The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 1861

< Good Stage - 186 >

“How is it?”

“How is what?”

“That.”

BB looked down at the Seoul cityscape at noon and answered the phone.

The call came from Los Angeles, where it was still dinner time.

The caller was Thomas Benson.

BB’s business partner and a good associate.

“Did you get anything?”

“I wonder.”

“I knew it. Just get the contract signed.”

BB chuckled at his completely unsurprised reaction.

“You’re not thinking of coming to Korea, are you?”

“Me? Why? Does ‘he’ want to see my face too?”

“Would you come if he did?”

“Of course, if it’s for the movie.”

“Fortunately, ‘he’ doesn’t seem to have any interest in you.”

“That’s a shame.”

Thomas replied as if he expected it.

BB wanted to laugh at him even more.

How horrified would he be if he saw this data?

BB couldn’t help but say,

“You stupid friend.”

“What is it now?”

“I’m sure you’re the dumbest person in the world.”

“?”

Thomas’s voice gradually faded.

He wasn’t oblivious.

He would think carefully about why BB was saying this.

“What does ‘he’ have?”

He has something, alright.

“You’ll never believe it.”

“No, I don’t understand. What is this reaction?”

Muttering continued from the other side of the phone.

He seemed unsure and hesitant.

“Not the interview, but could it be that the ‘story’ he created helped?”

In fact, BB wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t been here himself.

“You’re saying a 16-year-old, who I doubt has even read a script, created a story that helped?”

“He’s seventeen.”

“Whether he’s sixteen or seventeen, he’s at the age where he’s making cringey TikToks.”

“You haven’t forgotten his name, have you?”

“The Emperor of Pop. The reincarnation of Mozart. The rebirth of Rock. The sun the world loves. And a glory born once in a millennium. Is that enough?”

“More than enough.”

Thomas, who recited ‘his’ nicknames in a row to mean that he had never forgotten, wanted to hear the main point.

“Tom, do you know what mistake amateur directors make most often?”

“You always say it. Maintaining Tension.”

In other words, it could be called conflict.

Every narrative has conflict, and that conflict creates tension.

And that tension soon became the driving force behind the narrative.

But dealing with tension is not easy.

It’s hard to deal with tension between lovers or friends,

But doesn’t a narrative deal with the tension of more people?

In addition, what the director has to pay attention to is not only the tension between the characters but also the tension with the audience.

The reader is like a very sensitive and delicate hermit crab.

If the tension is too high, they get tired and fall off,

If the tension is too low, they lose interest and go back into their shells.

It meant that they had to create the perfect tension in the middle so that they wouldn’t fall off and feel interested.

That’s what even Hollywood’s famous director BB is always worried about.

Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he gets it wrong.

Therefore, BB did not expect the perfection of the narrative that Halo was telling.

Even if he handles the tension of music well, the tension of the scenario is different.

BB didn’t think that Halo, who was only an amateur in the scenario, would create tension well.

He thought it would be too much or not enough.

And not only tension, but BB wanted to know Halo’s way of thinking, taste, and life inherent in the story rather than the story Halo made.

“So his story has a lot of tension? It’s better to have a lot than a little. You can always take away.”

“No.”

“Then is it a little less?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“It’s weird.”

“Huh?”

What else could it be that it’s not too little, not too much, and weird?

But BB could only say it was weird.

The tension was being created so perfectly that it was strange.

BB had doubts from the beginning that Halo’s music and Nohaeil’s [Halo’s real name] life did not match at all, and he wanted to resolve them through Halo’s interview.

However, the story of ‘Another HALO’ that Halo tells-.

“It’s like I saw the answer sheet.”

“Huh?”

It was so creepy.

The question that could not be explained by Nohaeil’s life.

Halo’s raw music itself.

It was explained in the story of ‘Another HALO’.

It wasn’t just a simple explanation, but the pieces fit together without any misalignment.

As if it were originally one puzzle.

When I compared the data from the interview with the questions in my notes, the hair on my arms stood on end.

I doubted if there was such a person in the world.

BB searched the address Halo told him just in case. I couldn’t believe the result that it didn’t exist in the past or present.

The story of a person who does not exist in the world was made too elaborately.

