The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 461

# 46 From Today, We Are

Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, is always bustling with office workers. Cafes and restaurants near broadcasting stations are especially busy, constantly fulfilling orders, making weekends feel meaningless.

HBC Broadcasting Station’s second building, 18th floor.

The music support team sitting in the [From Today, We Are] conference room was either sipping from cups with deep teeth marks or leaning against the wall, exhausted.

“We need to wrap up the OST [original soundtrack] work soon,” one of them said, his voice trailing off.

As soon as the drama synopsis came out, they composed music suitable for the drama and scouted singers.

They had already finished casting famous singers.

However, the music director and the general director wanted a youthful and unique tone for the character’s theme song, so the casting wasn’t entirely complete yet.

‘It’s good to look for a youthful voice for a youth drama, but I didn’t know it would be delayed this much.’

They needed to start making progress before the broadcast began.

Of course, some broadcasts record with only two episodes left. These days, if the response is good, they even add OSTs.

However, it was important to finish the theme song for the supporting character who would appear in the second episode.

“For a new singer, how about Raon Gil?”

“Raon Gil? You mean Raon Gil from Sso-U [a fictional group]?”

“Yes, Raon Gil from P-R [another fictional entertainment company]. The one the director enjoyed watching.”

The music director raised his head at the familiar name.

“That also got boring after about two or three episodes. The teaser was well-made, though.”

“Well, didn’t it do well anyway? So, how about Raon Gil?”

“Raon Gil… I think Yujin suits Hee-tae better, doesn’t she? She’s brighter.”

“Of course.”

“Then, request a casting.”

“What about Hee-tae?”

“…Hold off for now.”

The shaggy-haired person who suggested P-R’s ‘Raon Gil’ crossed his arms as if he knew it would happen.

“Are you still waiting for that YouTuber or whatever?”

They should have finished casting a long time ago.

Someone was so captivated by the YouTuber that this hold was endlessly prolonged.

Not even a famous kid, why are they so hung up on someone who only uploaded one video…!

Of course, they had seen it too.

How good that kid’s song was.

The youngest member, with a keen sense of emotion, teared up.

He understood well that it would suit the theme song of the quiet, model student ‘Hee-tae’.

Still, this wasn’t right.

“At this point, shouldn’t we just give up? We’ve done everything we can. If he doesn’t do it, it’s his loss, not ours, right?”

There was no response from their side, and since they weren’t even confirming properly, they couldn’t just wait with their hands tied.

He’s just a YouTuber, isn’t he a regular person?

A new voice, a character theme song.

They knew it would be a good fit, but there would be many singers who could sing well and digest the character’s theme well if they looked for them.

What were they lacking?

“Forget it. Our director is already hooked. In fact, he even talked about signing a contract with that YouTuber and getting a song. It didn’t match the drama’s image, so he didn’t. If it was a desperate romance, he would have included it.”

The team members continued to protest and complain.

The director couldn’t endlessly ignore this.

The drama production was already underway, and…

But really, it would be great to bring him in.

“Let’s wait just one more day,” the director concluded, as if he couldn’t help it.

#

Click.

“Hmm.”

Halo scrolled down, checking YouTube.

Of course, this time he wasn’t checking the [HALO_Official] account.

He logged in with the ID [wave_r] that he had forgotten and buried. It was automatically saved.

He thought it would be buried as it was among countless videos.

The number of subscribers had decreased in the meantime. They thought it was a dead account and unsubscribed.

However, there were still people listening to [Confession], and some were asking for the sound source to be released on Melon [a Korean music streaming service].

Some of the subscribers might have even forgotten to unsubscribe, but some would be waiting.

Halo played [Confession] and stared at the phone number Kang Young-min had given him.

Kang Young-min said that quite some time had passed, so they might have already finished casting. But he gave it to him in case he was interested.

Originally.

Halo wouldn’t have been interested.

He would have preferred a songwriting request, but this was a vocal request for a drama original soundtrack.

‘In other words, they’re asking me to sing someone else’s song.’

He had never sung someone else’s song in his life.

