The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 2091

[Extra Story] 11. The Train is About to Depart

“I think I’m in a slump.”

Namgoong PD watched the chat explode in real-time at those words and rested his chin in his palm.

In fact, there were many discussions within the label about revealing the concern of a ‘slump’ to the public.

Many were against it, and some said it might be okay.

In any case, the fierce debate for and against it was mainly due to two reasons.

First, the protection of the artist.

A slump may seem easily visible and something anyone can experience, but it could also be a very serious condition. Many athletes fail to overcome their slumps and eventually collapse, and it can also cause depression.

This is a world where you have to be careful even when revealing good things.

But what good would it do to reveal a slump? There would only be people who enjoy or gossip about his slump.

There was nothing good for the artist in revealing it.

The label thought it should create a work environment where the artist doesn’t get stressed.

However, others argued that a ‘slump’ is not a disease that must be hidden and that it was okay to reveal it. They thought it could be a good video to show how to deal with a common issue like a cold, how to overcome it, and to convey the courage that it can be overcome.

The purpose of this content is to capture the process of the artist Noh Hae-il producing a new album, so wouldn’t it be natural to have concerns about the songs and a slump? A debate ensued.

They didn’t even go to dinner and had a heated discussion about this topic.

And the second was the issue of Halo’s image.

Halo didn’t have much exposure, but the public still had an image of him.

A musical genius, the sun, and so on.

The slump of someone who was mainly confident and called a celestial star could threaten that image.

There were several other points to discuss, but these two were the main ones.

Mostly, the staff were fans or were charmed by Halo, so they were very worried about the artist who had just turned twenty.

However, these discussions ended in vain.

The person in question said it didn’t matter at all and suggested revealing it.

‘Halo, one thing you should know is that people will say a lot about your slump. Not all of it will be helpful.’

Halo replied as if it were nothing new.

‘It’s always been like that.’

‘And I’ve been thinking about it. I think it’ll be okay. Not being able to do anything because of talking about me.’

It was such a cool answer that the staff who had been in a long debate were worried that they would feel empty.

And those employees of that singer.

-As expected

‘?’

-Born to be a superstar.

-He grew up so well.

If that’s the case, why did we argue so much?

Namgoong PD answered them.

-How can you not like our Sun?

The first episode ended with Halo’s confession of a slump.

The video had ended a long time ago, but the chat was still going up quickly. The impact was so great that they hadn’t left the video yet.

[What?]

[???]

[Did I hear wrong?]

[Sl?ump?]

[The guy who just picked five songs is in a slump????]

[What the…]

[Is it ending here?]

[Where’s the next episode! Next episode!!!!]

Everyone’s reaction is disbelief.

In fact, Namgoong PD also doesn’t believe it.

Clearly, Halo seems to believe he’s in a slump, and even the members seem to be taking it seriously.

He kept wondering if his fan spirit was lacking or if he lacked empathy.

The more videos there are, the more question marks are added rather than ‘understanding’.

Still, as decided in the content direction meeting, they plan to take the topic of ‘slump’ seriously.

The artist is really seriously worried, and as already said, ‘slump’ can be a serious problem for someone to take lightly.

The phone rang.

It wasn’t a public relations team employee, but acquaintances contacted him. They don’t usually call often, so it seemed like it was about Halo.

KakaoTalk [a popular Korean messaging app] also didn’t stop.

The situation of the public relations team was obvious without even looking.

And-.

“Oh, that’s fast.”

Namgoong PD checked that articles were immediately uploaded just a few minutes after the first episode ended.

[TOP_NEWS│Halo Confesses Slump on Personal YouTube]

[More Than Half of Job Seekers Have Experienced ‘Slump’]

[38-Year-Old Virgin Confesses 38-Year Romance Slump]

[The Sun is in a Slump?]

Since it was a subtitled video, overseas news would be coming soon.

The world seemed to be fixated on the word slump, using it in all sorts of places, and people started to react.

[Who’s in a slump?]

[Yeah, it’s time for a slump]

[He’s been doing 13 albums in a year, if the world is fair, he should have a slump]

[It seems like there would be no problem even if it lasted a lifetime]

And these are people who haven’t even seen the first episode.

They were people who watched the video uploaded on YouTube, or never watched it at all, and what they needed to monitor now were the people who watched the video.

[What? I just watched it, is Haeil really in a slump?]

