Chapter 1616 The Status of an Idol

Many people believe that exaggerating the power of money is a mistake.

After all, ideals and the future, poetry and distant places—these are what they consider most noble.

But the problem is, these same people still heap praise on Sicong on Weibo and in their朋友圈, wishing they could really be friends with him, or even take his place.

The reason is simple: they know very well that Sicong is called the 'National Husband' not because of his temper as the entertainment industry's disciplinary committee, but because he has a rich father.

Without the halo of being the richest man's son, what would he be?

At most, he'd just be an online troll and keyboard warrior.

This is a fact that no one can deny.

Even in China it's like this, let alone in capitalist South Korea. So whether it's Kang Dong-won or Song Kang-ho, it's only natural for them to bow to Zhao Fusheng.

Soon, Kang Dong-won led Zhao Fusheng and the others to the arranged seats.

“Sir, please have a seat.”

Kang Dong-won said respectfully to Zhao Fusheng.

“Sorry for the trouble.”

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: “Let's have a meal together sometime.”

“Okay.”

Kang Dong-won quickly nodded, said nothing more, turned and left directly.

“He's quite handsome.”

Park Sun-young muttered beside Zhao Fusheng, a rare comment from her.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: “You know him?”

“I really liked him in college,” Park Sun-young explained with a smile. “Back then, I thought he was extremely handsome.”

Having spent these few days with Zhao Fusheng, she had grown accustomed to her boss's habit of chatting idly, and she realized that he was by no means a rigid person, so she felt much more relaxed.

“Women all like handsome men.”

Zhao Fusheng nodded and said to Park Sun-young with a smile, "My wife is the same—when she sees handsome guys on TV, she gets incredibly excited."

"Really?"

Park Sun-young looked surprised; she remembered that Zhao Fusheng's wife was also an actress, so how could she be like this?

"Of course. Who told you that actresses can't be fans?" Zhao Fusheng shook his head in exasperation. "My wife's close friends also really like handsome idols and actors."

Park Sun-young covered her mouth and laughed; she really hadn't expected something like this to happen.

Hu Donghai and the others, however, were not so relaxed. As bodyguards, they had to remain highly vigilant at this time; otherwise, if something went wrong, it would be really troublesome.

"By the way, what's the schedule for the first day of this kind of film festival?"

This was Zhao Fusheng's first time attending a foreign film festival, and he was full of curiosity, wondering how they arranged things.

"Nothing much, mainly speeches by the heads of various departments, plus cultural performances and such, and also the actors participating in the film festival."

Park Sun-young explained in a low voice, "I asked Mr. Song Kang-ho about it earlier."

Zhao Fusheng nodded. "I see."

"It's starting!"

As the host walked out, Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

Although he couldn't understand a word of the host's announcements on stage, seeing the happy expressions of the people around him, he was somewhat infected by the atmosphere.

Scanning the venue, Zhao Fusheng actually spotted Jiang Wen, sitting with Song Kang-ho, surrounded by several actor-level celebrities he had met before.

It was clear that the Busan International Film Festival committee had given Jiang Wen a high level of courtesy.

Indeed, this was true not only in the seating arrangement but also in the introduction, where they gave Jiang Wen a special close-up.

"Old Jiang is quite famous, huh."

Zhao Fusheng sat there, muttering to himself.

"Mr. Jiang Wen is a fairly famous actor and director in Asia." Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Park Sun-young whispered to him.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. He had known that Old Jiang was famous before, but he hadn't expected that the guy's influence was so great that even people in Korea knew about him.

On stage, the two hosts were blabbering on and on, talking for a full half hour. Zhao Fusheng listened to them chattering away, almost losing his patience.

"How much longer?"

Zhao Fusheng looked down at his watch and asked Park Sun-young.

If he were just sitting here listening to a bunch of Koreans giving speeches, he really would have left.

"The performance is about to start."

Seeing Zhao Fusheng's displeased expression, Park Sun-young quickly explained.

She could naturally understand how Zhao Fusheng felt. For a wealthy man of his status, business matters could arise at any moment, yet here he was listening to a bunch of boring hosts rambling on—no one would be happy about that.

"Alright, I'll wait a bit longer."

Zhao Fusheng nodded and patiently continued watching.

Soon, the two hosts finally finished and left the stage.

