The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1141

< The Meaning of 13 -114>

In the end, Lil couldn’t bring himself to say HALO.

He watched the boy’s new song stage, ‘Welcome to my world,’ with a heavy heart.

But at the same time, he knew.

That if he wanted to, he could call the boy’s name at any time. It was the same now.

So, the reason he couldn’t say HALO’s name probably wasn’t a matter of timing.

Lil recalled the conversation he had at the label.

-I thought there wasn’t much time left. Until the day you call my name.

Yes, he said there wasn’t much time left.

Even if he didn’t force him to reveal it, he would soon reach the top. Lil decided to be uncharacteristically patient.

However, he didn’t want to part ways like this.

Since he had already broken the rehearsal order with ad-libs, breaking it one more time wouldn’t make a difference.

After the special guest’s performance of his new song, Lil persistently tried to keep the boy around with conversation.

“Roh. By any chance, could I ask you for one more favor?”

“What is it?”

It’s not a difficult request.

However, something else came to mind.

“That unreleased song you played on the last day of your concert. Could you possibly let me hear it?”

The unreleased song that was only rumored to exist.

He wanted to hear that song.

It hadn’t been uploaded to YouTube yet, and more than anything, his intuition was kicking in.

Lil somehow thought that song might be HALO’s, not Roh’s.

The feeling that it was a bit different from Rohaeil’s usual music.

And considering that Rohaeil released a regular album around the time of the concert, it was entirely possible.

HALO’s albums come out every month, so he must have songs he’s made.

In fact, it was half speculation, but Lil had a strong intuition when he saw HALO smirking at his request.

‘Maybe it’s real…?’

Finally, the boy answered.

“Okay.”

With that one answer, people who understood English cheered, and those who received the translation later shouted along.

Soon, the boy stepped forward, gently played the electric guitar, and then his voice echoed.

The music, named ‘Until Dawn Comes,’ had Korean lyrics and was very peaceful compared to HALO’s music so far. But, within it, HALO’s unique sensibility existed.

A dim dawn unfolds.

A twilight that subdues all the whirlpools of chaos.

It signaled the end of the war, but there was no joy or delight afterward.

Like survivors returning to their devastated hometowns after the war, a deep sense of emptiness was felt.

The soft and gentle melody was the ‘music that would ruin the atmosphere’ that the Scorpion audience was most worried about, but no one disliked it.

Tears welled up in someone’s eyes.

They were swept away by intense emotions.

The boy’s voice, now accompanied by the electric guitar instead of an acoustic one, scattered through the venue, and the special stage came to an end.

A moment of silence.

Soon, the boy was greeted by the Scorpion fans’ unique cheering method.

They stomped their feet, a form of comfort, and expressed their appreciation by straining their voices.

The Scorpion members applauded as if they had enjoyed it immensely.

“…I listened well, Roh.”

The Scorpion members enjoyed HALO’s unique surge of emotions and thought.

‘Don’t you know, even now?’

He wanted to shout to the people chanting Rohaeil’s name, but the words were stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out.

And he answered himself.

‘As expected, the only ones who can immediately recognize a genius are geniuses themselves. Like me.’

“Thank you for granting my request.”

‘My revered sun.’

“When can I hear that song again?”

It took 11 seconds for Scorpion’s question to be understood by the entire audience. Cheers erupted at the question that accurately represented the audience’s feelings.

HALO answered honestly.

“Around the time the thirteenth album comes out?”

“Thirteen. Then there’s not much left.”

Even if they didn’t understand English, it was hard not to know the word ‘thirteen’. People started to murmur.

That’s because Rohaeil had just released his first regular album. But the thirteenth album?

“Are you kidding me?”

Someone muttered.

What was even more incomprehensible was Scorpion’s answer.

‘Not much left?’

What were they talking about right now? Was this some kind of American joke?

Those who had thrown the audience into chaos greeted them without paying attention.

Rohaeil’s special stage ended there.

That’s how Scorpion’s stage started again, and until the encore, encore, and encore, they strained their voices. The day of the fans who had been eagerly waiting for his visit to Korea was perfectly over.

The Scorpion concert, which presented metal fans with a hellish performance, ended. It was a shame that the Japan tour was right around the corner.

“Please come again next time.”

“I’ll buy a lot of albums!”

“Please call Haeil again next time!”

Those who came to the concert chased after them to the airport and waved their hands. Scorpion didn’t look back and raised his thumb.

‘I will be back.’

At the promise to return, the middle-aged fans shouted, “Woah!”

Scorpion’s concert ended like that, but it wasn’t over yet. First of all, Scorpion’s post on Byeolgram [Korean social media similar to Instagram], which seemed to be about the Korean concert or Rohaeil, was uploaded and circulated in various online communities.

