Chapter 402: Korean Entertainment 2002 (6k)

"Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly the feeling! I just love him being like this!"

Inside the rest area of the Seoul Racecourse, several properly dressed, glamorous young ladies were teasing each other.

At gatherings of close female friends, there are always bold and ravenous remarks.

For these women, who had always suppressed their unruly true natures within their respective families, Zhou Yi's innate display of destructive power was simply too much to their taste.

The only pity was that he was Chinese, not Korean.

If he were any Korean celebrity, they would have already started making phone calls.

Unwilling to queue up with ordinary commoners for some fan meeting, the few ladies interested in Zhou Yi immediately turned their gazes toward Li Yinxin, who was still drinking water.

At the entrance of the Shilla Hotel.

Seeing that their distinguished guest was about to be surrounded, Li Tian Fuzhen immediately made a hand gesture, and security personnel surged forward at once to clear a path for Zhou Yi and his entourage.

To be honest, since joining the operation and management of the Shilla Hotel in 2001, she had received quite a few foreign celebrities visiting Korea—none of whom failed to wear broad smiles and speak only flattering words.

Making money isn't shameful.

But someone like Zhou Yi was truly one of a kind.

Li Tian Fuzhen had originally thought that the arrogant personality Zhou Yi displayed while roaming Europe and America was merely an image specially planned by Warner Bros. to help him break into the international market, but now it seemed this thing was apparently not just a persona—

As one of the countries deeply influenced by the ancient Confucian cultural sphere, Korean society, from top to bottom, most revered the rule that juniors must not talk back to seniors.

If Zhou Yi could have shown the humble impression Chinese people usually give when abroad upon arriving in Korea, the online abuse against him might have been less; unfortunately, he went straight for the face upon arrival...

"Zhou Yi, may I ask what you mean by saying that?"

"Zhou Yi, may I ask if this is a provocation..."

"..."

Reporters who had long heard of Zhou Yi's arrogant fame were so delighted their mouths could barely close; disregarding the security of Warner Bros. and the Shilla Hotel, they forced their way through, following right behind Zhou Yi and constantly pressing questions, with expressions on their faces fearing nothing more than world order that almost wrote "Brother, say a few more words, brother" across their foreheads.

At the very beginning, that female reporter whom Zhou Yi had casually hung a pair of sunglasses on immediately stuffed the sunglasses into her pocket and followed after him as well, hoping to snag something else—after all, Zhou Yi's fans were truly willing to spend money on their idol's belongings.

With the live broadcast as proof, what she obtained was one hundred percent Zhou Yi's original scent!

Qian Jiang, having long grown accustomed to this, instead followed leisurely and unhurriedly behind Zhou Yi, directing his team members, causing the people from the Shilla Hotel to look even more anxious.

"Welcome to Seoul, Mr. Zhou."

Li Tian Fuzhen, who had actively stepped forward, wore a smile warm enough to make one feel like bathing in spring breeze: "My name is Li Tian Fuzhen; if you encounter any problems at the hotel, you can call me directly; here is my business card."

"Hello, Miss Li."

This was Zhou Yi's first time meeting this Samsung Eldest Princess, who would later become famous in China due to a short video; she was not breathtakingly beautiful, but the temperament she possessed added greatly to her score.

Knowing better than anyone else how to step by step move toward the center of power within Samsung, Li Tian Fuzhen obviously cared deeply about her personal image; not only did she appear in person to act as an introducer for Zhou Yi, explaining the history of the Shilla Hotel, but she also personally hosted, enthusiastically arranging a luncheon where both host and guests were thoroughly pleased.

Her little mouth was as if smeared with honey, so much so that even Qian Jiang, an old-brand manager who had fought many battles domestically, was praised until he felt somewhat floaty.

"Good heavens, the Samsung Eldest Daughter is offering me a toast; I never thought I would have such a successful day."

After eating and drinking their fill, back in Zhou Yi's suite, Qian Jiang spoke of this matter with a tone containing no small amount of incredulity.

In his impression, given Samsung's monopolistic status in Korea, calling Li Tian Fuzhen the Eldest Princess was truly not an exaggeration.

