The Road To Glory [EN]: Chapter 701

< Episode 70: Son of the Sun >

“The weather is so nice today.”

“PD-nim [PD is short for Producer-nim, a Korean honorific title], can’t we just play around like this?”

“The teams that are finished can just play, right?”

“Ugh, this would be perfect with some drinks.”

“Ahem, we’re still filming, you know.”

Warm weather.

A sky without a single cloud and green grass.

As barbecue equipment began to be set up in front of the campsite, following the new pension, the faces of the people gathered here gradually brightened.

They had reunited under the guise of filming a practice stage, but it felt more like a picnic than a shoot. In fact, Jang PD hadn’t specifically asked anything of them, and the recording of the music had already finished.

It’s impossible to overturn the song now.

It had become a child that had left their hands, and accordingly, the competitive atmosphere had dulled.

“Still, there must be a reason why we’ve gathered like this, right? You wouldn’t have planned an MT [Membership Training, a common company retreat in Korea] just to have us do a practice stage.”

“I just hope you all enjoy the day.”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps due to past experiences, everyone looked at Jang PD with suspicious eyes. PDs never had the habit of leaving the cast alone.

“Well, let’s move on since that’s what you say. But can our team present first during the rehearsal?”

Lee Seong-rim, who had a lot of MC [Master of Ceremonies] experience, naturally took the lead and brought up the main point, which drew jeers.

“I’m really upset. I kicked my blanket for three days straight after that day, really. Our team’s music wasn’t even finished yet. Who kept comparing the finished song with the unfinished one so persistently?”

Of course, kicking the blanket for three days was an exaggeration.

But the last midterm evaluation occasionally came back to him like a nightmare.

Team 1’s song had to be of high quality, usually.

He was in trouble for showing an unfinished song after that.

He wanted to fix it right away, but he had to show the song.

How should he put it?

It felt like finding a ridiculous typo right before the presentation.

“Why are you like that, Lee Seong-rim? Your song was really good, though?”

“Of course, it is now.”

Lee Seong-rim retorted to Jang PD’s words with a smile, pretending to still be upset.

Unlike then, it was finished now.

It was the result of working all night for a week since the midterm evaluation.

As a result, he was quite satisfied.

Lee Seong-rim thought that at least he wouldn’t hear that his song was worse than Team 1’s.

Yes, in a way, that nightmarish midterm evaluation gave wings to his song. If he hadn’t seen that first, a worse song than now would have come out.

“Perhaps, the team performing after us will feel a bit pressured.”

Lee Seong-rim said playfully, and jeers came again. Someone, seeing an opportunity, said they wanted their team to rehearse first, and naturally, they clashed with Lee Seong-rim.

Jang PD, who hadn’t particularly asked for any variety elements, chuckled and chimed in as the filming went well.

“You can freely decide on the practice stage order.”

Jang PD said generously.

What’s important is something else.

The stage order for the song festival to be held in May.

And if there was one more thing he had prepared, it was a special performance.

It was still a ‘song festival,’ so they couldn’t just end it with six songs.

“Let’s decide on the stage order and special performance after the practice stages are over.”

“Special performance, you say?”

“Honestly, six songs are too short, aren’t they?”

“!”

Jang PD had told them to relax and rest at the campsite, but by suggesting the performance order and a special performance, he started another subtle game of wits.

“When is good for you?”

And Halo sat quietly without any back-and-forth.

Shin Joo-hyuk, who sat next to him, asked, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Whenever. I don’t really care.”

“You’re confident, is that it?”

Of course.

Whether it was the beginning or the end of the stage, he would pour everything into it, and the audience would be the same.

As Halo confidently nodded, Shin Joo-hyuk thought he was such a consistent guy.

“But isn’t this your first concert?”

“It’s not…”

“What do you mean it’s not? Why do you deny it like a teenage kid?”

“…”

There’s a lot he wants to say, but he can’t.

“The concert is your real skill. You have to do well. If you don’t have the skill, it’ll be like this.”

Shin Joo-hyuk drew his thumb across his neck.

He thought he was saying something obvious.

For a singer, the stage is their skill. Recording is a record.

Shin Joo-hyuk smiled brightly and continued.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do well, but let me give you one tip-”

“!”

Who does this guy think he is, giving advice?

‘I’ve done so many concerts.’

