The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 229

[Extra] 31. The Meaning of the Mural (2)

Hail felt a surge of happiness.

Inspiration rushed back, like a dam bursting.

The kind of music that only Hail could create welled up within him every time he saw the villagers.

Whenever that happened, he sang whatever came to mind, and the villagers loved listening.

“Hail, are you doing the morning broadcast today?”

“Yes, I am.”

“We’re counting on you again today.”

At first, the residents called Hail a musical genius or a young man whenever they saw him, but now they simply called him by his name. They waved and greeted him from afar and gave him even more snacks than usual, filling an entire basket as a gift.

The residents had grown accustomed to the sight of the boy walking around with a large guitar, Kwon Jae-ik, who always looked disheveled with his bird’s nest hair, Lee So-ra, a beauty they had never seen in the village but who was as easygoing as any middle-aged man, and Lee Jung-min, who received unparalleled affection from the village women.

In addition, the cameras installed here and there and the passing production staff had blended seamlessly into the daily life of Baekun Island.

“Where did Winter go? Why are you alone today?”

“Hmm, I wonder.”

“Where did the little one go, for once?”

She’s usually stuck to him like a cicada.

People were curious because Winter, who was always seen as a pair with Hail, was nowhere to be seen.

Hail smiled faintly instead of answering and walked toward the Baekun Elementary School broadcasting club.

Today was a special day.

The mural was finally completed last night.

It was finished two days before the end of filming. Everyone decided to admire the mural they had all worked so hard to create together during the day.

However, that wasn’t the only reason it was special.

Hail, who usually sat somewhere leisurely, watching people and making music, was moving diligently today, quite unlike his usual self. He had no time to be distracted by anything else.

There was a reason for that.

“Ah, hello, everyone.”

The same greeting as usual.

But today, he was planning to do a slightly different broadcast.

“I’m sure you all have something you’re waiting for, but today, I’d like to do a more special broadcast. Everyone, have you heard? The mural in our village is complete.”

The mural wasn’t made alone.

From the cast to the production staff, and all the villagers and children, everyone worked together to create it.

“There were so many things that happened while making the mural. There are so many stories to tell. But today, I’m going to talk about one person.

Um, how should I start?

I recently had the opportunity to meet a wonderful person. He said this to me.”

That day, when they went sea fishing.

The captain, with a flushed face and tears in his eyes, grabbed his hand and told him that.

-My wife used to say this: that each of us has a story only we can tell, and that makes it beautiful in itself. But conveying that beauty while maintaining it is a very difficult thing. So… thank you so much.

“Each of us has a story only we can tell, and that makes it beautiful in itself.”

The boy’s voice echoed in front of Winter’s house as well.

Usually, she would be watching the broadcast next to the boy or doing something together, but today, she stood in front of her mother’s door.

As her mother finished preparing to go to work, Winter stopped her.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“You know, instead of work today…”

A desperate face.

Doe-like eyes look up at her mother.

“Won’t you go somewhere with me?”

Winter held her mother’s hand tightly, afraid she would leave, and led her somewhere.

[One day, a boy came to me]

The mother glanced at the loudspeaker playing the morning broadcast and followed Winter.

[He was a child with a special talent. To the boy who wanted to make music, I asked]

Why do you want to make music?

The child answered.

I want to continue the sound.

What sound do you want to continue?

The child hesitated for a long time and answered.

[I want to continue the song my mother sings.]

Everyone has their own story.

It could be a nostalgic story, or a joyful story.

And for some, it could be a painful story.

Hail heard about Winter from the captain.

To be exact, it was a story about Winter’s parents.

A man who worked at sea and a woman who lived in the city.

The woman, abandoning her disapproving family, came down to a strange island with no connections and started a family with the man.

It’s a truly romantic love story, and people naturally think of a happy ending.

However, this story ended when the man went out to sea and never returned.

The woman was left with the man’s three children.

What must that woman have felt?

No one can imagine or understand.

So the woman went to the harbor every day and waited for her husband who would not return.

To the point where people thought she was crazy.

She couldn’t take care of herself, and neither could her children.

People pitied the woman’s children, but no one thought the woman would ever return to normal.

But, surprisingly, one day the woman regained her sanity.

Many people pitied her, and the woman began to find her role as a mother again.

She loved her children again, and everything went back to normal as if nothing had happened.

-But, that one remembers. The other kids are too young to remember, but that one wasn’t. That one was about five or six years old. So it’s been a bit awkward ever since. She can’t even complain to her mother.

There is a day that everyone in the village remembers.

The sound of a child’s scream mixed with crying coming from somewhere.

People belatedly discovered the woman trying to throw herself into the sea and the five- or six-year-old child clinging to her waist, crying and begging her not to go.

That day when everyone belatedly realized the situation and stopped the woman.

The memory that was strongly left on everyone, the child must have remembered it too.

