Fans Deserve Better: The Gap Between Promise and Reality in the When the Phone Rings Blu-ray

I was so excited when I pre-ordered the premium Blu-ray of the K-drama “When the Phone Rings.”

As a fan, I truly looked forward to receiving something special.
But sadly, the final product was nothing like what had been promised during the crowdfunding campaign—
and that left me really disappointed.

I’m writing this post not only to share my frustration,
but also to let fans from other countries know about what happened.
I hope the production team takes this issue seriously,
because fans deserve honesty and respect for their support.

Ordering the premium Blu-ray was not easy.
I was willing to ask for help with overseas purchasing,
and even pay extra shipping and customs fees,
all because I looked forward to what the production team had promised:
the deleted scenes that never aired on TV,
and insights into the creative journey of the actors and director.

The production team even emphasized multiple times that the content should not be leaked,
which only raised fans’ expectations further.

But when I finally received the product, it was disappointing.
Most of the videos were already publicly available—
some were even less engaging than the behind-the-scenes clips uploaded by MBC on YouTube during the broadcast.
The included merchandise was also of poor quality:
Baek Si-yeon’s ID card looked worse than the ones fans had made for fan meetings,
the photo book reeked of ink,
and most of the photos were ones we had already seen.

What’s hardest to understand is this: none of the videos had subtitles.
As someone with experience editing videos,
I know that today it’s not difficult to add subtitles with the tools available.
For a Blu-ray priced at 240,000 KRW,
it’s unacceptable that not a single subtitle was provided.

Ironically, if you buy the parallel-import Blu-ray from Amazon Japan,
the drama at least comes with Japanese subtitles,
and the price is only half of the premium version—
yet it also contains no special content.

Recently, the production explained that over 100 minutes of content were cut due to “portrait rights.”

But that raises a question:

Do the actors themselves know that their images are being used in such a poor-quality product?

I can’t help but think back to Youth Over Flowers: Laos,
where Yoo Yeon Seok was so careful with money,
always doing his best to make sure everyone could eat well, live well, and enjoy themselves.
As a fan, I also value the money I work hard to earn.
Because I trusted Yoo Yoon Seok, I bought many of the high-quality products he endorsed.

But when it comes to When the Phone Rings, the merchandise has been a series of disappointments:
the cheaply packaged soundtrack CD, the ink-heavy script book,
and now even the premium Blu-ray that fans had looked forward to so much.

I truly hope that Yoon Seok and his agency
will choose their partners more carefully in the future,
and never again let his image be tied to such poor-quality products.

Lastly, I sincerely thank every fan who took the time to read my thoughts. Your understanding and support mean so much to me.