The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 232

[Extra] Episode 34. Wise Island Life Teaser

“Did you have a good trip?”

Jang Jin-soo buried his face in the lobby table of H Label, looking exhausted.

He was more tired than Noh Hae-il, even though he was the one who went to the filming.

He tilted his head, looking at the sheet music, notes, and printouts scattered on the table.

“What’s all this?”

“Assignments. Seriously, is this even possible?”

“What is it?”

Jang Jin-soo looked genuinely aggrieved as he spoke.

“How can there be even more assignments after midterms are over? It never ends, no matter how much I do. Do they think inspiration comes from squeezing it out? I don’t know about inspiration, but I feel like my brain is cramping.”

“Really? Should I help you then?”

“It might be easy for you, but— Huh?”

Jang Jin-soo doubted his ears at the unexpected words.

His expression was the usual Noh Hae-il, but he was saying things like this?

If he had said, ‘What’s so difficult about that,’ it would have sounded like the usual Noh Hae-il.

“Hey, did something happen?”

“?”

Jang Jin-soo stared intently at Noh Hae-il.

“I heard you filmed a variety show—”

That thing that’s been so noisy lately.

With the story of Baekun Island and the broadcasting station appearing together in the 7th episode of ‘Welcome to My World,’ the rumor that Halo would be on a variety show was confirmed.

It was so noisy that even his classmates, who were dying from assignments, were talking about it.

They had been enjoying ‘Me, Mento,’ which Kim Sun-cheol was appearing on as a mentor, and said they had another 기대작 [anticipated work] to look forward to.

“You look like you’re in good condition. Did you get a good rest?”

Jang Jin-soo didn’t know much about the variety show that Noh Hae-il had filmed.

All he knew was that he went to an island called Baekun Island to film a variety show.

And that the theme was music.

Which was only natural since Noh Hae-il was there.

“Yeah, I think I rested well.”

He smiled as if he was really in a good mood.

“My slump is over now, too.”

“…What? Really? Then the album—”

“Now, I need to organize it and record it.”

“!”

This was good news.

Jang Jin-soo, who had been subtly worried about his friend’s slump—even though it didn’t seem like one—thought it was a good thing. Noh Hae-il was better off being annoyingly successful; pretending to be weak didn’t suit him at all.

Jang Jin-soo raised his head.

Suddenly, he felt motivated to do his assignments.

Since he was making a comeback, he felt like he should work harder too.

“You don’t have to help me yet.”

“Huh?”

“You asked earlier. You don’t have to help me yet. I’ll try to squeeze out some more inspiration myself.”

“Okay.”

“Ah, but, just a moment.”

Jang Jin-soo grabbed the boy who was shrugging his shoulders without any regrets.

“Later… can you take a look later? After I’ve made it, to see how it is.”

Hae-il nodded as if it wasn’t difficult.

Jang Jin-soo’s face brightened up too.

“I have to work hard.”

Hae-il stepped back at the sight of his face burning with determination.

The recording team called from afar.

Hae-il, who was about to turn around, stopped.

Because he suddenly remembered something.

The corners of Hae-il’s lips turned up.

“Working hard is good, but you should hurry.”

“What?”

“I have a feeling you might get another senior soon.”

“What?”

“Good luck.”

“???”

The boy, who only said what he wanted to say, left leisurely.

Jang Jin-soo muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

“What’s he talking about? A senior, what senior? …No, before that, when did I say I was going to join your label?”

In a small voice so the boy wouldn’t hear.

“…At this point, does he just want me to join? …Is that really it?”

Soon, Jang Jin-soo slapped his cheeks with his palms to come to his senses.

“This is not the time for this. Let’s do the assignments.”

#

Clean editing.

Experienced PD [Production Director] and production team.

Above all, the combination of Kim Sun-cheol, a singer who has been in the entertainment industry for many years, and a music prodigy who lives harder than anyone else.

Many people agreed that the educational department had produced a decent program.

Of course, as with any broadcast, there were some negative comments.

[A Gangnam prodigy? LOL, I’m laughing]

[So what if they have perfect pitch? Does that make them a prodigy? lol]

[What’s the deal with him and Kim Sun-cheol? They’re forcing it with music, but they’re in completely different fields. They should have just brought in a pianist or some entertainment trainee.]

[The program’s purpose is written as mentoring a child who needs musical help… Does a kid living in Gangnam need help?]

[They were hyping up a super guest, but is Kim Sun-cheol a super guest?]

