AH

Fair enough. Hopefully it was just a one-off mistake that won't occur again.

Very odd. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the comment was deleted in error because the mods were dealing with such a high volume of comments that violated the terms in this comment section?

But maybe try creating a new discussion in the support thread (https://kisskh.at/discussions/support) to see if you can get clarification directly from the mods? If you still have an old tab open with the comment, submitting a screenshot of it would probably help.

You're welcome!

That's very concerning. Was the comment that you replied to also deleted? If so, do you recall if it included any content that violated the terms?

In most cases, comments that violate the terms will not be deleted immediately. I don't know the exact protocol that the mods follow, but it seems like users first need to report the comments that are in violation and then mods sometimes review those reports and make deletions in waves with a bunch of deletions being made at one time.

Do you remember Yu Ri's breaking news broadcast near the end of episode 12, where she mentioned "Izmael" and "Paltima"? That scene created a massive controversy that led to a campaign for certain netizens to give the drama low ratings (e.g., 0.5/10) and bad reviews as a form of protest. That accounts for a major portion of the ratings dip. You can read more about it in the discussion threads. The comment section became a warzone for several days and many of us would prefer not to reignite that level of hostility again here.

On top of that, many MDL users only rate dramas after they have completed the whole drama, so those users' ratings were only accounted for after the drama ended. And (even apart from the news bulletin scene controversy) many viewers (although obviously not all) felt that the ending was not as enjoyable as the rest of the drama. That also contributed towards the ratings dip.

They have not removed all comments that make reference to political issues. They removed comments that violated MDL's terms.

By using MDL, all users agree to MDL's Terms of Use (https://kisskh.at/terms), which includes the following requirements under the "Rules and Conduct" Section:

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When you create or make available a Contribution, you represent and warrant that you:

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- will not post or submit Contributions that: (i) are defamatory, damaging, disruptive, unlawful, inappropriate, offensive, inaccurate, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, profane, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, threatening, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable; (ii) incite, encourage or threaten immediate physical harm against another, including but not limited to, Contributions that promote racism, bigotry, sexism, religious intolerance or harm against any group or individual; or (iii) contain material that solicits personal information from anyone under 13 or exploits anyone in a sexual or violent manner;

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This comment section had a lot of comments that were duplicates / spam where the user had copied and pasted the same content into new comments over and over again.

This comment section also had a lot of comments that included content that obviously violated the terms (e.g., death threats / promoting hate towards a certain race, religion, other group / etc.).

Many of those comments were reported by other users and, if the mods agreed with the report, the comments were removed.

There were also a lot of comments that expressed different views on sensitive political issues (like the conflict between Israel and Palestine) that weren't removed because they didn't violate MDL's terms.

More provocative? Girl just wait for their phone calls after he finds out that 406 is HHJ. 👀

Look at the kinds of things that a comment can be reported for.

Is a particular comment a duplicate / spam comment where a user has copied and pasted the same content over and over again? That's an appropriate thing for the mods to remove when it's reported.

Is a particular comment highly offensive in a pretty obvious and objective way (e.g., death threats / promoting hate towards a certain race, religion, other group / etc.)? That's an appropriate thing for the mods to remove when it's reported.

There were a lot of comments along those lines in this comment section. They were appropriately reported and removed.

There were also a lot of comments that expressed different views on sensitive issues like the conflict between Israel and Palestine that weren't removed because they weren't repetitive spam comments or comments that included things like death threats or hate speech. So, IMO, the mods have not been overzealous with their content moderation here.

To clarify, I don't think popsugar2203 or anyone else in this comment section has suggested that there is actual evidence (or even an unsubstantiated rumour) that any director forced any of the actors involved with this drama to do any specific scenes against their will or better judgement.

I think popsugar2203 was just saying that it was the writers of the drama script that made the unfortunate choice to add the Izmael / Paltima news bulletin (it wasn't something that they adapted from the novel), and by the time the actors received the script for the last episode, they likely would not have been in a position to decline the role or to ask for a re-write even if they didn't think including the scene was a good idea (even without the Netflix mistranslation debacle). But that's just a hypothetical "if". We don't actually know how the actors felt about it.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like this user might've just misinterpreted popsugar2203's comments about the possibility that an actor might sometimes have to do a scene that they don't necessarily agree with due to contractual obligations and thought that she was saying there was an actual rumour that a specific actor was forced by a director to do a specific scene.

https://kisskh.at/766179-the-number-you-have-dialed#comment-20131210

You're welcome!

