The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1941

< Episode 194 The Person I Can Trust >

“Good morning.”

Halo met BB early this morning.

It seemed like it would take a little more time to finish the remaining story, and BB agreed.

Thus, the story of ‘Halo from Another World’ was coming to an end.

A black bike speeds down a dark, straight road.

The numbers on the dashboard have long surpassed 200 kilometers per hour, but the ‘young man’ actually continues to accelerate.

He doesn’t know what lies ahead.

All that catches his eye is the asphalt illuminated by the bike’s headlight.

A cargo truck might be coming from afar, or a wild animal might suddenly jump out.

But the young man didn’t care.

He entrusts his whole body to the thrill of defying gravity and traversing the world.

It was the young man’s new hobby.

“You might die doing that.”

Said the guitarist who was working as his session musician.

“Wouldn’t that be cool too?”

The guitarist scoffed, but the young man paid no mind and downed a cherry-topped cocktail in one shot.

“I don’t know why I’m only finding out about something so fun now.”

“I know, right? If you had known a little earlier, I would have never met you.”

The young man chuckled at the remark that he would have been dead for sure. Just then, the phone rang. The young man didn’t seem inclined to answer it because he was drinking, so the guitarist took it instead.

[Halo!]

He knew as soon as he heard the voice.

It was the supermodel who was enjoying the greatest popularity of this era, and the young man’s current girlfriend.

That is, maybe. If they hadn’t broken up yet.

The young man, having taken the call, leaned against the wall. He didn’t seem to be having a very serious conversation, but the way he frowned and concentrated on the phone call was like a scene from a pictorial [a photoshoot or magazine spread].

Her beauty, which had been hailed as beautiful since her debut in her teens, was still the same. Even Halo’s haters would be mesmerized if they saw her in person. Some people go through puberty and change for the worse, but at this rate, this bastard seemed like he would be enjoying his prime even in his 40s and 50s. If he doesn’t die by then, that is.

Such looks, and such music.

The guitarist, who had participated as a session musician from HALO’s 7th to 9th albums, Speed of Earth, thought he was a truly unlucky bastard.

A life with nothing lacking.

Arrogant, but even that was digested like the protagonist of a movie with his charming appearance.

Unbelievable musical talent and voice.

Even his family must be well-off.

He said he ran away from home due to his family’s opposition and suffered a bit, but that was all.

How much hardship could he have gone through with that face?

It is known among those who know that the young man’s alma mater is a public school.

Photos of the young man’s school days are being traded at ridiculous prices, and his stories are circulating, aren’t they?

The guitarist spat out a peanut.

How much his self-esteem has crumbled since he got to know the young man. The germinated inferiority complex extends its stem and blooms leaves.

However, he can’t show it on the outside.

That guy is a heartless bastard who has even kicked out the president [CEO/Head] of his former label, who is like a father to him, saying he doesn’t need him anymore. Even if the president had many irregularities, abandoning a benefactor who raised him from obscurity was not something an ordinary person would do.

If he reveals it carelessly, he might not even be able to gather his bones and be buried [a metaphor for being completely destroyed]. It would be ideal for both of them to adapt appropriately and enjoy the honey [benefit from the situation].

“Did the phone call go well?”

“Whatever.”

“You don’t look good. Did you fight again?”

“I don’t know if I should call this a fight.”

The young man returns and drinks his drink.

As he leaned back in the back seat, a deep shadow was drawn on his cheek. As if he were a person with deep darkness.

The guy who is in the brightest place.

The guitarist felt like his insides were turning over, but he endured it by cracking peanuts.

“What’s wrong?”

“The same problem.”

“The same problem? Ah… Don’t tell me. Just go along with it.”

A lover who keeps asking him to sing love songs for her.

The guitarist thought the supermodel who wanted to be proven of her love was cute, but the blessed young master didn’t seem to think so.

“Why should I?”

“Making a song is as easy as eating cold soup for you [very easy].”

The young man really easily made songs.

Even if you give him a strange topic, he makes a song saying it’s fun,

He gets inspiration even while holding a guitar and practicing.

He sometimes hums a new song while drinking together.

The guitarist was surprised, admired, and eventually envied the unbelievable talent.

The fact that the song he had created for months was not even at the level of a practice piece in front of the young man.

“I don’t really feel like it.”

Even though he can create a love song in an instant.

Even though he’s good at singing it with emotion.

“Why, are you not confident?”

The young man chuckled at the guitarist’s words.

It seems like he’s asking, ‘Me?’

