The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1791

< Christmas Present >

[I don’t want a lot for Christmas]

I don’t want a lot for Christmas.

A famous Christmas carol played in the market.

Halo tapped his foot, wearing a hat and sunglasses, and wrapped in a muffler.

[There is just one thing I need]

There is just one thing I need.

His foot tapped the floor to the rhythm.

People turned around briefly at the quiet humming, but couldn’t find the source of the voice in the crowd.

The members had long gone to enjoy the Christmas market.

When Halo said he had someone to meet, they gave him the okay sign and disappeared.

They seemed to think she was a woman, judging by their strange expressions.

Scandals aren’t good for celebrities, but as band members, they had no intention of interfering with their boss’s love life. They weren’t the PR team that would worry about scandals; they just wanted their boss to be happy. They didn’t think dating would affect his music, and they thought 17 was an age to experience many things. So, they left with sly expressions at the word ‘promise’.

Of course, unfortunately, their expectations could not be met.

Halo, who had been crossing his arms, waved at the girl who approached him.

“Hi, is your cold all better?”

“Yeah.”

A blonde girl, half his size, appeared with red cheeks.

Rose Aspera, fully armed with mittens and a scarf, was not followed by anyone else.

“Where is Ms. Aspera?”

“Over there.”

“Ah.”

She seemed to be sulking.

In the place Rose Aspera pointed, Arbo’s beloved chief designer, Per Aspera, was busy on the phone. Judging by his serious face, it was definitely business.

After talking on the phone for a long time, Per Aspera was startled when he met Halo’s eyes, hung up, and approached.

“H, Roh. It’s been a while.”

Per Aspera, who called him by his last name instead of his first name because there were many people around, had an embarrassed look on his face.

He had said he would take her, but he left her unattended without even saying hello.

“How is Arbo’s new model? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

After a brief greeting, Per Aspera started talking about work again.

As if he didn’t notice his daughter’s expression was getting worse and worse.

Halo understood that not just anyone could become Arbo’s creative designer.

Rose’s coat, which she was holding, was getting more and more wrinkled.

Halo shrugged and glanced away.

Only then did Per Aspera notice his daughter, who was holding Halo’s coat and avoiding eye contact.

“That, Rose. Sorry. Did you say hello to Mr. Roh?”

Rose didn’t answer.

“Aren’t you going to talk to Dad?”

Per Aspera was troubled but continued in his role as a guardian.

“Mr. Roh, thank you so much for playing with Rose despite your busy schedule. Rose really wanted to go to the Christmas market, and she was sad that she couldn’t go to the concert because of her cold.”

“Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Go quickly.”

“!”

Per Aspera stopped talking at Rose’s words.

He seemed to be in great shock.

If Rose was a little older, or if Halo was Rose’s age, he might have been wary of Halo. But in the end, Per Aspera, who was busy with work, only specified when he would pick her up and had to go back to work.

Halo, who had been smiling faintly until then, asked when they were left alone.

“Were you very sad that you couldn’t come to my concert?”

“Let’s go.”

The girl with reddened ears dragged him into the ‘Les Villages de NOEL PARIS’ Christmas market.

Halo willingly went in and chuckled softly.

Going back a little further in time, it was when he was inviting guests that he reunited with Rose Aspera. Before inviting the gondola crew he met in Venice, Halo wanted to invite the biggest connection he had made in France.

However, her guardian, Per Aspera, sent back a reply saying it would be difficult.

He explained that Rose really wanted to go, but he was worried because she was starting to show signs of a cold. Like an annual event, she catches a cold around winter and suffers for a long time.

So, Halo sent concert tickets instead of inviting her as a guest.

He said it was okay if she didn’t come as a guest, but she could come and see it if she felt up to it.

It wasn’t a sold-out audience seat, but a staff seat where she could see his stage from the side.

Unfortunately, Rose had a bad cold and couldn’t even visit the concert, let alone be a guest.

Along with the message that she couldn’t go, he received a call from Rose.

He didn’t know how much Rose cried then. He heard it from Per Aspera later, but Rose had bought new clothes, bragged to her friends, and waited eagerly to go to the concert.

However, when she eventually caught a cold and couldn’t go, the tears she had been holding back burst out as soon as she heard her favorite singer’s voice, and she cried so much that she thought she would be exhausted, saying, “Halo, I’m sorry.”

“It’s really okay? If you’re sad, you can come next time.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Why are you crying when you can come next time? Rose, or, should we see each other somewhere else?”

“Somewhere else?”

While comforting her and talking, they promised to go to the Christmas market together.

Rose, who cried like a child at that time, changes the subject whenever that story is brought up and becomes a lady again.

“Roh, look over there!”

She roamed around the market non-stop.

The way she ran out like a bull didn’t seem like a girl suffering from a cold at all.

The owner of the market looked at the young girl and the boy who followed her and thought they were siblings, looking at them with a happy smile. It was four p.m. and they couldn’t even imagine that the tall boy with sunglasses was Halo.

In a way, it was fortunate that they didn’t think of the tall boy with sunglasses as a kidnapper.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Yeah. This looks delicious, and that looks delicious too.”

When she seriously pondered over the menus that looked the same no matter how he looked at them, Halo gave a Solomon-like answer.

“Then let’s eat both.”

