The Impossible Mission of Compressing a Web Novel into 2 Hours - K-Drama Director's Shocking Truth Revealed

Time of India

20-07-2025

Still from fantasy action film ″Omniscient Reader″ BLACKPINK Jisoo, The scene where Jisoo holds a gun instead of a knife drew a backlash from the audience.
Why Fans Are Furious - Their Beloved Character Became a Completely Different Person
Imagine this: A web novel character you've loved for years appears completely different in the movie adaptation. How would you feel if someone made a Ramayana film and suddenly changed Hanuman from using his divine powers to wielding guns instead? This exact scenario is playing out in Korea right now.
Fans of the web novel "
Omniscient Reader
" are in complete meltdown mode. The character
Lee Ji-hye
, played by Blackpink's Jisoo, has been changed 180 degrees from the original. This character, who was originally a master swordsman, has become a sniper in the movie. Even more shocking is that the character's core setting - the "constellation sponsor" (basically receiving protection from a divine being) - has been completely erased.
It's like making a Krrish movie where suddenly Krrish only uses martial arts instead of his superpowers. No wonder fans are reacting with "What the hell is this nonsense?"
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Director's Excuses - The Classic "We Didn't Have Enough Time" Cliche
Director Kim Byung-woo
faced reporters at a Seoul cafe to explain himself. His excuse was the same tired line every adaptation director uses worldwide: "We didn't have enough time."
"We thought it was more efficient to only include elements directly related to the events in the film," he said. But the truly shocking revelation was what he disclosed next: this movie only covers a mere 10% of the original work.
10%? This is like trying to make the entire 7-book Harry Potter series into one movie while only covering part of the first book. It was an impossible challenge from the start.
Regarding Ji-hye's sponsor setting, the director also made excuses, saying it "wasn't changed, just postponed." He claimed "we can address it in a sequel," but from fans' perspective, the reaction is "Then why didn't you do it right from the beginning?"
Director's 2-Year Dilemma - And This is the Result?
The most ironic part is that Director Kim took a whopping two years to decide whether to accept this project. He received the offer after his 2018 film "Take Point" but worried about ruining a beloved original work.
It's truly ironic that two years of contemplation resulted in this kind of controversy. It's like the Indian film industry spending two years pondering whether to remake masterpieces like "3 Idiots" or "Dangal," only to end up removing the core elements of the original.
The director said the message he wanted to convey was "solidarity." He explained it as "a story about Dok-ja, who was always alone, meeting companions and overcoming difficulties together." But ironically, he seems to have completely failed at solidarity with the original fans.
Korean Film Industry's Anticipated Work, But a Dangerous Gamble
"Omniscient Reader" is attracting attention with its stellar cast including Lee Min-ho, Ahn Hyo-seop, Chae Soo-bin, Shin Seung-ho, Nana, and Jisoo. It's a story about an ordinary office worker who falls into the world of a novel he was reading and must save the world.
Set to release on July 23, this film is considered a hopeful project that could revitalize the struggling Korean film industry. However, how much damage the original fans' anger will inflict on the box office remains uncertain.
The director said, "Working with such a great original work, I felt a great responsibility not to mess it up." But ironically, that sense of responsibility seems to have become poison instead.
This situation isn't unfamiliar in our country either. We face similar dilemmas when adapting Western content to Indian tastes. But the key is adding new charm without damaging the essence of the original. Unfortunately, "Omniscient Reader" seems to have failed to find that balance.
The film tells the story of Kim Dok-ja, an ordinary office worker whose reality suddenly mirrors a novel he has read, becoming the only person who knows how the world will end and embarking on a journey to change the story's course and save the world. Despite the controversy, many hope this star-studded adaptation will breathe new life into Korean cinema this summer.