The Road to Glory

“Please, kill me.”It was late July.Extreme heat had arrived.Just as citizens unable to sleep due to the annoying cicada sounds and sauna-like humidity began heading to the mountains, beaches, or Caribbean Bay to escape the heat one by one.Moon Seoyeon, who had received a 1-liter Americano after paying a hefty 3,000 won delivery fee, held the coffee like a poisonous drink with both hands and muttered.“I didn’t even drink this much Americano when I was on a diet…”As she turned her head, she could see Han Jinyeong and the boy having a serious conversation through the glass window. Nam Gyuhwan had long since died from caffeine overdose on the sofa.Knowing that would soon be her future as well, Moon Seoyeon was about to lie down on the sofa and die, but after seeing the rough album jacket for HALO’s 8th album in the group chat, she smiled brightly and said.“Let’s cheer up again.”She vigorously opens the conference room door.The cover for HALO’s 8th album set to be released in early August is currently in production.It’s the illustrated cover that started with HALO’s 6th album “Dancing in the Rain”.To talk about this, let’s go back to a day in May.Halo made the unusual request to Veil for an illustrated cover for his 6th album.And Veil, who would do anything he was asked, gladly accepted the request.August Veil personally visited workshops to carefully select people who could draw what HALO wanted, and narrowed it down to about three candidates.However, one of them declined due to scheduling conflicts before even hearing the name “HALO”, and another declined thinking it must surely be a scam.The Austrian illustrator who ended up taking on the commission hesitantly drew “four feet dancing in the rain”, and instantly rose to become the top-tier illustrator who drew “HALO’s 6th album cover” in the indie scene.HALO, who had caused ripples with every album release so far, changed one illustrator’s life with his 6th album. He literally struck gold overnight, amassing tremendous wealth and popularity even appearing on The Ellen Show in America.From then on, it wasn’t just the illustration industry that was stirred up.Including illustrators, street artists, painters, printmakers, designers, cartoonists, and other professions that could be broadly categorized as “artists” began making requests to Veil.Begging to let them draw HALO’s album cover.Including those who wanted money and fame, those who just wanted to draw his album for HALO, those who said they’d draw for free regardless of money if they could just have a meal with him, no, even if they could just see him from afar.Around that time, how many artists had gathered in front of Veil Company? Halo doesn’t know.Anyway. That day, there was even an erroneous news report that artists had collectively stood up for their rights.Breaking through those countless solicitations, pleas, and threats, the one who drew the cover for HALO’s 7th album “Requiem for the dead Peter” was a famous French fairy tale illustrator.The illustration that beautifully and whimsically captured the cruel fairy tale image of the dead Peter Pan made the front page of newspapers along with HALO’s shocking song.It was very unusual for an album cover of some singer, rather than a political or social issue, to make the front page, but the sales numbers proved they weren’t wrong.Of course, that fairy tale illustrator didn’t experience as impactful a rise as the 6th album illustrator.He was already a famous illustrator, and he donated all the profits from the album cover to children’s organizations.However, there’s a rumor that he received HALO’s autograph, which the illustrator dismissed with no comment.And coming back to the present.Late July.Moon Seoyeon, who was the first in the world to check HALO’s 8th album cover, looked over the illustrations intermittently with a satisfied expression.Others might find it strange if they checked her phone.The theme for HALO’s 8th album is horror.The illustrations incorporating scary images were by no means pleasant.Anyway, by this point everyone must have realized. The ongoing meeting is not about HALO’s 8th album.HALO’s 8th album finished recording long ago.What they’re doing now is rather.-Ask and doubleIt can be seen as an extension of that.The fluttering caused by criticisms like “Roh Haeil’s music is always the same”, “He can only do acoustic and ballad music”, “The next album will probably be the same too”.“Ugh, it’s still difficult even listening again.”Han Jinyeong pondered with his arms crossed.“Are you still worried about the album concept?”“Yeah.”“It really is difficult.”If it were another singer, they’d be spending time looking for better songs, better hooks, better melody lines, but this meeting was closer to a concept meeting.Having listened to the songs Halo had occasionally made.They were all good, but what made it difficult for them was that the themes, concepts, and even genres of the music were all over the place.After being told he could only do one genre, Halo poured out all kinds of inspiration, and this is the result.The sounds from the played albums mix together.Whistling sounds followed by motorcycle engine soundsDissonant sounds mixed with sounds from all genres.It’s only natural to feel like going crazy.Acoustic.Math rock and alternative rockA cappella, electronic, and even hip-hop.With all genres gathered together, of course it’s chaotic.Moreover, the themes of the songs are the same.You don’t even need to listen to the lyrics, just look at the song titles.To conclude, there was no unity in the songs Halo made this time. Just an array of good songs.