The Phone Number Featured On 'Squid Game' Is Real And The Owner Is Being Harassed By Fans
The South Korean man said that he received up to 4,000 calls a day and resorted to using sleeping pills to help him rest during this stressful situation.
By Arisha Rozaidee — 29 Sep 2021, 04:38 PM
A man in South Korea has reportedly been swamped with phone calls and text messages after his phone number appeared in the popular Netflix series Squid Game
In the show, desperate folks who are in need of money are approached by strangers who then pass them a business card with a phone number displayed on it. If an individual would like to stand a chance to win a cash prize, all they'd have to do is call the phone number on the card and participate in a series of games.
According to The Korea Times, it turns out that the phone number featured on the show was not purely made up for the series.
Viewers have been calling and sending text messages to the number out of curiosity but the number actually belongs to a man who says that he hasn't been able to continue with his normal life due to endless calls.
The man noted that he was getting around 4,000 phone calls a day and initially thought they were spam calls as he was not aware of the show.
He had been using the same number for the past 10 years and it is linked to his business.
The man is currently in his 40s and is residing in the Gyeonggi Province. He said that he only found out about Squid Game after one of the callers told him that his number was featured on the programme.
He also revealed that he received calls from those who sounded like children, claiming that they also "wanted to be in the game".
These phone calls would bother him even at 3am and he'd also receive text messages and pictures. Even his wife has to deal with calls from strangers as she has the same number except for the last digit.
The Korea Times noted that the man has resorted to using sleeping pills to help him fall asleep throughout this stressful period. However, the man said that changing his phone number is not an option.
The drama production company is in negotiations with the phone number owner to resolve the pressing issue.
On the other hand, a South Korean politician has offered to purchase the phone number at KRW100 million (approximately RM353,948.15)
The National Revolutionary Party's honorary chief Huh Kyung-young wrote on Facebook, "I heard that the owner of the phone number showed on a business card in Squid Game is suffering serious damage from prank calls. I would like to buy the number for 100 million won."
Huh has run in a number of major elections since 1997, the most recent one being the Seoul mayoral by-election in April.