"This Eldest Daughter of hers has been exiled to manage marginal businesses; don't take it too seriously."

Zhou Yi, comfortably sinking into the soft sofa, paid it no mind: "Right now, she is merely a simple hotel general manager; doing her best to serve every distinguished guest well constitutes her performance metrics."

Because she had once stubbornly insisted on marrying her bodyguard, after marriage, Li Tian Fuzhen was completely cast into the cold palace by her father within the Samsung Group, exiled to the Shilla Hotel, a place that could be described as a marginal zone within Samsung.

She wasn't even installed as a parachuted-in president, but merely given a management position.

If Li Tian Fuzhen hadn't cleanly and decisively fired several senior management members immediately upon taking office, she might have been directly sidelined.

"Power, ah..."

Qian Jiang, who also understood some of the underlying logic, shook his head repeatedly: "It is still that Samsung Little Princess who sees clearly; she simply refuses to enter any Samsung department, just keeps playing around, waiting for the time when a commercial marriage will settle everything."

The head of Samsung had three daughters: the eldest was so rebellious she "married down," the second obediently went out via commercial marriage; now there was still a third daughter unmarried, being scolded daily on the Korean internet, exercising her psychological stress resistance.

Zhou Yi smiled without speaking.

In the eyes of outsiders, Li Yinxin was currently a well-behaved girl, yet her psychological state was not very healthy; born into a chaebol family meant walking on thin ice, and after growing up, she still had to be scolded by netizens every day.

Precisely because of this, the rebellious emotions hidden deep in this woman's heart were far more severe than those of her eldest sister.

"Forget it; anyway, internal Samsung matters have nothing to do with us."

Shaking his head and casting those strange thoughts out of his mind, Qian Jiang turned to open his notebook and, according to the records therein, confirmed the upcoming itinerary with Zhou Yi once again.

"First are Korea's three most prestigious universities: Yonsei University, Seoul National University, and Korea University; your fan base in Korea fundamentally consists of students, so holding fan meetings at universities is absolutely necessary..."

Setting aside these three universities that could be described as forming a tripartite confrontation in Korea, within the next ten days, besides Seoul, there was also Busan, Korea's second-largest city, awaiting the Emperor's favor; combined, the two cities required Zhou Yi to visit seven universities, hold ten signing events, attend four activities, and appear on three variety shows.

In addition, SM and DSP, the two companies that had purchased the cover rights to Zhou Yi's songs, also had activity invitations for Zhou Yi to make an appearance.

It could be described as the reincarnation of a living donkey.

"I'm already this popular; why do I still have so many activities to attend?"

"Don't pretend to be humble while enjoying the benefits; regarding these resources, do you know that many top-tier celebrities cannot obtain them all at once? Li Zhenxian, whom I mentioned to you before, still hasn't received the treatment of having top-tier resources dumped on her to the fullest within ten days."

Qian Jiang glanced disdainfully at Zhou Yi, who started wailing as soon as work was mentioned, and offered "earnest advice": "Also, did you remember those few Korean greetings I told you to learn?"

"Mm."

Zhou Yi could still grasp this kind of wealth code.

Since he came here to make money, learning two Korean greetings was something he could do; this was just like foreign celebrities arriving in China and immediately speaking half-broken "Wo Ai Zhongguo" or "Ni Hao."

As for whether people back home would criticize his Korean accent when clips of the programs were transmitted domestically... what did that have to do with him?

What a character.

When foreigners speak Chinese with broken pronunciation, everyone praises them endlessly; when Chinese people speak a few sentences of a foreign language, they get corrected on pronunciation by a bunch of language police; what a bad habit.

Many foreign celebrities themselves speak with incorrect pronunciation accents.

After reviewing the greetings twice on site, Zhou Yi headed into the recording studio in the afternoon and began producing demos.

The next morning, the gymnasium inside Yonsei University, where banners were raised early to welcome Zhou Yi's arrival, was packed with a roaring crowd.

Knowing that Zhou Yi favored magenta and burgundy, most of the fans in the audience held light sticks in those colors; many also held light boards and posters displaying Zhou Yi's Chinese and Korean names.

