I think this will be very beneficial! It will allow everyone to take a step back, make reparations for the past mistakes, and then reassess. After taking this break and then coming back, I hope that they can prevent any more problems from arising! The first two episodes were great and I’d hate to see the great storyline get ruined from behind-the-scene problems. Fighting Hwayugi!

Oh, wow!
I didn't know it was this bad ... Poor person :(
I hope everything gets back on track.

I did not like the production/directing at all for both episodes, but everyone deserves a second chance & I sincerely hope this break helps tie things together, regroup, and move forward with renewed energy & direction.

There's so much pressure with a big show like Hwayugi. Although it started off with a wrong foot, I'm hoping they just learn from all of the mistakes, genuinely compensate for all who were injured, and get back up from there. I don't really care whether they postpone the broadcast to a few weeks or even a month, as long as they take precautions to make sure /everyone/ is safe and that they would bring out quality content. There's no need to be pressured to broadcast right away. :)

Actually, the director make this drama into a mess in first eps, but strong acting and story covered it. And I expected more CG in this drama.
Live and this drama began filming as the same time, but why Hwayugi come first, although it need more editing and more complicating scenes than a romcom / slice of life drama?

I think it's a good idea. I loved the first two episodes, but they need to make sure everything is in order before continuing. Take some time off to fix the issues, compensate the person injured and make a more safe working environment for everyone. JS Pictures sounds like a mess though.

It's sad that it took such a severe accident for action to be taken. I hope production teams and the Ministry of Employment and Labor will step up with more preventive rather than reactive measures. They can compensate the injured staff financially, but they can't reverse his half-body paralysis or undo the mental and emotional damage the accident caused.

How horrible that someone was paralyzed! I can hardly imagine what havoc must be playing in the background.

I love this series so far and am rewatching episode 2 every day since it has been aired, but I sort of wish they would take at least two weeks off. They need to both improve the safety conditions of the set and catch up on filming so sleep deprivation doesn't cause an accident. I hope they know that filming something like Hwayugi is more complicated than filming actors talking in a franchise coffee shop. And I'm sure morale is down with one of their staffers paralyzed from the production company's negligence. Since it isn't full body paralysis, I'm hope there is some physical therapy to improve his condition. I pray he can walk again.

You'd think CJ E&M, who owns majority stock in JS pictures, would have been hyper vigilant after one of the assistant PDs from Drinking Solo committed suicide this year and it was found that he suffered abusive working conditions. I didn't think they would slip up again this fast.

I still don't get how the specific effects weren't ready for episode 2. They must have filmed that footage like 6 weeks ago. Was it a lack of time or a lack of organization and communicaton?

As long as filming is done in a safe and steady environment I don't mind the pushbacks at all, but being sued for criminal negligence and threats and intimidation?! Does that mean they tried to keep the staffers quiet about their injury? That is horrible.

tvN should know so, so much better, especially what with what happened with that Drinking Solo employee. Employee (this includes actors, too) safety is crucial to the success of ANY drama.

I feel this all could have been avoided if they had delayed the premiere. Accidents happened because they were rushing. I hope that all wrongs are properly addressed and handled and that the production takes its time to finish each episodes. I can wait if that means a safe work environment and properly completed episodes.

Aigoo.... I'm so sad because this was the drama that got me out of my really long slump. And now.... well....

That being said, I understand fully why they have to preempt the episodes and I too feel it is for the best... Safety and health of those on board is most important. I also hope the government will step in and stop this insane practice of kdramas having such crazy deadlines such that staff are "forced" to work crazy inhumane hours.

That's the rational, adult and mature side of me.

The teenager side of me is just gonna sit in my corner and silently sulk till I get the next 2 episodes in.... *gasp* FOURTEEN days time. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MYSELF?! 😩😰😱

Oh the life of a drama addict. It feels good to be back.... 😂😂😂

I still can't brain why they decided to premiere this drama this month when they can simply push it to next month since they weren't ready at all.

Nevertheless I hope things will get better. I also don't mind if they take time to give us a good drama, instead of something half-cooked.

The company representing the injured staffer, MBC Art, has pressed charges with the police against Hwayugi’s production house, JS Pictures, as well as its CEO and art director, for criminal negligence resulting in injury and also for threats and intimidation.

