South Korean man inundated with over 4,000 calls a day since his number appears on Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, October 2

While Netflix’s new series ‘Squid Game’ is having a great run, a South Korean man is living a nightmare, all thanks to the show. This is because his personal phone number was incorporated in the Netflix show and people can’t stop calling and texting him to see if it’s real. Many have even been telling him that they want to participate in the fictitious tournament in the show.

‘Squid Game’ is a fictional Korean drama series in which contestants compete in a mysterious survival game that turns children’s games into deadly traps, for the chance to win 45.6 billion won (about $38.7 million).

In the first two episodes of the show, a suspicious character played by actor Gong Yoo hands out business cards containing an eight-digit number that to cash-strapped people he believes may want participate in the game. Little did anyone know at this point that the number on the card would be that of a living man in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea who would start receiving around 4,000 calls a day (with no respite even at night) where people including children are telling him they want to be in the game not knowing it is fictional.

As reported by Insider, South Korea’s National Revolutionary Party’s honorary chief, Huh Kyung-young has offered this man 100 million won in exchange for the number. Huh Kyung-young on his Facebook wrote, “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.”

The phone owner however is unwilling to change his number because he has been using it for 10 years and says it is linked with his business. Although the entire situation has caused the phone user much grief, there may be a reconciliatory payday coming his way. According to Insider, Netflix said the production company behind ‘Squid Game’ is negotiating with the phone-number user to resolve the issue.