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Plagiarism controversy hits Pied Piper

[Hey folks, we’d like to introduce tineybeanie to you all, whom we’re excited to have joining us to cover news and updates from dramaland. We hope you’ll all give her a warm welcome and enjoy the added coverage! ‘Cause sometimes more is just better.
–javabeans]

On the 21st of April, tvN revealed that it was investigating a plagiarism charge against the main writer (Ryu Yong-jae) of the Monday-Tuesday drama Pied Piper. Originally, the show garnered much interest as Shin Ha-kyun’s comeback project to the small screen, reaching viewer ratings of 3.3% in its initial episode. But viewership has been steadily declining, with its most recent episode down to 1.744%.

Webtoon artist Go Dong-dong alleged that he had the idea of presenting a modern version of the Pied Piper folktale more than ten years ago, and submitted his own creation to a 2014 scenario contest. His work was not selected as the winner, but made it to the third round. According to Go, Ryu was a judge for the first round of the contest, and strongly complimented Go for his unique take on the fable. The script written by Ryu for Pied Piper came out a year and three months later.

The similarities between both works include: the portrayal of the Pied Piper as a suspected terrorist who is fighting against a corrupt government, the formation of a special negotiations task force, and the use of gas spray in a scene to heighten the tension amongst the main characters.

Ryu confirmed he was a judge for the 2014 contest, but claims that Pied Piper was his own creation. In his statement, Ryu says the title of the work by Go was Ring Road, and not Pied Piper. In addition, Ryu states that as a first round judge, he was only given the introductory partial portion of the work to review. Thus, he didn’t have access to Go’s completed piece.

In his rebuttal, Go confirmed that Ring Road was the title of his work for the first round, but he re-titled his work as Pied Piper for the second and third rounds of the contest. Furthermore, he declared that Ryu did have access to Go’s submission for the third round of the contest, and that there is much evidence to prove his case. This ongoing controversy may contribute to the declining ratings for this once-promising show, which wraps up its 16-episode run this Tuesday.

Via Xports News, MBN

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Welcome tinybeanie
There is an old saying "there is No Smoke without Fire"

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Dry Ice (frozen carbon dioxide) will give you smoke (effect) without fire. They use it in the theatre to do that because fire would be dangerous.

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This does not sound good. How is it affecting viewership of the currently airing show?

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It's not. The show was already in a (ratings) slump.

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No I actually like this show... :(

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OH and HI TINEYBEANIE!! :D

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welcome tineybeanie!! your screenname is so cute haha

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Nice to have you here with us tineybeanie, but why this awful piece of news? I guess the silver lining is that the show is wrapping up and thus not completely affecting the staf and cast.

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Oh hey tineybeanie! welcome to this wonderful community.. anyways, this is sad...I've heard some good stuff about Pied Piper and I'm planning to watch it once it's done..but I dunno... this made me not wanna do it anymore...

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I don't even know about the controversy surrounding The Pied Piper, i just watch it to fill my monday-tuesday Kdrama quota ????????? & welcome tineybeanie ???????

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It's not like the drama have good ratings though. With controversy usually give the public want to know more about the drama right?

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Welcome Tiny Beannie!

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Oops! Sorry for the misspelling Tineybeannie!

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Welcome to our dramaverse, tineybeanie.

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I was about to complain and say not this again, but from the circumstances the person crying plagiarism might actually have a case. Sorry but I call BS on the script writer and the way he is trying to get out of it.

Welcome Tineybeanie to Dramabeans, we look forward to your future contributions. :)

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I confused. 1.7% ratings for cable. Isn't it pretty high? I saw some comments somewhere saying that 1% already good for a cable channel.

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The ratings aren't bad, in general, but specifically for a drama that started out getting 3.3% ratings, a drop like that is significant. Half the viewing audience has lost interest in the show.

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Nothing more scummy than stealing someone's IP and claiming it as your own...hope it's not true. That being said, dropped this drama around ep 8 because it was so frustrating, repetitive and boring. Hope the finale is fun for those of you who stuck with it

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Gosh, the show s about to end but this piece of news suddenly pops up. I wonder why it's so late though.
WELCOME TINEYBEANIE!

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I know it's bad, but I'm selfishly hoping this doesn't hinder the possibility of a Liar Game 2...

Hope the allegations aren't true.

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Oh nooooo

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Exactly..

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I in my kdrama slump and only watched it for 3/4 eps and save it for later. Never know that the rating decline that much. It was ok but mainly because of the acting tbh.
Reading it, seems like Go have a case tho but who knows. Hopefully DB will cover the outcome, now I'm interested to know.

And welcome tineybeanie~

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Glad to have you around, Tineybeanie! Welcome!

