The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1271

Like Planets Orbiting the Sun

< Chapter 127 Like Planets Orbiting the Sun >

[How’s the accommodation?]

Halo chuckled, watching the members excitedly explore the hotel, commenting on the lobby and the swimming pool.

“The view is great.”

[The Four Seasons always picks a good location. The view from my villa would be even better, if it weren’t for the leaks.]

“Invite me next time.”

[Of course, once it’s repaired, I’ll give you a free pass to visit anytime. Let me know if you ever want to stay here.]

He spoke as if he would just give it away if asked. Halo took the devotion of his most ardent fan as a joke and nodded to the manager, who was staring at him adoringly.

When he came down to the lobby at 11 a.m., the hotel manager approached him. He came quickly, as if he had been waiting for him, and greeted him very politely.

He didn’t bother asking about the hotel service. The manager, adhering to the principle of not making VVIPs [Very Very Important People] wait or bothering them, handed him a shopping bag.

Halo opened it and called August Veil.

“Why didn’t you come yourself?”

[Were you perhaps expecting me? Too bad. Something suddenly came up. I was originally planning to wait for you at my villa, like Don Corleone in *The Godfather*.]

August Veil’s voice sounded genuinely regretful. Halo chuckled and twirled the card in his hand as he asked,

“What is this, by the way?”

[The one the manager gave you? It’s for emergencies. Show it if you have any problems, not just at shops.]

August Veil, who had brought him to Prague via hijacking, sent his card through the manager instead of appearing himself.

Halo didn’t think it was necessary, but he put it in his wallet when the manager looked at him as if asking if there was a problem.

[Is it too much of a burden?]

The cautious voice of the old man came from the other end of the phone.

It wasn’t a burden. His fans were always eager to give him things, so he was used to it. So, instead of saying no, Halo made a joke.

“How much can I buy with this?”

[Anything.]

“What, even a rocket?”

[Oh, do you want to go to Mars?]

“I have a dream of busking in front of aliens.”

[Then I should call NASA for the first time in a while.]

They both chuckled, exchanging jokes that were hard to tell if they were serious. After the short call, he approached the members. The members were having a serious conversation, unaware that he was coming.

“Don’t they serve breakfast here?”

“No hotel serves breakfast at 11 a.m., do they?”

“Then let’s go eat some *Gukbap* [Korean soup with rice].”

“…This isn’t Gyeonggi-do Prague; it’s Czech Prague.”

Their admiration for the hotel seemed to have ended a while ago.

“Did you guys wait long?”

“Halo’s here?”

“The boss is here!”

“I can wait forever.”

“Shall we go now, then?”

“Where should we go first?”

Seo-yeon Moon, Gyu-hwan Nam, and Jin-yeong Han all waited for Halo’s answer. They had stayed in place until his phone call was over, so they must have wanted to go out.

“Anywhere.”

At that one word, they all jumped up excitedly.

#

January in Prague is the coldest month of the year. The weather requires wearing a padded jacket or a thick coat and scarf.

But today, the weather was quite mild.

The sky was cloudy, but there were tourists on the streets wearing relatively light clothes – for winter.

Gyu-hwan Nam, who had been looking for *Gukbap*, was satisfied with a hot dog with a long red sausage, Jin-yeong Han had a burger, and Seo-yeon Moon held a *Trdelník* [chimney bread] in her hand as they moved.

Halo, who originally wanted to walk around drinking beer, was content with fresh fruit juice made with pear.

Their footsteps led them to the Charles Bridge, which was easily visible from the hotel. In fact, the Charles Bridge, which would have taken only a few minutes to reach if they hadn’t been searching for street food, was already full of tourists.

Almost to the point of being tiring.

But they were drawn in by the sweet air and the melody of the instruments.

A very shabby band was playing a song enthusiastically. Everyone looked happy, even though they didn’t know what the song was. Unfortunately, more people passed by due to the rather complex and difficult music.

As fellow band members, they listened to their music with curious eyes.

Looking at each session individually, they weren’t unskilled, but it wasn’t really their taste.

“Um, shall we go in?”

At that moment, he made eye contact with the guitarist of the punk rock band. It was a look that said, ‘Even you guys…’ ‘Don’t go.’

Apparently, quite a few people had turned away from their song.

Halo, who had been following the members, stopped when he heard a familiar language.

“Aish, at this rate, everyone’s going to leave! Guys, let’s use our special move!”

“Use our special move already?”