Yeah, the guitarist was just saying it.

When it comes to music, the young man has never had any difficulties.

It’s an unlucky expression, but even that is luxurious and cool, so the guitarist couldn’t stand it and downed a glass of whiskey.

That day was one of those days too.

The young man threw a house party as usual, and his session musicians drank in a separate room.

The young man didn’t lock them up, but the people the young man called ignored the session musicians, and the young man didn’t really care.

They drank without a care.

Through the slightly open door, the young man was surrounded by such glamorous people and smiling brightly.

It was also a familiar sight for a woman with a partner to stare blankly at the young man.

“I guess they broke up after all.”

At the guitarist’s words, the keyboardist shrugged.

“What’s new.”

“Now, even the tabloids don’t report who Halo’s lover is. They’re tired of writing the same articles.”

“So we don’t report it either?”

The atmosphere hardened at the drummer’s question.

Session musicians have changed as often as lovers for the young man.

Even the tabloids that love Halo have never tried to interview them when the session musicians have changed once or twice.

They mostly gave interviews with negative feelings such as being arrogant, rude, and impulsive. They said he was picky when recording his album, and on the contrary, he was not interested in the music of the session musicians and ignored them.

However, the reason why they had been active as session musicians for more than a few albums was unified.

The salary, including incentives based on album sales, is high, and they don’t care about personal activities outside of the schedule.

As befitting a tabloid that loves Halo, they asked if there had been any delays in payment or unfair treatment (assault, etc.), but there had never been such a case.

As the image of the young man as an employer remained unchanged, the tabloids began to reduce the story about the session musicians.

Thus, the current session musicians have never been mentioned.

They didn’t like being consumed as a controversial element of Halo, but they couldn’t welcome the fact that they had been reduced to an existence that anyone could replace.

Anyway, weren’t they trying to gain attention and money by working as Halo’s session musicians?

“I can’t do it.”

The keyboardist, whose face was flushed with alcohol, got up from his seat. He rummages through his bag and takes something out.

“It’s no use.”

“He won’t even look at it properly anyway. Look, the young master is busy.”

The drummer and guitarist tried to stop him, but the keyboardist pushed them away and left the room.

What he was holding was the score of the music he had composed while being inspired while doing Halo’s session. There are still no lyrics and many scribbles, so it’s messy, but the keyboardist was thinking of getting feedback from Halo. Thus, if he put his name on Halo’s album, he would be a very special being.

“Halo.”

When he called the young man, the people around the young man looked him up and down. ‘I’ve never seen him before.’ ‘Do they invite people like this?’ He was ashamed of the contemptuous gaze, but the keyboardist endured it and called Halo.

“Can you spare me a moment?”

“Is it something urgent?”

“…Yeah.”

It may not be a big deal to you, but it’s important to me. The keyboardist swallowed his long words and glared at the young man.

Then the young man obediently follows him.

“What’s wrong?”

He didn’t go far.

The end of the hallway where people’s eyes follow.

The keyboardist showed his notes to the young man.

“This is, well,”

The young man accepts it and looks at it seriously.

The keyboardist thought that it might be difficult for people to understand, so he tried to explain it.

No matter how much Halo is, he had to hear the reason why he composed this part like this.

“The reason why I did this is-.”

“Is this all?”

“!”

He was explaining it stammeringly while drunk, but the young man cut him off.

He had a tired look on his face for some reason.

His hand turning the notes was filled with annoyance.

The keyboardist felt bad about the way he was flipping through his notes, but he nodded for now.

Then that one word was heard.

“It’s not good.”

“…What?”

“It’s not good.”

The young man brings the notes to the keyboardist’s eyes.

He also added in a soft voice what was not good.

It was advice that was not convincing to the keyboardist at all.

It just felt like he was nitpicking. That’s because.

“No, you didn’t even look at it properly-.”

The young man only looked at the notes for a few seconds.

It was too short a time to grasp all the music that contained the keyboardist’s life.

“But you called me because of this?”

The keyboardist gritted his teeth at the young man’s words.

He felt the arrogance of being called just because of this.

He felt bad, but the keyboardist knew that if he gave up here, it would be the end.

Why am I doing session work?

The keyboardist urgently grabbed the young man.

“Even if it’s not good, you can do it.”

Yes, his music may be a little lacking.

But if Halo touches it up a bit, and if he sings it, it will be a success.

Isn’t Halo a human who has succeeded even with the difficult 3rd and 4th albums?

Even if the reviews are mixed, it is a success in terms of performance.

