The Road to Glory

Halo leaned back against the sofa, with his legs up on the desk, and stretched. His body was sore from the long journey. His joints were still tingling, which his mother had said could be due to his rapid growth.Well, having growing pains meant he could still grow more. Even if the process was uncomfortable and painful, he could endure it as long as he could grow.However, that didn’t seem to apply to unpacking his luggage.Halo looked at his suitcase with an annoyed expression.The suitcase he had roughly dropped in front of the door was still full of stuff. The only thing he had unpacked was the guitar he had brought with him.Halo kicked the suitcase and went inside to sit in front of the computer.He should probably start working on his third album, or maybe release a single first. Since it wasn’t for any special occasion, he checked his emails while considering priorities.Drrrrr. As he scrolled down, a pile of emails that had accumulated during his trip appeared.Even though his music had been released on digital streaming platforms, he was still getting emails from distributors he had contracts with. More than that, large record labels and big management companies kept sending him offers.It seemed they were trying to get a piece of the pie in distribution, production, and management, which were distinct domains.There was also an email from the UK Copyright Office saying his copyright registration was complete. Veil had convinced him to register, even though he had only kept the original by registered mail, trusting in the Berne Convention. Although the UK doesn’t have a separate copyright registration system, they said it was recently becoming a trend to register for legal presumption. Of course, their definition of ‘recent’ was around the 2000s.Once registered, Veil said they could handle future registrations, so he took care of it while he was in the UK.Next, Halo checked the platform report Veil had sent. It showed the previous day’s music revenue, sales trends, and streaming trends for each platform.On the day his music was released.The initially poor graph suddenly exploded upwards at some point, about two or three days after release.Suddenly flooded with [Long live The Sun] and various emoticonsEven though he hadn’t made any announcement on his NuTube community yet, they somehow found out and came anyway. Halo chuckled at the familiar faces. He didn’t need to make a separate announcement.Of course, there had been fights on the channel about this before. There were often arguments between viewers, but he didn’t pay much attention. However, when he was enjoying his European trip, there was an incident related to this.[If you’re not going to communicate, why are you on NuTube?]That was a comment left by someone unhappy with his lack of communication until then. But the fire was put out by dislikes 999+ and sub-comments.└ The Sun has always been silent└ Since ancient times, humans have sought the will of heaven directly└ (This comment has been reported)And back to the platform report comments below. A message saying it wouldn’t be long now.And there seemed to be a comment from August Veil.-You’ll be meeting Billboard soon. How do you feel?Halo put his arms behind his head.If it was the Billboard Music Week, he had topped it so many times it was boring.This time, he would probably climb even faster than before.After checking the tedious business, Halo turned on his music production software, drumming his fingers.Then his phone vibrated.The caller was,“As usual.”It was just asking if he had arrived in Korea.Halo quickly glanced over the message.Aside from that, the last sentence made Halo raise his eyebrows.[…and I’m sorry]The sudden apology caught Halo’s attention, and he glanced at the computer screen. There were no further messages after that.He didn’t feel the need to ask Jang Jinsoo why. It didn’t mean he would ask the hyungs instead of Jang Jinsoo.He felt he could roughly guess without asking.There was only one reason Jang Jinsoo, who had been appearing on TV a lot lately, would suddenly apologize.Halo snapped his fingers.‘He was eliminated.’Halo typed ‘show your show 3’ into the search bar. Without needing to search for another name, all the details were summarized in articles.He didn’t need to watch the videos to know what had happened and how viewers reacted.“Hmm.”It was a bit complicated, but he was eliminated.Because of the complicated process, he was also receiving insults.Not just Jang Jinsoo, but his team – the mentor-mentee pair team – was getting insulted too.All of this stemmed from the third episode of ‘Show Your Show’ that aired while he was in the UK for a long time.Around when Jang Jinsoo’s song ‘Show by Show’ was starting to gain traction.After announcing the second-round passers in Episode 2, they introduced the next competition.A 1-on-1 battle, like ‘You vs. Me.’Since Jang Jinsoo was everyone’s focus at the time, many people challenged him to a ‘You vs. Me,’ and he was paired against one of the favorites to win.‘Ah, so that’s why-‘Halo suddenly remembered what Jang Jinsoo had said in front of the elevator.-Hey, Roh Haeil. I don’t need your help anymore-Even if it’s tough, I’ll try to do it myselfHe must have been preparing for the filming of Episode 3 at that time.If he lost the redemption round, it would be the end. With that resolve to accept whatever outcome came from Soyou, which he had wanted to pass, he said those words to Halo.He vaguely knew something had happened, but now he fully understood. It was compared to when Jang Jinsoo had stormed out after receiving ‘mediocre’ feedback.It made sense why the period of youth is called the growth stage, not just referring to physical growth.And Jang Jinsoo’s ‘growth’ was revealed in the third redemption round. Jang Jinsoo’s skills had noticeably improved, and all the judges acknowledged his growth.However, the others hadn’t stayed in the same place either.Jang Jinsoo had climbed numerous steps, but fell just one rank short. Everyone acknowledged he had all done well, and Jang Jinsoo cried, thanking them – it should have been a beautiful ending.The ending of Episode 3 wasn’t graced by Jang Jinsoo’s tearful farewell, but rather producer Hwang Jeil’s wild card.Who knows what would have happened if the results were different, but in the end, since Jang Jinsoo was eliminated from the competition, he was receiving insults he didn’t deserve.Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.He’s also living a turbulent life, isn’t he?