A few days ago, I read a fascinating thread on Threads. A user shared the story of how a Korean drama (K-drama) saved her family's finances.
I just tried to find the thread again but couldn't; the gist of it goes like this.
Her name is Ayu; she is the eldest child of a Balinese father and a Japanese mother. In the thread, she explained that her father worked as a tour guide in Bali, while her mother managed a website promoting tour guide services—specifically, her father's services.
Her mother loved watching K-dramas. She would spend hours on end binge-watching one series after another.
Her father, on the other hand, wasn't interested at all. He even used to say that her mother was just wasting time on something useless—watching K-dramas.
As a family that relied entirely on tourism for their livelihood, they depended heavily on the guests her father handled. There came a time, however, when her father struggled to find clients—whether due to stiff competition among tour guides and travel agencies, or simply because it was the low season; I forget the exact details.
Amidst her routine tasks—managing the website, checking bookings, and organizing her father's schedule—her mother continued watching her favorite K-dramas.
At the time, the K-drama making waves was Memories of Bali (also known as What Happened in Bali or Something Happened in Bali).
"Hey, do you recognize the location in this scene?" her mother asked her father.
"That's Kuta Beach, right over here..."
"And this one?"
"How about this one?"
Ayu's mother took out a notebook and jotted down the location for every scene, noting exactly at which minute mark each one appeared.
Her father could only shake his head at her behavior.
By the time she finished the series, her mother had a comprehensive list of the filming locations used in Memories of Bali.
Her next move was to revamp their travel website by creating a brand-new tour package. The headline went something like this: "Come explore every scene from the show Memories of Bali with us. Book now—this tour package is in high demand. Don't miss out!"
And—BOOM!
The tour package took off. Many tourists—especially K-drama fans—booked the tour. They wanted to visit every location in Bali that appeared in the show.
They probably imagined they were starring in the show themselves... hehehe...
There was one location that left her father baffled. Crowds of visitors would hysterically hug a specific coconut tree and take photos with it.
It turned out to be the very same coconut tree that the main character had repeatedly struck in one of the scenes.
"It's crazy—people actually hug a coconut tree and are willing to wait in line just to take a picture with it!" her father recounted.
Thanks to that Korean drama, Ayu's family's financial situation improved. In my opinion, this was also due to her mother's intuition and creative ideas.
From then on, Ayu's father started watching Memories of Bali and grew to love it.
Ever since I read that story, I've looked at hobbies a little differently. We often judge an activity by how "productive" it appears on the surface, yet we never know where the next good idea will come from. For Ayu's family, it came from countless hours of watching K-dramas. What once seemed like a pointless pastime became the spark that helped them through difficult times. Sometimes, the value of a hobby isn't found in the activity itself, but in the opportunities it quietly reveals.
Cover image created using ChatGPT
2nd image form Wikipedia
