The Miracle of Christmas

Dynamic Korea.

This slogan was a manifestation of South Korea's continuous historical development, mainly used to express its remarkable economic and cultural growth.

However, it wasn't just used for positive situations.

When discovering something shockingly unbelievable, people would often exclaim "Dynamic Korea" or "Dynamic Seoul."

Halo didn't know, but Line 1 was a prime example showcasing Dynamic Seoul.

As the oldest subway line, it would be nice if it was famous for its before and after, but unfortunately not.

Rather, Line 1 was known for encountering a diverse array of people and villains. So much so that there was a saying, "Only the strong can survive."

The Line 1 villains that periodically appeared when you least expected them.

Compared to the villains that had existed so far—Dark Lord, One Punch Man, Zarban the 84-year-old (자르반 84), and more—the middle-aged man with the melodica was a piece of cake.

Someone must have already reported him.

Soon a station employee would come, so there was no need to pay attention to this villain anymore.

However, when the middle-aged man blew the melodica, "Argh!" most people were startled and covered their ears.

They had expected music to come out, but instead, noise assaulted their ears.

It was surprising that one could make noise with the smooth and gentle melodica.

"What is this," someone frowned,

"Hey, let's move seats," someone else urgently changed seats to get away from the increasing noise. It was indeed Line 1.

"Hmm..."

Halo crossed his arms and watched the melodica performance intently.

Since busking didn't necessarily have to be done well, he wasn't disappointed.

It would be nice if it was good, but it was fine even if it wasn't.

Regardless of skill, the courage to try and connect with the audience alone was worth applauding.

Pfff- blowing air into it like a balloon, the shorts-wearing middle-aged man—Halo didn't know if he was really trying to connect with the audience or not.

The middle-aged man, immersed in his own music, gradually walked towards Halo. More precisely, he was approaching the center where Halo was sitting.

As the middle-aged man walked, a path opened up like the miracle of Moses.

There seemed to be an invisible barrier between the middle-aged man and the people.

In a way, it looked like a stage.

The distance between the stage and the audience seats was maintained until the end.

The noise grew louder and louder.

If nothing else, the middle-aged man couldn't be called middle-aged in terms of lung capacity.

If they had a lung capacity duel right now, Halo felt he might lose.

Although he had been exercising to build up his lung capacity lately, it couldn't match the middle-aged man's accumulated years.

Pffff pffft.

As the performance escalated, the noise became unbearable.

People must have been really curious, as the door to the next car briefly opened and closed.

'It sounds kind of familiar.'

While Halo didn't know many songs yet, something sounded vaguely familiar.

Straining his ears to figure out what kind of music it was, a name came to mind.

He couldn't be sure.

Still, if he ruled out the uneven breathing in this performance, then this song was—

'Could it be a carol?'

Thinking that, it did seem to sound like one.

It wasn't strange to sing carols.

Even though there were still ten days left, Christmas originally started a week before the actual day.

It wasn't that the middle-aged man was being preemptive, but rather the whole world would get excited about Christmas around this time.

Christmas vacation would start at schools, cities would prepare Christmas festivals, people would ponder over Christmas gifts, and a Christmas tree would be set up in the middle of the square around this time every year.

Originally, Halo's schedule would be packed with requests to sing carols along with his songs around this time too.

While carols could get tiresome, he liked Christmas itself.

Alcohol, parties, people.

Everything he liked was always prepared on this day.

He also liked the atmosphere of anticipation, as if something was about to happen.

Although nothing particularly special had happened until he turned thirty, as he had hoped.

Still, Christmas was the day he would let himself be deceived every year.

'Not a bad song choice.'

Just when he was getting bored, the middle-aged man's song choice wasn't bad.

Since everyone around Halo had moved away, only he was left near the man.

So Halo could observe the middle-aged man more closely, and vice versa.

Their eyes met.

"Breathe more gently."

If he eased up on his breathing, it might sound better.

The middle-aged man flinched upon hearing Halo's voice.

He tilted his head slightly, as if confirming that he had heard correctly.

Their eyes briefly met through the gap in his hat.

The middle-aged man's breathing weakened, albeit slightly.

"A bit more."

When Halo spoke again, the middle-aged man seemed to contemplate before truly easing up.

The noise lessened compared to before.

While there was still room for improvement, the music the middle-aged man was trying to convey came through sufficiently.

2/4 time signature, a lively melody.

It was indeed a carol.

Although Halo didn't know the melody itself, it was familiar because it was a carol.

"It's a carol, right?"

The briefly flustered middle-aged man gave a slight nod.

