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On October 10, 2023, a South Korean media outlet, TV Daily, reported that the school bullying victim Pyo Ye-rim, a YouTuber who recently found the courage to speak up about her horrifying 12-year-long bullying story after watching The Glory, was found dead at the Seongjigok Reservoir in South Korea. This event has created a shocking and sorrowful atmosphere.
According to the aforementioned outlet, the Busan Police Station and the first department located in Busan, South Korea, received a report that someone had fallen into the Seongjigok Reservoir, and rescuers were immediately sent out to save the victim. However, as the YouTuber was taken to the hospital, she died of cardiac arrest.
Trigger Warning: The following piece mentions bullying and torture. Readers' discretion is advised.
The Glory inspired Pyo Ye-rim to raise her voice against bullying
When the Netflix series The Glory aired in December 2022, followed by its second part in March 2023, it garnered worldwide praise for portraying the widespread problem of school bullying and violence in South Korea. This issue seemed unsolvable over the years due to leniency toward perpetrators in the Juvenile Judiciary.
Song Hye-kyo's portrayal of a bullied victim, who embarks on a journey to seek justice for her scars and haunted memories, inspired many people to share their stories, including the victim (Park Sung-min, who discussed it on a Korean talk show) on whom the story was based.
Much like Park Sung-min, Pyo Ye-rim was inspired to reveal the heinous bullying she endured for 12 years, spanning from elementary, middle, and high school by four people, after watching The Glory. Initially, she appeared on MBC's "True Story Exploration, confessing her twelve years of suffering from school bullying.
She then contacted her perpetrators, but instead of receiving genuine replies, she was met with cold and heartless responses.
In an interview on the YouTube channel Kizzle, Pyo Ye-rim disclosed her ongoing conditions, including insomnia, depression, and stomachaches. She explained that after watching The Glory, she was inspired by the main character’s efforts to seek justice while she had been running away from her problems.
The drama prompted her to confront her teenage self, and she managed to contact each of the offenders, who responded, “Is she Song Hye-kyo? Why she’s invading their life and what she wants?” This angered her, and she started sharing her story.
This led to the revelation of the four perpetrators, who bullied her, on a YouTube channel called Pyo Ye-rim’s Alumni. Subsequently, the perpetrators also released their statements on another YouTube channel named Offenders’ Alumni, where Pyo Ye-rim faced backlash and insults, including derogatory comments about her parents.
Amidst this ongoing crisis, Pyo Ye-rim received hate but confessed that it wouldn’t stop her from fighting against bullying. In an interview on the YouTube channel Caracula Detective Agency, she stated that she had filed a national petition urging courts to abolish provisions that protect perpetrators, including restrictions on school violence and others.
In the video titled The Identity of School Violence Perpetrators Is Revealed, uploaded on the YouTube channel Pyo Ye-rim’s Alumni, the creators confessed that they could no longer feign ignorance about the pain they caused her during her school life.
They revealed that one of them was her classmate who actually started the “Pyo Ye-rim’s Alumni” YouTube channel to extend their support for her and revealed what they witnessed that happened to her back in high school. They stated, as translated by the Korean outlet Kookmin Ilbo,
"The assailants intentionally hit her on the shoulder, causing her to fall, swearing at her and assaulting her, saying her clothes had a dirty smell, and then grabbed her by the hair and made her hit her head in the toilet."
They further added,
“When Yerim didn’t respond in any way, she tormented her even more. She used violence by slapping and kicking, which was not just a joke between her friends.”
Busan Police Station hasn't revealed any reasons regarding how or why the late Pyo Ye-rim fell into the aforementioned reservoir.
