The Great Idol

Hugo felt that the AC/DC band was playing "Back in Black" in his own head, the powerful drums and sharp metallic sound were shaking his eardrums, and as if a heavy hammer directly pounded on his heart without any obstruction. The electric shock coursed through his body, making his muscles twitch violently and his heart shrank into a ball and his brain turned into a neurotic chaos because of the lack of oxygen.

If this had happened at the concert, it would have been a wonderful experience, but it was not so wonderful when it all exploded with force inside his fragile human skull. The oppressive feeling twirling in the depths of his soul made Hugo feel like he's about to split apart and his stomach churned with a burst of acid, seemingly wanting to get rid of its content.

There was a violent rush from his chest, all the air bubbles in his lungs were squeezed out at once, and so the surrounding darkness was instantly torn apart with countless bright spots swarming around him, the blinding light quickly took over Hugo's slightly open eyes. With a rumble, Hugo sharply sucked in a breath. His mouth was completely open as he breathed in fresh air in big gulps.

"Hugo! Damn you, wake up! I told you, don't ... f*ck! 'Be careful, be careful', I hammered it to you numbskull hundreds of times to not to let yourself go, but still ... Hugo!" A calm and anxious voice quickly said a series of words into Hugo's ears, but Hugo was not able to respond in the first place. He only felt his brain sluggishly process all the sensory input. Even the perception of the surrounding light has become incredibly slow, not to mention being able to respond to the sound cues of others.

Even if there was such a delay, with a "pop", a slap sound accompanied by a hot touch on the right cheek immediately awakened Hugo. The blurred vision finally cleared up as a face of a western man appeared in front of him. The pair of ice blue eyes made Hugo startled - who is this person, but giving him no time to react, something roughly pulled him up. With this, Hugo realized that he was actually lying on the ground before.

"Are you awake now? Or do you need cold water to get you back on your feet?" The man's nagging voice was like a machine gun crackling and firing in Hugo's ears, "But what about makeup ... forget it, there's no time, come on, let's walk out first." The man pulled a Hugo on the way out, and again, Hugo successfully processed another piece of information - this was a bathroom which he was forced to walk out of.

What the hell is going on here? Hugo clearly remembered that today his band Death or Glory was invited by the Midi Rock Awards to attend their event, which was not only the band's first big stage performance since it was founded ten years ago, but they were also nominated for the Best Rock Live Performance of the Year Award. The 6th annual Midi Rock Awards 2014 is also the 15th year of the Midi Music Festival, the most professional and authoritative rock stage in China, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Glory or Death, which have been playing underground rock for a decade, to win a nomination and get a chance to perform.

However, just before he was about to perform on stage, the blinding lights made Hugo dizzy, and he originally thought it was just low levels blood sugar acting up from not eating all day, but who knew that his head would suddenly be stung with an agonizing pain. The hot lights almost scorched him, and then he fell into darkness, as if the whole world had collapsed. His consciousness went through so much excitement.

Could it be that he had just fainted, causing the show to be late? This can never happen again, this was their dream opportunity, absolutely couldn't be missed! Hugo immediately came to his spirits as he followed the tall, sturdy man in front of him, though he still stumbled all the way towards the direction of the light.

Hugo completely forgot the dizziness he had experienced just now. Although his body was still a little heavy and his feet were also a little flighty, Hugo didn't care about these things at all. He just rushed forward and overtook the man who had pulled him forward.

The other man's steps slowed down instead. He was dumbfounded at Hugo's impatience, so he finally just stopped in place with his mouth open in an uncouth fashion, full of amazement and helplessness. Then he at last just started smiling at the absurdity of it all.

Hugo jumped a few steps forward. He was walking through the gorgeously decorated retro corridor, and it helped that the thick carpet on the ground absorbed the sound of heavy footsteps when he was running. Gold leaf wooden doors came to his view at the end of the corridor and so he subconsciously looked back at the man behind him, as if to ask, "Is the stage here?" and once he really turned back, he realized that the man was actually a dozen yards away from him. The already familiar stranger's head was hidden in a dome of light, so it was impossible to see through it clearly. Hugo vaguely felt that something was wrong, and not just a little bit, but because the situation at this moment was too overwhelming, he simply didn't have enough time and energy to sort things out.

