The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 311

# 31 Half and Half

“It doesn’t seem like you have any intention of going to high school.”

Sitting in the Japanese-style tatami room, his father spoke, noticing Halo’s white hair.

It was Monday when they first brought up the topic of high school.

This was the first thing his father had said after remaining silent ever since.

“Yes, as you know.”

Halo answered nonchalantly, sitting down in the seat in front of him.

While his mother turned pale upon seeing his hair color, his father was indifferent.

It seemed like he wouldn’t care even if he dyed his hair rainbow.

“It’s good to assert your will, but your mother is about to faint.”

“She said it suits me.”

“It does look neat.”

He not only dyed his hair but also cut the bangs that covered his eyes, revealing his features more clearly. Professor Noh Yoon-hyun thought he had cut it well, as he had found it messy before.

“Honey, what about the meal?”

“I ordered the basic omakase course. No alcohol.”

His mother, who didn’t like alcohol, nodded in satisfaction.

Halo tried to push away the menu his mother handed him but ended up opening and reading it.

What is omakase?

There was no kind explanation on the menu—not that he would read it even if there was—but there were pictures of raw fish.

‘Raw fish?’

Not even knowing that omakase meant ‘chef’s choice’ [a Japanese dining style where the chef selects and prepares dishes], Halo frowned.

‘Not even vegetables, how can you eat something raw?’

Raw. The pictures on the menu were well-decorated, but he couldn’t help but feel repulsed. He had never had a bad meal since coming here, so it probably tasted good.

Still, he hated raw food—or so he thought until then.

The five kinds of appetizers that came out with the tsukemono (Japanese pickled vegetables) instantly shattered Halo’s prejudice.

From sous-vide eggs to dishes he had never seen before, the word ‘delicious’ was an understatement.

“Is it good? Do you want more?”

“It’s just the appetizer, you shouldn’t fill up already. Let’s eat moderately.”

“Isn’t it okay since he’s growing?”

“Then we can order more after we finish.”

This is just the appetizer?

Halo smacked his lips, already looking at the empty plates.

Soon, the main dish, the omakase, arrived.

His aversion to raw food had long disappeared.

Halo swallowed hard.

“Originally, omakase is best enjoyed at the counter, but I asked for a private room since we have things to talk about. Next time we come, let’s eat at the counter.”

“Good choice.”

The thing they needed to talk about was, of course, the upcoming high school issue.

After finishing the sashimi and braised dishes, they chose their meal, and the private room fell silent.

Halo thought his father would speak first, but his mother’s words came first.

“Halo, Mom has been thinking about it, and I think you should go to high school. High school isn’t something you can go to anytime, right? And even if it seems like a waste of time, it’s all necessary. I’m not just talking about Korean, English, and Math. It’s the experiences you can gain there. And, you know, high school friends are friends for life.

Mom will support you in whatever you do, but dropping out of middle school—it’s not a good choice, both in Korean society and for your future career. Have you ever thought about art school or something like that?”

His mother’s suggestion was cliché.

But it was clearly fundamental and in line with social norms.

Halo also thought that if someone dropped out of high school and wanted to be like him—.

‘I’d probably tell them to go for it.’

…It depends on the person, but most people would object.

Everything is created from experience.

Just like he finds inspiration in everyday life and turns it into sound, then into music.

High school will definitely provide a different experience. A special one that can only be experienced there.

But still, ‘why bother?’

Why bother hanging out with kids he can’t communicate with, why bother following the course created by society, why bother wasting eight hours of his time?

Especially when he doesn’t feel the need, curiosity, or even fun.

He has a lot to do.

It’s not just about becoming the Halo of the past.

Creating an album of the past Halo is to leave a trace, but what’s important to him is something else.

The present.

And the future.

He is recording his second album and writing new songs.

Some songs are discarded straight into the trash.

Some are shelved as practice pieces, but he is constantly creating new things.

Becoming the Halo of the past is too easy.

It’s too easy, and he already knows it will be successful, so he doesn’t feel any tension.

There’s no sense of accomplishment, and it’s not fun.

He wanted more achievement.

And that usually had to be accompanied by thrill and stress.

At this time when he wants to quickly finish the records of the past and move forward.

The option of wasting time in high school was not available to Halo.

“I agree that you can have another experience in high school.”

Halo said after rinsing his mouth with tea.

“I also know that Mom is worried about me.”

His mother’s face brightened.

Unfortunately, Halo was not persuaded.

