The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1961

< The Life He Most Desired -196>

“Is it going well?”

Just before dinner, BB’s partner and CEO of the production company ‘Brilliant B,’ Thomas Benson, called.

It was a regular call to check on the business.

“Well…”

“Oh, did you finally find something you don’t like?”

Whenever asked how it was, BB would always say:

‘This is truly an unbelievable story.’

‘Thomas, you idiot-.’

‘It’s too perfect… I can’t believe it.’

BB, who had been out of his mind like when he was writing the screenplay since starting the interview with HALO, seemed to have finally returned to being a picky auteur director today.

Thomas thought it was quite late.

In fact, he had expected BB to be fed up with the kid’s meddling much sooner.

He wondered if there was something helpful about it since it didn’t happen for a long time, but as expected.

“I knew it. You lasted longer than I thought. Good job. All that’s left is to sign the contract. Just make it look similar and come back to rewrite it.”

“Oh my gosh. What am I going to do with this guy?”

“Huh?”

BB shook his head and decided to make it clear.

“I will never touch his story.”

“Then-”

“I mean, I’m going to make it exactly as the story is, without changing a single thing. I mean, I will never add or subtract anything.”

“You’re not going to revise the screenplay?”

Not just anyone, but you, BB?

Brian Berry, a representative auteur director who only makes movies according to his own screenplay, is going to use someone else’s screenplay as is?

Thomas asked as if he couldn’t believe it this time.

“Thomas, you should have come here. If you had heard what I heard, you would have made the same decision as me.”

Whether he did or not, BB muttered again like someone who was out of his mind.

“Everyone needs to know ‘his’ life.”

“Didn’t you say it was clumsy at some point?”

“Me? Oh, I did.”

He had said that about ‘his’ real name.

At that time, BB thought that HALO had not decided on ‘his’ real name, so he thought it was clumsy.

“But that wasn’t it.”

After hearing the whole story, BB was thrilled.

The fact that no one knew ‘his’ real name was the most dramatic device that reinforced his tragedy the most.

‘HALO’s real name may have been known in ‘another world,’ but there was no one to call him by that name.

The family only called him ‘HALO,’ and those who would call him were either dead or not by his side. Even ‘HALO’ himself, the boy who created this story, even abandoned that name.

The audience who watched the movie would also never call him by that name.

He was the most famous person in the world, but ironically, no one in the world knew his name.

What a miserable and beautiful paradox.

His eyes were burning.

This could soon be called emotion.

“It was perfect because it had no name.”

There was no way Thomas could understand.

To understand everything, you had to hear this story.

Thomas also knew that he couldn’t communicate in the current situation.

So he chose silence and changed the subject as he could.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“Ah.”

BB’s voice calms down again.

He was talking like a madman, but it seemed like he had another problem.

“I don’t know how to end this story.”

“Didn’t that kid tell you?”

“He did, but…”

The road to the Grammys.

An accident caused by a car accident.

It was an ending that could never be accepted.

“That kind of ending is not okay.”

This is not what I’m saying as someone who loves ‘him.’

As a director, it was an ending that shouldn’t be done to the audience who would be moved and immersed in ‘his’ life for more than two hours.

Even if ‘he’ who actually existed somewhere died like this.

BB couldn’t send him away like this.

Then what should I do?

The road to the Grammys is the right ending.

But should I kill him in an accident like this?

Or is there a more perfect ending? BB sighed.

Condensation forms on the window.

“I need to think about it.”

I can’t think of an ending that would suit him.

There’s still plenty of time, so I should think about it.

How did ‘he’ want his life to end?

Did he really want to retire?

If it were me…

Questions arise one after another.

It had been a long time since BB had fallen into someone else’s story like this.

I’m happy, but when I think about the ending again, I’m worried.

It seems that BB has come to love ‘him.’

The misery is beautiful, and I want him to be happy in the end.

Instead of this futile death, I wanted to give ‘him’ the life he really wanted.

