The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1531

< 153. No Hae-il and Halo >

“How do you like the house?”

Halo looked around.

It was pleasant, quiet, and above all, the lush greenery visible from the window wasn’t bad.

If their previous home was a luxurious high-rise apartment with a panoramic view of Lotte World and Seokchon Lake, the house they moved into was a secluded and upscale villa in Bangbae-dong.

The area had many walking trails, such as Seoripul Park and Montmartre Park, and it was also closer to Korea University.

However, what his mother cared about most was privacy.

Because so many people had come to see or interview No Hae-il before, his mother ruled out houses with many units like apartments, and it seems she chose this villa where only six households lived in one building.

“It’s nice.”

“Right?”

Park Seung-ah’s face brightened at Halo’s words.

There was no big difference in the answers between Professor No Yoon-hyun, who said everything was good no matter what house he saw and subtly hoped they would pick any house, and her son, who said everything was fine no matter what she asked, but she still thought her son’s answer was better.

“But did something happen?”

“Pardon?”

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

Ah.

Halo shrugged.

The events of yesterday came to mind.

He had accepted the curtain call invitation to commemorate the final stage of the musical ‘Rock,’ and he had his first rehearsal yesterday.

Coincidentally, he ran into another composer and lyricist.

Professor Kim, who reminded him of those critics.

“Something enjoyable happened.”

Professor Kim, who had said that Halo’s music had excellent refinement and structure and told him to improve and grow more, backpedaled as soon as he found him and turned away.

It was the fastest movement he had ever seen. Halo, who chuckled at him running away without even saying hello, had to lower his raised arm again.

‘Too bad. I was going to say hello.’

Halo, with a face that didn’t look sorry at all, chuckled inwardly.

Seeing critics who had spoken ill of him face-to-face was quite amusing.

Well, most of them can’t say anything and just stare at the floor when they actually meet.

Halo decided to say hello next time and focused on practicing.

“Is this mine?”

“It might be a little mixed up, but it should be right for you. But you’re going to organize it?”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t his, but No Hae-il’s.

Halo opened the lid of the cardboard box.

Inside, there was a mix of things like frames, albums, books, and notebooks.

No Hae-il’s textbooks and elementary and middle school graduation albums.

Halo took them out one by one and found a frame.

A young No Hae-il, about six years old, was standing sullenly holding his young mother’s hand.

He had a bandage on his cheek, whether he didn’t like having his picture taken or he had fought with someone.

The No Hae-il he had imagined was more docile and indecisive, but he didn’t seem so docile when he looked at this.

And when he looked at the next frame, there was No Hae-il in his middle school uniform this time. At this time, he looked a little dejected. This was probably the No Hae-il he knew.

Completely different from how he was now.

First of all, his appearance was quite different.

People bring up old photos of No Hae-il and say he’s cute, but he’s grown up to the point where they call it a reverse transformation. Whether it’s his physique or his features.

Still, these things can change enough as you grow up or lose weight.

Conversely, personality and atmosphere would be a different matter.

Since his personality and atmosphere are completely at opposite extremes, people who knew No Hae-il at this time wouldn’t think they were the same person.

‘And if someone knew No Hae-il at this time.’

His gaze slowly turned to Park Seung-ah.

Halo had a question for the first time.

“Mother.”

“Yes?”

Halo looked at the photo and held it up next to his face.

“Haven’t I changed a lot?”

It was strange, although he had just brushed it off a year ago because they were misunderstanding, fighting, making up, and becoming friends.

Halo and No Hae-il were so different that even Jang Jin-soo, who wasn’t close to them at the time, was horrified, ‘Was this your personality?’, but there was no way his parents wouldn’t know about the change.

As his mother didn’t answer, Halo felt his throat getting drier and drier.

A few days ago, someone had asked him to prove that he was Halo. At that time, Halo had chuckled and brushed it off, but he felt that if his mother asked, ‘Are you No Hae-il?’, he might not be able to brush it off like he did then.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Halo wondered if he should pass it off as a joke at his mother’s words, but strangely, the words didn’t come out.

It felt like touching Pandora’s box.

Like a fool who knew it was a stupid thing to do but couldn’t help but open it.

