< The Tide of Glory - Episode 147 >
Finally, Roh Hail appeared.
The boy, who had plunged the world into chaos for two months, appeared nonchalantly, as if he knew nothing, and waved to the world.
It was strange to feel nervous over such a simple greeting.
Some clasped their sweaty hands together, while others slightly opened their mouths, waiting for the boy’s words.
“Hello, I’m Roh Hail.”
The boy’s greeting was the same in Korea and America.
Roh Hail’s fans felt like crying at the sight of the unchanging boy.
“It’s an honor to be here with you all.”
When the word ‘honor’ came from the boy’s mouth, who was suspected of being ‘Halo’ [his stage name] more than anyone else, people flinched.
“Today was a day I had been waiting for a long time.”
The choice of words ‘waited for a long time.’
And people stared blankly at the boy holding the microphone, making eye contact with the audience.
“I guess you all did too, right?”
The boy, who didn’t give the answer people wanted, playfully smiled, squinting his eyes.
“Then, is everyone ready?”
Ready for what…?
Just as they were about to ask if he—no, if you—were who we all imagined.
A synthesizer melody was heard.
People snapped out of their dreamy state.
Song analysis result: 97.3%.
The result confirmed it was him.
Additional comparative analysis by Photoshop experts.
High consistency rate.
And the other existing figures were not important.
People waited for the boy’s words.
And the boy opened with a song.
They were songs they had heard while suspecting and digging into the boy for two months. They were songs in Korean, but as they listened, they became familiar, and they were made up of very beautiful sounds.
Some said that even if the boy wasn’t Halo, his genius was certain, and they would love his songs.
The boy opened with his first song and debut track.
‘Another Day’ was the first song he made in this world, which had gifted him another life and world.
It meant another day he lived as Roh Hail, thinking he would work as Roh Hail, not as Halo.
The second song he sang in succession was ‘Lighthouse at Night.’
It was music made with the starlight he saw at the rendezvous, and it soon became his guiding light.
It was music about the people who became the Big Dipper for him, who had lost his way in another world.
He was able to find his way by following the brightest stars in the dark night.
“This is, my regular album, right?”
The third song that followed was ‘Welcome to My World.’
It was music that told about him to the people he met in another world.
Halo turned his head to look at the members and thought of the acquaintances who would be beyond the stage.
Welcome to my world.
And he said that someday, he hoped they would show him their world too.
And the last song he prepared.
To be honest, he had a lot of *gomin* [Korean: 고민, meaning worries or contemplation] here.
Whether to sing ‘Until Dawn Comes’ here. But that’s Halo’s music, isn’t it?
He didn’t want to sing Halo’s music on Roh Hail’s stage. So, he took out the song he had been *gomin* about.
‘Ever End’
Everyone wants Never end, but the word with one letter missing soon became his reality.
Ever end.
Halo closed his eyes and sang.
[Someday]
People followed his song with awkward pronunciation.
[The end will come
As every story has an ending]
[I know what you’re afraid of]
In fact, it was what he was most afraid of.
His ending.
He knew that if there was another beginning, there would eventually be another ending.
Still, Halo didn’t sing about his fear of it. Because that wasn’t Roh Hail’s music.
[It’s nothing]
He told them the words people would want, and perhaps he would want to hear.
[Those days, that time
We were walking there]
[It’s at the end of that road]
Because nothing would be solved by standing still.
Roh Hail’s music faded.
Someone was sad that fifty minutes had passed in an instant, and someone thought that this was the real beginning.
That is, if the boy was the real Halo.
However, the stage lights went out with the boy’s greeting.
“What, is it over?”
“Then is he not Roh?”
“What’s going on?”
On YouTube streaming, they showed interview videos of top stars along with the end of the stage. They would usually enjoy watching it, but it wasn’t the video that people watching the streaming wanted to see. They weren’t curious about what top stars were saying.
[Don’t talk nonsense and turn the stage back on]
[I’ll watch this later, so turn it back on live]
Someone’s comment went up on the streaming site.
Murmur, murmur.
What? People talked to the strangers next to them about what to do.
Around that time, it was the regulars of Coachella who felt something strange.
Those who visited Coachella every year, liked the Coachella lineup, or liked Coachella’s music had questions.
‘Why aren’t the stage lights on?’
Because there were so many people, they waited for the exit to finish when one stage ended before turning the lights back on.
Even if all the lights weren’t on, it was so they could identify each other and not step on each other’s feet.
However, no matter how long they waited, the lights didn’t come on.
Except for the cell phone lights that people turned on because they couldn’t stand it, it was dark.
The Coachella main stage was darker than any sub-stage. This was absurd.
If it wasn’t intentional, it was as good as an accident.
‘Intentional…?’
