The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 141

# 14 It Begins Now

YouTube.

The world’s largest video platform where anyone can freely upload or watch videos.

YouTube is a combination of ‘You,’ derived from ‘You,’ and ‘Tube,’ a nickname for television, essentially meaning ‘your personal television channel.’

For the first time, Halo seriously considered exploring YouTube. He had previously only thought of it as a vast collection of music, a futuristic library, but it seemed to have more functions than he expected.

“In simple terms, it’s like having your own broadcasting station.”

You could see it as a free broadcasting station that requires almost no initial investment. That’s why anyone can potentially make money. He understood the basic concept of how revenue was generated, but he wasn’t interested in the detailed technical aspects. He wouldn’t understand them even if he tried.

What was important to him was something else entirely.

How to actually use it.

He accessed his channel and stared at the blank screen. He couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by the unfamiliar technology.

‘So, first things first.’

Halo awkwardly put on his headphones.

He opened the file he had emailed to himself.

Nohaeil’s self-composed recording, or rather, the music video file.

[···The moment we’ve been waiting for will come]

It sounded a bit strange, mainly because the vocals were so unfamiliar.

It was a completely different voice from what he had known his entire life.

His voice, which had been rough and gravelly due to age, frequent smoking, and drinking, had transformed into a clear, almost ethereal voice, like that of a young boy before puberty. He didn’t know what would happen when puberty actually hit, but the boy choir-like quality wasn’t unpleasant to listen to.

It wasn’t just the voice that was unfamiliar.

Even more striking was the face.

A delicate face with gentle features immediately caught the eye. Nohaeil seemed to resemble his mother.

‘Did I really smile like that?’

Halo unconsciously touched his lips.

The video ended with the boy’s face, smiling genuinely and happily.

‘Not bad at all.’

The overall visuals and music were both surprisingly good.

The melody, which he initially thought was old-fashioned, blended seamlessly with the video. It felt fresh and youthful.

-By the way, what are you planning to do with the song we recorded last Wednesday? It would be a shame to just let it sit there.

Engineer Kang Youngmin had subtly encouraged him to upload it to YouTube.

‘I don’t mind uploading it.’

Halo nodded, arms crossed. He had always enjoyed attention, so he wasn’t opposed to the idea.

Since the video and music were both well-made, he figured people would enjoy it.

‘It doesn’t matter, but…’

But there was a problem.

Halo frowned.

‘This isn’t really my song.’

Even though he had tweaked it, it was still fundamentally Nohaeil’s music. He couldn’t just upload it to ‘his’ channel, even if he was singing it in Nohaeil’s body.

Halo stared at the YouTube interface for a long time before arriving at a simple conclusion.

‘I can just keep them separate.’

There was already a channel called [wave_r] on YouTube. It was probably Nohaeil’s personal channel. At first, he had considered simply changing the channel name, but he had changed his mind.

He discovered that he could create multiple channels. Halo decided to create a new channel named [HALO] instead. It was a bit of a hassle, but he felt it was the right thing to do.

[upload]

“I don’t know if this is what you really wanted.”

Halo hovered the mouse cursor over the upload button. The selected file was the mp4 he had downloaded.

Title: ‘Confession’

He hesitated for a moment, unsure if this was truly what Nohaeil wanted.

“You made this song for someone to hear.”

Since it was a sweet love song, there must be a specific person in mind. He didn’t know who it was. He was curious, but he wouldn’t pry into the kid’s personal life.

“You never know. Someone might accidentally stumble upon this song.”

The person Nohaeil wanted to hear this song might just happen to discover it.

Realistically, though, it was unlikely.

He wouldn’t be using this account in the future, and it would eventually be forgotten.

Unless Nohaeil returned, this channel would be lost among countless other videos.

Halo pressed enter.

The video upload seemed to be taking some time.

While waiting, Halo started thinking about a name for the new account.

[HALO official]

A new name and a new channel. It was empty now, but it would soon be filled with his own unique style.

Halo smirked.

“It begins now.”

#

Time passed.

Halo spent his days learning MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors] and practicing, only breaking for school.

His days were incredibly busy.

Nohaeil’s body was like a blank canvas, and he had to develop everything from his voice. He hadn’t realized how long it had been since he last played the guitar, and his fingers ached after extended practice sessions.

A hand with almost no calluses.

The unfamiliar pain ignited Halo’s competitive spirit. He stubbornly pushed himself, practicing even harder despite the pain and drawing blood.

His brothers and Jang Jinsu were horrified by his manic grin as he continued to play through the pain.

He practiced throughout the afternoon and evening, and reviewed what he had learned at night.

Unsurprisingly, he often fell asleep at school.

He was studying so diligently that no one bothered to wake him. It was also true that everyone was preoccupied with the approaching final exams.

Surprisingly, Nohaeil’s mother had also stopped nagging him. She didn’t say anything, even when he skipped his after-school academy.

‘Has she finally given up?’

Halo tilted his head, thinking back to past memories. They had always been persistent in pushing him.

‘Well, it’s better for me this way.’

Halo shrugged and left the house.

He carried a bag, but it didn’t contain the usual textbooks and workbooks.

Instead, it held a simple music notebook filled with his own compositions.

“Finally, today’s the day.”

Halo walked quickly, headphones around his neck.

He saw other students with nervous expressions.

Unlike them, he wasn’t nervous at all. He was filled with anticipation.

The music he had been creating while learning MIDI was finally complete.

His first album, [Struggle], consisting of four songs, was finished.

From the title track [Struggle] to the remaining three songs.

However, his excitement wasn’t solely due to completing the album. After school today, he would go to Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its indie music scene and street art], and take the first step towards a new life.

Right away-

“Alright everyone, today’s the day.”