"Nice song."

It perfectly matched the Christmas spirit.

With just that, the carol had fulfilled its role.

Halo had only praised the song, but for some reason, the man's expression brightened.

As the noise lessened, people filled with curiosity and concern gradually returned and sat down.

There wasn't much time left until the next station.

Halo then recalled that the next station was his stop.

At the same time, he abruptly stood up.

The man's gaze followed him.

Perhaps his concentration was shaken, causing a squeak to emerge from the melodica.

Instead of heading for the door, Halo plopped down right in front of the man.

When the clumsy performance ended, Halo applauded.

"That was a good performance."

The man didn't say anything.

He seemed unable to believe he was being praised, merely opening and closing his mouth.

Halo surveyed his surroundings and quirked his lips upwards.

It felt somewhat disappointing to end the carol like this.

"I know a pretty good Carol too."

The subway's arrival announcement played.

There were probably about 30 seconds left.

The moment he realized people's eyes were on him, he got excited.

He couldn't miss this opportunity.

"Shall I play it for you in return?"

There were no objections.

A carol consisting solely of a repetitive melody.

While most people's carols are made up of simple chords, the carol Halo knew was the most popular one that even elementary school students could play.

Halo pressed the keys in front of him, and the middle-aged man unconsciously blew air into the melodica.

The music came together.

Clumsy yet perfect harmony.

On the rapidly passing subway.

When the repetitive melody completed the carol, Halo opened his mouth.

#

"Did you see Soyou that just came out?"

"Of course."

The sudden noise came when she was talking to her friend about the popular entertainment show 'Show Your Show.'

Pffft! The sound of boiling the train's cars made the girl jump in fright, her shoulders shuddering. Her friend reacted the same way. Her friend, who had been obsessed with Gillaon and was trying to recruit her, bit her own tongue.

"What is that?"

And the source of the noise was a middle-aged man wearing shorts and slippers in the middle of winter. He was furiously blowing a melodica, as if trying to burst everyone's eardrums in this car.

"Wow, crazy. Who says Line 1 isn't like that."

"Is it always like this here?"

"It's my first time seeing a melodica villain, but there are a lot of weird people."

Her friend scoffed, and the girl unconsciously agreed.

Last time, someone was doing inverted push-ups on the handrail(?), and this time, the villain was a melodica terrorist. She wondered where these villains that one rarely encountered in life emerged from.

In this tiny Korea.

The noise intensified.

So much so that people frowned and moved away from their seats.

On the already cramped Line 1.

Fortunately, there were fewer people than usual.

"I reported it. The station staff will be coming. There are so many weird people in this world."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Don't keep staring. What if he starts trouble."

The girl couldn't help but sneak glances at the middle-aged man out of curiosity.

The middle-aged man looked immersed in his own music.

Her friend expressed concern towards the girl.

"But he doesn't seem like he'll go that far."

Apart from the eardrum terrorism, he seemed harmless.

The eardrum terrorism was quite intense, though.

"How can that person stand it?"

One by one, people moved away.

Some moved to empty seats far from the middle-aged man, while others even changed cars.

As if the middle-aged man had a larger personal space than others, the nearby seats were completely vacated.

Except for one seat.

A boy wearing a cap was still sitting right in the center, closest to the middle-aged man.

At a glance, it didn't seem like he was wearing earphones or engrossed in his phone either.

He had his arms crossed, seeming to appreciate the noise.

He was an impressive kid. With that kind of patience, he could probably get into a top university if he studied.

Even the middle-aged man immersed in his own music seemed surprised, constantly glancing at the boy.

It must have been the first time someone had listened to him like this.

But the pity was short-lived.

The noise made it impossible to maintain sympathy.

Unable to endure it any longer, the girl searched for her earphones.

Just as she was about to turn up her music to drown out the noise—

"Huh?"

The noise lessened.

It wasn't because of any noise-filtering function on her earphones.

The noise had genuinely decreased.

"Is it over now?"

The girl changed her mind and put away her earphones.

If the middle-aged man was ending his performance, there was no need to blast music.

'This sounds kind of familiar.'

Suddenly, the girl focused her ears on what had been noise.

After appreciating it for 5 seconds, a lightning bolt struck her mind.

'Jingle Bells?! But was he really playing Jingle Bells this whole time?'

That?

That noise was Jingle Bells?

It was a culture shock in another sense. She had never disliked carols to this extent. Rather, she had liked them.

'He should have played it like this from the start.'

At the same time the middle-aged man seemed to regain his senses, the Jingle Bells performance ended.

Due to the noise, she hadn't properly heard much of the melody.