“What does it matter? What else are we saving it for? (He who saves for tomorrow saves for the cat)”

“What if this doesn’t work either?”

“No way, this is…”

At the same time as the cheerful Dutch words passed by his ears, their song changed instantly. A familiar melody began to resonate instead of the difficult punk.

The child, who had been fussing in his father’s arms, pointed at them and shouted.

“Oh, it’s the Sun!”

It was a track from HALO’s 9th album, Speed of Earth.

And like magic.

The man holding his son, the tourists taking pictures while sitting on the bridge, the lovers walking closely together, and the gaze of the cruise passengers passing under the bridge turned to them.

People began to gather around the music of HALO, which resonated on the Charles Bridge, like planets orbiting the sun.

“Wow, that’s good.”

“They can play it like that too.”

“Not bad…”

Like Halo, who had stopped before they did, the members also crossed their arms and looked back at them.

The punk rock style cover of HALO’s 9th album, which was like a scream, sounded pretty good, to the point where you could understand why punk rock, which was difficult and like noise, was attractive music.

Their cover was good enough for the world’s most demanding HALO fan to reluctantly add.

“What do you think, boss?”

When Seo-yeon Moon asked, Halo stared at the band as if he hadn’t heard her.

As much as their cover, what caught his eye was the band’s dynamism. The punk band, who seemed intoxicated by their music as they played and sang, and the audience, who sang along to HALO’s music or nodded their heads, came into his eyes.

Halo suddenly felt it.

Something felt a little strange.

He and his music had always been loved by the public, so there was nothing new about it, but being reconfirmed of his music by a band’s busking in a new world and a new space-time that he wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t become Noh Halo made him feel quite strange.

Seo-yeon Moon didn’t get an answer after all.

Nevertheless, she smiled contentedly, looking at the boy’s expression.

The band, who had been covering HALO for a while, monopolized the attention they wanted. In fact, even if it wasn’t for the audience’s reaction, they seemed to be enjoying themselves while playing the HALO album, in some ways, even more than their own songs.

After sitting on the Charles Bridge and watching their performance for a while, they left after Seo-yeon Moon finished eating her chocolate-covered chimney bread.

They walked to Prague Castle via the Charles Bridge, and for Seo-yeon Moon, who couldn’t let go of her longing for the tram, they decided to take the tram back.

The splendid stained glass of St. Vitus Cathedral and the busking performance in Prague Castle, and the most memorable thing was the view of Prague from the castle walls.

“This is Europe. The weather is good; everything is good.”

“…It’s gloomy, though?”

“How can you be so unromantic when you make music?”

Gyu-hwan Nam muttered, looking at the cloudy sky. The two, who would normally have bickered, looked at the scenery with a more relaxed mind.

The red roofs and pointed spires were similar to those of any European city. Halo stood on the castle walls with his arms crossed.

He was staring at the city without admiring or smiling. He quietly tried to remember what it was like in the old days, but nothing came to mind.

Perhaps it was because so much had changed since then. Also, he ran away more often.

He didn’t have time to sit down and watch, but he didn’t hate it. He quite enjoyed playing tag with his fans.

They wandered around like real tourists.

They spaced out while looking at the river, watched busking performances, fed seagulls and got chased, took a cruise at night, and went to luxury shopping streets.

The members realized then why Halo hadn’t brought any luggage. Those with money didn’t need luggage.

And one night, spending leisurely in Prague,

Halo came out of the hotel alone.

He hadn’t lost the habit of wandering around without his parents’ permission, so he came to the entrance of the Charles Bridge and found the band.

The band, who may or may not have been Czech, always stayed in the same place. Just as the boy watched the band’s performance until it was over, there was no way the tall boy with a guitar case and a cap pulled down low wouldn’t have caught the band’s eye.

“Hey, you there.”

That day, the punk band stopped cleaning up after their performance and called him. It was the first time.

“You come here every day to listen to our music, so how about buying a CD out of courtesy?”

When the guitarist with the fierce impression said that, the keyboardist behind him hit him on the back.

“Hey, why are you threatening my fan?”

“Your fan?”

“He comes to see me every day.”

“Are you crazy?”

He had made eye contact with others, too.

As Halo watched them bickering, the drummer shrugged as if he was used to it.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s not a bad guy; he’s just hungry right now. Sorry if you felt bad.”

“I wasn’t really offended.”

For a moment, he was taken aback by the clear voice, but then the entire band stared at him, wide-eyed.