Kim Hyun-joo was a member of Zhou Yi's fan club, even though she was not a student at Yonsei University.

As a minor advertising star, with the year-end approaching and no work schedule for the past few days, she naturally came to join the excitement.

After all, it was a chance to get close to her idol, Zhou Yi.

The time had not yet arrived, and Warner was doing its best to maintain order at the scene—there was no way around it; there were simply too many people today.

Even though screening had been conducted in advance for safety reasons, the final number of people attending this meet-and-greet still settled at around fifteen hundred.

Looking out, it was a sea of people; Kim Hyun-joo, wearing a mask, even felt hot.

"Why hasn't Oppa Zhou Yi arrived yet?"

"Don't rush; according to Oppa's usual schedule, it should be 10:08. Didn't that sign over there say so?"

"Eh? By the way, which department are you from?"

"Ah, I'm..."

Many Yonsei University students around were still exchanging words; Kim Hyun-joo, a graduate of Kyung Hee University, heard this and fell silent, merely pricking up her ears to start listening to the gossip.

As Zhou Yi's first stop in Korea, choosing Yonsei University was also a matter of linguistic convenience.

This university was the first in all of Korea to offer full English-taught courses, and it had also begun cooperation with Chinese universities in the nineties. The students' level of education was high, so there would be no risk of the meet-and-greet falling flat.

At 10:08, amidst the host's impassioned and soaring singing, the protagonist arrived as promised.

"Students, next let us welcome with warm applause the world's pop king—Zhou Yi!"

A very trendy fringe hairstyle, a slim-fitting burgundy coat paired with loose trousers, and a pair of leather shoes on his feet.

The physique Zhou Yi maintained through years of fitness allowed him to carry off the aura required by the coat; his strong-looking shoulders were also regarded by Koreans, who were gradually starting to like fitness, as the standard representative of a good body.

The most typical example was Rain, the new star who had emerged in Korea this year; his agency, JYP, packaged him as "Little Zhou Yi of Korea," which truly attracted a lot of attention.

It could be said that Zhou Yi's hairstyle, attire, and physique basically continued the influence Li Ming and Leslie Cheung had in Korea in the past, even further evolving into a dominant position, becoming an object that countless Korean youths competed to imitate.

"Annyeonghaseyo~"

Zhou Yi walked lightly to the front of the stage, took the microphone handed to him by the host, and raised his hand to greet the audience below; the Korean greeting he spoke, though not particularly fluent, instantly plunged the crowd below into a state of boiling emotion!

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!"

"!!!"

"Spike! Spike!"

"..."

For a moment, some in the audience below shouted his Chinese name, some shouted his Korean name, and some even shouted his English name.

"I am Zhou Yi, (I love you)~"

Although one could hear a heavy foreign accent and the Korean tones sounded strange, this did not stop the fans below from being moved.

He could have used Chinese or English directly, but for us, he actually learned to greet us in Korean!

He really tried so hard; I'm crying to death!

Shouldn't we buy a few more new albums and a few more new merchandise items to support him?!

Buy!

Buy hard!

In Korea, where fan circle culture is prevalent, fans' hearts are so easily satisfied.

The female host beside him was also smiling brightly; whether her face was purely natural or artificial, Zhou Yi thought it looked quite good anyway.

"OK, welcome to Korea, welcome to Yonsei University, Zhou Yi."

After the cheers from the entire venue subsided, the female host actively shook hands with Zhou Yi and guided him to sit on the sofa.

"Thank you."

Zhou Yi, responding with thanks, did not forget to wave to the audience after sitting down, which caused another round of screams.

It was only because this was a meet-and-greet, and it was held in Korea's top university, that the order at the scene could be maintained; otherwise, it was hard to say what the situation would have become.

After all, given Zhou Yi's current treatment in Korea, where haters and fans fought fiercely, those who could stay to attend the meet-and-greet and book signing were basically the crystallized essence after purification.

"You are the first celebrity to cause such a huge sensation at Yonsei University, Zhou Yi; this is simply incredible..."

After starting with a compliment, the smiling female host began to interview Zhou Yi according to the rhythm, asking things like his feelings about Korea, his impressions of Korean food, and who his favorite Korean star was.

