The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 2131

[Side Story] 15. Who’s More Famous?

The sound of crashing waves and the cries of seagulls filled the air.

White foam dispersed against the breakwater, and the sound of ship horns echoed from the harbor.

For some, it meant life.

For others, travel.

For someone else, farewell. In this place, a crossroads of beginnings and endings, Halo heard countless sounds, but the unsatisfactory, incomplete music within him was simply washed away by the waves.

Watching the sounds scatter like grains of sand into the sea, Halo thought that creative slumps were truly boring.

“Mr. President?”

Only when the content planning team leader called him again did Halo realize he was still on the phone.

“Yes, what did you say?”

“I’m calling about the exhibition proposal from Professor Tae-ho Ma of Korea National University of Arts.”

The email that arrived at PD [Producer Director] Namgung was immediately forwarded to the team leader and key figures in the label.

“If Halo is positive about it, I think we can proceed right away. It also fits well with the content schedule.”

Normally, he would have been interested in a sound exhibition, but Halo simply conveyed his approval for it to proceed.

It wasn’t that he disliked sound exhibitions.

He didn’t know how the sound collection had ended up in an exhibition, but he liked the theme of ‘Sounds We Miss While Our Eyes Are Open.’

He was also curious about the other sounds exhibited there.

“Then we’ll proceed that way.”

However, there was something else that caught Halo’s attention even more.

Halo isn’t usually very interested in others. He’s more focused on himself or the music he creates, and sometimes that interest extends to those around him.

-Then, can you tell me when you’re singing?

-No.

And so, he would have normally just said he didn’t want to.

-I have a lot of thoughts, but it’s complicated. There are too many paths, and I don’t know which one is the answer. Am I weird?

-No.

-Why are you laughing? Am I really weird?

-It’s too ordinary, that’s why.

-So, it’s not weird, right?

The relieved expression on his face at that time reminded him of his childhood.

Why is that?

‘He doesn’t seem to resemble me.’

The old him wasn’t the type to be relieved by the word ‘ordinary.’ Rather, he liked being called special. If someone said he was weird, he was the type to reply that it was because they were stupid. The little kid he recently met wasn’t the same person as the owner of that personality.

That’s not to say he regretted refusing. If what the little kid said was really as he said, then there was no need for him to learn from Halo.

Rather than being taught by someone, he would naturally discover and learn on his own.

That’s not to say learning is necessarily bad.

Halo recalled the brothers who taught him how to play instruments a long time ago. Or the hyungs [older brothers/male friends] at the hideout now.

He wouldn’t be able to teach as ‘kindly’ as them.

“Mr. President!”

While he was on the phone, he had already gotten close to the village chief’s house, and there was a delicious smell even before entering.

It was because they had taken out seasonal fish and food stored in the crock pots.

The task the village chief had ordered wasn’t a big deal.

How could he ask the city people who visited the island to do hard work?

He just told them to eat delicious food and enjoy the seasonal dishes that were right for early March, and he just had them visit a few houses to bring some ingredients.

In the process, there was one person who was isolated, but as a result, the village chief was moved by listening to the village broadcast.

“Did you hear? A broadcasting station official came last night.”

“Ah.”

While the VJ [Video Journalist] was filming the appetizing lunch, Moon Seo-yeon hurriedly conveyed what she had heard from the village chief.

“I know.”

“! How do you know, Mr. President?”

“I just ran into them. We even talked.”

Halo recalled the broadcasting station officials he had faced on the way back, no, PD Na Hye-joo and writer Do Min-hee.

Judging by how they were horrified and asked why he was here, it didn’t seem like they had come to see him.

Of course, after that, the two whispered for a long time, and writer Do Min-hee expressed her lingering feelings.

PD Na Hye-joo politely stated that she hadn’t come to see him.

“I hope there are no misunderstandings. Furthermore, I have no intention of disturbing Halo’s rest or creating anything that goes against Halo’s will. We just hope Halo has a comfortable trip.”