One person’s gaze returns to the stage.
There was no figure to be seen on the stage stained with darkness. Unless they were wearing fluorescent clothes, it seemed like they wouldn’t know if someone was standing there.
When they thought that someone might be standing in that darkness, the tension rose again.
If someone was standing there, it would be that man. It was funny that he was in the darkest place, but a man called the sun would be there.
Du-du-du-du-.
The broadcasting station also felt something strange, and the head of the helicopter that had been wandering in the air turned back to the stage.
Perhaps they would be the ones who wanted the stage lights to come on the most. Maybe they would soon lose patience and shine the lights.
If they were in their right mind, they wouldn’t.
If it was an intentional stage device, it could interfere with the stage if they shone the lights.
Around that time, people began to sit down in their seats one by one.
They couldn’t leave because the next stage was Halo. If they left, greedy crowds would take their seats, and they might end up watching Halo’s performance on YouTube streaming even after coming all the way to Coachella.
That’s how the mysterious darkness continued for about 7 minutes.
Thud.
People turned their heads at the sound of a drum heard from somewhere.
They wondered if they had misheard, but soon a fluid synthesizer and bass joined in. It sounded like tuning sounds.
“Halo…?”
The people who had been sitting began to stand up again.
There was also kindness in pressing the power button on their cell phones for his stage.
If they could see Halo’s stage, they could endure this darkness that seemed infinite.
However, their king does not leave them in the dark.
Although the lights didn’t come on, a familiar melody was heard.
Ugh!
A familiar prelude.
People screamed at the familiar sound.
An old thrill came up.
It was the melody of Struggle, which could be said to be the starting point of Halo.
The commotion spread throughout the stage.
The Coachella main stage was still darker than any stage, but it was the most boiling.
The prelude to Struggle is repeated and repeated.
As if waiting for Halo.
At that time, a voice was heard from the center of the stage eaten by darkness.
“Do you hate me because I’m not white?”
It was the first question Halo had asked them.
At the clear voice, the people who had been murmuring threw their whole bodies and answered.
“No!”
No!
Whether you’re white, black, or whatever, we’ll welcome you!
No one will say anything! We love you!
People’s answers continued, and people waited for the voice to continue again.
It didn’t sound like a recording.
It was clear that he, who had entrusted his body to the darkness, was talking to them.
Soon the next question was heard.
“Are you worried that an unexpected *moseup* [Korean: 모습, meaning appearance or form] will come out?”
“No way!”
This time, people answered even faster.
Loudly so that Halo could hear them better.
Then a faint laugh was heard.
It was clear that he was laughing at their answers.
At the sound of his laughter, their hearts began to tickle. They felt like they were going to die of excitement as if they had met their first love.
“Surely you won’t be disappointed when you see me, right?”
“Never!”
He didn’t know their hearts and threw another joke.
Like his music, they were swept away by each of his words.
“Then. Let’s start with this.”
No one said again that his voice matched the boy on the previous stage.
The darkness continues.
However, the sound grew as if it was trying to eat away at the darkness.
“Struggle.”
The sound of the electric guitar rang out like a car engine.
People screamed and jumped.
Both body and mind were swept away by the struggle, and they entrusted their whole bodies to the conductor on the stage.
They couldn’t see his *moseup*, but they were satisfied just being under the same sky as him.
#
“What, is the light broken?”
“Wait. It must be intentional.”
“No, nothing will go out on the live broadcast if this happens.”
They tried to capture the sound as much as possible, but the sound wasn’t captured properly due to the propeller sound. The stage was dark, and the sound was buried. There was no point in doing a live broadcast if this happened.
There was a reason why Coachella allowed it on the premise that it wouldn’t get close to the stage.
The broadcasting helicopter, which had only tried to reveal Halo’s identity, clicked its tongue at the Coachella main stage where nothing could be seen.
“I can’t do it.”
“What can’t you do?”
“Shine the lights as soon as the song ends.”
“Crazy. Do you think that makes sense?”
“Wait a minute. We can just look at who it is and turn it off again.”
The cameraman, who thought it was a joke, was startled when the anchor moved himself. He was really trying to shine the lights.
“No!”
“Get out of the way!”
Halo slowly raised his head.
‘What is that?’
The helicopter was shining lights into the night sky.
It didn’t look like it was going to crash, and it seemed like they had accidentally pressed the headlights.
He took his attention away and focused on the stage.
People were singing with him as one even in the darkness. A thrill wrapped around his whole body.
Halo wanted to enjoy this pleasure longer.
Once, for a moment, he wondered why he had become Roh Hail. That soon led to the question of how long he could live as Roh Hail.
The thought spread to his parents, friends, members, and acquaintances who loved him, and he suddenly thought.