A meet-and-greet, in plain terms, is actually of an interview nature, serving as an image introduction for the newly arrived Zhou Yi.

Of course, the most important thing is the results.

"As of now, your new Chinese album 'Lianshan' has sold four hundred thousand copies in Korea, and your English album 'Attitude Show' has reached a global cumulative total sales of twenty-five million four hundred and seventy thousand copies, currently ranking first on the 2002 annual global male singer album sales chart.

"You are the first Asian singer to break into the global market, and you also handled all the lyrics and composition yourself. As a senior in music, may I ask if you can impart some experience to us in the Korean music circle?"

Thanks to the terrifying influence Zhou Yi had accumulated through his English major, this brand-new Chinese album 'Lianshan' managed to achieve sales of over four hundred thousand copies in Korea alone since its simultaneous release, a figure that truly made a bunch of Korean companies' heads drop to the floor.

Precisely because of this, it was said that SM and DSP were, as usual, coming to find Zhou Yi to buy cover rights again.

Regardless of whether it was suitable or not, at least try to get something out of it.

"Hmm, how to put it, my experience is just not to be afraid."

Sitting sideways on the sofa, one hand resting against the backrest and the other holding the microphone, Zhou Yi smiled and shook his head: "The Western music scene is just like that; many people mythologize them, but in reality, there is a lot of trash over there too. It's just that due to channels, the widely circulated songs that Asian regions can hear are the masterpieces from over there.

"Over time, it gives people the feeling that over there is like a holy land. Actually, over there is also a pile of rotten fish and shrimp."

Host: "..."

You call this sharing experience???

Well, you sell well, so everything you say is right.

Facing Zhou Yi's arrogant attitude of casually trampling the entire Western music scene underfoot, the host opened her mouth, but for a moment, she actually didn't know what to say, hesitating with words on her lips.

Because those who could come were basically high achievers, the fans below basically understood English; after Zhou Yi's words landed, they became uncontrollably restless.

Hearing this made their blood boil with excitement.

As everyone knows, Koreans' inner selves are usually insecure, sensitive, and arrogant.

On one hand they treat the U. S. forces stationed in Korea as hired security guards, on the other hand they complain about the various privileges and illegal behaviors of those forces on Korean soil;

Meek and timid in reality, throwing heavy punches in TV dramas.

They constantly fantasize about Korea being able to defecate on the heads of countries like the United States, which is why they so often stage scenes in their dramas where the Republic of Korea makes other countries come kneel.

This should have remained mere fantasy—

Until Zhou Yi descended from the heavens.

An Eastern singer raised within the East Asian cultural sphere toppled a host of European and American powerhouses and stood at the pinnacle of the world—wasn't this exactly one of the Korean dreams they had fantasized about?

Especially Zhou Yi's arrogant attitude in Europe and America—he was basically the template of the dream lover for many Korean women, and the image of a cool version of themselves in the eyes of many Korean men.

If it weren't for the fact that Zhou Yi was born in Jiang Xi and his ancestry was thoroughly red and pure, and they temporarily couldn't find any evidence to prove he was actually Korean, the Korean media would have long since started their sly "plundering."

They were also afraid.

What if they overreached and it turned out that going back two or three generations, Zhou Yi did indeed have a relative who had entered Hanseong—but actually entered Hanseong in another way? After all, when it comes to Jiang Xi, that place…

"As for my feelings about Korea, so far I've only been to Hanseong, and it felt pretty good. The food at the Shilla Hotel was also delicious, and Ms. Li Tian Fuzhen's warm hospitality made me feel like I was back home. My favorite star—I don't know much about the Korean entertainment industry…"

One fan meeting lasted thirty minutes, followed by the autograph and photo session.

The fan meeting also charged admission, so they couldn't let people come for nothing.

"Thank you for your support."

"Thank you for your support~"

"Thank you~"

Watching Zhou Yi enter signing mode, Jin Xianzhu, who was at the very end of the line, took off her mask just as her turn was about to come, cheerfully pulled the album out of her bag, and held it out to Zhou Yi, who had become an autograph machine—

"Hello, Zhou Yi oppa, my name is Jin Xianzhu, and I'm currently an advertising model."

