In smash Netflix hit Squid Game, people in financial trouble are given a mysterious card with a phone number, and callers end up playing life-and-death games for money. This has caused some major issues for the South Korean woman whose phone number appears on the card, reports Reuters. Kim Gil-young, who runs a business in Seongju in southeast South Korea, says she has received thousands of calls and messages, including many from people seeking to play the Squid Game. She says she wasn't aware her number appeared in the show until a friend notified her.
Kim told local media that the deluge of calls was making daily life very difficult, the BBC reports. "This is a number that I've been using for more than ten years, so I'm quite taken aback," she said. "There are more than 4,000 numbers that I've had to delete from my phone." According to the SBS network, she has rejected an offer of more than $5,000 for the number, saying it is her longtime business number and she needs it for client contacts. Reuters notes that the South Korean Film Council offers filmmakers phone numbers that are not in use, but this service is not available to Netflix or other streaming services.
Netflix—which has urged viewers not to call the number—says scenes will be edited to remove the number. "Together with the production company, we are working to resolve this matter, including editing scenes with phone numbers where necessary," the company says. The Guardian reports that the eight-digit number seen in the first two episodes has now been replaced with a six-digit number that returns an error message when called. (More Squid Game stories.)
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