escaped.

There was a reason he was so confident he would win. Just how much did he want to win that wish?

[HALO_Official]

Halo also visited the channel after a long time.

He used to enjoy reading the comments, but he hadn’t been able to keep up with it because he was busy.

Since then, quite a few comments and subscribers had increased.

The channel was the same as ever.

It was obvious at a glance that the channel was bare-bones, with no channel art or channel photo, but the views on the songs from the 1st album, uploaded on the same day, were impressive.

Some of the same people kept showing up in the comments, and new people appeared, leaving attendance records every day.

“No, the number of subscribers…”

And there are only four songs.

It paled in comparison to other channels that had uploaded forty to four hundred videos. What was even scarier was the number of ‘likes’ and comments.

Even if it was English pop.

Jin-young Han, who was about to say something, remembered what he had said earlier and closed his mouth. Noh Hae-il didn’t need to worry about Jang Jin-soo becoming famous first.

“Are you going to release a 2nd album too?”

Jin-young Han, who had been looking at the channel for a long time, asked. He scrolled up after seeing the comments filled with praise and requests for more music. The same comment appeared again. Surprisingly, the nicknames were different.

“Yes. I’m making it now.”

“…You’re already making it?”

“I was playing around too much, so it’s late, but it’s almost finished. I’m going to upload it before December ends.”

“Almost finished?”

Jin-young Han unconsciously counted the days with his fingers. It seemed like it had been about a month since Noh Hae-il released the four songs from his 1st album.

‘Is it even possible to have already produced songs?’

And more songs came out after that? Is he a factory? And he even said it was late because he was playing around too much?

No way. Jin-young Han laughed in disbelief.

‘Well, he might have composed them. But will the quality be good?’

He tried to rationalize it that way, but when he recalled the quality of the songs on the 1st album, his thoughts stopped. It made even less sense that someone who made such songs would make them carelessly.

“…”

Jin-young Han didn’t know what to say, like before.

#

“Going home now?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, come with Jin-soo next time. I’ll buy you something delicious.”

Halo, who came out of the hideout, checked his phone. His mother’s message had arrived a few minutes ago.

[Mom: Hae-il, do you want to eat omakase [a Japanese dining experience where the chef selects and serves seasonal specialties]?]

[Mom: Someone your father knows invited us. How about it?]

“Hmm.”

So far, there hasn’t been any bad food here. Halo didn’t know what omakase was, but he knew it was good and headed to the Hongdae subway station.

[Mom: Then let’s eat in the evening. Don’t be late.]

[Mom: Today we’ll eat omakase, and tomorrow we can watch the first episode of ‘Show You’.]

You could feel the anticipation just from the text.

She had been eagerly looking forward to the first episode since Monday, but he thought she would forget about it around Wednesday, but she remembered after all.

Well. It might be hard to forget.

He didn’t know how much money the production company had spent, but it was endlessly shown on bus stop outdoor advertisements and YouTube.

“Did you see the trailer for ‘Show You’ this time?”

“I saw it. ENS must have been gritting their teeth this time.”

Even on the streets, the kids walking next to him were talking about ‘Show You’.

Halo was getting tired of it by now.

It would be better to listen to Christmas carols.

Halo paused until he could no longer hear their voices.

Turning his head, he saw a photo of a woman with hair as white as Santa’s stuck to the window.

Inside, hairdressers were busily moving around.

And a 166.4cm tall boy wearing a cap caught his eye. The boy’s bangs were so cumbersome that he had lifted them up and tucked them into his cap.

‘I was planning to get a haircut anyway. Should I get a haircut?’

It wouldn’t be bad to shave it all off.

He sometimes wanted to shave his head.

He couldn’t because his manager and his staff were against it, but he felt that temptation.

However, when he entered the hair salon, the hairdresser who was assigned to him reacted reluctantly.

“You want me to shave it all off? Are you serious…ly?”

“I don’t think you’re old enough to go to the army yet, and I heard you have freedom with your hair these days, but I don’t think the teachers will like it.”

The hairdresser didn’t mention it directly, but he was saying ‘It doesn’t suit you’ with his whole body.

Halo stared intently at himself in the mirror, wondering if it really wouldn’t suit him. If it were the real Halo, any hairstyle would suit him well. But the one sitting in front of this mirror is Noh Hae-il.

“Your friends might call you a ‘dongja’ [a young Buddhist novice].”

“A ‘dongja’?”

“Don’t kids these days know? A baby monk.”

“!”

Halo’s eyes widened.

He didn’t want that.

He wanted to look manly, not like a baby monk.

Then how should he cut his hair?

“If you want to make a big change to your style, how about a perm or a dye?”

The hairdresser asked Halo, who had been pondering for a long time.

“It’s vacation these days. Is there a color you’ve always wanted to try?”

Then he handed Halo a book of dyes.

Halo had never thought about dyeing his hair, so he stared blankly.

Dyeing? What dyeing?

He skimmed through the book.

There wasn’t a single one he liked.

He was about to just shave it all off.

The model on the last page caught his eye.

“Do you like that one? It’ll take quite a while.”

Halo tapped the chair.

He was getting more and more interested. If he wasn’t going to shave it all off, this would be good.

Halo texted his mother that he might be a little late. The hairdresser wrapped a towel around his neck, saying he had to take good care of it.

With the hairdresser’s touch, Halo closed his eyes.

#

When he opened his eyes, a lot of time had passed.

His mother, who he hadn’t checked on, told him what time to come and gave him the address, and Halo replied that he was done.

Does it look okay?

Halo touched his familiar yet unfamiliar hair and put his cap back on. He wore the cap not because his hair was bothering him, but because he didn’t want to carry it around.

Then he remembered being told not to touch his hair, but he figured the pressure from the hat would be okay.

He got on the Line 2 subway and checked the transfer station.

He was used to only taking Line 2, so he was unfamiliar with transferring, but it wasn’t difficult. He was lucky enough to get a seat after transferring.

He sat in the seat closest to the door and rested his head against the pole. He just had to keep going straight.

The warm air relaxed him.

Halo looked around the subway.

Unlike Hongdae, which was full of excitement while waiting for Christmas, the faces of the people had one more line added to them, even though the subway line had only decreased from 2 to 1 [referring to the subway line number]. People were living day by day, enduring rather than waiting for Christmas.

The subway stopped and started again.

Someone got off and someone else got on, but it didn’t change much.

That’s when it happened.

When the stopped subway started again, he heard a sound similar to a piano. Since the subway was quiet except for the small murmurs, most people turned their heads.

“!”

Halo, who turned his head like them, discovered a middle-aged man who was almost elderly.

Despite the winter, he was wearing shorts and slippers, and what was even more surprising was that he took out a melodica and was about to play it. The melodica was definitely coming from him.

He had seen it occasionally in his hometown, but since coming here, it was the first time he had seen someone playing an instrument on the train.

“Is he a peddler?”

He didn’t seem like a peddler. The middle-aged man only had a melodica with him, without any other bags.

The clanging train. Curious glances were sent towards the middle-aged man with the melodica.