[If you live in Gangnam, you can’t be a prodigy? You’re just feeling inferior to a kid]

[Seeing him with perfect pitch and playing music that already touches the heart, he’s definitely a prodigy]

[Instead of saying things to a 10-year-old, reflect on what you were doing when you were 10]

[The people who are saying things now are just trolls who haven’t watched the show]

This would be considered a decent level of comments for a program.

Yes, Kyung PD’s ‘Me, Mento’ received attention from the second episode and achieved decent viewership ratings. The keywords ‘prodigy’ and ‘music’ attracted attention from various places.

After all, Halo had won the Grammy Award this year, the first in Korea and Asia, which had increased interest in music and prodigies.

[I wonder if our Hae-il was like that when he was young]

[He really lives hard. It seems like a baby is living harder than me]

[Singer Kim Sun-cheol seems like a very strict yet kind and ideal teacher. If I had met a teacher like that when I was young…]

[No matter how I look at it, he really seems like a genius.]

He gathered many viewers with his appearance as a prodigy who sometimes seemed like a child, but was dignified and didn’t waste a single moment when making music, and his strict but affectionate relationship with Kim Sung-cheol.

“PD Na will do well too. I’ll support you~”

PD Kyung boasted while looking at the viewership ratings chart, then said a word to her.

“Wow, look at that bastard flapping his mouth.”

The face of the senior next to her soured.

“Why? What did he say again?”

PD Na Hye-joo didn’t even know that PD Kyung had come because she was so focused on the teaser release.

“He’s doing what he always does. He said the atmosphere of the show is so good, singer Kim Sun-cheol is good, and the kid is so nice. He went on and on about how the sky seems to be helping him. Judging by the way he’s flapping his mouth, that bastard will fail because of his mouth, if nothing else.”

PD Na chuckled at the harsh criticism.

“He’s doing well now.”

“PD Na, aren’t you upset? That program… No, never mind.”

“I have no regrets.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s really okay.”

Saying this will only make her feel worse. The senior looked at her and shut her mouth.

However, PD Na didn’t care at all.

Because she had heard unexpected things while talking with the cast members on the last day of filming before leaving Baekun Island.

They said that Halo probably wouldn’t have appeared on the previous program, and Lee So-ra and Lee Jung-min said that they honestly came out because they wanted to meet the boy again. Kwon Jae-ik was just a case of listening to his manager, but he would eventually be related to the boy.

‘So, no one might have come out.’

She was so horrified at that time that she thought it was a good thing she was robbed(?).

“The sky is heartless. How can it help someone like that?”

PD Na turned her head and looked at the viewership ratings chart.

Kyung PD’s ‘Me, Mento’ recorded the highest viewership ratings in the educational department among Saturday broadcasts. After the teaser is released and the production presentation is held, her program will also be on that chart.

But why? She strangely didn’t feel anxious.

There might be cases where the cast and crew are having fun, but the viewers don’t feel the same way, causing anxiety.

PD Na vaguely thought that her program, their program, would do well. She thought that their broadcast, full of laughter, tears, and the smell of people living, would appeal to viewers.

Soon, on Sunday afternoon. The teaser was released after the popular variety show ‘Running Man’ was broadcast.

#

Office workers don’t watch many variety shows separately.

They tend to watch only the shows that are specifically scheduled.

Including the web variety shows they’ve been watching recently, they watch ‘Welcome to My World’ on Fridays.

‘Me, Mento’ on Saturdays.

‘Running Man’ on Sundays.

Among them, the variety show they’ve watched the longest is probably the long-running ‘Running Man.’

Watching the 티키타카 [Tikitaka – quick, short passes in soccer; also used to describe rapid-fire banter] of the existing members, whether guests appear or not, to finish Sunday has become a habit, beyond just a routine.

Today’s guest was also a singer he liked.

A leather jacket and chic fashion.

Shin Joo-hyuk, a rocker who makes a man’s blood boil, appeared on ‘Running Man’ after a long time. Since they had known each other for a long time, they naturally talked about their recent activities.

[Joo-hyuk, I still hear stories about you sometimes. If you don’t greet properly, you make all the juniors gather.]

[Haha, not often, maybe once a week?]

[What? Hahaha. He’s accepting it.]

Shin Joo-hyuk laughed and accepted the members’ teasing.

Although the rumors were a joke, Shin Joo-hyuk was known to have a clear personality. He was said to hate people who crossed the line and would say no to things that weren’t right, whether they were seniors or juniors. Due to his rocker-like personality and fierce-looking impression when he wasn’t smiling, the story that cult members avoided him on the street was famous.

