The heated discussion on Korean online forums has been brought to China by international students.
Exporting and then reselling domestically is something that entertainment industries in all countries do.
As soon as the trending post on Korean websites climbed onto Naver's real-time rankings, international students took screenshots and posted them on Douyin and Weibo.
Originally, because the pilot episode had just been released, " Walking the Flower Road Together " and Cheng Che were trending on Weibo.
Domestic viewers want to see him, but when they search his name, all they find are comments from Korean websites and the latest leaked photos that overseas students have copied and pasted.
That Weibo immediately went viral.
The comments section started with pride, then jealousy, then calls for more updates, and finally turned into a secondary dissemination of a "Korean male criticism conference".
[Hahahaha, I have to admit, I'm impressed by how witty Korean women can be!]
I'm going to save this phrase, "Even the fish in the Han River have more defined features than Korean men," as my signature.
[That Korean guy's "natural birth" hairstyle is hilarious! Who's even hyping up Korean heartthrobs?]
[No, Cheng Che's face is so striking, it's like a game-changer anywhere!]
[My friend is in Seoul, and she said her WeChat Moments are Cheng Che with photos and videos of Cheng Che today; the international students are going crazy.]
[ Seoul students, please, take more pictures! We back home can only afford to eat garbage.]
I'm jealous of the Korean girls; they got to see Cheng Che in person.
[Anyone want to go and wait at Gwangjang Market?!]
[I'll pay for it; whoever does the filming, I'll send them a red envelope (cash gift)]
[Korean women have a knack for praising people, and an even better knack for insulting them; I love watching both of them.]
[ Cheng Che: I didn't do anything, but Han Nan still got scolded.]
Seeing how popular it was, the international students couldn't sit still anymore.
It's one thing to genuinely like Cheng Che, but it's quite another to ride on his popularity.
Several international students studying in Seoul immediately formed a group called " Gwangjang Market Stakeout Squad ". The group announcement read, "If you take a picture of Cheng Che, you'll gain 10,000 followers."
Meanwhile, the Gwangjang Market.
Cheng Che and his group stood at the market entrance, and the PD walked over with a megaphone.
"Everyone, there's a temporary adjustment."
The PD glanced at Cheng Che, his tone a little guilty:
"Because Teacher Cheng's Korean proficiency... far exceeded the production team's expectations, in order to ensure the difficulty and fairness of the tasks, Teacher Cheng cannot provide language assistance for the first two tasks. These tasks must be completed by other guests."
Su Jianqiu was the first to jump up.
"What?! They can change the rules on the spot like this?"
Zhou Yuan followed closely behind, spreading his hands in an exaggerated manner:
"PD! This is ridiculous! Cheng Che is our tour guide. If we can't use our tour guide, what kind of tour guide are we?"
"Exactly!" Su Jianqiu grabbed Cheng Che's arm as if afraid it would be taken away from him. "We chose Cheng Che, so what right do you have to restrict him?"
The PD flashed a standard production crew smile, "The rule adjustment is for the sake of the show's entertainment value."
"For the sake of the show?" Zhou Yuan turned to the camera, pointing to his face. "Doesn't my face have any entertainment value? I can speak Korean too! Seomyda! Annyeonghaseyo! Kamsamyak-da!"
The Korean he spoke was all learned from variety shows; his pronunciation was strange, and his intonation was exaggerated.
Su Jianqiu chuckled beside him, but then became serious again. "PD, don't you think this is unfair to us? Cheng Che's ability to speak Korean is his skill, so why should his ability be restricted just because it's 'too strong'?"
Cheng Che stood to the side without saying a word. He only spoke after Su Jianqiu and Zhou Yuan had finished talking.
"Sure. But I have conditions."
The producer looked at him. " Teacher Cheng, please speak."
Cheng Che held out his hand. "Give me the money."
The PD was taken aback.