The drama doesn't specifically show whether Chairman Hong actually used the contract to make requests from Baek Jang Ho before Baek Jang Ho died.

It's possible that Chairman Hong may have used the contract to request the engagement between HIA and the male lead. Although Chairman Hong didn't seem to be all that concerned after HIA received the paternity test (indicating that the male lead is not Baek Eui Yong's biological son) and wanted to call off the wedding, or when the plan changed so that the male lead would marry HHJ instead. And it seems like the engagement wouldn't give Chairman Hong much of a benefit, since he already knew the Baek family's darkest secret and could use that to get what he wanted from them without also needing to create a marital tie between the two families for the same purpose.

It's also possible that Chairman Hong might have used the contract to request that the male lead tutor HIA when they were both still teenagers (as we saw in flashbacks). But I feel like using the contract to request something so minor would kind of be overkill / unnecessary.

IMO, i's more likely that Chairman Hong just used the contract to request business favours that weren't interesting enough or weren't important enough to the plot to be depicted in the drama.

Chairman Hong also showed the contract to Baek Eui Yong and Sim Gyu Jin before the male lead's wedding with HHJ (as shown in the flashback in episode 8), and also revealed the circumstances of the contract (including the fact that he knows that the male lead replaced the real BSE), in order to convince those two to accept HHJ as their daughter-in-law instead of HIA. Baek Jang Ho was still alive at that point in the drama (since the male lead married HHJ three years before June 2024 and Baek Jang Ho died one year before June 2024), so I suppose Chairman Hong could have used the contract to get Baek Jang Ho to force Baek Eui Yong and Sim Gyu Jin to accept HHJ as their daughter-in-law. But I doubt that would have been necessary after Chairman Hong's meeting with them.

What? That's not at all what Baek Jang Ho promised? That had already occurred and was what Chairman Hong was angry about before they cut the deal.

The grandfather is Baek Jang Ho and HHJ's step father is Chairman Hong.

Baek Jang Ho paid a man to kill Chairman Hong's son (HHJ's half brother and HIA's half brother) by driving a truck into the car that the young boy was in. That same accident also killed their nanny (who was driving the car), caused HIA's deafness, and led to HHJ's mother forcing HHJ to pretend to be mute. Baek Jang Ho orchestrated the accident because HHJ's half brother saw the face of Baek Jang Ho's grandson (the real BSE, who later became the kidnapper / the man with different coloured eyes) who Baek Jang Ho kept hidden away from the world. The timing was very unfortunate and occurred right before Baek Jang Ho tried to kill the real BSE and replace him with the male lead.

Chairman Hong followed the assassin (the man who was paid to drive the truck / to kill Chairman Hong's son) all the way to the Philippines and forced him to confess that Baek Jang Ho was the one who paid him and gave the order to kill Chairman Hong's son. Obviously Chairman Hong was furious, and he threatened to kill Baek Jang Ho with his shotgun as revenge. But Baek Jang Ho explained that he had also experienced the loss of a young male family member (he thought his own grandson was also dead - because he thought he had killed his grandson himself) to try to appease Chairman Hong, and also reminded Chairman Hong that he would lose out on all the investments that he had made in Baek Jang Ho if Chairman Hong killed him. So he convinced Chairman Hong to cut a deal with him instead of killing him.

In that deal, Baek Jang Ho promised Chairman Hong that if Chairman Hong maintained the confidentiality clause of their contract and didn't tell anyone about these things (about Baek Jang Ho killing his real grandson, about Baek Jang Ho replacing his real grandson with the male lead, and about the fact that Baek Jang Ho arranged the accident that killed Chairman Hong's son) then Baek Jang Ho would do anything that Chairman Hong asked of him, no matter what he asked or when he asked it.

This is all explained partly in episode 8 and partly in episode 10.

The ML disappearing and going back to Argan made more sense in the novel. Given the way the drama writers already changed a bunch of things from the novel in earlier episodes of the drama... IMO, it really didn't make much sense for them to still keep that part of the story the way they did. I can understand why many viewers are unhappy with that choice.

An alternate version of the finale.

A thought occurred to me, after everyone's comments about wanting the male lead to run the real BSE over with his car in episode 11 and about feeling that the male lead's disappearance after that scene made no sense in the context of the drama...