Good that the staffer will be protected.
This is a real mess and I don't want to watch a drama that puts its employees in danger.... I'd be so ashamed if I was in charge of the production.

It's been a while since I have commented, but this whole issue with terrible working conditions (plus the incident with Drinking Solo) has been bugging me. Hope they decide to push back the remaining episodes even if they hire a new PD on board. I know in terms of business-wise, this is not a great move, but accident and slip-ups serve as a reminder that safety is important and they lose out big time by not addressing it.
Probably why Mr.Sunshine decide to postpone its premiere.
I feel like it's just me, but I thought the first two episodes were off? I felt something was off about it, but I couldn't really pinpoint it. Is it the transitions? Or maybe the longer episodes?

this is terrible news!! i wish they would not push it by ONLY one week... seems they don't have anything under control if their 2nd episode (as initially aired in korea) was such a disaster!

seems like a very bad omen for it to start out this way -- i really hope they can get things under control and not push their staff and the actors too hard because of the timelines...

all too often there are injuries on set - seung gi was injuring filming Gu Family Book, right?? so scary, he could've been blinded being poked in the eye with a stunt knife or sword...

Lee Philip was injured -- did any mention of his recovery ever hit the news? was he blinded in one eye from his injury during filming - does anyone remember which drama he was filming and had to drop out of? was it Faith?

even if they remove the wires you can see, there are aspects of the drama that feel fake. The costumes are propostrous and the acting is unnatural. mythology isn´t something you present with tricks and props. The story itself should have a spell over you even in an empty room. they have a set full of stuff but no true magic in the story. and this "Everyone wants to eat her" thing ... not really interested. I also can´t take Cha Seung Won´s character seriously.

Very unfortunate. Hoping the production team will be able to ease things out and deliver a really good drama. PDnim and staff, hwaiting! We can wait even a month for as long as everyone is safe!

This drama has a very promising plot and a fast paced one.i couldnt get enough of it yet, if it is for the good and safety of everyone i guess missing 2 episode this week will not hurt us Hwayugi fans. Praying that everything will be alright and back on track for good.

Awful for the staffer that fell. Poor guy!
I actually was surprised that Hwayugi is a live shoot and not pre produced. There is no way that people could make the CGI work in such a short amount of time. Maybe it would even be better to push it back even further, that the workers would be able to sleep. There is no fun in watching it, if we know that people get hurt or are suffering while filming.

This production team act so amaturish. They fired their lighting team unilaterally a WEEK before broadcast. and then the director of the team also quit. WTF are doing with the prep time? They think just because they have big name actors in it, everything will work just fine, huh?!

This is no longer live shooting tradition anymore, this is MESS.
If you are not ready, dont do the drama. Tvn has become greedy because of reply series and goblin end of year success that they push this drama even when the drama is not even 30% ready for broadcast.

Siwon and seunggi has no luck after army discharge 😔

Consuming k-drama and k-pop is very much like eating sausages. You might never enjoy it as much once you see how it's made.

Hwayugi probably got into trouble because it is pushing the boundaries on many fronts simultaneously. It's got a large main cast, star writers, complex location and set shoots, a ton of extras, many action sequences and a lot of CGI and it has close to 24 hours of air time in total.

All these factors drive up costs by many magnitudes. I don't think I'd be wrong in guessing that Hwayugi is probably THE most expensive drama to produce in recent memory. I'd guess that the closest rival to it would be LotDBS (just imagine paying LMH and JJH).

While we may lament the live shoot schedule - it is a reality for production companies without a large bankroll to fund all costs and then wait for payment from the broadcasters. Even with the so-called live shoot system, there have been cases of production crews and actors not being paid months after broadcasting.

Part of the popularity of K-drama's is simply market penetration. They are sold at a low enough cost for many broadcasters in small countries to afford. As a system, they have good production values and pretty steady output.

But the flipside is many crew/extra's are paid less than minimum wage. Earlier this year, the Korean tax service reported that actors as a group report earnings averaging 37K USD a year. Even more stunning 86% of total earnings in the group went to the top 10% (46% to the top 1%). If you average out the remaining income to the rest of the 90%, it comes out to less than half the minimum wage in Korea (to be fair, many 'actors' may not rely on acting as their sole income or are just entering the market)

Injuries due to workplace incidents are probably the norm and we can hope that the visibility of this particular one forces some needed change. Progress is likely slow since the situation is rooted deep into the structure of the Korean drama industry.