There were many requests for featuring and duets, but he always refused. He was too busy with his own music, and there were many songs of a quality he didn’t want to sing.

Thinking about it, that’s right.

This was a situation where he didn’t even know what kind of song it was.

Originally, he would have refused, of course.

But what bothered him was that this opportunity hadn’t come to ‘Halo’.

This OST request was Noh Hae-il’s share and the result he should have won.

He couldn’t refuse, thinking that Noh Hae-il might have taken the stage starting with this request.

‘If it was Noh Hae-il, it would have been clear, right?’

Halo tapped the desk and picked up the business card.

And with his other hand, he pressed the numbers.

A man’s voice was heard immediately, as if he had been holding the phone.

[Yes, hello?]

#

“Yes, hello?”

The AD [assistant director] answered the phone in a bent posture and left the conference room. People who glanced at him lost interest.

For broadcasters, it was common to live with a phone in hand, so they didn’t scold or feel unpleasant about answering calls or playing on their phones during meetings.

They were just on their phones all day in the office anyway.

More important than that was the general director in front of him.

The general PD [producing director] wrapped up the meeting and looked at the music director one last time.

“Jungho.”

“Yes.”

He seriously called the music director for once.

And after letting out a deep sigh, he said.

“Let’s just do it moderately now.”

The music director’s eyes widened.

The general PD added, as if he knew everything.

“I’m sad too, but we don’t have any reason to cling. Is there only one singer in the world?”

“…That’s right.”

“And how did the Raon Gil casting go?”

“Of course, he accepted,” the AD who was in charge of casting shouted.

The general PD thought. It dragged on a bit.

There was no need to drag the lead’s theme song like this, but he was too obsessed with the supporting character’s theme song.

The music director also honestly admitted.

He was about to answer, ‘I understand. I’ll give up and request casting from other agencies.’

The door burst open and the AD who had gone to answer the phone came in. He shook the phone with the brightest face he had seen this year.

“Director, PD! He’s here!”

“Did you order tteokbokki [spicy rice cakes, a popular Korean snack] or something?”

The PD asked leisurely, and the AD waved his hands.

“No, that’s not it…!”

“Then?”

“That YouTuber you wanted so much, PD. He just called. He said he wants to do it.”

There was a moment of silence.

The conclusion to give up had just been reached in the conference room, and the call came with it.

The music director jumped up.

Since watching the [Confession] video, he had wanted to bring that kid in no matter what. He thought that kid’s song would suit ‘Hee-tae’, who the writer hinted had a twist, the most.

“Tell him to come right now!”

The director shouted, jumping up.

The AD, who knew how desperate the director was, nodded.

“Yes! I’ll tell him that.”

#

“Drama OST recording?”

“Yes, I heard it’s a character theme song. Ah, but they said that not all recordings are inserted into the drama, so don’t expect too much.”

“Even if they say that, I’m sure it will be included, right?”

Halo smiled and nodded.

If they don’t choose his song, whose song can they choose?

“That’s good. Did you ask what drama it is?”

“They said they would tell me the details at the meeting. What I heard is that it’s a drama that will be broadcast soon.”

“Oh, soon?”

It was a sudden meeting.

However, his mother readily offered to take him when she heard it was a drama OST. She canceled her appointment with a friend and is now taking him to a cafe in Sangam-dong.

“That’s great.”

His mother expressed her joy while driving.

“You haven’t had many songs you wanted to sing these days, so that’s great. If it’s our son’s song, it must be a good song, right?”

“Huh?”

No songs she wanted to sing?

Halo tilted his head and replied.

“You can sing my songs.”

In the meantime, numerous sound sources have been uploaded to the platform under the name of HALO. Four songs from the 1st album, six songs from the 2nd album, and five songs from the 3rd album. In addition to that, singles. It’s not a small amount.

“Well, it’s a bit difficult for Mom to sing along.”

Halo turned his head at the unexpected answer.

“My songs are difficult?”

“A little? I can do songs like ‘when we meet again’, but other songs are a bit hard for Mom.”

With those words, a memory flashed by.