What if the drama writers had gone that route and had the male lead hit the real BSE with his car, and the real BSE sustained life-ending injuries from the impact? The episode would end with the male lead rushing HHJ to the hospital and pleading with her to hold on as she fell unconscious beside him, with some of the police encircling the bleeding real BSE and others following the male lead and HHJ to the hospital.

In the last episode, the male lead would be prevented from following HHJ past a certain point in the hospital as she was taken in for assessment and treatment, and we would see that the real BSE was rushed to the same hospital as HHJ in an ambulance. The real BSE would be brought into the hospital on a gurney and, as he passed the male lead, he'd accuse the male lead of being "just like him" (i.e., of being just like Baek Jang Ho, who tried to kill the real BSE first without hesitation to "protect" himself and his family). The real BSE would die from his injuries soon after, and the male lead would have to live with having his bio nephew's blood on his hands and feeling like he was becoming too much like his bio father, even though his reasons for killing the real BSE were different and actually justified (as he was defending himself and HHJ against an imminent lethal threat from an armed adult).

While staying by HHJ's side in the hospital as she recovered / before she fully woke up, HIA would tell the male lead that HHJ knew everything in an attempt to comfort him, but in doing so she would make the male lead aware of the fact that Baek Jang Ho orchestrated the car crash (the one that killed HHJ's half brother, killed her nanny, resulted in HIA's deafness, and led to HHJ's mother forcing HHJ to pretend to be mute for 20+ years) in order to eliminate a threat. And, again, the male lead would struggle with his own actions (literally using a car crash to kill in order to eliminate a threat), as well as the impact of his father's actions, and the horrifying feeling that he was too similar to Baek Jang Ho.

Instead of leaving HHJ to run away to another country (Argan) and seemingly disappear (HHJ's worst nightmare), the male lead would just do most of the same things he did in South Korea (resign his position, testify against the Baek family, disburse the blood money he inherited from the Baek family to charities, and change his name). He would also face a trial for killing the real BSE. Of course he would successfully plead self defence and be found not guilty.

Before all of that, the male lead would leave HHJ a note in the hospital explaining that he needed time to do what he could to right the Baek family's lies and wrongs, including dissolving their marriage, as the person HHJ married was not the real BSE. The letter would tell her that the house they had lived in was hers but she was free to leave if she wished, and that he hoped she would feel that she had been freed from all prisons to do whatever she wanted. The letter would also say that HHJ should not feel obligated to wait for him, but (as he promised before) he would reach out to her again when he had successfully discarded the titles of Baek Jang Ho's grandson, Baek Eui Yong's son, and "spokesperson", when his work related to the Baek family was complete, and when he had faced the consequences of his actions (i.e., when his trial was over).

We would see clips of news coverage (involving the male lead's reporter friend and the second leads) exposing the truth about the orphan killings and the other wrong doings of the Baek family that Baek Jang Ho hid. Similar to the drama, we would get brief glimpses of the trials and convictions of Sim Gyu Jin and Mr. Min. But, unlike the drama, we would also see bits of the arrest, trial and conviction of Baek Eui Yong. He would not get away from the whole mess with simply a ruined reputation. And, as in the novel, we would also get glimpses of other members of the Baek family (e.g., prominent judges) also being taken down. As in the novel, showing the extent of the Baek family's power and corruption would help explain why the male lead had to wait so long to take them all down in one fell swoop. Also, if the episode needed a bit of action, they could maybe include a scene of the police confronting or chasing some of these family members.

We would see Park Do Jae and the fisherman receive diminished charges in exchange for their cooperation and testimony (and also taking into consideration their regrets, apologies, and the victims' wishes). Both would receive light sentences (short jail time and/or community service) and (similar to the drama) would be shown to have a good relationship with the male lead after serving their sentences.

We would also get a glimpse of the male lead's trial and him being found "not guilty", and the drama would somehow show that the male lead had confronted his fears and feelings that he was becoming too much like Baek Jang Ho and overcame them. Maybe they could add a scene with Mr. Min, since he probably knew Baek Jang Ho well, where he told the male lead that he was nothing like Baek Jang Ho in the ways that mattered the most.