Rose, who bought two hot dogs and tasted them one by one, started eating the one she liked, and Halo ate the other one like a father.

The hot dog with sauerkraut wasn’t bad, but he suddenly wanted to eat Korean food.

As they walked down the street, they soon arrived at a large tree.

There were benches or chairs placed near the tree so people could sit, but it didn’t seem like there were any empty seats.

Families, couples, elderly couples, and teenage friends were all sitting around the tree, spending time together. It didn’t seem like a seat would be available easily, so Halo gave up looking for one.

Anyway, Rose didn’t have much time.

Soon, Per Aspera would come to pick her up.

Knowing that, Rose, who had been happily running around the market, hugged the doll Halo had bought her and said hello.

“Thank you for coming with me today.”

“Was it fun?”

“Yeah. It feels like I received a gift from Santa Claus for doing well for a year.”

*Am I becoming Santa?*

Halo was about to make a joke, but he closed his mouth at the words that followed.

“Roh did well too.”

“…”

“You sang a song.”

Halo suddenly recalled the wish Rose had made to him in January.

-What can I do for you?

At that time, Rose answered like this.

-Sing a song.

-A song for you?

-No.

-Sing a song for them, Halo.

-My sun.

“Like the sun.”

Rose’s voice thickly repainted the faded memories.

Halo, who was wondering what to say in the ticklish atmosphere, chose a joke as always.

“You couldn’t hear it this time because you were sick.”

“No.”

Rose puffed out her cheeks.

“I listened to everything diligently. From the 1st album to the 13th album.”

*There is a song that received a 19+ rating in Korea, but I decided to skip it because this is not Korea.*

“Good job.”

Rose nodded with a proud face at Halo’s compliment.

“I listened to it really, really a lot. Now I can sing along well.”

*I think this is because he scolded Rose for not being able to sing along to the 13th album when he met her in the hotel lobby after the small theater concert.*

It was when Halo was about to answer, ‘Then do it.’

“I’ll listen to the next album too.”

Their eyes met.

Halo kept his mouth shut, and Rose had an expression that he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

It looked like the face of a child who didn’t know anything, and it also looked like the face of an old adult.

*No, this is a pointless meaning.*

It’s probably because Rose accurately pointed out what he was vaguely thinking.

“So-”

Halo felt like he knew what Rose was going to say.

However, before she could continue, a familiar voice was heard from afar.

“Rose!”

“-Dad?”

It was Per Aspera’s voice, and Rose and Halo also turned their heads.

He was still working hard when he dropped her off, but he wasn’t on the phone when he came to pick her up.

Rose was about to run to her dad, but she stopped with a gasp.

And she grabbed Halo’s coat.

Halo was puzzled, but he squatted down.

Like then, Rose whispered in his ear.

“I don’t mind if Christmas comes a little later.”

At first, he didn’t know what she meant.

But soon, he remembered that Rose thought of him like Santa Claus.

“You said you already received a gift.”

“…Not yet.”

Rose pouted and whispered that, then ran to her father, who was calling her again.

And she hugs her father. It seems like her anger has been resolved for a long time. They are just a friendly father and daughter.

Like people who came to enjoy the Christmas market.

He didn’t know what Per Aspera said, but she turned around and waved to Halo.

“See you next time!”

He couldn’t hear it because of the voices of the people, but he thought she said hello like that.

There was still a lot of time left until the market closed today, but since there was no one to pick him up like Rose, Halo just found an empty seat and sat down.

“An album.”

It’s about time to release it.

Was it March when he released the 13th album?

To be exact, it could be said to be decades ago.

Because the 13th album was already made, and he just re-released it.

So, it was safe to say that he had never released a new song since Roh Hae-il’s first official album.

If you think about it that way, it’s been quite a while since he took a break.

“I should release it soon.”

And the 83rd Halo, no, Jason, provoked him.

He said he would release an album in March.

Halo has pride. He can never get over that.

Halo smiled mischievously and tilted his head back.

The music of the market, the voices of the people, and the busking performance were mixed into his ears, and that created another result in his head.

As he always says, he has never been blocked when it comes to composing.

All kinds of melodies always existed in his head, and new melodies were created, and some left or sank.

Rock, electronic, pop, ballad. Halo, who is drifting in the sea where many genres are washed away, wondered what kind of story to tell with music.

A story about the new relationship he met here is also good.

A story for the fake Halo that exists in the world like Jason would be good too.

Also,

-There’s a song you said you’d never sing in your life. A love song.

Shin Joo-hyuk’s joke that flowed by came to mind, but he shook his head.

*What love song.* Halo snorted.

‘The words I want to say.’

He didn’t have the most attractive story or the words he wanted to say.

He thought of the person he wanted to say any words to.

But it was someone he could never hear no matter what he shouted.

Halo hummed, thinking about what song to make, and looked around at the people around him.

People who look happy are captured at a glance.

While staring blankly, a smile appears on his lips.

Something comes to mind.

It’s not that a song comes to mind.

He doesn’t know about the song, but he thought of a way to make these people happier.

It’s what he likes, and what fans like too.

It’ll be fun.

[It’s what we used to do often, right?]

The post he unexpectedly posted on Byeolgram [a fictional social media platform] was born like that.

Combined with the fans’ pleas to please communicate.