Like peeking into the life of a real artist, not a novel.

-Halo said that ‘Another HALO’ was not an artist, but- in BB’s eyes, he was an artist himself.

Like Halo’s music, ‘Another HALO’s life was desperate and beautiful.

“So you’re saying it’s perfect?”

“There are some clumsy things.”

In fact, that was strange too.

Halo, who made other things like a real story,

-But you don’t want to tell me yet?

-What?

-His real name.

Until then, BB did not know his real name, let alone his stage name, so he called him ‘he’. Halo smiled faintly and asked back.

-Is that important?

-The name is also one of the special devices that describe the main character.

BB thought that as he created this perfect story, he would hear a name that suited ‘Another HALO’. But it wasn’t.

-Then make it the way you want.

-Yes?

-Tom is good, John is good too.

-···’He’ doesn’t deserve such an ordinary name. Halo, didn’t you decide on a name for ‘him’?

At that time, if he had answered yes, he would have just passed it on, but Halo continued the interview.

-He left everything at home. The pocket money he had was spent on his way to Scotland, and his clothes were so old that he threw them away. The same goes for the name. He decided to completely abandon the name he hadn’t heard for a long time. So he answered the boss who asked his name.

-A long time ago, I chose a name roughly from a crumpled science textbook.

Until then, BB, who had no idea, felt goosebumps.

-HALO.

Because it was the name of the boy in front of him.

BB didn’t know how to explain that feeling.

It felt like he had realized something, but he didn’t know what he had realized.

It felt like he was digging up a huge secret.

BB was thirsty.

I wanted to know how ‘HALO’, the same name as the boy, would end.

Of course, it’s not a story that will end soon.

BB thought that the content of the interview was still in the beginning stage, and he would know the ending of the story only after more time had passed.

I don’t know how long it’s been since I felt this thirst.

I’m curious about how Halo came up with this story, but I’m also not curious.

Even if he was a real person who was not left in history, he could just believe it.

“Anyway, the interview takes a long time, right? Are you doing one today too?”

“No, I won’t be able to for the time being. There’s a concert today, and they said they’re having an after-party after the concert.”

“How long do you think the interview will take?”

“Um. About a hundred years?”

“What?”

It’s a really inappropriate feeling, but I wanted to dig into all the lives that ‘Another HALO’ lived. From his birth to his death. Since it’s one person’s life, I thought it would take about a hundred years.

He was definitely immersed in the boy and the ‘Another HALO’ the boy was talking about.

Anyway, my work as a director is over for today, and it’s time to enjoy my hobby.

BB, the owner of the golden ticket, looked at his watch and left the room.

#

Seoul Arena, completed in October 2025, is located in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul. The total number of seats is 18,269, but the circular arena, which can accommodate about 28,000 people including standing, was lined with long lines as if all the people of Korea had gathered.

The arena’s auxiliary facilities had been full for a long time, and the situation of subways, buses, and roads was not very good.

In fact, it’s inevitable. It is Halo’s most ticketed concert and the last concert, so all nearby Asian countries rushed in.

As a Halo fandom, various age groups and races gathered, and golden lights symbolizing Halo flickered from noon.

The sun in the sky is also dazzling.

In the center of the golden wave, the boy jumped up.

As it is the last concert, Halo, who plans to have fun today, presented ‘Until Dawn Comes’ as an appetizer, and then went straight to the main dish.

Today’s main dish is expected to come out endlessly.

The goal was to fill the stomach to the point where it would burst, to the point where they would beg to stop.

The audience also seemed to have prepared better today, raising balloons reminiscent of the dawn sky from ‘Until Dawn Comes’.

Balloons and fireworks flying into the sky at the same time.

A wave of cheers and light sticks from people full of affection.

The atmosphere of the HALO concert in the last world was quite different.

At that time, the atmosphere of the concert usually varied depending on the album.

The 3rd album, which had huge likes and dislikes, and the single ‘I am HALO’, which sniped at those who criticized him.

Following the 4th album, which was criticized for blaspheming Christianity, the atmosphere of the concert was a mess.

On one side, there were cheers. On one side, there was a group cursing him, and there always seemed to be fights.

The atmosphere didn’t just happen at concerts.

