The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1071

< Episode 107. Only Look at Me >

“Gonna be a tough day.”

In front of the Yeonguk University Foundation Memorial Hall.

It had been about three weeks since the semester started.

Faculty members clicked their tongues, observing the crowd that was as dense as one you’d see at a school festival. The stage production company was also present, but they seemed overwhelmed, as the number of people gathered far exceeded expectations. Not only were there 830 ticket holders, but also fans who came to see Noh Haeil from afar, and reporters who came to write articles even without tickets.

Moreover, currently enrolled students who had finished their classes were lingering around the concert hall.

“Is there anyone who will sell me a ticket, please?”

Some, as desperate as the little match girl, wandered through the line, begging. People standing in line to enter turned their heads, ignoring them. They sympathized with their desperation, but they couldn’t give up their tickets. If they were going to sell them, they would have already done so; being here meant they were determined to enter the concert.

Even the tickets that had been scalped disappeared after ‘Liv’s Love Letter,’ precisely after Gift’s existence was known. Whether someone bought them all or the scalpers gave up selling, no one knew.

Time passed without promise. Staff members looked at their watches and nodded to each other, and someone shouted.

“We will now begin admission.”

As the doors of the concert hall opened, the entrance line stirred, and flashes burst from the reporters’ cameras.

#

“How’s everyone feeling?”

In the waiting room, Han Jin-young’s question was met with silence for a moment.

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous?”

“No, it’s not like we’ve never been on stage before.”

Seo Yeon clenched her fist, finding the suggestion absurd. Of course, it wasn’t a stage she was solely responsible for. A sense of responsibility weighed heavily, considering the stage they were creating together. Seo Yeon took a deep breath.

“What about you?”

“As always, I will do my best not to tarnish the honor of the sun [referring to Noh Haeil].”

“Whatever.”

Nam Gyu-hwan struck a loyal pose towards the boy.

Seo Yeon chuckled at his usual antics.

“Where’s Haeil?”

Han Jin-young asked, looking at the boy sitting on the sofa.

In fact, Han Jin-young was most eager to hear the boy’s answer.

Once, as someone who aspired to succeed with a band, Han Jin-young knew how much a ‘solo concert’ meant. It was on a different level from street performances or being a concert guest.

The boy, who wouldn’t have seemed strange if he *was* nervous, raised the corners of his mouth at the question.

As if asking, ‘Me, nervous?’

Indeed, Han Jin-young couldn’t imagine the boy being nervous at all.

“What about you, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

“Well, maybe a little nervous?”

Han Jin-young’s answer surprised Seo Yeon and Nam Gyu-hwan, who turned to look at him. He didn’t seem nervous at all.

Come to think of it, as Noh Haeil’s first solo concert, it was also Han Jin-young’s first concert. Something he had longed for in the past. So it was natural to be nervous.

“I should be nervous, but strangely, I’m not nervous at all.”

At those words, Seo Yeon and Nam Gyu-hwan’s faces brightened.

They seemed to think that Han Jin-young would answer that way because they relied on each other.

That wasn’t wrong, but there was another reason.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve experienced too big of a stage already.”

“A bigger stage than this?”

“Did you go to other performances?”

This was something they hadn’t heard before.

Han Jin-young had never mentioned anything similar during the summer days when they shared many stories under the guise of introducing their world.

The boy also expressed his curiosity, and Han Jin-young smiled at him.

Perhaps you don’t know.

How much that street performance on a winter day meant to him. If a Billboard singer’s great performance changed his day, the stage of a certain boy he saw in Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its indie music scene] on a winter day changed his life.

It was a stage without tens of thousands of spectators, without full audio, and without a great session, but it was the biggest stage in his life.

No one could create a more wonderful stage than him.

“It was the biggest stage in my life.”

After hearing Han Jin-young’s answer, they didn’t bother asking what kind of stage it was. A staff member announced that it was time for the stage.

Just as they were about to rush out.

The boy, who had leisurely risen from his seat, said.

“That’s going to change starting today.”

“Huh?”

“The biggest stage in your life.”

“!”

“And it will continue to be so.”

Haeil said as if it were obvious and walked out leisurely, followed by Seo Yeon and Nam Gyu-hwan, smiling. Han Jin-young watched their confident backs and laughed heartily.

“Maybe that’s true.”

He thought that if it was you, who had shown him the most dazzling stage in his life, maybe it was possible.

“Shall we all cheer?”

“Fighting [a Korean expression of encouragement, like ‘Go for it!’]”

