Chapter 1594: Identity

Reality is often more absurd than film and television dramas, because most dramas are products of people's imagination, while reality is even more surreal than fantasy.

Zhao Fusheng did not know that the 80/20 effect was even more severe in South Korea.

In fact, the wealth pyramid of the Korean entertainment industry was more outrageous than ordinary people imagined.

The Korea Financial Newspaper once conducted a market survey in which they calculated the income of nearly all thousands of Korean entertainers, and the final answer was brutal—the 80/20 effect had become a 90/10 effect in the Korean entertainment industry!

As the name suggests, those few hundred well-known celebrities took ninety percent of the pie!

And among them, a few dozen top stars who constantly appeared in media headlines simply took eighty percent of the entire pie!

A top star like Kim Tae-hee could easily earn billions of won for a single commercial, equivalent to tens of millions of RMB, but most of the lowest-tier officially debuted entertainers only made a few million won a month, barely one or two million won, which converted to just ten thousand or even a few thousand RMB...

That was a difference of a thousand times!

Frightening, isn't it?

But even so, even with such a hard life, why did those entertainers still persist desperately?

The reason was simple: in a place like the entertainment industry, there were ten thousand possibilities.

Perhaps today you were a poor wretch earning two million won a month, tomorrow you might become a mid-level earner with a contract worth tens of millions of won, and the day after, an opportunity might come out of nowhere, making you famous inexplicably, and then you would become one of that top ten percent of artists. This was almost impossible in other professional fields in South Korea.

So the question was, how to seize the opportunity?

Of course, you had to be appreciated by the actual controllers behind the scenes.

For actors, they naturally hoped directors would give them a chance; for idols, they naturally hoped producers would take a liking to them. Even for producers and directors, they hoped that TV station executives and investors would recognize their talent.

Among these, the identity of the investor was crucial.

And once Zhao Fusheng's identity was revealed, no one could remain calm.

There was no helping it—this man was simply too formidable!

For example, in the Korean entertainment industry, Yang Hyun-suk, Lee Soo-man, and Park Jin-young, the bosses of the three major music entertainment companies, were also pivotal figures who determined the fate of countless idols.

And these three, when facing top directors and actors like Song Kang-ho and Bong Joon-ho, had to show them sufficient respect because of their industry status.

But conversely, when facing various chaebols, they were nothing.

Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group, was known as the Princess.

Why?

Because Samsung was truly wealthy, extremely wealthy!

And what about Zhao Fusheng?

Jiang Wen was also quite famous in South Korea; Song Kang-ho and others naturally knew his reputation in China.

But the reputation of Hanxing Future Investment was even more prominent in South Korea.

That was a large enterprise with total capital exceeding 500 billion won.

Although 500 billion won in capital did not make it a chaebol in South Korea, one must not forget that this was just a subsidiary of Chairman Zhao.

In other words, if a subsidiary in South Korea had a market value exceeding 500 billion won, how much money should this person have?

Stars are also human.

Especially stars in the entertainment industry, whether in South Korea, China, or anywhere else in the world, they were all the same.

In the face of interests, in the face of money, no matter how proud a star was, they would lower their haughty heads.

The reason was simple: because they were all human.

Being human, how many could remain as calm as still water when faced with tangible benefits?

...

...

Zhao Fusheng's motorcade slowly stopped at the entrance of the Shilla Hotel. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw Song Kang-ho and another man who looked somewhat familiar standing there.

That person is...

Zhao Fusheng asked Jiang Wen.

Kwak Jae-yong.

Jiang Wen explained: "The director of My Sassy Girl. I met him before when he was filming in China."

Well, Zhao Fusheng nodded, not expecting that Jiang Wen's social circle was so extensive.

Jiang, who is this?

Kwak Jae-yong could speak simple Chinese. Seeing Zhao Fusheng and Jiang Wen get out of the car together, he looked at him with eager eyes.

Clearly, he was waiting for Jiang Wen to introduce them.

Jiang Wen smiled and said to Zhao Fusheng: "Chairman Zhao, this is Mr. Kwak Jae-yong, a good friend of mine. And this is Mr. Song Kang-ho, with whom I hit it off immediately."

Then he said to Song Kang-ho and Kwak Jae-yong: "This is my friend, Chairman Zhao Fusheng, president of China Future Group, and Hanxing Future Investment is a subsidiary of Future Group in South Korea."

On such an official occasion, he had to properly introduce both sides' identities.

Song Kang-ho did not understand Chinese, and the translator quickly conveyed Jiang Wen's words.

The two were not fools; they had inquired about Zhao Fusheng's background beforehand. Hearing this, they respectfully bowed and extended their hands to greet Zhao Fusheng.

After all, the other party's net worth was several billion US dollars, converted to over a trillion won. Even if not a super chaebol, he was among the top tier.

After some small talk, Song Kang-ho spoke a lot, and after the translation, Jiang Wen said to Zhao Fusheng: "He said it was originally meant to be a small gathering, but everyone brought friends, so it turned into a big party. What do you think..."

Zhao Fusheng glared at him. He could see through Jiang Wen's little scheme—he was deliberately building up his reputation.

But thinking about it, it was fine. He had a lot of trouble waiting for him back home. Recently, he had heard that some people at the company were probing, hoping to acquire shares of Future Group.

Although he didn't know who was behind it, Zhao Fusheng was well aware that the waters were deep. He must have been targeted by certain people.

Since that was the case, he might as well make his name bigger, big enough to make those people think twice.

Let's go.

Zhao Fusheng nodded to Jiang Wen.

Following Kwak Jae-yong and Song Kang-ho, the group entered the Shilla Hotel.

Little did they know, not far behind them, several figures were watching them with surprise.

Is that Song Kang-ho?

A woman dressed very elegantly and fashionably asked the man in black beside her.

It seems so, President.

The man in black wore glasses and looked quite refined.

Find out who he's dining with.

The woman said indifferently.

The man with glasses quickly bowed in agreement and watched the woman leave.

Zhao Fusheng did not know that just by attending a dinner, he had attracted someone's attention. He followed Song Kang-ho and the others into the banquet hall and was startled.

Why so many people?

As soon as he entered, Zhao Fusheng was taken aback.

He turned to look at Jiang Wen and found him equally bewildered.

You didn't know?

Zhao Fusheng said helplessly to Jiang Wen.

Clearly, today's gathering seemed a bit too large.

A gathering of over fifty people—what the hell?

Song Kang-ho was also a bit embarrassed, after all, he was the initiator of the gathering, and now it had turned out like this.

Jiang Wen smiled and said to Zhao Fusheng: "Since we're here, let's take it as it comes. Just treat it as a meal."

He had never expected so many actresses to show up—what the hell!

If this got back to Fan Baobao, wouldn't she say he was trying to set Zhao Fusheng up with women?

Damn!

Doom!

Doom is imminent!

Jiang Wen cursed inwardly but kept a straight face and said to Kwak Jae-yong with a smile: "Director Kwak, how about we chat about movies later?"

At this point, that was all he could say.

Kwak Jae-yong was also shrewd; he immediately understood Jiang Wen's intention and nodded repeatedly.