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Instead, I wound my way through the concessions block and into the inner pitch. The venue was an enormous sports stadium that had been transformed over the past four days into an unrecognisable space. I’d already been to this specific stadium when I’d worked for ENT, but the production for that was vastly different when compared to this.

I emerged in the centre field, and gasped, pausing mid-step as I tried to take it all in. The main stage was set as far back on the field as possible, right against the rear grandstand, retaining as much seating as possible while maximising standing room. The entire back wall was made up of three enormous screens, currently blank. Extending from the main stage was a runway that ran up centre field, and cut the standing area almost in half, and at the end the runway split in two, almost like the point of an arrow. Above the field, supported by strategically placed struts and suspended between thick cables were screens, also blank, and I wondered what they would display.

I’d seen some rough mock-ups of the staging, but it hadn’t prepared me for the sheer scale of it. I knew that the staging had been deliberate; designed to maximise the interaction between GVibes and Vibers. The runway was longer than normal, and with the two prongs at the end, it meant so much more of the standing attendees would get to see them up close, as well as bringing the stage closer to those seated in the grandstands.

Just then, I spotted a familiar face, although it took my mind a moment to catch up. I headed over, and tapped him on the shoulder to bring his attention down and away from where his neck was craned up looking at one of the screens.

“What’s a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?” I grinned as he turned and startled.

“Kaiya?”

“Hey, Jackson, long time no see.”

“Kaiya, bloody hell, hello!” Jackson Bell laughed and brought me in for a hug before pulling back and staring at me from arms length.

“What are you doing in Seoul?” He looked me over as if if he let go I might disappear.

“I’m following the tour. I’m one of the print journalists doing the write-ups.”

“No way! Kaiya, that’s awesome! Look at you, all official and shit.” He laughed again, and I couldn’t help but join in. Hell, it felt good to see a friendly face. One I was allowed to be caught talking to, anyway.

Jackson and I had met in London when I’d first moved back and I’d gone to the show of a band I was doing a piece on. Jackson was the stage manager and I’d been so impressed with the set up that I’d done a separate article on him. It had only been a small write-up around the often invisible efforts that brought stages to life, but Jackson had liked to credit me as the reason he had suddenly been booked up for the rest of the year. We hadn’t seen each other since then, but we’d stayed in touch on social media, from time-to time.

“What are you doing here?” I tucked my hair behind my ear, looking him over, noting the little changes since I’d last seen him.

Jackson gestured extensively to the venue, and suddenly, feeling like an idiot, I burst out– “You’re working on the tour?”

He laughed again. “Lighting technician.”

“Jackson, that’s awesome!” I punched him lightly on the arm. “I’m so happy for you.”

It went without saying how big of a deal it was for anyone to be involved in a tour of this size. I guess I’d assumed most people here would be in-house for ENT.

“Look at us,” he mused, “moving up in the world. And to think, the first place we ran into each other was a grotty little venue with sticky floors.”

I laughed and nodded. “The stage was awesome though.”

He conceded with a modest shrug. “This is better. This is the dream.”

I agreed. This was the dream, and we’d both gotten lucky enough to be here.

“Hey,” he said in a conspiratorial tone that made me lean towards him, “you wanna see something cool?”

“Absolutely,” I said immediately, and he grinned before lifting a radio to his mouth.

“Light centre, stand-by to run Auriga sequence on my count, please.”

There was a pause before a crackly voice came through the radio. “Acknowledged. On your mark, Jack.”

“Watch this.” He winked at me. “Mark.”

For a few seconds nothing happened. Then, a single point of light blinked into existence on the centre main screen. Sharp, bright before fading just as quickly. I frowned, squinting at where it had been.

“That’s your big–”

Another flared to life, then another, fracturing the screen into fading star bursts that faded. One-by-one they spread across the three towering screens, each point appearing and fading in a slow but deliberate pattern, as if someone was sketching lights across the screens. Lines began to thread between them, thin at first, almost invisible, until more appeared, faster, connecting together until a pattern emerged.

My eyes widened. “Wait…”