“Can you put some soul into it?”

Four fists bumped together.

:

The gift received with the ticket.

People filled the seats, each holding a beautifully packaged shopping bag. In fact, they wanted to see the contents inside right away, but when they tried to open it, they felt like they wanted to keep it as it was.

They didn’t even touch the drinks, financiers [small French almond cakes], and cookies they were given to eat. *Can’t I just pass this down to my descendants?*

Just as the audience was having an internal conflict, the stage announcement sounded, and the lights on the ceiling began to turn off one by one.

And when the world was plunged into darkness, a familiar melody was heard.

Noh Haeil’s debut was the mini-album [Another Life], but people screamed at the song that could be called his true debut song.

They didn’t expect him to sing this from the start!

‘Repeating Life’ (Hee-tae’s theme from ‘From Today On, We’)

The ending of the drama came to mind, and their eyes were already red.

They didn’t know yet if it was a variation version or not.

Maybe he’ll sing it?

[I close my eyes again like that]

Finally, when the boy’s voice was heard, their hearts pounded.

People who had screamed tightly closed their mouths to hear the boy’s voice even better.

But they soon had no choice but to scream again.

Because when the stage lights brightened, the boy they saw-

[Melting in the rising sunlight]

The boy sang earnestly and waved one hand as if to say hello.

That greeting was definitely not something Hee-tae’s character would do. Maybe other delinquents, but not him.

The boy didn’t seem to be acting, and his acting skills were terrible, but that was enough for the audience.

The boy himself wearing the same school uniform as Hee-tae.

Well, since humans have imagination, they could think that Hee-tae’s personality had become more sly. The important thing is that.

Noh Haeil is wearing a school uniform right now.

No one has ever seen Noh Haeil wearing a school uniform. Well, there are photos from when he was in middle school, but that’s a record of the past. Since Noh Haeil didn’t enter high school after his debut, he had no reason to wear a school uniform.

Fans who secretly wanted to see Noh Haeil, who was the age of a high school student, wearing a school uniform shed tears, and drama fans silently screamed at Hee-tae’s growth (?) that had become so confident that he was almost a delinquent.

Noh Haeil’s session also wore clothes reminiscent of school uniforms. Keyboardist Seo Yeon wore a school uniform skirt with gym pants underneath.

Bassist Han Jin-young wore a large shirt, and percussionist Nam Gyu-hwan wore a shirt with a black short-sleeved shirt inside.

Even Noh Haeil, who wore his school uniform shirt untucked and his tie half-loosened. No one was properly dressed in a school uniform.

Noh Haeil’s small theater concert, first day.

Next, the title song [Another Day] from Noh Haeil’s mini-album ‘Another Life’ was heard.

[A day that is no different from anyone else]

A voice tickling their ears.

The noises that had been ringing in people’s minds disappeared, and only the boy’s voice remained in the present.

Like the title of the song, another day was beginning in itself.

“Hello, this is Noh Haeil.”

One drama OST [original soundtrack] song

Three songs from the 1st mini-album ‘Another Life’

And after the continuous performance of the songs from the 1st full album ‘Welcome to my world,’ the boy grabbed the microphone.

“Thank you for coming to my first concert.”

The cheers that had been restrained so as not to disturb the performance were heard loudly, as if they had been released. And even applause.

And Haeil saw.

If the fans had created the Big Dipper at the music broadcast, there were more starlight shining here.
The faint yellow light filled the audience seats, shimmering like the Milky Way. It would be difficult to see the Big Dipper anymore, but it was okay. He was moving forward well without getting lost, and countless starlight illuminated his path. That was enough.

“And.”

Haeil recalled the meaning of the regular album ‘My world,’ which would make up today.

“Welcome to my world.”

‘Welcome to my world.’

He repeated the title of the song he had just sung. People cheered again. The reaction was good, but Haeil felt goosebumps on his skin at his own comment.

The members said he absolutely had to do it, but he thought he shouldn’t do it again from tomorrow.

“As today is the first day of my first concert, I wondered how to create the stage. Many people offered to help, and ideas for great stages came out.”

Before he offered Liv a guest appearance, he received many offers in reverse. Among them were people he contacted often, people he talked to briefly, or people he passed by.

Haeil was not so exclusive that he would only invite close friends to his stage. A guest appearance was the beginning of another relationship, so he brought rookies to his performances, and he also invited magicians or street artists out of the blue.

So he thought about doing that this time too.