Tak tak.

The homeroom teacher tapped the podium with a nonchalant expression.

It was the same routine, but the students’ reactions were different today. They groaned and started complaining. The homeroom teacher wrote something on the blackboard, ignoring their protests.

“The final exams will be held over the next three days, starting today.”

No! Ugh! Screams echoed through the classroom.

‘Final exams?’

Halo rested his chin on his hand and looked around. He usually ignored the teacher’s announcements, so he was unaware of the schedule.

“Next week, your grades will be released, and you’ll find out which high school you’ll be attending.”

‘Grades?’

“That’s all I have to say. I wish you all good luck.”

The homeroom teacher left the classroom, and the ethics teacher entered after the bell rang.

She carried a heavy envelope. As soon as Halo saw the stack of papers inside, his eyes widened.

‘Come to think of it, Nohaeil is in 9th grade.’

He had completely forgotten.

What it meant for Nohaeil to be a student.

He hadn’t realized that the test he had casually dismissed was happening today.

It wasn’t particularly important to him, but the test itself was stressful.

‘No. At least it will be over quickly.’

Checking the time on the blackboard, it was still early.

They probably wouldn’t have regular classes on exam days.

‘I would have booked the studio earlier if I had known about the test.’

It would be difficult to reschedule now.

Halo was mildly disappointed and accepted the test paper passed from the front.

‘Is this a math test?’

Why were numbers written on geometric shapes?

Halo stared at the test paper for about three seconds.

Triangles and circles were drawn geometrically. Questions asking for specific values didn’t interest him.

Pythagoras. He had heard of it somewhere.

He thought he was an old man who drew some pictures.

‘···I’ll just guess and take a nap.’

What high school.

Halo randomly marked answers and put his head down on the desk.

#

Meanwhile, Nohaeil and Jang Jinsu had finished the math test and received the second foreign language test paper.

“He actually did it.”

Han Jinyoung, who was sitting in front of the computer with bloodshot eyes in the basement studio in Hongdae, turned his head at the sudden voice. Bae Gonghak, who had come to the hideout, was staring at the computer screen in amazement.

“Huh?”

“I’m talking about Haeil. He learned MIDI and immediately made a song. Is he really a genius?”

“···I guess so.”

Bae Gonghak admired him openly.

Han Jinyoung wished he could admire him as purely as Bae Gonghak did.

When Han Jinyoung didn’t respond, Bae Gonghak pointed to Nohaeil’s song on the screen and asked.

“How’s the music?”

“Haven’t you heard it yet?”

“Uh. He said he’d let me hear it when it’s done, so I didn’t listen. Is it good?”

“Good…”

He was speechless.

Han Jinyoung had taught Nohaeil MIDI and was the first to hear his music. He knew that he planned to upload it as an album on YouTube.

At the time, he had simply thought, ‘Okay.’

He was trying to put what he learned into practice right away. He just thought he had good execution.

Since it was his first time learning MIDI, he didn’t expect anything particularly special.

He was prepared to praise him even if he only used a single session.

But.

“It’s more than just good.”

“Why? Is it a bit bad? Well, MIDI isn’t easy.”
Huh.

Han Jinyoung scoffed at Bae Gonghak’s words.

Bae Gonghak looked at Han Jinyoung, puzzled rather than offended.

“Hey, Gonghak.”

“Yeah, tell me.”

“How long did Shin Joo Hyuk usually take to compose a song?”

Bae Gonghak was briefly taken aback by the name he hadn’t heard in a long time, but soon replied nonchalantly.

“It varied.”

“Including recording.”

“Even with that bastard’s [a mildly offensive term] hysteria, it still took a few months. He kept working on it until he was satisfied. Of course, he made some quickly too.”

“So. It usually takes a few months, right? To get a decent song.”

“Sometimes inspiration struck and it came together quickly.”

“That’s rare, and it usually took a few months to make something good enough to release as a mini album.”

“That’s right.”

“So. How did he do it?”

It had only been a few days.

It had only been a few days.

Han Jinyoung’s pupils darted around.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Are you drunk?”

“Inspiration doesn’t come all the time.”

“Uh.”

“Even if you think you’ve made something good, there are always parts to fix.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

Bae Gonghak asked, sounding frustrated.

“Did he make it in advance?”

“Are you saying Haeil’s song is good?”

“.”

“Is it that good?”

Han Jinyoung nodded slowly.

“I stayed up all night running a melody discrimination program just in case?”

Just in case it was an existing song.

There were also cases where he recalled a song he had heard somewhere and mistook it for inspiration.

“I found and listened to all the songs the app mentioned.”

There was no program in the world that could compare and analyze the chords, harmonies, and lyrics of copyrighted music perfectly. If there was, he might have been free from plagiarism disputes.

But there were similar technologies. There were several apps that could listen to music and identify the title.

He used those to search all night.

“There was nothing that caught my attention.”

“That’s a relief.”

“That’s right.”

Bae Gonghak looked like he didn’t see the problem.

“That’s why it’s a problem.”

“What? What are you talking about? Hey, get out of the way. I’ll just listen to it once.”

“Gonghak.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what kind of monster I’ve created.”

Han Jinyoung closed his eyes.

The completed music swirled in his head.

It wouldn’t leave easily.

Like the OST [Original Sound Track] of some old movie that had become an immortal masterpiece.

The fire that blazed within him wouldn’t go out.

“What’s the title?”

“Struggle.”

“Oh. It’s a title that seems to have some meaning.”

He said that, but his face didn’t fully understand.

It probably wasn’t a title that would resonate with him in most cases.

There was no need to explain it.

“Just listen to it once.”

Seeing is believing.

In this case, hearing it once was worth a thousand words.

Han Jinyoung clicked the space bar.