Peninsula diplomat: My second life with a top celebrity

It was nearly 10 o'clock, but there were still quite a few people in the restaurant. The five of them couldn't find a large table, so they naturally split into two groups.

Bae Dong-young sighed with regret and sat down at a small table with Jung Do-hoon.

"Can't you feel comfortable not sitting at the same table as these beauties? Should I go and find someone else?" Zheng Daoxun joked as he looked at the three women not far away.

Kim Minjung was chatting casually with Mina, and after their eyes briefly met, his eyes crinkled, a stark contrast to his previous listlessness.

As for Xueyun, she kept her head down and ate her meal in silence.

"Stop joking with me, clerk..." Bae Dong-young grinned and remarked, then his expression turned serious. "I've also seen the Expo promotional plan you forwarded to me this morning, and it's hard to give a proper evaluation. Besides, using 'Gangnam Style' as the background music for the Busan Expo—isn't that completely irrelevant?"

A World Expo promotional video that hopes to attract global attention with K-pop stars is inherently uncreative, especially considering that the Korean Wave has been declining in recent years. If it were ten years ago, it might have had some positive effect.

Zheng Daoxun smiled helplessly: "Those people in the Ministry of Culture and Sports only think about their own performance. The Cultural Exchange Festival was originally organized by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Sports, but after the passport issue arose, they just pretended to be dead."

If it weren't for the fact that Jung Do-hoon had only recently taken office and hadn't yet dealt with the people from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, he would definitely have dragged the other side along to deal with the problem this time.

We can't expect the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clean up all the messes when problems arise, only to have them take the lion's share of the credit when it comes to assigning tasks.

"Secretary," Pei Dongyong clicked his tongue in disapproval, his tone becoming more cautious, "You may not know, but I must remind you, our relationship with the Department of Arts and Sports is quite complicated..."

In his previous life, Zheng Daoxun had worked in the Cultural Exchange Department for over a year. How could he not be aware of the grudges and entanglements between the two departments?

Simply put, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is like a sales department in a company, with sales targets as the performance evaluation criteria. Their only concern is the growth of the K-pop industry.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is more like a functional support department in a company, which needs to take into account issues such as international situation, citizen safety, and population movement. When things are going well, the two sides cooperate to achieve results; when things are not going well, the two sides hinder each other.

To give an example from the previous life, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism applied to shorten the E5 visa approval process for fans to come to Korea to watch concerts, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to consider whether someone would take advantage of loopholes in the process to illegally stay in Korea for a long time and did not agree to shorten the approval process.

Just as Jung Do-hoon woke up and said something, Bae Dong-young mysteriously continued, "Especially Fang Zhixiu, the section chief from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism who is in charge of our work. She's no ordinary person and not to be trifled with. Even when Brother Yong was around, he had to give this young lady some leeway."

Bae Dong-young introduced this Busan woman named Bang Ji-soo, who, although only 29 years old, was not good at her job, but had a straightforward and explosive personality. In the South Korean civil service system, no one wanted to clash with someone like her.

Zheng Daoxun nodded slightly after hearing this, but his gaze remained calm. If Fang Zhixiu were truly an outstanding task, he should have remembered her, but after going through his mind, he couldn't recall the name.

Even if she is indeed very assertive, Zheng Daoxun has ways to make her compromise, but those are his last resort, to be used only as a last resort, as they could easily lead to a breakdown in relations.

"Taking advantage of this unexpected incident, we'll go back and draft a 'Regulations on the Safety Management of Overseas Cultural Activities' to strengthen the review process for artists traveling to countries like Indonesia to participate in activities..."

After all, Jeong Do-hoon's core work is preparing for the application to host the 2030 Busan World Expo, so it doesn't matter if cultural exchange work is put on hold for now.

While the two were having a lively discussion about work, the atmosphere at the four-person table not far away was not so pleasant.

Xueyun secretly glanced at Kim Minjung across from her, inwardly grumbling—

If Kim Minjung really cares about Secretary Jung Do-hoon, he should just pick up his plate and sit down there. Why does he have to be a troublemaker here and make everyone feel awkward?

The girl couldn't help but think that she wished she were like Mina, who, despite not being very outgoing, could at least calmly handle the atmosphere where everyone was distracted and unable to connect with each other.

"Now you have passports but can't leave. It's really bad luck with the weather." Mina squinted and glanced at the torrential rain outside the window. Under the dark clouds, the dense rain made the outlines of the tall buildings blurry.

"But it's not all bad news." Kim Minjung rested his chin on his hand, still glancing at Jung Dohoon every now and then. "I don't usually have much time to get close to Mina sunbaenim, so now I have a chance to chat with her more."

She didn't actually want to get close to Senior Mina; she clearly wanted to stick to Secretary Zheng Daoxun—a girl who was eating silently with her head down and couldn't get a word in edgewise thought to herself.

"I just heard that the hotel has a movie theater. How about we go see a movie together after dinner?" Mina said casually, enjoying the brief look of surprise and hesitation on Kim Minjung's face.

Mina had hoped to use the opportunity of having dinner together to get some information out of Jung Do-hoon, as she had a feeling that he was hiding some secret.

"Didn't you want to get closer?" she added.

Kim Minjung smiled awkwardly, pinching his earlobe, and said, "I already have other plans with the members this afternoon. After I get back to Seoul, I'll go see a movie with my seniors."

"Don't miss out!"

Mina is so cool! After finishing the last bit of coconut rice in her bowl, Seol-yoon couldn't help but give the woman next to her a mental thumbs up.

Her head felt a little itchy; it felt like knowledge was about to grow inside her.

"Minjung, what brings you to dinner again..." A voice broke the delicate balance at the dinner table.

The woman who walked over, always without makeup, her cheeks as smooth as a peeled quail egg, sat down next to Kim Minjung with a puzzled look on her face: "Are you going to Ningning's room to play mahjong this afternoon? We messaged you but you didn't reply, we've been looking for you everywhere. We're one short."

Liu Zhimin is here too? The situation is starting to get interesting—Xueyun secretly glanced at Jin Minzheng, who was embarrassed and forcing a smile. She suddenly realized that it was really difficult to suppress a smile.

Kim Minjung, caught off guard, let out a long, drawn-out "Eh?" and said, "Didn't I agree? I guess the message just didn't send successfully."

"Ah, I guess the signal in Indonesia isn't very good." Liu Zhimin didn't think much of it, but simply followed Kim Minjun's gaze to the young man not far away.

Wow, not bad looking. Is she a new artist from some company?

"That's Secretary Zheng Daoxun from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He's the one who helped us get our passports back this time." Xueyun spoke for the first time at the dinner table—based on her newly acquired knowledge, she was certain that Mina would say the same thing.

Seol-yoon suppressed a smile and looked at the somewhat uncomfortable Kim Min-jung—this woman's ambition was far too strong; it was as if she knew Jung Do-hoon even if she couldn't see her teammates.

"Oh, then I should go say hello." Liu Zhimin thought for a moment, then got up and walked towards Zheng Daoxun.