“But I still feel the same way. You might think I’m being stubborn, but going to high school is a waste of time when I have a long way to go. I want to do what I’m doing now.

Also, the value I’ll get from not going to high school will be greater than the value I’ll get from going to high school.”

Halo looked at his father as if to say, ‘Don’t you think so?’

His father, who had been listening to his mother and Halo’s conversation for a while, had his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

“Halo, you don’t know that.”

His mother tried to speak again a few times without getting angry, but then

“Say something, honey.”

She poked her father’s side as if asking for help.

His father finally opened his eyes.

After staring at Halo intently for a while, his father opened his mouth.

“I still don’t know what you’re so confident about.”

“No, not that!”

His mother slapped his father’s knee.

She thought he was scolding him.

But Professor Noh Yoon-hyun had no intention of scolding him.

He just wanted to point out that the basis for his confidence was insufficient.

“Be a little softer.”

“Still, it’s much better than being hesitant. My son should have a clear sense of his own opinions. It was also good to see you trying to speak logically.”

“You…”

She told him not to scold him, and now he’s praising him like a recruiter.

Park Seung-ah suppressed her frustration.

But she had faith.

Her logical and rational husband would lead Halo down the right path.

“I’ll ask you just one thing. Do you sincerely want to do it?”

His father asked out of the blue.

His mother’s expression, who wanted to end the high school issue quickly, couldn’t have been good.

“Yes.”

Halo answered as if it were obvious.

The answer came out immediately without a moment’s hesitation.

“Not because you don’t want to study, or because the people on TV look cool and it seems easy?”

Professor Noh Yoon-hyun welcomed his son’s passion, but he didn’t understand it. He had never been as passionately involved in something as his son was.

He had gone with the flow as if there was a path for him.

“Are you confident that you won’t regret giving up 900 million won [approximately $750,000 USD] and living in a small room for ten or twenty years, starving? Can you, who have never had to worry about money, endure that?”

His father doubted him and constantly preached about his uncertain future.

In reality, Noh Hae-il had never suffered economically or physically.

‘Noh Hae-il’ was like that.

But the Halo inside him was different.

From the beginning, Halo was born into an uncertain situation.

He was hungry and in a situation where he wanted to give up everything.

None of the people who approached him at that time had good intentions, and the people who approached him with a smile were closer to wolves aiming for Little Red Riding Hood.

His father added.

“I’m telling you clearly, I won’t help you. You’ve already rejected my offer, so you can think of me as heartless. I won’t help you even if you’re struggling. I need to prepare for my retirement. I’m going on a world tour with your mother when I retire.”

“Should I not contact you either?”

“Then I’ll kick you out of the family register. You have to contact us. Your mother and I are city people, so there won’t be any times when the phone doesn’t work.”

Both of them were serious while also smiling.

Park Seung-ah thought that the father and son were terribly alike in saying useless things.

“Since I didn’t receive any investment, I don’t have anything to return, right?”

At Halo’s words, laughter burst out from within Professor Noh Yoon-hyun.

At this point, he becomes curious. If his son doesn’t go to high school, what will he do? He heard that he’s doing something called YouTube, but will he be satisfied with that? Will he do something bigger than that? Or will he fall behind? He doesn’t know.

His father said bluntly.

“Then do it.”

“?! Honey!”

His mother, who had been listening quietly, was startled as if she had been splashed with cold water. Before she could stop him, the conversation between the father and son continued.

“But only for one year. You can make up for a loss of about a year at your age.”

Already assuming failure, Halo’s nose twitched. He didn’t like it.

“I think a year is enough to know if it’s something you can devote your life to or if you can simply be satisfied with it as a hobby.”

“Then what about Halo’s high school?”

His mother had a betrayed look on her face.

She seemed to think that the reason he had been talking about the high school issue on Monday and dragging it on until Thursday was to help her.

But Professor Noh Yoon-hyun had thought of another way.

A more efficient way. If he can go that way, he doesn’t have to do what everyone else does for three years.

“After all, the course is convenient. It’s not for nothing that people like courses.”

He suddenly picked up his chopsticks.

He savored the tuna that came out as part of the course.

“What are you talking about?”

His mother reacted as if it was out of the blue, but his father ignored her and said to Halo.

“When you don’t know what to eat or what to eat first, a course is good. The chef will take care of it. We just eat what the chef gives us in order. How convenient is that?”

-Your meal is served.

Just in time, the meal came. The door slid open, and the chef served the food. Salmon roe and pollack roe bibimbap [Korean mixed rice with vegetables and egg] and samgyetang [Korean ginseng chicken soup] were the meals they chose.