As someone who has aspirations to be a writer myself, plagiarism is always a concerning topic. If this is true, then I can't even with this. However, I will say this: writers are inspires by what they see, hear, read, and feel. If Ryu thought Go's script was good, it could have influenced his own drama. But, yeah, specific similarities like the spray gas scene? That has to have been plagiarized.

I wasn't interested in this show to begin with. But now? Definitely not going to watch it.

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Welcome aboard @ tineybeanie.

May you have many positively interesting subjects for your articles (and not just stuff on plagiarism LOL). :)

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Wow. If this is true then I will be incredibly disappointed in the writer, who I quite like (because of Liar Game).
I hope that there will be a conclusion & the truth will get out about this.
I actually quite enjoy Pied Piper atm and will be seeing it through to the end. But if this is a plagiarized work then the credibility of this writer would drop significantly and may decrease the chances of getting a Liar Game 2, which tbh would be devastating for not only us fans of the show, but the cast (especially Lee Sang Yoon) that wants to get involved again.

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"Liar Game" originates from a Japanese drama with the same name. So honestly this Ryu guy have no creativity at all. He might have written a great Korean version of Liar Game but it was never his story to begin with.

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I generally side-eye this because not only some of the 'stolen stuff' raised are really general police drama troupes, they only raised it at the literal end of the drama airing (as compared to the trainwreck of Cheese, which was raised a few weeks before the actual drama ended, and was pre-produced. It reeks sensationalisation, and unless we get more obvious 'plagiarism' claims that actually are unique, I'll continue supporting Pied Piper.

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Agreed.
That they've waited until the end to raise the plagiarism issue at the end of the drama sounds dodgy to me.

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Welcome tineybeanie!!

I love reading the drama news sometimes, because they can be MORE entertaining than the drama itself! Haha!

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Hi tineybeanie!! Welcome!!
I havent watch Pied Paper yet, I have so much on my plate atm. But, it does come in my must watch list. I hope it solved well.
I especially feel bad when read other commenters on how this case might affect (future *cross fingers*) Liar Game 2.

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Welcome tineybeanie!

Drama behind the drama. Uh oh!

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What the... ...

I don't know who's right, but I gotta say that the allegedly plagarised parts aren't really unique or special to police procedural dramas...

A corrupt higher authority - almost every police drama has it. If so, only a little few do NOT have people wanting revenge on it.

A negotiations task force... is not really something special either...

The gas scene needs more information regarding the accusing party's version and what has been played out since Sarin gas scares have become commin in police dramas since it actually happened in real life, along with bombs and whatever else.

If Pied Piper WAS plagarised, then yes, this writer should be brought down. But from the above, I can't hammer the gravel yet.

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I have no idea/opinion about the validity of the charge, but it it is true, this is one of the laziest cases of plagiarism ever. Who would plagiarize and not bother to change the title.

Weird.

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Welcome tineybeanie! I look forward to reading your posts!
?

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Welcome tineybeanie!!

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Welcome tinybeanie :-)

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Hey Tineybeanie, welcome to this amazing community or should I say welcome home? Anyway, your screen name sounds so cuute and I'm looking forward to having loads of wacky fun with you......see yah around

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I agree that, outside of this context, these scenarios aren't out of the ordinary for police procedural, it's not impossible that two people who have never met to create similar scenarios. However, these two have met, and Ryu Yongjae had read and judged Go Dong-dong's work. Then afterward, the next immediate drama Ryu Yongjae creates is about the same thing? That's not coincidence, that's a chain of events.

Seems like this is a common occurrence. A company stole I Remember You's plot from a hopeful contestant who submitted his/her work to them too.

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no they didn't steal I remember you plot, they where 'accused' of doing so much like this one, but nothing ever happened, and of course retractions of accusation hardly make front line press so the 'smell' sticks.

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Of course fans of I Remember You wouldn't want to admit it. Gee I wonder why nothing ever happened to big company CJ E&M because of an unknown writer. A plot of a two brothers being locked up in a basement because one is believed to be a sociopath isn't exactly common in kdrama, but I'm sure CJ E&M suddenly producing a drama with the same setup soon after was ~just a coincidence~.

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Oh wow just found out CJ E&M is also producing Pied Piper. Color me surprised.

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You know what, this isn't fair on my part. CJ E&M can be shady, but there's no evidence that they had a hand in Pied Piper's situation like they did with I Remember You. Currently, it's still on Ryu Yongjae for Pied Piper. Just because CJ E&M has a hand in producing and/or investing in Pied Piper doesn't mean anything. So I take this part back, but I still stand by what I said about I Remember You.

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'the next immediate drama' is a huge leap of logic considering Ryu and Go met in 2014 where Liar Game was still a thing- unless you're trying to pull 'they wrote the dramas concurrently' out the wazoo, highly unlikely.