Hugo hadn't yet thought about whether he should stop and ask about it, or continue to step forward. His body just took the lead in making the decision. His right shoulder hit directly on the carved door, and then his whole body bumbled into a bright halo of light, as if he had broken into the dream world of Alice in Wonderland, attracted by the full focus of the light and a strange scene in front of him.

"Let's welcome Hugo Lancaster!" The voice was accompanied by applause and whistles, coaxing the poor soul to usher in the golden light. It all came like a torrent, instantly making Hugo feel lost.

In front of him was a rich and elegant banquet hall. The spotlights mounted on all the important corners prevented Hugo from being able to clearly distinguish furniture, or even the people. He could only see the ubiquitous light coming from all the directions. Gold and red was the name of the game, so everything was covered with a layer of dreamy glittering halo. The shadowy crowd in front of him was clearly less than fifty people, but Hugo had the illusion that there was a sea of them instead.

A tall, blonde emcee signaled the need to move in the direction of the left-hand side. At this time Hugo had been too late to have any other ideas. Everything came too fast and with fanfare, he could only passively follow the emcee forward. As Hugo walked up to a small stage, he saw an old man standing in front of the lectern ten yards away, looking at him with a smile on his face. With this, Hugo's legs turned on auto-mode as they carried their owner towards that old man, whether Hugo even wanted it or not.

The old man stretched a trophy in his hand forward and Hugo couldn't help but stare up. Did he win an award? Did they win a prize as the band Glory or Dead? After ten years of existence, Glory or Death finally made a name for itself in the rock music world and won the Best Live Rock Performance Award at the Midi Rock Awards?

The trophy was handed over to him without any hindrance, which meant that Glory or Death had really won the award, and with this, the sudden realization made Hugo feel lost. He didn't even have time to carefully measure the shape of the trophy in his hand. Only the heavy weight of the trophy weighed on his mind, and barely contained tears finally broke through the dam and started to pour down.

He was feeling a flurry of emotions. He left home at the age of fifteen in pursuit of his dream of music and so he became a member of an underground band. Ten years had passed since the day he ran away from home and joined Glory or Death. He had gone through a lot of hardships and had been in the underground rock music scene for god knows how long, and had finally been recognized today.

Hugo had imagined countless times how he would react to the arrival of this moment, but the truth was that all his preconceptions were wrong, and so he cried like a teenage girl who was cheated out of her tears by a subpar romantic drama. He knew it wasn't not a good look, but he just couldn't control the tears, and so they flowed like a torrent.

But what about the band members? What about the other four members of their Glory or Death band? Why was he the only one standing on the stage?

Hugo's brain, which was almost clogged with cotton, could not function at all, and countless questions were left to be answered before he was pushed to the microphone by the old man presenting the award, and looking at the microphone under his nose, he could clearly feel the faint heat coming from the light projected on his skin, and could really feel the temperature transmitted by the eyes of all the audience on the stage, and his deafening heartbeat made it hard to make out sounds. He, at the microphone, simply couldn't effectively organize his own words.

"Thank ... thank ...," Hugo managed to find a hint of language from his blank brain, as he squeezed out air from his throat amidst whimpering sobs. "Really thank you so much, this, this award I have to share with the whole band. This, this is the result of our hard work that we put together, we've been fighting and working hard and finally making our dreams come true." When the first words were spoken, the words that followed were thrown out in a stream, but only halfway through the sentences, the eyes that hadn't completely dried up, were once again filled with tears.

Hugo paused, and after taking two deep breaths, finally gave up on saying anything further because the almost wretched sobs of pain and great joy made his brain simply stop working, and he could only use the most concise language to express the surge inside, "Thank you ... thank you! "

Hugo held the trophy tightly in his hands, as if embracing the most precious treasure in his life. He pressed it to his heart to feel the speed of his heartbeat, meanwhile he bathed in the spotlight with melancholy about him. The beauty of this moment, he wanted it to stay deep in his memory. Perhaps this was the most beautiful moment of his life so far.

At that moment, the host's voice came again in the stereo, "Let us once again congratulate with applause, the winner of the 12th Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst actor, Hugo Lancaster!"

What? Golden Raspberry Awards? Or even the 12th Worst Actor in a Leading Role in the early nineties? Not the Midi Rock Awards?

Hugo lowered his head to look at the trophy in his hands, looking at the golden raspberry trophy in his hands. His tears froze in a flash, not only tears, even his blood and brain froze. He actually got the worst actor award of Golden Raspberry Awards? This, what the hell is going on! Hugo suddenly found himself in a bloody mess.