The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1391

< In the Shining Supernova - Episode 139 >

The rain continued to fall steadily.

Even with the wipers on, the water pooled and blurred the view.

Rainwater turned faintly red in the traffic lights and car brake lights.

“It’s always crowded here.”

“Once we get through the rotary [roundabout], the road should clear up.”

“Alright, just keep driving and don’t worry about me.”

Chairman Matthias of Arvo leaned back against the cushion. As he turned his gaze to the window, he saw people walking along the street with black umbrellas.

He thought about opening the window to listen to the rain, but Matthias quickly changed his mind.

It wasn’t that he was worried about the car’s interior getting wet. His house had a collection of sports cars displayed as a hobby, and he could buy a new car whenever he wanted.

He simply had no desire to be drenched by the aggressive rain.

Then, he happened to notice the street. It was the last block of the Champs-Élysées before the rotary.

An unusually large crowd of people had gathered there.

They were gathered in a circle around the rotary.

One by one, they gathered there, folding their umbrellas and standing in the rain.

Perhaps he found it strange. The moment the Rolls-Royce rounded the corner, the chairman understood why. A group was busking [street performing] in the rain.

Busking in this weather.

The chairman, who could buy anything he wanted but couldn’t buy youth, envied their youth.

At that moment, a familiar jacket and guitar case caught his eye.

He couldn’t see the rest of the figure, obscured by a long umbrella, but he recognized the jacket.

“Wait.”

At that one word, the driver stopped the car on the side of the rotary without question.

The chairman, who wouldn’t even bother picking up money if he dropped it on the street, turned his head.

He couldn’t bear to see his star, who had once visited his home, wearing someone else’s clothes. It was a brand-new leather jacket he had gifted, and it hadn’t even been sold yet.

“I guess I don’t need to ask where he is. He’s a friend who always draws attention.”

The chairman chuckled and lowered the window. What’s a little rain?

He was more generous to those he liked.

Of course, the suspicion he held towards August Veil remained. Why hadn’t he denied the expression ‘serving’? The chairman, who had planned to resolve this over dinner today, naturally listened to his new friend’s performance.

To see how captivating the performance was that his chief designer had fallen for.

Soon, the car was filled with silence.

The driver cautiously glanced at the chairman’s expression in the rearview mirror.

Arvo’s chairman Matthias wasn’t one to show a wide range of emotions, so one had to look closely for subtle changes in wrinkles or pupils.

“!”

But for the first time, the driver saw a dramatic change in expression.

Matthias, who had been listening to the rain-soaked music with his eyes closed and a blank expression, suddenly opened his eyes wide and pressed his face against the window.

He was someone who would cross his arms and close his eyes even when watching an orchestra.

Then, Chairman Matthias blinked and his lips trembled.

“Veil.”

Suddenly, he uttered August Veil’s name, chewing on each syllable. The driver, wondering if there was an urgent matter, reached for his phone.

“Shall I contact Mr. Veil?”

“No, wait.”

The chairman clutched his head as if he had a headache, then suddenly threw open the car door and stepped out.

“Chairman!”

The driver exclaimed in surprise and got out of the car.

Until he opened the umbrella and held it over the chairman, the chairman didn’t seem to realize he was getting rained on.

“Quickly, to August Veil. No.”

The sweet singing faded away.

The chairman knew the performance was coming to an end.

He could already picture what would happen next.

“Go over there. Bring that friend over here first.”

#

Sometimes, unexpected things happen in the world.

You might awaken an evil spirit by saying ‘Hello?’ in an empty house, or get hit by bird poop while walking along. Or, even if you’re not usually clumsy, you might leave your AirPods at home.

The weather in Paris is like that too.

It rained all night, so you’d think it would stop, but the teasing rain started to fall harder again. The Parisian, who had taken the remaining umbrella from the store, walked the familiar path again today.

Rainy Paris is especially like a black and white movie.

How can everyone walk around so blandly?

If it weren’t for the occasional awning of a store, it would be all black and white. One might suspect they had color blindness.

About to play a song he was familiar with, he remembered that he had left his AirPods at home, and he roughly shoved his smartphone into his pocket.

The walk home would be boring and tedious.

However, unexpected things happen in the world.

The Parisian spotted a crowd of people at the end of the Champs-Élysées. As he slowly approached them, he heard a familiar accompaniment.

It was Oasis’s Champagne Supernova, which he loved.

He never understood what the lyrics were trying to say, but it was still one of his favorite songs, so the Parisian didn’t pass by and stood there like the others.

Before he knew it, he heard a boy’s voice.

[How many special people change]

It was a sweet and beautiful voice.

He unconsciously narrowed the gap between himself and the others. Umbrellas intertwined to create a roof like a quilt.

He didn’t realize that the others were also getting closer to get a better look, just like him.

In the very center, a girl was holding an umbrella over a singer. She held it as high as she could, but the dark umbrella obscured the singer’s face due to the height difference. Still, the white hands playing the guitar below were clearly visible.