Furthermore, why wait until the end of the drama's airing to mention this? If it was truly a problem, it should've been raised way before so that the writing could be altered (since this isn't pre-produced), not when it ends this week. Plus, 1.7% is still pretty good for cable- it's just because it dropped from 3% before that it appears to be in a slump.

I honestly find your 'everyone has to be guilty BECAUSE I SAID SO' attitude kind of irksome, not gonna lie. It's a bunch of police drama cliches, and reeks of clickbait and sensationalism, but I won't know a thing because I'm just a mindless Liar Game fan, aren't I?

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It takes a while to pull something into production. Just because Liar Game aired in 2014 doesn't mean the planning started in that year. Like that, just because Pied Piper aired this year doesn't mean he didn't have it in his mind to start it back then. Liar Game is adapted from a manga/jdrama, it's not the writer's original content... he didn't create it, he was hired and brought in by the production team to adapt it. The next immediate drama he created would be Pied Piper which is after he was a judge for this contest.

"I honestly find your ‘everyone has to be guilty BECAUSE I SAID SO’ attitude kind of irksome" -- Just like everyone else in this post, I can vocalize what I see in the situation. I didn't go after other comments defending Pied Piper, I'm only replying to people who replied to me.

I'm not going respond to the rest of your comment about sensationalize etc because I don't care. None of that matters to me.

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Yikes. A buddy of mine just said you posted screencaps of my comments to 'blast' me regarding my comment on CJ E&M on twitter after you saw I took it back. Am I not allowed to take something back and admit I was wrong about one point? That one point (which I took back) doesn't make my whole opinion moot regarding the Pied Piper situation. I didn't ask what your twitter username is because it doesn't matter and I don't want to get into it with you there, but that also means I can't check for myself. If that's really true then it feels like you're taking this too personal.

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Genuinely, I don't know what I did to make you this angry. This is just bizarre. Maybe I should bow out of this conversation.

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First of all WELCOME to tineybeanie in Dramabeans... now on topic.. it is sad to read the case written above.. i haven't watch this drama but whoever is a culprit should be punish..

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Hallo tineybeanie ^^

Can't say I'm not swayed because the alleged original writer sounds convincing, but I hope it's not true because that would really suck to hear of such corruption behind the scenes of kdrama production. :( And it might discourage up and coming writers from submitting their work and being discovered.

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Hi tineybeanie, welcome.

Sorry to say, but your first post pisses me off big time.
The ratings have nothing to do with this plagiarism case. It's the worst kind of "journalism" to have this in the lead.

Also, this is a truly masterful script. Even if the initial idea is plagiarized (I have big doubts, let's just mention here though that the Pied Piper is NOT fighting against the government and up until episode 14, I haven't come across the "use of gas spray in a scene to heighten the tension amongst the main characters"), the details are most certainly not.

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Welcome tineybeanie, lovely to have you here <3

Oh why, I love this show. I've been very committed and patiently wait for the subs whenever it's out. Hopefully they can solved it because this drama is really good, plot-wise and acting. *sobs*

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But the Pied Piper in this version isn't a terrorist fighting a corrupt government per se. That would be an oversimplification of what this drama is about. He is trying to expose what he sees to be a travesty of justice. And I think that there are enough parallels with Liar Game to say that the writer has left his own stamp on this.

It's a shame about the ratings because this drama has gotten heaps better after the initial rocky period. I would even venture to say that the moral complexity of this drama is far above that of most K police procedurals.

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Wah what a shame, Because It's really good for me too

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Even if it is a case of idea theft - the series itself is well-written. To me, it is not boring at all.
Not quite Signal-level, but a very good crime/thriller.
And: Nobody in this drama is a bumbling idiot or a disgrace to his/her profession (well, except the baddies) - something that other "professional" Korean dramas always get wrong (be they medical, procedural or police).

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Welcome to DB tineybeanie!

I don't think it would have much impact to a show already on a rating slump and about to finish. Maybe the controversy would drum up some interest in the show? But that's a tall order.

I personally like the show very much and think it is well written, I love the concept behind the show too. Hoping that the concept wasn't stolen, but I do admire the writer's ingenuity in keeping up the momentum of the show through 14 episodes. It feels fresh and exciting and never stale, so I'm leaning towards the belief that it is all a misunderstanding. The Pied Piper isn't a terrorist, more like a marionette pulling the strings of everyone else, and there's more to the plot than was originally explained by in the article.

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I'll admit that I've adored Pied Piper so far, so I can't truly say that I'm unbiased. But I also think I can fairly say that I've some personal experience with plagiarism, and based on that experience, my personal opinion is that writer Go accusing writer Ryu of plagiarism feels misguided at best.