As they walked off, thunderous applause erupted from the audience, probably because, like Zhao Fusheng, everyone was glad they were finally gone.

No help for it—they talked too much and dragged things out too long.

"Whether at home or abroad, hosts love to spout a bunch of useless stuff." Zhao Fusheng blinked and said to Hu Donghai beside him.

Hu Donghai's face had been expressionless, but at Zhao Fusheng's words, the corner of his mouth twitched. He didn't say anything but nodded.

He thought Zhao Fusheng was right.

As Zhao Fusheng's bodyguard, Hu Donghai had seen many big occasions. Occasionally, when the Future Group had security tasks, Zhang Qian would transfer him over, and he had participated in a few galas. In fact, as Zhao Fusheng said, basically whenever there was a gala, these hosts were the most criticized.

Too much nonsense, too many transitions, and they never got to the point.

These were all quite frustrating habits, sometimes making the audience want to smash their TVs.

Fortunately, at that moment, a group of girls came on stage, which lifted Zhao Fusheng's spirits.

"Hey, it's them?"

This time, Hu Donghai spoke first, looking at the girls in surprise and saying to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng looked closely and also smiled: "Indeed..."

"Chairman, you know them?"

Park Sun-young asked with some surprise beside him; she had no idea that Zhao Fusheng actually knew female Korean idols. Even she herself didn't recognize these girls.

"I don't know them, just seen them before." Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Park Sun-young, "They're a girl group, right?"

"Mm-hmm, seems like it."

Park Sun-young nodded: "I'm not too sure either. I don't really follow idols."

This was the truth. Despite how glamorous these Korean idol singers appeared, and how many fans in China believed their idols worked hard to debut, the reality was different.

In fact, in Korea itself, the evaluation of these idol singers was very low.

The term "idol" in the entertainment industry originated in Japan, written as "アイドル," which is commonly known as "Idol" in Chinese.

The Japanese Wikipedia explains "アイドル" as follows: derived from the English word meaning "idol," "object of worship," "admiration," or "person with狂热 fans," it is a term defined differently according to culture. Thus, idols are said to be "young entertainers who sell youth and dreams."

But unlike the term "star," "idol" emphasizes approachability and lack of distance. They are meant to be close and幻想able, so to maintain this幻想ability for fans, idols also have a "no dating" rule. In short, as a profession that brings dreams to fans, the image of an idol must be healthy and positive.

Japan's idol culture began developing in the 1970s, and as a cultural import from Japan, Korea's idol culture rapidly took shape in the mid-1990s after fully absorbing the neighbor's experience, giving rise to a series of idol groups during this period.

In Korea, members from idol groups, no matter how popular, even if they have previously appeared in TV or film works or shown acting talent, once news breaks that they will star in a drama—even if only at the casting stage—they encounter a flood of negative reviews.

This widespread phenomenon of prejudice and looking at people through colored glasses is a uniquely bizarre occurrence among netizens worldwide.

The reason for this is simple: in most people's eyes, Korean idols are mass-produced, basically uniform, and can debut after being packaged.

The Korean public believes that idols, after being packaged, sing songs written by others, dance choreography created by others, wear fancy clothes, and sell youth on stage, all while earning high incomes.

Moreover, Koreans' obsession with natural beauty and academic background has led to the enduring popularity of highly intelligent and naturally beautiful people like Kim Tae-hee and Song Hye-kyo, while most idols have poor academic records and low educational levels.

Under such circumstances, young people becoming idols is basically seen as an unfavorable behavior in Korea.

The most直观 manifestation is that Korean actors occasionally marry into wealthy families, but idols, in the end, either find someone outside the industry or someone within it.

Even top singers like Lee Hyori ended up with an ordinary boyfriend, whose ugliness was simply appalling.

Didn't she want to marry into a wealthy family?

Of course she did.

But the problem was, how could a truly wealthy family allow an idol singer to become their daughter-in-law?

So Zhao Fusheng was not surprised by Park Sun-young's words; in fact, he found them normal. Not to mention Park Sun-young, just by looking at the reactions of the movie actors in the audience, Zhao Fusheng knew how unwelcome these idols were in Korea.

Even an actor like Song Kang-ho, who had won Best Actor, sat upright during the performance, and others made the same choice. It was truly a clear distinction.