[How many lives are living strange]

The Parisian, thinking the rain-soaked voice sounded familiar, saw the woman next to him fold her umbrella.

She seemed completely unaware that her tweed jacket was getting wet, staring blankly at the singer whose face was hidden.

And then, something magical happened.

One by one, people folded their umbrellas and huddled together.

Even though it wasn’t a light drizzle, but a heavy downpour, they tried to remove the umbrellas that were blocking their view, regardless of whether their clothes, bags, or cherished shoes got wet or stepped on.

No one had instructed them to do so.

[Someday you will find me]

The Parisian, who had folded his umbrella like them, unconsciously covered his mouth. The song he listened to every day with his AirPods, the voice was playing right in front of him.

[Caught beneath the landslide]

A car that had been speeding away with its doors locked.

Or those who were disconnected from the world, heads buried in the small internet in their hands, ears plugged.

They would not see this beautiful world unfolding on an ordinary street.

[In a champagne supernova]

People chased the singer’s voice without making a sound.

They carefully watched each finger strumming the guitar with the H engraved on it, without missing a single detail,

And even the hand of someone trying to pickpocket the people standing foolishly in the middle of Paris stopped.

[When we are caught]

The Parisian, who had never understood Champagne Supernova from the first time he heard it until now, recalled an interview between the songwriter Noel and a critic.

-But what does ‘Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball’ even mean?

-I don’t know either.

-?

-But wouldn’t 60,000 people have sung it without knowing the meaning? Everyone would have sung it with their own meaning.

The rain falling on his cheek flowed down like tears.

[Where have you been?]

The hand playing the guitar slowly slowed down.

As the voice that had been tickling his ears faded away, his vision finally widened. The Parisian noticed that everyone around the singer was looking at him with wide eyes.

Even the girl holding the umbrella over him was staring blankly up at the singer.

What is inside there now.

Who has a voice similar to ‘his’.

Perhaps… if this isn’t a dream-.

Only tension remained in the street where the music had disappeared.

Everyone was watching the young man holding the elegant guitar with the H engraved on it.

They didn’t even know what they wanted to hear, but they hoped he would say something.

A man who couldn’t stand the brief silence pushed through the crowd and walked forward. Then, another Asian man put down his camera and hurriedly stopped him.

But he couldn’t stop the person walking from the other side of the road.

Fortunately, he seemed to know the person, and after talking to the young man under the umbrella, he took the empty guitar case.

At that moment, the umbrella slowly began to lower.

The remnants of the rain, which had stopped again, fell to the ground with a patter,

And white hair, reflecting the light, was revealed.

Slowly, a soft forehead and

a smiling eye crinkle.

With a face younger than he had imagined, his eyes folded as the singer bowed to them like a maestro.

“Thank you for listening.”

A thick French accent.

It was as if time had stopped.

If it weren’t for the cars passing behind the singer, he might have thought it was just a dream.

As the boy turned around, people unconsciously reached out their hands. They tried to call him, but they were hesitant and only moved their lips.

Just as a group of police officers rushed over, thinking the sudden crowd was an illegal demonstration, a Rolls-Royce pulled up in front of the boy.

The door opened and

“No!”

The hand of someone who belatedly tried to rush out couldn’t grab the Rolls-Royce. The luxurious car quickly left the rotary.

“Halo…?”

It was too late when someone’s rain-soaked voice blurted out.

‘Are you Halo?’

The question everyone wanted to ask didn’t reach the boy and scattered into the air.

#

And less than an hour later, the chaos began.

[Saw someone with the same voice as Halo]

People clicked on the title someone had posted on YouTube, thinking it was another clickbait, but they stopped their hands from typing curses when they heard the voice through the rain.

[Who is he? (Likes 2.3k)]

[What the fuck]

[????]

[Are you being fooled again? It must be fake]

[What is this]

[It really sounds like Halo’s voice]

[What’s going on]

[Oh, that guitar-]

At first, it was ordinary people.

The Solar Corps, who had recently been noisy about whether a Hollywood singer who had obtained a similar guitar from somewhere and claimed to be Halo was real or not, belatedly came across it,

And the few Heligans, who had been submerged below the surface for a while after collecting and preserving the list of liars, going to their homes and smashing their cars, and appearing in the social section, also raised their heads one by one.

And in Korea, the Nohaeil=Halo theory, which had been well buried, was not crawling out of the grave like a zombie, but flying in from overseas, causing confusion.

[What are you talking about]

[? What kind of 떡밥 [tteokbokki – a popular Korean street food, here referring to a hot topic or gossip] is this?]

[Nohaeil’s fandom is full of crazy people who want to deify their singer?]

└ This isn’t domestic, is it?

└ (Mysterious boy (boy) with a voice similar to Halo’s Paris busking video.avi)

└ Everyone overseas is going crazy asking who he is

└ But the voice is really similar?