First and foremost, there's a huge difference between 'copying someone else's idea' and 'sharing someone's inspiration'. Back in the good ol' days, nobody really brought up the word 'plagiarism' unless concepts or texts were copied down to the most minute detail without any more input. But lately, it feels like the number of 'YOU WROTE A THING ABOUT THE SAME VAGUE CONCEPT I DID!!!' disputes have gotten out of control.

There is a clear number of emotions in the human heart. Similarly, there's a certain number of themes you can find in stories. And, as anyone who watches drama regularly would know, there's also a certain number of repeated components and scenarios in the fictional world.

So it stands to reason that nothing that's written is really 'original' so much as it is a bunch of the same old things rearranged in a different way.

For example, 'The Lion King' was heavily influenced by Mabceth- so then, did Disney steal one of their best-loved stories from good ol' Bill? Shakespeare himself copied whole phrases and passages from the works of other writers in his time to use as inspiration for his own works. So was the world's most widely recognised playwright, then, nothing more than a dirty plagiarist?

My personal answer to that is 'no'. Disney didn't copy and paste The Lion King onto the big screen; there were some of the same factors in the scenario, but in the end they put enough different components into the story that made it uniquely their own work. Same goes for Shakespeare: he used everything he got from other writers as a /source of inspiration/ to feed the rest of his work, not as the main attraction.

Honestly, I think of inspiration as kinda like the foundation of a house. It's the start of everything, yeah, but the walls, the roof, the windows, the door, the decor-- they're all a different writer's own unique mix.

Plagiarism, on the other hand, is very clear and very easy to identify. It's copy, paste, edit, publish. They don't put any of their own unique mix of components into it, don't make it something that only they could put together, and instead simply sell off someone else's mix as their own.

It's disgusting and insulting, and I've personally suffered the blood-boiling indignity of someone copying my work in an infuriatingly subtle way that made it pretty much impossible to prove, so believe me when I say that I have no sympathy for plagiarists.

It's just that I've also kind of had it with people forgetting that nothing is truly original, and throwing 'I THOUGHT OF IT FIRST' fits over concepts that have been recycled in the literary world for ages...

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(Con't above)

Which is partially why writer Go throwing the word 'plagiarism' at writer Ryu over the "similarities" mentioned above leaves me severely unimpressed.

As many others have already said, terrorists vs corrupt government or gas in a high tension situation aren't new things. They're not ideas that "belong" to anybody. At most, I could give the benefit of a doubt for the whole 'negotiations task force' thing, but even that could have easily come from just looking up 'countermeasures for terrorism' on google. It's not exactly the mother of originality if you yourself are simply copying an organisation that exists in real life.

Frankly speaking though, even on the off-chance that Ryu WAS inspired by Go's entry, I still wouldn't call that plagiarism. 'Terrorist vs Government' 'Negotiation Task Force' and 'Gas in high tension situation'-- three measly factors does not a 16 hour drama script write. The characters, plot, and dialogue of the Pied Piper drama are all Ryu's work, and I find it frankly disturbing, as well as unfair, for all of that to be waved aside so people can focus entirely on three concepts of inspiration that you can find in practically any cop drama. Inspiration =/= plagiarism.

Now if Go's entry had also contained SPECIFIC similarities like "subtle loveline between two negotiators who both lost loved ones in terrorist attack" or "rich hotel owner is paying off police" or "spoiler is a mole" or "spoiler is spoiler's child", then YES, I would have been the first to say that Go's work had been plagiarised, and I would have demanded an apology and acknowledgement of the theft.

But there's nothing like that. There's just a handful of very common, very frequently recycled factors, and two writers who were inspired by the same legend. Which is why this whole 'plagiarism' claim feels more absurd, because technically both scenarios are "stealing the idea" from the Pied Piper of Hameln in the first place.

Frankly, this whole incident is like hearing that Disney is going to sue Broadway over Cinderella. The concept was never yours to begin with, so why're you getting mad that someone else was inspired by it too?

But, when everything's said and done, I do recognise that my opinion is just my own, and doesn't necessarily mean I'm right. The concept and definition of plagiarism and inspiration is also different for many people, so naturally there may be others who feel differently.

Personally speaking, though? I've had it with people blurring the lines between inspiration and plagiarism whenever big names like Disney and Shakespeare aren't involved.

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I just started watching this as I love Shin Ha Kyun in serious dramatic roles. So far loving it but hopefully this controversy will not affect the subbing. I cannot get beyond episode 7 in my drama downloads.

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Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! I appreciate all the love. Hehe. I am really grateful for the opportunity to share what I have with the DB community. I'll do my best to faithfully provide substantive entertainment news. So please take care of me.

PS~ For fans of Shin Ha-kyun, I highly recommend you check out Brain (2011). It's old but it's him at his best as an ambitious charismatic surgeon.

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