For example, something like that.

After the accident, I hope there is a friend who calls him by his real name when he is out of his mind.

But this is an impossible ending.

Because there was no one in ‘another world’ to call Halo by his name.

“I’ll hang up for now.”

“Ah, did you say you were going to have dinner with Halo?”

“With his members too.”

“Okay, that would be good research too. Have a good meal.”

The phone clicked off.

BB left the room and pressed the skylounge floor.

And when he said his name, the restaurant on the skylounge floor guided him inside.

He was too late because he was talking to Thomas Benson.

BB was preparing to apologize when he turned the corner and heard laughter.

The laughter subsided as other people’s attention was focused, but the atmosphere was still friendly.

Seo Yeon bickering with Nam Gyu-hwan.

Han Jin-young, who accepts it kindly, and the boy laughing with them were there.

The expressions of other guests who saw the table also softened.

It may have been because there was a famous star at the table, or it may have been because the atmosphere was enjoyable just by looking at it.

Anyway,

“Am I too late? I was late because I was on the phone. Did you wait long?”

BB calmly stepped in between them.

Seo Yeon and Han Jin-young, who were not shy at all, greeted him in English, and Nam Gyu-hwan also spat out short English. “Hi.”

Perhaps because he came after organizing the story of ‘HALO in another world,’ the boy’s members looked a little different.

As time went by, it contrasted with the band in the story.

The members’ eyes on the boy were full of affection.

It was like looking at a young brother, or in some ways, it looked like respect.

There seems to be something more than the bond between employer and employee.

“Have I been staring too much?”

When BB’s eyes met Seo Yeon’s, he realized that he had been looking at them from an observer’s point of view. However, Seo Yeon was not offended.

“Do you have any questions?”

Rather, she asked with kindness.

BB naturally recalled the behind-the-scenes story of the ‘members in the story’ who were inferior because they couldn’t appear in just one tabloid magazine.

“You seem closer than I thought. In fact, even bands that have been together for a long time are not always on good terms. It may be a rude question, but can I ask you one thing?”

“Of course.”

“Have you ever had conflicts while working together?”

“Conflict…”

Seo Yeon tilted her head.

She knew that the president and the director were making a movie, so she was willing to answer any questions.

But this is a bit of a difficult question.

That’s because.

“Um… have we ever fought?”

Seo Yeon really didn’t remember, so she asked the members.

“Us? We fight all the time.”

“Did we?”

“Yeah, you and Gyu-hwan every time-”

“No, it’s because he makes me angry first!”

Seo Yeon shouted in frustration at Han Jin-young’s reply.

“We also fight over what to eat.”

Seo Yeon, who wants to eat a variety of things, and

Nam Gyu-hwan, who has strange tastes such as Hawaiian pizza and mint chocolate.

Han Jin-young doesn’t usually picky, but HALO doesn’t like meals without meat.

“But I don’t think we’ve ever had a big fight.”

“I think so. Do you remember anything?”

“I don’t know.”

Seo Yeon snorted as Nam Gyu-hwan answered casually.

It was usually a premonition of a fight, but she organized her answer to BB’s question.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a big fight. Usually trivial things?”

“Never with Halo?”

“How can I fight with the president?”

She answered like a loyal subordinate, but the following words were full of affection. He’s very nice, there’s a lot to learn, he’s helped a lot, and he’s cool.

BB’s eyes became strange.

“Are you curious?”

At that time, Seo Yeon asked as if she had penetrated his mind.

BB honestly admitted it.

He was curious about their bond, and he was curious about their story.

“This is the first time I’m telling this story-”

Seo Yeon told the story without hesitation, and BB was able to hear a lot of stories.

From Seo Yeon learning to compose from Halo,

Nam Gyu-hwan, who applied without knowing it was Halo at first and became the most successful Solar [fan club name].

And the story of Han Jin-young, who taught MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface] to a middle school boy who wanted to make music and later became a bassist.