[Teacher, you’re different in the front and back]

[Of course, there is a difference between people]

[No, a person who made five songs, even if they are practice and unfinished, is in a slump??]

└ Even though they’re really good

└ Is that my-song-is-bad disease or something

[Is there anyone majoring in music here? Is Halo in a slump?]

└ Originally, a slump is not a phenomenon where skills have declined. A slump is when you feel that your skills have declined or that your skills have not improved even if you put in effort

└ I’m in a band, and Halo is not in a slump. If that’s a slump, then I’m… Anyway, it’s notㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Everyone was thinking the same thing as the PD.

Still, they are trying to understand in their own way. Because their favorite singer confessed to suffering from a slump.

[I still understand the slump. He’s always been number one, so he must have performance stress]

[Come to think of it, Haeil has never experienced failure…]

[Originally, those who are always last place don’t have slumps. Those in the top ranks experience slumps more often]

└ㅇㄱㄹㅇ [Korean slang for “I agree”]

Since his debut album has been in the domestic top ten and he has shown unbelievable activity with twelve albums in a year, they thought it could be possible.

And in this situation, a common enemy was also captured to unify their opinions.

[Did everyone see this? As soon as our baby Sun confessed to a slump, the anti-cafe celebrated]

[ㅅㅂ [Korean slang for “fuck”] But isn’t the article crazy? ‘The Reason Why a Musical Genius Can’t Help But Fall into a Slump’ Finding the culprit in the meantime ㄷㄷ [Korean slang expressing absurdity]]

Articles that seemed to lack empathy and internet bullies who started appearing on the internet as if they were doing well.

[When Haeil talked about his slump, I was just heartbroken thinking about how much he must have worried… I was horrified to see the article uploaded in less than a minute. Is money more important than other people’s pain?]

[Also, suddenly bringing up statistics that they weren’t interested in and writing articles as if they were making fun of someone is ㄹㅇ [Korean slang for “real” or “true”] Are there only psychopaths in Korea?]

└ Suddenly, what is a slump

[The world is really dirty. They wouldn’t have been able to do this if it was their own job, but they said they were lucky until now, and now it’s time to get into a slump… 참 [Korean expression of dismay]]

[Finding the culprit is also like thatㅋ [Korean slang for “lol”] You’re a profilerㅋ]

[All the people involved in the world appeared and said they knew it would happenㅇㅈㄹ [Korean slang expressing agreement] Fortune telling blah blah]

[I just believed that Haeil would overcome it well? But now I’m worried that people will be shocked when they see it]

Team Leader Kim of the public relations team nodded in agreement with the people who were angry as if it were their own business.

Fortunately, her singer didn’t care much about what kind of attention he received from people.

She doesn’t even know that the first episode has aired and the second episode will be airing soon. In fact, she probably wouldn’t care even if she knew.

Sometimes, she would scream that he doesn’t know the fans’ hearts too well, but she still considers it fortunate.

Halo doesn’t have the habit of searching for his name in communities, etc.

Everyone knows in their head.

That if you look for your own story, you’re only hurting yourself.

Still, like Pandora who eventually opened the box, people can’t resist curiosity.

Then they get hurt by seeing severe malicious comments, get depressed, and look for good comments to heal the wounds, and then see malicious comments. They fall into a vicious cycle.

Halo looks for reviews of his albums, but he doesn’t look for stories about himself.

Kim Daeri thought that Halo’s mentality was strong, but it’s better not to look at those things.

Anyway, Halo was doing well, as always.

With the members.

Today, I heard that they were going somewhere as a group with the last hitter, Nam Gyuhwan.

The content planning team, who were impressed by the ‘Halo-directed’ video, assigned a cameraman, and I heard that they would be staying for a few days.

Originally, Nam Gyuhwan was going to drop out because he thought his refresh method didn’t suit Halo, but he gave them a look, “Hey, surely you’re not going to not do it, even if no one else does?” Moon Seoyeon and “Gyuhwan, what are you going to do? Can’t you give me a hint?” Han Jinyeong.

Following the content planning team who doubted his fan spirit

Above all, Halo was watching this scene and laughing, so he seriously started to think about it.

What can he do?

He could think of several things, but most of them overlapped with Han Jinyeong and Moon Seoyeon.

