Chapter 426: Mid-Autumn Festival Concert
September 29th marked the arrival of the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival as scheduled.
Across Korea, only DM Entertainment organized a Mid-Autumn Festival concert; other companies still faced the same old problems.
Those with the money to emulate them didn't want to spend it on organizing such an event.
Those who wanted to spend the money to emulate them didn't have enough funds, nor did they have groups attractive enough.
As a result, even now, only DM Entertainment is still organizing this event.
Even before the 7 PM start time, one thousand fans had already arrived eagerly.
A massive stage was set up in the DM Entertainment Plaza, with the fans' seating arranged directly in front, to the front-left, and to the front-right of the stage.
Seating for a thousand people still required careful planning; for the fans' viewing experience, stepped seating was adopted, with three sufficiently sturdy temporary seating areas built for fans to sit.
The cost of a single thousand-person seating area differs from that of three three-hundred-plus-person seating areas; the latter offers easier safety assurance, so it was designed as three seating areas.
At this moment, all one thousand spectators were seated in the three seating areas, and between the seating areas and the stage lay the most distinctive feature of every DM Entertainment Mid-Autumn Festival Gala: the “dining tables.”
Many DM Entertainment employees had already arrived and taken their seats at the “dining tables,” but some management personnel had not yet arrived.
“Huh? Why is Bae Joo-hyun sitting next to Li Duohui?” In the audience, a young fan, holding binoculars, looked at a round table directly in front of the stage and, upon seeing Bae Joo-hyun sitting next to Li Duohui, remarked.
“What? Which Bae Joo-hyun?”
“Definitely Red Velvet's; how many Bae Joo-hyuns are there?” Handing the binoculars to her friend, the friend quickly saw what he was talking about through the binoculars.
“Oh my! It really is her.”
The two's conversation attracted the attention of other audience members nearby; those with binoculars looked through them, while those without used their phone cameras to zoom in and see.
This phenomenon spread like wildfire, quickly noticed by all fans.
“Vice President… Bae Joo-hyun???”
With a large crowd, there's naturally no shortage of detail-oriented people.
The nameplate placed in front of Bae Joo-hyun naturally caught their eye.
“Vice President? And Bae Joo-hyun? Is it the Bae Joo-hyun I know?”
“It's her!”
“Who? Vice President? Are you kidding me?”
“I really didn't see wrong; it's right there!”
Jiang Shu had told the company not to issue an announcement, but he hadn't said to hide it, so Bae Joo-hyun's nameplate was still placed on the executive round table.
No matter how much of a mascot she was, she was still an executive.
And with it placed there, it was indeed spotted by fans. Consequently, the fans quite reasonably exploded into an uproar.
“What are they talking about? Such a big commotion.” Jin Zhiyu turned around curiously, looking towards the audience and asking.
“I don't know.” Zhang Guizhen also cast her gaze, but the distance was too far, and she had no idea what they were discussing.
“I somehow feel it's related to Bae Joo-hyun senior sitting over there.” Bae Jin-sol pointed to the executive round table not far away and said.
While the outside public didn't know that Bae Joo-hyun had become Vice President, all internal company members had been informed.
“Is that so?” Jin Zhiyu glanced at Bae Joo-hyun, “Can the audience see the nameplate?”
“They have binoculars.”
In Korea, bringing binoculars to concerts is a very common practice.
“That's true. Is the company not planning to hide it anymore?”
“It was never hidden, just not publicly announced.”
“What are you all chattering about?” Wu Haiyuan and Lily, who had returned from the restroom, sat down, and Wu Haiyuan asked curiously.
Bae Jin-sol told Wu Haiyuan what they were discussing.
Upon hearing this, Wu Haiyuan looked in Bae Joo-hyun's direction. Although she couldn't clearly see the nameplate in front of her, if someone was sitting in that position with a nameplate, it probably said Vice President.
“Has the Chairman not arrived yet?” Wu Haiyuan didn't dwell on this question and asked.
“No, I've rarely seen the Chairman recently; he's been keeping a low profile.” Bae Jin-sol shook her head and said.
“Xue Yun also hasn't played games with the Chairman recently, has she?” Wu Haiyuan asked, looking at Xue Yun.
“No.” Xue Yun shook her head, “I don't know what the Chairman has been doing recently; he hasn't logged on.”
If it were League of Legends, Jiang Shu would call Xue Yun; if he didn't call, it meant he hadn't logged on.
“That's truly strange then.” Wu Haiyuan muttered.
“The Chairman is here.” Zhang Guizhen suddenly said. Everyone looked up in the direction she pointed, and then saw Jiang Shu, Qin Zhen, Qu Fan, and others appear together.
With Jiang Shu taking his seat, the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala officially began.
Most fans didn't manage to get tickets, but this couldn't dampen their enthusiasm. They flocked outside DM Entertainment, watching the figures from afar.
Although they couldn't see clearly, the sound was transmitted distinctly.
Since DM Entertainment moved into Samsong-dong, this district, which was already a cluster of high-tech industries, has become lively.
Many employees from large companies who were working overtime didn't leave work but stayed on higher floors, watching the free concert from afar.
Many people were quite interested in this type of performance, which was called a Mid-Autumn Festival Concert but was essentially no different from a multi-artist concert.
Even if they weren't interested in the artists, they would join in the fun if they could. After all, it cost nothing to watch from afar, so why not take a look?
Last year, a large number of fans gathered outside the company at this time. DM Entertainment was unprepared then and chose to selectively ignore these people.
But this year is different. With last year's experience, to better cater to these fans who didn't win tickets but specifically came to boost the atmosphere, DM Entertainment specially hired a drone team to film all the fans outside the venue and display them on a large screen. At the same time, the performing artists also interacted with these people outside, truly maximizing the concept of sharing the joy.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival performance progressed, each group's appearance was broadcast through speakers, reaching a hundred-meter radius around, allowing fans inside and outside the venue to celebrate the day together.
And surprisingly, due to DM Entertainment's grand concert event for the Mid-Autumn Festival, many Koreans, who originally only 'borrowed' the Mid-Autumn Festival, began celebrating it with their idols.
Furthermore, due to the presence of the boss, Jiang Shu, DM Entertainment was exceptionally thorough in this regard. He didn't care if Korea 'borrowed' it or not; every year, at the end, he would declare it a Chinese traditional festival spreading overseas.
Regardless of anything else, DM Entertainment's artists' fans, whether actively or passively, accepted this statement.
It's useless if you don't accept it; as long as you watch, you have to listen.
At the end of the concert, DM Entertainment's cafeteria “mobilized all forces” to distribute mooncakes with the artists to all attending fans and company employees.