-She has a lot of apologies. But the kid doesn’t say anything, and the mother doesn’t want to bring it up, so they don’t talk about it. When pus accumulates, what can you do? It can’t help but be awkward.

Winter said.

She wanted to continue the song her mother sings.

There was a song her mother hummed, but she could never get past a few words.

She seemed to not remember it, so she wanted to continue the sound after that.

A song she sang with her deceased father.

Hail didn’t think she couldn’t sing it because she had forgotten it, but he didn’t say anything about it.

-Would this be better?

-What do you want to do?

-I, um.

-Do whatever you want.

-Then-.

He just let her do whatever she wanted and just talked about music together.

He didn’t talk about Winter’s personal circumstances on the broadcast either.

There was no need to say what everyone already knew.

And the important thing was something else.

[Finally, we completed it yesterday.]

The song was completed on the day the mural was completed.

Hail and Winter secretly slipped out of the house and engraved the sheet music on the mural.

Winter took a deep breath.

The teacher’s voice coming from the morning broadcast suppressed her tension.

[I’m going to tell you a story about one person.]

Standing in front of the mural, Winter held her mother’s hand tightly.

And as the music was heard, she began to walk step by step along the mural path.

The village mural wasn’t just any random picture.

It depicted the stories of the villagers.

Among them, Winter walked the path to school.

The mother is startled when she hears a familiar melody.

As she tries to stop, Winter points to the mural.

“Mom, we’re going to follow this.”

Her mother’s gaze reaches the clouds.

The children’s drawing of the scenery of Baekun Island.

Notes were drawn along the cloud-shaped lines in the clouds.

The cloud-shaped sheet music was connected to the mountain at the end and flew to the village on swirling leaves.

A woman and a young child in the mural walked out to the village hand in hand.

The music echoed along with them.

It was music with only a melody, without lyrics.

-Aren’t you going to sing?

Hail asked, and Winter answered.

-I’m going to make it with Mom.

The lyrical music continued along the mural,

and when the mural ended, the sheet music stopped.

But if you look closely, it wasn’t cut off.

It pointed to the rear-view mirror that Winter had brought.

The sheet music continued on the mural reflected on the opposite side of the mirror, and after passing through the mirror, it continued back to the mural.

The child walking out holding her mother’s hand in the mural slowly grows up.

The child goes to elementary school, and then goes across the sea to middle school and high school. And there, she gets to choose whether to return to the island or go to the city.

What choice did the child make?

The melody faded.

Before she knew it, her mother was shedding tears.

The music Winter made was fresher and more hopeful than the music she knew.

She couldn’t forget the song she sang before, but it was enough to cover that song with a new color.

The end of the mural.

The grown-up child stood in front of the hunched-over woman.

Like that. Winter stood in front of her mother in front of the school.

“Mom, let’s sing together now.”

It was a courageous thing to say.

“I’ll be your dad.”

Winter squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what her mother would say.

In Winter’s mind, there was a memory of her mother pushing her away.

She thought she might get angry.

But in the blink of an eye, Winter was in her mother’s arms.

Winter carefully opened her eyes.

Her mother’s body was trembling.

Carefully stroking Winter’s head as if it would break,

she hugged her tightly so that she wouldn’t be scattered by the wind like a sandcastle that would soon disappear.

“Winter… Mom, Mom is sorry…”

Winter’s eyes widened.

“Mom was wrong…”

She didn’t mean to cry, but her mother started crying.

Then, strangely, tears came out.

“Mom will never do that again, I’m sorry.”

Hueong [sound of crying].

Winter cried like that in her mother’s arms.

The music she worked hard to make was buried in the sound of crying, but she didn’t mind.

“She was trying to do this…”

“I wondered what she was doing at night.”

The villagers gathered in front of the mural, buzzing and talking, and Lee So-ra carefully looked at the added picture.

Some patted Winter’s mother’s back, and some put a cold spoon on Winter’s swollen eyes.

“The little one has become a steamed bun [face is swollen from crying].”

“Still, Winter did a really good job. I thought the little one was special, but she made a song for her mother. My puppy just lies down and scratches his belly. I don’t know when he’ll grow up.”

Winter perked up her ears and smiled when they talked about the mural, and smiled brightly when they said the music was good.

Above all, Winter remembered Hail’s invitation to come to Seoul when the lyrics were completed. He said he would make an album for her.

Winter was just happy.

She was so happy that she dreamed of going on a trip with her mom and dad.

When Winter whined that she wanted cotton candy, her dad bought her cotton candy.

It was a sweet dream.

“Oh my, I’m late!”

Was it because she was so happy in reality and in her dreams?

She overslept, and Hail, who had stayed up all night working on the mural the day before, also overslept.

“Didn’t anyone wake us up?”

“What are you doing, not going? How can the teacher be late?”

The island chief lent Hail a bicycle, looking around the empty house.