[@SCORPION: It was the best concert. Thank you, Roh and Korea] The post included a certification shot of Rohaeil’s gift, which was only given to 830 elite knights selected with the comment.

└ Wow, he was a real successful fan

└ No, I’m jealous… ㅅㅂ [Korean slang for “damn it”]

└ Scorpion succeeded and met Rohaeil too

└ How to get Rohaeil merchandise: Become a star and get invited as a guest

└ It’s really easy lol

Reviews and reactions to the Scorpion concert poured in the next day.

That’s when it started.

[Rohaeil, guest appearance at the world-renowned metal band Scorpion’s Korean concert]

[K-pop singer ‘respected’ by a world-renowned band]

[What happened at the Scorpion concert?]

[The easiest way to get Rohaeil’s small theater concert merchandise]

Anyone who saw it would think that Korea was the mecca of metal, and the names ‘Metal’ and ‘Scorpion’ dominated the internet the next day.

Even people who weren’t usually interested in metal knew the name Rohaeil.

Even people who weren’t interested in Rohaeil flocked to the phrase ‘the world-leading K-pop industry,’ waking up in the middle of the night.

[ㄷㄷ [Korean abbreviation for trembling] Is this going to be a success? I met the leader of a world-renowned band while traveling?]

[If they praise him so much, someone might have filmed it. I’ve been Googling the Trafalgar guitar battle video for 3 hours and haven’t found it yet. Has anyone found it?]

[With that level of friendship, it seems like they really came to see Rohaeil? What is the network]

And finally, fans who broke through the terrifying odds of 830 and saw Rohaeil’s stage also flocked to the cafe.

[Everything is good, but two songs are too shortㅠㅠ]

[Why are you performing so well in places like this, but 830···ha [sigh]]

└My hands and feet tremble just hearing the sound of 830

[?? No, Rohaeil came out as a guest? Why didn’t anyone tell me???]

What caused the biggest reaction was not people’s voices but fancam videos.

As the Olympic Hall accommodates more than 2,000 spectators, a much larger amount of fancams were uploaded compared to Rohaeil’s previous small theater concert.

The YouTube video titled [(311022) The guitarist that Scorpion newly recruited was···.] reached one million views in a few hours.

The fancam of the unreleased song that he called for the last concert at the small theater and had not been uploaded until now ranked first in real-time hot videos.

[(Fancam) (4K 60P) Rohaeil – (Unreleased song) Until Dawn Comes]

└ Wow··· it’s just amazing

└ I saw a guy who came to the last concert asking to release it, and that’s me right nowㅠㅠㅠㅠ Please release the sound source···. You’ve completed it, so please release it

└ Rohaeil is a genius and Godcolpion [portmanteau of God and Scorpion] is a god.

└ He’s making him do that, Saseuga God God God God Hyungnim [Korean honorific for older brother/male figure]ㅜㅜ

└ From today, any insult to Godcolpion Hyungnim will be considered an attack on me.

Numerous videos uploaded to YouTube.

Among them, these two videos were the first to gain traction and had high views. There was no one who had only seen it once.

However, this was not the end.

People were not satisfied with the video.

Those who initially cried while listening to the unreleased song, admired the guitar performance, and spent several hours later focused on the talk that Scorpion and Rohaeil had.

What was being discussed in the community was not just the two videos. Of course, tears and curses were prevalent, but serious discussions were also taking place.

The first discussion was about Struggle (Struggle│HALO 1st album title), which Rohaeil and Scorpion played last winter, and was mainly shared in the HALO community.

And the second. The conversation that is now taking place in earnest is the conversation between Rohaeil and Lil about the unreleased song.

Rohaeil’s answer to Lil’s question, ‘When can I hear that song again?’

-Around the time the thirteenth album comes out?

At first, people thought it meant that there were no plans yet, but the more they thought about it, the more subtle the number thirteen seemed.

[Why thirteen out of so many numbers?]

└ Do you have to find meaning? It’s the same as no comment

└ I thought that was a bit strange too.

└ Are you just saying you’ll release it around the 100th album?

└ Then you can just say someday. Specifying the thirteenth, isn’t there something?

└ Rohaeil has just released his first regular album, so what’s up to the 13th album?

Most people told him not to give meaning to one person’s question, but some agreed.

[You can just think of it as Friday the 13th, or Rohaeil is a Christian. 13 is a special number in Christianity]

└ 13 is the 6th prime number and the 7th Fibonacci number. Archimedes’ polyhedron has 13 types.

└ Wikipedia stop!

└ There’s nothing but an ominous number. It looks like he just said a number that came to mind

It was clear that the number thirteen was strange. In addition, what was even stranger was Scorpion’s answer.

-Thirteen? Then there’s not much left

Like the people at the concert murmured, ‘Is this an American joke?’ it was an incomprehensible conversation.

Then someone said.