The girl couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment.

The carol she had heard after so long still had that corner that made people's hearts flutter, as always.

Coincidentally, the announcement for the next station played as well.

[The next station is Yongsan Station. For those getting off, please head towards—]

That's when the sound came again.

The girl let out an inward sigh and turned her head.

Just as raids had a second phase, she thought villains did too.

But it wasn't a second phase, it was a new villain.

The boy who had been quietly listening to the middle-aged man's performance was now sitting in front of him, plunking away at the keys. Like some others, the girl watched the boy's actions. Half out of curiosity, half out of caution.

"What kind of villain is that now?"

Her friend looked up, clicked his tongue, and buried his head in his phone again.

"The end of the world, really."

Just as she was about to laugh at his tone.

Tap tap.

A rhythmic beat.

The repetitive accompaniment caught her ear.

"Another carol?"

Although unfamiliar, the familiar atmosphere pricked her ears.

Her friend, who had been immersed in his phone, was about to click his tongue again when, like a scene from a movie, he slowly raised his head.

Expecting noise, what reached her ears was not noise.

A smooth melodica tone, as if played on a different instrument altogether.

And the boy's voice enveloping it captivated her ears.

Complicated thoughts drifted away.

All that remained was the excitement of the soon-arriving Christmas.

The warmth of a Christmas that someone had been waiting for.

The hellish, smelly, cramped Line 1 train had become a train headed for Christmas.

Someone once said,

The reason people love music is

Because it makes ordinary, mundane moments special.

She didn't know why that came to mind.

The song faded away.

For the first time, the girl looked at the middle-aged man's face.

She wondered if her expression was the same as his right now.

Unconsciously, the girl raised her hand and touched her own face.

When the boy completely took his hands off the melodica, she exhaled the breath she had been holding.

She wanted to approach the boy and tell him it was wonderful.

However, the boy stood up first.

The boy took off his hat and bowed back and forth like a maestro.

Through the gap, she glimpsed an impish expression.

Like Santa Claus' beard, his silver hair spilled out from under the cap, shimmering brilliantly.

He certainly had an ordinary appearance.

But the eyes revealed between the silver hair, his features, and the aura this boy exuded, grew thicker.

His broadly upturned lips pierced the girl's pupils.

More special than any star on TV.

More special than anyone living in that glamorous world, in her immediate view right now.

"Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!"

Before anyone could stop him after his greeting, the boy instantly dashed out of the train.

"Oh..."

He was clearly just another common Line 1 villain.

But to the girl, it felt like she had experienced a midsummer night's dream.

No, it was as if the special Christmas miracle someone had wished for had disappeared of its own accord before she could grasp it.

"Hey...aren't you getting off?"

"Oh...right, I should."

The girl rose from her seat with a dazed expression.

And her friend was in the same dazed state.

#

"Huff, huff."

Halo let out ragged breaths.

He glanced back, but no one seemed to be following him.

Did he cause a commotion? The thought brought a smile to his face.

Indeed, staying still didn't suit his temperament.

If his manager had seen him, he might have grabbed him by the collar, but Halo enjoyed the attention.

What can I do, this is who I am.

His heart pounded with excitement.

Like a fish freshly pulled from the sea.

Halo pressed his chest. He was out of breath from running at full speed to the restaurant.

"Oh my, what happened?"

His mother was startled to see Halo panting.

"No, I just ran because I was hungry."

"The food's not going to run away. Wait a minute...! Haeil, your hair?"

His mother was surprised to see the silver hair peeking out from under his cap.

Halo playfully grinned and took off his cap to show her.

The silver hair spilled out.

It had been a whim.

Instead of coloring, he had chosen to bleach his hair.

While the model in the coloring book had been a woman, the exotic-looking woman reminded him of someone from the past.

The best-looking guy he had seen since birth.

That person had also bleached his hair like this silver color originally.

To match the image for the album he would be releasing next.

"Your father might faint when he sees this."

It was the mother, not the father, who looked like she might faint at the sight of his freshly bleached white hair.

"...It seems to suit you."

With his shortened bangs, all his features were exposed.

His expression looked cleaner and fresher than before, and his eyes, which resembled hers, were revealed.

Perhaps it was because of the silver hair color.

Her son, grinning brightly, felt somewhat unfamiliar to her.

Simultaneously, he looked mysterious and outstanding.

"I heard bleaching makes it hard to maintain though."

"Then I'll have to take good care of it from now on."

Halo took his mother's hand.

Feeling the warmth, his mother held his hand back.

"Yes, let's go inside."