“There’s really no theme or rules.”“No rules, huh.”Listening carefully to Moon Seoyeon’s words, Halo suddenly raised the corners of his mouth.“So you all find it hard to narrow down the songs, right?”Catching some nuance in Halo’s question, Han Jinyeong looked at him subtly and nodded. Moon Seoyeon did the same.“Then.”Halo opened his mouth.“Should we just go with this as is?”At those words, both of their eyes widened.“!”“What? All of these… different ones?”“I don’t think it’s bad.”At first, he was thinking of releasing an EP album matching the album’s theme and subject, but his mind changed. When had he ever lived his life with a theme and rules anyway.“Having no theme is the theme. Having no rules is the rule. Having no unity at all is the concept. How about it?”Halo smiled mischievously.Moon Seoyeon nodded reflexively at that confident face, and Han Jinyeong thought for a moment before asking:“Then what about the album title?”Actually, the talk of concept and theme was on the same line. It was difficult to decide on a title to represent the album.Usually, album titles were similar to the title track or determined by activity goals, musical world, or special concepts. In Roh Haeil’s case as well, they had followed the title track and overall album theme.But when Han Jinyeong asked if they were going to break that this time, Halo quietly looked at the song titles.Actually, there was one he had in mind for the title track. Looking at the song Halo pointed to, Han Jinyeong tilted his head.“I thought the title track would be rock this time, but are we going with acoustic?”Among the twelve songs, there was only one acoustic song. While mostly rock or rock and roll songs dominated, Halo specifically picked the acoustic song.Though they thought it was better than choosing the a cappella song, Han Jinyeong and Moon Seoyeon didn’t quite understand.However, Halo didn’t seem to have any intention of persuading them on this point.“And we’ll make the album title these two words.”As Halo pointed to the first letters with his finger, the album title was created.[-my world]“Then this album…”Moon Seoyeon, who had quietly counted the number of songs, exclaimed.“It’s not an EP but a full album. The first full album.”“Oh? Come to think of it, that’s right. Counting everything, it’s the first full album, isn’t it?”“That’s right! Boss, should we have a celebratory dinner for the first full album today?”A total of twelve tracks.Since albums with ten to thirteen or more songs are usually called full albums, it clearly met the specifications for a full album.“Anyway, I fully agree with the boss’s opinion.”Although she still had questions about the title track, Moon Seoyeon agreed, thinking the boss must have his reasons. Above all, she liked the album title. It felt like it tied together the songs with no rules or themes into one.“There’s going to be another uproar this time.”The first full album of the “disappeared” (?) Roh Haeil.An album containing twelve tracks of different genres seemed like it didn’t even need promotion.Roh Haeil’s full album?This alone would perk up earsRoh Haeil’s rock.Plus Roh Haeil’s hip-hopAnd on top of that, Roh Haeil’s electronic!It makes one imagine the fandom and Watermelon charts that will be set ablaze even before the album is released.“What are you going to do now?”As Han Jinyeong made a gesture to wake up Nam Gyuhwan, Halo raised his hand to stop him.“I’m going to look for featuring artists now.”“Featuring? You’re going to do featuring too, boss?”“Yeah.”It hadn’t been long since he realized collaboration wasn’t bad while doing KDS Rendezvous. Halo was thinking of trying featuring this time.This seems like it will be a splendid work in many ways this time.#“Featuring? Me?”[No.]Sin Joohyeok, who was on the phone, stopped while walking down the agency corridor. He was dumbfounded by this decisiveness.“Look at this guy. You don’t have to be that definitive. I don’t think I deserve to be treated like this.”Passing employees greet him.Not just the singer team, but actor teams 1, 2, and 3 as well.Sin Joohyeok smiles back with his expression, while continuing to grumble at the boy.It seemed like this cheeky kid was the only one who didn’t know him well, when there wasn’t a person in the country who didn’t know Sin Joohyeok’s name and face.“But how long has it been since you worked on musicals that you’re making a comeback-“In the middle of speaking, Sin Joohyeok once again recalled this kid’s true identity.“…Never mind. You were always like this. I just forgot for a moment. That you’re a monster kid.”Roh Haeil pretended not to hear his muttering and immediately got to the point.[I was originally going to ask senior Liv for featuring, but…]“Chaewon is on an overseas tour.”[Yes, so I’m looking for someone else]“Hmm.”It was worth asking.If he had been in the entertainment industry for a long time maybe, but since he’s a guy who only works in the studio, his network isn’t very broad.“I’m at the agency now, so I’ll ask around. But rumors might spread about this. Is that okay?”