When he opened the door, Halo froze in confusion.

"Haeil? You're early."

No Haeil's mother Park Seungah also seemed surprised. It was clearly still before sunset. She didn't expect him to come home this early.

Halo also nodded slightly to the mother waving her hand awkwardly in greeting.

Then he raised his head and doubted his eyes.

No Haeil's mother, who was always neat and elegant, wasn't as put together today.

Especially her eye makeup seemed smudged, with black smears around her eyes.

"Not hungry?"

"Yes."

A conversation cut off unintentionally.

The guitar on his shoulder felt as heavy as a tree.

"Oh, really? Then that's fortunate. I hadn't eaten yet because I couldn't cook anything."

On this particular day, did No Haeil's mother feel strange because his attitude toward her had changed?

Halo tried to speak again, but the atmosphere became awkward once more.

"The thing I wanted to say-"

"The thing Mom wants to say-"

Two voices spoke simultaneously.

The living room fell silent as both tried to speak at the same time.

The two who were yielding for the other to speak first were clearly uneasy.

"Haeil."

It was No Haeil's mom who broke the silence.

"Your teacher called."

"..."

"To tell me about your grades on the final exams."

"!"

Report card day was Wednesday.

Bad news had come when he was in a situation he had to resolve.

He didn't know teachers notified parents in advance.

"He said there seems to be some mistake with your math test. All the answers were filled out as 3, he said. He asked me to confirm if that was really your work."

Was that what you did? To the returning question, Halo nodded.

"Yes, that was me."

"...Why did you do that?"

Park Seungah closed her mouth at Halo's answer.

Would she get angry? Her attitude of caring about grades came to mind.

"Why couldn't you solve it?"

But her voice was still monotonic for now.

Halo had been about to say he just didn't know how to solve them. It would seem strange for model student No Haeil to say he didn't know.

No Haeil didn't answer.

Seeing his wilted crown, Park Seungah smiled faintly.

"Haeil, I have something to say to you."

Halo lifted his head abruptly.

It wasn't a good situation.

If left alone, a conflict would surely deepen.

"Wait a minute."

Halo cut Park Seungah off.

"I have something I want to say first."

He thought it couldn't be delayed any further.

"Please listen first. So-"

He looked around.

A fitting place to sit.

There was nowhere particularly suitable.

"Sit over there."

What he vaguely pointed to was the long sofa in the living room.

Following Halo's gesture, Park Seungah surprisingly nodded obediently.

"Alright."

#

He took out an acoustic guitar.

In truth, this acoustic didn't seem to be anything too fancy. The finish and sound were unsatisfactory, clearly an amateur's guitar.

So with this, perfect playing was surely impossible. But maybe perfect playing wasn't necessary. No Haeil had surely played this for her.

Now Halo understood No Haeil's intentions completely.

If he made another mistake here, he wasn't Halo.

Halo engraves deeply in his mind that this song wasn't for a lover, but for No Haeil’s mother, whom she wanted him to go down a safer path.

Of course, the intention being different meant the sound had to be different.

Halo plucked the strings, and soon No Haeil opened his mouth before the person he loved most.

He hoped No Haeil's sincerity was conveyed to his mother.

#

Park Seungah suppressed her welling emotions.

But her eyes were already tearing up.

Contrary to Halo's misunderstanding, she didn't feel much anger towards her son.

Of course, she had been shocked when she was told about his grades, but today of all days, she didn't want to get angry at her son. Maybe in a few days, she'd hate her son.

But not today.

Her chest felt stuffy.

She had already heard this melody before.

The NuTube video No Haeil secretly uploaded.

While the countless people who saw that video called it romantic, she realized who this song was for.

The protagonist of that video was singing for her again now.

Not on video, but right before her eyes.

With a warmer, prettier song than the video.

When the second verse finished, No Haeil set down his guitar.

It was so adorable how he waited for her reaction.

Without realizing it, Park Seungah approached her son, and like the lyrics her son wrote, embraced her son with a warm smile.

She couldn't help crying at the song saying that even if he went down a different path from studying, he still loved her, so don't hate him.

"Do what you want."

She said, suppressing her emotions.