"The production team changed the rules at the last minute, which affected my performance and put my team at a disadvantage in the tasks." Cheng Che's tone was very serious, as if he were discussing a business deal. "As compensation, you should increase our funding. Not much, just 100,000 Korean won will do."
Zhou Yuan immediately chimed in, "Yes! Add more money! This is a penalty for breach of contract! It's reasonable!"
Su Jianqiu clapped. "Well done, Tour Guide Cheng!"
The PD chuckled, turned to discuss it with the other staff members, and then nodded. "Okay. Add 100,000 won."
Cheng Che withdrew his hand with satisfaction.
At this moment, Han Zheng walked over, wearing that standard smile and speaking in a very gentle tone:
"PD, I also speak a little Korean. If Teacher Cheng can't speak, I can help. Of course, if needed, you can also give me some extra funding."
The PD glanced at him, his smile unchanged.
"Teacher Han, your Korean is..."
She paused for a moment, then said tactfully, "Perhaps we haven't reached the level where we can complete the task yet."
Han Zheng's smile froze for a second.
"We can arrange for a translator," the PD added. "No need to trouble you."
Han Zheng nodded, his smile still on, but the curve of his lips was noticeably tighter.
He stepped back half a step and stood beside the line, without saying another word.
Zhou Yuan leaned close to Su Jianqiu's ear and whispered something. Su Jianqiu covered her mouth and laughed.
Cheng Che heard it; Zhou Yuan said "hard decoration".
Cheng Che didn't laugh out loud, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly.
The PD handed over the new funding: 100,000 Korean won, which is equivalent to more than 500 yuan.
With the original budget of 300,000, they now have a budget of 400,000.
Su Jianqiu took the money, counted it, and then looked at Cheng Che: "Tour Guide Cheng, if you can't talk, what are you doing?"
Cheng Che shrugged. "Just watching the show."
Mission begins.
The first thing I need to find is mung bean pancakes.
Gwangjang Market is huge, with stalls packed tightly together, people crammed in, and the air filled with the mixed smells of various foods.
Su Jianqiu rushed to the front and saw a stall with round pancakes, so she immediately went over.
"Is this... a mung bean pancake?"
She pointed to the plate of golden-yellow pancakes, then turned to look at the stall owner.
The stall owner, a woman in her fifties, glanced at her and spoke a string of Korean without expression.
Su Jianqiu didn't understand a single word, but she remained calm.
She took out her phone, opened a translation app, and said to the older woman in Chinese, "Excuse me, is this a mung bean pancake?"
The translation software read it aloud in mechanical Korean.
After listening, the woman nodded and then said a string of words.
The translation software read it aloud in mechanical Chinese again, "This is a mung bean pancake. How many do you want?"
Su Jianqiu made a "two" gesture.
The woman held up two fingers to confirm, then started making the pancakes.
Su Jianqiu glanced back at the line with a smug look and gave a thumbs up.
Zhou Yuan clapped from the side. " Sister Su is amazing! It's all thanks to technology!"
Cheng Che stood behind, hands in his pockets, watching this scene.
He didn't speak, but a slight smile played on his lips.
Then [ Stars Surrounding the Moon ] was triggered.
People in the market were initially going their separate ways, but from some point onward, their gazes began to converge in the same direction.
An uncle selling rice sausages looked up and stopped wielding his knife.
An older woman who was picking out fruit turned her head, her expression as if she had seen something that shouldn't be there.
Several young women squeezed through the stalls, first watching from a distance, then getting closer. Their eyes shone brightly, but none of them dared to speak first.
Behind the monitor of the directing team, the PD stared at the screen, his hands unconsciously clenching.
"Shoot it all," she whispered to the photographer. "Every angle, don't miss a single one."
Cheng Che stood beside the stall, without moving.
He was wearing a simple black jacket with the collar turned up, and his hair was a little messy from the Seoul wind.
He glanced sideways at the pancake stall, then turned back, his gaze sweeping across the crowd.