His mother didn’t hum his songs well. His mother, who used to hum like a jukebox in the quiet house, didn’t often sing along to his songs.

‘Was it because it was difficult?’

He didn’t understand at all.

It couldn’t be that English was difficult.

His mother knew English, and ‘when we meet again’ was also in the original language.

‘Then what’s so difficult?’

Halo thought about the difference between ‘when we meet again’, which his mother sang the most, and other songs.

He couldn’t think of a difference.

Was it that the former had a bright melody?

However, the melody was bright in the 3rd album ‘Even so we do’ that will be uploaded this time as well. The melody itself is cheerful and upbeat. It’s just that the lyrics are depressing, and the performance is ridiculously difficult.

‘Hmm…’

He seemed to know roughly.

He deliberately made the rhythm and chords difficult to kill the other performers. He made the emotions, melodies, and playing methods only for him.

‘It might be difficult.’

Halo pondered the words until he arrived at the meeting place.

#

“Halo? What’s that?”

It’s always noisy outside.

Korea is also a volatile place, but it can’t keep up with overseas. New trends, new stars, new issues.

Kim Kyung-jin was always a beat behind those around him.

Then his colleague scolded him.

“Hey, if you’re working in this field, you should have already known. What, did you come from a temple stay or something?”

“Where do I have time to see Buddha? I have to see artists.”

“So, are you really just looking at kids?”

Not exactly.

Kim Kyung-jin wondered what it was that he had to be scolded like this.

“And what do you mean what is it! If you go abroad and say that, you’ll get beaten to death? Haven’t you seen Korean singers who went abroad putting sun emojis on their SNS [social networking service]?”

“Really? I’ll look it up later. I have something to tell Raon right now.”

Kim Kyung-jin, who looks at the Melon chart but doesn’t listen to the Billboard chart, simply thought that another star had appeared this time.

Overseas stars or whatever, he had to do the work he was assigned first.

He headed to Raon Gil, who would be in the practice room. He was going to tell Raon Gil, who hasn’t been in good spirits lately, that he had received an offer for a drama OST.

It’s a really good opportunity as a rookie. Participating in the OST is an opportunity to easily make your name known to the public, and if the drama does well, the benefits will be even greater.

Of course, hbc is weak in dramas, but isn’t hbc the one that occasionally makes big hits?

Also, after checking the synopsis posted on the site, it looked good.

The story is about a protagonist who used to be a delinquent teaching high school delinquents who gave up studying.

There is also an original work, so the story won’t go to the mountains [won’t go off track].

“Raon-ah.”

Kim Kyung-jin found Raon Gil sitting crouched in the practice room, listening to music.

“Yes, hyung [older brother or male friend].”

“Do you want to do a drama OST?”

“Drama?”

Raon Gil raises his head.

It was clear that he was interested.

He explained roughly what kind of drama it was.

The synopsis, the production crew lineup. And he also said how good an opportunity OST participation is.

“I thought it would be good if you participated too. I heard that quite a few rookie singers are participating this time.”

“…Okay.”

Raon Gil nodded roughly.

For now, the affirmation is affirmation, but it’s unsettling.

Raon Gil still seemed to be caught up in Sso-U.

Or maybe he was sad that his newly made friend had fallen into disgrace.

It wasn’t good to keep going like this.

Kim Kyung-jin decided to persuade Raon Gil like an adult so that he could do the OST.

“Don’t be so frustrated, just contact him, Raon-ah. He said he’ll buy you food. If you record the OST, you’ll make money, so buy it with that. Well, if you’re burdened, bring any of your friends.”

“!”

Raon Gil, who had been looking at his phone without contacting him, raised his head sharply. It’s a method he’s never thought of. But it seemed like it would work.

Someday, Jang Jin-soo will introduce you to a friend who is similar to you. He’s the co-composer and arranger of ‘Show Me the Money’ [a popular Korean rap competition show].

Well, I’m curious about that friend too, but I’m more worried about Jang Jin-soo.

“Okay, I’ll contact you when I make money!”

Raon Gil shouted loudly.