Halo opened his mouth.

“Suddenly quitting school to do music.”

“···.”

“Working under an unfamiliar name.”

Everything from him suddenly saying he would do music to the name HALO happened suddenly, but his mother didn’t question it and supported him.

Looking back now, it was quite strange.

“Sometimes… I might have felt like a different person.”

It’s not that he wants to say that he’s not No Hae-il now. But why? Halo didn’t know why he was asking this question even as he spoke.

“A different person.”

His mother, who had been listening to him quietly, moved her lips as if she was thinking hard.

“Well. I’ve never thought about it that way. It’s just that.”

Time flowed slowly.

“I was just happy that you finally found something you wanted to do, and I was just sorry that I didn’t realize it sooner. And I also regretted it a little.”

“Pardon?”

“I should have had you try music, even piano, back in the day when everyone else was having their kids do it. I had you try swimming, and if you remember, soccer, baseball, tennis, skating, kendo [Japanese martial art], art, calligraphy, Go [a strategic board game], and even astronomy, but why didn’t I have you try music? If I had known you would like it this much, wouldn’t you have settled down sooner?”

His mother stroked Halo’s hand as she spoke.

“It broke my heart to see you looking at your mom and dad, especially your dad, because you didn’t seem to have anything you wanted to do or any talent when you were young.”

Halo seemed to know why No Hae-il’s face in the frame became more and more dejected as time went on. So that’s why he became so timid.

“When I saw you studying hard to get praise from your dad and keep your promises, I thought your talent was studying.”

There were quite a few opportunities to have him try piano, guitar, or violin, but Park Seung-ah thought that was the case because his academic achievement was consistently good.

“But you had an even bigger talent.”

With just one video she happened to come across, she learned something she didn’t know. It couldn’t be simply called recognition. Awareness (自覺) [self-awareness or realization]. Like suddenly realizing one day that the sunlight was dazzling, she saw, felt, and realized it there.

There, her son seemed like someone who was born to make music. Like a great man who dominated an era. It felt so natural for her son to shout that he would make music. Rather, it was stranger not to do so.

“And an unfamiliar name.”

His mother shrugged.

HALO.

Glory and halo.

And another meaning is the center of the galaxy.

“You and your dad saw it almost every week at the observatory. You and I aren’t interested in astronomy, but your dad wanted to go. I don’t know what’s so good about the galaxy that your dad sees every day. Do you know how angry I was when your dad wanted to name your prenatal name Hubble Tension or Cepheid Variable Star?”

His mother smiled and clenched her fist.

Halo nodded vaguely, letting it go because it was a word he didn’t know what it meant and probably wouldn’t know for the rest of his life.

“But you seemed to like looking at the stars quite a bit too. You said you didn’t want to go, but if I said I’d buy you bread from the observatory, you’d follow me, pretending you couldn’t win. Actually, you didn’t like bread that much. Our son is always a carnivore, right?”

It was the same when I first heard the word ‘Halo’. Suddenly, you said you were going to enter the astronomy department, which you had no interest in. I looked through the telescope for a long time. It was like you felt some kind of destiny.

So maybe that’s why. I think I would have felt more strange if you had used a different name.”

Was he not forced to go?

Halo imagined a young boy following his father with a sullen face and eventually liking the stars.

“And finally, a different person.”

When his mother said that, Halo knew that his mother had answered almost all of the questions he had revealed.

Without missing a single one.

“Mom always thought you were a different person.”

“!”

Halo was startled by the words. His heart was pounding. But soon, he heard words he didn’t expect.

“I wanted to know you, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t know everything, and I thought I knew everything, but then I didn’t know something again. I want to take care of everything, but it’s always not enough. I’m your mom. You’re my son, but you’re always difficult and so different. If you were the same person as Mom, I could know you better and treat you better.”

The question of whether he seemed like a different person meant whether he still looked like No Hae-il.

The answer he heard was a wise answer to a foolish question.

He misunderstood the meaning, but it was clear that it was a great answer, judging by the fact that he was speechless.

“But now that I think about it, I’m glad that Hae-il, you’re a different person. That means you can live more happily and more satisfied than Mom and Dad.”

His mother gently stroked his head.