Anyone who knew PD Na Hye-joo would know how hard she tried to make a good impression. How strong would the desire to scout a top star she happened to meet as a PD be? Nevertheless, PD Na Hye-joo cleanly gave up this opportunity for the sake of future relations.

If he didn’t have a mentor, he might have been tempted, but since he already had a mentor, he didn’t want to be greedy.

“But why did the broadcasting station come out? It doesn’t seem like they came to see the president.”

In the first place, not many people knew that Halo was here.

“I think they said it was a preliminary survey.”

“Are they filming a drama here?”

He said the video would be filmed very beautifully in the neighborhood. At that time, the village chief interjected in their conversation, “They said they came to see Winter.”

“Winter?”

“There’s a rather unique kid.”

The village chief, sitting on the wooden platform under the ginkgo tree, said.

“Unique?”

Han Jin-young, who brought fried burdock glutinous rice and grilled Spanish mackerel, sat down, followed by Nam Gyu-hwan.

Before they knew it, the wooden platform was filled with food comparable to a meal at grandma’s house.

“I should say that what he does is a bit different from other kids.”

The village chief scratched his head.

“Sometimes he seems like a kid, but sometimes I don’t understand him.”

It’s like he’s looking somewhere else while he’s with other kids, and the pranks he plays are a bit different.

When the music room was still intact, he would sneak in and touch the instruments, and when the music room instruments broke down, he would go into the broadcasting room and press this and that.

After the mechanical sound was sucked into the microphone and terrorized the ears of the villagers for 5 minutes, access to the broadcasting room was prohibited.

“But he’s a very pitiful child. When his father, who went out to sea, didn’t return, his mother went a little crazy for a while, and he stayed by her side and didn’t leave.”

Other people’s stories are sometimes pleasant, but sometimes uncomfortable.

It makes people feel uncomfortable, as if it’s okay to hear these stories. The current case was such a case.

When everyone fell silent, the village chief looked around, wondering if he had said something wrong. The village chief, who didn’t know what the problem was, went back to the main point anyway.

“It’s a good thing the broadcasting station came out this time. If he meets a good teacher, he’ll be lucky. I didn’t know he was a prodigy. Is that why he liked the broadcasting room so much?”

Halo, who didn’t know what program the broadcasting station official came for, paused his chopsticks at the word teacher.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the word teacher.

It was just that if the kid was even a little similar to the old him, he thought it wouldn’t be easy. And on the other hand, he was curious.

Who would be the teacher?

#

“Hello, to introduce myself again, I’m Na Hye-joo, a PD from MNC’s current affairs and culture department. These are the works I’ve been in charge of. Mother, have you seen ‘I Want to Not Know That’? I was an assistant director there.”

Na Hye-joo sat in front of Winter, Winter’s mother, and Winter’s siblings and showed her resume.

“Yes, they said our Winter came out as a prodigy.”

“Yes, that’s right. However-.”

Na Hye-joo and writer Do Min-hee, who wanted to find prodigies themselves as well as tips from people, looked around SNS [Social Networking Services] whenever they had time, and that’s how they found out about Winter.

It seems that a former elementary school teacher who was assigned to the school uploaded a vlog , and this shaggy kid was filmed with him at that time.

Perfect pitch that recognizes all the notes of the piano.

PD Na Hye-joo, who inquired here and there with that one video, managed to find the name Baekun Island with difficulty.

She ended up sitting in front of this kid.

Since that video was all she had to estimate that Winter was a prodigy, she had to confirm it.

“Can you show Winter’s talent again?”

PD Na Hye-joo just needed to see that Winter had perfect pitch again.

However, strangely enough, Winter’s mother tilted her head for a moment and started rummaging through the drawer, thinking, ‘Would this work?’

And takes something out.

It was a very old sketchbook, and the name ‘Jin Winter’ was written crookedly on a childish drawing.

“All I have is, ahem, this is all I have.”

“You can speak comfortably, Mother.”

She said that, but Winter’s mother didn’t seem to want to use her dialect comfortably.

“But what is this?”

Winter’s mother gestured for her to take a look.

“At first, I thought it was just scribbles.”