He had experience teaching and giving feedback to someone at Han Jinyeong and Hongdae Academy [a famous art and music district in Seoul],

Moon Seoyeon had already tried a novel project and talent donation of walking around in nature and collecting the sounds of nature.

After excluding communicating with musicians and communicating with nature within the large category of music, there wasn’t much left.

It’s a shame to drink with Halo, and it doesn’t suit his personality to take him to a concert that he’s not interested in.

Concert? Suddenly an amusement park?

Daily part-time job?

Then, while listening to his sister’s nagging

‘Gyuhwan, your grandmother misses you so much. She became a star at the senior center after seeing you on TV. Don’t you think about going to see her? Well, I know you’re busy, but your grandmother isn’t asking for much. Go and eat the delicious food your grandmother made, and say hello to your grandmother’s friends.’

‘Um···.’

‘You used to love going to your grandmother’s house. Get some stress out in the good air and water. And Baekgu [a common Korean dog name] is really big, right?’

Suddenly, he realized.

‘Decide exactly when you’re going to your grandmother’s house.’

‘Uh… soon?’

He doesn’t have to be obsessed with music.

Wouldn’t it be necessary for Halo to just rest and come back, rather than talent donation or education?

It’s not like his grandmother’s house is in a very rural area. It’s a fishing village, but it has everything, and there’s even a small elementary school. I don’t know if it’s still operating, though.

For that reason, Nam Gyuhwan handed out tickets to Halo and the members.

Thus, Saemaeul train [a type of Korean train].

Weekday morning hours when there are the fewest people.

They rented a train car and sat in the central seats, and the accompanying manager and content planning team VJ sat right next to them.

Since there were no people, they took off their masks and hats comfortably and sat around.

Everyone said they would go to the bathroom and buy snacks before departure, so Halo leaned blankly against the window.

[The train is about to depart]

The train announcement rang right on time. Around that time, he noticed someone running down the escalator in a hurry from afar.

About 1 minute left.

Halo glanced at the VJ adjusting the camera angle and looked out the window again. There were still some people at Seoul Station in the early morning, but it was a time that cleverly avoided rush hour, so they seemed to be mostly travelers.

The person who flew halfway down the escalator, with their hair disheveled, ran to the train he was on.

The person checked the time on their phone, stood in front of the train, and moved as if to check the car.

In Halo’s opinion, it would be better to get on the train first and check the compartment, but it seemed like they were thinking of checking the compartment they had to get on and then entering.

“Halo, wouldn’t it be better to sit inside?”

At that time, the VJ asked Halo.

The train would continue to stop at the station, and if they made a mistake, their filming might be revealed.

Halo didn’t care where he sat, so he nodded and tried to move.

As he was about to get up, he made eye contact with the person outside the window who was checking the compartment.

The eyes of the person who was moving in a hurry gradually widened.

Since he wasn’t wearing a hat, mask, or sunglasses, it was natural for them to recognize him.

They pointed at him with their finger and said something. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but judging from the shape of their mouth, they were definitely calling his name.

Halo smiled and waved his hand.

Hello.

When he made the shape of his mouth clear, she also smiled shyly and bowed her head.

‘There’s no time to say hello now.’

Halo tilted his head and said to her.

To come inside the train.

He tapped his wrist to indicate that there wasn’t much time left, and suddenly she smiled brightly and revealed her wrist.

He wondered what it was, but it was a Halo watch.

It was a watch sold as the MK. 2 version, and it seemed like she was definitely a fan of his since she bought it, which was quite expensive.

Halo raised his thumb at the cute fan who was showing off his watch to him.

That was the moment.

[The train is about to depart]

Halo and the fan’s expressions became bewildered at the same time, and whether they did or not, the train door closed automatically.

Soon, the fan was startled and looked around.

The train slowly moved forward.

The fan, who seemed like they were about to grab the door and get on, chased the train, no, him.

“No! Don’t go! I finally met you!”

With tearful eyes as if trying to catch a departing lover.

However, the fan’s figure disappeared in an instant, and it was soon that the train left the station.

“Uh···.”

“Boss, what are you doing?”

“Haeil, aren’t you hungry?”

Around that time, the members returned with snacks in their arms.

Halo looked at the members once, then at the window, and scratched his cheek.

“It’s not an important matter, right?”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing.”

Halo smiled faintly and moved his seat.

He was in a pleasant mood even before the trip started.