"You can do everything you want."

Her stiff son twitched his head.

She hadn't realized it properly before.

That Haeil had a separate talent.

At least she couldn't oppose it when he sang so happily and was loved by so many people.

Even if she regretted it someday, when he made such warm, pretty songs for her, how could she discourage him?

After seeing the NuTube video she had wanted to shout to everyone immediately. How much had she endured looking at the praising comments?

This is my son. Everyone listen to how pretty my son is, how well he sings.

"Mom's on your side."

#

'This is strange.'

Halo now found himself sitting at the dining table eating rice. When had he moved seats? When had he started eating?

And why was No Haeil's mother looking at him affectionately, putting side dishes on his spoon?

More than that, Halo hadn't expected it would actually work so well.

When Park Seungah approached after hearing the song, thinking she would hit him, Halo was taken aback by the warm embrace.

And he heard a line.

'Do what you want.'

It was the line No Haeil had wished for.

'Why is this so easy?'

The song was just to set the mood.

Still, he thought he should stimulate her maternal instinct first since she was No Haeil's mother, then persuade her.

For example, a hopeful vision for the future, a life plan, determination, that kind of thing adults would like.

But despite those preparations, early permission was granted. Halo found it unbelievable.

'Could I have gotten permission if I just sang a song too?'

He didn't actually think so.

In the first place, the atmosphere hadn't allowed for singing, and the songs he sang weren't this kind of blues either.

If he had shouted in front of his devout father, he probably would have been grabbed by the neck and knocked down.

'Is it just because they're different people from my parents?'

No Haeil's parents weren't Halo's actual parents after all.

Halo looked at Park Seungah, then put the spoon in his mouth. The pan-fried ham was salty and delicious. The sprinkled ketchup enhanced the flavor, and above all, went well with the rice.

'Anyway, success.'

Things went as No Haeil wished. Though it ended more smoothly than he'd thought, leaving him unsatisfied, he got the answer he wanted, so it was a success.

He hadn't even met No Haeil's father yet, but it felt like a heavy rock had been removed from the corner of his mind.

'Is this okay?'

Halo asked No Haeil, who was somewhere out there.

Though there was no answer, he seemed satisfied.

At least if he saw his mother sitting across from him now.

Had this house ever felt so comfortable?

Just until this morning, it had felt uncomfortable like someone else's house.

"Tastes good? Should mom cook more spam for you?"

"Yes."

He didn't refuse. Because it was the tastiest sausage he'd eaten. Park Seungah smoothly stood up and headed to the gas range.

"Oh, right. Bring that friend of yours home sometime."

"Friend?"

"The new friend you made, I mean that Junsu. That nice friend you brought last time."

"Ah, Jang Jinsoo? Yes, I'll bring him."

"You've been going around together with that friend all this time, right?"

"Yes."

The affectionate conversation continued.

Halo supported his chin, looking at Park Seungah's back.

This was the ending No Haeil wanted. Though he was just a third party here, it felt strange.

#

Meanwhile, at ENS Broadcasting Station in Mapo-gu, Seoul.

Groans and screams flowed out of the conference room with a [Show Your Show S.3] plaque.

Employees passing by with coffee flinched in surprise and gave it a wide berth. People who knew the situation sent pitying looks as they passed.

Inside the conference room.

The PD to the most junior writer twisted as if about to die, glaring at their laptops.

Someone set down a paper cup. The coffee that was once considered a luxury at specialty cafes was poison to them now.

"Ugh..."

Eyes bloodshot from the light of the monitors alone, this place full of zombie-like people was a hell on earth.

"It's almost lunchtime, isn't anyone going to eat?"

"What lunch, the broadcast date got moved up so we have to get the 1st round results back..."

The old PD spoke irritably. They had to finish the 1st screening that had a bit more leeway - though not really - in 3 weeks, so it was inevitable they'd be angry. If the program originally scheduled for this time hadn't been canceled because of drunk driving by the cast, they wouldn't have had to scramble like this.

"Oh geez, you still have to eat and live. Come on, let's eat lunch then get back to it."

