Chapter 359: The Best Beginning
On May 30th, the IZ*ONE “The Best Beginning” concert officially commenced at 7 PM that day at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.
The evening breeze of May carried a light, warm current, but at this moment, the Seoul Olympic Stadium was a restless ocean.
Both the inner field and the stands were filled with a vast, overflowing crowd, and all 60,000 seats were packed as if compressed by an invisible giant rock, vast and without a single gap.
Looking around, everywhere was an endless tide of people, a sea of humanity.
The light sticks brought by the audience converged into points of starlight in the gradually darkening venue, and these points of starlight gathered together like a surging river of stars pouring forth.
Inside the venue, the stars shone brightly, and outside, it was like another galaxy.
Outside the stadium, it had transformed into a riverbed where sound and color surged.
Several subway exits leading to the Olympic Stadium converged like incoming rivers, with people continuously pouring out and joining the already crowded sea of people.
Outside the entrance barriers, countless fans who couldn't get in were piled up layer upon layer, their phone lights, homemade light boards, and portable small lights clutched in their hands, just waiting for the sky to darken completely before they could turn on these lights, emitting a radiance that would echo the lights inside the venue.
These fans stretched for hundreds of meters from the very front of the barriers, with countless figures either sitting on the ground or craning their necks to look forward, and some ingenious fans, like geckos, climbed onto nearby viewing trees to get a better view.
Looking at the Seoul Olympic Stadium from a distance, on the surrounding buildings of the Olympic Stadium, the giant illuminated letters “IZ*ONE” pieced together shone brightly, like never-extinguishing lighthouses, attracting the gaze of people nearby and even further away.
Inside the stadium, C4 section stands.
Jin Zhongting sat in his seat, listening to the conversation of two female fans beside him, and whenever they recognized an artist, Jin Zhongting would quickly raise his camera and snap away.
Reporters couldn't get complimentary tickets, not even reporters from Dispatch.
But!
He was different.
And so, Jin Zhongting appeared here.
“Here they come again! Here they come again!” The voice of the female fan beside him made Jin Zhongting reflexively raise his camera. This time, before they could speak, Jin Zhongting recognized the person himself.
“It’s Bae Joo-hyun and Kim Ye-rim from Red Velvet!”
Click, click, click.
“Is that IU over there?”
Click, click, click.
“Mo? Is IU with Seulgi?”
Click, click, click.
“Why isn’t Seulgi with Bae Joo-hyun and them?”
“Maybe they didn’t get consecutive seats?”
“Then let’s switch seats.”
“Oh my! aespa is here!”
“Ah ah ah ah! Karina!!!”
As soon as Liu Zhimin appeared, the entire C4 section instantly boiled over.
Jin Zhongting also stopped photographing others and quickly turned his lens to Liu Zhimin and the other three who came with her.
The top-tier popularity of the K-pop twin stars was fully evident at this moment.
“Who is behind Winter?”
“NMIXX, don’t you know NMIXX from JYP?”
“I don’t like artists from JYP.”
“NMIXX is a collaboration between DM Entertainment and JYP.”
Jin Zhongting took dozens of photos of Liu Zhimin until she sat down before reluctantly moving his camera and turning to the members of NMIXX.
“Xue Yun is also quite pretty, I’ll take two shots,” Jin Zhongting muttered, aiming at Xue Yun beside Wu Haiyuan and starting to shoot.
“What the f***?! Jiang Shu?” A Chinese expletive suddenly rang out from behind him.
Jin Zhongting didn't understand Chinese, but he understood words like “what the f***”, especially the latter half, Jiang Shu.
The Korean pronunciation of Jiang Shu was exactly the same as in Chinese, so…
Jin Zhongting’s eyes lit up, looking towards the entrance of the C4 section.
Then, a figure came into view, and then the audience around the C4 section and the audience in the C4 section saw a spectacular scene.
Most of the well-known artists stood up in unison, and their synchronized movements and steps created a resonance that even attracted the attention of audiences in other areas who hadn't noticed before.
Many spectators who didn't understand what was happening but felt it was impressive looked at these artists standing up in unison and curiously asked those around them. After getting the answer, they also showed expressions of sudden realization.
“Chairman!”
“Chairman Jiang!”
“Chairman Jiang!”
“Director Jiang!”
After Jiang Shu arrived, a continuous stream of greetings immediately sounded, from people in K-pop, celebrities from domestic entertainment, and even famous people from other industries.
Everyone showed their respect for Chairman Jiang, the helmsman of DM Entertainment, a giant in the K-pop industry.
“Everyone, please sit,” Jiang Shu said to the people behind him after arriving at his seat—the middle of the first row in C4 section.
He then sat down, and as soon as he took his seat, everyone who had stood up sat down again.
“Chairman,” beside Jiang Shu sat Bae Joo-hyun and an audience member.
After taking photos and signing autographs for the audience member next to him, Jiang Shu turned his head to look at Bae Joo-hyun and Kim Ye-rim who were conversing.
“Why aren’t all five of you sitting together?”
“Seulgi and them bought their own tickets, and only found out there were complimentary tickets after they bought them,” Bae Joo-hyun said helplessly.
Jiang Shu: “…”
That’s a bit crazy.
He thought there was some inside story.
Suddenly, all the lights in the venue instantly extinguished. In that instant, countless expectations solidified into a massive silence.
Then, a beam of light, like a sky-falling waterfall, violently pierced through this heavy darkness, illuminating the venue plunged into darkness.
Almost simultaneously, all sound equipment exploded with a roaring impact!
The surging sound waves struck like substantial heavy hammers, overwhelming everything, and the sound waves, carrying the air, brushed past eardrums, even causing the heavy ground beneath their feet to tremble with the rhythm of the music.
The stage before them had transformed into a furnace, with neon lights and shadows pouring out, and streaks of follow spots tore through the darkness, clearly outlining the silhouettes of the twelve girls.
On the large screen, one figure after another also appeared at this moment.
Upon seeing the IZ*ONE members appear, the inner field and the stands erupted like a volcano, and a monstrous wave of sound instantly surged into the sky, reverberating throughout the entire venue.
At this moment, the voices of 60,000 people converged into the same noun, and the resonance of the sound waves swept through like deep-sea tides, each voice transforming into a drum, and everyone integrating into this grand rhythm.
At the same time, more audience members outside also heard the concert's opening. At this moment, the starlight inside and outside the venue achieved unity, connecting through.
As the shouts from inside the venue came out, the noise outside gradually dissipated, replaced by a more unified sound of “IZ*ONE.”
When Wiz*One and IZ*ONE converged, fans and idols also crossed the boundaries of space at this moment, coming together.
IZ*ONE “The Best Beginning” concert, grand opening!