"I can tell—you're very pretty."

Zhou Yi smiled as he wrote down a blessing: "Wishing you a flourishing future and a successful career, Ms. Jin."

"Could you please sign my scarf?"

"Of course."

Having gotten the autograph, Jin Xianzhu took a photo with Zhou Yi, then left with a beaming smile.

All that busyness went straight on until half past noon.

Zhou Yi, whose wrist was trembling from exhaustion, finally collapsed into the chair after barely managing to send off all the fans, shaking his hand and grimacing.

At this rate, there were at least nine more days like this to come…

Oh wait, there were also the album signing events, so even more in total…

Just as he was planning to haggle with Qian Jiang, the fans who had left also began gradually spreading the topics of this session outward—

"The European and American music scene is also trash";

"My album sells well, take me as the standard."

"An unmodest young man"

"…"

As fans posted their signed photos and CDs, combined with Zhou Yi's remarks during the event, the Korean internet's public opinion once again heated up.

Only this time it was different from last time—this time Zhou Yi's fans overwhelmingly crushed all the haters—

"Over twenty-five million total global sales for the English album—who dares say there's anything wrong with what Zhou Yi oppa said?!"

"If you can do it, you do it! Oppa actually pulled it off!"

"At the event, Zhou Yi oppa was very gentle, nothing like what the newspapers smeared—he even said hello in Korean."

"…"

The explosive success of "Attitude Show" became the foundation for Zhou Yi's fans in their battles, and even Rain, the "Korean Little Zhou Yi" who had just risen to fame this year, got caught in the crossfire, with a large number of Zhou Yi's fans attacking him for lacking morals and exploiting Zhou Yi's popularity.

"What kind of stuff is Rain? Does he even deserve it?!"

With Zhou Yi making high-intensity appearances in Hanseong and Busan for three consecutive days, Zhou Yi's popularity kept rising, and more and more Koreans truly came to know this extraordinary man who had come from China.

In the past, before Zhou Yi arrived in Korea, Rain, who had ridden the "Korean Little Zhou Yi" moniker to a huge wave of benefits, now suffered the backlash of that traffic—

When a counterfeit meets the genuine article, whether in looks or achievements he was utterly crushed by Zhou Yi, and his live performance ability was worlds apart.

Even his proud 185cm height now seemed somewhat inflated, especially after many of Zhou Yi's fans dug up the high heels Rain had worn at events.

One must remember that Zhou Yi was genuinely flat-footed.

Park Jin Yong, the JYP CEO who had discovered Rain, was himself somewhat helpless, repeatedly requesting in public interviews that fans not attack Rain, saying the nickname had originally been given by some media friends and was not the intention of JYP or Rain himself.

And it was precisely starting from Rain, who got caught in the crossfire, that at the end of 2002, the Korean entertainment circle also became turbulent because of Zhou Yi's arrival.

SM's top girl group SES had long had rumors that they would disband when their contract expires, and now there were even rumors that the three were at odds beneath the surface, each privately wanting to have a meal with Zhou Yi;

DSP's top girl group Fin. K. L had even more news that two goddess members, Li Xiaoli and Cheng Youli, hoped to have an all-night heart-to-heart talk with Zhou Yi and also invite him to write a song.

As for the so-called "Zhou Yi's nemesis Lee Jung-hyun" in the Korean media, she did on several occasions openly express her admiration for Zhou Yi during interviews, forcefully joining the big gossip package.

This directly led to the "gender opposition" between Zhou Yi's haters and fans becoming even more severe.

After all, these female singers were all famous figures in the Korean entertainment circle, each with plenty of "husband fans."

"I admit he does sing pretty well, but he's only been here a few days? How are there already so many scandals about him?"

Inside the Shilla Hotel, Li Yinxin, who had come to find her sister, saw the various newspapers her sister had laid out on the coffee table and asked in confusion.

"Just hype."

Li Tian Fuzhen saw through Warner Bros.' old trick at a glance, then tossed an envelope into her younger sister's arms: "There's an event in three days, and Zhou Yi will attend. If your friends want to meet Zhou Yi, they can go to this event."

(End of chapter)