At this rate if someone got hospitalized, it would be such a loss. To get diagnosed with malnutrition in the 21st century, in South Korea, the 10th largest GDP, not Africa!

"Hyeongjin, go buy Egg Drop."

"Can we get something else?"

"What, want cup ramen?"

"I'll be right back."

The old PD then opened the window and aired out the room.

"So, any decent kids?"

"The usual. Auditions are always an hourglass shape."

"That's true."

The really good ones were incredibly good, and the bad ones were so bad it made you wonder how they could be so bad. As always, audition and survival show applicants were split between extremes.

"Oh, that reminds me, did you see that viral normal person on NuTube?"

"NuTube? Suddenly?"

"I took a quick break and the algorithm showed it to me."

"If Writer Kim is bringing it up, they must be pretty good? Did they apply for our show by any chance?"

"If he applied, we would have done a home visit already."

"What? That good? But a home visit means... they're a minor?"

At his gesture to show him, Writer Kim pulled up NuTube. It was still in his recent history on the top.

"He’s seriously amazing. He would have suited our show well. How can we get in contact?"

Writer Kim sincerely regretted it. Such a pretty picture. They really could have pulled it off well. Why didn't they audition?

The PD reacted blankly to the video Writer Kim showed. However well you do. It was just an ordinary person singing well as far as he could tell.

"What is this, a medley? You can't call this 'singing well'..."

But the PD didn't continue after 10 seconds passed, then 20 seconds. The greed flashed through his eyes. The writer smiled like he had expected this reaction.

"...He really didn't audition?"

"Yes, I already checked just in case."

Although he didn't have outstanding looks, he had star quality. You could see it just by looking at people's expressions.

"Did he appear on another program?"

"I contacted them, but there's no show featuring regular people on auditions that are about to air."

"Are you sure he's a regular person? Isn't he under some agency?"

"I don't know about that."

There were already trainees on the verge of debut.

If he had been with an agency, information would have spread more.

The agency wouldn't have missed this kind of marketing opportunity.

"Why did you show me something like this? It just dampens my spirits."

"I didn't want to regret it alone."

"Writer Kim, what did I do wrong?"

"Heh."

First of all, bringing her to Soyou was wrong. Writer Kim sneered and flipped through the folders. What caught his eye among the folders split into the pass and fail was the pending folder.

This was where they put iffy applicants.

Ones without passing ability, but too good to simply reject.

"PD-nim, there's one I kept agonizing over so could you please take a look?"

Especially eye-catching was a truly ordinary kid. Realistically speaking, lacking in star quality, richness, skill, or outstanding talent to the point it would be hard for them to pass.

But the reason it was hard to fail them -

"They're failing though?"

The old PD who immediately judged asked what he was supposed to get out of listening to this. After only hearing the unaccompanied rap, the PD tilted his head at the rapping that seemed plain without anything outstanding.

But Writer Kim paid him no mind and immediately clicked the video next to it. With MR this time.

'I'm not expecting anything at all.'

The nervous young face didn't have a hint of star quality, charm, richness, or skill.

"Oh?"

But then he heard the beat.

The old PD closed his mouth like before.

He nods, not bad.

The rap that had felt bland comes alive.

It's a well-made beat.

And then

"!"

The hook that followed.

"Huh?"

He's crazy.

He shouts that this is his charm.

The unexpected reversal makes the old PD's eyes widen.

"This... the songwriting is definitely his own?"

"Yes, confirmed."

His mind changed.

With this level of compositional sense, the regrettable skill wasn't an issue. Vocals and rapping were problems that could be fixed with training. This kid who seemed so ordinary at first was worth recruiting with just this compositional sense alone. A young middle school genius at that. Thoughts of source material about a young prodigy flashed through his mind.

"This'll work."

"Then I'll pass him."

Writer Kim calmly nodded. A video that had been in the pending folder went into the 'pass' folder. They would contact everyone together soon.

That the 2nd audition announcement would come with notice of the first filming starting in 2 weeks.

Two days later, Jang Jinsoo who received the contact shouted in delight. Watching Jang Jinsoo, who got lower grades than No Haeil who filled out every answer as 3, jump around, the homeroom teacher was at a loss for words.