He wondered if it wasn’t an opportunity to enjoy the happiest moment for him for the last time.
It might have been natural to think of Roh Hail ahead of Coachella. Because the happiest moment he could enjoy as Roh Hail would be right now.
The members who finished Struggle played the scheduled song.
Until dawn comes.
An acoustic song that wasn’t like the music he had made until now.
Halo put down the electric guitar and picked up the H guitar that symbolized him.
If Roh Hail’s stage was dedicated only to Roh Hail’s stage, Halo’s stage was to proceed with his beginning and end.
If his beginning was Struggle,
Isn’t the end the title song of the 13th album that he couldn’t show to the world?
It’s a song that goes well with this night.
When he sang this song, the stage lights would come on, and the main stage would shine brighter than any stage.
Halo raised his head again.
The head of the helicopter that had been shining lights into the night sky was falling down. It wasn’t descending, it was just looking at his stage.
Halo suddenly realized that the helicopter’s lights were still not off.
It was a dazzling light.
Like the sun bringing the morning.
He felt something was wrong for a moment, but he couldn’t continue his contemplation.
Like the lyrics of the song, a dazzling light rushed towards him.
Halo tried to raise his hand to block the light, but soon he had no choice but to be helplessly swept away.
Just like-.
Like that time.
‘No.’
Memories flashed by.
A loud car crash.
Someone’s scream.
The front of his eyes turns white.
‘Not yet.’
In the dazzling light, the sound of a baby crying and a friendly voice were faintly heard.
-Hail.
It was a memory that passed by in an instant that he couldn’t catch.
When he came to his senses, Halo was back in the dark.
It was familiar darkness.
He had been here once.
‘Here is….’
Halo didn’t sit down on the floor like that time.
Rather than struggling like that time, he stood still.
He slowly turns his body, but he can’t see anything.
He couldn’t feel anything, and he couldn’t hear anything.
It was the world after death.
Halo’s hand, which had denied reality, fell limply.
Yeah, 1 year was long enough.
Halo asked himself if it wasn’t a happy time anyway.
Since he was here, would Roh Hail be on that stage now? If so, he thought he would be very flustered by now.
In the end, he was also feeling empty because he left at the happiest moment as he had expected.
쿵…!
It was then.
His ears reacted sensitively to the sound heard from somewhere.
He still couldn’t see anything, but Halo waited for the sound to be heard once again.
It had to be heard once again.
This sound-.
쿵.
When he heard it again, Halo slowly began to move.
It was the sound that had led him to Roh Hail.
Hoping that this sound wouldn’t stop, Halo began to run towards the sound faster than before.
He might end up taking Roh Hail’s body again, but he still didn’t stop.
The sound rang out repeatedly as if calling him.
It sounded like a clock ticking, and it sounded like something falling.
Halo knew what this was.
This sound that was heard in a regular rhythm,
The sound of the metronome he heard in the studio….
쿵쿵.
No, it was a bigger sound than that.
The sound was bigger and heavier than that time.
It was shaking the earth, making his ears numb.
Halo slowly opened his eyes.
And he could know what that sound was.
People were stomping their feet.
In a regular rhythm.
And a familiar sound came into his ears.
The echo that he first thought was shouting at him was gradually taking shape, and the melody that had been jumbled began to become clear.
[Whoever you are]
Halo opened his eyes wide at the familiar lyrics.
Numerous eyes watching him.
He was on stage.
[Whatever *moseup* you have]
And the numerous people surrounding him were stomping their feet and shouting. With the melody of the song he released one winter day.
[We will call you glory]
It was the melody of his only single album, ‘I am HALO,’ and the fans’ answer song, changing I to YOU in the lyrics.
The fans who had been waiting for him for a very long time,
Answer that they would gladly welcome him no matter who he was.
[Our eternal sun]
The dazzling sun rose from the farthest place. Bright lights and the most beautiful voices gathered to increase the volume.
The darkest Coachella main stage was shining the brightest in the Indio desert.
Halo stared blankly at the beautiful sight and honestly admitted.
He said he wouldn’t be sad anymore, but that was a lie.
He was sad, and he wanted to enjoy this happiness a little longer.
A little more, a little more.
Halo slowly raised the microphone with a trembling hand.
He thought he had to respond to their song.
He was the owner of this stage and a singer.
And even if that wasn’t the case, he wanted to repay this lovely answer song.
“Yes.”
The world pays attention to Halo’s quiet word.
“I am Halo.”
[You are Halo]
His song and the fans’ song echoed in the world. Colorful lights flew into the sky.
Cheering rods, stage lights, helicopters cheering for him, and the lights of machines. Numerous messages to him.
A dazzling wave made up of the things he loved the most covered him.
It was the tide of glory.