I wondered where the atmosphere of the 2nd album, which the whole world loved, had gone, and on one side, they wanted to drag ‘Youth’ to the bottom somehow.

The media poured out gossip about the young man every day,

Critics said that Halo had caught an art disease, and some singers told him to do what he used to do (face-selling) [focus on appearance over artistic merit]. Even the female fans who had firmly supported Halo were divided on the album, and after Halo overturned the party, the upper class who were there cursed the young man for being vulgar.

‘Youth’ lived well in that atmosphere.

The kids he hung out with treated his gossip as just a snack while they were high on drugs, and ‘Youth’ hung out with them and even released a sniper song. ‘I AM HALO’, which was released with private money without the president’s knowledge, was suspended from the radio.

But ironically, through the sniper song, ‘Youth’ became closer to a rocker than an entertainer. Just as Youth wanted.

Although interference with the album became more severe afterward.

Because even the ‘profit’ that the president valued most was shaken.

Youth didn’t blink an eye at the president’s interference and released the 4th album O GOD.

The president tried to break the youth’s spirit somehow-allowing the 3rd and 4th albums was a high-level strategy to experience failure- but there was no way to control the beast that was running wild with his image.

Even if he tried to isolate him, Youth was now a full-fledged adult, Youth’s fandom grew in proportion to the antis [anti-fans], and his personality, who liked parties and pleasure, also grew.

Like a Heroin from the 5th album was born from such pleasure.

Youth, who had been dividing the fandom with songs that had been liked and disliked until now, gained a lot of fans again with that album.

The appearance and body that were at their peak.

The deep and decadent adult song spread to people like perfume, and the concert was full of sexual atmosphere.

In comparison, the Seoul concert in this world had a healthy view even if they sang the same 5th album.

The atmosphere of Korea was also the atmosphere, but it was probably because the boy singing the 5th album was still a minor. After HALO’s identity was revealed, fans tended to restrain themselves in front of minors.

Everything will be completely different when Halo becomes an adult, but fans had at least a minimum of conscience to protect their singer.

Halo’s healthy concert ended with Nohaeil’s album.

As people wished, Nohaeil’s album, which no one sang anywhere, was sung in Nohaeil’s country.

Following the encore-.

“Confession! Confession! Confession!”

Why do these people like this song so much?

It started with the boy’s sulky expression.

Because the end is always regrettable

Anyone can easily take a step

Using all their strength until the end and promising a near future

It won’t be too difficult to walk together.

Halo gave an encore stage until their shouts were over, as he wished and as people wished, and promised to see them soon.

And wave to people on the way home from work.

Instead of ‘Go in carefully’, he says hello with ‘See you again’.

It’s a greeting I used to say before the world changed.

The friends he hung out with said, ‘Why are you saying that? The public will change like reeds anyway, especially when your handsome days are over’, but Halo’s stubbornness, who was always stubborn, would not change.

If you say hello to go in carefully, their greetings will end similarly.

Isn’t that a little boring?

On the other hand, if you say hello with ‘See you again’, their greetings become more colorful.

They say ‘See you again’ with a brighter face, or ask if they will do a concert tomorrow with a playful face. Some people promised to come to the concert for the rest of their lives, and some worried about how they were doing these days, and some scolded them for stopping causing accidents.

He liked those various reactions.

-There must be some guys cursing in there, what’s so good about it?

-Anyway, he’s a useless romantic. He has an unexpectedly pure side.

-He’s just young. It’s a good time.

People around him didn’t understand, saying that they had experienced it during the 3rd and 4th albums.

Come to think of it, I didn’t even think about retiring back then, even though I was being cursed so much.

I was excited about how to screw over the antis.

Halo briefly recalled what happened afterward and shook his head.

The concert is over, but there is still work to be done.

Right, the after-party.

As I always say, Halo is a person who loves parties and pleasure.

He likes meeting new people, and his specialty is cracking peanuts while talking nonsense [engaging in casual, lighthearted conversation]. He really likes alcohol, but Nohaeil is young, so he decided to refrain from it.

Music and people are enough.

And a lot of people were expected to come to this after-party.

Whether he knew them or not, he told them to bring them if they wanted to.