Chapter 0770 Myeongdong

After getting his driver's license, Zhao Fusheng didn't rush back but instead took a plane to the capital of South Korea.

At that time, the capital of South Korea was not yet called Seoul but was still known as Hanseong; it wouldn't be renamed Seoul until 2005 by President Lee Myung-bak, nicknamed the 'Beef President.'

The weather in Hanseong in June was similar to Beijing's, hot enough to make one restless.

Standing at the intersection of Myeongdong shopping street, Zhao Fusheng looked at the bustling crowd before him, listening to the music coming from the nearby mall. Unlike the protagonists in TV dramas who would shout loudly, he calmly blinked and smiled.

"Hmm, so this is Myeongdong."

Zhao Fusheng glanced around, pursed his lips, and muttered, "Doesn't seem as good as Wangfujing."

But he knew that as one of South Korea's most famous commercial districts, it wasn't as bad as he said; at least there were plenty of tourists here, and it was said that one could often run into celebrities.

Speaking of which, Zhao Fusheng found it amusing. South Korea was too small, with a total population of fifty million, about five hundred thousand people working in the entertainment industry.

In other words, on average, one out of every hundred people worked in entertainment, which was truly speechless.

"Let's go, take a stroll." Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself and walked toward Myeongdong.

Walking along, Zhao Fusheng didn't foolishly visit every shop. In his previous life, he knew a young man who liked chasing Korean stars and had been to South Korea. According to that person, when in South Korea, one shouldn't rush to shop; first find a nearby hotel, drop off belongings, and then go shopping—that was the most reasonable arrangement.

After leaving his things at a nearby hotel, Zhao Fusheng began to wander and shop.

Looking at the dazzling array of clothes and accessories, Zhao Fusheng's smile deepened. Stopping and going, he saw many things he had only seen on his computer in his previous life, as well as roadside advertisements featuring Korean stars.

"Hmm, what's that ahead?"

After walking not far, Zhao Fusheng saw a large crowd gathered ahead, as if something was happening. Fond of joining in the fun, he immediately walked over to see what was going on.

Zhao Fusheng always believed that life was short, so he tried to avoid wasting time on meaningless things. If he had to waste time, he would actively use that inevitably wasted time to generate value.

"Filming a movie?" Spotting a camera from a distance, Zhao Fusheng frowned and made his judgment.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng had little impression of Korean movies from this period; what he remembered vividly were the films from around 2010 onward.

Films like *The Attorney*, *Silenced*, *The Terror Live*, *The Chaser*, *The Unjust*, etc., led by directors like Bong Joon-ho, along with actors like Song Kang-ho and Ha Jung-woo, started by imitating Hong Kong films and eventually carved out their own path.

This was a fact. Even if Zhao Fusheng was reluctant to admit it, he had to say that after 2010, although domestic box office revenues increased, the content—well, let's not even go there.

Some people always liked to blame a certain department, but those who truly understood cinema knew that strict censorship was one thing; the bigger issue was that domestic filmmakers preferred to make bad films that exploited audience nostalgia for high box office returns rather than making films that reflected social realities.

Compared to our neighboring country, Chinese cinema still has a long way to go.

Real film shooting was actually very boring, at least in Zhao Fusheng's view. Sometimes, a scene that lasted only two or three minutes or even a few seconds in the movie took hours or even a whole day to shoot, with actors repeating the same actions and expressions over and over. No wonder many actors hated NG.

Standing outside the crowd watching for a while, Zhao Fusheng shook his head lightly. To be honest, Korean movies at this time weren't worth watching because they were still imitating Hong Kong films. After seeing classic Hong Kong films, Zhao Fusheng had no interest in these imitations.

He actually wanted to see the filming set of a Korean drama. If he remembered correctly, starting from the recent years, South Korea would begin to export their TV dramas wildly abroad, from *Dae Jang Geum* to *My Love from the Star* over a decade later. Generations of Korean wave stars became the focus of adoration for many young people in China.

This also gave rise to a term in China: the 'Korean wave tribe.'

Zhao Fusheng wasn't saying that liking celebrities was bad; he just felt that when chasing stars, one shouldn't forget their own nationality. If chasing stars led to losing all sense of right and wrong, then it wasn't fandom but brainlessness.

After shopping in Myeongdong for an afternoon and buying a few handmade accessories, Zhao Fusheng didn't continue wandering. He had thought about maybe running into a big star, but then he realized he was being foolish. At this time, South Korea's entertainment industry hadn't reached the level of development it would later achieve. The big stars he remembered were probably still somewhere eating kimchi.

"Time to go home."

Muttering to himself, Zhao Fusheng woke up early in the morning, packed his luggage, and went to the airport to buy a return ticket.

…

…

They say coming home feels great. Zhao Fusheng felt the same. The moment the plane landed at the Capital Airport, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

Perhaps this was why so many overseas Chinese found it hard to control themselves every time they returned to their homeland.

A wanderer returning to the nest, feeling nervous as home approaches.

Just after getting off the plane and turning on his phone, Zhao Fusheng saw a flood of text messages, all sent by others during the days he was abroad.

Replying to them one by one, when he reached the last message, he frowned and directly dialed the number.

"What's going on?"

Zhao Fusheng asked in a deep voice after the call connected, "What happened?"

"Grandpa... passed away." On the other end of the line, Zhang Qian's voice sounded, tinged with sorrow.

"What!"

Zhao Fusheng's expression immediately turned grim, and he blurted out, "Wasn't he doing well? How could he suddenly..."

"Talk when you get back. He was cremated the day before yesterday." Zhang Qian seemed unwilling to say more and sighed to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded, recalling the kind old man in his mind. He suddenly felt that the joy of returning from South Korea had been instantly diluted.