Screams, sobs and tearful promises of forever resonated in the expansive arena as ZeroBaseOne bid an emotional farewell on Sunday, closing a defining era of its history.

The boy band’s finale of its “Here & Now” world tour, which ran for three nights from Friday at the KSPO Dome in southern Seoul, could have been a contender for most emotional K-pop concerts in recent memory. The final night’s show wrapped up not only a world tour that attracted about 150,000 concertgoers from last October, but also a chapter of ZeroBaseOne’s journey, as the nine-piece group, which has six million albums sold under its belt, will now continue as a quintet with four members departing the group at the height of its popularity.

The farewell was, of course, a long time coming. The act was formed as a project group consisting of the nine winners of the first season of Mnet’s audition program “Boys Planet” (2023), destined from the beginning to disband after its contracted promotion period.

After about two years and nine months promoting together, members Sung Han-bin, Kim Ji-woong, Seok Matthew, Kim Tae-rae and Park Gun-wook will remain as ZeroBaseOne, while the other four members — Zhang Hao, Ricky, Kim Gyu-vin and Han Yu-jin — have departed from the group, with the Sunday show marking their last official promotion together.

But knowing the farewell was coming apparently did not make things any easier for either the members or the fans, known as Zeroes.

The show opened with already-heightened emotions as the setlist kicked off with “Here I Am” (2023), the theme song of “Boys Planet,” followed by “Take My Hand” (2023) and “Crush” (2023), with the crowd shouting the fan chant at the top of their lungs.

The members tried to keep the mood light, exchanging smiles and high fives on stage while jokingly asking one another, “Has anyone started crying? No?"

“KSPO Dome feels like home for us,” said Seok, looking into the crowd filling the vast venue where the group launched its world tour in October last year. “Let’s make everlasting memories that will remain forever tonight!”

The first hour of the three-hour show was largely lighthearted, with the members appearing in mock advertisements and humorous parodies of famous films and TV series such as the dating show “EXchange” (2021-) in a prerecorded video played during the first interlude.

The fun, playful atmosphere continued through a series of unit performances: a cute, youthful rendition of “Out of Love” (2025) by Zhang, Kim Ji-woong and Kim Gyu-vin; a sleek and intense performance of “Step Back” (2025) by Han, Park and Ricky; and a charismatic stage of “Cruel” (2025) that opened with a blaring siren, by Kim Tae-rae, Sung and Seok.

The concert briefly shifted to a sexier mood with a remix of “Doctor! Doctor!” (2025), transforming the originally sweet R&B track into a sultry performance, followed by “Lovesick Game” (2025) and “Devil Game” (2025).

But with “Melting Point” (2023), the tone turned bright again as the members took turns walking the circle-shaped thrust stage, making eye contact with fans up close.

“We’ve never taken the huge love Zeroes show us for granted — and that feeling only grew stronger through this concert,” said Kim Tae-rae, before the group launched into “Lovepocalypse” and “Iconik” (2025).

And then came the most emotional part of the night.

After a brief interlude, the members returned to the stage to perform “Blue” (2025), their debut track “In Bloom” (2023) and “Not Alone” (2023), during which almost every member shed tears.

More than an hour of the concert was then devoted to farewells, with each member sharing heartfelt messages with Zeroes and with one another — teammates who had grown into a genuine family over time.

“I kept looking down while performing because I thought I would burst into tears if I looked at the members,” said Park in a trembling voice. “Now I regret that — I should’ve looked at them one last time.”

“I’m confident our bond is stronger than any relationship formed within an idol group,” he continued, his face streaked with tears as he tried to compose himself. “The members helped me become not only a better artist but a better person I aspire to be, and I’m really grateful for that.”

The group’s leader, Sung, also struggled to hold back his emotions, sharing that he had been unable to sleep the night before the final show.

In a letter he wrote for the members, Sung named all nine members, saying, “My members who became my family, I love you so much — even if we go on to separate journeys, I’ll always cheer for you, keeping you closest to my heart.”

At the moment of the farewell, however, promises of forever echoed through the arena as fans kept shouting, “ZeroBaseOne forever!” and “We love you forever!” while the members looked toward the journey ahead.

Zhang, who delivered his farewell message with relative calm, gazed at the sea of light sticks filling the venue.

“This is not the end of our story,” he said. “So I hope we can continue to write the story together.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]