Netflix viewers across the globe are currently streaming Squid Game season 2, keen to discover the fate of characters in the hit dystopian series from South Korea.
The narrative picks up three years after Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) decides against boarding a plane, determined to end the lethal competition that continues to entice new players with its massive cash reward.
Before launching its second season, Netflix was compelled to implement a significant alteration to the series, as an element from the first season had nearly wrecked a woman's life.
The pivotal detail emerges in the opening episode when Gi-hun is handed a business card featuring an enigmatic eight-digit number.
For one unfortunate individual, this number proved to be all too real once the South Korean mobile prefix of 010 was added, reports the Mirror US.
Kim Gil-young from Seongju, South Korea, experienced an unpleasant surprise when Squid Game premiered back in 2021.
As the show soared to become the most-watched series in 90 countries, curious fans began dialling the number displayed on screen to see if it was genuine.
In an interview with Money Today at the time, Gil-young recounted how she was overwhelmed with messages and calls from thousands of individuals, to such an extent that it became "difficult" for her to lead a normal life.
"Since the airing of Squid Game, I've been receiving texts and calls 24 hours a day, to the point where it's difficult to live my daily life," she lamented.
"This is a number that I've been using for more than 10 years, so I'm quite taken aback. There are more than 4,000 numbers that I've had to delete from my phone.
"I get calls out of curiosity day and night without any sense of time, to the point where my phone battery would run out in half a day."
The situation worsened when the number also appeared in Episode 2, leaving Gil-young bewildered until she realised the cause.
"At first, I didn't know what it meant, but I found out when my friends told me, 'Your number appears in Squid Game,'" she said.
Unable to change her business number, Gil-young reached out to Netflix and Siren Pictures for a solution.
Thankfully, Netflix quickly edited out her number, substituting it with the non-functional digits: 010-034. Both the streaming service and Siren Pictures also implored fans to stop the prank calls and messages.
For season 2, the same business card is featured, but this time, precautions have been taken by the streaming giant and production company to prevent a repeat of the issue.
Squid Game season 2 is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.