It was in that instant of tilting his head and scanning the room.
In the image, his profile appears softly outlined under the warm yellow lights of the market.
Behind me was a bustling crowd, above me hung signs, and all around me were noisy shouts.
He stood amidst it all, quiet and relaxed, as if the world had reserved a place just for him.
Su Jianqiu took the pancake, turned around and called out, " Cheng Che, would you like to try a bite first?"
Cheng Che walked over, took the pancake, and took a bite.
He chewed twice, then nodded.
The stall owner, an older woman, watched him eat and suddenly smiled, saying in Korean, "Young man, you're really handsome."
Cheng Che smiled slightly at her, without saying a word. But that smile was clearly captured by the camera.
The PD looked at the monitor and took a deep breath.
"This segment will go viral if it airs."
Next up is seaweed rice rolls with anesthesia.
This task was assigned to Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan, carrying the translation software, circled the market twice and found a stall selling seaweed rice rolls.
He leaned closer and held up his phone towards the stall owner, a woman in her forties.
"This, this," he pointed to the seaweed rice rolls, then gestured with his hands, "Anesthesia, anesthetic."
The older sister understood the word "anesthetic," nodded, and then pointed to the wasabi next to her.
Zhou Yuan didn't understand and looked back at the line with a blank expression.
Su Jianqiu called out from afar, "Wasabi! She's asking if you want wasabi!"
Zhou Yuan suddenly realized, gave an "OK" sign, and then said, "Not too much! Just a little!"
The translation software translated a string of words, which the older woman understood, and she started packing the rice.
Zhou Yuan stood to the side waiting, then turned his head and made an exaggerated expression towards the camera:
"Family members, when filming a program abroad, we faced language barriers and relied entirely on translation software and a brave heart."
Cheng Che, standing behind, couldn't help but chuckle.
Finally, there was raw beef tartare.
This task fell to Huang Ming.
Huang Ming was relatively quiet, slowly searching through the market with his translation software.
He asked at three stalls before finding it, finally standing in front of a stall selling raw beef salad.
The stall owner was a young man, probably in his early twenties. When he saw Huang Ming approaching with his phone, he greeted him casually.
Then he looked up and saw Cheng Che not far behind Huang Ming.
The young female boss paused for a moment.
Her gaze passed over Huang Ming, over Su Jianqiu, over Zhou Yuan, and landed directly on Cheng Che.
Cheng Che was standing next to a sugar cake stall, looking down at his phone, and didn't notice them.
The young female boss's face visibly flushed.
Huang Ming, unaware of what was happening, held up the translation app and asked, "How much is this raw beef salad?"
The young female boss snapped out of her daze, glanced at Huang Ming, then at Cheng Che, before waving her hand and saying in broken Chinese, "Free."
Huang Ming was stunned. "Huh?"
The young female shop owner repeated, "It's free. Just take it."
Huang Ming glanced back at the line and Su Jianqiu walking over with a translation app, wanting to help with communication.
She happened to hear the word "free," and then she froze.
Su Jianqiu turned her head to look at Cheng Che, then turned back to look at the young female boss, her expression indescribably complex.
"What did you say?" she asked in Chinese.
The young female owner pointed in Cheng Che's direction and then said in Korean, "That guy, please eat for free."
Su Jianqiu's translation software translated the sentence into Chinese and displayed it on the screen.
Su Jianqiu stared at her phone screen for two seconds, then slowly raised her head and looked at Cheng Che.
Cheng Che was still looking down at his phone, completely unaware of what had happened.
Su Jianqiu took a deep breath, put away the translation software, and then said to the camera:
"Tour guide Cheng, you're already saving us money just by standing here and doing nothing."
Zhou Yuan leaned over, grabbed a piece of beef, stuffed it into his mouth, and mumbled, "I want to be in his group, then I won't have to pay for meals anymore."
Su Jianqiu slapped him. "Finish the mission first, then eat, eat, eat."