Halo watched the practice stage with a sulky face, ignoring him.

Soon, Shin Joo-hyuk, realizing that he wasn’t listening at all, grabbed his head, and Liv and Hwang Ryong-pil smiled gently.

They didn’t look alike at all, but they were like brothers.

“Shin Joo-hyuk, please prepare Liv’s stage.”

Shin Joo-hyuk, who was becoming more talkative than when they first met, continued to give him ‘concert advice’ until he had to prepare for the practice stage.

Seeing him reluctantly get up when the FD [Floor Director] called him, he wondered how far the conversation would have gone.

Halo crossed his arms.

Let’s see how well he does.

The filming up to the practice stage was generally done in a free atmosphere. After all, they had met under the guise of camping or MT, and they roughly knew each other’s songs, so they could enjoy it as performers and audience without special feedback.

Someone plopped down in the seat Shin Joo-hyuk had left.

“Hello?”

It was Lee Seong-rim, who had shown the first practice stage.

He was chatting with other artists, and when Shin Joo-hyuk left, he came to the boy’s side. They had already met at the gathering, and Lee Seong-rim was also very interested in the boy, like the other artists.

Well, who wouldn’t be? While the other artists were being cautious, he moved his body directly.

“Did you see my stage earlier?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You were talking to Joo-hyuk the whole time.”

It wasn’t a conversation, but a one-sided lecture.

Halo turned to Lee Seong-rim, and Lee Seong-rim raised his hand.

“I’m not trying to argue. I want to hear what you thought of my stage. I’ve already heard from the others over there.”

Lee Seong-rim pointed to the other artists.

Halo nodded.

“Everyone else, including you, has changed one thing.”

“Huh? Oh, right.”

Lee Seong-rim’s eyes widened as he immediately recognized Halo’s words.

Lee Seong-rim, who had shown the first practice stage, stomped his feet while singing a retro dance song, and

In the second stage, Wonder and the veteran female singer occasionally clapped their hands in a heavy tango stage.

In the third stage, he put his hands on his waist and tapped the stage with his feet.

Halo, who had watched the stage while listening to Shin Joo-hyuk’s advice, listened to Lee Seong-rim’s answer while watching the fifth stage.

“It’s so impactful, you see.”

The teams that were making their own songs ended up creating a stage with a common theme.

Although they didn’t unify the genre, the audience who came to see the stage would probably leave with energy from the beginning to the end of the stage.

They would go home more tired than usual.

That’s what he wanted.

Everyone enjoying the day without tomorrow.

“It was good.”

“Right?”

Lee Seong-rim, having gotten the answer he wanted, nodded satisfactorily.

“Oh, Chae-won is rapping?”

Then he admired Shin Joo-hyuk and Liv’s stage.

Lee Seong-rim wasn’t the only one surprised.

Liv, who had the nicknames of the queen of 음원 [eumwon, digital music charts] and the queen of ballads, was rapping. They must have prepared a duet song with gritted teeth.

In the meantime, Shin Joo-hyuk’s band’s bassist made a slight mistake, but Shin Joo-hyuk, without paying any attention, belted out a solid high note and made the song even better, and sang a duet with Liv.

It was a stage that would have been perfect even if it was a concert, not a practice stage.

“Not bad.”

Halo uttered a review of the senior artist’s stage that someone would have thought was arrogant if they had heard it. Immediately after, he heard the FD’s voice calling him and got up from his seat.

“Hwang Ryong-pil, Noh Hae-il, please prepare for the stage.”

Halo walked, only looking at the stage.

Now it was his stage.

Let’s go.

#

“Wow, I failed to get a ticket… What’s the competition rate?”

“Well, you don’t have to get a ticket, right? Then you can just go, can’t you?”

The girl nodded at her friend’s words.

Rendezvous has paid reserved seats, and otherwise, there are first-come-first-served seats. In the name of a song festival, they released free standing seats so that everyone could enjoy it.

Also, the paid reserved seats weren’t that expensive.

It was closer to a donation of a few thousand won than a concert ticket price. -All proceeds from the performance were to be donated-

In other words, as her friend said, ticketing was not a must. However, it can’t be helped that she was disappointed.

First-come-first-served is uncertain, and the seats where you can see the singer closest are paid seats.

The girl, a member of Shin Joo-hyuk’s fan club ‘Olympus,’ blankly stared at the reserved seats that were clearly white but had turned red.