#The Billboard Chart.The ‘Billboard Chart’ that makes hearts race and is known to everyone has been maintaining its credibility for over 60 years since its inception in 1936.Now it has become the most popular and credible chart in the world, as well as the goal of mainstream music worldwide.Of course, this chart was also embroiled in a credibility controversy around 2020, but it still held the most powerful influence.Among the Billboard charts, there were two main charts: the ‘Billboard Hot 100’, which ranks the most popular songs each week, and the ‘Billboard 200’, which ranks physical album sales and digital album downloads.Let’s take a closer look at the ‘Billboard Hot 100’.As mentioned before, the Billboard Hot 100 ranks the biggest hit songs of the week.What is the criteria for a ‘hit’?As times changed, the Billboard rankings could no longer be based solely on physical album sales or digital download counts. With the emergence of NuTube and music streaming, everyone could enjoy music without necessarily owning it.Thus, Billboard compiles digital song sales, physical album sales, streaming numbers, NuTube/audio views, and radio airplay.In fact, if someone knew these criteria, they wouldn’t even need to look at the Billboard charts to know the results. NuTube view counts and music streaming data were visible to anyone.Especially for the digital streaming and download metrics, one only needed to check the rankings on U.S. digital streaming platforms.A blogger very interested in Billboard recently observed some suspicious movements on Spotify.Two albums had climbed the charts exceptionally high in the UK, Anglo-American regions, and Europe.But they didn’t belong to any famous artists. The blogger had only seen those four alphabetical names in science magazines.There were no featured artists either.And they weren’t albums from major labels like Universal. The cover art looked too typical of an indie album – a personal album made by an artist not affiliated with any label or production company.Only the European distributor VEIL, reputable in that market, was handling distribution.While VEIL may not be that big of a player, the suspicion was unavoidable.He opened his blog and started typing on the keyboard.[WHO IS HALO?]#Halo held his head.In front of him was a music production program, and about half of the tracks for his third album, which he had planned to finish in January, were made.But for the next thirty minutes, he fiddled with it a bit before giving up.He knew he should work on it, but his hands weren’t cooperating.His excitement wasn’t from the Billboard or the charts. Rather, if that were the case, he would have listened to some good songs to set the mood.Well, he wasn’t at an age to get so hyped about the Billboard either.The reason his hands weren’t moving was,First, he didn’t like the session sounds that would be included on the third album.This was an issue that was bound to happen sooner or later. By choosing to use music production software instead of session musicians, no matter how well the digital sessions were done, they could never fully replicate live performances.However, this part could be resolved. The revenue distribution from NuTube and Watermelon had begun, so he could either find digital sessions he liked or hire actual session musicians.So this shouldn’t be a problem.Halo stomped his feet.He just wasn’t having fun anymore.Getting into the Billboard was great, sure.Even as the world changed, his songs were still being loved, so of course it was great.But on the other hand, since it felt so inevitable, it took the fun out of it. As he always said, he wanted to be evaluated for new songs, not ones he had already been evaluated for before.He had said he would finish up to his 13th album within 2 years, but now that he was trying, he couldn’t help but think ‘when will this end?’ It was a pointless thought.Especially as time passed and he left more footprints all over the world, this feeling intensified.A far future he had never experienced before.From the music that beautifully adorned this worldTo re-experiencing his barely remembered school daysAnd the genre of ‘rap’ music he was only aware of, family.And even…His hometown itself even felt foreign, like the image in a mirror while being unfamiliar, as if the him in the mirror would never make the same gesture.Perhaps he had enjoyed his travels too much.His head was filled with inspiration from all these experiences. Even if he tried to let some of them out, they were so greedy that they were not satisfied with just being let out.Even the melodies he would leave behind forever as practice pieces insisted on being shown to the world.So his hands wouldn’t move on the third album.Even though he knew he should hurry up so he could get to the fun stuff sooner.Should he upload another song to NuTube?As he was thinking that,An email arrived.It was from Veil.He had already received the daily report, so he didn’t expect anything else, but the email contained something unexpected.It said they would take legal action against speculative articles, so he should not worry and just focus on his work.“Articles?”Halo raised his eyebrows.His life had always been close to articles.In good ways and bad ways.So it wasn’t particularly new, but it was still puzzling.Since he had never caused any special controversy before, he was personally curious about what kind of article had been written. The email told him not to look into it, but he wasn’t the type to get hurt easily.It wasn’t difficult to find the article.As usual, on his NuTube channel where fights often broke out, someone had written the URL in the address bar.[WHO IS HALO?]Just from the title, it seemed like the kind of thing that happened daily in his comment section. However, as he scrolled down the article (original, blog post), he realized why Veil had said they would take legal action.While they didn’t directly accuse the artist HALO of ‘chart manipulation’, perhaps aware of legal implications, they did mention a suspicious rise in the charts.And right below, they mentioned recent manipulation issues. Anyone would be suspicious.“Well, it’s nothing.”He wondered if they had really guessed his identity correctly.But then again, even his most devoted listeners who listened to his music from the start of the day to the end couldn’t guess his identity at all, so how could they?Halo closed the article and went back to the comments.He lost interest, thinking Veil would handle it. He was about to close NuTube as well.Suddenly, a sub-comment caught Halo’s eye amid the chaos.He didn’t know why this particular sub-comment stood out amidst the confusion, but it did.Well, it could have stood out more because of the likes and dislikes.Like other sub-comments, its content was a viewer speculating about and praising Halo’s identity.However, what bothered Halo’s nerves more than that article was:└ He is also white 🙂In a way, it was a simple speculation,And it received ‘dislike’ terrorism because it was a racially discriminatory remark.Well, who knows if this person is a real racist. Given that his music still retains the vibe of old British pop, they may have just taken a guess based on probabilities – over 80% of residents in the UK are white.But it was still irritating, unavoidably.Halo’s lips curled upwards.“What if I’m not white? You won’t listen then?”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)!