In Jinling (Nanjing), Yuffie was back home after a long day of shooting a TV drama.
She washed the makeup off her face, leaving her fair skin looking soft and youthful. As she usually did, she opened her computer to browse for news about Luke.
She didn't even have to look hard; he was on the front page again!
"The Bloodshed Sparked by a Football!"
Bloodshed? Football?
What did this have to do with Luke? Yuffie clicked on the news and read it carefully.
She had read the initial trigger for the whole thing, A Letter from the Future, many times. And she was well aware of the public uproar Luke had caused by deciding to play the role of a quarterback.
At the time, Yuffie had even gone to the comments section to defend Luke, only to be attacked by a mob of people, which had really ticked her off. But mostly, she was worried. She didn't know how Luke would handle such a huge wave of negative press.
Even though some Asia media were already hyping him up as a world superstar, Yuffie knew that his foundation in Hollywood, which was dominated by white actors, was still fragile. To land a lead role, he had to go for a "soft target" like Pirates of the Caribbean. And even then, he needed to be paired with Anne Hathaway as an onscreen couple to secure the part of Will.
When she voiced her concerns, Luke kept his mouth shut, refusing to reveal anything, only telling her to "wait and see."
So, what did she see? She saw Luke actually stepping onto the field to play football! And not only did he play, he gave a championship team a total shutout!
He hadn't hesitated to slap them across the face and use them as a stepping stone. Then, he immediately changed his tune and let up, playing the good guy.
How cunning!
That was seriously manipulative! The "slap followed by a treat" move meant the opponent had to swallow their resentment and still smile while talking about how much they liked Luke.
Wasn't that a little much?
But Yuffie loved it! She loved this aggressive, dominant Luke who charged forward without fear. She also loved his sense of proportion—knowing when to quit while he was ahead.
The subsequent developments made Yuffie want to laugh even more.
Luke's performance had initially impressed three of North America's four major sports leagues. The NBA official, maybe too proud to admit defeat, had to jump out and provoke Luke. The result? Luke immediately used a shooting exhibition to destroy him, costing him his job.
The whole rollercoaster ride was more exciting than fiction.
Yuffie couldn't help but wonder how the general public back home was reacting. Compared to the time before the release of Hero, when people were just starting to notice a Asia actor named Luke, the public knew a lot more about him now. The more popular Luke became in China, the happier Yuffie felt.
"Luke really brought honor to the country this time! I just love seeing him slap those arrogant white guys in the face."
"Is that the 'honor to the country' you mean? I thought you were talking about riding foreign horses or something! But yeah, this was awesome. It completely matches when he crushed the Japanese martial arts scene. We'll be talking about this for years!"
"I've been his fan since watching Hero. I had no idea my idol was such a beast! I don't get football, but I get the shutout! That was so cool!"
"If you don't get football, you get basketball, right? Why didn't you bring that up? That basket-shooting display absolutely won me over. I couldn't make that last shot in a hundred, no, five hundred tries."
"Five hundred tries? Haha, you'd be lucky to even hit the rim."
"If Luke actually played basketball and teamed up with Yao Ming, could they win the World Championship?"
"It's possible, but Luke has clearly stated he won't formally compete in professional sports. He wants to keep his focus on his film career."
"That's a bit of a shame, but I still support his decision."
"Where is Luke's ancestral home? Is he from the North or the South? How could a genius like this be born?"
"He's never said, but I saw a journalist interview his high school classmates. Apparently, he told them his father was from Qi-Lu (Shandong) and his mother was from Guang-Yue (Guangdong)."
"A North-South mix! Amazing!"
"How is that a 'mix'?"
"Why wouldn't it be? The differences between North and South in our country are bigger than the differences between many small foreign countries!"
Seeing the comments were almost entirely full of love for Luke, Yuffie felt a sense of shared pride.
She closed the article, only to be immediately drawn to the next headline:
The Movie Hero Is a Massive Hit in South Korea, Skyrocketing Luke's Popularity!
Huh? Luke is blowing up in Korea too?
After being hit hard by the 1997 financial crisis, South Korea had to adopt a national strategy focused on cultural products, prioritizing the export of their creative works. In recent years, K-dramas like My Sassy Girl, Autumn in My Heart, and Winter Sonata had swept across Asia, making South Korea a new cultural export powerhouse.
It was a big change, considering that for years, South Korea had been under the shadow of Hong Kong cinema. Stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, Joey Wong, and Brigitte Lin were hugely famous in Korea. Many Korean artists were their fans and considered it an honor to work with them.
But with Korea focusing on its own cultural output, it had become much harder to break into the Korean market. Yet, Luke's Hero had managed to do it.
The report claimed that the movie had already surpassed 10 million admissions in South Korea! That's the level of a true blockbuster! In the Korean market, a film with over 10 million admissions breaks through all boundaries and becomes a film loved by the entire nation.
(In another timeline, Hero's 1.91 million admissions in Korea was considered quite successful; this result was five times better.)
This success was likely thanks to Luke's sustained fame in North America. It's not surprising that someone who makes waves in the "Daddy country" (the US) is idolized in the "son country" (a subtle reference to Korea's historical relationship and cultural reverence for American trends).
Many Korean actresses had openly expressed their admiration for Luke and their hope for a chance to collaborate with him. Those who went public included: Kim Hee-sun, Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Young-ae, and Choi Ji-woo...
As for the younger stars like Jun Ji-hyun, Son Ye-jin, and Kim Tae-hee—did they not want to work with Luke? Of course they did, but their status was currently too low. Making such a request would be seen as arrogant and overreaching—like a toad dreaming of eating swan meat.
That wish had to be kept silently in their hearts, hoping for a future opportunity to propose a collaboration.
Naturally, some Korean netizens were bound to ask:
"Is Luke's ethnicity mistaken? Maybe he has Korean blood; maybe he is Korean."
Yuffie sneered at this greedy, "thieving" behavior. "Dream on. Everything's possible in a dream."