Once that was dealt with, the male lead would call HHJ from a new 604 number and invite her to meet him at a certain place (I will explain the location below) just before sunset. At that place, the male lead would introduce himself to HHJ with his new name (Yu Yeon). He would apologize for everything that his family and his own choices caused her to endure, and she would tell him that she never held any of it against him and that she felt there was nothing to forgive.

With the slate cleared between them like that, the male lead would explain to HHJ why he invited her to that location. The drama does not show the male lead returning to South Korea after completing his work as a war correspondent in Argan, but the novel does. In the novel, it's stated that the male lead did not initially feel that he had come "home" when he returned to South Korea, until he saw HHJ. This is the time when the male lead first sees HHJ as an adult (as she was still a minor when he left South Korea), albeit from a distance. He appreciates her beauty, but, more importantly, he finally felt that he had arrived "home". Yu Yeon would explain this to HHJ and then (under a beautiful sunset), he would ask HHJ if she would marry the real him (Yu Yeon, not fake BSE) and HHJ would enthusiastically accept. We would still get a passionate kiss and bed scene like the ones that actually happened in episode 12, except they would occur in South Korea, not Argan, and there would be no repetitive kidnapping and escape beforehand.

I am open to suggestions on how their careers and family life should be depicted in this imagined alternate ending, but I think at least I would not have Yu Yeon be involved in international hostage negotiations. Especially not without telling HHJ about such circumstances before leaving the country. And definitely not related to a tweaked version of an existing and very sensitive real-world conflict.

This is pure speculation, but I think the novel writer researched the 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan and used that as inspiration to create the hostage situation in "Argan" at the beginning of the story. When the male lead returns to Argan at the end of the novel, he negotiates with various military groups, but I don't recall there being any more hostage taking or any mention of "Paltima" or "Izmael". That was only in the drama.

My guess is that the drama writers decided to use a more recent hostage incident in the middle east to incorporate into and "update" the story, and when they did so, they completely failed to carefully consider the implications. Having seen similar poor choices in K Dramas before, I honestly think the choice was more likely rooted in ignorance than in a deliberate decision to promote a pro-Israeli or anti-Palestinian message.

Edit: Seeing that the Netflix subtitles mistranslated the scenario and got it backwards seems to underscore the idea that the drama writers were not trying to promote a pro-Israeli or anti-Palestinian message. IMO, either way, they really should not have tried to so obviously incorporate a tweaked version of such a deeply sensitive, real-world issue.

My subtitles say, "The bastard who ran over my kids, I chased him to the Philippines and got him to confess just before I was about to take his life." Which makes it sound like Chairman Hong was just about to take the assassin's life, but then the assassin finally confessed and told him the hit was orchestrated by Baek Jang Ho, so Chairman Hong spared the assassin and redirected his ire towards Baek Jang Ho.

But maybe he did actually kill the assassin in the Philippines... If he did, what justice do you think he should face for doing so? Should he have been forced to stand trial for murder in the Philippines?

In the drama, Baek Jang Ho died one year ago from the main events of the drama, which took place in June 2024 (even though the last part of episode 11 jumped ahead six months to December 2024). The memorial service in episode 10 was his one-year death anniversary. And the real Baek Sa Eon said that he regained his memories one year ago when Baek Jang Ho's face was all over the news after his death.

Sim Gyu Jin was able to figure out that the male lead was Baek Jang Ho's son on her own by being observant. The male lead is smart, and likely would have been able to do the same. He was able to do so in the novel. If he didn't, then at the very latest he would have found out when he watched the recording of the video filmed just before Baek Jang Ho's death a year prior.

Oh! You're saying you think the real BSE (the kidnapper) whispered to the male lead that Mr. Min (the Baek family's secretary that let HHJ go) was shot and killed?

Maybe it isn't surprising that the lack of empathy on Sim Gyu Jin's side and the lack of empathy on Baek Eui Yong's side (which was apparent in his father, Baek Jang Ho) could combine in the real Baek Sa Eon to result in a serial-killing psychopath.

Sim Gyu Jin murdered at least one person directly (Baek Jang Ho).

Baek Jang Ho murdered at least two people indirectly (HHJ's half-brother and her nanny).

The real Baek Sa Eon murdered at least four people directly (the missing orphans) as well as a cat and some goldfish, not to mention his threats / attempts to kill HHJ and the replacement Baek Sa Eon, the fact that he nearly killed Park Do Jae, and the fact that he likely shot his own father and might've killed him too...