The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 691

These days, the name Noh Hae-il is everywhere among the kids.

Maybe it’s because we went to the same middle school and live in the same neighborhood.

He pops up on YouTube and social media, and

most of all, the ‘2030 Sing Festival – Rendezvous’ episodes 1 and 2, which hit 13% viewership, had the biggest impact.

Everyone who saw the HALO cover performance as an SNS [Social Networking Service] clip couldn’t believe their eyes. If the bell signaling the start of class hadn’t rung, they might have watched it all day.

‘Noh Hae-il? You mean Noh Hae-il from class 1 at Seonyeon Middle School?’

‘Wasn’t he just good at studying?’

‘Is this some kind of camera trick? He looks completely different.’

Clearly, that performance was special enough to be talked about for a whole month.

Nevertheless, Park Chan-soo scoffed at the internet articles raving about Noh Hae-il being a genius.

‘Genius, my foot.’

Someone must have helped him.

Is everyone a genius these days?

“Chan-soo, your classmate’s song is ranked 3rd on Melon [a popular Korean music streaming platform],” his father, who always read the newspaper, said at the dinner table. Chan-soo still didn’t acknowledge it. His mother, sitting next to him, chimed in sarcastically.

“3rd place isn’t that big of a deal.”

“It’s not like he’s 3rd in his class. Being 3rd in the whole country is pretty good. Are you jealous?”

“Jealous? Why would I be jealous…”

“There’s a time and place for jealousy! It’s a different field. And after looking into it a bit, he’s definitely different. He’s a real genius. Chan-soo, make sure to stay close to that friend.”

That jerk doesn’t even answer my calls.

Chan-soo pouted.

His father seemed quite interested in Noh Hae-il.

He wasn’t even his real son, but he was excited as if he were.

“Oh, they say episode 4 is airing today. How about we watch it together?”

“Chan-soo has to study. Why are you asking him to watch it with you? Watch it yourself!”

“Pay some attention to the kid. He has a mock exam soon. Chan-soo, have a good day at school.”

His mother cut him off firmly.

Chan-soo didn’t particularly want to watch Noh Hae-il, but he preferred watching TV to studying, so he grabbed his backpack, watching their reactions.

And at 6:30 PM, when Rendezvous episode 4 aired,

the group chat was already buzzing.

Chan-soo glanced at his tightly closed door and plugged in his earphones. The opening song of Rendezvous was playing outside.

The thought of going out and watching it with his father on the big screen crossed his mind briefly.

But this seemed more comfortable.

‘Genius, my foot.’

Noh Hae-il wasn’t in episode 3, so he’d definitely be in episode 4. Park Chan-soo, who didn’t know much about Hwang Ryong-pil, thought it would definitely be boring.

The Noh Hae-il he knew was in his head.

A model student who quietly studied on his own.

With shaggy hair and a lack of confidence.

He was good at memorizing, so his grades were higher than his, but he struggled with presentations and speaking.

That kind of kid being a celebrity.

Maybe it was because that image was so strong, Chan-soo didn’t recognize him when he first saw the clip.

The bright, clear face and confident, relaxed demeanor didn’t look like Noh Hae-il at all.

Like now.

[Shhh]

The VJ [Video Journalist] tries to talk to Noh Hae-il, who is lost in thought.

Hwang Ryong-pil, a legendary figure of the old era, raises his finger to signal him to be quiet.

Chan-soo had heard he was a very famous person, and that musician was looking at Noh Hae-il with warm eyes, as if he had expectations.

Soon, Noh Hae-il starts snapping his fingers.

From there, a unique sense of rhythm is felt.

The camera quietly shows the boy.

Without fancy editing or subtitles, just quietly.

Occasionally, the camera switches to the view outside the window that the boy is watching, and strangely, it feels like something is happening.

The boy’s fingers begin to twitch.

And Noh Hae-il’s feet start tapping to the beat.

Clearly, there was nothing there,

but a picture was being drawn on the blank canvas.

Five lines are drawn horizontally, and 4/4 time is marked according to the boy’s beat.

Then, the paused pencil begins to flow gracefully with the boy’s humming. His thoughts stop.

Chan-soo stared blankly at the scene.