What should I say.

After hearing all the stories, he didn’t know how to express this feeling.

All he could do was look at the boy surrounded by the members.

He really had a lot of questions.

Questions continued endlessly.

And finally, when they were left alone.

BB couldn’t help but wonder.

“Halo, I have one question.”

“‘Halo in another world’?”

“No, can I ask you one thing about Halo in this world?”

Halo stopped talking for a moment as if the question was unexpected, and then nodded.

“Actually, I have more than one or two questions.”

Today would be the last day of the interview.

Since he had heard all the stories, BB had booked a plane back, and the unofficial meeting with Halo was here.

“What I’m really curious about-”

Their eyes meet.

“Why.”

BB stared intently at how the boy’s usual expression would change.

“Why did you create ‘Halo in another world’?”

“Why?”

“Why did you create that story?”

Halo closed his mouth.

Since the story was not actually created, he could not answer BB’s question.

Then, BB added.

“At first, I thought it was like misfortune porn [a term used to describe media that exploits the suffering of others for entertainment or emotional gratification].”

“…”

“You know, feeling catharsis by seeing other people’s tragedies, feeling relieved that I didn’t experience such tragedies, and maybe trying to boost my self-esteem. But-”

Halo that BB saw was such a person.

In the first place, he was quite indifferent to other people’s affairs, and his self-esteem was not low enough to be relieved by other people’s misfortunes.

Why would such a person create ‘Halo in another world’?

I admit that the story is beautiful, but why did the boy in front of me create such a story?

Moreover, the story was not just a story that could be seen anywhere, but a story so elaborate that it seemed like the life of a person who actually existed was not an ordinary effort.

The boy who should be busy making his own music,

“Why did you have to create the story of such an unhappy person?”

The boy’s finger twitched slightly.

BB thought he was a little embarrassed.

This was a habit the boy had when he was worried about what to say.

“Is ‘he’ unhappy?”

However, BB stopped thinking at the following question.

It was somewhat irrelevant.

The focus was strange without answering the question.

However, BB thought that he had to answer for the sake of ‘his’ story or for the sake of the boy in front of him.

“Of course, ‘he’ is a successful artist.”

He was like the main character in a movie, a runaway teenager who reached the top of the world. An appearance that could be called the incarnation of Apollo and values that do not compromise with the world.

Above all, his music sucked in many people.

Like his name ‘HALO’.

‘He’ who lived a splendid life that others wanted and achieved his goals earlier than others, certainly lived a successful life.

It would be difficult to find an artist as successful as that.

“Not many people will be able to call him unhappy. I shouldn’t think of him as unhappy either.”

“…”

“But ‘unhappiness’ is a relative concept.”

Is he asking knowing this?

Or is he really asking because he doesn’t know?

BB pondered and admitted that maybe the boy had never thought of ‘him’ as unhappy or miserable.

“At least to you, ‘he’ is an unhappy person and an artist. If you are living the life that ‘he’ wanted the most.”

The boy retorted as if refuting.

“You know I haven’t won a Grammy yet, right?”

“Is that so?”

“And ‘he’ has a very outstanding appearance. Enough to make him a star at once.”

BB thought the rebuttal was very strange.

“Is that so important to you? Also, is that important to ‘him’?”

‘HALO in another world’ who ignored the Grammys.

The boy who has the potential to win a Grammy at any time.

Also, I wondered if appearance was such a blessing to ‘him’.

‘He’ would have become a star anyway.

“Well, you may not think ‘he’ is unhappy.”

Individual opinions are respected.

“It’s just an opinion.”

BB did not insist on his opinion to the boy who seemed confused for some reason. However, I wanted to add just one word.

“However, just… if I were ‘him’, I think I would have envied you.”

This is what BB felt after listening to the stories of Halo’s band members. What should I say, each situation is similar to ‘HALO in another world’, but different results came out.

Perhaps the most ideal result that ‘HALO in another world’ should have had.