User blog:Mgf60/Assistant Controversy

In July of 2016 there was some controversy with the female assistant 박한별 (Park Hanbyul), who had publicly declared support for the radical feminist group of Megalia by wearing a T-shirt with a Megalia slogan on and made posts denigrating Korean men. SIU talks about this briefly in the blogpost for Vol.3 Chapter 208, which is also the last chapter Park Hanbyul is an assistant for Tower of God. SIU seems to have tried dealing with this issue in private with her and in response to this Park Hanbyul accepted responsibility and left her position voluntarily, at least while talking with SIU in private. However, afterwards she went on twitter to moan that she was actually fired, saying that it was misogyny and unfair. She posted this on twitter instead of the Cafe due to being temporary banned due to posting of material related to banned sites (Megalia).

Summary of events by Pirri Para pung (삐리빠라뿡, Ppilippalappung) on the official Korean chapter release: The assistant wrote on Twitter "Let's filter out the readers, support Megalia", which she later apologized for by saying something similar to "I am not part of Megalia, but I have some similar opinions", but then deleted it. She then later wrote things like "All Korean men are bugs. Even if it's my dad." and "Korean veterans are meat shields." and so on. This is the only information about the inflammatory messages, since they appear to be deleted.

This situation caused a massive backlash from users of the Cafe, who were angry at the assistant and expressed this through writing angry comments against her, threatening her, and review bombing the webtoon. Many of the posts critical of the assistant also broke several of the other rules, leading to them being deleted. This combined with a certain staff member posting in support of the assistant gave the impression that the entire Cafe Staff were on the side of the assistant against the readers of Tower of God. This lead to anger being directed against staff members and there being confusion regarding the official stance of the Cafe Staff. The anger seems to have settled down after the assistant and staff member stepped down from their post a day later.

Internal Message
Message on blogpost reposted by Park Hanbyul on twitter under mosts tweets:

(어시분또한 스스르의 생각이 있어 하신 말씀이실테고 말이 왜곡되고 있는 면도 있다고 하시니 어시분과는 잘 이야기해서 일을 해결하도록 하겠습니다 심려를 끼쳐드려 죄송합니다 ㅜㅜ) (The assistant has her own thoughts, and her words are being misinterpreted, so I shall settle the issue with her privately. I apologise for the worry ㅜㅜ) (어시분께서 이번 일에 대해 책임감도 느끼시고 힘들어하셔서 자진으로 작업에서 빠지겠다고 말씀하셨고 저도 받아들인 것으로 마무리되었습니다) (The assistant felt sorry about the issue and is taking it hard so she stepped down voluntarily and I accepted it.)

First tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: I was frustrated at the cafe, so I signed up for Twitter. It is said that I was fired under an agreement with the writer, but this is obvious misogyny. Everyone, please spread it and protest the cafe. #Tower_of_God_Unfair_dismissal #I_am_Megalia #Nexon_boycott

Second tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: The assistant who supported feminism by wearing a t-shirt, does it make sense for the male garbage, who thinks he is king, to complain about arguing and then fire them? #Tower_of_God_Unfair_dismissal #I_am_Megalia

Retweet of 이산화 @CoconutRealGirl (July 24, 2016):
Translation: #I_Am_Megalia If the declaration made while wearing this mask could have at least some meaning.

Third tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: It's not just the tyranny of dirty big corporations. Naver Webtoon: Tower of God fired me for supporting Megalia. It was so frustrating that I thought I should let Twitter know as well, so I signed up. #I_Am_Megalia

Fourth tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: The Tower of God assistant was unfairly fired for supporting Megalia, because the dirty garbage males were so mean. Weird kids are messing around at the cafe, we're busy dealing with it and we need your support #I_Am_Megalia

Fifth tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: #I_am_also_Megalia #Nexon_boycott Is it only the voice actor Kim Ja-yeon who was unfairly fired? It is said that the assistant, who supported Megalia in Tower of God a while ago, has been fired under an agreement with the artist. Accurate fact-finding is required

(Kim Ja-yeon was also fired for wearing a Megalia T-shirt)

Several versions of this tweet was also used to reply to other twitter users, in order to "correct the narrative" that was spreading on Naver Cafe.

Sixth tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: #I_Am_Megalia Why should I be discriminated against because I am a woman? I was a bystander, but when I came across the article, I realized I needed to actively promote it.

Seventh tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: #I_Am_Megalia Now I'm going to weave a Megalia 4 T-shirt with WOMAD. Megalia 4 aims for a different feminism than the existing Megalia.

Eigth tweet (July 24, 2016):
Translation: The Tower of God assistant was fired for defending Megalia. They said they had an amicable agreement, but who would? Please look for it and pay attention. It's frustrating. #I_support_voice_actor_Kim_Ja-yeon #I_am_Megalia #Nexon_boycott

Ninth tweet (April 27, 2017):
Translation: Pre-registration for Lineage M – NCSOFT https://lineagem.plaync.com

Naver Cafe Backlash
Although the assistant herself avoided posting on the Cafe in support of Megalia, taking to twitter instead, some moderators of the cafe were seemingly in support for the assistant, but this seems to be just the fans perception of moderators doing damage control. This together with the assistant's tweets lead there to be a boycott of Tower of God on the Cafe and elsewhere, as the series itself was considered to be controversial due to the controversial opinions of the assistant. In addition, the fanbase responded with harsh words and threats towards the staff and assistant that seemed to hold hostile opinions towards the fanbase. A staff member called Irony made a long post about the situation attempting to calm the community down and not let their anger affect SIU or his work and that the Cafe will deal with the Megalia situation.

Cafe Staff
A cafe staff member called Rueld (루엘드, Lueldeu), part of the Cafe Design Team, also took part in the controversy and posted something that seem to have caused confusion within the community. In response to this Cafe Staff Damn (담은, Dam-eun) made a post on the Cafe explaining the situation.