[Oh, but. Now that I think about it, among Shin Joo-hyuk’s juniors—]

[Wait a minute. Joo-hyuk, you don’t make that person gather too, do you…?]

‘That person.’

The members, who would usually say whatever came to mind, asked cautiously.

The office worker knew who it was and his eyes widened.

Now that he thought about it, there was someone who was called Shin Joo-hyuk’s closest junior, or friend.

[Ah, now that I think about it, isn’t Joo-hyuk’s closest junior Halo?]

[Daring to face the sun…]

The members explained to the viewers who didn’t know who ‘that person’ was, and ganged up on him.

[No, no, Hae-il— I’m scared of him too. When I meet him, I go and greet him first. I ask him if he slept well.]

[What? Haha.]

Shin Joo-hyuk, who would usually accept anything, raised both hands in surrender.

The members laughed and moved on, but they all knew.

Even though he used honorifics, calling him ‘Hae-il’ meant they were really close.

In fact, they were famous in the entertainment industry as close senior-junior colleagues.

Anyway, this guest was Shin Joo-hyuk, and this game also revolved around Shin Joo-hyuk.

When he screamed high notes in Hongdae [a district in Seoul known for its indie music scene] and broke a glass, they knew that rockers were different.

‘Running Man’ was fun again today.

The office worker, who was about to clean up the food he had eaten, turned his head at the familiar voice.

[These guys— Is this a hidden camera? Are you doing a hidden camera right now?]

A country house. Actor Kwon Jae-ik, who was wearing a tracksuit but couldn’t hide his long legs and good looks, came out. Kwon Jae-ik, who recently made theaters shudder with his role as a psychopath killer, had lost his mind.

‘Kwon Jae-ik is doing a variety show?!’

Just ten minutes ago.

Kwon Jae-ik looks around the desolate house and says.

[Okay, then, shall we decide what roles we should play? We need to clean, and we need to eat. But where are the ingredients—]

The office worker unknowingly sat down in his seat at the sight of him looking like an all-around handyman.

[Clean? Isn’t it clean?]

At that time, another woman’s voice was heard.

An elegant but bubbly voice.

The office worker somehow thought this was familiar and swallowed hard.

[It seems cleaner than my house]

[Aren’t you an actress?]

The camera slowly turned and showed a woman.

A halo of light gathered behind her.

‘Kwon Jae-ik and Lee So-ra are filming a variety show together?’

The conversation between the two people, who seemed close, went on comfortably.

The office worker exclaimed, “Wow! This is crazy!”

He didn’t know they were filming a variety show together.

But they wouldn’t have been sent to the countryside alone.

What kind of variety show is this?

[Shall we divide it up and do it once?]

At that time, another familiar voice.

He immediately recognized whose voice it was.

Lee Jung-min.

So, Kwon Jae-ik, Lee So-ra, and Lee Jung-min are coming out?

The office worker jumped up.

A passionate viewer of ‘From Today On, We’ in the past couldn’t contain the thrill of that combination.

[Jung-min, you’re the only one]

The camera moved in the direction Kwon Jae-ik was looking, and Lee Jung-min, who was smiling softly, was shown.

Lee Jung-min, wearing a wrinkle-free knit, was the male protagonist who popped out of a romance comic.

At that time, Lee Jung-min’s gaze turned.

It was a very soft gaze, so the office worker thought another female cast member had come.

[Hae-il, is there anything you want to do?]

“…Hae-il?”

The only Hae-il I know is one person. Did I hear wrong?

The moment he doubted his ears.

The camera turned and showed a boy sitting on the porch.

The boy, who put down his guitar case, looked around once and soon smiled.

[Well. Me, music?]

“Huh?”

Before he could even recognize what he had said, the film turned and an animated teaser came up.

A man, no, Kwon Jae-ik, holding a fishing rod and getting on a boat.

A graceful woman wearing a beautiful dress and mingling with children was shown,

On one side, a young man standing at a lectern is reading a textbook.

Finally, a boy with a guitar on his shoulder and a child with shaggy hair look at each other in the playground, and the village comes together as one.

Houses and fields are created in various places on the island made up of round mountains, and it is filled with the faces of the villagers.

The cast and villagers, and in front of them, a harbor and a beach.

[Wise Island Life]

First broadcast next Sunday at 18:30

“Huh?”

The office worker stopped and looked at the TV.

It had already switched to commercials, but he couldn’t do anything.

“Ugh??????