Suddenly, he thought that it would be okay to fill the stage alone, as it was Noh Haeil’s first solo concert and the first day.

“From tomorrow until the sixth stage, various guests will come and create a special stage. So today-.”

Haeil looked at the people listening to his words quietly and smiled mischievously.

“Only look at me.”

The boy’s sentence was like magic.

The boy’s appearance, which was said to be in the ordinary category in the entertainment industry where there are many handsome men and beautiful women, seemed particularly special today.

The stage lights, costumes, the boy’s song, the boy’s comments.

It was true that they had to look at the boy because they had come to see him, but they felt like they were being sucked into that one sentence.

With the boy’s finger snap, the stage lights went out again, and the session’s sound began to be heard grandly.

Starting with ‘Hero’s Song,’ which made the boy’s name known to the public.

Before Noh Haeil’s concert started, a lot of attention was focused on it. The ticket war and the online forums were all the result of that. The predictions about Noh Haeil’s concert were also in that result.

The guest list to be invited to Noh Haeil’s concert was created through the broadcasts Noh Haeil participated in and the traces exposed on SNS [social networking services]. Compared to a rookie’s connections, it was so flashy that people actually expected to see a lot at Noh Haeil’s concert.

Also, the second prediction was none other than the set list. As it was a performance composed of at least two hours, they had to fill the time with songs, but since Noh Haeil debuted this year, even if they combined all the songs on his album, it was less than the number of songs he would sing at the concert.

So someone said this.

Noh Haeil will inevitably be obsessed with inviting guests.

But now, the lucky guy sitting in the front row of Noh Haeil’s concert thought.

*Is he going to be obsessed with guests?*

Of course, he also thought that Noh Haeil would invite guests. Because the guest talk was so noisy.

But now that he thinks about it, he wondered if this was the stage he wanted.

As predicted, Noh Haeil’s set list is composed of all songs, but what if there are few songs? Noh Haeil’s talent is not only vocals.

The cover stage that Noh Haeil showed only once.

Since then, there have been so many people who wanted to see Noh Haeil’s cover stage. But since then, he has never seen a cover.

People like new music, but they also enjoy biting into the past again and ruminating on it. They may miss the music because they listened to it impressively, or they may miss it because the memories of listening to the music are special.

Anyway, for that reason, past songs are remade and reproduced in the present era. Well, it usually ends with the conclusion that nothing can beat the original song.

Usually-.

“Oh… this.”

But the praise the boy heard in Rendezvous Episode 2 was not only for the boy’s vocals.

Arrangement.

That talent that created a new version of HALO’s song and is still talked about.

The boy played the cover that everyone wanted on his first stage. Maybe these songs are the boy’s favorite music. Old and worn-out old music, songs that may feel a little old-fashioned over time, are approaching so beautifully like this.

People understood the boy’s opening comments while listening to the boy’s entire album, which makes up Noh Haeil’s beginning and present, and while listening to the cover songs in between.

The beginning and end of today’s concert make up this boy’s world. And, as it reaches its climax more and more. While listening to the acoustic versions of 17sec and zigzag, they craved more and more.

They don’t want this beautiful world to stop without rules or formalities. The more they listen, the thirstier they get, and they regret it. They feel like they’re going to die even for 1 second of blinking.

He now understood what someone had said to be sure to see Noh Haeil’s performance. He was also jealous. That he enjoyed this good thing first.

The last song was heard.

Everyone recognized that it was the last song, not because they checked the time. This is because it was the last of the boy’s songs that had not yet been sung among the songs that had been released to the world. The boy’s single album that he had not sung before.

‘Lighthouse of the Night’

There is no special cheering method for this song.

[Going out on a dark night]

But the light of the cheering stick began to twinkle.

Like the cheering stick held by the boy on the stage.

[Following the voyage of the stars]

Or like a lighthouse that informs fishermen of the way.

They shake their cheering sticks as much as they regret it.

Hoping that this happy time will last forever.

And that’s the same for the boy.

He hoped that the stage where the curtain was approaching would not end like this.

Just like this, forever. He wanted time to stop.

The boy’s song, which should have reached its climax soon, does not continue at some point.

The boy was standing still in the middle of the stage, looking at the wave of light. It would have been an accident if it had been normal, but the members continued the accompaniment.

As if waiting for the boy to finish.

When the accompaniment was repeated, repeated, and repeated.

The boy finally smiled happily and perfectly finished the first day of his first concert.

[I’ll be a lighthouse and shine on you]