What the keyboardist was aiming for was exactly that, HALO’s 3rd and 4th albums. He didn’t want anything more than that.

Then the young man tilts his head.

With a face that doesn’t know how desperate the keyboardist is.

Without understanding anything.

“Why should I sing it?”

Ah. Hope is shattered.

The young man had no intention of doing the keyboardist’s music at all.

Even if he makes much better music than this, he will only do his own music.

Or, although it doesn’t seem like there has been such a case yet, he might steal songs like other singers.

The young man in front of him was such a guy.

The keyboardist lowered his head.

His hands trembled with despair and hatred.

The drummer and guitarist who came out of the room comforted him, saying, “I told you it wouldn’t work,” but he shook them off.

He raised his head sharply and shouted at Halo, who had already returned to his seat.

“Only your music is important to you?”

People’s eyes were on him.

Halo was calm in a situation that could be embarrassing.

“When did I say that?”

It’s a world where everyone loves the young man.

Only the keyboardist became a fool and a moron in that place.

Even now, everyone is looking at him with the eyes of ‘Why is he doing that?’

“When have you ever listened to the music we made properly? You always laughed at it, saying it was like trash.”

“I said it was not good because it was not good. Then are you telling me to sing your trashy practice piece?”

“Only you! You’re the only one who thinks that way! People’s reactions might be different.”

“I don’t think so. And you told me to be honest.”

Even though he received such mixed reviews during his 3rd and 4th albums, the young man didn’t understand the keyboardist as if he didn’t know when he was a tadpole [had no experience].

“I never thought that all music except your music would look like trash to you.”

“Me?”

Ha? The young man gestured as if he was innocent, then soon chuckled.

“Don’t talk about your trashy song as if it’s the representative of all music.”

It felt like something had exploded.

The keyboardist ran out with a reddened face, and the drummer and guitarist also packed their bags and left with resentful faces.

As the young man quietly stared at them moving away, the people next to him whispered.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You can just find another session musician. Should I introduce you?”

“That’s why you should be careful about who you associate with. You have to be patient. It’s because you’re so attractive that bugs are attracted to you.”

His head hurts.

The young man frowned.

Behind those who were handing him drinks and stroking his hair, comforting him in small voices, countless dry gazes were directed at the young man.

I guess they thought he wouldn’t hear them.

They were talking about what had just happened a few steps behind.

“See, I told you it wouldn’t last long?”

“I lost again. There’s never a quiet day. But why does this always happen to him?”

“You really don’t know?”

The voices and laughter of different pitches become noise and engulf his ears.

The young man drank alcohol in a row and slammed the glass down.

“The party is over. Everyone worked hard, and now get out of my house.”

It was 4 hours later that someone came to visit the young man who was left alone at home.

“Please, Halo, please can’t you kill that personality of yours? There’s no one left to do your session anymore. If you’re not going to bring just anyone, then at a moderate level-. Huh?”

It was James, the man who had been his manager since his previous label.

He was also the last person who had been with him.

James, who was a little younger than he remembered, frowned.

“You’ll still find someone, though.”

As the young man leaned back on the sofa and laughed, the man screamed.

The young man knew very well that he would still do it even if he was like that.

“I shouldn’t have followed you.”

“You’ve worked hard. Haha.”

“If I save enough money to use for the rest of my life, I’ll have to quit.”

“Didn’t you already save it?”

A new label with only the young man.

It was James who was practically doing the work at the label where the young man was the representative.

“Does it make sense that I’m getting gray hair at the age of 30?”

“That’s good. How about dyeing it white altogether?”

James screams again at the nonchalant reply.

“So what’s wrong?”

After talking for a long time, the young man opened his mouth.

James doesn’t really like small talk, but his tongue was long today.

Like someone who has something to hide.

“It’s not because of the schedule.”

Since leaving the existing label, the young man has almost cleared his schedule.

“It’s even less likely that you came out here to whine about how hard the session is. What’s wrong, James?”

What dragged a heavy-assed guy like him to his house like this.

James hesitates.

He looks at him and doesn’t say anything.

The more he does that, the narrower the young man’s eyes become.

“You know, Halo.”

“Uh.”

“Listen without getting angry.”

“…What is it?”

“Shall we promise not to get angry first?”

At this rate, two adult men are about to hook their little fingers.

As the young man snorted and crossed his arms, James sighed deeply.

“Halo, you know.”

“I’ll kick you out if you drag it out one more time.”

“Don’t you have any thoughts of reconciling with your family?”

The young man’s face hardened in an instant.