HALO

ORIGIN STORY

Born on the breezy shores of Jeju Island but raised under the scorching Gold Coast sun in Australia, Haru was a quiet, highly observant kid who lived in two contrasting worlds: the bruising reality of concrete skateparks and the infinite, painless possibilities of early 2000s internet forums. An introverted dreamer, he spent his childhood building virtual treehouses and VRChat sanctuaries for his lonely online friends while icing his bruised knees from failed kickflips.

Late one night, he stumbled across an underground virtual concert—a chaotic mix of a holographic Vocaloid and a live EDM set. Watching thousands of avatars dance in a digital world free of real-world pain, it clicked. He didn't just want to build virtual sanctuaries behind a screen; he wanted to live inside them, step onto a stage, and physically invite millions to join him. Performance wasn't just singing; it was world-building.

Haru was quietly going viral on TikTok under the anonymous handle '@DeckTape_05'. He posted POV skate videos meticulously edited with vaporwave glitches, set to his own self-composed ambient electronic tracks. An A&R from Pixel Playground—a failing tech-startup-turned-agency—noticed the uncanny, fluid rhythm of his footwork and his flawless digital asset integration. They DM'd him with an offer to 'pioneer a new frontier of digital music,' prompting a 15-year-old Haru to pack his bags for Seoul.

THE STRUGGLE

At Pixel Playground, his bright, empathetic nature was systematically suffocated. Executives viewed art purely as a metric and forced him to wear a heavy LED helmet, stripping his name, face, and soft-spoken personality to mold him into an aggressive, faceless cyberpunk DJ. His INFP soul was crushed; his beloved code was weaponized to make him intimidating rather than comforting, leading to severe burnout and a deep hatred for his own creations.

The night before a major investor showcase, executives permanently wiped Haru's personal hard drive—destroying years of his carefully coded 'summer sanctuaries'—to ensure he stayed fully committed to his gritty cyberpunk persona. Sitting in the dark, staring at a 'File Not Found' error on his monitor, he broke down sobbing, realizing he was losing his humanity. He packed his custom Walkman, grabbed his heavily scuffed Tech Deck, and walked out into the freezing Seoul rain, convinced he would never make music again.

A month later, numb and ready to fly back to Australia, he logged into an old VRChat server he had built years ago. To his shock, it was filled with thousands of users leaving messages on virtual walls, thanking the anonymous creator for giving them a safe place to heal from their depression. Realizing his 'sunny' art actually saved lives, he wiped his tears, marched into his current agency's open auditions, and declared: 'I'm going to build a hyper-pop paradise, and I'll code the physics myself.'

DEBUT & GROWTH

Stepping into the blinding lights, the AR tech synced flawlessly. The moment the beat dropped, he hit his signature 'Hover-Glide', sliding backward across the stage effortlessly while unleashing a perfect 'Glitch-Vibrato'. The crowd gasped audibly. The digital chromatic aberration in his eyes flared under the stage lights. He looked less like an idol and more like an angel that had just clipped through reality.

Initially, the hyper-pop 'HALO' was an exhausting, heavy armor he wore to protect the fragile Baek Haru from the world's cynicism. Over time, fueled by fan letters, he realized they loved the quiet coder just as much as the digital fairy. He began slowly merging them—showing up to airports in baggy Y2K skate gear instead of full reflective stage outfits, and speaking in his normal, quiet Australian lilt during late-night broadcasts.

He is now the acknowledged 'Architect' of the group's lore and digital footprint. He balances his extreme idol schedule with live-coding the group's interactive VR fan-spaces. He has mastered his social battery—no longer crashing under tables out of exhaustion, but peacefully excusing himself to play with his Tech Deck in the corner when he needs a recharge.

MOMENTS