Someone said that red means warning.

Looking at the red ticketing seats, she felt uneasy.

A total collection of Korea’s top singers.

Their duet stage.

The lineup was fierce, and the influence of the terrestrial program, which had a viewership rating of up to 15%, could not be ignored.

Still, she thought there were quite a few overlaps, such as other singers’ concerts and rock festivals held in Nanji Park in the Han River.

As expected, it froze as soon as it was time.

What she encountered after calmly checking the seats was not a payment window, but ‘These seats have already been selected by another customer.’

[Anyone succeeded in Rendezvous ticketing?]

└Something’s wrong with this;;; It feels like all seats were sold out in 0.1 seconds

└I’m refreshing, but it’s already sold out, right?

└I’m just waiting for 취케팅 [chwiketing, canceling ticket]ㅜㅜplease…

└222 If not 취케팅, I’ll have to sleep rough in Gangwon-do from today

No one in the fan cafe said they had succeeded. It was strange.

It wasn’t just any fan cafe, but Shin Joo-hyuk’s fan cafe, famous for its tight ticketing, and no golden hands appeared,

Only posts saying they failed were lined up.

Of course, the situation in other fan cafes was similar.

[Reasons why this Rendezvous ticketing is tough]

1. Hwang Ryong-pil, targeting the middle-aged generation of Mire

2. Lee Seong-rim, Shin Joo-hyuk, Liv popular picks + largest fandom size

3. CB Wonder – Idol fandom + even foreign fans

:

6. Paid (for donation ㅇㅇ) ticket price < other concert ticket prices 7. Broadcast viewership rating 15.6% Everyone in the country just rushed in, so of course it's tough;; [Wow, some crazy bastard opened a ticket auction on the used market ㄷㄷ] └Is he crazy? How much is he selling a ticket that costs a few thousand won for? The girl, who had looked through the fan cafe, sensed a fierce energy. She felt like she would never be able to see it if she went on the day of the event. "Should I go to Gangwon-do a week in advance and pitch a tent?" "Up to that point? Let's just go slowly on the day or the day before." Her muggle friend [Muggle is a term for non-fans] didn't understand at all. She couldn't understand her position either. Unlike other concerts, Rendezvous was also broadcast live. "The location is Gangwon-do, right? Everyone will be too lazy to go? They'll just watch it on their phones at home since they're broadcasting it. It's not like they're doing a fan signing." "That's not true, but still…" "If it's really difficult, let's try our best with 취케팅 [chwiketing, snagging canceled tickets]." Her muggle friend didn't know anything. How sensitive and sharp the 초직감 [cho-jikgam, super-intuition] that had been accumulated over a long time of 덕질 [deokjil, intense fangirling/fanboying] was. And the girl's intuition was realized not long after the 'Rendezvous' ticketing ended. Belle Morrison, an American pop singer and well-known K-pop lover, posted a post on SNS [Social Networking Service]. [BELLE] Did you guys see this? In my opinion, he is the son of sun Obviously #HALO #PLM COVER #so cute guy #k-pop star #rendezvous └ what??? └ Best cover I've ever heard └ Someone show this video to the sun! She didn't know how she came to see a clip of a Korean entertainment program, but she even tagged the broadcast stage clip. The post was exposed to 73M followers as it was. And the excessive praise attracted a lot of attention. The YouTube trending video ranking reflected that interest first, 1. [Rendezvous] Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (cover) │ Noh Hae-il 2. American friends' reaction to Noh Hae-il's PLM cover video for the first time Following that, articles came up. [Korean rookie singer praised by Hollywood pop singer Belle Morrison] [Korea's 17-year-old genius boy loved by Belle Morrison] [HALO's son, Noh Hae-il. Who is he?] └Is Noh Hae-il a super star in the making?? └Noh Hae-il hasn't even debuted for long;; Is he rising like this?? Is this 될놈될 [dwoel-nom-dwoel, someone destined for success]? └ ㅅㅂ [sshibal, a Korean swear word] I'm screwed my 취케팅 └It looks like no one will cancelㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠㅠㅠ May. A large <2030 Song Festival - Rendezvous> banner fluttered at a large concert set up in Gangwon-do.

And as the girl’s intuition predicted, a huge crowd visited Gangwon-do.