It was like.

Time had stopped.

The group chat also stopped, as did the editing techniques and voices.

But in all that frozen time, only the boy moved.

That magical time was broken when his intense eyes turned to the camera.

“How about this?”

The boy smiled, revealing a faint dimple on one side.

Mesmerized by that intense gaze and smile, he blankly watches the boy’s actions.

The boy plays a melody on an acoustic guitar that’s as big as he is, a melody that anyone can tell was just made up.

The unfinished melody sounded good at first listen.

“And then we put this in here.”

He didn’t know what was going on, but the composing process for Team 1 ended there.

Team 1’s video was very short.

Several minutes shorter than the other teams.

There were other teams with more sensational content, such as discord and team names, but Team 1, which was the most static, was more dynamic than any other team.

[What]

[Crazy]

[Wow, was he always like that?]

The group chat went wild.

Kids from other middle schools wanted to hear any stories about Noh Hae-il.

[They probably made it beforehand and edited it. Do you only watch the broadcast once?]

Chan-soo stopped typing.

He typed it instinctively, but he knew that wasn’t the case.

Even without considering the adults’ circumstances,

Noh Hae-il really did seem like a genius, and it was definitely true that he was captivated by his gestures.

Chan-soo paused the broadcast that was highlighting the other teams.

He watched the same video again from the clips that viewers had already uploaded.

There was only the Noh Hae-il he didn’t know.

The boy snapping his fingers was definitely not the Noh Hae-il he knew. He was from a completely different world.

[Chan-soo, weren’t you close to Noh Hae-il?]

[Park Chan-soo: I don’t know]

[?]

“…I don’t know.”

#

[O Sun, the world is stained with evil, please]

[Father, it’s too cold here]

Halo chuckled as he checked the comment section that had gone wild after March. It was a bit late. It had gone past March, unlike planned.

He was busy with his schedule, but he also spent time having fun with people, which delayed things.

Now it was time to start working again.

Well, there wasn’t much left.

The MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface] work was all done, and he was just about to start recording.

The time to release the song was Easter.

The studio was quiet again after a long time.

With all the cameras gone, Halo played his 5th album, Addiction, as if he were enjoying a vacation.

Perhaps because he covered the 4th album in Noh Hae-il’s style, various variations came to his mind.

Wouldn’t it be more fun to sing it this way?

It was a pleasant idea.

Halo wrote down some of them and let others flow by, enjoying the moment of inspiration.

Life has been so enjoyable lately.

He wondered why he hadn’t collaborated with other singers sooner.

He was excited by the feeling that he was moving forward, and he looked forward to the limitations he would face someday.

It was okay to encounter walls.

There was a charm to overcoming them.

These days.

In other words, it felt like the beginning of a movie had just begun.

The most exciting moment when the production company’s logo appears and the opening song begins to play.

Well, since it was his second movie, he would be moving forward at an even scarier pace.

Noh Hae-il was just seventeen years old, and he had an even faster starting point. He had done it once, so he would be more skilled.

Halo vaguely thought.

This opening.

He hoped that the excitement and joy would continue endlessly,

and that the end credits would come up as late as possible.

He knew he had to end it someday, but he wanted to enjoy the fun for a long time.

Halo wanted to enjoy this delightful indulgence with everyone for as long as possible.

Yes, just like the name of his 5th album, ADDICTION.

He might have become addicted to this joy.

He knew there would be an end someday, but he denied it and tried to indulge in it endlessly.

The dreamy melody continues endlessly.

There, he tries to constantly take pleasure,

and he falls asleep in the thick smoke.

The wah-wah electric guitar and the spinning synthesizer.

And with it, the rambling lyrics.

Halo smiled faintly, wondering if he would receive another rating of ‘Not for Youth’ this time.

:

[Is Monthly Halo over now?]

This was a while ago.

[1. I AM HALO │ HALO]

[2. Please, lead me not into temptation │ HALO]

[3. Another Day │ Noh Hae-il ]

It was when his song neither went up nor down.

Sunday, April 13, Easter.

44 days after the 4th album.

When people were saying that Halo’s solo run was over.

