The Road to Glory

Halo flipped to the last page of the notebook. What met him was the familiar staff paper he knew so well. The thick and thin notes floated on it.‘Maybe.’Halo thought.‘I was mistaken.’The sentimental melody and heartfelt lyrics looked everywhere like a ballad sung in Korea, a love song to a lover.He was told that Roh Haeil didn’t have a girlfriend.Jang Jinsoo could have been wrong, but if there was a girlfriend or similar relationship, there would have already been contact by now.The possibility of unrequited love also seemed low, because the lyrics Roh Haeil wrote did not give the impression of unrequited love.So Halo thought of a possibility he had never considered before.‘The owner of this song…’If the person Roh Haeil wanted to play this song for was not a girl he was interested in romantically, but…Halo read the music score for [Confession] from the beginning again.“I have something I want to say all night.”Halo read just the lyrics, omitting the melodies.[Listen to every moment as it flows.][It may seem strange, butI’m taking trembling steps to get closer to you.][If you don’t leave no matter what I say][So this night isn’t scary, greet me with the brightest smile][Then we’ll arrive at the moment we’ve been waiting for the most][This is a song only for you][An old confession kept under the night sky][I’ll sing it before this night ends, putting eternity in a message floated on the night sea][Just our story]It felt sad yet candid because of the lyrics. He had thought it was just the pure and innocent song of a middle schooler.But when he changed the subject, it sounded different.“Confession.”The title of this song was not just a proposal for a girl he liked.This was Roh Haeil finally trying to confess his heart to someone when up till now he hadn’t been able to choose anything.The subject was probably…‘His mother’.It wasn’t strange that Halo had been mistaken.After all, it was clearly a love song.The ‘you’ was intentionally hidden in the romantic melody.If someone didn’t know Roh Haeil, if they didn’t know the background of how this song was made, anyone could have been mistaken.Halo laughed hollowly.That he too had been fooled by this simple trick, just like any other ordinary person.“I sang it completely wrong.”And admitted it.That he had underestimated this kid.“Cheeky brat…”Halo cursed as he finally acknowledged the middle schooler who had tricked him.Roh Haeil was completely different from Halo. It doesn’t mean he was a coward or idiot. Roh Haeil was a completely different human from Halo, who would have walked a completely different path.If Halo chose rejection and resistance, Roh Haeil would have chosen dialogue and reconciliation.At least, if he was trying to play this song for her.Now Halo couldn’t even predict what kind of future Roh Haeil really would have had.But he understood what Roh Haeil wanted.Halo asked Roh Haeil.With this prepared,“Are you telling me to make an even better future for you?”Halo didn’t know if this kid’s choices would turn out well in the end. As he said before, it was a choice Halo had no experience with.However, since this kid wished it so much, he felt a sense of responsibility.Not adult responsibility or anything, just human decency. Something like that.Also, a small curiosity about whether something like this could really work.“Can’t lose my nerve here.”Halo stood up.#Park Seungah cleaned up the dishes. Then she ran the washing machine and emptied the trash can. She opened the windows wide and turned on the ventilation fan, then vacuumed the spacious living room, bedroom, and small room in order with a silent vacuum cleaner.Usually, she would finish housework here, but Park Seungah looked for more to do. She took out towels she hadn’t used in a while and wiped the windows, tidied up dusty books. She replaced old hangers she’d been putting off. She double-checked the already clean kitchen.She just couldn’t sit still.To shake off her complicated thoughts, if nothing else, she moved more diligently.Eventually, the time came when there was nothing left to do.She stood in the middle of the living room, then noticed her son’s room at the end of the living room. The door was tightly shut.Suddenly she wondered.Since when had that door been shut so tightly?She couldn’t remember. Of course. Roh Haeil, who studied past two in the morning, closed the door so no light escaped.Thinking it would help him study better, she left it alone, and the door had remained tightly shut until now. He was such a tidy kid, there was nothing to clean in his room anyway.She carefully approached Roh Haeil’s room. Then she slowly raised her hand to the doorknob. Click. The door wasn’t locked. As if waiting for her to come in anytime.Park Seungah entered Haeil’s room for the first time in a long while.“!”What met her was the state of the messy room. Not that clothes or trash were lying around. Just that crumpled papers were rolling around on the floor, and the AirPods she’d gifted him for his birthday long ago lay fallen next to them.The blanket was roughly rumpled.And dust floating in the room without ventilation.She looked over the chaotic room calmly.Strangely, she wasn’t angry. She just picked up the pillow and AirPods fallen on the floor and returned them to their places.Then she gathered up the paper balls rolling on the floor.As she tried to throw everything into the trash can, she saw what was written inside. Unfolding the crumpled paper, she found staves and notes scattered across it.Some papers had alphabets, while others had characters she couldn’t recognize.She, who always saw neat handwriting, never imagined her son would have such messy writing.She couldn’t bring herself to throw them away, so she neatly flattened them and placed them on the desk. Then, she plopped down onto her son’s bed.Before long she recalled the ‘video’ Chansoo’s mother had told her about. The video that had complicated her mind.A mother in the world doesn’t fail to recognize her child.No matter what state they’re in, how far away they are, she finds them like they’re on the same frequency.Park Seungah also found her son in the video.Chansoo’s mother passed it off as someone who looked similar, but to her, it was clearly her son.However, what felt unfamiliar at the same time:His expression, actions, and everything surrounding her son in that video were so unfamiliar to her.Yes, she didn’t know her son had this side to him.That he was surrounded by so many people, with such a happy expression, singing such a warm song, she didn’t know any of that.“Why, why didn’t you say anything?”Of course, she didn’t know.Roh Haeil hadn’t said a thing to her.Where he went, what he did, who he played with, and how, when he’d gotten so close with that friend named Junsu – he didn’t tell her any of it. 

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