And for good reason. The language they heard wasn’t English, nor the tiresome Czech, but their own native tongue.

“! What, you’re one of us?”

“Are you from Den Haag [The Hague]?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Halo shrugged.

Although he wasn’t from the same place, the fact that he spoke their language created a sense of camaraderie, and they abandoned their instruments to start talking to him in earnest.

They leaned against the bridge railing, and Halo sat facing them, engaging in conversation, made easier by the late hour.

“So, where are you from?”

“Seoul.”

“Seoul? You mean South Korea, right?”

The drummer acted like he knew, and his friends were surprised at his knowledge. The drummer shook his head.

“You guys saw it on Netflix, too, didn’t you? You don’t remember? That battle royale thing.”

“Oh! I remember! Was it ‘Squid Game’?”

“Probably.”

Then they excitedly started talking about Korean dramas they had seen on Netflix, but Halo hadn’t watched them, so he didn’t understand at all.

“You’ve come from quite far. Nice to meet you. Are you here on vacation?”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, we’re tourists too. Though we became beggars overnight.”

Contrary to their fierce appearances, they were definitely free spirits. Like their bohemian attire, they said they had taken a short vacation and left home to busk [perform music in public for donations].

Also, they were very talkative. It didn’t take long for Halo to learn that they had been pickpocketed and lost everything except their instruments.

“He’s the one who got the angriest, even though he didn’t keep a proper watch.”

“If they were going to steal something, they should have taken the CDs that don’t sell. They only took the essentials. I’ve been wearing these clothes for days.”

“Still, it’s fortunate that we protected what’s most precious, right?”

“You mean the equipment that’s more expensive than our bodies?”

“And our music!”

Ha-ha! They said their wallets and even their backpacks were stolen. They had inadvertently become single-outfit musicians.

Considering their situation, not returning home and continuing to busk until today, they were definitely cheerful guys.

“Well, thanks for listening to our story. It’s a shame to part ways like this, so shall we play a bit more before we go?”

“The police will definitely come, but I like it. That’s the thrill. What song shall we do this time?”

“Didn’t you see the people’s reactions? Obviously, ‘HALO’!”

“What about our songs?”

“Honestly, isn’t it more fun to play HALO’s songs than ours?”

“Honestly… True!”

“Hey, boy! Wanna join in? You look like you can handle a guitar.”

“It’ll be quite tough.”

At the almost-refusal, the four men’s gazes became earnest.

“Why? Are you not confident?”

“It’s okay if you’re not good. What does it matter if you’re a little bad?”

“Let’s enjoy it like men!”

Halo raised the corners of his mouth and then opened his mouth.

“I’m not talking about me, but you guys. It’s not that I’m just a little good.”

“What?!”

At the boy’s provocation, the drummer slapped him on the back with his large hand and burst into laughter, saying he liked him.

Halo watched the night view of Prague and played with the punk band. Surprised by the boy’s flamboyant performance as much as his provocation.

As much as it was a shame that there weren’t many spectators, they enjoyed the party in their own way.

And, as the night became excessively cold, the performance naturally stopped. Halo pointed to the CDs they had displayed in front of the guitar case.

“How much are those?”

“Oh! My God! You’re the first person to ask about the price of our album!”

The keyboardist, intoxicated with music instead of alcohol, said excitedly.

“It’s usually 10 euros, but since you listened to our performance every day, I’ll give you a friend discount. Just pay 1 euro.”

“If you don’t have euros, korunas [Czech currency] are fine too.”

“Just take it. It’s not much.”

“Hey! We still have to get the CD price.”

“Well, it’s not like we commissioned it to a production company, we burned it ourselves on the computer.”

The guitarist, who had been grumbling earlier, just handed him the CD. No wonder the CD cover was a mess. It looked like a six-year-old baby had scribbled on the wallpaper with a marker.

“Hey, you still have to pay for my laptop’s heat emission. My startup is slower because I burned the CD.”

“Just delete a few things from the hard drive.”

“Are you telling me to break up with my wife [delete his pr0n]?”

Halo chuckled as he watched the cheerful friends until the end. It seemed like he had a satisfying day. He received the CD and opened his wallet.

Since he usually used credit cards, his wallet was full of cash for snacks – for street food that didn’t accept credit cards. It wasn’t much, but it would be enough.

“Put the CD price in the case. We have pickpocketing PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder].”

“Okay, then.”

