Immensely popular South Korean actor Song Joong Ki, who plays army captain Yoo Shi Jin in the record-breaking series Descendants of the Sun, has reached another level.
According to reports swirling around the net, the pictures of the 30-year-old actor clad in army uniform are being imprinted on the hell notes for the departed souls in China.
Reportedly, on seeing the adoration of the star among people, many merchants got Joong Ki's picture printed on joss paper and are selling it as offerings families can use in the ongoing Qingming festival.
Traditionally, families burn spirit money and paper replicas of all the daily necessities like phones, cars, homes and paper servants as an offering to the deceased persons to be used in their afterlife.
The notes bearing boyish looking hunk Joong Ki's picture came in denominations of 50,000 yuan, the highest value in the South Korea's paper currency. According to Scmp, the notes are "being sold alongside other types of hell money portraying popular characters from Chinese mythology, such as the Jade Emperor, the presiding monarch of heaven in Taoism, and Yanluo, the King of Hell."
The South Korean drama Descendants of the Sun, which is set to culminate on April 16, is insanely popular in China. The show which telecasts on Baidu 's video-streaming affiliate iQiyi.com in the country has reached the record breaking number of 1 billion views in the period of just two months.
Reportedly, the popularity of the show has reached such an extent that that China's Ministry of Public Security has issued a warning to Chinese viewers that watching too much of it could lead to "marital strife and criminal behaviour".