Imagine getting phone calls from thousands of people from all around the world because a popular TV show decided to make your phone number public.

Yikes!

A production error

The unfortunate incident happened to one poor man who's suffering from the popularity of Netflix's latest South Korean hit TV show 'Squid Game'.

For those who've yet to watch the show (you should, because it's brilliant), 'Squid Game' is a survival drama where willing but cash-strapped participants take part in a series of deadly games in hopes of winning a cash prize of ₩45.6 billion (RM162 million).

In the show, mysterious men in suits would approach their victims and hand them a name card. If they're interested to take part in the games, they would have to call the number and confirm their participation.

And that's where the problem starts for the poor owner of the phone number.

According to Koreaboo, the unnamed owner of the phone number in real life has been fielding phone calls from curious fans who've decided to ring the number to say hello.

The production crew behind 'Squid Games' reportedly made the mistake of taking out the first three digits of the number instead of the middle or the last four.

As explained by Koreaboo, the first three digits of a phone number in South Korea are area code by city, with the most common one being 010 for Seoul. So, if you happen to be in Seoul, dialling the eight numbers without the city code would still connect you to the call.

Due to that boo-boo, the owner of the phone number had to deal with fans from the show ever since 'Squid Games' premiered on the streaming site on 17 September.

'Hard to go on with daily life'

The owner of the phone number who declined to be named (but we'll call him Bob so that it'll be easier to identify him) told Money Today, as quoted by Koreaboo, that his life has been a living hell ever since his digits were made public by the show.

"After 'Squid Game' aired, I have been receiving calls and texts endlessly, 24/7, to the point that it’s hard for me to go on with daily life.

"This is a number that I’ve been using for more than 10 years, so I’m quite taken aback," Bob was quoted as saying.

Bob told the entertainment portal that he had to delete more than 4,000 numbers from his phone, and the harassment is slowly but surely taking a toll on his life.

"It’s to the point where due to people reaching out without a sense of day and night due to their curiosity, my phone’s battery is drained and turns off," he added.

At first, Bob didn't know why his phone was blowing up until a friend told him about 'Squid Game' and his phone number's unfortunate cameo.

Interestingly, Bob also shared a screen shot of a text message from a fan of the show who had tried calling his number:

According to Koreaboo, the fan apologised for contacting Bob but curiousity got the better of him/her.

"There’s a hot drama recently called 'Squid Game' that’s produced by Netflix and in the invitation card there, the eight digits of the phone number [censored] was written.

"As it was only eight digits, I thought it wouldn’t exist and so I tried calling it but it connected automatically. I thought that of course the production team would’ve taken preventive measures.

"I’m sorry. The number appears in episode 1 and 2. You can confirm it around the 23:44 mark for the first episode. I’m sorry once more for contacting you late at night," the fan reportedly wrote.

This is not the first time fans of a movie or a series have dialled up phone numbers shown on screen due to their curiousity, but most of the time, the numbers don't really belong to anyone or they'll direct you to a recorded voice message to promote the show, like what Neflix did for 'Haunting Of Hill House'.

Unfortunately for Bob, the number is real and he has to deal with the harassment for a bit.