[Yeah, whatever.]Though he didn’t say more, it sounded like that’s what he was hoping for.What a cunning junior.But Sin Joohyeok didn’t dislike the junior’s cunning. Because he knew that to survive in this world, you need a certain level of cunning.Well, with the boy’s talent, people around him would take care of him even if he wasn’t cunning.“But really, there’s nothing for me to feature on? I’m a bit annoyed that you took my motorcycle sound before and then didn’t contact me for a while.”Sin Joohyeok also thought that if this junior ever asked for featuring or collaboration, he would tease him by refusing once or twice before accepting.But this guy doesn’t seem to have any intention of collaborating with him.[I’ll be sure to mention that your motorcycle featured.]“Sigh… I should just stop talking.”Laughter is heard from the other end of the phone.I really need to set aside a day to instill some Confucian values in him.Sin Joohyeok shook his head and entered the singer team room.He was supposed to meet with the president regarding the contract.Sin Joohyeok checked the time and shrugged. Well, let’s just tell him to wait a bit.“Oh my, who do we have here. Welcome, Joohyeok-ssi.”“Hello, Team Leader Lee. Actually, I have something to ask.”“Oh my, if Joohyeok-ssi needs anything, I should help. What is it?”A day later.Sin Joohyeok thought rumors would spread, but it was even faster than expected.Of course, he’s the star heating up the year, isn’t he?It took less than a full day to spread from major agencies to small and medium ones. Seeing how singers he had even a slight connection with contacted him right away, he wondered if these people had been waiting for this.[Wonder: Hehe Hi Haeil][Lee Seongrim: Haeil, do you like fishing by any chance?][Liv(Lee Chaewon): ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Let’s definitely do it together next time Haeil]Of course, not everyone took the rumors of Roh Haeil looking for featuring positively.“Wow, this bastard really got the star disease.”“…It is a bit like that, right?”“Who does he think he is to look for featuring? Well, he can look for featuring. But instead of personally putting in the effort to find it, he spreads rumors like this? This bastard really got the star disease.”“What should we do? Should we still ask?”“Ask what, just cut it off.”“But singers might want it-““We need to teach this bastard a lesson. Forget it, cut it off.”“Yes, sir.”At one mid-sized agency, they didn’t even mention Roh Haeil’s featuring to their artists and cut it off at the president level.“First, he needs to send a guide track. What, does he think I’ll feature on just any song?”“But don’t you think featuring for Roh Haeil would be an interesting experience, sir?”“Forget it. What good would it do me to play with a kid?”There were also mid-level singers who were negative about it not being a direct offer.Still, countless proposals arrived at Roh Haeil’s label ‘H’ wanting to feature.Halo, who had never proposed featuring to anyone or done it himself in his previous life, was surprised that so many people sent love calls.It’s just featuring, not giving them his song.Featuring is just a nice way of saying collaboration, but isn’t it really just singing part of a song? Yet so many singers want it.However, the other members took it as a given.They had heard numerous featuring songs so far and knew that featuring wasn’t simply singing part of a song and being done with it.Well, there must be various meanings to featuring.Not just putting my name on that person’s album, but new stimulation, experience, and socializing.Who among celebrities who keenly grasp the public’s interest and crave their attention would dislike socializing with Roh Haeil?This is just part of that attention.“How about this person?”“Hmm.”Unlike the many love calls that arrived, the selection was a bit difficult. It was partly because Halo was picky, but also because the hip-hop song he wanted featuring for was originally made based on Liv’s vocals.Halo listened to the songs attached to the emails, grasping their voices and narrowing them down. They all made interesting music, but there didn’t seem to be anyone who would fit well with his song.Should he just ask Liv when she returns?If it was overseas filming instead of an overseas tour, he would have asked remotely. But it felt wrong to ask a singer in the middle of concerts to record.As the featuring selection process was taking longer than expected, Sin Joohyeok, who had come to the studio to listen to his motorcycle featuring, spoke up.“You want vocals like Liv, right?”“…”“Hmm. I just thought of a good kid, but.”“I’ve listened to all the songs from your company’s singers.”“It’s not from our company.”At those words, Halo finally raised his head.Sin Joohyeok strangely dragged out his words. There seemed to be something bothering him.“She has a good tone and sings well. I don’t know if she’ll be available now, but I can ask. But I’m not sure if she’s really who you want.”Halo wondered what the problem could be if she had a good tone and good vocals.That’s when Sin Joohyeok hesitated before opening his mouth.“She’s not just a singer, you know.”Hi everyone, I've fully translated this series. If you love the series and wanted to binge read until the end, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. Instead of buying the advanced chapters one by one, you can buy them in one bulk (with discounted price too)!