[Guys, since Haeil makes a comeback three times a year, wouldn’t it be theoretically possible in 4 or 5 years?]

└ lolololol 4 years is not much left

└ This is Rohaeil’s karma for bringing up the number 13

└ Considering the karma, Rohaeil has to release up to 830 albums, seriously

They even came up with a theory that other singers would shout, ‘Die···. Kill···. Give···.’ if they heard it.

In fact, if they had dug a little deeper here, a more insightful conversation might have taken place, but people did not. Also, the world was noisy with articles.

For example, HALO’s 9th album title ‘L=299m/s’ entered the Billboard Top 9 for the first time. ‘I AM HALO’ has been in the Billboard Top 100 for the longest time.

Rohaeil received the No. 1 trophy on a music show without appearing on the show, and the casting of the original musical ‘Rock’, which was most talked about among musical fans, was completed.

And there was another piece of news that people in the industry, not the public, were focusing on. Veil, who accompanied Scorpion from Taiwan, stayed in Korea without following Scorpion’s Japan tour.

This was the biggest issue in the entertainment industry, which is always interested in the overseas music industry.

‘Isn’t it August Veil?’

He is known to the public as the only person who knows HALO’s identity, but his influence extends far beyond just knowing HALO.

Before becoming the CEO of the music distribution company Veil.

He was the owner of Augustus Records.

Everyone knows that the current CEO of Augustus is John Leonard. But the important thing is that the real owner is still August Veil.

Singers, idol agencies, and broadcasting stations couldn’t help but pay attention to his moves as the owner of a large agency that encompasses music production and management, ranking among the top four with Sony and Warner Brothers.

He wouldn’t have just come to Korea to play around, and there must be a reason why he stayed in Korea.

And that was the same for John, the Veil Company in charge (?) wrecker who persistently chased after August Veil.

‘Who did you come to recruit?’

He had already memorized the singers listed on the Veil Company website.

He was so confident that if he went on a quiz show and asked about Veil Company’s singers, he would do well.

As far as he knew, the only singer who had a contract with Veil who was of Asian descent was a Japanese rock band. So he wouldn’t have come to take care of that singer.

He must have come to sign a contract with a new singer. Considering that he stayed directly instead of sending an employee, it was likely that he was a fairly famous singer.

‘Damn old man. Are you not going to let me meet the sun [referring to finding a star to manage] forever like this?’

August Veil had already noticed his existence. He regretted not acting more secretly, but he wasn’t too disappointed when he thought about the money he had earned from YouTube.

He was the only one left after the other wreckers had fallen. If he discovered the sun in this situation, he would make an astronomical amount of money. He had a fantasy of riding a luxury yacht and playing with beautiful women on a private beach.

He almost gave up the moment the old man settled in Korea.

‘I’ll just film the singer I’m going to recruit.’

John waited with a camera at a cafe across from the hotel where August Veil was staying.

Suddenly, a familiar old man comes out into the lobby. John’s eyes widened. A luxury large taxi was waiting in front of the old man, and then another small taxi stuck closely behind the large taxi.

John didn’t pay much attention when he saw another guest getting off there.

John hurriedly ran out of the cafe. The old man was not clearly visible because he was covered by the large taxi, but it was clear that he had boarded.

John got into the car he had rented as soon as he arrived in Korea and tried to chase after the large taxi that had just left.

Then, the small taxi that was close to the large taxi caught his eye.

‘Wait a minute.’

John pondered.

He didn’t see properly which car the old man got into. The reason he thought he got into the large taxi was because he couldn’t see inside the taxi properly, and because he saw the old man standing in front of it.

But what if the old man didn’t get in there?

Because the old man knows of his existence.

John, who was conflicted, saw the directions of the two cars diverging. There’s no time to think. Eventually, you have to choose.

“Damn old man!”

John decided to trust his intuition and chased after the small taxi. He doesn’t know the geography of Seoul well, so he only feels uneasy. The taxi didn’t stop and continued on its way.

‘If I can just confirm that the old man isn’t there, I’ll turn the car around right away.’

How long has it been since I started chasing?

John missed the taxi due to the cars parked close together near the building and the one-way road.

“Fuck!”

He hit the steering wheel and tried to turn around while cursing.

John suddenly realized that he was familiar with this neighborhood.

‘Where did I see this?’ He has only been chasing after the old man, so he has never been to another neighborhood.

Why is a neighborhood I’ve never been to familiar as if I’ve seen it once?

Suddenly, a memory flashes through his mind.

Scorpion!

As soon as Scorpion came to Korea, he visited a young boy’s label. He recalled that the alley and store that appeared in the video and photos were exactly like this place.

“Wait a minute···. If Veil was in that taxi, then coming here is···.”

Of course, there are many entertainment companies in Seongsu-dong. But he didn’t even know that far, so John accidentally guessed the correct answer.

“Are you here to see that guest now?”