└ If you cover his face, he’s completely Halo

[What’s that guitar? That’s the one Venice Halo was holding. Why does Nohaeil have it?]

└ Nohaeil is such an attention seeker, he probably got the same guitar from somewhere and wrote the H himself, right?

└ After Halo’s guitar case was photographed in Venice, there are tons of kids who deliberately customize it like that

└ I saw it in Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its street art and indie music] tooㅇㅇ

[I just watched the video… ㅅㅂ [a Korean swear word] What is this? Is Nohaeil really Halo? I didn’t know when he sang Korean songs, but when he sings English songs, it’s just Halo covering it]

[How can Nohaeil be Halo? Even if you ignore race and culture, it doesn’t make sense;;]

└ Nohaeil wasn’t just playing around during Monthly Halo. He didn’t communicate and 잡았어 [jabasseo – caught/secured] the concert seats ㅈ같이 [jjot gachi – like a dick, meaning terribly], but he was more active than anyone else]

└ Nohaeil released a single, mini, and full album each last year

└ He even appeared on Rendezvous, music shows, and released a drawing book, doing everything he could

└ I thought he was living a leisurely life, but he lived hard

[Wow, my heart is beating like crazy right now. Is Nohaeil really Halo…?]

[The people in the video seem to be from the Spring Again team. Did they film it?]

└ 헉 [heok – gasp]

└ Looking at it, Team A covers Halo’s songs. Does Nohaeil also sing Halo’s songs? If Nohaeil sang Halo’s songs, you can just compare the two songs, right?

└ That’s right! I’m going to the broadcasting station now

└ It’s already a mess there

[Why are you making a fuss at the broadcasting station? You can just ask Nohaeil]

└ Everyone is making a fuss because they don’t know where Nohaeil is

Before realizing that the mysterious boy ‘with a voice similar to Halo’ from overseas was a Korean singer through Korean news, the quiet overseas Solar Corps calmly asked.

[So where is he now]

└ I don’t know, he disappeared

[What happened after the busking ended?]

└ They say he just said goodbye and left

└ Pardon? He just left? What were the guys there doing?

└ Did everyone get hit by a 광역 stun 궁 [gwangyeok stun gung – area-of-effect stun ultimate, a gaming term]?

└ Our team’s 원딜 [wondil – ADC/Attack Damage Carry, a gaming term] grew up well

[You stupid bastards, don’t you have hands, feet, or mouths? You should have caught him (catch) and seen him somehow]

In that way, the Nohaeil=Halo theory, which had only existed in Korea, spread to the world, reaching a state of chaos beyond confusion.

In a restaurant with only three people, a clear sound echoed.

“This is absurd.”

Chairman Arvo’s face, who said the same words as the internet, was filled with a bright smile.

“I don’t really like things like luck.”

He seemed full even without cutting the steak.

The chairman, who had drunk three glasses of wine in a row as soon as he arrived at the restaurant, didn’t pick up a fork and knife.

“I was going to give you one gift, but it seems like I received a Christmas present.”

“A gift?”

Halo, who was drinking water from a glass, asked.

“Didn’t you tell me that my clothes were uncomfortable.”

The chairman, who was swirling the wine, said.

“I thought about it all night last night, and I shared my opinions with the directors this morning. So we decided to create a new concept, a casual edition.”

“And I was going to put your name on that part.”

As Halo nodded, Chairman Arvo grinned.

“But now I have a new task. A very difficult problem. I’m 고민이된다네 [gomini doendane – I’m worried/concerned] whether to put ‘Roh’ or ‘HALO’. Hahaha! What do you think.”

“I don’t know.”

Halo calmly cut the steak, unfazed by the chairman’s gaze.

“It doesn’t seem like that difficult of a problem.”

“Really?”

“Do you know my name?”

“Name?”

Halo simply told him the English pronunciation of Nohaeil.

Hae-il Roh

It would sound different in French, but in English pronunciation-.

“!”

The chairman’s eyes widened.

He immediately realized that his 고민이 [gomin – worry/concern] had no meaning. At the same time, he was amazed that people didn’t know this 언어유희 [eon-eo-yu-hui – wordplay/pun].

Well, whatever.

The chief designer he newly appointed made the best choice that would help Arvo, along with excellent designs, and he supported the chief designer’s opinion.

Now Arvo will grow vigorously under the intense sun and spread all over the world.

“For my new edition, Hae-il Roh. Hahaha.”

Just then, August Veil, who had gone out to take a call from Coachella [a famous music festival], returned.

“You don’t have to worry about Coachella anymore.”

August Veil, who said he would tell him the details later, also raised his glass. Three glasses clinked together.

“By the way, did you say you were still traveling? Where are you going now?”

“I’m going to stay a little longer.”

The chairman, who knew well that Paris was in chaos, thought it was an unexpected answer. But he nodded at the following answer.

“I have to record my 12th album.”