“But if you know what to eat, you don’t need to order a course.”

His father said, opening the lid of the samgyetang.

“It’s best to just go to a specialty restaurant and buy it.”

Slurp.

The scent of ginseng filled the room.

His father exclaimed, “Ah-“.

Halo also mixed the salmon roe and pollack roe bibimbap.

And when he took a spoonful, his father’s voice washed over him like a wave.

“The world is really good these days. Back in my day, it was clear: 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, 3 years of high school, and then university. But it’s not like that these days. These days, kids don’t have to spend 12 years in elementary, middle, and high school. If you want to go to university, you can just take the GED [General Educational Development test]. In that sense, high school might be a bit inefficient.”

Some salt.

At his father’s words, his mother passed him the salt.

His father took a big spoonful.

“Oh, you know Teaching Assistant Kang, right? Teaching Assistant Kang is one of those cases. He entered a science high school, finished all the middle school courses at the age of an elementary school student, and graduated from high school with a GED. He entered university right away. He efficiently became my slave faster than anyone else.”

“Slave?”

“Mistake. Teaching assistant, no, now a lecturer.”

He added that he would be a part-time lecturer at Korea University starting next semester.

“But again, the freedom I’m giving you is only for one year.”

His father, who had been talking smoothly with a good-natured face, became serious.

“If you don’t have satisfactory results by then and you keep wandering, you’ll do what your mother and I want.”

“…”

“Take the GED and aim for Korea University. Don’t think about rebelling. But if you get into Korea University, the offer to inherit my property is still valid, so do your best.”

Then his father shook his spoon.

Muttering, ‘This samgyetang is a bit salty.’

“Now everything is settled, right?”

#

“How could you say that so easily?”

Park Seung-ah crossed her arms.

Noh Yoon-hyun, who had made a unilateral decision without talking to Park Seung-ah separately, loosened his sleeves and glanced at Park Seung-ah.

“It’s not an easy decision, it’s a smart decision.”

“What’s so smart about it?”

“To persuade that guy.”

“Persuade? It seems like you’re the one who got persuaded.”

She didn’t expect him to say to do whatever he wanted about the high school issue right away. Even if it’s high school.

“This game is a game I win no matter what. I have nothing to lose.”

“No, are you saying ‘lose’ from your mouth right now?”

“Think about it.”

Noh Yoon-hyun sat next to Park Seung-ah.

Showing the comfort of a bed that doesn’t shake even with a moment’s stimulation.

“I bought that guy’s future life with the cost of one year. He’ll listen to us from now on. And did I bet my time? I bet that guy’s time.”

“That-”

“If Hae-il fails, we’ll do what we want, and if he succeeds, it’s a good thing. Think simply.”

Park Seung-ah still couldn’t understand.

If he had persuaded him well, he wouldn’t have had to bet a year. In a direction where Hae-il could achieve both music and academics.

But Noh Yoon-hyun retorted.

“Doing something passionately is also a good experience. It’s much more productive and constructive than kids who just follow what other kids do.”

He’ll intervene immediately if he sees him doing it half-heartedly.

Lastly.

Noh Yoon-hyun recalled Hae-il’s YouTube channel, which he had seen recently to get parental consent for monetization. The scale is not yet large, and he doesn’t know how much revenue will come out.

The numbers shown by views, likes, and comments showed ‘value.’

No matter how much revenue comes out, the experience of making money will help Hae-il.

Even if it’s less money. It’s enough as a portfolio.

‘There’s no need to be obsessed with Korea.’

If he continues to be active, he doesn’t seem to need to insist on Korea University alone.

He discovered his son’s value in those numbers.

#

Friday afternoon.

When the setting sun cast its glow on the windows of Jamsil Lake Palace.

[Make sure to watch it]

When he opened his eyes, there was something like a threatening message.

Halo clicked his tongue and got out of bed.

It was 4 PM because he had stayed up all night. It’s a common occurrence.

He took some time to check his email, but he hadn’t received an email from YouTube headquarters yet.

Yeah, there’s no way they’d work diligently.

“Isn’t Soyou Episode 1 on today? Should we eat chicken and watch it tonight?”

His mother still doesn’t seem to understand the high school issue, but she hasn’t forgotten about today’s Show Your Show [likely a TV program]. His mother is texting someone.

Halo had no intention of watching Soyou, but he opened his mouth at the word chicken.

“I want half and half.”