Meanwhile, let's hope the injured staff is treated well.

Paralysis that means the staff has suffered severe spinal cord injury. 😢😭. Too bad coz I enjoyed the 1st 2 episode. I think I should stop watching this drama for a while.

I read in soompi that the episode 2 mess was the production staff rebelling against the company. They did not do their job right in order to attract the media so they could talk about the injured staff member, and that just makes me have a lower opinion for the ones on top.
2017 ends up being the year where we discovered all the ugly things that happened bts, from Drinking Solo, to the MBC and KBS staff and now to this drama. 😡😡😡😡

I'm sad to hear about the accident and I hope he will still be able to live a long and happy life.
There seems to be so many accidents on set of (or because of) korean dramas, involving both staff and actors, that something seems wrong with the industry. It's upsetting and I hope it will change.

Sad to hear about the injured worker. Fwiw, I have worked for a staging company that sets up stages and lighting for events, (Janet Jackson, WWE). There is a small army of workers hoisting huge light trusses, speakers, etc. Quickly and safely. Safety is paramount for the guys and gals going aloft. Hooked to a safety harness, helmet, etc. Time is money, no doubt, but noone would ask you to do something dangerous, ever, to make up time. While it might look like chaos, it’s orchesrated. WWE has an insane amount equipment to set up. I’m guessing that film and tv probably has a rapidly changing shooting environment that requires a set breakdown and setting up for the next shot. How many workers they have may be an issue . Possibly to “save” money by working a few folks like rented mules?

I think it's a good decision, they obviously need more time and i heard that there's a second PD (from Gu Family Book) that just joined the team to help and probably him and the rest of the team needs time to adjust.

I feel really sorry for the staff that got injured and i really hope he get well soon and find justice, nobody should put to work under unsafe conditions.

Good for them!

Safety first. They need to respect health and safety procedures in the entertainment industry. Hopefully the production company will learn from this. I also hope the staffer will be OK. I really hope the paralysis is only temporary. And from an editing point of view it is the best decision they could make. A drama with so many special effects takes time to be edited and the staff needs to have enough time to do their job without getting rushed or overworked.

And here I was loosing my temper on bad editing job but the situation is far worse its seems. TVN seems to be gaining quite a reputation when it comes to unsafe, unhealthy and stressful work environment. First that rookie PD and now this, I love Hwayugi and nobody wants to see this show air more than me. But this sort of repeated lack of concern for the physical and metal well being of your hard working employee is unacceptable practice in any organization. I would rather wait till this gets sorted out completely so that I can watch this show with peace of mind. Poor guy, my prayers are with him.

Yes please! check the environment and safety before you guys kill someone or accidentally hurt the actors working in the show. This production looking like it was ran by amateurs. I am glad TVN hired two additional directors to help with the workload of producers. The lesson here: please don't rush a well written drama at the expense of people's safety and well being.

Can someone please delete the 'anon' posts or moderate the comment section here? It's really, really unnecessary responses.

Wow, it really was played off like it was only editing issues at first, but you can never know the whole picture behind any production. I hate that I sound like a broken record every time this happens, but geez these 'rush' schedules and work environments... unfortunately this is how entertainment industries work.

The reality is that accidents of various degrees happen all the time in the entertainment industry. The sad thing is that we don't here about them unless they are on major sets like Hwayugi. Since South Korea places such emphasis on K-ent, safety needs to become a greater priority. In dramas, at least, the KOCCA should consider placing a requirement on a number of episodes a drama must have filmed prior to the premier. This could give studios more cushion and prevent the rush to meet deadlines to some extent. I get that might not have helped in this case but something must be done to create better work conditions.

Hope that poor employee will eventually get better,poor guy!!

Wow...just wow... seriously disappointed and disgusted with tvN right now. Do you guys still remember that suicide incident with the rookie PD and how they mistreated his parents? What is wrong with these people??? They learned nothing...