“Of course, I’d be more satisfied if you came home more often, right?”

The last part was clearly half joke and half truth.

Halo looked at her with an awkward face.

He doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.

Still.

“-I’ll try.”

“Okay.”

That one answer seemed to be enough for her.

:

Halo, who came out without being able to ask any more questions or argue, felt like he had been released from a spell.

It was shocking that his mother had never doubted him, and the words that followed seemed to hit him in the back of the head.

In fact, there were still questions left.

Even if he had gradually lost his spirit, it was still sudden for a person to change, so how could it not be strange? Was No Hae-il’s personality originally similar to his? If the real No Hae-il came, wouldn’t she ask who he was?

All sorts of thoughts ran through his head.

Besides-.

Halo recalled his mother’s reaction, who seemed to know a lot about ‘HALO’.

In the past, the name HALO was the name he chose as the most attractive word in his science textbook, but it seemed to have a deep meaning for No Hae-il.

Well, his father took him to the observatory every weekend, so that could be the case. Where did he go? He seemed to have been dragged to church.

Maybe it would have been more natural to name him Jesus Christ.

Jesus.

It really doesn’t suit him.

Halo chuckled and answered the ringing phone.

Caller ID: Shin Joo-hyuk.

He’s someone who doesn’t usually call.

Is it about the musical? Or is it to do something together?

Halo hesitated whether to answer, but answered the phone since he was in a good mood. Then he heard a leisurely voice.

[Yo, long time no see, kid.]

Shin Joo-hyuk was someone who already knew he was Halo, and he hadn’t changed much even after he found out, so there was no way he would change now.

[How have you been?]

“Yeah, well.”

[Yeah, well? So you’ve been doing well on your own?]

“I guess you’ve been doing well too, sunbae [senior/older colleague].”

He didn’t know what he had been doing, but he figured he must be doing well since he was alive. Then, the sound disappeared for a moment over the phone, and soon a sinister voice was heard.

[Doing well? You have no idea how annoying it was. Reporters, who are hard to see except during dating rumors, followed my schedule from February, annoyingly asking, ‘Is No Hae-il Halo!’ ‘Please answer, Mr. Shin Joo-hyuk!’ Do you know how annoying it was?]

Shin Joo-hyuk imitated the reporters. It was quite a good acting.

“No.”

[You don’t know?···! Right, you don’t know.]

Shin Joo-hyuk, speechless at the nonchalant answer, seemed to have become a fool for a moment.

Right, why did he forget this? He was a cocky kid from the start.

He didn’t expect this kind of kid to pretend to be sorry.

It would be more creepy if he suddenly went crazy and apologized, ‘I’m sorry, sunbae’, but he was still annoyed by his nonchalant appearance.

It was also true that he was relieved that he was consistent.

[I enjoyed watching Coachella.]

“···.”

Halo, who didn’t know that Shin Joo-hyuk had come to Coachella, didn’t bother to say that he didn’t know and closed his mouth.

Shin Joo-hyuk also thought that he had said something unnecessary, belatedly recalling the helicopter accident.

A moment of silence naturally occurs.

Shin Joo-hyuk thought that he had brought it up for no reason and changed the subject. Yeah, he’s still a kid, and he might not want to be bothered.

After that, Shin Joo-hyuk’s trivial words continued.

Mostly everyday stories and stories about music, and stories about the musical ‘Rock’. Oh, he also talked about the mask he wore in Venice.

It was an effort to make him feel better, saying that he had brought up the Coachella story for no reason, but Halo wondered why this guy had called in the first place.

It felt like the main point hadn’t come out yet and the conversation was going around in circles.

Just as he was about to say something first, Shin Joo-hyuk carefully brought up the topic after a moment of silence.

[By the way, have you heard?]

“Heard what?”

[···You haven’t heard? Why haven’t you heard? I thought they would have already told you.]

He wanted to hear the subject.

Halo looked down at the phone for a moment and listened again.

He was going to cut it off appropriately if he didn’t say anything else.

[Teacher Hwang Ryong-pil, you know.]

Halo paused when he heard the name of an unexpected person.

And his eyes slowly widened at the words that followed.

[He’s retiring.]