After finishing his exchange with Lei Jun, Chen Yiyang called Gena, asking him to inquire about the Yandex search engine in Russia for him.
However, Gena has yet to respond to Chen Yiyang.
Schaefer has had better progress on his end.
After connecting with Cui Zhihao, he quickly gained the other's trust.
Thus, under Schaefer's pretense of effort, Busan's World Expo preparatory committee soon received inside information.
Italy decided to withdraw from the competition to host this World Expo, opting to compete next ti.
This huge beneficial news cheered up the Koreans imdiately.
Because previously, Korea hadn't considered Saudi Arabia a competitor, always seeing Italy's Ro as the biggest threat.
Now that Ro is withdrawing from the competition, Korea believes that Busan is sure to win the hosting rights for this World Expo.
So they gave Schaefer so promotional videos, asking him to pass the USBs containing these videos as gifts to the heads of various National Museums.
After obtaining the promotional videos in Korea, Schaefer realized that Busan is not far from the Imperial Capital.
So he decided to fly to the Imperial Capital to et Chen Yiyang.
"Should I arrange so exciting activities for you?" Chen Yiyang asked Schaefer upon eting him.
"No, no." Upon hearing Chen Yiyang's words, Schaefer straightened up and said, "I've been exhausted in South Korea these days.
The Koreans are very hospitable, wave after wave of entertainnt, along with lots of celebrities."
"Who are they?" Chen Yiyang was curious.
When he previously went to Korea he didn't receive such good treatnt, indicating his status wasn't high enough back then.
"I don't recognize those celebrities. But when I was about to go to Korea, a few of my little nieces asked to get so signatures and gifts from their favorite Korean female idols.
When I ended up looking for these people, I realized that I had already t so of them in bed before.
It's really hard to explain, how am I supposed to tell my cute little nieces when I return."
"The purpose of idols is to make people believe in beauty. If it's inconvenient, just don't say it.
Chen Yiyang thought it was no big deal.
In this world, idols marketed and promoted hardly have any good people if investigated carefully.
But as long as they can keep their scandals hidden and fade away from public view after a few stable years, they've already done well as idols.
Schaefer must have been well entertained in Korea.
After receiving Schaefer at the hotel, Schaefer surprisingly expressed his desire to stay in the hotel and rest without wandering around.
So Chen Yiyang accompanied Schaefer in the hotel to watch the promotional videos given by Koreans.
Insert the USB, open the computer, play the video.
A finger from an idol star Chen Yiyang didn't recognize imdiately appeared on the screen, followed by a spoken sentence.
only one choice.
Translated, it ans, "there's only one choice."
Then the video continues.
More stars appeared.
No matter if they were male or female celebrities, they all only said one line.
That there's only one choice.
Not being a fan of Korean idols, Chen Yiyang surprisingly saw all of Korea's famous idols in this video.
"Well."
Chen Yiyang felt a bit awkward.
He turned to look at Schaefer.
Schaefer's expression was even more twisted.
"Did I take the wrong stuff?" Schaefer couldn't believe that Busan, such a key city in a developed country like Korea, would use a promotional video featuring pop stars saying "there's only one choice" when competing for the World Expo, a grand event aid at showcasing cultures, technology, and future developnt.
This promotional video, if shown to the heads of the exhibition bureau mber countries.
There would indeed be only one choice left.
Though pop culture exists everywhere, national leaders surely care about face, at least superficially aiming for humanity's future and the flourishing of civilization.
Countries should strive to develop technology and culture.
Here, culture genuinely helps human civilization's growth, not re entertainnt with male and female celebrities swaying their hips and indulging desires.
"I'll call and ask." Schaefer took out his phone and called his contact at the Korea Exhibition Bureau.
Then he received confirmation from their end.
The video wasn't taken wrongly.
This was indeed the promotional video Korea spent a fortune on for competing as the hosting city of the World Expo.
"Korean colleagues are really good at making money." Schaefer couldn't help but express after hanging up.
"What do you an?" Chen Yiyang asked curiously.
"Think about this promotional video, it seems like they've hired so many stars, but in reality, for such a national-level project, these stars would hardly charge a fee to shoot the video; most of them helped for free.
Yet they claim it was fild with huge expenses, how much money would they have pocketed in the process."
"Amazing." Chen Yiyang hadn't considered this perspective.
But if placed in other countries, Chen Yiyang agreed with Schaefer.
Because when officials think about such grand events as the World Expo, they consider showcasing their country's technological developnt and future planning.
However, it's different with Koreans.
Koreans have repeatedly allowed girl groups who dance on the edge to sway their hips in relatively serious national occasions.
Chen Yiyang felt that Koreans had an issue with their promotional strategy.
In terms of external promotion, Koreans have actually been awkward for a long ti.
Because foreign promotion mainly targets ordinary citizens.
Yet most ordinary citizens, never mind understanding how many countries exist or their characteristics, knowing the na of a country is already difficult enough.
So many countries' external image is ford by accumulated stereotypes.
Japan has succeeded in this aspect.
Post-war Japan caught the wave of the rise of international pop culture.
Japanese samurai swords, the culture of mono-no-aware, various Japanese electronics, and ani successfully etched Japan into the minds of foreigners.
It portrays a nation with an abstract spirit, developed technology, well-functioning society, cleanliness, and a love for picking up trash.
These descriptions may not be accurate, but Japan indeed promoted itself.
When it ca to Korea's rise, they encountered difficulties in foreign promotion.
For taekwondo, people say it looks a lot like Japan's karate, categorized under Japan.
For traditional costus, they say they resemble Japan's traditional costus, categorized under Japan or Huaxia.
For technology, Korea had no significantly impactful technology compared to Japan.
While in pop culture, Japan created a new cultural category with ani.
Though niche, ani is niche worldwide, which indeed makes it substantial when combined.
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