Halo put the bill in the guitar case and put the guitar on top of it. They didn’t seem to care how much he put in, or they weren’t worried that he might steal the guitar.

“Are we meeting here tomorrow too?”

When they asked Halo, Halo shrugged. They took it as a yes and waved their hands.

See you tomorrow, friend! With freezing hands, he goes somewhere. They said they were pickpocketed, so I don’t know where they sleep, but they don’t seem to be homeless since they’re still alive.

Halo chuckled at them and walked in the opposite direction.

#

“Wasn’t today fun?”

“We even made a new friend. I like him. Honestly, isn’t he better at guitar than Levi?”

“Did you say everything? I’m, I’m a little better, you know?”

“Oh, I think his conscience was pickpocketed too.”

“Oh, Lord… Save the foolish lamb.”

The members of the punk band Brahms chuckled and moved to their old accommodation. They had to be quiet in front of the accommodation. The owner of the cheap accommodation they had found before being pickpocketed had a light sleep.

“The new friend gave us the CD price, so let’s have burgers and shakes for breakfast. I’m sick of chimney bread [Trdelník – a traditional Slovak cake] now.”

“How much would he have given us? Can we even buy one?”

“I saw it earlier, and he put in a few purple ones.”

“Wasn’t it a 500 euro bill?”

Halo said they didn’t care at all, but that wasn’t necessarily true. If they cared about how much it was, it wouldn’t be cool at all, so they pretended not to be interested, but all their attention was focused on that currency. How could they not care when they were only eating chimney bread once a day because they were pickpocketed?

“Wanna bet? I’ll bet on 5 euros.”

“Hey, I was going to bet on 5 euros too.”

“I’ll give you a break. Then I’ll make it 10 euros. Levi, how much are you betting?”

“Well. Shall we make it 20 euros?”

At guitarist Levi’s words, everyone’s eyes widened as if wondering what was going on. Levi seemed to have a good feeling about the boy.

“The colors are similar, aren’t they?”

“You insincere guy.”

Levi quickly mumbled, but everyone was already giggling and laughing.

Having become like that, they entered the accommodation and opened the guitar case, praying to their respective gods.

“…Huh!”

“What is it.”

“Are my eyelashes frozen, and I’m seeing things?”

What they expected was, at best, one meal for the next day. But this was not 5 euros, not 10 euros, not 20 euros.

The drummer trembled as he counted the purple bills.

“There are 10 of them.”

Their faces turned pale and blue as if they had done something wrong.

“Is this right?”

“It’s more than my salary?”

“Could it be a mistake because it was dark at night?”

If it were 50 euros, they could have happily accepted it, but the existence of 10 500-euro bills made the hearts of ordinary citizens tremble.

“No matter how I think about it, it’s a mistake.”

“I want to pretend I don’t know, but I have to return this.”

“Because he’s our friend.”

The band Brahms couldn’t even sleep comfortably in front of the 10 500-euro bills, fearing that they might be pickpocketed again and unable to return them. Looking so tired, they went back to the Charles Bridge and waited for the boy, even extending their busking time.

However, they couldn’t meet the boy until they returned home.

:

“That’s a shame.”

“Chimney bread was delicious.”

“The night view was also beautiful.”

“Let’s come again if we think of it next time.”

The members were sad in the train, but they nodded at Halo’s words. They didn’t need to travel efficiently. They could do what they wanted to do each day, eat what they wanted to eat, and leave when they decided where to go.

Having spent a satisfying night in Prague, Halo discovered a sign outside the window.

‘Welcome to Vienna'”

The Road To Glory [EN]

The Road To Glory [EN]

A Tidal Wave of Glory Glorious Tidal Wave Glory Tide 영광의 해일로
Status: Completed Author: Native Language: Korean
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[English Translation] In a world yearning for brilliance, one soul stands poised on the precipice of destiny. 'The Road To Glory / A Tidal Wave of Glory' is the saga of a life ignited by unwavering resolve. Prepare to be swept away by a torrent of ambition as our hero embarks on a relentless quest, fueled by the burning desire to leave an indelible mark on the world. This is not just a journey; it's a glorious tidal wave, a relentless surge towards a destiny ablaze with triumph. Will they rise to meet the challenge, or be consumed by the inferno of their own ambition? Dive into a world where every moment is a battle, and every victory is etched in the annals of glory. Prepare for 'The Road To Glory' – a tidal wave that will leave you breathless.

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