The 5th album with the wings of HALO was released worldwide, including YouTube. It was still an EP [Extended Play] album, but it was like a regular album, with 8 tracks uploaded at the same time.

As always, with unconventional music and

[HALO 5th Album ADDICTION]

1. Butterflies in my stomach

:

8. (Title) Like a Heroin

showing unconventional moves.

Easter is just a day to find painted eggs for non-religious people, but it is considered the most important holiday in Christianity.

Christian countries designate the days before and after Easter as national holidays to spend the Easter holidays, and the attention of people who were enjoying festivals and vacations on Easter Day was also focused on it.

Psychedelic rock, which was popular about forty years ago, was stuck in their ears.

The level of perfection that could not be seen as having been created in a month.

The theme of ‘pleasure’ and ‘addiction,’ the sensual lyrics, and the dreamy melody swept away even insensitive people.

However, the difference was that this song could not be played openly like HALO’s other songs.

It wasn’t just because of the lyrics that received a ‘Not for Youth’ rating in Korea.

The atmosphere of the song itself was stimulating. The things that people mainly associate with ‘pleasure’ were similar.

[Haaak]

[Heuahheuhhihaah]

Although there were no proper sentences, HALO’s 5th album, with the number of comments close to the top as always, climbed the charts like flowing water.

Meanwhile, people thought.

If HALO from the 1st to 4th albums was portrayed as a top musician of the past, an upper class person, some adult and genius who had overcome the storms of the world,

the 5th album was, well, like a mad genius or a hedonist.

Someone mentioned Patrick Süskind’s Perfume.

People who discovered the desire and madness for pleasure in the music thought that he might not be an upper class person, but a musician with addiction experience from the very bottom.

And as this reasoning deepened, suspicion of a genius boy living in Korea also faded away.

How could a 17-year-old high school student in Korea make this kind of music?

His arrangement skills for the 4th album are recognized, but arrangement and composition are different. Creating something from something and creating something from nothing are different. In particular, that ‘something’ was not an ordinary ‘something,’ but a song by an adult with a lot of experience that anyone could see.

People who had suspected him even for a moment were ashamed.

But it can be seen positively.

That a 17-year-old boy in Korea has the talent to be suspected of being HALO.

Although the song rankings have been pushed back with the release of HALO’s 5th album, the boy’s new song [7. Another Day] is still a steady seller and has been at the top for a long time.

[Please release the ‘Lead me not into temptation’ arrangement version ㅠㅠㅠ]

[Or even an unedited version]

[Work, KDS [Korean Distribution System, a fictional company]]

As HALO’s moves became more noticeable, the demand for rare HALO covers also increased. Among them, domestic viewers wanted none other than Noh Hae-il to cover it again.

It was difficult to find a more satisfactory cover stage than the ‘Lead me not into temptation’ cover.

[I wish Hae-il would sing all of Tae-yang’s songs]

[Korean lyrics are good, but I think he would sing well in English too, please do it in English]

└His real friends say he’s not good at English

└ ?? What are you talking about? How can you say he’s not good at English after seeing the level of his Korean lyrics?

└ Noh Hae-il was the kid who was talked about at Hongdae Let It Be [a famous live music club in Hongdae] in the past, what are you talking about?

└ No, Let It Be is something even my niece in the Azalea Class of Sunshine Kindergarten sings lol

[I’m most curious about what duet song he’ll sing with Hwang Ryong-pil, not the cover. Isn’t it tomorrow that tickets go on sale?]

[Where? Coachella* [a famous music festival in the US]]

[Why is Coachella suddenly coming out here lol Aren’t you talking about the Rendezvous concert?]

[But is Halo coming to this Coachella? If so, I’m going no matter what, Rendezvous or anything]

└Will he come?

└I already bought a ticket. I’m praying until Tae-yang comes out

└ㄷㄷㄷ Indian rain dance

[When do Rendezvous concert tickets go on sale? Where do you buy them?]

The topic was briefly diverted, but in late April,

the end of ‘Rendezvous’ was approaching.

If the final filming is at the Song Festival in May,

now, in late April.

The 6 teams of artists gathered again to determine the order of the stages for the rehearsal. Unlike before, the filming set was not a studio, but a campsite prepared by KDS.