I don't really get why they didn't make this a preproduced drama or at least had the postproduction of a couple of episodes finished before airing this. I mean with all the CG and fantasy elements in this one they should have preproduced this. I watched the corrected Version of Episode 2 and I can't say I'm impressed. I read in one comment that the fight scenes with the ghosts/demons looked more like aerobic movements because of the missing computer effects. Well, it seems that those scenes even with CG don't actually look that much better. Even with the CG those scenes still seem kind of unbalanced/off. It bothered me a lot. "Bring it on Ghost" did a much better job in its action scenes with ghosts.
I can't say that the story sucked me in. It kind of feels like it's not going anywhere yet. At least at the end of episode two it didn't feel like there was much to tell. So I'm actually worried by the 16 90min Episodes. I mean that are actually 8 Episodes more, so all in all 24 Episodes. Well, that may have worked for "Black" but that was a story that would have even been better with 26 Episodes. That drama needed that time whereas here i can't see what they want to fill this with. But then again I don't know the book on which this is based on. So i guess there is hope, at least?!
After hearing now about all the bad things of the production itself, i hope that the responsible company has to pay for this. A lot. Just really now isn't a sign long overdue?! Treat your people better. And stop with that shitty week-after-week production. It brings more bad than it does good. Just my opinion.

Oh dear! Well at least now I know why the program I was looking forward to tonight is not on. At first I was like "What's wrong with my eyeballs?!" bc I didn't notice those things, but perhaps I may have caught the cleaned up version since I watched it during the week. Very sad and unfortunate about the crew member. I think the show is excellent so far!

My heart goes out to the injured man and his family. I can't believe this happened, and I'm so glad this unfortunate accident is being investigated.

I'm bummed that the show is being postponed, but given the circumstances, I can totally understand. I hope things are resolved soon, and the production gets underway again, and that the man who was hurt (paralyzed! My God!) is rightfully and fairly compensated!

It's always really sad hear about stuff like that. When we watch a drama, movie or even when we go to a musical concert, we always think it's a beautiful things, as if they lived in a perfect world.
Instead it is bad to know, that unfortunately, people who work in the music or film's field suffer heavy and ugly work, not to mention the cases of harassment released in recent times. And this happens all over the world, I live in Italy and 2 workers died to mount the stage of concerts last year.
I am very sorry for the person who suffered this serious injury, I hope that this pause is not only to put the drama back on its feet, but to give a strong sign to the whole k-drama industry on the problem of labor.

I've been thinking about this a lot. I hear people saying they want to boycott the series because of the ugly dealings of the company behind it. And it is true that nowadays we shouldn't have the phenomenon which was prevalent in past centuries, where awesome works of art by great masters and awesome temples and palaces were built because the poor people were hungry and were bled for tax money. All the masterpieces of humanity, from the Pyramids to... you name it, have been made possible by gruesome exploitation. I'm not saying that Hwayugi is Michelangelo or the Taj Mahal, of course. And surely nowadays we prefer having more people safe and well-fed, even if it means we don't have any new Pyramids. We have learned to put the individual first, and that's how it should be.
I'm surely glad everything has come to the fore, maybe it will be an example not only for this company but for many others who undoubtedly do the very same things.
However.
Now, because of being under the spotlight, the malpractice is being taken care of to some extent. Because the spotlight, in the era of information, is the very best thing in the service of democracy and good and humane behaviour. Now this is taking its course, and I also assume that the hurt technician is being taken care of by the very best doctors.
So, boycotting or badmouthing the series because of what happened is spitting on the face of all these people, actors and staff, who have been working and are ready to continue to do so, giving their best in order to create a beautiful result, something that will make audiences all over the world dream and wonder, and relieve us from our daily worries and dreariness.
It would be a shame, in my opinion, if all these were punished, if their careers were to suffer because of the mistakes of the higher ups.
Let us separate the broadcasting company from Hwayugi, and let's give the Hwayugi crew, certainly worried and disheartened by all this, our love and encouragement. Let's judge the show according to how good it is, on what we genuinely like (or don't like) about it, without our opinion being unfairly influenced by what happened behind the scenes.
Let's also give our love to Hwayugi because it helped bring to the fore a common problem and maybe it was the catalyst which will help beneficial change in all future shows.