PD Na Hye-joo opened a page without much expectation and opened her eyes wide as soon as she did. This is···!

It was very poorly written and there were no staff lines, so she was confused for a moment, but different notes were connected. There were no bar markings, but she thought that the bar markings were probably marked by the spacing between the notes.

‘This is amazing.’

Only the voice of writer Do Min-hee whispering was heard.

Not just perfect pitch, but composing? It didn’t seem to matter what the quality of the music was.

“D, did Winter do this?”

“Yes, I learned from an elementary school teacher and then fiddled around on my own.”

This was definitely a prodigy.

No, maybe he was a genius.

Suddenly, light shines from the shaggy-haired kid.

There is light at the end of hardship.

A word from her father, a pastor, was heard.

But now is not the time to be overwhelmed with emotion.

Now that they have proven that Winter is a prodigy, it was her turn to persuade him.

“Mother, Winter is definitely a prodigy. He’s also a very special child.”

“Our baby?”

“Yes, he has a special talent.”

It was a waste for Winter to stay here.

She explained the purpose of the program step by step, saying that she wanted to attach a prominent Korean musician mentor to the child who needed musical education and film the process of his growth.

“Everything is good, but.”

Everything is good, but what does she hate? PD Na Hye-joo’s heart sank at her mother’s words.

“I just feel sorry for our child, so I just want our child to do what he wants.”

“Ah.”

This was fortunate.

This was no different from the guardian’s tacit permission.

So, if you persuade Winter.

“Mother, can you give me time to persuade Winter?”

She doesn’t think it will be easier just because he’s a child.

Even in a situation where she just saw another musical genius a few minutes ago.

A genius different from other children.

“Winter, hello.”

He already seems different now.

Even when he was talking with his parents a few minutes ago, the child was looking elsewhere as if he wasn’t interested.

“I’m Na Hye-joo, a PD from MNC’s culture department in Seoul. Do you know what a culture department is? I’m a person who makes documentaries.”

“Seoul?”

“Yes.”

PD Na Hye-joo answered quickly when Winter seemed interested. Winter stares at her intently. PD Na Hye-joo felt like she was being interrogated.

“Maybe-.”

“Is that person earlier very famous?”

“Huh?”

“That person earlier···.”

“…Are you talking about Halo?”

Writer Do Min-hee, who had been silent in the back, interjected.

PD Na Hye-joo’s eyes widened.

“Halo?”

“That person told me he was a singer, is he famous?”

“O, of course!”

“I think you stuttered just now.”

“No-.”

It wasn’t that she stuttered because she was lying, but she was embarrassed because she didn’t expect to receive such a question.

Asking ‘that’ Halo, not someone else, if he was famous. She wondered if there was no TV on this island.

There was so much talk about the Grammy Awards.

Then PD Na Hye-joo recalled the very old TV in the room she was staying in. It wasn’t a cathode-ray tube [old-style TV], but it wasn’t a smart TV either, and it didn’t support mirroring, so it only had cable broadcasting.

Even that, the radio waves shook when the wind blew.

Then he might not know.

No. Still, how can you not know.

PD Na Hye-joo shook her head.

She can’t stand it as a culture department PD.

“He’s a very famous person. Do you want to see this?”

PD Na Hye-joo opened the pad she had brought.

And shows articles and videos in order.

She even showed the Grammy Awards, and when the child tilted his head, she opened YouTube this time.

“What is this?”

“This is···.”

It’s ‘Welcome to my world episode 2’, which I only watched yesterday.

Halo and the members have a serious slump discussion, decide to refresh themselves, and end right in front of Hongdae Street [a vibrant area in Seoul].

The content is the content, but PD Na Hye-joo was more impressed with the chat. The chat was about whether Halo was in a slump or not.

PD Na Hye-joo thought that Halo was in a slump because he said he was in a slump. Of course, she understood why people couldn’t sympathize.

But what you can’t understand is ‘genius’.

PD Na Hye-joo turned off YouTube and tried to persuade Winter. At that time, Winter asked.

“Then, is the teacher who will teach me more famous than this person?”

“Huh?”