At midnight on Sunday, Korean time, millions will tune their televisions or radios into Manchester United kicking off against Chelsea, none of them sure if their main man will even feature.
For this is hero worship, Asian-style, and the man they all adore is Park Ji-sung, the most successful footballer the world's largest continent has produced.
It is also music to the ears of United's money men because, increasingly, even the most far-flung fans are translating to cash. What does Park life sound like at Old Trafford? Ker-ching.
Sales of United merchandise in Korea, including but not exclusively Park-emblazoned shirts, is now a 'multi-millionpound' earner each year, say the club.
Just over a million Koreans have a United-branded credit or debit card, many showing Park's face. United earn an undisclosed sum from each.
United have played lucrative pre-season matches in South Korea's capital, Seoul, twice since Park signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2005, during Asian tours in 2007 and 2009. The income from those sell-out games was 'multi-million'.
Audited data shows that 40million South Koreans in total watch United games on TV each season, or roughly one million people per game. The club have a Korean language website that attracts four million users annually.
That platform is seen as hugely important to some of United's biggest sponsors and partners, including Audi, Aon and Nike, to deliver their pitches in a language and style that works locally. And there are official South Korean United restaurants in Seoul and Daegu.
Tot up the income from shirts and financial services, from the tours and cafes and sponsor related income derived from the website, not to mention an indefinable sum from Premier League overseas TV rights that might be attributed to United's lure in Korea, and it is many millions per year.
If Park is not quite the man who pays his own way - because, United argue with justification, they would be popular in Korea in any case, and that their signing him helped send his star into orbit - then he certainly keeps the bank manager happy.
United have more than 300m fans around the world, and claim 27m in South Korea from a population of 49m. Jang Hee-Sung, a Daegu taxi driver in her mid-forties, said: 'We call Ji-Sung "Hero" because we're so proud of his achievements. He is as popular as the president. Maybe more! I watch United because Park plays for them.'
In Suwon, the city where Park grew up and where the national football museum has its own Park Ji-Sung room, I meet Hyoshin Park, a fan in his twenties.
He said: 'Park is adored not just as a good player but for his character. Even people who don't particularly like soccer are interested in him, and in United.'
The reaction is the same everywhere. Not a single person was unaware of Park and that he played for United. There is a Park Ji-Sung Street in Suwon and Park has his own charitable JS Foundation HQ nearby, based at his own football academy, which has its own Park museum, and where 500 children a week go to play on grass pitches.
The only son of Myung-Ja and father Sung-Jong caused his parents huge concerns as a frail youngster, so the family turned to a traditional Korean menu to help him grow and increase his strength - boiled frogs, antlers and deer blood.
'It smelled like intestines, as if deadly and undrinkable,' Park Sung-Jong recalled in a Korean TV documentary. Park Ji-sung himself added that he was unaware at the time what he was consuming.
'I know now that I ate frogs,' he said. 'I ate antlers and deer blood. If it was good for my body, I ate a lot. I'd sometimes throw up after eating but still I ate what I was given. I wanted to be good at football and my desire was greater than my distaste at eating these foods.'
Park's father recalled this week: 'There are two reasons he was deeply into football. First, there were not many sports which children were easily able to learn in Korea in the Nineties, but with football you could begin early. Second, he recognised you could enjoy playing without great strength or size - and as a smaller boy, he was attracted to it.'
Hwang Jae-Lee, from the JS Foundation, stresses that Park's academy is primarily to give children access to sport, not to develop saleable players. United insist their popularity in Korea is long-standing and not reliant on Park.
'That said, Ji is a fantastic player in terms of how he conducts himself on and off the pitch and our sponsors and fans are hugely appreciative of what he does,' said a spokesman. Such is Park life - that and watching games in your pyjamas.
"I have had some big injuries and missed quite a lot of games, but to still make 200 games is brilliant. I have tried to become a better player and my team-mates and the coaching staff have helped me a lot to improve my game."
